I have been tagged by Brindha. So, here goes my first tag:

1.One thing you are very much afraid of?

2.Two incidents you can never forget in your life?

(Oops that makes it 4 incidents!!)

3.Three books you would love reading again and again?

Continue reading →

It’s that time of the year again when the mad rush for getting admissions to ‘good’ engineering colleges has started. Even before the start of Board Exams, many parents are already thinking of paying 3-4 lakhs for buying seats for their sons/daughters in engineering colleges. When you don’t even know how the exams are going to be and how your son/daughter is going to perform in the exams (I am sure a student not scoring good marks throughout the year can surely score good marks in the board exams if he/she puts in adequate efforts during the study holidays.), why should you think of buying seats for them now itself thereby encouraging the college management to charge unreasonable ‘fees’ for management quota seats? Besides, won’t the student lose interest in preparing well for the exams when he knows that a seat is already waiting for him in a reputed college? I mean why should you study hard when you know you are surely going to get into a good college? 

Well, it’s Q4 for the companies but for my blog, 2nd quarter just started 10 days back. 🙂 So, here I am presenting the Blog Stats at the end of Q1 (16th November, 2006 to 15th February, 2007) of the first year of my blogging. 😛
No. of posts I posted: 52 (Even without my realising it, my 50th post was the one on my meeting A.R.Rahman! A special one for my 50th post I should say 🙂 )
No. of comments: 188 (including my reply to comments)
You visited my blog 6076 times (Well, it includes my visits too)

Considering the fact that it took me nearly a year to convince myself that I too can start blogging, I guess I have a very good reason to be happy today Thanks to you all! 🙂
A very BIG THANKS once again to all of you!

I got this album (released by Rajalakshmi Audio last year) of T.M.Krishna last month. This has Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Krithis on Lord Rama. Check out the website of Rajalakshmi Audio for the list of krithis in this album. This has many not-so-often-heard raagas like mAhuri, kOkilAravam, rAma kali. T.M.Krishna has sung all the krithis with so much bhava! R.K.Shriramkumar plays the violin in this album, K. Arun Prakash the mridangam and V. Anirudh Athreya the kanjira. Everyone knows what a great combo TMK, Shriramkumar and Arun Prakash make. I would rate it as one of the best albums of T.M.Krishna till date!
The first song that I got hooked onto in this album is santAna rAmaswAminam in raagam Hindolavasantam. Every time I start listening to it, I listen to it atleast for a couple of times before moving onto the next song. The Nottu swarams in sankarAbharanam are very nice to listen to (rAmachandram is my current favourite Nottuswaram). I have only one complaint with this album: It would have been nice if T.M.Krishna had sung raaga alapanas for raagas like Hindolavasantam, nArAyanagowlai, mAhuri etc.
This one is a must-buy for all the T.M.Krishna and Dikshitar Kritis fans! If you haven’t got it yet, get it soon!

After a long time, I watched TV for more than 7 hours today. But, even as I was doing channel surfing, one thing that struck me was that the number of good Indipop songs has come down drastically in the past couple of years (In fact, there is no new Indipop song worth listening to now. And to top it, the video is also bad).
My favourites in Indipop:
(Not only the songs but the video of some of these songs were good too. I think quite a few of these songs will be in the list of everybody’s favourites)
1. Tanha Dil by Shaan – Shaan’s best till date! The lyrics of this song will be good too.
2. Euphoria – Though almost all the earlier songs of Euphoria were very good, the recent ones by them have become too repetitive and a bit boring too. Some of my favourites of Euphoria are Maaeri, Dhoom Pichuk Dhhom, Kabhi Aana Tu Meri Gully (the one featuring Vidya Balan in the video), Raja Rani(?).
3. Kitni Haseen Zindagi, Oh Sanam, Gori Teri Aankhen (along with Kavitha Krishnamurthy) by Lucky Ali – Again his songs too became repetitive after sometime.
4. Kabhi To Nazar Milao, Tera Chera, Nain Se Nainon Ko by Adnan Sami
5. Colonial Cousins – Their first album and then, Khaizala(I don’t remember the name of the album)
5. Meri Neend by Band of Boys
6. Char Din Ki Yeh Zindagani by Seven – Listen to it here (A big thanks to the reader who gave me the link)
7. Breathless by Shankar Mahadevan – Almost all the songs in the album ‘Breathless’ are good. But, I find that many songs composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy are based on the tunes in this album.
8. Falguni Pathak’s Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi (I can’t stand Ria Sen in this video), Meri Chunar, Teri Main Prem Deewani.
9. Khoya Khoya Chaand by Alka Yagnik and Babul Supriyo
10. Piya Basanti Re by Ustad Sultan Khan and Chitra.
11. Sonu Nigam’s Deewana – I love this song!
12. Tum Aaye by Hariharan and Alka Yagnik
13. Mujhe Pyar Hai Tumse by Pankaj Sarawgi
14. Pal, Aapki Dhuan and Yaaron Dosti by Kay Kay
15. Raat Shabnami by Asha Bhonsle
16. Sitaron Mein Tu Hi by Yesudas
17. A song from the album,’Punjab’ by Karunesh (Starts with ‘Aao Huzoor Tumko Sitaron’)
18. Baahon Mein Chali Aa, Hum Bewafaa, Raat Kali remixed by Instant Karma.
19. Bheegi Bheegi remixed by Leslie Lewis and sung beautifully by Sujatha and Srinivas.
20. Hai Re Hai Tera Ghoongta remixed by Leslie Lewis and sung by Kunal and Sowmya Rao.

