The past couple of days have been mad.
Am off to Coimbatore today for the concert. Am back on Tuesday I guess.. Both of us has been hassled, Mom even more so with a lot of organizing and all. Damn its tough to coordinate people maaaaan.
A few rehearsals, and this time I will have to deal with a couple of totally new people without any practise or anything. Hoping it will turn out well..
I finally got the pictures.. phew... but slightly doubtful if I can post it until I get back.
Mr. Ganesh --> Haven't heard the Amuthe Thamizhe song. Will ask amma and check it out.
Have read The Life of Pi. Loved it. Have wanted to catch both the Monk who sold his Ferrari and another on the same lines, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance. And Chariots looks too damn interesting. Will Do
Shopping in an hour- have perfected the Art!
And while at Sri Lanka, you must check out the Ice Creams there. One of the things they boast of. And the Chinese Food. Hope I will update this list of Things-to-do at Sri Lanka sometime :)
Have a good weekend and a great start to a fresh new week :)

Had a fairly fine day, except for my system. Hung a few times. Lot of unwanted stuff parked into nice cosy niches in my darling system. I had just reinstalled the whole thing a few weeks ago. God I can't go through this again! Help!
Went to my dentist to get the nuts and bolts in my mouth fixed and he finally declared that its gonna be independence day, for both me and him ;)
They remove my braces soon and fix retainers. So am gonna lose some weight! And gain some;)
Came back to some practice with my keyboard artiste. Mom surprisingly was happy with the way I sang 'Eppo Varuvaaro'. Slightly floating. Give me a day to come back to terra firma :)
Started my travel through Angels and Demons. Finally. Was slightly bored with the opening. The same password. The same kinda murder. The same hissing french. With a symbol. But his books are super informative. Can try and look more intelligent after this one. On that note, any good suggestions on books? Anything. Fiction, Non Fiction, Cartoon, Philosophy, Psychology :), Spiritual.... ?
Maybe I will put in my list of favourite reads on of these days. Need to keep track of how much I have actually read. But that will be one huge list to populate !!!

One excruciatingly long essay about my Lanka Trip. Scroll down to jog your eyes!

My Lankan Trip

Finally. Got me some time.
The flight to Sri Lanka was bad. We flew Jet. The Pilot taxied and surged up during take off, lurched a few times on the 50 min flight and plonked on the runway during landing....And the aero bridge refused to let itself get unstuck from the flight before take off. And when it did, since it was slightly cold, I asked for a blanket which smelt like it had never been washed. Almost choked. And the food came and then Tipu took off with some wise cracks which made me feel like I wanted to puke. I literally begged him to let me off. Since I am sensitive to toilet humour. He caught on to that note and didn't let go. Uncomfortable flight. To say the least. And a lady came up to me and said she would like to have my pic taken. That was one of the nice things about the flight. ;)
We were put up at Colombo Plaza. Awesome Hotel. Intended to do some swimming there. But couldnt manage it. Regret that. As soon as we landed, we dumped our things in the room and headed out to do some shopping. Some stuff are gr8 at Lanka. Clothes. And we headed out to House of Fashions. One of the countries that India is an advantage as long as the curency is concerned. They were having a long weekend. With Buddha Poornima and all. Its major there. The shopping centres were no doubt teeming with people. That done.
By the way inflation is horrendous in Sri Lanka. A kg of onions is 75 bucks, one caulifower is 300. And they confiscated all the mangoes we carried at Chennai Airport. The airport can open shop and sell mangoes. They would be so much richer.
We went to Sugadadasa Indoor Stadium, seating capacity of close to 6 thou, to do a sound check. After waiting for quite some time, my turn came. Mathangi, I came to know was very meticulous about checking out ALL the songs she had to sing. I have never done something like that, cos, at the end of the day, the final show has nothing to do with the rehearsal. Harish Raghavendra had once come straight from the Airport to the show and he said that it was one of his best concerts...... We went back to our room at close to 1 a.m.
Had a sound sleep till ten in the morning. Went again to do another sound check which didn't happen cos the Sound Eng. didn't turn up. Back to the room around 2:30 and we went to have lunch at close to 3 at a chinese restaurant. The food was just awesome. Didn't expect it from Sri Lanka. By the time it was close to 4:30 and had only enough time to take another shower and try to dress my hair. We reached the stadium and the show started on time.
This show was actually a talent hunt. Shakthi FM had organised Radio Superstar, to bring out all the local talents. The final 5 were chosen to sing on that day before Bharadwaj sir who gave the verdict that a Prashanthi from Colombo was the winner. She sang Poo Pookkum Osai and is richer by 1 Lakh local currency. Wonder why we didnt get stuff like that when I was taking part in some of the competitions. We got countless trophies and medals, which wouldnt have even our name inscribed on it. Its sad cos I might as well have not taken the trouble and gone to some place, bought the metal, and stack it up at home. *sigh*

