Tamil Trouble

Before leaving Bengaluru, I had a strong intention of talking only in Kannada in Chennai and showing them how even we are so passionate about our language.

No. It didn’t happen at all.

I must say it was an ordeal which I went through to reach IIT Madras from the Koyambedu main bus stand in Chennai. I had to rehearse a couple of times at home before I got the name ‘Koyambedu’ right. I always used to think and think and finally end up with, Er..something that starts with K. It was about 6:30 in the evening when I reached there. I had heard that Chennai auto-drivers are big time money suckers so I dared not to even make eye contact with a single auto driver and managed to shoo them away with what ever little Tamil I knew. Next up, I had to find a bus which would to take me to the IIT. With a few instructions from my KSRTC bus driver I was able to reach the place where local buses would stop. To give a clear picture to my fellow Bangaloreans, that place is as big as our Majestic bus stand. But the only difference, every damn sign-board is written in Tamil. They appeared to me as a few jalebis of different shapes placed next to each other. I decided not to take up the herculean task of trying to talk to the bus conductors in Tamil, instead I called up my friends who’re settled here to ask them which bus to take. They had absolutely no idea. I just ended up cursing them, losing a lot of my precious Vodafone balance which drained down the immensely-pleasant-smelling drains of Chennai. Thankfully, some guy in the enquiry counter knew a little bit of English but he didn’t know what IIT was! It was quite shocking that no one in the bus stand knew what IIT was. I was desperately searching for a free wifi network in the bus stop and guess what, I got it. I think it was from a hotel nearby. Without internet, my smartphone is no smarter than I am. I found out the nearby landmarks using Google maps and told that guy. He gave me an expression of ‘why couldn’t you say that before’ when I said Anna University which is supposed to be right opposite IIT. It turned out that there was only one direct bus to that place. ‘23M’. I didn’t even know how frequent it was, I just waited. After a forty-five minute long wait, it came. With the number ‘23M’ and a few jalebis written on either side. One thing I noticed in TN buses is that there’s no separate seat for ladies in public transports like we have in Bengaluru. I stood with my heavy luggage even though a seat in the front was empty until someone asked me to sit. I kept thinking that ‘ladies’ was written in Tamil on top of the front seats till I witnessed men sitting every where. I made a mistake again while buying the ticket. I said ‘IIT’. The conductor gave me a weird look. I recovered from it and said ‘Anna university’. He gave me a 7 rupee worth ticket. I was happy thinking that it should be some where close by judging by the ticket price. But the bus prices in TN are way cheaper than Bengaluru bus prices. 7 bucks for a 15km journey (Which I realized later) is quite a throwaway. I asked him in my broken Tamil, how far it is. He just chucked attitude at me and walked off. Thankfully, some one in the next seat who knew English, saw my sorry state and helped me out. I finally reached IITM after an hour’s journey in the rickety bus. Just when I entered the campus, a herd of deer crossed the road right in front of me and all my stress just vanished after seeing them. From there, I walked into the fun-filled world of Saarang..

4 months ago  /  17 notes

My guru en concierto..

First of all, I would like to mention that I’m not qualified enough to write to a review about my guru’s concert. I call this a note of appreciation with much awe and respect for my guru Vid Sri Tirumale Srinivas, fondly known as ‘Chami sir’ in the music circle.

Today’s concert at Gokhale Institute of public affairs was simply enthralling. As Vid. S Shankar said, it was a very well planned 2-hour concert.

He started off brightly with ‘Vanajakshi’, Kalyani-Atta taala varna and continued with ‘Paramadayakarane gowri sutane’ in Kharaharapriya for which he’s composed the tune himself. Usually, Kruthis about Ganesha are sung in Hamsadhwani and Naata. Rarely do we find a Ganesha Kruthi in Kharaharapriya.

Next up was a swift rendition of Sri Tyagaraja’s ‘Varaalandu kommani’  in raaga Gurjari followed by ‘Diwakara tanujam’, one of the navagraha kruthis by Muthuswamy Dikshitar in the raaga Yadukula Kambhoji, suitably selected for a concert on a Saturday evening.  

The musical delight continued with ‘Idu bhaagya idu bhaahya’, a devaranama of Sri Puranadara Dasaru in the raaga Kamavardhini, which was preceded by an impressive aalapane. In quick succession was ‘Sangeetha shastra’ in the raaga Mukhari.

