One and a half days in Kerala

We left to Kerala yesterday morning for a show at Quilon/Kollam. Its pretty strange how sometimes, being at the airport can give you an insight of a plethora of human beings. Maybe its best that I really dont digress on this statement to avoid sounding, well,...... snobby? snooty? Either or both. Whatever it is I couldnt stop smiling to myself for a long time therefter and its pretty good for other peopel to see a smiley face than a grumpy face.

Also its strange how people immediately take me for a northi and speak to me in hindi after one look at me. Once I was pulled by a traffic cop for no reason at all. But he told me I jumped the red light. I was like what? and then mom was with me.. And the thing was he instructed me in Hindi to pull over. And when I did speak in tamil, he said I wouldnt have pulled you over had I known.... so what should I make of this? And at the airport yesterday, a guy called Ekambaram instructs em to go "Ekdum peeche" for security check. Yahan jaaiye Vahaan khade ho jaaiye...mom couldnt stop laughing.

Sometimes when I sing Ghazals at a given place, and if the group is not from chennai, there is usually a debate as to whether I am a northi or not. Which happened a few days ago at a concert with the All India Tax Lawyers Meet apparently cos I didnt have a 'southi' accent and my pronounciation was pucca or so they said. I am easily taken for anyone but Tamil. I am not cribbing, not at all... but all of these make for some nice memories.

We flew Air Deccan for the first time. It was by sheer luck that we got tickets as everyone said tickets were not available. But we got them with AD. And surprisingly, contrary to the horror stories some people painted, AD was a comforable flight back and forth, and also no plonk landing :) Maybe it has something to do with the size of the craft?

From Cochin it was a 4 hour drive to Quilon and I made up on all the lost sleep. While mom was left egging the driver to go faster than 40 kmph when we had a concert at 6:00 p.m. We landed at the venue at about 4:40 did a quick rehearsal, went to the hotel, dressed up came back at 6:00 and then started off with the show. Met Mr Biju Narayan for the first time and also sang with him. And Palghat Sriram. He has this way of improvising everything that at the end of each phrase I was left gaping that even if a fly flew in, took a nap and came out, I wouldnt have known. And there was this group of dancers from Bangalore, Ocean Kids or something like that, excellent dancing. I ended up singing KMI, Snehithane, Minsara Kanna, Guruvayoorappa, Iyengar Veetu, If you wanna, out of which minsara kanna was one song which I had not rehearsed as it was a last inute addition. And surprisingly it came out well. Audience was about 2500 strong.

When we got back to the hotel, we found that there was nothing to eat as everything was closed by 10:00 or so as Sriram anna said. The people at the hotel could offer only water. But thankfully the organizers got us some stuff to eat. Next morning took the car and it was a mad rush to the airport and to find that the flight was almost an hour late. And the guy who drove us down said he had never driven so fast and he was hardly averaging at 80 kmph.. :)

Back home, back to work, and it was good that I caught up on some sleep. Mom as usual got none. She hardly ever gets any rest. While I am languishing by the comp she has to do all the crap work. I am not at all domesticated and sometimes I fell I am pretty spoilt or that my mom has too large a heart. She doesnt get any house work done from me. At any time.

And I got some good reviews about the "Symphony" show on Kairali which was telecast last saturday. The second part of which will be shown in about 2 weeks. And this show will also be telecast on Kairali TV on the 31st.

Also I am back to being confused consumer as I got told not to get the Mac Powerbook and 'waste' money and also the Intel - Apple tie up .... God knows.. but there is absolutely no info forthcoming as to whether a windows platform is stable enough for audio/video recording/editing. Any way that's that..

Have been reading Tintin and Asterix and slowly adding to my collection of Amar Chitra Katha, reading a book on manners nd etiquette, Life of Pi, The Divine Romance by Paramahamsa Yogananda and something on the lines of improving English. :)

I have been pretty active in Orkut lately, and found that one community was started some time back in my name and another a coupleof days ago sayign "we love chinmayi" ... phew sometimes I dont know how to react .. and some times overwhelmed, some times embarassed.. but it feels nice as well...that I am liked ..........

Programme on Kairali tomorrow

I will be featuring on Kairali TV on the programme "symphony" on a Christmas and New Year special, tomorrow 9:00 p.m. IST and on next saturday which turns out to be the new year special as well.

Its a one hour programme presented in two parts. IMHO its one of the best programmes that I have had, with excellent audio, and music supports.

I also have a concert tomorrow here and hope to be back by then to catch the show :)

Sil Vous Plait...

As I have been told that I should wait until June or later to invest in a Powerbook because they are going to have something to do with Intel? At this hour my brain refuses to remember what exactly.

So Please Advvise ...Should I wait or should I not?

And..........

One of the things that kept me busy through August and September were the preparations for the All India Radio competitions. And I have won the Silver Medal.

I wished I would get a repeat for the All India First for Ghazals 5 years back. But that was not to be. That was the time when they refused to believe that I was a South Indian as I had nil accent to betray that I was.

One was that my throat was sooooo wound up that I couldnt sing anything decent on the day of the final competitions. And I was dead sure that I would not make it. But I have. But I guess its human nature to want more. The Universe and the green-eye conspired against me that day, and maybe the Universe decided to throw in a piece just for some happiness.

This automatically makes me a graded artiste with the AIR, with a B-grade, which I found was strange that they awarded B grade to both first and second prize winners. Anyway henceforth, all that I have to do is work my way through to the A-top grade.

And all this while I was vehement that I wouldnt learn under anyone but Mom, either until I got some sort of recognition like this from a governing body or something to that effect, or give my first 'legal' Hindustani Classical Concert. And thankfuly this has come through.

This was also to emphasized that I have learnt from Mom alone, a lot of people around me didnt know that I learnt my Hindustani Classical from her. Or refused to believe. Mom also was for the doctrine of having a 'stamp' of a popular and well known musician, and also tried unsuccessfully, desperately to put me under gurus outside of her for better experience. I could never sustain any where, more than four classes, with due reverence to all of them. After three futile attempts, she gave up. Because as far as I am concerned mom is the best and whatever I am, and whatever I have learnt in music is from her. She picked up this piece of rock, gave it shape, chiseled it, gave color and breathed life in it. Giving it the power to breathe its own wisps into music.

And, yes its all true that children take advantage of their parents when they are the Guru. And has been the case with me.

Also if I did get these recognitions after I went to another Guru, then all the years of toil, all the work mom had put in would just be passed on, just because he/she is more famous. Again with all due respect to them. But I was not willing to let mom's work go without any credit like that. And So I will continue.....

To do whatever is in my power to get ahead and be a success with music for there can be no better reward to my mom who allowed herself to melt as a candle for me to shine bright. She put her career away, to see me grow, and bring me to what I am today.

And this time round the Universe better conspire against anything else that even thinks to deter me and work with me :) Like they say, If you want something so bad, then the whole Universe works for you to make it a reality.. so time to get to work Universe.. :)

Anbulla Snehidiye

I have finally got my hands on the title track of Anbulla Snehidhiye, thanks to Mr. Harish for sending it to me. Eventhough I had sung this one, it was impossible for me to get a copy despite repeated requests so far. I remember a lot of people asking me for this one. so here goes.. You can listen to it here.

After Ages...........

I have caught up with movies playing.. So caught up with Kanda Naal Mudhal, Navarasa, Hanuman, Aaru and Thavamai Thavamirundhu. Over two days thanks to a friend who had come down from abroad on holiday and also because I surprisingly had an unexpected 3 days off. Funny how one other person can get you to do some stuff.. So off we went gallivanting about the city.

Have been singing a lot as well. So I had my hands full, Thanks God and touche.

I sometimes feel that freedom of speech or expression doesn't exist in reality. It is only in writing. It is my personal opinion, it can be subject to change, that the blog is one's own views on the various things they come across in life and the benifit of doubt should if not must, be given. Because each person has had their individual experiences to a given.... anything. Be it people, clothes, colours or whatever. Just because someone says that something is crappy, it gives no free rein to another to pounce on him and give rise to online brawls and slander.

I have been witness to a so much of this in the past few months that after a point in time I was disgusted. The absense of desire to blog and the lack of inclination resulted in me to the extent ofnot checking my own blog for weeks now.

Most of the Blog-brawls I think basically stem from the instinct to oppress another, to keep insisting that he alone is right and everyone else has dropped down from Hell. It is quite clear that tolerance has drastically reduced, to reasons which I intend to find out. And then there are groups and anti-group groups...

True that when something is on a public space like this, it restricts your style, and one must expect a lot of opinions to a said view. But what I would call for is a decent and polished manner of reacting in general. We have been taught to be polite and nice even when we disagree with someone or something, but where has all that gone? The first thing that I hear on the roads are a hell of a lot of beeped out words, which is now another addition to dictionaries. Road Rage. And another 'deviation from normal behaviour' for psychiatrists or psychologists to treat. And I guess there will be one, if not more 'deviations' which will arise from behaviour while blogging.

I just got plain sick of things and more than anything else I started dreading comments. Its crazy how just ONE comment can turn the face of everything around!

Anyway, that said, my newest songs are in Kalaba Kadhalan and Sandakkozhi.
And I have also recorded two very interesting programmes for Vijay TV - Sangamam and one for Kairali, it focuses on me alone and runs on the same lines of Sangamam.

I have sung a whole variety of songs in these shows which I havent had a chance to do previously. Both of them showcase most of what I can do in a nutshell. So we were extremely happy to do them both. Its seldom that a singer in the movies get a chance to sing anything else than what he/she is famous for.

But then this is the case with everyone and in everything. If more of this happened then may be there is a wonderful artiste dormant in a corporate honcho....

It was distress without rains till now and it is disaster with the kind of rains TN had. Anyway it rained in so much in Tamilnadu that we dont have to worry about water for quite some time to come.

