Diwali Greetings

Almost my entire family here...

Well its that time of the year which we wait..Yes its Diwali..I wish everyone a very happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year...

Diwali at my place is the most awaited festival...It brings the entire family together and as a kid the only thing all of us used to look forward is bursting crackers. But today when i look back at those days, I wish I never grew up. Those petty fights I had with my cousins just because he had one extra packet of what we used to call 'lavangi' or fire crackers..

Traditionally everyone used to assemble at our grand parents house the previous night..The excitement used to build on what we have purchased for Diwali. I remember my grandmother and grandfather neatly arranging the clothes.. Ladies in our family used to proudly display the sweets and savouries they had prepared. And the celebrations began. I don't remember one Diwali night when we slept. We cousins (seven) used to wait for the day to dawn. Since we were 17 members in the family we kept talking the whole night and pulling each others leg...What next?

My guiding beacon (My Parents and Grandparents)

Well the day dawns and its 3Am to be precise...My grandmother used to apply oil in our hair (all kids..the mischievous lot)..Well what next..gulping down the marundu (This is something that we are supposed to have after taking bath..) And then starts the big bang stuff..And then the day just passes off playing some pranks...Since in Mumbai the celebration continues the whole night, we used to celebrate laxmi pooja with our neighbours...As i have told earlier here that though i lived in Mumbai all my life, I was fortunate live in an apartment where the majority of the members were Tamilians.. Also my family ensured that we valued our traditions...

Diwali is just not a festival, for me it has strengthened our realtionship and held our family together...For 24 years having celebrated with all cousins, this year I am all alone...Reason, my cousins have settled abroad, its just me and elders...The family of 17 has now been reduced to 5 in Paradise (That's my building's name) .....The number has shrunk but our love and care for each other has increased two-fold...Patti's demise has left a void..But she is there guiding us...If not for her we wouldn't have celebrated each festival the way we do it even today...Patti this Diwali is for you and Vijay who is celebrating his Thala Diwali (First Diwali) with his wife and Ramya...

Here's wishing everyone a happy Diwali once again...

Its Navaratri..

This is the golu kept in my house.

Yes its that time of the year where nine days goddess durga, lakshmi and saraswathi are worshiped, woman, kids are invited for Haldi Kumkum... I don't know when and how the tradition of keeping dolls only during Navaratri began. But we have been keeping it for almost 19 years now... On this occassion I do miss my grandmother who was instrumental in begining this tradition in my house....I remember how eager she used to be and arrange all the idols...I think whatever i have done this year is because of her and I believe she will always remain my guiding beacon...

How can Navaratri complete without mentioning about the Navavarnams composed by Muthuswamy Dikshithar...The eleven composition on goddess Kamalamba is one of my favourites...Composed in ragams, Thodi, Anandhabhairavi, Kalyani, Shankarabharanam, Kamboji, Bhairavi, Punnagavarli, Sahana, Ghanta, Ahiri, Shri, only MD can describe it so beautifully. May be i should dwell on each krithi at a time. Everytime i listen to it sung by DKJ, he transcends me to the shrine of Kamalamba in Tiruvarur...

It is believed that the goddess does penance for nine and on the tenth day she triumphs over the demons.. On the day of Vijaydasami, it is a tradition to start learning anything new. Generally students are enrolled to music schools and it is also on this day we pay our respects to our guru who have guided us all along...I pay my repects to my guru Late Smt Mangalam Muthuswamy who has been intrumental in imparting knowledge and whatever little i know or enjoy music is only because of her...Sri Gurubhyo Namah...Let us all pray the goddess to give us peace and prosperity and guide us...

Kamalamba Navavarnam: Wikipedia

A new day begins..

I wonder why i go on a hibernation from this space every now and then..Anyways i got a my new Canon IXUS 80IS. It looks good but still trying to explore it...So thought why not just upload pics that i took...Well i always like capturing the sun especially in the evening...So wait until i upload the next.. Now i am planning seriously to pursue my hobby..Lets hope...If i only i keep up my words this time :P

Shankarabharanam-The Beauty

I have been listening to Shankarabharanam continously for three days. Even when am in office, I kept humming it, thankfully because of the fire accident on Thursday night and the developments, there is not much work in office. So enjoyed so many versions of this beautiful ragam, thought why not talk about it here. All said and done, mere black and white words can't substitute the pleasure of listening to it.

