Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Just wanted to thank everyone who has left a lot of nice comments and the mails which have come after seeing the posts here. One of the times that I am thankful for being able to be in touch with people directly, who tell me how a show has been, instead of believing in hearsay.

Otherwise, with the help of Mr. Kathiresan who has been diligently working to send me clips of my songs which I couldnt find, but then my skills of using Google are not exemplary as I realized, I have updated my audio blog to almost all of the songs that I have sung to date.

Out of these there are almost 30-40 movies/songs which have not relased, for whatever reasons, and of course to those I have no access to.

I am also trying to get the clips of the title songs I have sung for various serials. If that is done, this proves to be a good record for us as well. All these years, we have not recorded a TV programme or something on the radio. It was always someone we knew who ended up having a copy and then we used to take it. Also, most of the times, we would have missed a telecast of a performance of mine on TV or the radio. And this was more or less the case with newspaper articles.

Life and times are good... and things are going pretty well :)

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Sangamam

If all goes well, I will be on Sangamam at 9:30 a.m. IST on Vijay TV tomorrow morning. Was supposed to have been telecast last week but there was a technical hitch.

This has had a lot of viewership lately, being telecast on sunday mornings and all that and this is one of the very very few shows where I have sung some Hindi numbers in a Tamil channel! :) And I love that!!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

On being interested......

Got these mails reg the Pongal show with Gangaiamaran sir. Some said I looked disinterested. And the others had something or the other to say.

I dont know how it came acros that I was disinterested. As far as I was concerned I had fun, I was dancing as much as the small space allowed me to. And it was unfortunate for Saindhavi that I was too tall for her :)) Actually we were contemplating on making her stand on a brick.

For one, I was not intending to take part in this show, and refused initially, plainly because I dont belong, and dont know most songs. One of the mails even asked me why I kept quiet sometimes and didnt sing along. I dont know the songs. Period. I sang the first line, or whatever I knew and for the rest I had fun dancing.. well if you can call it that. And there was a dearth of mikes as well. So I did what I could under the circumstances of not knowing the lyrics, and in between there was a 1 and a half hour break thanks to a technical snag. We went there for the shoot at 6:00 p.m. and returned home at 2:00 a.m. We were extremely hungry, and I was dead on my feet. And most of the songs were recorded only after the technical issues were rectified. Thats when I learnt I have to do something about my stamina.

Bottom Line : It was a good show, I had fun and I didnt sing because I didnt know the lyrics and not because they were "dappankoothu" songs and to make things clearer, I love the fast paced songs.. I dont have a problem with singing them :)) LOL

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Blue Elephant

And thats what our company for providing translation services is called.
Though the name was decided on quite some time back, I didnt want to put it up without giving a link to the website, which has stepped onto the WWW a few days back. The site needs to be fine tuned but that can be done in a while, considering the way I change my mind about a lot of things and the changes I have already made on the website :)

Anyway here it is.. and this time, Godspeed to me :)

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Pongal programmes!

Starts at about 9:30 am IST on Vijay TV. Sangamam. I enjoyed doing this show but didnt have a clue that they will show it on Pongal.

10:30 On Sun Tv, pattikkaada Pattanama, with Ganagaiamaran Sir and a host of other musicians.

And the 2nd part of the "Symphony" the show on Kairali will be telecast today.

Didnt plan any of this but looks like I have ended up on a lot of shows this time!

Friday, January 13, 2006

My Interview with The Hindu

Dated 13/01/2006 on the Friday Review section.

Have not been interviewed by The Hindu before and this is the first. Check it out here.
http://www.hindu.com/fr/2006/01/13/stories/2006011302990300.htm

I got some mails regarding the Pongal Special programmes on TV, and yes I am taking part in the Pattikkaada Pattanama. Also the second part of the Kairali show will be telecast tomorrow.

Otherwise nothing to pen down for now :)

And Have a Great Pongal people.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

The MacBook Pro

The Macbook Pro... endless wait and no clue as to when and how and whether it is going to happen at all, I postponed my laptop acquisition indefinitely. And it is here finally.

Now All that I have to check out is how good/bad this is.. also was surprised to know, ok I am no techie know all, that non-intel based Macs were also available.

Please do let me know if there is info about pluses and minuses, whether I shuold buy the intel-based Mac or not....

I must thank all the people who patiently responded to the same topic thrice, in three different posts. Thanks a lot people :)

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Triplicane

We happened to visit triplicane a couple of days ago.

An organization called SYMA and they conducted the Thiruvillikkeni Thiruvizha and I was asked to inaugurate it along with Mrs. Sudha Ragunathan. When we were wondering where it was going to happen, we were asked to step down to the area encompassing the Kolam which was now full of water and the area had been beautified. I remember a portion of my childhood which I spent in Triplicane. The huge Kolams, running about barefoot on the roads, checking out the Perumal when he came on his rounds.. it used to be good fun.

There was some kind of a common skein which tied all the people in and around that area together, its activities, the temple....

As a kid, my grandmother used to take me to the temple, and there used to be one area where I was told by grandmom to remove a piece of thread from the clothing I wore on therein, I fail to remember what was in that small enclosure now. And I used to be terribly excited because each piece of thread meant that God will give new clothes. So each time, when I went to the temple I ll make sure I leave a piece of thread there. Of course, the idealogy behind leaving the thread in the temple is a different thing altogether.

