One of my favourite quotes from Calvin & Hobbes is ‘That’s one of the remarkable things about life. It’s never so bad that it can’t get worse.’ This can really help one to look at the current condition in a positive way and help them comfort themselves. But how would you feel when every time just as you try to somehow make yourself appear cheerful despite all the problems, life makes it a point to keep showing that it really can become worse? How long do you think you will be able to take it all?

Time is said to be the best healing factor. But does time really heal? Yes time does help one accept things, those things which you never even imagined you would be able to bear, and move on with life. So is healing all about just finally being able to accept things in life?

Wishing Madras, the city I love, a very happy birthday and wishing all you Chennaiites out there a very happy Madras Day! 🙂

One of the engineering colleges in Chennai has this rule that says that students are not allowed to have mobile phones with them when they are inside the campus. This rule is applicable to those staying in hostel too. So when someone wants to contact a student staying in hostel they have to call the phone number given by the college. Now here’s where the problem comes.
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Saw this tag in Gayathri’s blog.

I am : down with severe cold & headache 🙁
I think : it would be great if I could go home right now 😛
I know : some of my readers don’t like tags 😉
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I absolutely loved this talk by Chitra Madhavan. This was conducted as part of the Madras Week celebrations. Being someone who has visited lots of temples in Madras and who loves visiting temples and admiring the sculptures and architectures there, I had decided to attend this talk the day I saw the events lined up for celebrating Madras Week.

For this interesting talk that lasted for about an hour, Chitra had chosen some 20 temples in Chennai. Along with ‘some lesser known temples of Madras’, ‘some lesser known details about some famous temples’ were also a part of this lecture. With relevant photos being shown in the power point presentation, she spoke about the different architectural styles that these temples have, the era to which they belonged to, the inscriptions at these temples and some of the temple sculptures, among other things.
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Sanjay Subrahmanyan – Vocal
Nagai Muralidharan – Violin
Guruvayoor Dorai – Mridangam
Neyveli Venkatesh – Khanjira

Where & When? – Krishna Gana Sabha on 17th August

Concert duration: 2hrs 45 min

Songs List:
1. Varnam – Nattakurunji
2. Raa rama inti – Asaveri – Swarams at raa rama
3. Entarani – Harikambhoji – neraval & swarams at sheshudu
4. ambarame – Kalyani – Alapana, swarams at sempor kazhaladi
5. Nagagandhari – Nagagandhari – Alapana
6. innum paramugam yaeno – Begada
7. Parvati nayaka – Bowli – Alapana, Swarams at Parvati nayaka – Tani avartanam
8. RTP – Nattakurunji – Pallavi: manadhil urudhi vaendum vaakkinil inimai vaendum – Triputa, Misra chapu – Swarams in Subhapantuvarali Kumudakriya
9. kaaNi nilam vaendum – Ragamalika (Hamsadhwani, ?, Sindhu Bhairavi)
10. nijagadasa – Sindhu Bhairavi
11. idhuvo tillai – Sindhu Bhairavi
12. Mangalam – Sowrashtram
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I switched on the computer to write about Sanjay’s amazing concert yesterday in which he sang the Nattakurunji varnam and an awesome Nattakurunji RTP among other pieces. As I started typing the list of songs, I started listening to his Nattakurunji varnam on repeat mode. Lost in the magic of Nattakurunji, I stopped the typing and started listening to more of his Nattakurunji – two different recordings of Jagadeesha and Vazhi Maraitthirukkudhe. Listening to Vazhi Maraitthirukkudhe made me want to listen to Ananda natana prakasham. Listening to it on repeat mode, I started browsing through Sanjay’s recordings that I have. After listening to a beautiful RTP in Hamirkalyani, I am now listening to the brilliant Bhageshri RTP. I have not been doing anything other than listening to Sanjay’s recordings non-stop for more than 5 hours now and still yeh dil maange more! 😉 Am at a loss of words to describe the effect that Sanjay’s music has on me. Sanjay is the best! 🙂

I was watching some video of the youngest fan of ARR in youtube (Thanks to Siva for sharing it 🙂 ) when I saw this (click on the link to listen) high quality recording of the Spirit of Unity concert theme (All my old readers might remember that I had posted the not-so-good quality recordings of the Spirit of Unity concert theme last year). I have been listening to it for the past 30 min & I still can’t stop listening to it! I was down with headache since the morning today and guess what? It’s has now disappeared. That’s the magic of Rahman’s music! 😀

Accompanists:
R.K.Shriramkumar – Violin
T.V.Vasan – Mridangam
Anirudh Athreya – Khanjira

Where & When? – CLT, IIT Madras on 11th August

Songs list (partial):
1. Varnam – Kalyani – Adi – Swarams
2. Vinata suta – Jayantasena – Swarams at mata badha
3. ninnu sevinchina – Yadukula kambhoji – Alapana, neraval at Kanakangi
4. Brovaradha sri – Varunapriya – Raaga outline
5. Upacharamulanu – Bhairavi – Alapana, neraval & swarams at kapata nataka
6. Veenabheri – Abheri (the supposedly correct Abheri 😉 ) – Raaga outline
7. Raagam Taanam Pallavi – Nattai (had to leave just as the tanam started)
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Watched it yesterday. Didn’t expect it to be my kind of movie and that was exactly how it was. kaNgaL iraNDaal/Reetigowlai as BGM for some of the scenes was nice. 🙂