Talking about Shankarabharanam, I really don't remember when I listened to it first, but wake me up from my bed and I can sing the basic sketch and catch the jeeva swaras(But please don't try it :P). I would have heard it at least zillion times, but there is something that just pulls me. Shankarbharnam immediately brings to mind a sedate and a serene thought. Just a karvai in Anatara Gandhara and I can imagine Dakshinamurthi in deep penance.

This is one raga, where all the swaras contribute to the rakthi of the raga. But according to me the life rests in the Gandharam. If you tune the tambura perfectly and sing the ghandhara, trust me its bliss. But whether it is the combination of G and M, or M and P, its just perfect. But a point to be noted is that nishada prayogam is more significant as an anuswaram.

Anyways moving away from the technicalities, this ragam is synonymous with MSS for her beautiful rendition. There are innumerable compositions that one can talk about in this ragam. The first of course is the wonderful Sami Ninnekori Varanam by Veena Kupaiyer. The trinity have ofcourse composed gems. Tyagaraja to my knowledge has composed more than 20 krithis. Each one has been gifted with some beautiful proyagas and bringing out the nuances of the raga. Take for instance Swara Raga Sudha, one of the most commonly sung, that talks about the great purpose or the popular Enthuku peddala, or Buddhi Radhu or Ethuta Nilachite where in the Charanam the saint questions the cowardly act of Rama of attacking Sugreeva from behind the bushes. Now it is important to note that this raga surely gives the scope to sing innumerable prayogas or even varja prayogas (mostly in the arohanams say RGMDN or GMDNR etc).

Anyways talking about Dikshitar, one krithi that I stands out is Akshayalinga Vibho. Who can forget the great Ariyakudi's rendition of this majestic krithi. This krithi has been composed on Akshayalinga swami, temple, located in a small village called Kezhvelur (Approximately 20 mins from Tiruvarur). Fortunately this temple is also our kula daivata (Family Deity) and hence I was even more thrilled when I learnt it. I will deal about the temple and krithi may be sometime later, but definitely one gets charged up while singing this in the sanctum sanctorium. Also who can forget the Navavarnam composed the by him. Such a beautiful description of the goddess and the ragam and the lyrics just blends. Dikhsithar excels in this. One more master piece is his Jhampa Thala krithi Dakshinamurthe that exemplifies his vidwat and as I said in the beginning, the very first prayoga itself sums it all.

Another famous krithi that has been MSS forte of course is Sarojadala Netri. Brinda Ammas rendition also stands apart. In fact I have their rendition of Akshayalinga Vibho which is my priced possession. The sowkhyam in their music is what I really enjoy. I don't remember any musician who hasn't enjoyed singing this ragam.

It is difficult for me to single out one particular rendition as my favourite. MS amma of course excelled in this raga and in fact I can write an entire post on every sangathi and every prayoga that she sings. So beautifully woven that one just forgets everything. Since I am not fortunate to listen to the yesteryear musicians, their recodings speak volumes. I wonder, what if I would have born a little earlier to listen to them. Well whether is Maharajapuram Santhanam's rendition of Manasu Swadhina ( I think a philadelhpia concert), MLV ammas Ethuta Nilachite (KGS 1981). This concert has to be said since PMI accompanied her and the two jambavans have taken the concert to different heights. In fact I have a recording of Mali where he has played some mind blowing Sangathis in the Manthara Sthayi.

In the current scene, I think TMKs rendition at Music Academy during 2004 season still remains fresh. Sudha Ragunathan, one of favourites has sung so many times that there is a sparkle in her eyes when she starts with the first phrase. I haven't heard Sanjay sing it live, but I posses a Charsur recording where he has sung an amazing Shankaracharyam.

I think the list is endless. I can just keep talking about this ragam. A concluding remark. One person who enjoys it listening more than me is ofcourse my grand father. I have already spoken about him earlier in this blog. But we have had innumerable sessions on the beauty of this raga...Thatha would just begin and contiue for hours together..No wonder I enjoy it too....And here when i am typing listening to Sudhas rendition of Dakshinamurthey, a recording released by Amutham, I think Music Academy concert...

Here is the link published in Sangeetham.com few years ago.

Traffic menace in Mumbai

Travelling in Mumbai is definately a nightmare for most of the Mumbaikars. Though Mumbai has one of the best public transport system in the country, (I saw this after travelling in other metropolis except Kolkata), one easily spends half his life time travelling from one end to other.