And it also seems to be the season where a lot of my close friends are getting married in the next couple of months. Great times ahead!

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An Invitation

I will be performing at the Kamaraj Memorial Hall on the 2nd of December, 2005, at 7:00 p.m.

I will be singing Bhajans and Ghazals.

Please make it to the concert if interested.

As I have come to know, the show at Hyderabad will be telecast this weekend in the Sun Network channels I guess.

Other than that I am preparing for a concert at Kamaraj Arangam on the 2nd and 3rd of December.

what more? Have been reading, working, singing, watching a few DVD's at intervals, snatching time to sleep, irritating mom with eating... frankly I think eating is one of the most time consuming and boring things to do. And before someone is hitting the comment section without reading through to direct some not so kind words, read me out! :)) I love food. But find the exercise of eating boring. Wish there was some device under which you could stand and you could be instantly energised with the necessary nutrients to lead a healthy life. And you could eat if and when you want to. Not because your stomach protests and you have to go refill. I dont know what kinda girl I am gonna end up to be. But frankly, for the amount of chocolates I consume, generally fatty food, I should have been a samurai wrestler's sister. But thank God for small mercies. Actually this is a huge mercy. I love salads, soups .. and I comfortable with those almost all the time. Its rice and this and that, which bore me. Of course there are days when I crave for Vathakuzhambu and rasam. And if there is one culinary expert who must be pissed off most of the time, that must be mom. She makes great stuff, serves in style, .........To have such a disinterested person in the house, her interest is usually dampened thanks to me. But also she has trained my tongue so well, that I usually dont flinch, ahem flinching at food that is moderately made.

This state of mind has been around for a few months for God knows what reason. Hope this will pass.. thats something to chew on

All over again!

Now next in line, my mother's blog has had some posts removed, by a another devilish mind apparently. And as I see this seems to the be the beginning of super malice in blog world.

As I perceive it, this shoul be happening only because some nitwit/s feel threatened.

And this is no 'harmless prank' which happened in mine and in Priya's blog. In her case her blog was deleted. As so far, only women's blogs have been hacked, I daresay the next one should be another woman.

It is possible that this is some who is sooooo anti- women who blog. So keep rolling whoever-you-are, you are bound to get pulled into quicksand soon.

Also...

Has anyone wondered about 'Try'?

The etymology is this: Anglo-French trier to choose, sort, ascertain, examine judicially, from Old French, to choose, sort.

Also its more or less the intention to do something, or the lack of it. When try comes in, one has to be prepared for the eventuality of the task not happening as well. Or it also means an attempt, endeavour, effort..

But like maybe some more verbs, this is something which will not have a physical activity/action to demonstrate 'try'. This would be a toughie in Dumb Charades. Will you be able to convey " I am trying to read" Or "I am trying to give you the key".

Moral of the Story: Dont try, Do. If you can't do it, say that you can't. :)

The strange case of.....

"Can be able" and "cannot be able".

The more I hear the usage of this phrase, the more I am scared that it will become an adage. Whoever gave the idea of "I can be able to do it" or "Can you be able to do it?"

Worse... "I had went".. Gosh. There are a few things that I have a low tolerance to. This is one of them. Mutilating any language. Mispronouncing a language, and horrors, make a grammatical mistake.

Way back in school I was taught that cousin brother and cousin sister are grammatically wrong. Then there is 'No other alternative', 'Overspeeding'... yikes... The more and more I see them, even I start getting used to them and think they are right.

There was once that I said "I cant ascertain what you are saying" and then that's it. I was ragged completely by the Producer. This was during the recording of an ad jingle. The producer said the guy was wondering whether you said something good or bad. Cant help it you know, after so much translation, you tend to use words like that. Now I am in a very diff mode. I use unctuous instead of oily, cognizant instead of aware, and I was surprised when people didn't know what quirk, resplendent, embossing.. and some more, meant. Should I be surprised?

During some recordings, I am asked to change the "spelling of my humming" which means please time your inflections to the rhythm. And the best is "Idhu oru Gallop-aana song". God knows what that meant. Actually most conversations are in Tamil and the people who do speak English are good enough with it. A lot of it is because I guess people have lost out on perfection, and finer qualities. Also a usual tlip of the songue.. sorry, slip of the tongue, sedation and seduction. When I heard that first, I burst out laughing much to consternation of the girl. I apologized immediately though. At this point, let me tell you somethings that not many know about me. Ok I changed my mind. Its becoming too long. I will put another post on that.

Even if you point out to some, that hey change that buddy, gosh they are soo irritated. And the trend that I have seen a lot especially in the south, is when you tell someone, please don't do something, the more they do it, just to irritate you and unfortunately for them (and for us)it becomes a sickening habit that they cant get rid of even if they want to. This is the way I am if it irritates you, I will do it some more so that you can be more irritated. And seeing you angry makes me so happy like I have won an Oscar. And then you correct grammatical errors in English, you are done for. Immediately you are a "Peter" or a "Jane" who is from a high funda school. Sometimes turns out that they would have come from a more up-market school.. but everything else is sooo "heylloo, houe aaaarrr yuuuu dowing?" And anything ending with -ve is immediately -we. Like 'lowe', "positiwe" also the 't' is non existent so 'id eees pohsidiwe". Everytime I hear a "Lowe story" I am almost hopping mad. Its -ve for God's sake. Well what do you expect when people say vaalkai instead of vaazhkai, "aNaithu vagai" instead of "anaithu...." and like "Ippodhu virpaNaiyil" and there are a lot of news readers, some actors in TV serials, who seem to have a confusion between the different 'n' 'l' of Tamil. Now also its hurts mom's ears when she has to hear "SaTTRu" "KuTTram" ... There is no damn 'T' there... The stronger R is devoid of T. Thanks to a lot of people writing in English and reading Tamil. Now who is going to correct that?

Also one of the reasons I was taught not to imitate someone too much, (I am pretty good at that ;))with some words, and they way people talk and move or something, was because when you do it too much, it becomes your habit as well. And how so wonderful would that be, that sometimes you mimic someone cos its, you know quirky, or mad, and then it becomes part of you as well.

Anyway coming back this would not be if we read worthy books. If this is the way it will go, we can put language, pronounciation and grammar, in the list of things long-gone, sooner or later.

And also this was the post that Blogger ate up a few daya back. More or less. I like the older one though

Of the old and new..

To start off, have heard a lot of people making fun about older people. Right from school days. He is a thatha, she is a paati. And any kid who talks a lot is a paati. And then recently I met someone who said, the moment you know that someone has started talking a lot, that means he/she has mentally retired.. especially when they start with "in my days".......

Actually at my age, even I feel like saying during my childhood, and during school, and those were more or less my days. Older days. Nicer days. Happier days.

The times spent with grandparents and older members of the family was wonderful. I learnt to play stuf like 'Chozhi', Pallankuzhi, and something with tamarind seeds, I forget the name, where in you throw a seed in the air, and while it is airborne, you grasp one more from the ground and so it goes. I seriously doubt how many people my age know about stuff like this. Actually how many can pronounce the slokas properly, the Sanskrit way, instead of...a common example, my mom has always been called Bathma, for her name is unfortunately Padma. Anything starting with P, T, and in my case, C, you are done for. P becomes B, T becomes D, and C becomes S. So there is Badma, and Nadarajan, Sinmai so on and so forth. And my best friend. Yasaswini. I remember the way she used to cringe when someone mispronounced her name, which was almost always> Yasaaawini. yasasasaswini, hundred more variants, and this was when we use to be on stage and some guy wil annouce our names, and the next name to mutilate will be mine. And I used to end up giggling must to the iration of my teachers.

A lot of this has come to pass because we fail to respect the older generation. Just because we are younger, we have to tsk tsk away anyone who is older by a minimum 15 years.

Children nowadays dont know how to treat a Guru during Vijayadasami, when during school, I remember mom used to buy small mementoes and give them to teachers and take their blessings. And why dont children know about it? Thanks to their parents. mm maybe this is off topic a bit, but I had to put it down as well....

How much do we know of history from our grandparents? Of how life was? and like their view of why we had to bathe after a solar eclipse, and in almost all brahman houses, the concept of "patthu". Not many know the answer, and of the few who do, its guesswork, something that has been imagined on their own, or sometimes, they have logically thought of it and come to the right conclusion, and a handful know it from the horse's mouth. Talking of super imagination, I once knew someone who thought, Holi was celebrated with Turmeric and Chilli powder and then they came about doing it with artificial colours. And this numbskull went on arguing how he is right. Hm.... better not say anything more than that. How many of us know why we celebrate some festivals a certain way, the rituals, daily life?

How about simple stories like, for example, if you dont keep your peppercorns in place, and lose them, they will roll away and tell stories about you, dont eat too much raw rice or it will rain during your wedding, so many small beautiful things. Now I wish I could get back in time, or wish my grandparents were with me to unravel more about their lives. But its not to be.

My grandfather did all there was to do, owned mom's native village worked in the army, went to Jail during the freedom movement, starting a printing press or a newspaper I am not so sure, even made a movie, I found to my surprise, everything .. his must have been some life. And then my Grandmom. She was not as smart as Thatha. But she would just talk about so many things. And tell me stories, tell me not to draw the blanket over my head while sleeping, teach me the " Urugaadha Vennaiyum Or Adaiyum naan tharuven, ennaalum en kanavan ennai vittu piriyaamal irukka", and tie the nombu charadu on my wrist while I used to think, why I had to say this when I dont have a husband, and the best of all, she used to peel the skin off seedless grapes for me to eat.. check that out.. !! Of course to my mom's horror. Paati couldnt speak a stich of English except saying Chemistry and she was awfully proud of it, and later she could say "seedoaun" for sit down. It was great fun. I can almost imagine her reacting to stuff if I had to put down every thing that she said here.

