Sudha returns to Mambalam after two years

But not with the usual bang :(. Not that the concert was anything less that good, but it was too short. She didn't even do 3.5 hrs and that by no means is a satiating concert from her. This is probably one of the few ocassion where we can listen to her live for like 4-4.5 hours. Organizers could have given her schedule on a day when hers would be the last program.

I remember her concert two years back which still remains as one of the best concerts by her till date. It was a satiating one.

She began with the same dharu varnam she sang two years back - maathE malayadwaja set to khamAs which is one of my all time favourites. I sure must be blessed to listen to that in almost 3-4 concerts of hers till date :). Then she went about singing plenty of favourites - vaataapi gaNapatim set to hamsadwani, nagumOmu ganalEni set to aabhEri, akhilaanDEshwari set to dwijavanthi, alai paayudE set to kaanaDa, banTureeti set to hamsanaadam, tandanaanaa ahi (brahmamokaTE) set to bowLi, kurai ondrum illai in ragamalika, krishna nee beghanE set to yamuna kalyani, chinnan chiru kiliye in ragamalika and kaNDanaaL mudalaay set to madhuvanti.

Vishamakkare kannan which I was told was set to chenchurutti was proly the best pic of the evening. The lyrics were just superb, naughty just like the title ;)). Hats off to sudha for the choice of such a rare song :). Anybody out there who's got that song, plz drop me a msg.

The last pic shows the crowd standing at the gates of Sri Rama Samaj @ 10pm listening to sudha unable to get a place to sit inside. That should give an idea as to why artists love performing here. The experience is very different for both the rasikaas and the performing artist. Such an attendance from the audience, and that too so much women (as sudha acclaimed) is not a common sight towards the end of the concert. Too bad she had to wrap up too early :(.

The isai vizha is just beginning to heat up. Next week is fully loaded :). More on those later.

On the bright and sunny side of life, all thanks to these festivities am temporarily out of the blogger-block syndrome :p.

Maharajapurams kickoff Sri Ramanavami Mahotsavam Isai Vizha

Oh Yes! The festivity is back with a bang. This is the third year in a row that am be attending it :).

Yesterday it was supposed to be T.V.Shankaranarayanan, but given to some mishap in his family he didn't make it. At first I was disappointed but then I was happy when saw Maharajapuram Srinivasan. For those unfamilar with carnatic mavens, his dad Maharajapuram Santhanam is a doyen in the art of carnatic music and is infamous for owning - "Bho Shambo" song ;). No one renders it with the majesty with which he does.

The concert was majestic with Naagai Shri Muralidharan on the violin, Thiruvaroor Bakthavatsalam on the mridangam and Sri.V.Suresh on the ghata. The violinst's fingering seemed so immaculate, his fingers literally thazhuvi'fying (thats a tamil'ish word btw) the instrument. It was such a pleasure watching his fingers. There are very few artists who fingering is so captivating. I know that at the end-of-the-day its all about the sound, but nevertheless this is something you can enjoy only in such a free-for-all tharai ticket kutchery ;)). Needless to say I enjoy the friendly taunts / exchanges between the percussionists. And yesterday it was a crowd pleaser for what the duo played was as majestic as the vocalist's renditions. Very enjoyable it was, and I know thats a subjective statement so just bear with it ;).

The only songs I recognized were Swaminatha Paripalaya in raaga naattai, raguvira raNadira in raaga husEni and of course bhO shambhO in raaga rEvati \:D/. I almost left the concert just before the last one after a ton of phone calls. The moment I heard he start it I ran back to listen to it, switching off my mobile ;)). Gladly it was the last piece and was simply brilliant.

Plenty of good concerts starting this saturday, so I better get back to finishing as much as I can before hand. I don't know about the artists but sitting for 2-3 hours is real physical drain for me. Glad I had enough space to sit in a different posture every 2 mins :p. Otherwise I seem to have somehow lost the flair for blogging lately. Even been considering stopping it for good, but then I decided to keep it. So no bachoo attempts to write review's / song lists this time like I used to :(.

