Bhavan's Music Festival

Today, the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan at Mylapore kick started their series of Carnatic Music Concerts.

Andrew Simkin, the Consul General for the United States was the Chief Guest. Other know people were Nalli Kuppuswamy, and Leela Samson (Kalakshetra).

Nithyasree Mahadevan's concert marked the beginning of this wonderful journey for the Bhavan for the year 2009.

The concert was delayed by almost 30 minutes. Nithyasree began with a salutation to Lord Ganesha singing Sri Vignarajam in the raagam GambheeraNaattai. This was followed by Shambho Mahadeva in the raagam Bowli. The next one was Smarane Sukamu in the raagam Janaranjani. Entha Naerchinaa was the next rendition set in the raagam Suddha-Dhanyasi. Ayyane Nadanamadiya set in the raagam Nadai-Bhairavi followed next.

The most important piece of the whole concert was Sri Kanthimathim set in Hemavati raagam. By the time this song ended, it was time for me to leave. So, I could not sit and listen to the songs that followed this keerthanai. This segment is usually the best because the artists sing very popular songs.

I was also pretty irritated because of the person next to me. He was coughing like a diesel locomotive from the 70's. And on top of that he was chewing paan I guess. That smell was killing me.

The average age of the people who came to listen was 58. It was so sad to see such a boring crowd. Half the people were hungry by the time the concert started and then started to leave right from half past eight.

And then there are some people who still follow the practice of reserving a seat using their hand-towels. Since they are in the post-retirement stage, you cant even argue with them. you just have to dismiss them and move on.

one other thing i noticed is that there are more medical insurance companies at these concerts than any other business entity. i guess they know their target segment in this time of the year. haha.

more to come by as and when i come out of concerts.

Let the music begin

Thats the tagline for the HINDU FRIDAY REVIEW NOVEMBER FEST. And as it rightly says, the month of music began for me today at the Music Academy.

I was there to witness OS Arun and Sanjeev Abhyankar enchant the audience through their wonderful renditions of the poems by Surdas. Every composition was unique.

Arun and Sanjeev took time to explain to the audience, the underlying theme of every poem and the emotions that Surdas brought out.

Poems were about Lord Krishna's childhood, his friendship and respect to Dharma, Surdas' interpretation of hw the Lord would appear to him. Akhiyan Hari Darshan Ki Pyaasi, Jasumati Man Abhilash are the poems that I remember.

Compositions were rendered in different scales. So the raga was not important. Abhogi, Behag - if i remember right, were some of the ragas.

The Raas Leela at the end was the highlight. OS Arun's aalaap during the Raas Leela was fantastic.

This is just the beginning. The Chennai Music Season is warming up and will be in full swing, roughly about 10 days from now. And I am going to be in as many sabhas as possible. It only gets better and better.

Blank

It was food poisoning I thought. I was feeling weird on Monday evening. Went to bed without taking any medicines. On tuesday morning, I had fever. Decided to take it light and had medicines. The fever was under control but I had to go to the doctor in the evening.

Wednesday was spent pretty much in heavy doses of paracetamol. The doctor did not give me any antibiotics because he thought it was just fever.

I got up on around 3am on Thursday. Entered the bathroom and locked the door.

I am lying on the bathroom floor. I am trying to open my eyes, but I am finding it difficult. My head is spinning and there is a feeling that I have been struck by a huge club. I felt like I was falling into an abyss. Heavy noises in my mind and I am going crazy but unable to do anything. Breathing had become extremely difficult and I was nauseous. I still hadn't figured out what had happened. There was a conflict between what I wanted to do - which was, get up on my legs somehow; and what was actually happening to me. One part of my brain was telling me to get up but there was an overpowering force that was just putting me down. I just couldnt think at all.

Seconds after I locked the bathroom door, I had fallen unconscious. And then somehow by God's grace, I regained consciousness.

I am lying face down. I try to push myself up, but I still cannot do anything. I try and hold the water pipe but that does not help. There is pain all over the body. I turn myself around a bit but the spinning never stops. I still cant see anything around me clearly. I start shouting. My dad is woken up and he rushes, but he cannot help. I have locked the door. He is communicating to me and I am able to hear. Cant do much. My body is still failing me. I push myself a little bit towards the door. I am trying to reach the latch but I cant. I try harder and my hands reach the latch but I still cant push it. It was such a difficult moment for me. Almost like escaping from the clutches of a demon. That instance, I almost gave up. There was absolutely no energy left. Few seconds. I tried to reach that latch again. This time I managed to push it. My dad opened the door and dragged me out.

The sweat was gushing out of my body. My body was COLD. I could feel it. There was no strength to do anything.

From then on, it took almost 3 hrs to get back to normal. And 2 bottles of glucose drips.

Now, this is not the best way to start blogging after a break, but certainly is a shocking start. Hoping to get back to normal soon.