And present gen children dont have the luxury of listening to stories from their grandparents. Most times its the clash of egos. The elders feel they are not respected and the youngsters feel that they must stay in their 'place' and not interfere. So much of wisdom and knowledge being lost. So much is already lost anyway. Most of us dont even have the time or patience or inclination to talk to our parents, forget the grandparents.

I decided to write this because my best friend's Grandmom has started blogging. And this may well be a missing link. I wish all older people start blogging to share their world from the days of yore, the world through their mind's eye and as they perceive it now. I only wish all grandparents of the world are introduced to this. No better way to preserve culture, at least as far as my small brain goes. At least for all those disinterested people, there will be hundreds like me who want to know of them, know them.....

And for all those who keep calling people mama, thata, oldie, you know, to generally poke fun at older people, I think its such a sad state of mind. Come on, how much longer will it take to be at the same age as they are. And I bet that we ll be a more miserable lot than the present older generation. Because our children are a 100 times better or worse than we are. And what goes will come round a 100 times better or worse.

Yes this is also saying in other words what I learnt, I guess all of us would have learnt in Std. 1. Respect your elders. I sincerely believe that their wishes prayers and goodwill, is the greatest protection and I guess there is always space in our skulls for more knowledge, even if it is trivial.

Happy Deepavali!!

Thanks to the rains and the corresponding Power cuts and also problems with our internet, I have been on and off connectivity. And when I did, just had enough time to catch up on work. The television has not been switched on in our house for ages, and anyone asking me what's on TV, it will be more "Duh". And its good that it has not been raining the past couple of days.

Had to give a sound byte to All India Radio and talk about my most memorable Deepavali. Did that.

This festival, to celebrate the triumph of Good over Evil. With the blasts happening in one of the places I love the most and to sickeningly plan it during a festival, that is close to the hearts of millions, I really hope and pray that all the evil minds are removed without a trace. And to also celebrate the fighting and living spirit, for the good of course, well I really hope this year on and from this moment, Evil everywhere is vanquished, the good rejoice and the others who have not been so good are modified to be good.

"Deepa - aavali" - Garland/Chain of lights... Sincerely I hope and pray that this festival should warm each heart and every home, bring happiness, togetherness, good hope, excellent fortune, good thoughts, and eventually put us on the path to get at least a step closer to Godliness.

Happy Deepavali and Godspeed Good People!

Two more...

Have to search where I am .. but doable :)

This is a pretty vague picture of the show. I am looking god knows where and for what.

A lot that I cant forget........

To start off, yes its Gachibowli, but spelt wrong owing to hurry to get out of the business centre.

Day 2, we went to the stadium, did the customary sound check, took some pictures. Mrs. Usha Uthup, Vasundhara Das, Suresh Peters, Sunitha Sarathy, Mahathi and I were there. Mrs. Malathi was also slated to perform but she hadnt landed yet.

Once that was done we left to the hotel to have lunch. Met Mr. Kamal Hasan, Mrs. Revathi and Mr. Jayaram. It was a great lunch time, what with Mr. Kamal sharing anecdotes about service in IA flights in earlier times and also discussing the cuisines of the world.

Also met Mr. Sudeep, the famous Kannada actor. Post lunch we were asked to go back to the stadium to learn the song composed by Raja sir and we went back there. And we had no clue about it. I was also slightly worried. More so, because they handed me 5 sheets of lyrics in different languages. Thankfully the tune was the same for Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. We started off in English and ended with English. Mr. Kamal Hasan, Mr. Jayaram, Mr. Karthik Raaja, who had come down for this purpose, Mrs. Usha Uthup, Vasundhara Das, Mrs. Malathi, Mahathi and I, and must add, Richard Gere, and most of the stars came up on stage to sing along.

Mrs. Malathi sang a telugu song and Manmadha rasa, and the whole audience was up on its feet:) Mahathi sang a song of hers in Telugu. Ms. Vasundhara sang a song called "Erimalai Naane" and Dating, Mrs. Uthup was singing her own Medley and so did Sunitha Sarathy, Mr. Peters sang a malayalam and a kannada number.

There was a major star cast which turned up, starting from Mr. Chiranjeevi, Mrs. Radhika and Mr.Sarathkumar, Sada, Shriya, Sangeetha, Mr.Vikram, Mr.Madhavan, Mr.Silambarasan, Mr.Mohan Babu, Mr and Mrs.Nagarajuna, Mrs. Revathi Menon, Genelia, Sania Mirza, Ms.Sumalatha, Dr. Rajashekar and his wife, Navya Nair, Sandhya, Tarun, Ramya, and some more actors and actresses, and of course, Parameshwar Godrej and Richard Gere. Mr. Gere was lauded for the efforts he had taken and basically this show was called "A time for heroes" to spread AIDS awareness in our country.

And though I didnt shake hands with Mr Gere we exchanged a few smiles. Anyway he is not going to remember me!!

After the concert there was a party at Mr. Chiranjeevi's residence that we were invited to, which we skipped.

In the hotel lobby, made friends with Sandhya and Navya Nair and their parents, who said they loved my song. BTW I sang KMI. And the show shoul be telecast in Sun TV.

This morning we woke to a pretty rude shock to realize that our Gold jewellery had been stolen from the stadium. We had kept it, just in case we decide to go to the party. And with that 80k down the drain. So this charity show has been something to remember. Sometimes I wonder why is it that good people are the ones who have to go through trials and tribulations, only to be happy 'in the end'. Who cares, really, when for someone life has been full of struggles, and when people who dont seem to have any ethics or values are happier, have lived more succesful lives. The more good people want to rise, the more God wants to 'test' them and knock them down so that they may rise higher, and sometimes to be knocked down again. Nice way of doing things. Its disturbing when I wonder what I have done to deserve this. Just that I go to some show, something gets stolen.

Mom went to the Police station and lodged a complaint and mom said that they are cracking down on who could have taken it. If someone from the audience flicked the bag, then there is no hope, but if its those guys, who place the chairs, maybe. That is, if they havent already sold the stuff. Bottom line is the Police are really cooperating. Only wish we had remembered that the jewels were missing last night when we left.

For now we are just waiting for light at the end of the tunnel.

To have a better detail about the show, check out Kamal's post on the same. We usually dont get to see much detail, since we are backstage. We lose out on the show as such.

In Hyderabad for a charity show, taking place at the Gachiblowli Stadium tomorrow.

We travelled with Air Sahara, and one look at it, thought it was some kinda private jet.

And sure enough it wouldnt have seated more than 75 people. The seats would have just been 1 inch x 1 inch x 1 inch. By the end of the 50 minute flight, I decided its better to walk down to any destination than take the Air Sahara.
The fact that they are relatively new shows in their inflight service. The crew, or at least the guy who served us looked like he could use some more training. The worst thing, was when he ran out of in-flight snacks, and he handed over one to my mom, and asked us to share it!! Wahhhaaaw.. enough to sue the airlines and be richer ;)
But then he decided against it and handed me one of the packs intended for the crew. Thing was it has different contents than the usual packs handed to the passengers... special treatment for them I guess.
The feeling of wellness inside the Cabin was worse.

And I now at the Business Centre at the Hotel, where they charge Rs 300/- only for half an hour of usage. Wonder why they need to charge such a whopping amount for a facility which is almost being offered free all around. But guess its one of the hazards, if you dont have the dumb laptop with you.
And Since I am no millionaire, I better scoot from here, before they slap a HUGE bill on us :)
Will update with pics and news about the event here. Its giong to be a magnificient one and please pray for me so that I perform well :)

Ciaoooo

Uploading the audio on audioblog just takes forever. A few songs down and a few songs to go, sometimes I think I must check the uploading overnight, and when I wake up one file will be done!

And also when I am uploading something, impossible to do something else. Maybe my system needs to be changed. Inspite of 512 MB ram and all the blah blah.

I need to get all my songs uploaded so that I could sort them in their order of appearance.

I have not been able to find some 10 or more songs of mine, since I guess, they have not really banged into the scene. Anyway this should do good for now. :)

As I have been putting the songs up I realize that I have been given some superb songs which failed to reach the listeners, mainly because the movie didnt do well. Now I wonder why should they be intertwined? One example is the Kangalal Kaidhu Sei album, I feel its mind-blowing. But the aam-junta doesnt no about it because the movie didnt do well. Also a song called 'Eppadi Solavadhu' by Bharadwaj Sir, vanished into a movie called "Oru Murai Sollividu". There are a few more like that and hundreds of such albums.

Like Bose - the Forgotten Hero. If I, a singer, feel upset about the whole thing, I wonder how it is for the creator of the album, when it is not projected well, since he/she gives his/her all to each nuance and note and everything that goes into a song and an album as a whole.. sigh...and double sigh

Whats with the Audioblog?

Have been trying to upload audio, and its just taking forever to upload. Then I get fed up and close the window and try again.

This has been happening from yesterday.

So whats happening?

And also decided the config for my laptop and this is how it is:

80GB Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce FX
Go5200 (64MB DDR)
WiFi Enabled
FireWire
Digital/analog audio
DVI & S-Video out
Dual link DVI
1 GB RAM
Bluetooth
DVD Writer

And the other thing that I am alo doing, is to get the entire collection of Amar Chitra Katha. I think Mr. Anant Pai, who started this movement, must be given a HUGE award. For instilling our culture into young minds.

For now the site offers only about 300 titles. The rest are not with them. I actually had about a 100, ten bound volumes of ten titles each, and as time went, I misplaced a couple and therest were flicked by God knows who. I have only 2 or maybe 3 volumes of that left. I guess it will be a long wait, to get all that they have ever published. So if there is anyone out there who has ACKs and doesnt want them, send it across to me :)

Work has been very hectic, with shooting mails, and checking up my work and others' work.

