First of all, I should thank Vedanth Bharadwaj for having sent me a Facebook Invitation for this concert.
Ebony and Ivory - a concert by Anil Srinivasan and Sikkil Gurucharan accompanied by BS Purushottam on the Kanjira.
On a beautiful Friday evening (24th July 2009) in Kalakshetra, Anil and Guru entertained the audience for about 1.5 hours through some amazing raagas.
The concert was dedicated to the great MS Subbulakshmi. MS's piano, which dates back to almost 1947 was gifted to the Kalakshetra by the MS family. The school already had a piano that belonged to Rukmini Devi. Anil Srinivasan, Leela Samson and a few like minded people decided to restore the piano and celebrate the hard work through a concert. This free concert that was conducted on Kalakshetra premises attracted people like Anita Ratnam, Aruna Sairam and Unnikrishnan.
Anil played both pianos. MS's piano had been recently restored and did not have the capacity to stand a whole concert. So Anil just played one song on that one. All other songs were played on the other one.
All through the concert, Anil explained about how the piano was restored and the effort that had gone into the concert. He also talked about every song, gave a bit of background and history when it was required.
The first one was a ragamalika - Sindhu Bhairavi, Kalyanavasantha, Poorvikalyani, Neelambari and Madhayamavathi. It was such a free flowing music from Guru and Anil on the piano. The transitions from one raagam to another was very good and when it came towards Neelambari, it sounded so sweet that there was a feeling of happiness rushing through me.
Gurucharan also sang "Naan Oru Vilayaattu Bommaiyyaa" and the music was played on MS' piano.
There were two Annamacharya Krithis that were also sung. I forgot the songs. I think one was set in Pantuvarali.
There is no Sikkil-Anil concert without one from the albums they have released perviously. So Guru embellished the concert with Poonguyil from his album Maayaa. This Kalki Krishnamurthy song was set in the raagam Kaapi.
The last piece was Hari Tumharo set in Darbari Kanada and this song reminded me of Malare Mounama from the movie Karnaa and Vedant told me that even Poo Maalai Vaangi Vanthaal from Sindhu Bhairavi was quite similar.
Even though the concert seemed to be very quick, it was a great experience to see some stalwarts around me. It was simply wonderful to see the pride that everyone took in associating themselves with the MS Family or Kalakshetra. Whoever came on stage, gave us anecdotes about the piano, MS, musicians of the same era.
The concert was called Ebony and Ivory because the keys on MS' piano were made of ivory and the wood used was Ebony. The piano was bought for a princely amount of Rs.2000 during the pre-independence years and its great to see that it has been restored and will be housed within an institution that is world famous for its carnatic roots.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Pasanga
9th grade - we were asked to help in moving the new notebooks to the library on the 3rd floor from the ground floor. we formed a chain and started passing notebooks from one hand to another. one bright idea during the whole execution and we pushed a few notebooks into our classroom. no one from the staff noticed and 30 notebooks were in our hands. but there was someone accounting for it somewhere. the next day we were all standing in the assembly hall in front of the whole school.
7th grade - i still remember standing in front of the principals room with my dad. my friend and i had done some mischief during science class and triggered a big commotion that someone decided to complain.
8th grade - my friend copied an expected exam essay question answer on his test notebook's last page and then forgot to tear that page off before handing over the notebook. the teacher accidentally found out and gave him a zero for that test.
7th grade - i was on a casual running race with my friend and when we were almost close to finish, i ran close to him and did a smart leg trip. he fell down and was badly hurt.
10th grade - my science teacher asked my friend who was sitting on the first bench to tuck in his shirt. obeying her, he immediately unzipped and started tucking in. she got furious and made him stand outside the class without his shirt on.
Pandirajan's directorial debut for the movie PASANGA, although set in a small town, brought back all those wonderful years in school.
PASANGA - as the name suggests, is all about kids, their lives in school, friendship, inter-gang rivalry, mischievous children playing spoil-sport and double gaming on each other, competition, their influence on parents lives and vice versa, ambitions, expectations when they see people around them, the list could go on.
Anyone who has been seen life through the eyes of a middle class family can definitely understand the vibrations this movie sends out. Of course, the director had to add an element of romance to keep the audience interested. Otherwise, I would have been bored with just the kids fighting with each other.
Anbukkarasu joins a corporation school in a new town. He is a super achiever and very down to earth. Jeeva, Pakkada and Kutti Mani are the trio who hate Anbu and there starts our story. Small skirmishes between Anbu and Jeeva's gang lead to even the parents shouting at each other. I am sure that we have seen a lot of this even when we went to school.
