Thursday, December 29, 2005

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 ..........

14 comments:

Baejaar said...

Mac is one of the best system currently available particularly when one deals with media. Better go with it rather than wait for intel based Mac. After all "A bird in hand is worth two in the bush".

Kerala is a nice place to visit in monsoon. How was it at this time of the year?

Main problem with Asterik and Tintin is that there are limited nos. So the entire series hardly lasts for a few months.

Metlin said...

The Windows platform is fairly stable for _most_ video/audio editing processes that you are likely to do. In the long run, if you are looking to keep upgrading your system and your software, Windows would be a better option. Macs are nice if you are looking at a long-term expensive solution. However, they are definitely the better option for the serious performance, if you are into that sort of thing.

So, pros and cons:

Windows: Cheap, easily upgradeable and easy availability/support, good for most except the very high end options.

Macs: Slightly more expensive, not very easily upgradeable and support is harder (in India) and is good for a wide range of video/audio editing applications.

However, a Mac is nicer if you are intending to do only good and high-end video/audio editing.

And if you do choose to have a Mac, I would suggest that you wait until the Intel-processor based ones are released because Apple is extremely notorious for leaving older customers in the lurch. With every new move, Apple has largely ignored the older generation of users and moved on.

I hope this was of help. Cheers.

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

Metlin: Thanks a lot.. was thinking of waiting for the Intel cross over myself.. you have taken a lot of time explaining.:) appreciated!

Metlin said...

No problem - glad to be of help! :) Hope I helped you reach a decision.

ஸ்ருசல் said...

Hi Chinmayi,

I recently happened to watch ARR's Tsunami Concert (Jul 2005) in NDTV. You seem to have sung many songs in that (Telephone, Vennilave, Thottal Poo Malarum, KM, ...). It was great. But why did you delay while singing "Poove" and "Thaiaye" lines in "Oru Theivam Thantha Poove" song? (from KM movie)

BTW, How was the experience?

Thanks
Srusal.

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

Srusal: Experience was great.. Just a question, is it mandatory that I sing the song each time the way I have recorded? Am I not allowed to sing it differently? :)

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Chinmayi,

I like reading your concert experiences. Very interesting.

You wrote:
I was left gaping that even if a fly flew in, took a nap and came out, I wouldnt have known.

Couldn't help Laughing.!!

Biju Narayanan - While I listened to Swantham/Ninakkai I heard his voice. Very nice indeed.!!!

Did you sing any Malayalam songs??

By the way how are the roads in Kerala?? YOur driver did 80KMPH!

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

Mr. Venkitu: Wwas the exclamation mark after 80 kmph mean only 80 kmph or OHMYGAWD THAT MUCH? :) That was basically because the drive from Quilon to Cochin airport is about 250 kms.. and we had to reach in time. When we did reach, it was about 11:40 with barely 20 mintutes left for the flight to take off. BTW I have driven to 100-110 when we drove down to Tirupathi tee hee :)

Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee said...

thanks ricky

~phobiac~ said...

was blog hopping and landed here !

nice post...esp, cauze it is bout Kerala !....enjoyee maadi ! and.... have a great new year !!

bharat said...

"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 .........."

-----------------------------------------
There's one called "chinmayi diehards" too. seen that one? :-)

You don't hafta be embarassed though i can't do much for making you feel otherwise. You are gifted and talented and worth all the praise that's been showered. We individuals cannot give you a national award to express ourselves everytime we feel your talent has to be recognized. These are jus' other ways. All u have to do is give sumthing back by enjoying it and acknowledging it.

Kaunquest said...

It would be nice if you could post some of your Ghazals in your audio blog. Keen to listen to your style of singing. Any chance?

ஸ்ருசல் said...

Chinmayi,

>>>>
Srusal: Experience was great.. Just a question, is it mandatory that I sing the song each time the way I have recorded? Am I not allowed to sing it differently? :)
<<<<

Ofcourse, you are.

Just wanted to know whether was it intentional or a synchronization problem.

Thanks
Srusal

Anonymous said...

I can't believe its really you Chinmayi on Blogspot! Its a delight to read your daily diaries online! Your a great singer, I loved Sahana song! I watched super singer junior, great job! I also watched the bloopers episode ;)
Good luck with your singing