Preethiya Bengaluru

The more I go to my hometown, Bangalore, the more I fall in love with the city. For very obvious reasons, that I was born and brought up there? No, not just that. I have been to several places in India and abroad. Compared to most of the cities that I have been to, Bangalore is the best city so far. For the people, who you love at times, and you hate at times; for the traffic that could almost choke you every now and then; for the bad and bumpy roads; for all of these and more - there's something so good about the city. The places, the hotels, the hangouts, the crowd - everything has a class of it's own. I can't wait to see the city having a cool metro running all through. However, I hope the greenery remains intact.

Why do so many outsiders live and thrive in Bangalore? It is because the people are accommodating and soft-spoken. In every small way, I have observed that people try to help each other. Ofcourse, there will be a section which is really bad, but in general the crowd is nice. The food joints, pubs, cafes are simply great. It feels great to see the kannada movie industry doing very well. I simply love some of the kannada songs from the recent music composers like Mano Murthy. The FM radio channels are very good. Most of the youngsters are very smart and know a lot about technology. Bangalore is hip-n-happening, in every way.

Bangalore can definitely boast of very good schooling and education compared to most of the towns in India. You need not even think of going elsewhere until you complete your education in this city. You have all possible opportunities to pursue. Bangalore has some great shopping places, although crowded most of the time, the choice and variety is good. Ofcourse, inflation is an issue in this city. Blame it on IT or politicians, Bangalore is expensive. The minimum auto charge is Rs.14 now! And we can see some great looking double-decker buses in the city now. I simply love the city. While people maintain traditional values, the culture and heritage seems to be intact too. The city has lots of budding young talented singers, musicians, artistes, actors. The music concerts, the dance concerts, plays, drama, fine arts, movies, keep the city going. Alliance'de Francaise and Max Mueller Bhavan have paved way for several international alliances and join to be part of city's pride. Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha take the crown, standing in the middle of the city. Chinnaswamy Stadium and KSCA are the cricket hubs in the town. I can't express how much I love walking on M.G Road, Brigade Road and in Cubbon Park.

I feel proud of the city and it's people. The only city that has splendid weather all the time which brings a smile on your face as you welcome each day. The only place where I look forward to be all my life, close to my people, my friends and my home. I love Bangalore. :-)

India alias Hindustan?

This post is not meant to create a war against religions, but yes, it is meant to stir some thoughts and calls for an action. Read on…

Although we have a huge Hindu tradition in India, we also have other religions thriving in our country since centuries. Here is my case study on the rapidly emerging Christian culture in rural areas of Northern India. The religion is fast growing, without drawing much attention from the educated masses, but targetting the poorer sections. This might be true for several other places in India. However, this post is purely my experience.

My observations started when I visited an old church in Moradabad, a small town near Delhi. I saw the kind of people who visited the church and confirmed from others that most of the people were converted Christians, from just one or two generations. Some were very recent converts. As I noticed more and more people coming in, my question was - Who are these people? Where do they come from? Why did they convert to Christianity? You may wonder why I had to visit the church...I have my own reasons for it.

After having seen around 40 - 50 families in the church, I saw that, these people were Indians on the first place. They belong to the not so called upper class in India or the middle class. They were the poorer lot who were mostly dwelling on 3 professions – preaching in church, teaching in schools and nursing in hospitals. They were not well educated. They seemed far behind in thinking and living styles. I just compared the contrasting lives of a person living in Delhi, and a person living in this place. The difference was so drastic. Why was that so?

The place – Moradabad, has 2 emerging societies of people, one society which has brass exporters and industrialists living in huge bungalows and the other society - mostly Muslims and Christians living in very poor conditions, in small houses of dingy areas. These places had meat shops, bazaars, cyclists, rickshaws, garages, markets, buzzling with noise. Interestingly, the place has a couple of English schools and colleges, left by the Britishers. These were the typcial British schools, red color tall buildings. There were some houses with typical British architecture; resembling the houses probably in any street in London; some were even built within the school/college campuses. What I noticed was, most of the Christians, the converted Christians who belonged to this village, were living in these houses only. Some buildings were British hostels that are now converted into homes of several families, acquired illegally, again leaving you with a lot of questions in mind. They had names like Mr.Smith, Mr.Massiah, Mrs.Massey, which sounded O- so - British, but you see them and you realize, they are very much Indian. These people had some reason for conversion and what was that? While this seems to be a very controversial question, no Christian in this colony would agree if I pointed at them and told them that it was for certain facilities like money, education, shelter, etc. that they converted to this religion. All they say is - they are true believers of the one and only God, their God who rules everything and everyone. Why are these people saying this?

I planned to visit the church in the village again. I sat through the cermon. What did the Pastor speak? All he said was, all other religions and Gods are meaningless, the only true God is ... and he was addressing the masses, which were mostly non-educated, but were all Christians ofcourse. The Pastor said it was his duty and the duty of the Christians to convert people in India to Christianity, so that Christianity becomes the most popular religion in India as well. I was listening, with patience. After a heavy heart and a lot of thinking, I wanted to talk to someone to get the real picture. So I went up to a couple and asked them why they converted to this religion?