In between we saw Ghajini. I really liked the movie, only that the violence was slightly unpalpable. And I am also wondering what is the message that has been conveyed through the movie.

I read in the news that Rahman anna is making the music for 'Sivaji', so am guessing that will be something great to look forward to.

Also, there is this yearly practise at Raja Sir's house, where they ask people to sing at their Golu and have heard that it is a great experience. So Raja Sir's wife sent word to ask me to sing there. I was not sure whether it was a concert or what, but finally decided to sing one song. The manager said that a lot of people are going to sing one song each, or something like that.

It was pouring, so much so that a lot of our roads looked flooded. Once we went in, we came to know that Mrs. Sudha Raghunathan was giving a concert actually at 7:30. Sudha aunty has known me since I was a kid and she is also a good family friend.

I sang a Ganapati Bhajan and got up. It was a great feeling to sing there. I met Bhavatharini as well after a long time. We caught up on things a little bit and met Mrs.Yuvan a little bit leisurely. Then Sudha aunty came at around 7:25 and started the concert bang at 7:30. We listened to her for some 45 minutes and then headed home as I had so work to finish up. Just as we were leaving Raja Sir came in. After that we left and came back home.

In between I also slightly dented our car. The first time it happened with me. All thanks to a dumb van who decided to back up when were all waiting to take a right turn. It was packed due to the festive shopping and walking would have been faster than driving around the city. And this fool who wants to take a right turn decides to change his mind, and back up and go straight instead.

And then he has the cheek to come and see what happen to his tin-can of a van. Sigh and a double sigh.

The good thing has been the weather in Chennai. Raining all it can, rinsing everywhere, for all the lapses that has happened in the past few years.

The more it rains, the more I want it to. The people here really struggle for something as basic as potable water.

There was one thing that I have noticed in my speech. Thanks to all the translation I am doing I have started using words like 'unctuous', 'ascertain', 'hinder' and what not.. Worse used them in the studios here, where people dont know whether I am using a good word or what. Thus got ragged royally and have been at the receiving end of a lot of words. More like the GMAT types.. :) Cant really help it, I am typing words away like a blitzkrieg on the computer on a day and night basis sometime :) But Cool.

One more thing that I have realized lately is that when you have enough work that you like, even when it becomes slightly arduous, you dont really feel like entertaining yourself. Or this is how I feel. Its been almost 4 months since I stepped into Dance Class. Somehow the urge to take the car out to go anywhere is really not there. Whether its a preview or for anything. Good that I am working from home. Poor mom has to do all the work sometimes while I keep peering into the comp. But guess now I will have to manage time well, decide sleep times, eat times, help-around-the-house times and all that. Sometimes I am thankful for the experiences that I have had, good and bad. Especially the bad cos it has made me a better person, opened new vistas of thought, of looking at people, and still it tests me whether I can still trust people and give them something called the benefit of doubt. Good. Thanks you God. I am happy for all that you have given me, but I am sincerely looking for 95% good things ;) Hope you are reading this he he...

Now the next drool-worthy, dream come true... ! For me that is..

Have been using the Sony Ericsson P900 for almost a year now and have been happy, despite people warning me not to go in for this one as it is not as stable as Nokia.

It was tough for me to make the changeover.. to Sony. Thing is a friend of ours got us the phone from Germany and when it developed some problems, and luckily for me, we went to Switzerland at that time. And when we told the dealers about the problems, they got it replaced.. How cool is that!!!

This phone I have fallen in love with is the P990i Smarphone, WiFi enabled,3G Modem, better camera (thats the one thing that I dont like about the P900) at 2 Megapixels, auto zoom and what not, Symbain OS 9.1, handwriting recog, FM Radio, Full internet browser.. its WOW

Now what do I need? It just needs to come sailing into my hands.. hee hee...

Its in the 'coming soon' mode ... jut gotta see how soon it comes to me :D

Help someone see light.....

I went to sing for yet another inaguration of a State of the Art Facility at Rajan Eye Care.

While there, I saw there was a short movie on the ype of work they had done, their visits to rural areas, free surgeries, screenings, camps... My God..One super couple and they are really service minded.

This post is to request for donations through this Blog. This is a request to whoever is reading this to donate Rs. 2500/- towards a Cataract Surgery or Rs. 5000/- towards a Corneal Implant.

Donations are exempt from tax under Section 80 G and the cheques/drafts can be made favouring Chennai Vision Charitable Trust. Once you decide to donate, you can choose a date that you want, say a birthday or an anniversary, that you want a surgery to be performed, and specify the same to them.

Leave a comment, or send me a mail for more info.

Mom and I decided to do all that we can to Rajan Eye Care.

And this is also our way of saying thanks to both Rajan uncle and Sujatha aunty, and doing maybe what we can for a worthwhile cause.

Help bring light to someone's life..

20,000 and counting :)

My hit counter looks impressive again :)

I am now trying to integrate the blog to my own sleeping chinmayionline.com.

And its becoming VERY tough to get the designer who put my website together. I need to change the look and feel and what not.. but whither Ravi??? He is damn good but cant catch him at all.. or rather I can't catch him.

He was my colleague at Sify or maybe a friend of a colleague, I am not too sure now. All I remember is that I saw him at the MMUG or the Macromedia User Group Meetings at Manasarovar Towers, were Sify once was. This was of course spear-headed by Kribs.

Wonder if I have to look for someone else to get my website up again.....sigh!

Finally the links to the concert with Raja Sir at Italy

http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/26/s/album.3830/theme.239/

This is it.. Happened to sing Elangathu, En Ullil (though this is sligthly sad, cos I forgot a line :D), and also in the Music Journey, asaya kaathula, and in the orchestra also I guess... a couple of my other songs are not there, and some other songs which were performed in the show.

The Music Journey also features the voice of Mr. Uttam Singh.. and I enjoyed this item personally.. a lot of things that Raja sir explained.. God it was a great experience. I liked the kabaddi song especially :D It was great fun!

I am guessing the Concert of Raja Sir's on the 16th this month at Nehru Indoor Stadium will have some items from this concert, as the Three in One, which we performed there, will be a part of this show as well :)

Goodie good .. we should go this concert. Looking forward to it:)

The 02 XDA Exec

This really looks too good.. This is on my wish list for now... actually I have a huge wishlist .... Am thinking of putting that up soon :D

Why? What? Where?..............whatever

Who are we all? Where do we come from and where do we go? And what is all that we do in between?

What is honesty, what are values?

Why is that values are not the same everywhere? Is it really so easy for us to hurt someone without a thought? What is this whole kinda separation in the name of religion? Aren't we cultivating hatred? Caste, Creed, Community........

You wake up in the morning, breathe the air around you, what are we gonna do during the day? are we gonna make someone hapy that they know us, or make them curse us with all their might with what we do to them? Why is jealousy and hatred all around?

Is it really so tough to love? To just be... is it tough to be true children of God? To maintain the 'Clean Slate' of mind that we had when we were born? Or were we born with all this?

When I look at someone, I usually wonder what is going on in their minds, about me. And I wonder if I had to stand apart and look at myself, how would I look? How am I? What do I seem like? What is the impression that I am giving? Do I look stupid?

Is it easy to hate and all that tough to love? Is there so much of violence in us?

What are we here for? What are we expected to do?

What is humanity? Are we human at all? Or are we something else? Why cant there be one world religion? And though people say it, why cant it be brought to effect? Is it politics, or at the end of the day, doesnt it boil down to the stupidities of the human mind?

And why is that there aren't too many of us who are comfortable staying alone? Is it because we cant be alone with ourselves because we are too scary? Can we be happy in a room all by ourselves and with no one to converse with?

What do we think of? Can we put thoughts on hold? Yes we can. Or so I have read. Is the thought-less state tough to reach. I read, that to get there, we should first let our thoughts whoosh by and look at them dispassionately. And then there are gaps between thoughts. Those are the gaps which will slowly become bigger and lead to the thought-less state.

The power of the mind.. its sooo written about, spoken about.. still the mind cannot be pinpointed on the anatomy.
Psychology doesnt acknowledge the presence of 'mind'. Is it the brain or is it the heart? Or is it the conscience? Or is it a stream? Does wish fulfllment exist? Som say natural disasters are manifestations of wish fulfilment.. Is it true?

Are diseases a manifestation of the mind? what is it to have the power to heal? And when we do have it, what about the laws of Karma? Does it mean that we are interefering in someone else's Karma to suffer? Or is their Karma that we must find them and cure them? What about Mercy Killing? Is Euthanesia wrong? Or is it right? What is it to be able to look at yourself?

Sometimes when I stand in front of the mirror, not to satisfy my vanity, but to maybe find out who is this person looking back at me? Can i morph into someone violent? Or Can I morph into a Saint?

Who am I ? Am I you? Or am I someone else? Are you me? Are we allone? Are we all pieces of a whole? Then why is that we are happy at someone else's downfall? What is the society? What is the environment if we aren't the one creating, maintaining, shredding, piecing it again? Is n't everything around us the way WE want it to be? Then why are we always unhappy? And when do I get the answers to the Why? And sometimes, Why should Why exist?

Today has been heavy...

The day started normally. Got up in the morning, did some work, checked up on some other work.

And then, Mom told me that we have to visit a Cancer Hospice called Jeevodaya. A trip to Jeevodaya has been pending right from the time we went to Coimbatore. They take care of Cancer patients, in the terminal stages. The patients are usually abandoned, or they come there of their own accord.

As I entered there, I had no idea what I was going to face. As I had mentioned in one of my previous posts about Mayuri, a very small girl who was afflicted with cancer when she was 4, and she wanted to meet me because she liked my title song in 'Anbulla Snehidiye'. They got in touch with us and then I went over to meet the kid. This was at Apollo. 3 years back.

But this.........

One of the first things I saw as I entered was a board which talked about, the day's food donors and the death anniversaries of the people who had breathed their last there.