The show started bang on time at 6:31. They were under pressure because the show had to go live on air from 7:30 onwards on Shakthi FM. To start with there was a crowd on some 1000-1200 in a 360 degree seating area. Thats tough. Half the people were behind me. The VIPs in the front. The Run Order was slightly upsetting. Harish was the opening batsman. And then Tipu and Mathangi sang 4 songs back to back. And Manicka Vinayagam sir got in a song of his which was based on the tsunami. Bharadwaj sir came in after that and he performed. And the competition started. After another couple of songs after the competition I finally went on stage. I had almost lost steam by then. It was first time performance for Jassie Gift Sir and me. Worse was Jassie Gift sir's entry was much later than mine. They could have given some consideration to two new people who were being introduced to the local audience for the first time. I sang "Ennai Theendi Vittai" from Kuthu, which they claimed was a super hit in Sri lanka, 4 lines of KMI before that, "Noothana" from Karka Kasadara, Dhoom and my song from New. Manicka Vinayagam sir could sing only 2 songs even though there were people who were waiting to listen to him.
Harish makes no ado and has an excellent sense of humour. He has this uncanny ability to mimic almost anyone to a T. Once he starts talking I have to really clutch on to my stomach so that I dont split my seams laughing.
The other songs that featured on the show were Kisu Kisu Manusha, January Maadham, Koduva Meesai, Andangakaka, Lajjawathiye, Raa Raa, Nyabagam Varudhe, Gilli, and some more.
The show over we got to sign a lot of autographs, with some books landing right on our faces. Some threw it at me to get the attention. We had to sign and throw it back since they were at the gallery and they had to lean down a lot to reach us or even throw the pens and papers at us. Some were like "akka akka please" or "anna anna".
Got back to the hotel and fell asleep. Didnt really get anything to eat since it was too late. Had ice cream :) Its a lot of work for mom during shows, right from the smallest thing to the way I sing and managing my tracks. Once a documentary film maker, researcher, now just a mother.
Some times she jokes that she is just my Aaya. Its not really a joke. But I know she misses her work. And its very tough for a die hard intellectual to not to do any intellectual work than run around behind the daughter's career.
Got up late the next morning, and we left to our friend's place to have lunch. And to the airport from there. Since it was a BuddhaPoornima, shopping was not possible as its a national holiday. So if you wanna holiday in Sri Lanka, make sure u dont get caught on one such day. Wanted to check out Odel, which is a great shopping place. Couldn't. They have also opened up in Chennai at Spencer Plaza but I dont know whether it will be that big here.
Swarnamaalya was on the flight with us. I chatted up with her. Hadn't seen her in a long time. I know her since the Anbulla Snehidhiye times. So we got updates on our lives, came to know she was an avid reader. She also hosts a show called Dhimi Thaka Tha on Shakthi TV.
Anbulla Snehidhiye is how I got to know our friends at Sri Lanka. Mrs. Mala Sivendran. Mr. Sivendran is a Civil Lawyer.They have two sons and a daughter. Nishendran, a Tennis Player ranked somewhere around 400 in the international arena, under 18, Harendran and Mayuri. Mayuri was the start point. I first met her at Apollo Hospitals. She was in there due to brain cancer. She is a fighter. All of 7 years. I first met her 3 years back. Her mom wanted to keep her as happy as possible and indulged her every wish and whim of her seeing actors like Jothika, Vikram, Vijay, Ajith, Shalini, Trisha and then someone like me. The kid loved the title song of Anbulla Snehediye. And she wanted to meet me and hear me sing that. Since Mrs Mala is friends with Mrs. Khushboo, things were a bit easy. She called Madras Talkies and got across to us. So I met the girl and her mother there. And for that the family was thankful. They placed their Merc at our disposal whenever we wanted throughout the trip, in addition to the transport provided by Shakthi Group. We share a great bond now and I hope and pray it lasts.
One request here, though the kid has recovered miraculously, it would be nice if who ever is reading this blog could just pray for her for one minute. So that her parents, could enjoy her company for some more time, so that a family can be fuller for some more time, so that they can hear her laughter and prattle for some more time. Collective Prayers are super effective.
Coming back to Chennai, the Airport authorities thought we were smuggling gold in to the country since they saw a lot of metal. So we opened our baggage and showed the disappointed authorities that all the metal they saw was costume jewellery.
As soon as we stepped out, the heat almost slapped our faces. But regardless of the heat, the grime, dust, I love my city and my Home. Its where my heart is ....