The husband said, he belonged to a poor Hindu family and him and his wife always had trouble when it came to religious Hindu rituals. Last year during Navrathri, the husband had to leave early to work and his wife insisted that he did his religious practices and then left home. The couple ended up having a big fight. He was very upset and so there after, he decided not to believe in "Devis and Devtas" (that's exactly what he said!) and he consulted a Christian missionary and after that, him and his wife and son have all converted to Christianity!

I was curious to see what that Pastor was upto. So I visited the Pastor's house - the same pastor who was preaching about Christianity in the Church. He was obviously living in one of the old British homes; his house was lavish, he had the latest computer, printer, mobile phone and great interiors! Probably the only house which I thought was lavish in comparison with the other Christian homes. Where did all the money come from? Definitely not from the villagers who visited the church, and definitely not from the amount they collect from people during every cermon. Where else was the source of income? I tried asking some church members – secretly, about the funds they receive and the salaries; Trust me, it's very meagre. Then how is it that the Pastor had so much financial funding?

All I asked myself was - Who is spreading the wrong word of God and selling religion in the name of God? For how long will we continue to succumb to the British left overs? It is a shame that even after 50 years of Independence, India has not succeeded in providing education to people. While a certain part of the society is continuing to grow rapidly, a certain other part is still left out and ignored completely. People are taking advantage of this situation yet. Most villages in North India (U.P, Rajasthan, Punjab) are hounded by Christian missionaries, who take up individual villages as personal projects. They target the poor and the downtrodden to convert them to a different religion, give them an English name and promise education for children in their schools. What these people also do is that, they open schools and educational institutions that have special quota for Christians only. I know of JMC College in Delhi, which has a special preference for Christians only. So much so that even if the admission seeking student has 40% marks and is a Christian, the student wins a seat hands down. This is similar to the SC/ST quota that we have today.

Where is all the money coming from and who is responsible for this situation? My due respects to Christianity and Christians and the good Christian Educational Institutions in India, but I feel helpless when I see the ignorant masses being lured with something wrong. I want to do something about this. I am still searching for an answer, for an action.

Thanks RK for helping me with this write-up.

Stranger in my car

It was a very busy day at work and I had a terrible head ache. I decided to drive back early, and also planned to buy some plants from the nursery to add on to my plant collection at home. (by the way, I love plants and I simply love my collection at home!) So I was driving back home. I pass by this village, very rural area basically, crowded roads, all sorts of people and animals on the road. I was just behind a bus that suddenly stopped. I braked and I was waiting till the bus moved and THUD came a noise from behind and my car just bounced and moved a bit!!! I was shocked!!! Somebody had hit my car from behind!!! I freaked out and got down from my car and to see it was a maruti behind that hit my car. Not realising what to do, I rushed inside and locked all the windows first and kept my hand bag in the back seat. By then all the villagers crowded our cars. I took my phone and got down and shouted at the driver and I was desperately trying to reach someone but the phone had no network...it was absolutely useless and whom do I ask for a phone next was the question....by then I had to move my car aside since there were other vehicles on the road, and freak...my car wouldn't move and there was a lot of noise when I accelerated....the bumper got damaged totally and the it touched the tyres scraping off the rubber from the tyre when I accelerated...I freaked completely...then came the stranger... This guy who was in the maruti that hit my car..:-/ came to help me and he manually pulled the metal bumper that was scraping the tyre. He said he would bear the entire cost coz it was his driver's mistake and he asked me to drive down to a service station and that he would follow in his car...being in Delhi, trust me to trust his words....!!! I quickly noted down his car number, asked his to get the license and took his card, by then the driver had run away....!!! :-( This guy told me to relax and asked me if he can come in my car so that we can drive down to the nearest service station...:-( Not knowing what to do, I acted like as if I was talking to my husband on the phone and updating him the information and said okay to this guy and I was so scared....!!!! Then I just kept quiet, and drove down quickly. But this guy wouldnt keep quiet at all, he kept talking about his property business and that he was not a thug and would bear all the expenses...bloody hell I wouldn't care, until I was safe...I really donno why I had to take him...with me...then I reached the service station, got a person to gauge the damages and expenses and the matter got sorted out easily. We had to wait in the service station for a while coz this guy did not have any cash on him and he had asked his associate to bring the money that he promised to pay up. I waited calmly (although I was so confused and worried) and it was so cold that evening (the temperature here reached 2 degrees in the evenings and even below that) and suddenly this guy asks me if I wanted to have some tea...I was so stressed out that tears just rolled down my eyes...by then the service station guys gave us both some tea...and finally I got everything sorted out and the guy left and since the service station was closed the next day and the car was in a working condition, they asked me to bring the car after a day and they would repair it. I drove back home finally. After I came back, I was so stressed out that I just drank two glasses of water, sat down and prayed to God first, for bringing me back safe, for giving me the courage to handle everything alone, and for keeping me alive. The stranger in my car was indeed a nice person and I was very lucky to be safe that evening. Every experience in life is such a big teacher and God really is watching. There is a strong power that guides you. At times, life is not fair, yet it is beautiful and we need to accept that, come what may. There ends my Friday's experience...my first road accident, which I will never forget...