Meenakshi Sundaram (Anbu's uncle) and Sobikannu (Jeeva's sister. saw her last in the movie Saroja) bring a smile to the whole movie. Their love story has been dealt with simplicity and fun. The exchange of dialogs using cell phones is highy innovative and impressive.
The kids are the central theme of this movie. Playing small games, inducing jealousy between each other are part and parcel of the movie. The movie goes on to tell us that the emotions that the kids go through are quite the same as we do. Ours is a bit more magnified. Trying to put honey on the head of the guy you hate to make his hair go white or setting up an elder cousin to punch the guy on his way back from school or asking some random guy to chant some hymns to ensure that your rival fails in class - I am sure that all of us thought of some thing or the other, to oust our rivals in school.
The rivalry goes a little further. The parents start hating each other initially until an honest conversation between the two dad's brings the families a little closer. The kids still remain enemies. The love story unfolds. The parents decide on a wedding. The kids dont like it. Whether they remain friends is the remaining part of the movie.
James Vasanthan's music is definitely a treat. "Oru Vetkam Varudhe" - the romantic number is simply beautiful. The background score fits well into the scheme of things, especially when it comes to the fights between the kids.
Kudos to the director and cameraman for having given this movie a natural yet professional touch. Nothing looks very funky or unbelievable. Its just what you'd see in school or inside your house and its right there on the screen. No overacting from any of the kids. Powerful dialogs and the delivery from all the kids is amazing, as professional as any seasoned actor in the industry.
Overall: Great entertainer and a must for all parents and children.
7th grade - i still remember standing in front of the principals room with my dad. my friend and i had done some mischief during science class and triggered a big commotion that someone decided to complain.
8th grade - my friend copied an expected exam essay question answer on his test notebook's last page and then forgot to tear that page off before handing over the notebook. the teacher accidentally found out and gave him a zero for that test.
7th grade - i was on a casual running race with my friend and when we were almost close to finish, i ran close to him and did a smart leg trip. he fell down and was badly hurt.
10th grade - my science teacher asked my friend who was sitting on the first bench to tuck in his shirt. obeying her, he immediately unzipped and started tucking in. she got furious and made him stand outside the class without his shirt on.
Pandirajan's directorial debut for the movie PASANGA, although set in a small town, brought back all those wonderful years in school.PASANGA - as the name suggests, is all about kids, their lives in school, friendship, inter-gang rivalry, mischievous children playing spoil-sport and double gaming on each other, competition, their influence on parents lives and vice versa, ambitions, expectations when they see people around them, the list could go on.
Anyone who has been seen life through the eyes of a middle class family can definitely understand the vibrations this movie sends out. Of course, the director had to add an element of romance to keep the audience interested. Otherwise, I would have been bored with just the kids fighting with each other.
Anbukkarasu joins a corporation school in a new town. He is a super achiever and very down to earth. Jeeva, Pakkada and Kutti Mani are the trio who hate Anbu and there starts our story. Small skirmishes between Anbu and Jeeva's gang lead to even the parents shouting at each other. I am sure that we have seen a lot of this even when we went to school.
Meenakshi Sundaram (Anbu's uncle) and Sobikannu (Jeeva's sister. saw her last in the movie Saroja) bring a smile to the whole movie. Their love story has been dealt with simplicity and fun. The exchange of dialogs using cell phones is highy innovative and impressive.
The kids are the central theme of this movie. Playing small games, inducing jealousy between each other are part and parcel of the movie. The movie goes on to tell us that the emotions that the kids go through are quite the same as we do. Ours is a bit more magnified. Trying to put honey on the head of the guy you hate to make his hair go white or setting up an elder cousin to punch the guy on his way back from school or asking some random guy to chant some hymns to ensure that your rival fails in class - I am sure that all of us thought of some thing or the other, to oust our rivals in school.
The rivalry goes a little further. The parents start hating each other initially until an honest conversation between the two dad's brings the families a little closer. The kids still remain enemies. The love story unfolds. The parents decide on a wedding. The kids dont like it. Whether they remain friends is the remaining part of the movie.
James Vasanthan's music is definitely a treat. "Oru Vetkam Varudhe" - the romantic number is simply beautiful. The background score fits well into the scheme of things, especially when it comes to the fights between the kids.
Kudos to the director and cameraman for having given this movie a natural yet professional touch. Nothing looks very funky or unbelievable. Its just what you'd see in school or inside your house and its right there on the screen. No overacting from any of the kids. Powerful dialogs and the delivery from all the kids is amazing, as professional as any seasoned actor in the industry.