'Reach out' is a show on SS Music, hosted by Craig generally. But went there to find out its hosted only be one person. ME. Its a Phone-in programme, requests. The usual. Lot of bloopers. And slips. Had to talk up 7 callers. And I couldn't think of what to ask them. Took me a while, kept the " what are you doing this summer" constant and that to after prodding from the producer. He must be laughing is hat off.
The thing is this is the 'vocal month' at SS Music and the Icon of the Month being SPB sir. So they are asking all the singers to be on the shows, or host them I think. Cameras first rolled with my show. :) Finished flirting with it. It will be on air June 1, 5-6 and retelecast on the 2nd at 8.30-9.30. Still have to remove my war paint.
And I dont know why my a/c is suspended. My friend is hosting it..! I am usually the last to know about my website! The last time it was already 4 months. Until a good samaritan told me what was up, actually, that it was down.
All the details about the show .. tomorrow..
By the way, wanted to know, what are the chances of someone filing a defamation case on me on the basis of my blog?Would like answers for that.. I would like to let people know about some lowdowns too... that its not silver dust and love and laughter all the time, and some people whom you trusted turned out to be something else......

Might not be able to post full details today after all. Have to practise singing Carnatic Classical for a concert in Coimbatore the 29th. Mom, being the task master she is, its tough :)
I also have a shoot with SS Music today evening. That wont be over till late. 'Reach Out' with Craig.
Maybe, if possible late tonight or tomorrow morning :)

Back to Base

Finally Back, yesterday. I miss my country maaaan.. Patryooowwwtic I am I guess.
Well, I got the pics of everyone and told them that I would be posting it on my site. So no probs there. All those wondering how Mr. Jassie Gift looks can remember, that maybe, they saw it first here. ;) His singing voice is WAYY different from his speaking one. Doesnt talk much also. But then he said he wasn't too comfortable with tamil yet. It will take me a while to upload the pics..
We lost the house keys yesterday. So went around the town looking for a lock picker. YUCK! Both of us were hungry and tired and badly needed sleep. So we finally traced one guy. By the time we were inside our home it was 11:30 in the night. We had reached country at 4:00, come home and went out to do some work. Thankfully, we weren't stranded outside with the luggage and all. Anyway that was that. More soon!
One more thing. There aren't too many pics. Didn't go sightseeing. No time for that. Managed shopping though.