Is secular just a buzz-word?

Check out this article. For obvious reasons this has not been covered by the media ;). I am quite surprised that media which prowls for such controversial topics is silent. Sold out perhaps?

A christian cross (on the new 2 rupee coin) and some Saint Dnyaneswar (on the new 1 rupee coin) replacing the majestic Indian flag and the lion capital in the two respectively. Since when did the government displace people and items of national interest out in favour of religious symbols?

I wonder if our constitution's tenets such as secularism have become a cover for many politicians to do all their dirty work. Flaunt it all in their flagrant speachs to fool the masses and get on with their scum. Disgraceful yet the truth. Have people become so tolerant or is it their disregard for anything outside their livelyhood? Or too busy to take on such issues?

Reminds me of this quote - "We must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we much fear most, and that is the indifference of good men".

This world is not enough

so he thought and took off the beaten path
not sure if he had enough he gave it all he got, or so he thought
dear ones to keep him sane, near ones to keep him hale
he kept walking down a dark tunnel hoping to see light someday
stumbling every now-and-then in the dark, he walks with his tears falling on the rocks

a feigned smile for the world, but none in truth
just a few more days before the clock ticks 2 past a days hours
and hez nowhere close to where he thinks he belongs
merry a day it should have been, but not this time, not last time
dark clouds are meant to pass, but only if you are meant to last
hope is all that holds him up, blank is his mind waiting for the unknown

Who am I? What am I? A seemingly lost soul for now :). Cheerios amigos.

Flaunting to fill your stomach

A month or two back I been to a good-bye dinner as one of the girl in our group is leaving after her marriage. We did spend an entire afternoon (a long time ago) getting a worthy gift for her, which was the best part of the evening. The rest was Whine & Dine for me. Not entirely whining, but I was wondering if it was worth it. Do read this sarcastic and mocking article in The Hindu (courtesy iCEeYZ). Much of what is said there is truly what happens.

Most of the time we go to one of the fanciest of places with the fatter menu card (by pricing). All of a sudden it has become a symbol of status. The excuse - once we all get married we would not have an opportunity to spend time and/or money this way *duh*.

Starting off with some unknown starters people laud at the wierly named delicacies. Oh btw, that was a decision made even before tasting it. Order some variety of indian bread, pick some exotic sounding side dishes and usually more than required wasting the rest. It is pretty much the same EVERYTIME. I havent tasted something really exotic as they claim, probably because I ain't a connoisseur of food. But then the folks at the table start saying, "WOW, this stuff is amazing guys. Dont miss it!".

I am not gonna go around saying there are people without square meals a day and we spend like this. Its been so and it will continue to be, and I ain't gonna make a statement as to how one should choose to spend money. Neither am I against such flaunting per se. Most of the time we'd console ourselves saying that we had a great time together. Ain't that what it is all about? So why do we depend on some extravagent indulgence as an excuse to be with people?

Strange that we have come to equating spending money lavishly with having a good time with people.

They've done it : Nike Cricket Crazy

I am an advertisement freak. More than the programs, I watch out for the advertisements and esp. ones that stand out. I remember having posted on another ad which had come out during the football worldcup by adidas. Gotcha ... its here. This time nike's caching on the Indian Cricket Fever.

If much of rest of the world is crazy about football, almost the entire populous of India is cricket crazy. The money that our players get is sign enough for this. Personally I don't watch this sport much unless it gets gripping and compelling :D.



Just watch this advertisement! How better can you portray the India craze and yet feel home. This is as crude as it can be. The grotesques of the Indian life and the craze lurching withing us. I just LOVE IT! Nike's gonna sure get a lot of attention this world cup :).

Kudos guyz. An amazing ad in recent times. BRILLIANTLY CONCEIVED AD FELLOWS ;)!