Overall: Great entertainer and a must for all parents and children.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The cycle ride
3.15 am on Sunday! I dont think anyone would think of getting up at that time on a Sunday. I had to and the only reason was the bike ride to Mabahalipuram.
TI Cycles was organizing a ride to Mahabs. They started new group called Chainreaxion on Facebook and then informed a lot of us about the ride. It was a while since I did my last ride. So I decided to do it. Manu, Kaushal, Bajji, Subbu, Abhinav and myself signed up for the ride. Subbu dropped out because of two full days of management training prior to the ride and that was more than enough to tire him out. Abhinav was dehydrated from the previous day's party. I wonder how because he was inside the swimming pool most of the time. Ultimately, it was just the four of us.
4.00am - picked up Bajji from Abhinav's place.
4.15am - reached the starting point to find out that no one had come. quite a shock. the emails that were sent out mentioned that if anyone turned up late, they would be left back.
4.30am - some ppl were there but no signs of the organizers. they were supposedly on their way. by this time, manu and kaushal were already there. we decided to start warming up and do some stretching. bajji was fast asleep in the car.
4.45am - some more ppl arrive. one car comes with some really cool Bianchi cycles. the employees of TI decided to show off with some of those expensive bikes.
5.00am - most of the organizers are there but the trucks with the cycles have not yet arrived. we were already 30 mins late. Tanvi Shah lands up. I have been talking to Tanvi about the ride over the last 2 days or so. In fact, I have been asking her questions over questions and she has been patiently replying to me. So I met her and told her that I was the one who was quizzing her so much. Later Bajji comes and tells me that she is Tanvi Shah, the playback singer. I didnt believe him. And then a lot others confirmed the same. I was like - Oh my god! I have been talking to Tanvi 'Slumdog' Shah! I hope I didnt annoy her too much with my silly questions.
5.15am - first set of cycles arrive. they are the usual BSA machs and the hercules ACT series. I rode the ACT during the last TI ride and i had a very bad experience. the resistance was very high and the gear shift mechanism was hopeless. so this time i didnt take the ACT. everyone is testing cycles, pulling up seats and making all sorts of adjustments.
5.30 - two other trucks arrive and i finally managed to get one mach cycle. there were a bunch of so called new cycles. and these cycles had air pumps, mud-guards, rear-carrier etc. I was like - who will buy this. all these things add so much weight to the cycle. it affects the ride quality. anyway, TI was supposed to come out with a geared version of the Mach, but they are probably sleeping on it. the one i pulled out had no gears. i changed my seat to a smaller one because it had to fit my gel seat cover that i had got. i was also wearing cycling shorts for extra comfort. just to ensure that i dont sleep on my chest the whole of sunday.
5.50am - we were all set to leave. we entered the road to ECR from thiruvanmiyur bus depot. myself, manu and kaushal crossed the road. bajji was a little behind. after we crossed, i started pedalling. i never looked back for a while. after sometime i noticed that there was no one behind me. i didnt know what was happening but i didnt want to stop as well. i kept riding.
our first stop was the PIT STOP restaurant. this was the only time for which, the vehicle that carried water was in front of me. I had some water. emails promised gatorade but there were no signs of that. started riding again. from there on, it was a very long ride. there were two stops before the final destination but i did not stop because then i will have had to wait for the vehicle to catch up with me. the vehicle was following the crowd and the crowd was way behind. only one guy (a blue dart pilot) was riding with me. and we were cruising at 25kmph roughly. the first half was really tough. i was quite pained to ride a cycle with no gears. it was horrible. i wanted to take my TREK but the only problem was getting it back; because our way back was by a bus that was arranged for us. when i saw the board that said 13km to Mahabs, I was thrilled because from there it was downhill by the numbers and I had to just keep going.
i was pissed that the vehicle was not leading us and trailing somewhere behind. i needed water and there was no chance of getting it. the only option was to walk up to some hut on the way and ask for some. i decided that i'll manage somehow. in exactly 2 hrs we reached the destination - Chariot beach resort. about 45 kms from chennai and past all the architectural beauty of Mahabs.
i guess the guy at the resort wasnt expecting us so early. breakfast tables hadnt been laid out. he took some time to do all that and in the meantime i stretched. english breakfast was served - cereals, muffins, donuts, baked vegetables, juice etc.
slowly people started getting in. by the time everyone arrived it was 10am. Action King Arjun was also there. his daughter was riding with us. so he decided to give us company. i heard that NDTV HINDU made some coverage during the ride but we were way past all of that action.
it was a great ride. would have been better if we had started by 5am. could have avoided a lot of sun. also, there werent any helmets. we were promised but it wasnt there.
hopefully, next time, this will get better.