Leaving.....

Well I am off. In 5 hours. The last two days before the show are usually mad. (Knew I couldn't bring in any posts) Running around a lot for last minute costume changes, working on the minus tracks, getting a lot of goo on your face so that you can look a bit better ;) The guys do that too, just in case you didnt know!

Only hope haven't forgotten anything. Performing Film songs for the first time in Sri Lanka. Funny, cos they have been asking for me for three years now, considering my first song is related with them, but it never happened. *sigh*

By the way, Karthik is not in the show. Wrong Info.

About the pics, is there a way to post them, say neatly, so that they dont stay in the middle of everything? I tried uploading some in the beginning, I quite didn't like the way they parked themselves in the middle of the blog. SO will look forward the suggestions.

Have a great weekend. :)

Have to mention a few more things that happened during the Italy Trip. Thats coming up. Have to leave to Sri Lanka for a show at Sugadadasa Stadium, on the 21st morning. Show is on the 22nd evening. Running around for that. I think will be out of action during the weekend. Back on the 23rd. Its a show for Shakthi FM. Radio Star. Talent hunt was conducted and I think this is the grand Finale. Heard that Bharadwaj Sir, Mr. Jassie Gift, Harish Raghavendra, Manicka Vinayagam Sir, Sri Lekha, Mathangi, Tipu and Karthik are also going to be there.

So there will be a lot more to talk about when I am back :)In case I dont get in a post for the next two days that I am in here, kindly excuse.

Some comments I have to reply to.

I got a thank you for singing KMI. I am not the one to be thanked here. Rahman Anna - DA ONE.

The DINK and DINS study was conducted in India. Maybe Outlook or The Week. I am not sure.

The Italy Trip - I was super lucky to have taken the trip with Ilayaraja Sir. I had never sung for him before. So I was shocked that he called me. Bhavatharini, Priti Uttam, Music Director Uttam Singh's daughter and Madhu Balakrishnan were the other singers. I think we were totally a 20 member group.

I got to know we were singing at an opera hall. It was also my first trip outside country, or even the city when I was on a professional assignment without my mother. I CRIED and cried. Half the time. She is the person behind everything that I am. My voice. And all the funda that I write about Ragas. I only type. While she dictates. Whatever I am able to do with my voice and as a person I owe it all to her. And I am at sea if she is not there.

It was also very lonely for me. She had work and she had to go somewhere else so she cancelled at the last minute.

Ilayaraja Sir, the first thing I went to his place, I started crying out of sheer fright. I said I am scared of you. (Yeah I did a lot of crying enough to last a lifetime, then)And then he and Bhavatharini started laughing. Then he said "Naan enna paeya boothama? Edhukku Bhayam?" Then he asked me to drink something. And I was also perenially scared to sing at the rehearsals. He never said anything. Even if he was angry or upset, it didn't show. He was like sing. And open your eyes and sing.

The rehearsals went this way. At the end they almost lasted until we had to almost leave to the airport from Prasad Studios. The rehearsals happened there.

We reached Italy after transit at Germany. It was a long haul. We reached the Bologna airport. We had to perform at Modena. Which was some 250 kms from Bologna, if I remember right. Modena had an airport too, we were informed, but it was under maintenance so all flights stopped here. It was cold outside. Maybe 9 or 10.C. We drove down to Modena by Bus. Some 2 hours.

Raja Sir, his wife, Bhavatarini,Uttam Singh sir, Preeti and I stayed at one hotel while the rest of them stayed at another. I didnt find out where. After settling down, we had to leave for rehearsals at the Opera Hall.

The Concert was called "The Musical Journey of Maestro Dr. Ilayaraja". The acoustics were too good. And I also saw how much work the women do in Italy. Lifting, drilling wot not. That done. The next evening was the show.

Sir told me again to sing confidently and to open my eys and sing.