I went to a concert of T.M.Krishna after more than a month. The concert was at Nageshwara Rao Park, Mylapore, held as part of the ‘Chennai Sangamam’, a cultural festival aimed at highlighting Chennai’s cultural ethos (as ‘The Hindu’, had called it), that started yesterday. Though it was only a 1-hour concert, T.M.Krishna made sure everyone enjoyed every moment of it!
Accompanists:
Amritha Murali – Violin
Manoj Siva – Mridangam
Umashankar – Ghatam
Songs list:
1. Thoadudaiya – GambhIraNattai
2. Kaalai Thooki – Yadhukula Kambhoji
3. Aazhi Mazhai KaNNa – Varali
4. Nattakurunji RTP – (A quickie RTP – Surprise of the concert!)
5. Chinnanchiru KiLiye – Raagamalika
6. Suttum Vizhi – Raagamalika
7. Senthamizh Naadenum – ? (don’t remember)
8. Irakkam Varaamal – Behag
9. Eppo Varuvaaro – Jonpuri
10. Vaazhiya Senthamizh – Madhyamavati
Highlight of the concert:
Of course, the Nattakurunji RTP! I least expected him to sing a RTP in this concert. Though it was a quickie, Nattakurunji being my favourite raaga, I just loved it! He sang the pallavi ‘nAttakurunji enbaar engaLadhu sirandha’ in two other raagas too (Mohanam and the other one I forgot 🙁 (HamirKalyani?)).
Then, the way he sang Chinnanchiru kiLiye with bhava was too good. After that, someone asked him to sing Suttum Vizhi and he said he was not sure whether he remembered the lyrics! When the girl said that she knew it, he asked her to sit in front of him and tell him if he forgets the lyrics somewhere! If I am not mistaken, it was after the line, ‘vaalai kumariyadi’ that TMK sang ha-ha-ha-ha in a beautiful way instead of the word ‘kaNNama’ twice, before singing the word ! Irakkam Varaamal is yet another song that I like hearing T.M.Krishna sing.
On the whole, the concert was excellent as any concert of T.M.Krishna will be. By the way, it was a nice to hear the concert sitting in the park, surrounded by trees with a surprisingly cool breeze blowing.

Back to writing about things I like. 🙂 (Ok ok I know I wrote only one post about things I don’t like). By the way, I had written only half of this post when I found that my friend Brindha had also written about her favourite books in her blog today! Talk about coincidence! Btw, we both have somewhat similar taste when it comes to books. 🙂
After music, it’s books that I enjoy the most. However, the past one year, the number of books that I am reading has come down. I hardly read some 1 or 2 books a month these days. 🙁

Now, a list of my favourite books/authors:
1. Perry Mason series by Erle Stanley Gardner
No one can match Perry Mason’s wit when it comes to arguing cases in court! I am yet to read only 15 of the total 86 Perry Mason novels. That is because I am not able to get hold of those. 🙁
2. Robin Cook’s novels
Initially, I used to hate reading about stuff related to medicine. In fact, I stopped reading ‘Coma’ halfway. But, I decided to give Robin Cook’s novels a try once more and got hooked onto it. I am yet to read only one book of his.
3. Erich Segal’s novels
The first book of Erich Segal’s that I read was ‘Doctors’. It is my most favourite book now. The best thing about Erich Segal’s books is the way he describes the human emotions, feelings. He makes sure that you are able to relate to the feelings of the characters. (I will try to come up with a separate post on Erich Segal’s books sometime soon.) Though I like all his books, apart from ‘Doctors’, my other favourites are ‘Only Love’ and ‘Man, Woman and Child’. I have read these 3 books many times.
4. R.K.Narayan’s books
Any Indian will be able to relate to the characters in his novels.
5. Harry Potter
I started reading it only after the first 4 books got released but like many, I have also become crazy about Harry Potter. I am eagerly waiting for the next book to get released.
6. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
7. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
These two books are the ones that I found inspirational.