And then I went across to some sort of a notice board where they had posted the pictures of the people who were suffering from Oral Cancer. It was like NOTHING that I have ever imagined. And then there were notes from the patients, which told parents should make sure that their kids dont smoke, dont drink, dont have Pan Parag, keep away from bad company, and basically have clean habits. There was this one picture of a man who had oral cancer. To describe it grossly it was as if the cancer was just corroding the area in and around his mouth, half of his face had been eaten up by cancer, to reveal something that you might only think will appear in movies and nightmares.

Then the doctor, somehow, was maybe reading my face and the way it was changing, and she said she would understand if I didnt see the patients after all. That was when I broke down. And so did mom, but not as openly as I. I knew she was undergoing the same as I, but she had a ver dignified manner about it. I felt the air was charged with a feeling of dread, impending death, remorse, anger, desolation... all at the same time. This Hospice is at Madhavaram. Almost about 30-40 kilometers from where I live.

My stomach knotted, convulsed. Whatever. And it was then I realized how there were these hundreds of people I know who CRIB CRIB AND CRIB, about their lives, bosses, their Parents, Girlfriends, Boyfriends, Children, Spouse, wotnot... And how they think its sooooo God damn cool to smoke, drink or smoke 'POT' as I have recently learned, drugs.... what not. Why in God's name??? Its abuse to themselves and those around them.

How people fail to realize the gift of life that we have. That our face or any part of our body, insides or outsides is not being eaten up by something, that they are not looked at with pity, looked at by a repulsed face, and to lose what is most important to each human - self worth and dignity....That they can still move about, drive their cars, go out live their life, without having to wonder when its your time. And also that the body we have is such an amazing thing.

Mom then went in to see the patients and she told me that it was nothing like the pictures. And that I must come in to remove the grotesque ideas that I have imagined by then. I went in with the same feeling of dread. Saw a lot of people were down due to the same cancer stick or the bottle of carcinogenics. We lost our appetites. And I am still filled with the feeling of dread. Stillness looming around.. its scary.. the What If....? It will take us a long time to get back to normalcy.

I met a few people, clinging to my mom, heard a very old lady giving loud yelps of pain. And then there was another old lady who loved to sing. She kept singing one song after the other. There was another who was an attention monger, wouldnt let the doctor or anyone else look at anyone else but her, a 20 year old succumbed 5 months after she had been married, and has been paralyzed hip down due to a tumour in her spine, and its now almost 1 1/2 years since she is bed ridden.

The patients were then called and I sang for them. And then both me and mom sang. And this was the first time I sang without closing my eyes, and was never as loud.

Some of the things that the patients have to go through is the extreme pain, and then the odour. They live with it and they realize it troubles the others. A lot want to die. Some live for the moment. And they all realize how valuable life is. And live for the moment, with as much good thoughts as possible. Each day is a struggle, wake up to pain, strut through the day with pain, sleep with pain, dream of pain. And the curse of being dependant on someone else for your personal hygiene. That no one wants you anymore.

There was a lot of anger I felt after I got back into the car when we were leaving after having spent close to 4 hours there. Fury. That people can let something , well what can I say, as stupid as cigarette or alcohol rule their lives. And with smoking all those people ruin the lives of the others too. You drink, fine you drink, you spoil whats in you. You smoke, you spoil what outside you. Your family, friends who dont smoke. Why, maybe smoking should be an essential part of global warming as well.. it is as dangerous, if not more dangerous than vehicular emission. I wonder if this will lead to some kind of a genetic mutation as well. Maybe it will enter the gene pool.

The question of whether cancer can be hereditary is a debatable issue. There isn't apparently, concrete proof, about this. But the doctors do say, that if there is more than 1 case of cancer in your family (in your blood line), you must take more number of tests, be extra careful. But it certainly doesnt mean that you will get it.

True, there are people who have been smoking through their lives have had nothing wrong with them, and those who have had clean habits and succumbed to cancer. To all those who pooh-pooh all this, well God save you.

There are some cases which can be prevented, like oral cancer. The bottom line is this,
Dont smoke
Dont have Pan Parag, tobacco, and avoid alcohol as much as possible
Women - Get your Pap-Smear tests done every year after you are 30, and also conduct personal routine examinations.
Have regular health check ups.
Have a high level of personal hygiene.
And I think it could be good to stay away from chemicals, in whatever form they come, a

After all this, even if people especiallywanna smoke, they can go into an air tight room smoke all they want, not get married, and even if they do, not procreate. Apparently, its not tough for the nicotine in you to enter your baby. I am ranting. But Guess that happens when you go so close to people who are living death.

Now I see why Dr. Shanta of Cancer Institute got the Ramon Magsasay. She should have been given the highest honour ages ago. And all those who have done and are doing significant work in the field of palliative care. Palliative care is the care of cancer patients, to give simple definition.

There are people, who work with patients on a regular basis and find out how positive they are towards life and how they live the moments.

And now what do WE need to learn to live the moments and live our life well? I guess we all can do some good to humanity, if we can just stay off certain practices which are totally unnecessary. And it would be good if the realization came, before we lose someone close to us, and maybe someone who is most important to most of us - OURSELVES. And this is when I feel that cigarettes should be taken out of the market.

This may not have been a very well worded post, but this has been a pouring out of sorts. Maybe I would wish I had written it better.

If this is not clear enough, maybe each of us needs to visit a Cancer Hospice closest to us. To realize that we are God damn lucky, that we are still in one piece, hale and hearty, and that we can make whatever choices and go ahead with it, and more than anything else, to show people who are suffering from cancer that we care.

International Translators Day

Today is International Translators Day and check this...

September 30 is International Translators' Day, and the International Federation of Translators has chosen to make "Rights of the Translator" its theme for the day. They write: "The right to express oneself in one’s language. The right to be served in one’s language. The right to information. The right to culture. The right to knowledge. The right to a fair trial. The right to legal aid. These rights, now known as human rights, could not be respected if no translator was present."

So one more day to the numerous International Days. I was just wished by a fellow translator in far Bulgaria. Goodie... Happy Translator's Day, me. :)

The NAME!!

Well I finally came up with the name. Its nothing like anyone imagined. Actually I didn t come up with the name, someone else came up with a few dozen, and I had to choose. It has absolutely nothing to do with the work that I do.

The reason given: Monster.com is the most popular jobsite, Java was named after coffee, Apple was named after, well apple....

So I was advised to take this name,so that people will remember it, maybe just because it has nothing do with the work:)

Let me leave it here.... Keep guessing till then!

I shall come back to posting more regularly, answer questions about my recording experiences, which I think Vijay has been asking for a long time, and more, once I finish the urgent matters at hand.

Mr. Narayan, I really appreciate the trouble you have taken. I have no words to thank you. And Also an Anonymous, Viji, Rajesh, Shankar, and Magnus.

BTW, the name was given by WOC - The Ad Agency which has done ads for Chennai Silks, Prime Roaster, Sting Shirts, Textile India, Indira, Veneta Cucine, and some thousand more, I guess.

Ahh... for a NAME!!

As I see, coming up with the name is one of the toughest exercises, as something you choose is instantly pooh-poohed by someone or the other.

Now after so many 'brain storms' from others and a few myself, my own brains have stormed out and they refuse to work on the same exercise again. !!!

The reasons I have been given as to why keep Chinmayi Inc., is because, though it doesnt have anything to do with the work I am going to offer for now, first off I was given parallels, Ogilvy and Mather, Tata, Godrej, and not to discount the names of all the designers in the word, and so many 'who is who'.

Another one - if tomorrow, for example, we start desiging our own clothes, publish our own books, start a Hotel Chain, anything, it can go under the same name. And not go through the rigmarole of finding the name again.

Of course some have also said that its immature to name a company after you. As usual there are pros and cons.

Though I love TransGlyph, now I see that having Chin Inc makes some sense, but I have asked the brains behind designing my brochure to give me some alternates.

And in this case, after you have read through this post, please open the comments section and type away what springs in your mind, regarding this post :)

And I must thank everyone's individual brain storm sessions that they have done for me, like so many Anonymous-es, who came up with their own list/names. Highhhllllly appreciated :)

Vote for the best please

Tell me which one of this is appealing to you as my company's name?

TransGlyph or Chinmayi Incorporated.

Vote for the one you like please. The majority wins.

Suggestions.........

One of the first things I should have done when naming the company was to Google the name, which I didn't. Now I find that there is a 'Bhashantar', just short of one letter of what we names our company, Bhashantara.

Result? Now the biggest prob seems to be the naming.. There are some in the list though, Lingua Verbatim, being on the top.

Pro Lingua, Lingua Franca, Word by Word and some more have already been taken.

So now I am requesting for brainwaves. Please suggest a name :)

What else am I doing? Ahem ahem...nursing a very sore throat!

Dont fill Petrol on 22/9??

My photo blog is finally up. Though it needs some edits.

And I received a mail to not fill petrol on the 22 September. Anyone have an idea as to what this is all about?

Lifted From Aditi's Blog

Written In High School Essays

Hey everyone. Here's a foward a got. Some stuff thats actually been written in high school essays. Its damn funny. Take a look.

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.
8. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
9. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
10. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
11. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
12. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19p.m. at a speed of 35mph.
13. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
14. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
15. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River.
16. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
17. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
18. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
19. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
20. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
21. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
22. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.
23. She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs

Copied from Aditi's Blog.... was too good to resist. Aditi is ONE of a kind! ROTFL

I came across this article on Yasaswini's blog and she also has her say on that..was an interesting read.

Today was hectic with a lot of work to be done, catching up on stuff to be done back in the city.
Jet landed beautifully today. Not the plonk-on-the-runway repeat. Food was not great though.