Sir sang "Janani" first. And from the singers, I had to open. That was it. We were given headphones on stage, which doesnt happen in India. Here, we are on a constant struggle with the monitors, our voices usually never reach us properly, and we are just guessing what we are singing, there is no feed back. Explains why some concerts are not the same as listening to the CD.

I had also had a lot of trouble with the Taal with the Tabla Player. It was not in sync. As in between me and the Tabla Player. But on stage, it was a different thing. I was on a roll and it turned out much, much better than I had ever imagined. No problems with the taal. Or anything. After which Madhu sang a kriti, Preeti sang a Hindustani Classical Piece, and Bhavatharini sang another song. Our solos were now over. Other than that, I sang 'Ilangaathu Veesudhe' with Madhu, 'Aasaiyaa Kaathula' with Preeti and Bhavatharini, and 'En Ullil Engo' was a solo again. I hadn't heard this song before. I fell in love with this song when I sang that.

There were a lot of instrumental pieces also. Evenly distributed. And it was a wonderful concert. My favourite a three note composition, and Music in Indian life. The latter was a compilation of a Thaalaattu, a song sung during harvesting, marriage, falling in love. All his compositions. Yeah, definitely not in this order. The former was a composition made in only three notes. G, R and S.

I learnt a lot from this trip. What it was to be with a disciplinarian. And the first time I was under the influence of fear. Its actually 1/2 respect and 1/2 fear with him. I got less afraid later. I saw his style and way of working. I was darn lucky. Realised how God has given me a lot of things in life. Starting from my mom. There is a lot I have to say. To let people know. SO, thats coming soon to this Blog on a comp near you.

The Audience had only 6 or 7 Indian people. The rest were natives. And the applause. THAT WAS SOMETHING. It never stopped. After each song, we didnt know whether to stay on stage for courtesy's sake or leave so that the next person can come and sing. At the end they wanted an encore, right from the beginning. Finally we did an encore of one of the instrumental pieces. One evening. A lifetime's cherished memory.

I never thought that applause could be matched here, but i was proved wrong. But thats another anecdote. Another story. :)

Shall end my BLLLLLLLLLLooooooog here. This has been long enough.

Got a couple of requests that i should be telling the name of the raga of a song I discuss about. Frankly, I was dreading this.
From when I was a child till now thats one thing I haven't been able to do. Maybe it requires a math brain which I dont have. Something to do with my basics also. It got highly screwed up when I was in 5th standard. I last remember that the whole class failed in the annuals and there was a re exam. And we scraped through. Many fell through though.
And I couldn't really get the funda behind knowing a raga about a song. Maybe this attitude came up because I was bad at it.. :)
Talking about ragas, Sukumari from Anniyan, seems to be more on Saama, than Suddha Saveri. Since SS has S R M P D S, and we hear a lot of G happening. But it definitely has a the colour of SS. Very contradictory here you might say. But over time a lot of people will agree that its not just the notes that make a raga. Its also their treatment. So just the way you handle a note can make it sound like its something else though grammatically it will belong to one particular scale.
Sukumari's interludes are in Suddha Saveri. That also contributes to it. :)

Had a great weekend. Especially at Dance class. Haven't danced full out in a while. Andrea has gone to Europe leaving her partner, Daniel, behind. So those who had been learning for a while had to be paired with beginners. So sometimes, it can get boring. Not that I dont like to be guiding someone to dance better, but in 1 1/2 hours class, thrice a week, I need some gratification to have danced with someone better. Which we weren't allowed. Older students were always broken up. Thankfully, all that was compensated this time.

Social dancing is one great way to unwind and whatever said and done, being good on the dance floor does take some brownie points ;). So if you guys can, enrol for some dance classes.

Since Yasaswini is now firmly on terra firma, I took her to class yesterday after spendig sometime with her. She had a ball and made up her mind to treat herself to dance classes from her first salary.

