We went to the Sufi Music festival, Ruhaniyat, yesterday. It was exhilarating to be there. It was organized by by an organization from Mumbai called the Banyan Tree. I learnt a lot of nuances thanks to mom who kept bringing my attention to those. Off topic, there seemed to be an aircraft going over our heads almost every 10 minutes. The venue was the Race Club Grounds guindy. No matter how many times I might fly, nothing like checking out an aircraft during its flight from terra firma. Coming back, there was a performance of the Fakirs (Hyderabad) Manganiyars (Rajasthan), Baul music(Bengal), Tibetan chants which I frankly could not comprehend, Sufi Qawwali by two groups, one Punjabi and the other from Muradabadgroup, and the Drums of Kerala. Of this group the Rajasthani and the Muradabad group got a lot of response from the audience. It was an evening to remember.

I got featured in the Indian Express today on "My Money". I really liked the style in which it was written. Thanks to a friend of mine, who let me know that it came on the papers today. Would have missed it otherwise :)

Went to my contact classes and we are trying to think of a topic for psychological study for my Project work for masters. Any ideas? Do let me know. If it is related to artistes, better. :)

Time to draw the curtains on another day. Tomorrow will be a new play

I went to the Dhrupad Festival today at the Museum theatre, Egmore and caught a performance of the Rudra Veena and following that, vocals by Gundecha Brothers, who sang Gavathi, Basant and one more raaga. I liked Gavathi best. It was good to listen to the Pakhawaj as the accompaniment in a concert, as it was the first time I heard it in this setting, even though the concept is not new to me. Pakhawaj is played as an accompaniment to Odissi dance which I have been learning since my 10th std. Off and on.

The audience were a revelation. I saw that there is a huge faithful following for Hindustani Classical music, even for Dhrupad, which has almost faded into oblivion save a few people who are keeping the art alive. Please read my mother's blog for more information on the Dhrupad style of Hindustani Classical Music. And in addition, the audience had almost a 50% of youngsters. Again pretty surprised. There must be something that must catch the attention of young blood! And some popular carnatic musicians as well. I am not gonna write about what I felt and because I feel that I need to grow before I can comment on this art form. Saw that mom had tried to teach me some nuances of the Dhrupad style, and I am still trying to catch on.

Chennai is becoming more and more open to other music, dance and art forms. I saw that a Susmit Bose was going to perform in the city at Amethyst, who sings folk music, and his lyrics have powerful messages of AIDS awareness, empowerment of women, education or so I remember the pamphlet saying. Also got to meet a lot of people we had lost touch with, at this cocnert. And realized concerts not only offer music but also become mini or macro get togethers. I used to be amused when I heard people saying that the December Music festival is also when you flaunt your best jewellery and clothes, but I caught a gist of it today. The people that come have a particular aura about them.

And I LOVED the acoustics of the Museum Theatre. Though it can hold just about 500 people and odd, I would love to sing there some day. And give a dance performance as well. That would be cool!

If anyone got a message from me on Yahoo Messenger with a website URL, just note that I didnt send it. I have been getting a lot of pings back regarding the same. I think I will soon enter the Guiness Book for having been hacked the most number of times.

I had sung for this group of five boys a few months back for their debut album Thee. They have named their band as En Core. For one, it was nice to work with them, and also came to know that I was the fourth singer to sing the same song. Also so far, I had not sung a song with this low a pitch at all. I kept saying that through the recording, and was pretty unsure of how it would sound. Thankfully it sounds pretty good. Have not uploaded it on the audio blog, on a specific request by Bharat.

We went for the audio release last week, and the host was pretty sure that I was wondering, in his words, that I would have been worried and would have taken them for granted and all that. He kept insisting. And I was counter-insisting, and then he finally gave in.... Also looks like the boys had a mentor in their Professor, who I guess was previously their senior. And the most of their classmates ended up at the audio release, which was heartening. It felt good that the others came to be there for them, though one of the boys is already in the States and another as far as I know, KK as he is called, is headed there soon. They also got Mr. Sivamani to work on their album along with a host of other technicians. Sincerely hope that this group finds a firm footing and hope they rise up in their musical endeavours and the success ladder. This will also give an oppurtunity for me to learn a lot from peers. :)

Was a good Sunday. Went off to MGM Resorts around noon with family friends. Good fun, and havent done something like this. Get togethers like this usually has a lot of music thrown in. Was more of my quieter self today. Sometimes, I think there are sides to me that I dont know of. There is no particular reason why I switch off. But then I do. Was asked if something was wrong. Point is, nothing was. But I was still not some effervescent thing around. As for MGM they frankly need to work on their food. But their coffee was great. It was good being back at the beach side after a long while. I really love the sea, but dont like wetting my feet. Cos, after that, getting the feet stuck with grains of sand for a long time, and the hemline of my pants wet fo even longer, is definitely not my scene. Also did something I had forgotten about. Collecting sea shells.