Other books that I like (I don’t like these as much as the ones that I have listed above):
1. Dan Brown’s
I liked ‘Angels and Demons’ more than ‘Da Vinci Code’.
2. Kane and Abel, The Prodigal Daughter and Shall We Tell The President by Jeffrey Archer

Books that I don’t like reading:
1. Sidney Sheldon’s
2. Mills and Boon – So many of my friends are crazy about it!

Book am currently reading:
Fountainhead by Ayn Rand – I still have some 300 pages left.

Books am planning to read next:
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

Why is it that the same people who spend something like 5K/10K at shops like Lifestyle, Pantaloons, Westside, etc., without complaining, start bargaining the moment they start shopping in shops on the platform?

I feel I have written a bit too much about things I like. For a change, here are some of the things that I don’t like:
1. People letting their mobile phones ring loudly in concerts, temples and movies. It’s high time the silent/vibrating mode in phones is put to use.
2. Not following the queue.
3. Sutthi vaLaicchu paesaradhu – I am a frank person. If I like/don’t like someone/something, I say it straight away and expect others to do the same. If you want to say something, just say it, don’t sugar-coat things.
4. People smoking/drinking – God knows what pleasure they find in that!
5. People not following the traffic rules

Though there are many raagas that I like very much (In fact, there is nothing like a raaga that I don’t like), nothing gives me as much pleasure as listening to Sahana. I can say without any doubt that nobody can stop themselves from falling in love with Sahana. It’s such a beautiful raaga!
Sample this:
(The song ‘Indha Veenaikku’ from K.Balachandar’s old TV serial ‘Rayil Sneham’)

I remembered this song all of a sudden a couple of days back and what better site than youtube to search for it. You think of some song and you are sure to find it in youtube most of the times. By the way, I later searched for ‘Indha Veenaikku’ in Google and found that many bloggers had written about this one and Sahana in 2005/06. I don’t know how I missed reading those at that time.

Coming back to Sahana, incidentally Sanjay Subrahmanyan too has said in his interviews that Sahana is his favourite raaga. No wonder then, that he sings Sahana in many of his concerts, if not an entire song atleast a Viruttam or when singing a ragamalika in Raagam-Taanam-Pallavi. The same is the case with T.M.Krishna. Of course, I haven’t heard him say anywhere that Sahana is his favourite. But, he too sings Sahana in most of his concerts.
Even A.R.Rahman spoke at the Carnatic Chills audio release about an absolutely amazing Sahana played by Ganesh & Kumaresh that he listened to somewhere. I heard them play Sri Vathapi Ganapathi recently. Amazing of course, it was!

Some Carnatic songs in Sahana that are my favourites:
Chittam Irangadha by Sanjay Subrahmanyan – You can listen to it here:
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/carnatic_vocal/s/
album.2322/artist.107/
Ee Vasudha by Sanjay or T.M.Krishna (I have heard them both sing it in concerts) – You can listen to this song played by Guitar Prasanna here:
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/carnatic_instrumental/s/
album.113/artist.184/
Rama Ika Nannu – You can find it here sung by Sanjay:
http://www.sangeethapriya.org/Downloads/sanjay/toronto/
sanjaytoronto.html
Tillai Ambalatthaanai – Sanjay has sung this song in his album titled ‘Tillai’. A 21-minute song in Sahana! Pure bliss! I especially love the fast-paced swarams that he sings at around 17.oo minutes in this song.
Oho Kaalame by Sanjay – This composition by Vedanayakam Pillai is the one that Sanjay Subrahmanyan is, I should say, promoting nowadays.
Then, there are the songs Sri Vathapi Ganapathi, Vandanamu and Giripai.

Talking about film songs in Sahana, nothing can beat the old song, Paartthaen Siritthaen. All the lines end with words ending with ‘thaen’ in this song. Lovely!

Then, there is one of Rahman’s best compositions, ‘Azhage Sugama’ from Paarthaale Paravasam. I thought this one is in Sahana. But, someone told me that it is in Dwijavanti. Can someone please tell me if this one is in Sahana/Dwijavanti?

P.S.: Even if you are someone who doesn’t listen to classical music, I want you to listen to atleast one song that I have listed here. I am sure you will like it. After all, though it helps to have knowledge of Carnatic music to appreciate it, it is not a must that you should know it to enjoy it that too when listening to a raaga like Sahana.