Had a comment about my line on not bothering about deadlines in my previous blog. There was an article a few months back, based on a study that a maximum number of divorces are happening in the early 30s, and most of them were from the S/W field. And voila there are two more syndromes to the big list. DINS and DINK syndromes expanding to Dual Income No Sex and Dual Income No Kids. These two being the major reason for the break ups. The others being the usual no time, no this and no that. Finally, this major money field is also causing too many concerns otherwise. Healthwise, eyesight gets shot. CVS or Computer Vision Syndrome. And Back Problems. And spondilitis. So maybe these companies should wake up and try to bring awareness. Since they are already making a lot of money, they should be contributing to the emotional, mental and physical health of the employees too. In a positive way!

So that was my gyaan for the day ;)

Was having a great time with my foster sis Aditi too. She adopted me one fine day, because she was feeling sad that she didnt have a sis. And she wanted an older one. By the way, her mom is Dr. Vasudha Prakash.
Now Jimmy came into being cos the maid at her place cant pronounce my name properly. She first said Jimmu and then Jimmy, now thankfully she can say it properly. But the name has stuck and Aditi has done her bit to popularize it and some of my close friends call me Jimmy too.
Sometime with her, and anyone will laugh till they split at their seams. We are one nice entertaining family!

I wish it rains. Feel like taking a walk in the rain .. and currently poring over the pages of 'A Bend in the Road' - Nicholas Sparks... gonna start with Angels and Demons soon. Love that guy, Dan Brown.

High Voltage. Not really edited. Read at own risk.

Does anyone understand what Time Management is all about in this world? Or at least some of those I know?

Feel like cribbing. A LOT.

I go to dance class thrice a week. Have an excellent instructor in Andrea and her partner Daniel who are needless to say, awesome dancers. And so I went to dance class today. Happen to learn Salsa, Jive, Cross Step and Line dancing. And usually there is rendezvous after class. Gets over at 6.00 and at 7.30 people are still not decided where to go. So somewhere in between I decide to slightly drive home a point that we are not really keeping time and I have a curfew. So someone says, "You know, its ok.". So me pissed. And I leave. In a huff, in my mind. But trying to retain composure. Thats one of the tougher things to do in life. Well how long can you put up with one and a half hours to decide where to go in the city? I dont even take that long to decide what to wear for an important concert. GOD! Then I gather that they didn't really do much after all. Thanks for reading through my crib post so far.

The earlier half of the day was productive. I went with my aunt, Dr. Vasudha Prakash, a counsellor who teaches special ed, and has a school (Kaleidoscope learning centre) for children with mild to moderate mental disorders.

In that counselling session I realised how necessary it is to educate the parents more than treat the children. How people need to be aware that it is possible that they might have to deal with such a kid in the future, I know, God Forbid, but more people are marrying too late when their Biological clocks are on their last tick-tocks, we have grown up in far less healthier climes, and polluted food and air that genetic engineering goes haywire in the kids that we bring in to this world. But then the gen - eng can go haywire even otherwise.

And parents of special children are also under pressure. From the soceity. When their child misbehaves, say in the supermarket, there are other people who don't understand the pressures of having such a child, and they will happily tch tch and tsk tsk and start off on their own logistics about how to bring up children. And the worse is, she / he must have sinned to have gotten a child like this..... Where is the human race coming to... indulging in such base, banal gossiping, back biting, this and that and what not to make all in our power to make lives miserable for others so we might live happily? Its struggle for the parents to manage their child, the always-sympathetic looks they garner from others, the strain it puts on their marriage and their career and more than anything else, their whole outlook to life. And people just hover around trying to put that stamp on us thrust us inside labelled crate from where we can wish and hope and pray that we will be let out by the oh-so-nice-soceity.

Maybe we should give a break to ourselves, and maybe heed the soul screaming inside us, whose voice we conveniently decide to show a deaf ear to, and be nicer homosapiens. After all humane is just an 'e' added to human.