It seems to be true according to the comment in my blog as to how the breeze in CBE makes someone sluggish and wanting to sleep the whole day. Thats what I feel like doing there!! Cuddle up inside the covers.. Bliss!!

And this seems to be the month of birthdays and weddings and wedding anniversaries to which we are invited to!!!! Almost about 10-15 different occasions.. juggling time is going to be difficult.. Wish there was a way to shorten the travel time in the city. As vehicles increase and roads become arterial its getting more riding on the clutch and the brake than stepping on the accelerator. End result is back ache, tiresomeness, weak legs.. Gosh.... the problem of traffic seems to be all round.. there must be a way to get this streamlined. If only someone can teach two wheelers to maintain a lane, and not keep zigzagging, and make sure they pay upto 1000 bucks each time they jump the lane, and not to forget the auto guys.

I read the Jet Wings magazine, in which there was this article about internet on the go... Internet 'cards' provided by Tata Indicom, Reliance and Airtel. These are more or less the size of credit cards, which can be plugged into your laptop. And you have a roaming internet account. Reliance and Tata Indicom cards are proced at less than 10,000 and Airtel cards are priced at around 12k. Now how advisable is it to go in for this?

A New Year.....and New Dreams

This is the first time I spent my birthday outside of my city. In coimbatore, great weather, amongst some lovely people, practising a little bit, working, sleeping a lot :D.. it was good.

I happened to to go the 50th B'Day party of a gentleman here, and it was also another person's bday, another couple's wedding anniversary..

Went to a temple a few kilometres away from Coimbatore today morning. The car stalled a few times and then we asked uncle to come and then he brought the other car and we all went together. He was refusing to come with us in the morning because he wanted to play golf and then he had to end up coming.. hee hee ... he is good fun! I got him him to start blogging the last time I was here. And so he did.

We had lunch on the way back and then I came back and crashed. Slept off and even refused to see a Ganesh Chaturthi procession!

We might watch 'A.. Aaa' tonight.. have been intending to watch that one. I also watched Thotti Jaya and I liked the movie a lot. Mr. Silambarasan has shown a very different perspective about his acting capabilities and my mom and I loved the movie.

I am thinking I will have separate blogs for my pictures and audio blogs, so that its not necessary to go looking for pictures and audio blogs.

Really dont have an idea of what to key in for now so me the signing off...... :)

Fresh and Dewy

Its a wonderful morning here in Coimbatore.. cool and dewy!

I went yesterday to PSGR Krishnammal college and the reception I got there was none less than amazing. I went there to be the 'Chief Guest' at their veldictory function. I must add there is excellent talent here in these parts and unfortunately they dont get as much exposure as we living in metropolitan cities do. There was one event that was interesting. It was called 'Best of Karishma' since their event was called Karishma. There was this kinda stress round where the judges shoot different questions to the contestants, with idea of well, stressing them out, and the one who shines out is the winner. It looked very interesting and I expressed a wish to take part also. He he... it was a lot of fun. But then the judges maybe were taken off guard and they really didnt know what to ask me. I expected some more.. but it was fun nonetheless. I was not competing with the others though!!!
Finally a law student won, small wonder! This is her second time of winning this award in succession..I sang for sometime, and then I had to deliver the valedictory address.. it was slightly funny, everytime they called me on stage it was like "we now request the chief guest to do this, do that, receive this, receive that..." But it was awesome fun and I have always had the feeling that I have not sung the usual fast paced peppy numbers, and have always wondered whether people like what I sing. But yesterday they named almost all my songs and it felt nice that a singer like me is also recognised. And then its a very emotional experience in toto when they cheer. I least expected it.

All the flights that Jet Airways was plying were delayed and I met a friend of mine from Salsa class.. sometimes the wait is irritating. And in the aircraft, like I mentioned before I was given the same stinky bedsheet to cover myself. God knows how the gut - churning stink happens. But beggars cant be choosers and even after a full sleeve shirt and trousers, I was freeezing in the near sub-zero temperatures in the cabin. Food was so - so. And the landing wow..... he landed like damaal.. These Jet people must have mastered the art of plonking into the runway.

Later in the evening we went to party hosted by Mr. Jaishankar who has received the Arjuna Award for Adventure Sports.. He also apparently organises them and it was a fun party only that I was very tired. There was a lot of dancing and merry making. And of course I had to sing, and though I protested, I eventually sang Dhoom.

I have got a lot of mails from different people who have had told me about my singing but there is this one mail that I got today from someone in Finland. He apparently does not understand what I sing and has heard only two Indian songs in his entire life and one of them are mine. And he says it gives him nice feelings when he hears my singing.. One of the best gifts I have ever received.. and it proves time and again that music is sans barriers.

So far very good.

Vinayaka Chaturthi was good. I went for a shoot for a Television Channel this morning, the details of which I shall reveal shortly. This was a singer's special. And the studio where we recorded has excellent acoustics and I daresay that in all my interviews so far, I am the happiest in this one with my singing. :D

Our Puja thus happened late.. around afternoon and Ganesha put up with us until then, the darling that he is!

I went to the Mehandi ceremony of my Mom's student, Amrita who is more like a family member now. After an initial half hour of my giving a concert, I got into having fun, applying mehandi, eating and generally mingling around! And I drove back with mehandi on my hands, though mom lined the steering wheel with newspaper! My mehandi was almost dry and it now has a good imprint on my hands.. the trick for getting a great colour on your hands is not to let water touch your hands for at least 12 hours after you scrape the mehandi off.

The wedding is tomorrow and it will be a good mix of Bengali, Iyengar and Nair styles.. must be good fun! Some of her Super IQ friends from the UK have come down and they seem very excited about the whole thing... it was good talking to them too..

And I have not been going to salsa class at all, for sheer want of time.. I got some tapes from the UK though, learning from them should be a cakewalk now since I have the basics good now.

Yesterday evening there was another show, with Gangaiamaran sir's orchestra, with Manicka Vinayagam sir, Mr. Malaysia Vasudevan, Malathi Lakshman and Venkat Prabhu. Good fun.

Should be putting up an audio blog and some pictures in a couple of days... hopefully!!

Today was good. I went to All India Radio and gave a One - hour concert in Ghazals which will be broadcast in FM Gold on the 15th at 10.05 p.m.

And now let me tell you the reason why I asked for linguists. Mom and I have now started a Company to provide language services. Through this Blog and through a lot of friends abroad, I have a circle of good linguists. The company is called Bhaashaantara, which literally means translation. Why so many 'a's? Because I dont want someone to mispronounce the name :D. And no its not numerologically named!!!

We have been busy trying to manage the legal formalities of the company, which is now done and the work that I handle and now handling people and their work has also come in. But I am glad. I think this was needed.

I shall soon be posting the AIR concert on the blog.

I also sang the title song of a serial called Kurai Onrum Illai which will soon be telecast in Doordarshan. It is a serial based on disabilities.

One of the most important things that I wanted to type in here, maybe a lot of people dont know, but Ashutosh Gowariker, the director of Lagaan and Swades has now taken up the task of bringing electricity to 60,000 villages. This will be done in the procedure as shown in his movie Swades. I also happened to meet and converse with him briefly when I had gone to record for Mangal Pandey. So this is one person who is bringing about a change in our country. This is also a fitting reply, if I may say, to my independance day blog which attracted a lot of flak also. All we in India have to do is to sms to 7827 to contribute Rs. 10 towards this project. And it is now the time to dig deep into our pockets. Kudos to you Mr. Gowariker. Wish there were thousands like you, who not only make movies to give a message to the masses, but also take up the torch themselves.

And as for me I am associating myself with an Eye Donation campaign in Chennai, which will be spear headed by Dr. Mohan Rajan and Dr. Sujatha Mohan. When I went to their clinic a couple of days ago, I created a blog for them so that they could start blogging. :D But only God knows when they will!

They also have their websites www.rajaneyecare.com and www.lasikpavilion.com.

And in response to a query, you can donate your eyes online. Though I havent checked out how myself.

And I just tried the web call through Yahoo messenger. Though my friend could hear me, I could not hear her. But then we spoke over GTalk. And MY MY the clarity is just AWESOME.. thanks god for technology, and for the brains behind that! The world is such a small place!

And I am posting a picture that I took of an ancient mike which I saw at AIR and they claim that even the high tech microphones of today cannot hold a candle to it. And I also recorded with that mike.. Not too sure about the quality of the picture since I captured it on P900. check it out!!

And also I am not sure if I can post the jingle of Vivaha in here.. will have to ask permission first!!

And one query : I recently download demo version of the Trados 7 Freelance. Does anyone have an idea as to how it works? Its a translation software. And it doesnt seem to work though I have gone through the tutorial. Anyone having an idea about what I am talking about, please help.

Have you donated your eyes?

This is the eye donation fortnight. Mom and I donated out eyes three years ago to Rajan Eye Care, headed ably my Dr. Mohan Rajan and Dr. Sujatha Mohan Rajan. One cool couple, whom I met 5 years back at a party at the Race Club. Dr. Mohan has a superb sense of humour, and when I said that I was going to study Psychology, he immediately said he would provide me with a lot of patients, most of them friends, who were also present at the party that day. And when someone introduced him to me, and also added that he is a workaholic, he quickyl added that he is a workaholic by day and an alcoholic by night... of course all this was in jest. That was one evening I wont forget soon. And ever since, Mom and I have been part of all their important activities, and whenever there was any singing involved with inagurating his various facilities at his hospital, I was usually there. Mr. Amitabh Bacchan happened to come to his clinic, as they had to shoot for a forthcoming Hindi Movie. :D I mentioned only Mr. Bacchan because I am so in awe of him.. ! Of course there were so many super people who have been involved right from Mr. Surjit Singh Barnala and many names in the international arena.