TI Cycles was organizing a ride to Mahabs. They started new group called Chainreaxion on Facebook and then informed a lot of us about the ride. It was a while since I did my last ride. So I decided to do it. Manu, Kaushal, Bajji, Subbu, Abhinav and myself signed up for the ride. Subbu dropped out because of two full days of management training prior to the ride and that was more than enough to tire him out. Abhinav was dehydrated from the previous day's party. I wonder how because he was inside the swimming pool most of the time. Ultimately, it was just the four of us.
4.00am - picked up Bajji from Abhinav's place.
4.15am - reached the starting point to find out that no one had come. quite a shock. the emails that were sent out mentioned that if anyone turned up late, they would be left back.
4.30am - some ppl were there but no signs of the organizers. they were supposedly on their way. by this time, manu and kaushal were already there. we decided to start warming up and do some stretching. bajji was fast asleep in the car.
4.45am - some more ppl arrive. one car comes with some really cool Bianchi cycles. the employees of TI decided to show off with some of those expensive bikes.
5.00am - most of the organizers are there but the trucks with the cycles have not yet arrived. we were already 30 mins late. Tanvi Shah lands up. I have been talking to Tanvi about the ride over the last 2 days or so. In fact, I have been asking her questions over questions and she has been patiently replying to me. So I met her and told her that I was the one who was quizzing her so much. Later Bajji comes and tells me that she is Tanvi Shah, the playback singer. I didnt believe him. And then a lot others confirmed the same. I was like - Oh my god! I have been talking to Tanvi 'Slumdog' Shah! I hope I didnt annoy her too much with my silly questions.
5.15am - first set of cycles arrive. they are the usual BSA machs and the hercules ACT series. I rode the ACT during the last TI ride and i had a very bad experience. the resistance was very high and the gear shift mechanism was hopeless. so this time i didnt take the ACT. everyone is testing cycles, pulling up seats and making all sorts of adjustments.
5.30 - two other trucks arrive and i finally managed to get one mach cycle. there were a bunch of so called new cycles. and these cycles had air pumps, mud-guards, rear-carrier etc. I was like - who will buy this. all these things add so much weight to the cycle. it affects the ride quality. anyway, TI was supposed to come out with a geared version of the Mach, but they are probably sleeping on it. the one i pulled out had no gears. i changed my seat to a smaller one because it had to fit my gel seat cover that i had got. i was also wearing cycling shorts for extra comfort. just to ensure that i dont sleep on my chest the whole of sunday.
5.50am - we were all set to leave. we entered the road to ECR from thiruvanmiyur bus depot. myself, manu and kaushal crossed the road. bajji was a little behind. after we crossed, i started pedalling. i never looked back for a while. after sometime i noticed that there was no one behind me. i didnt know what was happening but i didnt want to stop as well. i kept riding.
our first stop was the PIT STOP restaurant. this was the only time for which, the vehicle that carried water was in front of me. I had some water. emails promised gatorade but there were no signs of that. started riding again. from there on, it was a very long ride. there were two stops before the final destination but i did not stop because then i will have had to wait for the vehicle to catch up with me. the vehicle was following the crowd and the crowd was way behind. only one guy (a blue dart pilot) was riding with me. and we were cruising at 25kmph roughly. the first half was really tough. i was quite pained to ride a cycle with no gears. it was horrible. i wanted to take my TREK but the only problem was getting it back; because our way back was by a bus that was arranged for us. when i saw the board that said 13km to Mahabs, I was thrilled because from there it was downhill by the numbers and I had to just keep going.
i was pissed that the vehicle was not leading us and trailing somewhere behind. i needed water and there was no chance of getting it. the only option was to walk up to some hut on the way and ask for some. i decided that i'll manage somehow. in exactly 2 hrs we reached the destination - Chariot beach resort. about 45 kms from chennai and past all the architectural beauty of Mahabs.
i guess the guy at the resort wasnt expecting us so early. breakfast tables hadnt been laid out. he took some time to do all that and in the meantime i stretched. english breakfast was served - cereals, muffins, donuts, baked vegetables, juice etc.
slowly people started getting in. by the time everyone arrived it was 10am. Action King Arjun was also there. his daughter was riding with us. so he decided to give us company. i heard that NDTV HINDU made some coverage during the ride but we were way past all of that action.
it was a great ride. would have been better if we had started by 5am. could have avoided a lot of sun. also, there werent any helmets. we were promised but it wasnt there.
hopefully, next time, this will get better.
Friday, July 03, 2009
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