Sweet Indulgences

This post is dedicated to my Appa. Every day at home, after school, I would wait for my Appa in the evenings coz he would come home with a bag full of sweets and I would eagerly ask him - Ivatthu yaava sweet thandhidhira pa. I would feast on them and carry some in my lunch box the next day. Everybody asks me why and how I know so much about sweets, their names, their variety, where they are available in Bangalore and what each sweets stall is famous for...all the credit goes to my dad. If you want to grab on some famous sweets from Bangalore, then here's a list of the famous sweet stalls that I know: Jalebis and Badami Puri - Gundappa Sweets in Majestic. Gulab Jamuns / Dhum Root / Chandrahaar - Bhagatram Sweets on Commercial Street. Mysore Pak - Sri Venkateshwara Sweets, Avenue Road, Gandhi Bazaar. Holige - Subbammana Angdai, Gandhi Bazaar / MTR, J.C Road. Horlicks Burfi - Shri Krishna Sweets, Basavana Gudi. Badami Halwa - Hotel Samrat (Chalukya), High Grounds. Badam Milk / Jamun / Petha - Asha Sweets, Malleshwaram. Chum Chum / Boondhi - Pai Sweets Stall, Vasanth Nagar. Rasgulla / Kheer Kadam / Soan Papdi - K.C Das, Church Street. Kesri Bhath - Janardhana, Race Course Road. Kaju Burfi / Honey Dew - Banaras Sweets, Chickpete. Chiroti - MTR again, and Kannada Weddings...:-))) Hope this was enlightening...:) Ending this post with a sweet little wish for all of you, Happy Sankranthi Ellrigu Sankranthi Habbada Shubhaashayagalu.

"Hey this is not fair!" said A R Rahman in Delhi!

This is exactly what ARR told us (his fans :-)) when he was performing live in Rajouri Gardens yesterday in Delhi, when some of his (senseless) fans were recording his performance, inspite of strict restrictions imposed on recording the performance. These rules were printed on the tickets that were sold out to more than 5000+ crowd cheering ARR in the cold evening of 17th November, 2007. He very subtlely told people, "Hey this is not fair, you guys will record and upload it on Youtube! A channel is doing complete coverage of this video, so please don't do this". Most of the front seaters stopped recording, however, most dint. What an evening it was, to see AR Rahman live, it was like a dream come true for me. After the quick travel in Metro, we reached 10 minutes late to the venue. I could hear Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam, singing Roja Janeman...I wanted to go flying to my seat, but couldn't! As soon as I went in, I saw a huge grand stage with A R Rahman written on it and I was totally amused! Then I hunted for A R R and there he was, with the Synth, in a white Sherwani! I was completely in awe! There was Hariharan on stage performing, my favorite singer and it was simply great to watch such great people on stage and hear them perform so flawlessly! Hariharan sang Vaaji Vaaji with Madhushree. Madhushree sang Vaaji Vaaji with the chorus part having hindi lyrics, whereas Hariharan stuck to complete tamil. Madhushree also sang Kabhi Neem Neem very beautifully, and very effortlessly, and ARR's interludes were splendid, I was screaming like never before when he started to sing! It was complete hysteria with the masses when he sang Dil Se Re..., Humma Humma (in tamil), Dum Dara Dum Dara from Guru (I fell in love with ARR when he sang this with Chinmayi). The surprise song was Thee Thee from Sivaji! I was totally high listening to him sing, and I was singing along with him, only to have really shocked sardarjis turning around and giving me really funny looks as to who is this singing in Greek/Latin with ARR! North Indians have no clue about any of the South Indian languages - any South Indian is a Madrasi in the North and any South Indian language is Tamil for them! (pronounced as Taaaaamil, here! :-)) But that dint stop me, I was cheering away to glory, throughout. ARR's second outfit, a dark purple kurta was very good and simple. He was composed and pleasing on stage, always had a smile. The highpoint of the show was when ARR sang Jodha-Akbar's Marhaba Marhaba! It was mindblowing!!! The twist to this was, he ended Marhaba with O oooo from Rukkumani Rukkumani and then jumped to Veerapandi Kottayile! and ended the fusion there! Was very interesting! Then came Hariharan, who enthralled all of us with Yunhi Chala Chal along with Kailash Kher (who went gaga about Delhi, since he hails from the North!...well...:-)) Hariharan also sang Chanda Re with Sadhna Sargam, Tu Hi Re with Chitra - extremely well, unbelievably well I must say! Then there was a classical zapper with HH, Chitra, SS and another singer (who sings and even resembles Sukhvinder Singh, I dont know his name) - Ghanan Ghanan from Lagaan, they sang the song in style, with lots of harkat in raag Malhar, and switching to Ghanan Ghanan, it was a treat to listen to them! HH sang Bharat Mujhko Jaan Se Pyara Hain from Roja and also the melodious Aye Haiyrathe Aashiqui with Sadhna Sargam. Sadhna Sargam performed her Chupke Se from Saathiya, and Chitra sang Kehna Hi Kya extremely well! Not to forget the spark of the night, Naresh Iyer with his Roobaroo and Paathshaala, driving the Delhi audience crazy! Chitra sang Ik Onkar followed by Thodi si dhool meri (the Rang De Basanti title track) along with the singer I dint know...:-( If anybody happens to watch this show on any channel, pls let me know his name. However, what took me by surprise was this singer from Aasma (the pop band of Channel V), Neeti who sang Barso Re, Maiya Maiya, Chandralekha - along with Tanvi, and Ni Main Samajh Gayi (Taal) and she sang very well, she had a very good stage presence. Also, Rehana sang the song Chhaiya Chhaiya, female part - very well. There was an additional treat waiting for us, Shauk Hain from Guru, by Soumya Rao. ARR announced to the audience that unfortunately this song was not included in the audio CD but was in the movie, so Soumya performed the song and it was very good. ARR's Pray for me brother and Vandemataram were superb! Shivamani's percussion was awesome and stylish. On the whole, the concert was GREAT! The climax is still not over! We knew that we missed the last Metro and took an auto to get back home, and we just started moving and there was this cop who was stopping our auto and just in front of us, we saw a huge long white taxi, a BMW and ARR sitting alone in the back seat!!! We screamed!!! We tortured the auto driver to follow the car just to catch another glimpse, and in the rush, a fat sardarjji had to fall in front of our auto and block our way! We were so ruthlessly enticed with the BMW that we asked the auto driver to still follow the car just to get another glimpse of ARR, but the car took the other route :-( We had to go the other way....Sigh.... However, it was and is and will always be a memorable experience, all my life! Three cheers to ARR and his fantastic music. Check out Chinmayi's blog, for a review about the concert, from the horse's mouth! :-) http://chinmayisripada.blogspot.com/ Just figured from Chinmayi's post that the unknown singer's name is Aslam Khan. I am wondering why Chinmayi does not mention about the singer, Neeti from Aasma...:-) Anyways, you can get info about Neeti at: http://in.news.yahoo.com/071115/32/6naqj.html