And with time our friendship has grown stronger, though we hardly meet, except to check our eyes and mom's. And a few of our friends who have gone there have succesfully given their contact lenses and spectacle a decent burial, after the laser surgery... they are one dynamic couple... :)

And there was also a walk for Dyslexia (A learning disorder marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words) which happened at the Marina Beach today, organized by V Excel (headed by Vasudha aunty) and MOP Vaishnav College.

As for me, I am still hunting or the linguists, and mom and I are working on something too. work is great. And I have a few concerts lined up for the first week of september! Looks like its going to be a great month!

Lots more interesting things to come.... thou shalt wait with bated breath !!!

Do you know a Linguist?

If you know anyone who knows any foreign language, (native speakers are great) please let me know.

I am not looking at Indian Languages.

If the person is not a native speaker of the language, he/she must at least have sufficient mastery. If they have experience translating, better still. But thats not a definite criterion.

Do let me know... leave a comment or mail me :)

And I am getting the look and feel of my website changed.. so lots up and coming!

Check out the Indian Express dated 18-08-2005.. City express to be precise.. was interviewed by Liffy Thomas, The New Indian Express. I met her at the Bloggers Meet at the Boat Club organized by Kribs :)

Vivaha-The Chennai Silks

Well people you can now listen to me in the new Chennai Silks Ad. The Vivaha collection of the Chennai Silks.. And also on the Textile India Ad.
Both ads have been set to music by Mr. Suresh Peters and the ads have been made by WOC (or Winds of Change)

Amma and I are back. And I am happy and joyful. Must say I have missed her, and the time i went to Coimbatore to meet her, three days, out of which I am sure I would slept at least 40 hours. For once, I didnt have any deadlines. Nothing to worry about. And I could sleep without the fear that something was hanging just above my head. Not that I am complaining. I like being busy.Great weather, great just lolling around doing nothing. But I cant do that for long though!!
We went to Shivanjali at Coimbatore, to visit the Samadhi of Swami Shantanand Saraswati. He was our Guru. He passed away on the 27th of June. And I was asked to sing, and I sang one of his Bhajans. He was a divine singer. I guess I will miss him, though the past few years we have not had much contact with him.

Anyway, point is it is great to have amma back and I also missed Aditi for these three days.. :)
I had been camping at Aditi's place when amma was not there.

As long as my laptop is concerned, I have been advised to buy it in India, because a friend of our's has two laptops that have gone waste because she could not find the persons to service it. So me again in a dilemma. And also some questions about why do I need the Powerbook? Why not something else? Since I am not going to be some high end designer. But I am going to working with sound and audio files. So I guess I am back to Square 1.

I also went to Vasudha aunty's school and saw her Independence Day celebrations. Jayam Ravi had come to be the Chief Guest. I was also formally introduced to him today though we have known of each other.

And finally two cents about Independence Day. I think we are God damn lucky to have this freedom. Thanks to all this freedom, we have collectively made India to be known as a a poor country. We are responsible if it is over populated, and if any thing is wrong with the present politics and if the place around is polluted and dirty. Maybe high time we did something about all that. As my friend Manoj wrote in one of his earlier blogs, that if we came together, spent some money to make the street we live in look in cleaner.... and imagine if everyone started doing that, India would be a great place to look at in no time. And of course a lot more has to be cleaned out. Though the foreign influence have supposedly left us 58 years ago, the Generation Now is under a totally different and sometimes alarming way of western thinking and views. Though I agree and admit that the Americans have definitely given a lot of positive things to the world, it is also responsible for more of our elders living in old age homes, marriages breaking, more and more people, youngsters especially indulging in illicit sexual relationships, our core cultures lost, and a lot of our art dying.... a lot more but these are top most on my mind. Right now. We have not learnt their civic sense, while we have eagerly embraced the openness to sexuality. Most westerners are turning extremely strict vegetarians, and we turn the other way round.

Its upto us, to make our country better as much as we can. And over time, I have come to realise, that 1 is a very strong and a powerful number.

And that one person can make a huge difference.
Jai Hind!

So I am back... reason I have been away... some rigorous classical practise was necessary. And it took all my time along with my usual work.

Have been running like mad, trying to handle my classical music on my own, which is next to impossible when mom is not around. Result = I just cant handle it.

For now I am relatively free for some three four days, after which I have to begin another round of classical practise...

So far so good...

"Hari said...

I surfed into your blog through an nice post from another blog at http://spaces.msn.com/members/topoftheword/
Interestingly, that blog provided a list of celebrities and corporate leaders who blog. Guess what, you mingle there with the likes of Barbara Streisand, Melanie Griffith, Pamela Anderson, Bruce Willis and Anna Kournikova. You are the only Indian celebrity listed there. That was a surprise. I thought there must be more celebrities in India who blog. Any clues?"

Reacting to this comment on the previous post... first reaction .. wah ha ha ha ha ttttt ??

whoaaaah listed with the who is who..! I guess at least I have reached a list with some reallly famous people for something I least expected... Blogging!!!

Hope, from here, that the path is only upwards....... in my life and career that is!

And I must also thank Mr. Joslin for putting some good words about me!

Must Read - Article on Autism

Please read this article on Aditi's blog. A research conducted by Robert F Kennedy Jr. , regarding a particular goverment, that conceals (or rushed to conceal, as quoted) the data conducted by a study, that revealed that mercury in childhood vaccines may have caused autism in thousands of kids....
What do you think ???

To explain why I have not been writing much... Mom has been very unwell. And she, after years has agreed to pay the hospital a visit. She has never really bothered much and she just took her own sweet time and way of recuperating. She is a chronic slip disc patient, and now it has aggravated. Stress induced, they say. Push came to shove, and verdict that she HAS to be hospitalised, and there are also other health issue which have to be attended to. So I will be inactive in these parts for a few more days.... Until then..... So Long.........

An Apple Powerbook or a Tablet PC or a Laptop???

I know.. we have addressed this before.. but I really cant decide.. now it has come to the crunch.. I have to decide and let some people know about what I zigackly want.
I want a DVD writer, 50 GB and above space... I dont need a webcam. I cant think of the rest!

So shoot up people!!!

Also an I Pod is something that I am gonna buy.. Options on how to buy that, because I am thinking of going through with my first online transaction!

My First Audio Blog :)

So here comes... refer to one of the previous posts for more info on this clip :)

My Mom enters Blogworld

So here she comes.. and you can check up her writings here!
In answer to the 'baaboo' who commented on my blog on not to write too much of technical stuff and ask me to get back to 'my usual' ways!!

Have signed up for audioblog. Will be putting up my first audio post. A song which I sang for this hugely popular duo called Bathiya and Santhush. I can say that this is my first 'international' venture. They came down and recorded and I happened to sing for them in their album. This song, 'Re Pura' has both Sinhalese and Hindi lyrics.. So listen up and lemme know.. I will put it up in a few hours.. :)
And also my mom shall support her writings with some audio feeds too!

P.S.: If you check out their site, the picture on Production Days 3, on the home page, has my picture with them. No one though, can recognise anyone in that picture :D

Wish that I could do my MSc Psych, in a different way. I started to do it through Mother Teresa University, and they are pretty messy with the Distance Edu thing. I might get myself transferred to another Univ.. I am just gonna look at the MPhil options now. And find out which univ gets me the best course, on Distance Edu of course. Lets see.. maybe another 3 years and I will have those Dr. letters before my name.

Vasudha Aunty happened to meet a lady and a gentleman who were the first Principals of Vidya Mandir, if I remember right. Happened that they both are extremely intellectual. While the lady remained single, the man married. It was like that in earlier, most women like her had to remain single, or chose to remain single.

I wonder why it is like this, and the men always find a supportive spouse. Is it that they dont find men who are mature enough to accept their intelligence.. I know of lots of men, have read about them, every tabloid has more or less talked about this 'phenomenon', wherein the men are pretty uncomfortable with their ladies, if they do better than they do, if they earn more than thet do, are more successful or popular in their careers, (and God forbid if they are in the same field and workplace) if they are not the typical home birds. Now why does this happen? This is something I am looking for answers to. In this Blog. Please comment away.. ! One answer to that was, that there is no love then. (Why I am concentrating on this love and marriage issue, I plan to counsel in Pre marital and Marital counselling). In love, there is no jealousy, they only want growth in each other. Even if it means that one is better than the other. And the typecasting that has been happening for ages, that the man is the gatherer and the woman is the nourisher or something like that, now since role reversals are happening all over the world, I think this is one of the reasons that marriages break. More than that, there is no tolerance. To answer the question of why did a marriage not work?? She/He just found the wrong man/woman..! (Except in cases of domestic violence, which also stems from the way the individual has been brought up,and the surroundings he has been in)
Well, I basically think there is no such thing as a wrong man or a woman, just that they dont know, sometimes, the right things that have to be done to make a marriage work. No tolerance and no giving in. And frankly there is no such thing as love in this day and age. Marriage has become a convenience. Arranged marriages check out all the pre-requisites and there are a set of people deciding whether two people should marry each other. And love marriages, same thing, more or less, except that they work on a basic attraction maybe...(?) and also maybe they think they 'know' the other. Whats the bottom line, to this looong winding analysis? Well something that I want to find out.. and I want to do that soon. Maybe its tolerance. And also compassion to each other. Or the lack of both. Not only in case of a spouse, but with parents, children, siblings...... And maybe its because people really have to love each other. Love as of now is pretty non existent. *sigh*

And though this post does concentrate on women and how times are unfair to them, I realise it happens the other way round too.. Peace..! I am not a feminist!

And two quotes by Swami Sivananda, one pertaining to the Anniyan post : " Do not bother yourself much about reforming this crooked world. Reform yourself first. Then the whole world can be reformed. How can you help the world when you yourself are weak and ignorant?"

"Open your hearts to compassion.................A compassionate heart is the abode of God.

I am liking today. Its monday and there is lot of activity happening. :)

Shake ..............