And also, all of us have the extreme luck of leading blissful lives compared to the ones I mentioned above. Maybe its time we listen to the birds, watch the sunset, hug and love our own children even more, and our family, be there for them,(dont mind the boss and the deadline whooshing by, at least for a while), even if its a lot of cribbing; our partners, and generally be thankful to God that we are 'normal'.

Did you know that 'Happy Birthday' is copyright protected? Now what about the disclaimer which goes with copyrights? No public performance, copying, playing in movies, television programmes, or incorporating into musical products (read cards, watches...) allowed? So are we all gonna get sued? Also anyone who wants to make a hollywood movie can get inspired from this info.
© Yasaswini

I got to know first hand how powerful a Blog is. I met five new people who like my work. 'Fans' I should say. So all the hype was right.

I think my blog has been checked out more than my website! In three days that is.

I even had someone mail me saying that they were in Taiwan and that they could send me a stylus if I needed. Wow.. cool eh? But then, an update on that. I had a friend who went looking for me. Took responsibility that he lost the stylus, which I am very doubtful he did. He played chess on my phone last, and that was when I last saw the stylus too, but then he went about looking for one and got me one. Thanks buddy!

My BEST friend, Yasaswini would have stepped foot on home soil by now from Singapore. She is here for two months. Then she will have to go back and work. And then God knows when I will be able to see her again in Chennai.

I have spent the whole day listening to music and lolling around the house. The best that I could do in this HEAT that's baking my head through two floors above me. And through every other side. We are conveniently on the 6th floor. With wind blowing all day like Vayu Bhagwan is working overtime at our window. Or rather our building. But point he is spewing hot air. Take pity boss if you are reading!

VSNL has thrown me a huge 3 GB download for only 3 days of last month. We got the connection on the 27th, the lineman who came to do the wiring stole my mom's mobile, then knowing he had been caught threw it into our complex dustbin out of sheer fright. We walk out early next morning and the phone rings from the middle of every house 's rubbish. So we got the trash separators to take it out and what do I see? 65 missed calls in a span of 24 hours. And I missed a show because they could not contact me. Must sue VSNL for damages. And anyway the connectivity was not happening. 3GB from the 27th to 31st?? If any kind souls reading this have a solution please let me know. No Virus or Spyware in my system and have all the firewalls and wotnots. Waaaaaaah! I will go bankrupt paying for it. :(( *sniff*

AND they have not updated my account under an unlimited plan. Just 16 days and so much trouble. Broadband connection with a gigantic band of trouble. My cup of woes overfloweth.

I could successfully blog for two days continously. Gap of two days already. If this is how it goes I have no clue how regular I will be. ;)

Had to attend a friend's wedding today morning. Met him after almost two years. At his wedding. He was glad I came and so was I. I silently promised myself that I will not miss anyone's wedding as long as I can help it. Got to know first hand how important it is to mark attendance, and that it does make a difference when you are there to wish the couple in person.

Listening to Anniyan's songs as I am typing this one. 'Sukumari' is playing. My pick in the album. And I also like 'Andankaka'. I realise Raag Durga or Suddha Saveri is my favourite. Sukumari is based on that. Saw Anniyan's trailor at Satyam when I went to see XXX2. The movie was pretty good. Those who say XXX 1 didn't quite like the sequel. But I liked it. Coming back to Anniyan, trailor looked awesome. Looking forward to watching the movie.

Then helped my foster sister to meet her crush. Damn cute. Schooltime romance. Wonder if its just the hormones ravaging or if there is more to it? But then I guess you cant forget your first crush in school. Mine was a bong guy in the 7th standard. He was a puny upstart. He thought he was the smartest. And always had smart ass comments to give teachers and everyone else. Point is he got away with everything. And thats what endeared him to all of us. There were half a dozen more girls who were behind him. There was a girl in a class who wrote him a love letter with her left hand. So the teacher made all of write with our left hand. The sad part was we had to reproduce the love letter. Blech!!! Something that was private came into public display. Also the first time I knew that 143 meant 'I love You'. Enlightenment. Then my crush left to Bombay. He gave me an address, which I promptly lost. He is one of the three or four people from our batch who is untraceable. So that was that.