Jealous? :)

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IE420071012075349&Title=Features+-+People+%26+Lifestyle&rLink=0

I am waiting for this!!!

Food for thought...

In the international arena, Delhi - the capital of India boasts of showcasing Indian culture to the world. Being a music enthusiast, a core Carnatic music lover, mention the word Carnatic and the Delhi folks look at you strangely! Apart from areas like Rohini and very few places in Mayur Vihar, haunted by lot of South Indians, and not to forget the Tamil Sangam and the Kannada Sangha that organize Carnatic concerts once in a blue moon, Delhi seems very 'thanda' when it comes to this form of music.

Here's a short story about my experience in Delhi.

Having learnt Carnatic music constantly, since childhood, my thirst to learn more always kept me motivated. I consider myself blessed, for having Meera Mam as my Guru throughout. I moved to Delhi after my marriage. My hunt for a music teacher started 2 years ago in Delhi. I did not want to stop practising and all I needed was a good teacher who can hone my skills further. After a lot of enquiry among people, searching on the internet, visiting all possible sanghas, I found a teacher with great difficulty. I was very happy. In the first class I realized that she could not even sing Hamsadhwani correctly. She would start in Shuddha Dhanyasi and land in Panthu Varali. She was too lazy and would refuse to explain swaras for her own compositions, which in reality were copied from older krithis. How can I call such teachers as Gurus? She did not even know enough about music, but was teaching a lot of students. I was completely disappointed and I quit.

After a while, I heard a lady sing in a Temple. She was great! Being a musicologist, a lecturer in Delhi's Music School and hailing from a family of very famous musicians, this teacher was excellent, but very biased. She was greedy when it came to money, and to her, rendering carnatic music in 'tamil' style was called singing and not any other style. I wondered if I had made a mistake telling her that I hail from Bangalore. What is this bias about regions? Or was I that bad? I lost my confidence to a great extent when she de-motivated me. I stopped singing for a few months, almost 2 months! That was the longest period till date that I never sang. I again quit music. But I learnt a lot from this experience.

After that, I again found another teacher, who is quite okay. I am currently practising with her. Although I am not too happy, as long as I am singing and singing correctly, its fine.

Why am I saying all this? My experiences taught me a lot which I thought was very important to pen down.

Lesson 1:

Acceptance is important. Why can't our minds accept certain things? Ask yourself. Sometimes, the attitude of being extremely critical, unwillingness to give way to people who want to explore, bias towards language, believing that only traditional south Indians have legal right over Carnatic music, has created a mind-block among common people that only the older generation or the very orthodox clan (like brahmins, iyers, iyengars, etc) are entitled to listen, learn and enjoy this form of music.

Lesson 2:

Music is an art. It needs dedicated people, time and money to flourish. While we have people and we can make time, we also need to think about money. Musicians should be paid what they deserve. Today, we see a trend among singers like Unni Krishnan or Sudha Raghunathan or Vasumathi Badrinathan perform more concerts abroad than in India? Is it because there are not enough rasikas here? Definitely not. Apart from their own reasons, monetary benefits draw people out of India. I donot want to debate about this topic since I believe that until 1 Dollar = 45 Rupees and 1 Pound = 70 Rupees, this trend will always exist. When software engineers can migrate and earn more, why not musicians? However, music in India needs money and more enthusiasts. With so much of revenue, can't we have good music schools in all the metropolitan cities atleast? A thought that needs a lot of action.