While there I called on my professor, whom I was instructed to call by my university since I had missed my practical classes. Point is, I was not informed about it. Actually I haven't written a single exam of my Masters degree to date, and was wondering what will happen to my lofty dreams of PhD and was worried about losing 2 years. I hadnt received the material to study, received no intimation about the exams or schedules. Nothing. So I made one of the repeat calls to the professor, and tried to fix up a date for me to finish the practicals. And he asked me who I was again. I went about explaining. And then he told me that he had taught me when I was doing my BSc with Madras Univ. For practicals. I heaved a huge sigh of relief. And rattled off saying I need help with the practicals, the course materials, the exams, my MPhil AND MY PhD. He patiently said he would take care of everything and that I need not worry. I bet he was amused. Thank God for teachers especially like him, especially for students like me. But then I guess it also helps if you have been a good kid in class .. ;) he he

I got a mention in Business World, ok not for running the most successful translation company in India, he he, but this was an article on how we are no longer consumers of the media and how we create the content as well.

This piece focussed on Podcasting, uploading photographs and video and they mentioned how I was using audioblogs for my benefit.

It was nice being named in a Business mag for a change :)

Run to you!!!

Was a great weekend watching one of my fav singers perform live. Bryan Adams at the Palace grounds.

Off we went driving down early Sunday Morning and we reached there by 10. checked in to a Hotel, got ready around 6:00 and left to the venue. Once there, we caught a band called Super Fuzz playing. Reported to be the winners of a competition to find the best band, they seemed to be pretty good. It was almost 7:30 by the time Adams came on stage and crowd was already restless. There was a message from Saif Ali Khan booming on the speakers before he came and apparently he is a Bryan Adams die-hard and sings his songs and all that. Adams sang most of my fav songs, though "Here I am" was not part of the show. He picked a girl called Shwetha, from AP, which Adams pronounced something like "aeppy". We were pretty close to the stage and was good to see him in action. Learnt quite a lot. Someone next to me fainted. Maybe outta exhaustion. The crowds were superb. Close to 30,000 or more. And it was as if Adams was playing for the crowds to sing. Once the first notes for a song were given, the crowd started singing, and then Adams had a look like hey lemme sing... Some group choir it was!

Show was over at 10:20. Came back and slept. This morning, visited my dance teacher's place. Met her after ages. Once we decided to leave from there, we decided to clean up the car a little. Opened the car, cleaned it and then forgot the keys inside. And then opened the car somehow and found that we had a flat tyre. Changed the flat one and we were finally on our way back. We stopped at a vulcanizing place where this guy had a silly smile about his face when I went to look what he was doing with the tyre. And the other guy who was in the shop with him kept sniggering. Would have given him a piece of my mind, but had a very feel good feeling, so I just left it at that and went back to the car. Back to the city by 7:00 and had some Chaat at Gangotree. Bangalore had a great climate. But I saw that it wasnt a great place as far as finding the way is concerned. There dont seem to be enough directions, and most people dont answer or lead us onto the wrong route. Thankfully, when we went to the venue for the Adams show, we could follow another girl, whom we had asked for directions at a signal. One guy whom we asked for directions to Palace grounds was highly amused. And then finally said we were on the opposite direction. Wonder how tourists manage. Also wished that the tickets to the show could have had directions on the back of them. Mapped out from MG road at least. sigh... anyway. Had a great time and it was a dream come true for me to see him live at last. I had missed the prev two shows thanks to 12th boards and Univ exams.. but then dreams do come true :)

Also have this feeling that disaster management should be taught in schools. First Aid, Changing tyres, swimming, .... a whole lot of other things. And basic cooking and stitching should be taught to both boys and girls. Soooo much needs to be changed in our educational system!

I have been seeing this link for November 1990 on my list of archives. I didnt put it there, and I dont know how it came there. Has anyone else had something like this happening to their blogs? Or is it just me again?

A question about selling on EBay

So we 'sold' an HP IPaq on Ebay. A "buyer" buys it and then gives contact information and all that. And says he will send the money order.

Then comes a mail from Western Union Auction Pay which directs me to ship the item to the buyer since the amount that is due to us is confirmed. And then it asks us to enter the tracking number on a hyperlined word. I click on the link, which does not work.

Then I google this Bid Pay and then it says they have stopped operations on the 31st December 2005. More than that, immediately is spelt as immidiately in the mail. As far as I know, no reputed company will have spelling mistakes in their correspondence I guess. I also get a scanned cheque which is sent for proof.

Now I wait to be enlightened. Is this a sham? Or is this trustworthy?

Please let me know.

Could not think of anything to blog on. Lately work has been coming in for the company, and that has kept me highly occupied.

The fine tuning on the website is yet to happen. Thanks to so many reasons. And I have resumed my French classes. Though its taxing to wake up early in the morning for the same, I am sure it will be worthwhile.

Have been listening to some music of various artistes and my headphones keep humming the tunes most of the time. Thinking of learning another skill, and while I mull on that, watch this space....