Coming back to the inauguration, Sudha aunty and I sat on the stage, and she was asked to sing. And she sang Kurai Onrum Illai. Thereafter when I was told to do the same, I was petrified, actually not petrified or scared, just the feeling that its not a done thing to be there and sing after her, on the stage, sitting next to her. And I kept saying this is not right, and all that.. but I got down to singing a Soordas Bhajan on Lord Krishna. And my voice boomed all through the area, of course I realised we were on a public address system much before that. And somehow I felt something new, of just wanting to be and do nothing. I am a nature person and I get taken in by my surroundings and usually get overwhelmed.

Thereafter we were taken into Parthasarathy Temple, wherein I hadnt stepped after when I was maybe 8. This time the trip was a different one. I am not the temple-going kind. Neither fastidous about it. Dont do the usual of going to the temple and having darshan on auspicious days, birthdays this that anything.

There was a huge congregation of people, and the temple had changed a lot from when I saw it last. And once inside I was standing so close to the deity that if I had just reached, I would have touched Him. Also came to know that he is the Perumal with the moustache, because he is a Kshatriya and all other Perumal dieties are clean shaven. Also saw the other dieties which are normally hidden from view. And at around that time, the screen was removed and people there started chanting in one voice. Whoah! That was a surreal experience.

Once I came out, I saw that Triplicane had just grown a little bit because it had to, but the essence, shade, colour, everything has remained the same. There are people at all times, walking around, ceaseless activity, and it was a different world. And a different place. With a pace of its own. I wouldnt go back and live there but somehow the air I breathe there, the sounds I hear, everything feels different.

I think I have not written about a temple or the areas around so far, mainly because, I havent been to many and neither have I wanted to. There were a lot of nostalgic memories that are associated with Triplicane, how my grandmom and I used to walk up to the Marina Beach from home, my frequent visits to the departmental store, one of the very few at that time at the end of the road I lived, guzzling some cold drink or another, waiting for the baloon man to come and when he did making sure mom heard him and try to peste her to buy one for me, the peanut vendor, and the way he used to tinkle the bell in his cart, drawing Kolams large enough to fill up the whole area in front of our house, our neighbours, the Hanuman temple which used to be at the end of the road where I used to go each morning before going to schoool and my forehead used to have shades of Kunkum, Vibhooti, Sindhoor, and sandalwood paste. People used to tease me saying that there was no more space in my small forehead. I learnt how to play carrom from an uncle who was extremely good at it and got back at all the boys who bullied me with their skill in playing the game. And this uncle taught me everything. I never took to chess though. How I forgot my school bag on the bus and was afraid on what was going to happen when someone from the area, who was with me brought it to me. How I forgot the bus pass one day and the conductor just let me go That was a different time, and seems a different era. And so far away. All the memories came in with a huge whoosh. I was not so influenced with it in some of my previous visits. But this time was different. And this shall remain imprinted in my memory.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

My New Year's Gift

This link was given by a good samaritan. I was slightly upset that I was unable to take any pictures of the show with Rahman ji at Karaikal. And usually I have no records of the shows/programmes/concerts that I have given basically because it was not possible. The pictures are uploaded here
Staring up at the sky, looking for the stars to appear on a dark night... like some one took some tar and painted the sky with it.. no moon and no stars ..yet..

I keep looking and then *ping*, one appears and then *ping* another , and it seems like I point somewhere, a star appears and looks back at me "Hello Yourself.." and then like someone clicked their fingers the whole sky was replete with stars, each twinkling to its own rhythm, to a different note, to make an ethereal symphony which fails to reach my ears. I try and imagine, to see, to imagine what it could be like, who is the conductor? who are the players? ...is there any music at all or is it the flight of my mind which for now doesnt seem to have anything else going round and round or in squares, or rectangles, whatever the shape may be? and I stare at one far away star which keeps winking, and I dont blink... it winks slower and slower, I still dont blink, my eye lids go heavy and then the star disappears from my line of vision. My eyelids shut down to my cheeks as if they were being pulled by an invisible string from my face. And when I open my eyes, its like Lo and behold and wow! The sky, stars, the breeze takes a different path... its wonderful to be able to look up without the moon screaming for attention all the while, and just see nice twinkly things, which somehow leads to feeling of peace and happiness permeating into you... and then somewhere in the distance.. a tweet ... and then a chirp and then a caw, the birds start singing their own tune, the trees sway gently to usher in the dawn, the cock crows to herald the arrival of the sun .. and on the horizon and golden and then rosy and an orange glow.. and then a zillion colours one after the other , shade after shade dribble in.. there is a nip in the air and my hands have been asleep for ages.. I rise to see the sun rise and even surprised to feel dew on my skin, clothes .. everywhere around me.. I smell the air, think the bird sings a nicer tune never heard before and the sun looks different.. the bud opens to smile upto this new world.. somewhere bells peal... I close my eyes, send a silent prayer above or below and beyond ........ the dawn of a new minute, a new hour, a new day, and a new year..

no matter what the air may bring, or what the bird may sing, whether the moon is high the sun feels nigh.. a new dawn gives the oppurtunity to be someone different, someone better, someone human and someone as a part of the cosmic dance and to be able to move in rhythm.. breathe in tune.. and when I am in harmony with the universe, I am the universe and the universe becomes me....

And the dawn of a new year to let us be in harmony with ourselves, within and without, with others and with everything .... may the Universe conspire with us to make our space, the space we occupy a better one. May the Universe conspire with us to bring a smile into everything. And may the Universe conspire with us and may we become the universe. and may the universe conspire to bring us all the elusive happiness and joy and peace of mind. Godspeed Good People
Happy New Year