Lesson 3:

How can we contribute towards music?

• Lets not boast about knowledge, let knowledge find its own way to unleash.
• Lets not be greedy and make business out of music. It is important to make money, but let us encourage doing this the right way and be ethical.
• Lets not be biased about music.
• Lets not make music only ours, lets learn to give and learn.
• Lets allow people enter the fraternity and explore, it is about letting music live.
  
  While my search for a good music teacher still continues in Delhi, I hope I could induce some thoughts on how to value a divine art form that needs dedication from us youngsters, so we can take it ahead and not let it fade away.

Magic in the midnight

It's midnight and I am listening to Meenalochani in Purvi Kalyani raga, its just so beautifully soothing....music is magic...if I am ever born again, my wish is to be born only for music, nothing else...no bondages, no relations, the only bonding should be music....wow...

Sometimes I wonder, all the great people like Sri Thyagaraja, Purandaradasa, did they ever have any desire in life apart from music and devotion...they would have faced so much of critical acclaim from their own people in those days, for denouncing their bondages, their families, their personal responsibilities, all in the name of God. Do you think that would have been a kind of escape mechanism or was it truly because they knew what they had in them and they wanted what they truely wished and they were lucky to attain moksha through their karma...I bet they did...how would it be if I become one like them? :) Wow...another dream...Every bold step taken towards doing something unconventional has always had people criticize you. That is because you are stepping away from being ordinary. How many of them come out successful? I think most of them do.

If one purvi kalyani can trigger so many thoughts and desires in me, what do you think all the ragas do to me...? God definitely knows...:)

I think I need some sleep now.

Good night.

Chimney Sweep!

Did you know that a Chimney Sweep is one among the lucky charms? Especially in places like Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, France, U.K, Chimney Sweeps are considered auspicious omen of good luck especially when you meet them on New Years day or when they visit a house to chimney sweep!

I really did not know this until I received a ‘Petit Ramoneur Sabogard’ – A doll of a chimney sweeper, a petite girl carrying a rope and a ladder – a surprise gift from France! I was told that it is considered as a lucky charm. I was surprised. Now I simply love this doll and I tried to get some history behind this.

The chimney has been a part of family life since the early Romans first realized that it was better to live in a nice, fire-warmed home than in a chilly one. They needed a way to funnel off the smoke the fires caused. Centuries later, in medieval times, fireplaces were invented to heat individual rooms and provide a safe place for indoor cooking. Folks soon learned that fireplaces and their chimneys needed a cleaning once in a while. A house full of soot and fumes isn't healthy. And so, chimney sweeping developed into a necessary profession. And a good one. People liked having the chimney sweep pay a visit. He brought clean, fresh air back to the home. Sweeps are associated with hearth and home, and thus domestic bliss. Chimney Sweeps became a sign of good health and prosperity.

In Vienna, there is a Chimney Sweep Museum itself! There are people who get trained for almost 6 years to do chimney sweeping!


Here's one such lucky charm! But the one I have is much better! ;)

Some philosophy…

Anger is a feeling, an expression. It has become a very common expression I can say. Lot of factors contributing to this could be – loneliness, frustration about not getting something you desired, ego, irritation, desire to please others but not being successful, low trust factor, low confidence, insecurities, all these things are very common in today’s life. Some people feel very proud to tell that they have a very bad temper and some men especially find it very manly to be hotheaded.

Lot of people including myself are moving towards spirituality, trying to get rid of stress and anger. I have a friend in the U.S and she says that every night she sleeps listening to some philosophical talks of a Swamiji and it helps her get a sound sleep. Another friend uses blogs to let free her stress. Each one is desperately finding ways to let out their inner self coz they don’t have anybody to listen to them.

Life is always hectic for most of us and the Rat Race syndrome has got on to us. As a child and even till today, one thing that shakes me is when someone expresses anger or raises voice. Being brought up in a very calm atmosphere, disturbances did not have much scope and were very few. And today if I look at myself, I am listening / facing these nuances almost everyday. Why? Is God making up for all these days? I really wonder. Sometimes I don’t know how to handle this, how to react to this, and I feel numb. Does this happen to you as well? I am not requesting for an Anger Management talk here, but just want to know if this is as common as what I am assuming it to be?

Handling temper is very important. Not many people realize that every action has an impact. If one does several good things but has a very bad temper, all the good things take a second stand and only the bad things stay afresh and take time to heal. If one does not know how to have self control over his/her own actions, then what have you achieved in life? There are ways to control anger, self-introspection, good hobbies, music especially to relax your soul, good disciplined routine, etc.

It is not good to be too impulsive and express anger always. We need to think before reacting coz there are people who may depend on us or who look up to us. Feeling more responsible and aware of our own self will help to make us mature I guess.

Flat culture

Whenever I think back about my childhood and my grandparents house and summer vacations in their house, I remember lush green plants, trees, awesome fresh environment, muddy floor outside the house cleaned with cow’s dung and fresh rangoli, a cow shed with lots of cattle inside, walk a few steps from the house, we see beautiful amazing huge green paddy fields, we would walk through the plants, purposely walk on wet muddy puddles, play in the fields, wash our feet in the clean kutti streams that ran through the fields and it used to be so awesome and so close to nature.

