Two quotes that I liked:
Doing nothing is very hard to do…. You never know when you’re finished! – Leslie Nielson
(From ‘Know your English’ in yesterday’s edition of ‘The Hindu’)
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do;
The fun is in having lots to do and not doing it!
(Got this as a forward. Many of you might have got it)
– Being a person who keeps procrastinating things, I totally agree with it đ
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?
Itâs that time of the year again when the mad rush for getting admissions to âgoodâ 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 donât 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 âfeesâ for management quota seats? Besides, wonât 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?Â
Well, it’s Q4 for the companies but for my blog, 2nd quarter just started 10 days back. đ 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. đ
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 đ )
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! đ
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 đ (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. đ (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. đ
After music, itâs 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. đ
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. đ
2. Robin Cookâs 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 Segalâs novels
The first book of Erich Segalâs that I read was âDoctorsâ. It is my most favourite book now. The best thing about Erich Segalâs 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 Segalâs books sometime soon.) Though I like all his books, apart from âDoctorsâ, my other favourites are âOnly Loveâ and âMan, Woman and Childâ. I have read these 3 books many times.
4. R.K.Narayanâs 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 donât like these as much as the ones that I have listed above):
1. Dan Brownâs
I liked âAngels and Demonsâ more than âDa Vinci Codeâ.
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