Well here goes... I experienced a very light earthquake last night... and turns out that I was the only one who felt it.. I am pretty sensitive I see.. there I was rapping away at my keyboard and I felt that my chair was slightly giving the drunk feel. Shaking in slowwww motion. And mom and another girl who was here, who didnt feel it. So I thought I must have been imagining ....

Answering some questions about how the Blog meet was, well I am usually not the type to go out and make friends. There were people who did that to me though, there were a few who recognised me. But since a lot of people were generally getting to know the others, must tell you that there were only 3 women, including me the rest were all men. Think there are not enough lady bloggers, and even if there are, they don't venture out. So off I went to play with Kribs' baby, and chat up with his wife, Sujani. It has been ages since we caught up, so this was a good oppurtunity for me. You can read up about it in this blog. And this. And of course it will be up on Kribs' soon. When it was time to leave, I met a girl, I forgot her name, very bubbly and outgoing and had a nice smile, who was coming to say bye to me while I was going to bye to her. So she quizzed me about my work, life. And met few other people. The other girl was from the New Indian Express. All at the time of leaving. Taking leave actually means having a conversation as is.! BTW didnt think I mentioned it was sponsored by Royal Enfield. They were willing to give us bikes.

And to Robbie, yes being someone popular can restrict your airing of your views. But we still do. We are not too public about it thats all. And yes those thoughts are mine. And btw, in the comments section of that post, my mom, Padmasani had put in her own. There were many times that she wished that she could become someone like that, so have I, but thankfully we didnt and dont and wont morph into repressed psychopaths. :)

Yesterday's Blogger meet was good. Met a lot of new people. It was the first time that I went to Boat Club. It was a pretty beautiful place. And I checked out some people, ahem, boating, though the waters were pretty mucky!

And something new, as it has been pouring out here in Chennai, I asked mom whether I could drench myself in the rain. She said yes :) And off we went, me and Adi, to the terrace, and anyone watching us would have thought we were a couple of mad things, jumping and singing loudly.

There is something about the rain. When the intensity, decreases and increases, and when all the celestial lights go of and on with sound effects, it feels and looks very beautiful. And the rain can either make you feel joyful or desolate. There have been days, when it rained, and it used to leave a stillness in its wake, and I hated that. I still dont like it that much. One of the reasons, why I dont like weekends much too. Its very quiet. Too quiet for my liking. Yeah if I had been in the weekly grind, my view would be different.

I also wished yesterday, that with every raindrop falling on my head it would drop into my skull, a little bit wisdom. So that at the end of the rains, I will be one wise person. Knowing everything. And I wouldnt have to go through any sad 'learning experiences' again!! ;)

And with things I do, I would never make a mistake. ESPECIALLY in my musical delivery. I would never sing a wrong note, make a slip, you know, the works.... I would know who is a right person and who is not. What is a good situation and what is not, without really getting into trial and error. ;) hee hee.. asking for a lot I am. I would always do the right thing. I think what I am asking for now is foresight. To be able to look into the future. And to know whether I will be making any mistakes, whether I would hurt anyone, inadvertantly or otherwise, or be hurt, or like whether I drive my car badly, or mess up a lunch or a dinner, or get somewhere late where I should be on time, I would know it all. And I would never get into the situation. And with foresight. I would have learned from my mistake that I am about to make :)) LOL. But it would be good.

This stillness is very depressing. sigh!

Today morning was good .. went and played in the water at Gandhinagar Club. Tried very hard to stay afloat, but it was a very sad attempt. And now I am some 10 shades darker. And now my mother doesnt seem to recognise me. Very intelligent we were, Aditi and I, to choose the midday sun, and go into the pool without sunscreen. Well that was that, and I can only hope the tan wears off, and SOON!

We all then went to a place called Beach Palms, in Besant Nagar, to eat, but the fare was not that great. I might write about this soon on chennaionline.

I am thinking, I will also post some of the forwards that I get on sms, funny ones and otherwise.. would be good fun. And I think I will learn to swim in a week or so and then it will be joy!!!

So forward of the day --> What did Dela ware ?? Her New jersey. :)

MY MOM IS BACK!!!!
Yaaaaaayyyyy.... I think its gonna be a good weekend. There is a blogger meet at the Boat Club today, organised by Kiruba Shankar and I am looking forward to it.

I bought this Paulo Coelho's new book, Zahir. And I am also started the first few pages of Digital Fortress.

I saw Anniyan again last night at a private screening with mom, and Adi and her mom. Because Ad and aunty had not seen it. Hmm wish sometimes that there really was an Anniyan to cleanse all evil. Especially the history of Singapore, Taiwan.... I wonder what we are doing...

*sigh*

Presentez Vous... My New Blogger Template

Generally got fed up of the green colour.. and the orange..Wanted to design my own but no time for that!!!
I like this one.. pristine.. pure.. clear!

ITS RAINING!!!

And in Chennai... heavily.. I have not seen a rain like this in ages.. WOWWWWW.. I wanna go play in the rain.. and I can imagine mom saying "AWWMYGAWD" .. he he .. not really but since it doesnt rain that often in Chennai, they usually say not to get wet in the first rains... for some reason.. Bombay rains she allowed me to get wet as a kid.. :)
Ahh for happy times :)

Very Happening Weekend

First I must thank all the good wishes that are coming in. Through email. And the comments here.

And I went for a show with Rahman Anna. The call came out of the blue. This was a charity show in Karaikkal. For the children affected in the Tsunami. NDTV was also involved.

Mom left on her work and this was basically the first time I went on a show out of town without mom.

Rehearsals happened on Sunday. And I met Sivamani sir for the first time. And before the rehearsals began full swing he played on the drums. It was a super treat. Its like the rhythm just flows on and on and on. Such innovation, such brains and such creativity. My God!

So first I was to sing Sakkarai and Kannathil Muthamittaal. And then songs got added much to my glee. I finally got to sing Thottal Poo Malarum, Vennilave, Telephone Manipol, and a prayer with Rahman anna, Hariharan Sir, Karthik and Madhudhree. We sang a bit of Shakthi Kodu. :)

Rahman anna said this was the first of his shows in this year.

We travelled from here to Pondichery on sunday evening, stayed there overnight and left from there to Karaikal. Another 3 hour journey which I will relish. I travelled along with G V Prakash, Rahman anna's nephew, (to enlighten, the kid voice of chiku buku chiku buku) now he is composing too. I sang a jingle for him a year ago. I guess brilliance is also in the genes. :) And Naresh Iyer. He is a find from the [V] Super Singer contest. And from what I hear, he is a singer to look out for. I met him on this show. And George. He has sung in Boys and Enakku 20 Unakku 18. He is great fun.

This was also the first time I came to know closely how to it is to rise up to an occasion. Songs that I have heard some hundred times but didnt have the lyrics to. Vennilave. First we were supposed to sing Tamil and then Hindi and then finally landed up singing the Tamil version on stage. I made frantic calls to Aditi to get me the lyrics and the poor thing sat here and kept giving me the lyirics on the phone. I had written it on a piece of paper. Then I lost it. Then I called her up again. And then this was the first show for which I didn't doll up. I totally didn't have the time. I went on stage with work slippers. Which I noticed mich later. If any hi funda magazine had covered this, I would have been on the pages of "how not to present yourself for a show" And then to top it, I lost my mom's phone, and my ear ring. Which Hari sir noticed and asked me where my ear ring was. I became a totally worked up and started sobbing. Then Hari sir was like ok loosen up and in less than a minute of my boo hoo, I had to go sing Thottaal with Hari sir. And he was like "cheer up baby". Collect yourself. You have to grow up he said. Mom cant be there to do all the stuff for you all the time. My God. Baby I am. But I learnt. Idiots like me have to learn the hard way I guess. And I have also been selfish. Its because of my incompetence and disorganisation that mom has not been able to attend to her work.

Rahman Anna opened the show with his song from Desam. The Tamil version of "Yeh Des Hai Tera". And he also sang Anbe Aaruyire from "A Aaah", S J Surya's movie. Sooper it is. Another rocking album it is going to be releasing tomorrow.

When the show was over, Sivamani sir said, because you lost something here, take it that Sani bhagwan has taken all the bad stuff away from your life. All your bad karma is gone with this. And may you come to the stage that you can buy 2400 phones. I felt very, very touched when he said that. I guess Rahman anna also came to know that and he asked me to cheer up.

I was not able to take any pictures. Except that I took a very short video before the concert and have a short clip of Rahman Anna singing.

From this show I learnt that I have a very long way to go and that I have to grow as a musician. Rise up to occasions and be good also.And I have to connect to God more. I want music to flow through me. I have so much to learn. And that knowledge happens a lot from the Sangat that you keep. This is Sahavaasa Punyam. Our generation does not have that advantage mom used to say. They learnt a lot from listening to elders speak, converse, learn from their intellectual gatherings and discussion. And whatever little I get when I go on a recording and a show like this, I lap it up. Expanding your horizons, really thinking out of the box... people keep saying about this but when it comes to doing it, thats when you realise, that you are generally wasting a lot of time. Keep growing, keep learning, keep evolving, continuously recognise and rectify one's flaws. And also that you learn from people both young and old. All this I learnt from this show and the recording that I did for Mangal Pandey.

The return drive was with Rehana aunty, Prakash and Naresh. Had dinner on the way. I also took a lot of pointers from Rehana aunty. Then I think I was just dozing and waking. And reached home at around 3 in the morning.

A very wonderful experience in all.

For now the mood and the song looping in my Player - 'Al maddath Maula'

"Tera Deewana hun Maula tera Parwana hun Maula sun
Ae Mere Maula Ae Mere Dhaata
Mujhko tu Manzil Bataade Muhjko tu Rasta Dikhade sun
Ae Mere Maula Ae Mere Dhaata....... "