Aparna’s Blog

I don’t know if you remember but sometime back, I had written that I was reading ‘The Code of the Woosters’, the first-ever P.G.Wodehouse’s novel that I was reading. In that book, the way every time Bertie heaves a sigh of relief thinking that all the problems are solved only to find yet another problem surface and how Jeeves is always there to bring him out of it all, was fun to read. I liked it so much that I have started reading more of Jeeves and Woosters now. Read ‘The Inimitable Jeeves’ and ‘Ring for Jeeves’ after that. I have now started reading ‘Jeeves in the Offing’. With there being only 14 books on Wooster and Jeeves, I can’t wait to finish reading all the books! Only after that I am going to start reading other books of P.G.Wodehouse.

I got a nice forward that had a list of 28 beautiful words in English with a good, apt picture accompanying each word. As I scrolled down and read the words, I realized that most of the words in that list were the ones that I consider to be beautiful too.
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Accompanists:
S.Varadarajan – Violin
Tanjavur Ramdoss – Mridangam

Where & When? – Bharati Vidya Bhavan on 20th, May

Concert Duration – 2.5 hrs

Songs List:
1. Bhavanuta – Mohanam – Swarams at Bhavanuta
2. Nee daya radha – Vasanta Bhairavi
3. Vinataa suta – Harikambhoji - Alapana, Neraval & Swarams at nera vaishakotsavamuna
4. Nee madhi – Ananda Bhairavi
5. Bhajare re chita – Kalyani – Elaborate Alapana
6. Sivakama sundari – Mukhari (Started at anupallavi – Bhavaroga)
7. arumarundhoru – Kambhoji
8. Durusuga – Saveri – Alapana, Swarams at parama paavani; Tani Avartanam
9. Hey Govinda – Madhuvanti - Alapana
10. Raamanai Bhajitthaal – Maand
11. Tillana – Todi
12. Mangalam – Sowrashtram
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My sister and I had gone to Odyssey to get ‘Ada’ CD and I was just paying the money for it when guess who entered the shop!! Madhavan!!! :O We were not able to believe it!! We went and said ‘Hi Madhavan!’ and he said Hi. I then said we liked his movie, ‘Evano Oruvan’ very much and he said a Thank you and said he was just back from a shoot. He had come there with his son. I then asked if I can take a photo of his and he said he was just back from a shoot and he was all black. He anyway obliged and I took one with my mobile. We then thanked him and left. We anyway, didn’t want to disturb him.

But the photo has not come out well. Considering the excitement in which I was, I would have been surprised had it come out properly. Anyway, here’s the photo:

This is the third time I am seeing Madhavan! The first time was at Essen Musicals at Alwarpet where he had come along with Simran and Keerthana for the launch or rather promoting the CD/Cassettes of Kannatthil Muthamittal. The second time was at the DVD launch of Mani Ratnam’s movies by Mani himself where Madhavan spoke about his experience of working with Mani Ratnam. So luck struck for the third time today.

I was thinking about all the songs of ARR that released last year and ended up categorizing them as per my level of liking it. Sivaji and Azhagiya Tamizh Magan were the two albums of Rahman that released last year. Elizabeth - The Golden Age & the Marhaba song in Al Risalah released too but I have listened to Marhaba only a couple of times and I have not yet listened to songs of The Golden Age. So I am excluding those two here.

Songs that I love – the ones I consider to be The Best:

• Vaaji vaaji

• Oru koodai sunlight

Other favourites:

• Sahana/Sahara

• VaLayapaTTi

• Maduraikku

Song that alternates between ‘The Best’ and ‘Other favourite’ categories:

• athiradee

Song that needs more listening:

• nee Marilyn Monroe - I did like it very much when I heard it live in ARR’s concert. Still I have to listen to it some more before I can decide the category in which I will put it into

Songs that I don’t listen to anymore:

• Balleilakka

• kaeLaamal

• ella pugazhum

• The Boss

What is your choice of songs for each of these categories?

The months of March-May, which everybody hate because of the scorching summer here, are among the ones that I enjoy the most in Madras. No it’s not because of the summer, but because of the fact that Madras is at its beautiful max during these months! With the autumn ending by February end or so and the onset of spring thereafter, the month of March is when all the trees are adorned with not only fresh, new leaves but also the flowers that start blooming, giving company to the leaves.
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Seeing the trailer on Filmy channel on Friday that Khamoshi was going to be telecast on Filmy the next day, I realized that it had been quite a few months since I last watched/listened to one of my moooost favourite songs, aaj main upar!
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