The main item for the evening’s concert was ‘Ninne nammi naanu’, a famous Kruthi of Sri Shyama Shastri in the raaga Thodi. Raaga, Nervel (Kamakshi kanjadalayatakshi) and Swara-prastaara were truly exceptional. The concert concluded with a melodious devaranama ‘Enendu kondadali’ (Ragamalike).

Senior violinist Vid. Sri M.S. Govindaswamy provided excellent support on the violin and the other highlight of the concert was the mridangam support by Vid. Sri. Anoor Anantakrishna Sharma, or Shivu sir. The thani avartanam was simply brilliant! Not to forget, my dear friend Avinash, a student of Chami sir sang with sir on stage. A budding musician, did a really good job.

The best thing about Gokhale Institute is that it has network jammers. So tring-tring in between the concert! Can be a disadvantage sometimes but can be overlooked.

This was like a report about today’s concert. I will share a few things which I thought of during the concert. Every music class for me will be like a concert with aalapane, nervel and swara. Even in class, he doesn’t sing any less than what he does on stage. Of course, I take in just a fraction of what he teaches me. I must say I’m really lucky to have found such a wonderful teacher, so knowledgeable, kind, friendly, down-to-earth. He can go to any extent to make you understand something, provided you’re really interested. The classes are so much fun and something to look forward to every week. Honestly, if a class is cancelled due to some unavoidable circumstance, I feel extremely disappointed. If I start writing about him, I’d probably never stop. I’ll preserve it for another day.

After today’s concert, there was a feeling of reassurance in me. Yes! I’ve chosen the right person as my guru. Couldn’t have asked for someone better.

4 months ago  /  23 notes

Yaadein..

The topic I thought of to write today was totally different from what I’m writing now. From no where, a wave of nostalgia hit me. I just can’t stop thinking about the past. The previous year has really been a roller coaster ride. Experienced happy and sad moments,
learnt a lot of things which made me strong. How much ever I try to forget a few things, it just hits me at some time in life and pulls me down momentarily. It’s a sudden feeling of impending gloom! That’s when I feel like having a look at the old pictures, videos or any souvenir. It’s not always a nice feeling. When I look back, I feel sheepish about me being so kiddish with certain things. But the fact that I was more genuine than I am today is a consolation. How we all change as we grow up. How things around us change. Well, it’s a law of nature. I’m not saying it shouldn’t happen. But it’s so strange that I always wanted to grow up when I was a kid and now that I’ve grown up (I think so at least :P), I want to become a kid again. At times, I wish some one was there to take care of me every day. I don’t want to feel that ‘I am on my own’, always. Just as I thought of all this, the title track of the movie Yaadein started playing in my head..

Baatein bhool jaati hain
Yaadein yaad aati hain.. 

So true!

4 months ago  /  0 notes

Puppy Love

Isn’t it such a nice feeling when you return home after a tiring day and you find out that someone’s actually excited to see you? I’m talking about the stray puppy on my street. He’s grown up now but I still prefer to call him a puppy. Very strangely, I haven’t named him yet. The northies next door call him ‘Ramlal’. It doesn’t suit a cute stray dog but since I’ve not named him, I do use the same name when I’ve to refer to him.

He has pretty much united the whole street. I have neighbours whom I know nothing about. But we play with the puppy together. Everyone feeds him, everyone plays with him, everyone takes care of him. Everyone loves him!

There are times when his mother abandons him for a day or two and he starts howling at night. People actually come out of the house at 1am to give him food and console him. There are others who pelt stones and beat him with a stick. He is used to all that by now.
A few days back I heard him sniveling loudly so went out to see what it was all about. The dog catchers had caught him. I stood helplessly watching the happenings from my balcony. I missed him. Thought of all the good times I had with him and remembered the moments when he jumped on me asking me to feed him. Sigh!

After about 4 hours, I hear a dog barking outside, I go to the balcony to spot him looking at me, wagging his tail. I run down and he jumps on me as soon as I open the gate. He’s got his leg injured, probably when the dog catchers were ruthlessly dragging him and a cut on his ear and number ‘5’ written on his body. Then I realized that they just took him for vaccination.

That’s when I realized that he’s become a part of my everyday life. I don’t feel good if I don’t feed him and he doesn’t jump on me at least once a day. The whiny neighbours have their own complaints. He drags leftovers here and there and dirties the street. If the gate is open he goes in and drags someone’s slippers and starts chewing it. He pulls the clothes hung up for drying if they’re within his reach. But we still love him!

4 months ago  /  0 notes