December, my favourite month – the month of music, has now gone on to become THE most special month, for it was on December 23rd that a baby girl was born to me.

As I was told that it’s a baby girl, the first thought that came to my mind was that she should be named Sahana.

Sahana – the raagam that has always been synonymous with bliss, happiness and joy unlimited, the raagam that has given me innumerable moments of ecstasy, the raagam that has made express the joy it induces, through a smile on my face irrespective of the mood I am in.

December being the month that is synonymous with music, melody, rhythm, raagam, swaram, sabha-hopping and indescribable blissfulness of music, besides the fact that till the previous day, I was busy going for the Season kutcheris, it only seemed natural that the name Sahana came to my mind, for I know that she is going to be the Sahana of my life!

Travelling by bus at 7:00 in the morning through the roads of T.Nagar, which, by the way, is where I stay now, I pass by some of the once-very-familiar streets and roads. My memories go back in time to when, as a kid, I travelled on the same roads on a rickshaw to go to school. North Usman Road, Habibullah Road, Periyar Road, Thirumalai Pillai Road, G.N.Chetty Road, Jeeva Park, Dr. Nair Road, cutting across Pondy Bazaar to reach Thanikachalam Road. The roads would be as empty back then as they are at 7 in the morning now. I used to commute in a non-motorized rickshaw when I was studying in kindergarten and later in a motor rickshaw, that too in what was called a ‘kooNDu rickshaw’. Today, rickshaws are almost extinct.
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iniya puttANDu nalvAzhttukkaL!

If you thought this countdown is for yet another Sanjay’s or a T.M.Krishna’s concert or the release of an ARR’s album or something related to Mani Ratnam’s movies, you are wrong. If you are one of those long-term readers of this blog and are smirking thinking that this is going to be one of those once-upon-a-time-frequently-posted cryptic posts where till the end I never revealed what or whom I was writing about(I miss writing posts like that! They were good stress-busters indeed!), then you are wrong too.

This countdown is for something that is going to bring a big change in my life. The moment I say change, I know the direction some of your thoughts will immediately turn to and yes, for once, you are right. I am getting married on March 24th! It is yet to really sink in that I am now about begin a new chapter in my life with a new family, new relationships and a lot more changes!

There are a lot of things that I want to write about the wedding preparations, the loads of shopping that I have been doing for the last few months and lots more. Bidding adieu to you all till I get back with all that in a few weeks time!

Wishing you all a very happy new year! 🙂

Wishing you all a very happy Deepavali! 🙂

Despite having gained a bit of confidence in driving a car last year itself, after I got my own car in January this year, it took me a good 5 months to start driving with full confidence! Even after that it has been only a step by step improvement. Starting with driving during daytime in non-peak hours and avoiding all flyovers and subways and the thought of the car getting stopped while releasing the clutch making an appearance every time I stopped in a signal, today I have reached a stage where I can drive at any time of the day anywhere with the music system in car playing loud music, which too I initially avoided. But I am still not comfortable with taking parking the car in reverse. 🙁 It looks like it’s going to take some more time and I am not worried about that.
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Waking up to the smell of fresh paint, I remember today’s date – September 24th – It was on this day 15 years before that we moved to his house. With white washing work going on at home now, the entire house is in chaos with things being moved from one room to another and rearranged back again. It brings back memories of the day when we shifted here, of the childhood days, of leaving behind a whole lot of friends in the previous place and a lot more!
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The sound of some music band out on the street wakes up all of us at home. We realize that it’s being played for the procession of some Amman. Seeing through the window, we wait to get a glimpse of the deity. It was taking quite a bit of time for the deity to reach our part of the street. We go out into the street and see the music band followed by a group of nadaswaram and tavil players. And then surrounded by a small group of devotees was the Amman embellished by jewels, huge, colourful garlands and lots of flowers – beauty and divinity personified. Seeing the festive atmosphere, you don’t realize that it’s 1:30 am in the night! Isn’t this what the month of Adi is all about? With Adi being synonymous with festivities in the ubiquitous Amman temples all over the city and with even some of the small temples in street corners having their own utsava vigraham (processional idol), you can often see some idol in procession.

P.S.: This happened yesterday night and for the first time in the last few weeks, I suddenly felt the need to pen this down and felt the words pouring out. Is my bloggers’ block finally gone?