If you have a Sony Ericsson P900, DONT lose the stylus. Guard it with your life. Have been searching for the stylus in the market for over two weeks now. I had two, one broke from the middle, and the other I lost.

I was also lately advised to take up the IAS exams. Because I needed a solid career other than music(Not my view, but it makes sense). Now I am doing so many things, I wonder if this is necessary. But I am finding out anyway. Sounds exciting. Haven't written an exam in a year. So it may be nice to do it... maybe.. this is still in the testing period. Watch this space.

My blogs are getting longer. Let me pull the brakes here and scram..... screeeeeeeeeech~!

P.S.: Also learnt its not a good idea for me to listen to music and do some work. Only the music keeps running in my brain. This Blog has had more language gurgles and spelling mistakes than I have ever committed.

My second day at blogging

Hmm back here. I spent some time today checking out other people's blogs, namely Kiruba Shankar's. The guy I would say is my advisor. Off and On. I ask him twice or thrice a year but I get his new phone numbers thanks to common friends who are regularly in touch with him. Knows the answer to everything I ask him, and have been looking up to him too. I first met him 7 years back.

He has been everywhere, done all that. He asked me to attend the Bloggers meet at Anna Universtity which I am sure he organized. Thats when and where I got to know what blogging was. From then to now its taken me two years to get my blog up. So that was a short history on me myself and my blogging.

My car was at the garage, pretty brand new after 1 1/2 years and the people there say some gear shaft is gone, belt is worn out, battery is dead, wotnot. Had to shell out some 5k. Guess the maintenance routine has started for my wheels.

I started to read a book "Reflections of Life After Life" by Dr. Moody. Not a Great last name for a shrink. He has interviewed hundreds of women and men who were close to death or actually pronounced dead. There is more literature available on the same topic. Dr. Brian Weiss. I think he got the world to sit up and take notice of what happens between two lifetimes, separated by death, or rather punctuated by death. More so because he is a devout catholic, didn't believe in anything that could not be proved by science. This includes the whole gamut of parapsychology, hypnosis, alternative therapy, the like. But then the first few lines in my Psych course material said Psychology doesnt accept the presence of mind, why because science cannot pin point the 'mind' anywhere in the human or animal anatomy, it couldn't decide whether it was a stream of thought or a thought process, and people in general did not seem to give the same answer when asked "What is mind?"

No matter what the mind continues to exist..............

His book, Many Lives Many Masters, provides info about the continuation of life after death and the influence of our past life experiences on our present life behaviour. Proves to be an astonishing read, even if you dont believe in this funda.

Past Life Regression, an alternative therapy to heal psychological disorders is fast gaining ground in India, with a couple of practitioners in Bombay and Delhi. But then anything to do with Hypnosis and people have their own misconceptions. Clear your cobwebs here. (i.e. if you have any :))

It might be tough for me to say anything about hypnosis or even remotely try to implement it in my sessions as a counsellor, when I become one. But I am looking forward to being called Dr. Chinmayi. Gives a certain adrenaline rush.

Anyway, that's that. The curtains draw on another day.

My First Blog

Well, I finally enter the world of blogging. The blog section on my website has been under permanent construction for a long time, hence here.

It was'nt too auspicious a start getting here, cos as soon as I clicked register, my internet connection conked. And then, chinmayi, chinmayis, chins, chin, chinnu, everything had been taken. I thought I had a rare name but some chinmayi had always beat me to Yahoo, Hotmail, Rediff and Sify mail. I guess I finally reached Gmail first.. ha!

After fiddling around for a looong time, checked out how to post a pic, and how not to do a couple of things. Point is I had to download some software to upload pictures. 2 to be precise. That was a slight iration. Got that straightened out. Have to figure out a lot more stuff here..