Today most of us are adapting to the environment, hectic life, lifestyle, hi-tech science, and what not and if not all, most of us are ending up living in flats/apartments. We hardly have any greenery in our houses and the only green we can boast of would be some few pots that we have planted – just to give us a natural feeling of being close to nature. If at all we have some greenery or trees around the flat, then that can be considered as a blessing or boon these days. I sometimes wonder when we have kids and grand kids, what kind of memories will we be able to give them? Of our congested flats that look like mere match boxes, the congested roads the minute we step out of the house, the few green plants in our houses which may or may not have survived till then and what about the place to play? On the cemented ground / artificial man made commercial parks? Ofcourse practically speaking, everything has its own reasons of growing population, survival of the fittest context.

Sometimes I pity the upcoming generations, they will definitely miss a lot of things in life what we saw and would want to give them. But how far can we succeed in this? Is the Flat culture really creating a FLAT culture? I wonder…

My career and how did it start?

No not actually in the IT industry after my graduation. It started way back after I completed my standard 11. I was on holidays then and suddenly I got a call from my school teacher, Miss Rani. She needed help. She had to go on an urgent vacation and hence wanted me to supervise class 10 kids in their Final Exams. I openly agreed and I was excited! It was a week’s job, morning 9 – 4 PM. It was a great experience to be back in school and meet all my teachers again and share some good memories of school days. My Subbu Sir (Maths cum Class Teacher in High School) was so glad to see me back and also told fellow teachers that I had scored 100 in Maths in 10th. I used to be a strict teacher and move around, it was fun to see students and bully them. But trust me being a teacher is a very responsible job. It is not easy. To tell you the truth, I love it.
Then after Miss Rani got back, she called me up and asked me to meet her. I said okay. When I met her, she asked me if I enjoyed the experience, I said, yes very much. She offered me Rs.500. I refused, but she said, this is for your work. I had to accept. That’s my first salary. The most memorable one. Felt great that time.

Then after that, I finished my graduation and was loitering around, taking up GRE and TOEFL. Those days I was so jobless. And one fine day I met a friend who offered me a job again as a teacher for NIE – Newspaper In Education, a programme run by Times Of India wherein teachers (usually trained ones) conduct various workshops for school children and visit different schools. She told me that I had to take up Math Workshop and they would pay me Rs.250 per class, for 50 minutes and I may have 4 to 6 classes per week in different schools. But traveling was at my cost. I again agreed instantly and took some tips on how to plan. I surfed the internet to analyze the maths level of middle school kids, 5th – 7th standard and prepared math puzzles on charts – using K.G. Cardboard and Sketch Pens. I used lot of drawings since that attracts kids and I used to carry them to those schools. It used to be so much fun. Initial one or two classes I was little scared since I did not know how kids can cross question. Some classes used to be so noisy to handle. But I did manage to get their attention. Once I got used to their questioning it was fun. Kids are brilliant these days and they ask very good questions and teaching helps you learn so much. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I made around 1000 rupees per week then, worked for around 3 months and dragged another friend from college into this. He took Vedic Mathematics workshops. He also got addicted to this, not because of money but because of the good experience with children. We would share a lot of incidents and it was so much fun. The funniest was when kids ask you for autograph in the end of the class.
Sometimes I still wonder if I should take up teaching as a profession. In my music classes also I used to love teaching and writing notes for kids. Probably comes more naturally for girls. But the kind of satisfaction you get is different and nice. May be one day when I get really fed up with this IT industry I will switch to teaching.

Handsome cops, perfect packages

They are strong, they are powerful, they are sensitive, they beat up all the bad guys who trouble girls, they have style, suave, they say the right things at the right time, they are just so perfect, and to top it all so good looking that you forget the fact that they are cops and start fantasising like your ever wanted super heroes.

Their characters are so well packaged with all expected qualities we look for in men, that we literally fall in love with them! why do directors do this? :(

I am taking about Surya - in Kaaka kaaka and Vikram in Saami. Hehehe!

Read this somewhere

Some lessons we learn only through pain and failure. It's likely
that as a child your parents told you not to touch a hot stove.
But you probably learned by being burned. Sometimes we only learn
the value of something... health, money, a relationship. .. by
losing it.

But why? :(

No one knows.

Accept and move on...

Love Birds in my house

My little kitchen has an opening for exhaust fan, yet to be installed :) However, it is currently the lovers joint for two pigeons that always sit there together. Initially I loved watching them. Although at times I used to find all the jars fallen on the shelf coz of these love birds flying in and out of kitchen, I thought its okay...But guess what! Yesterday I went back home after work and at the door itself while entering the house, I could hear water flowing out from a tap. I rushed inside thinking that there's something bad that has happened. I ran inside and saw that the kitchen tap was open and water was flowing out nonstop. The water filter was tilted on it, probably that was due to wind I thought. While I closed the tap and as usual trying to keep the jars in place (assuming that the love birds would have come in again), suddenly something popped from behind that jars and just flew past my head! I screamed in horror like as if some murderer came to attack me! I was so petrified and numb for a few minutes, my eyes filled with tears not knowing what to do I just stood there to see that one pigeon that was sitting inside the kitchen just flew out. I cooled down a bit and I was so angry at them.