I have always felt at ease travelling by BEST (local buses) and even more comfortable by the local trains, the lifeline of Mumbai. May be thats because i never ventured during the office hours. But even when i started working it really didn't matter. Since i stay in the central suburb called Sion, which is connected to most part of the town, travelling was never an issue. I could afford to leave two buses, because i am rest assured that within ten minutes i will have two more buses coming which would be less crowded. But things weren't so easy yesterday, when i had to go to Chembur, for a dinner at my uncles place. I really couldn't afford to miss it since everyone in my family including my cousins were going to be there. (PS: Considering we are just two now here, rest have gone to Uncle Sam's country.) I really didn't want since, i knew it was impossible to go by train from office, since Worli isn't connected by train to Chembur. I had to take a bus.

So after a painful wait at the bus-stand (for nearly 30 mins) i boarded a bus from Worli, that goes to Chembur and not to my uncles place. I considered myself really smart for taking this decision, as i thought it was well past 8.30 PM and i could reach my uncles place by 9.30. I later realised, that was the most idiotic decision. The traffic just refused to ease. The first bottleneck was near the famous Siddhivinayak Temple, where it took me nearly 30 mins to cross that junction. I was optimistic at this point, thinking things would be fine beyond this point. But i was mistaken. By the time i reached Dadar Circle it was almost 9.15 PM. To add to this the driver was a bad driver. Even when he had a clear road ( which a rarity) he refused to go beyond 20km/hr. This frustrated most of the passengers. Some even got down and boarded some other buses..(Sheer smartness i say). I was too tired to get down after a mad friday in office. It was day where everything happened at the same time. Trust in 15 mins, the inflation numbers came in, UTVi had an exclusive chat with Infosys Management (Since they announced their Q1 results) and the IIP numbers. So it was madness and i didn't have time to have my lunch. So the best thing was sit in the bus. I was trying to distract my attention and started playing with a baby. But no respite. Rain god only worsened the situation.

At around 9.30 PM when i was nearing my residence, i thought let me get down and go home. It was then when my aunt called up and emotionally blackmailed me. I couldn't say no. So the painful journey continued. It was 10 PM and I easily had to travel 6 Kms. At this juncture i lost my cool and decided to take an auto. This is when my co-passenger said, it wouldn't really make a difference. But i could no longer sit in the bus, where most of the passengers were smelling, (including me :P, thanks to the humidity). I got down and took the great vehicle in India, the autorickshaw. Trust me in 20 mins i reached home at around 10.45PM. I thanked the driver, he was just brilliant. I was relieved and it was seen in my face. The driver gazed at me, when i thanked him. I am sure i looked like a fool.

Now you may ask me why didn't i take a taxi or an auto earlier, simply because till reach Chunnabhati, taking an auto or travelling by bus doesn't really make a difference. So in all three hour to travel 15kms. I don't whether anywhere else in the world would some one take so much to travel this distance. But in Mumbai, you surely will. The worst part of this was i was in office at 8 in the morning on Saturday...But all said and done, i still love this city, don't ask me why :)

Did this blog die?

I was going to create a new blog and start writing again, when i remembered i already had one..I confess i have never updated in frequently, though have made promises. No i'm not going to give any excuse for this...It's just laziness. Anyways its been seven months and things have changed. I quit DNA (so called firs job), but repent for accepting it...Got an offer from UTVi and looked good. Not just money guys but the nature of my job. Moving away from my job, on the music front, scene is the same.

I haven't resumed my veena classes. But yes, did play at the Tyagaraja Aradhana, organised by Shanmukhananda. An emotional moment for me, tears rolling down while playing Endaro, the Shri Raga Pancharatna. I know my Guru would have been listening to us. I felt her playing with us. Unfortunately haven't been attending too many concerts, the listening pleasure is restricted to recorded concerts that i have downloaded. I should add that these days I have been listening to Dikshitar krithis and trying to digg more jewels.

I was introduced to twitter recently. Though it doesn't seem different from other social networking sites, but for some reason i have been updating it...Hope to continue it...Let me see whether my update continues here....Now no more promises...But my urge to write hasn't satiated.....I still want to write about music and on lot more issues...Will try and gather my thoughts to write something meaningful...A post worth a read..Sure better than this one :P