I slowly got back to arranging the jars while I found something white behind a masala dabba, guess what, it was an EGG!!! A pigeon's EGG!!! I was astonished! I was happy. The birds kept looking inside the kitchen from the exhaust outlet like as if they were so helpless. I felt so much for the mother pigeon and then I thought let me wait and see what they will do. I just turned off the light and quietly stood behind the wall and watched. Slowly the mother pigeon entered the kitchen and tried to move the egg, while the father pigeon kept a watch at the door. Its amazing to see the behaviour of birds, so human like. Then the pigeon could not carry the egg and it still lies in the kitchen. They waited at the exhaust till it became dawn and flew away. I have left the kitchen open so they can take away the egg today and will close the outlet in the evening.

That's the story of love birds in my kitchen!!! :)

Stressed?

I see stress all around, whomever I meet, whomever I talk to, and including my own self, STRESS is THE word buzzing everywhere. We imagine that our life is so horrible and everyone is enjoying their lives except me. But wait and look around, each one has their own set of problems. And then, there's no time for us to unwind. What to do?

Slow down and enjoy things that really matter to you in day to day life. Sometimes your outbox feels squeezed and shut with all the 'to-dos' pending in the inbox. It's time to simplify life. That's the only way to do things that you like, reading, traveling, music, exercising, friends, etc. Look for ways to simplify daily chores by organizing your day better, or even changing some old habits by simply saying 'No' or even by asking for help. Slowing down helps you balance your physical, mental and emotional health. So slow down and take a chill pill. Relax and enjoy life.

My trip to Agra

I visited Agra over the weekend. We drove from Delhi to Agra, the Delhi – Agra highway is a simply super(b) 3.5 hours stretch and you land in Agra. An old city with a lot of history behind, ruled by the Mughals, starting from Babur > Humayun > Akbar > Jehangir > Shahjahan > Augrangzeb, once the capital of India during Akbar’s reign, now famous for Taj Mahal, is an interesting city today.

Buzzing with cyclists, cycle-rickshaws, tongas, autos, tones of two-wheelers on dusty dry roads, with old forts and buildings on one side, and chauffer driven camry, Honda city, safari, endeavour, Mercedes on the other hand with firangs inside sitting stylish, dying to get to Taj Mahal, was an interesting sight! Right from the beginning, you get to see street-side shops selling the ever-famous Pethas (pumkin burfis soaked in sugar syrup, yummy!) – kesar petha, coconut petha, gulab, khas, angoori petha, wow wide range of sweets and lots of hotels, including pizza hut, mc donald’s, udupi hotel and dasprakash on the stretch that leads to Taj Mahal. Seemed like tourism is a main business in Agra. The streets are filled with handicraft bazaars, esp the Sanjay Palace, Maal Road areas.

On day 1, we headed to see the world famous Taj Mahal, with mixed reviews ringing in my head, from tones of people, saying its dirty, turned yellow now due to pollution, Yamuna is so polluted, Taj has lost its charm, blah blah…we reached the Taj entrance. They have battery operated buses that takes us to the gate which is about 1.5kms away from the parking. These buses charge only Rs.4 per head accommodating around 15 people per trip. At the entrance, we pay around Rs.15 to enter and foreigners pay 5$. Having bought the ticket, we went inside, the entrance is dark like you enter a cave and as you walk out towards light, you see a magnificent white building almost like the full moon in the night sky, taking you from real to tranquil state and making you speechless…I shot pictures non-stop, took around 10-15 pictures at the entrance itself. You are hounded by tourists, photographers who bug you to let them shoot your picture and that’s very tempting. So we did that as well, posing in some ridiculous postures, although I refused to hold the head of Taj and take snap! God! That’s embarrassing or what!!!

Walking among loads of tourists, I withdrew myself into my shell and so did my thoughts. I started walking and stepped on the marble stairs went up stood in front of the Taj Mahal and it was breath taking. The flooring, designs, the optical-illusions the walls, the roof cutting, the calmness, silence, white purity, is so peaceful in its own way. Just go there to sit calm for a few minutes, forget Mumtaz forget Shahjehan, just enjoy the place in your thoughts and dreams, what you love to be, what you love to do, and even probably hum your favourite song!

Kaatradithu adaivadhille kaadhal adhu dhaan
Saatchi ennu nirkiradhu tajmahal dhaan…

Day 2 we went to Agra Fort, the fort of Akbar the great, from where Shahjehan used to see Taj Mahal from his prison. It’s beautiful. You feel like you have gone back to history. I felt like a queen walking in my own palace and I kept describing which part was my bedroom, my sitting room, my music practice room, my evening walk area, my playing area, etc etc. I felt so good! Reading little notes on the marble blocks right from Memoirs (oops! My blog name carved on Marble in Agra Fort!!!) of Akbar to Aurangzeb’s cruel regime was interesting.

On the way back, we bought some foot wear, since Agra is famous for leather, saw some superbly woven hand made carpets that were highly expensive ranging from 7K to 8K for a 6x4 feet carpet. Not to forget the tongue tickling chaat – aloo tikki, gol gappa, gulab jamuns, pav bhaji on sadha(r) bazaar.

Stay in Holiday Inn was pleasant.

Was a good and pleasant experience. Masala Tea on the way back in the road-side dhaba added more masala to the trip! Hail Taj Mahal!!! Hail Agra!!!

Excerpts from "Being A.R.Rahman"

Happened to watch this programme on CNN IBN on Sunday, around 00:00 hours, an interview of ARR (which I hope was not relaid before). Here are some of the interesting lines:
Interviewer: How do you unwind from your routine?
ARR: Music itself is like unwinding activity all through. One whole lifetime is not enough for it, where is the time to unwind from music?
Interviewer: You manage your music business on your own, you know so much about copyrights, distribution, etc, how do you do that?
ARR: If you dont do that, you get conned in the film industry. I am a father now and I have to think on those aspects. Its a switch-on - switch-off mode.
Interviewer: People say that ARR's music is still innocent as a child...
ARR: I enjoy what I do, else it wont reach out to you. The times when I dont do that, it shows in the music.
Interviewer: Of late, you are using a lot of your own voice...top ones - Dil Se, Swades and then for the first time Shehnai was used in the song in different style - other then the usual marriage scenes..and bgms
ARR: In a way, its nothing better than delivering your own baby, so that's the feeling I get when I sing my own songs and yes, people also like it. Swades was composed when I was in U.K. I was just watching out of the window and these tunes came to my mind and I decided to use Shehnai in the song.
Interviewer: You sing a lot of tamil songs in your shows, hasn't that been talked about?
ARR: Yes, I do that. Lot of Tamil audience enjoyed that, while Hindi audience did not enjoy much, but I do that even now, I perform in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, so its like National Integration, and people like it.
Interviewer: About religious lines..some XYZ writer said, having Mohammad in a name gets recognized like you are from a terrorist background, so how do you see that?
ARR: Yes, people ask me if I am Tamil, Srilankan, etc, but every religion / sect has had its own phase, at one point it was Christians, I guess now it is Muslims, but it is all temporary and I hope and aspire it will be fine.

It was a simple sensible talk, and very very interesting. For those who missed it, may be you can get it somewhere on the internet.

Madhusree vs SS

I keep listening to a lot of songs sung by Sadhana Sargam (SS). Once in a while when I listen to Madhusree's voice, suddenly it feels like Sadhana Sargam's voice.

SS has sung great songs from several years. ARR gave major songs to SS like Snehidhane (alaipayuthe), Kalai Dhinam (new), Swasame (thenali), Karthik Raja's Un Perai Sonnale (Dum Dum Dum), which are excellently sung by SS and ofcourse many more great magical numbers. Of late, ARR is using a lot of Madhusree's voice in several songs, mostly hindi and some in Tamil also. If you notice, Mayilirahe (Ah Aah), Kabhi Neem Neem (Yuva), Pal Pal Hain Bhari (Swades), Ek Lo Ek Muft (Guru). Somehow I am not at all convinced with Madhusree's singing. I feel ARR could have used SS for all these hindi songs including Mayilirahe which I feel got spoilt although Naresh Iyer is marvellous. Wonder why ARR is sidelining SS. He may be experimental, exploring new voices, etc. He gave lot of songs to Swarnalatha once upon a time, for example in Karuthamma - Porale Ponnu Thaayi, to Kummi Adi in JOK. Swarnalatha sounds great in all these numbers and ARR's choice of voice is commendable. But wonder why ARR uses Madhusree so often. At one point ARR experimented with Nithyashree's voice as well in cinema. Thank God he gave her pure classical based songs and stopped with just a few. Nithyashree is great and my due respect to her classical singing. But again, I felt her voice did not suit playback singing very well.

Whenever I listen to SS's songs, it never leaves me with a bitter feeling, somehow Madhusree's style is not that impressive.

Motherhood

After going to Art of Living session last evening, there was definitely a feel good factor and calmness set in me. Listening to Sadhinchane by Balamurli I drove back home with a lot of thoughts on my mind. I went home and was happy to see everyone. I had a good dinner and helped in some house work and was about to crash on my bed. My sister suddenly called me from the room and told me to baby sit her new born son for the next thirty minutes since she was busy with some things. I said okay…since I was tired and it was 00:00 hours already!

My new nephew is a sweet little angel, he is chubby, he is adorable and just too cute almost like a little stuffed toy. The minute she left the room he started crying and I was suddenly woken up from my world and all my senses got activated in a jiffy! I just checked his nappy and it was wet! Phew! I said to myself and started changing his nappy although he continued his crying session. As soon as I finished that and took him in my hands and kept him on my lap, he quitened down immediately and shut his eyes!!! I was shocked and relieved too. Thank God he kept quiet! And then slowly I started humming Gopiya Bhaagya, a raagamalika, starting with behaag, and I kept observing his expressions, I got so immersed in him that I even finished the 4 paragraph song so quickly without even realizing! It felt beautiful…it is an inexplicable feeling to have a baby sleeping in your arms in peace. Motherhood must truly be a blessing is what I felt.