One of the most stunningly beauteous ragas of Carnatic music!
Muthuswamy Dikshitar's immortal krithi "Aandamrutha Varshini Amruthavarshini"
brought rains to a parched land. In such copious measure that the people of that land
requested him to modify his krithi slightly to stop the rain!
In my humble opinion, Ilayaraja is to Tamil film music, what the Carnatic trinity
were to that genre.
Here is a video of a film song set in Amruthavarshini.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Kadhalikka Neramillai
For the uninitiated, this is the title of a Tamil movie made by noteddirector Sridhar. A gentle comedy involving two pairs of young lovers.I had the pleasure of watching this movie last weekend, and it left a very pleasant feeling in my mind. Doyen actor Balaiah plays the rich,mercenary father of two girls Kanchana and Nirmala. His son Nagesh is keen on getting his Dad to finance his obsession to make a movie with hisquestionable directorial skills. Muthuraman and Ravichandran are two young menwho are in love with the two girls.
Muthuraman is a rich young man, while Ravichandran is impecunious. The story is about how Balaiah's son and daughters get married to the partners of their choice.
Recently I had been reading some of P.G.Wodehouse's novels. Why can't I help thinking that this movie might have been based on one of his novels ?
Muthuraman is a rich young man, while Ravichandran is impecunious. The story is about how Balaiah's son and daughters get married to the partners of their choice.
Recently I had been reading some of P.G.Wodehouse's novels. Why can't I help thinking that this movie might have been based on one of his novels ?
Blogging is fun!
Blogging is a wonderful thing to do - a great vent for feelings, a great pastime that costs nothing and is totally harmless. There was a time when I thought blogging was done by loafers whohave nothing better to do. And therefore I had a really poor view of blogs and their creators.
But now my views have taken a U-turn. Blogging is an amazing anti-stress thing. Probably one of the best things to do when you are alone. Infinitely better than sitting in front of the idiot box.Develops your language. Relaxes you. Refreshes you. The sheer bliss of expressing whatever you wantwithout caring two hoots to what others think about you. I think everyone needs an outlet for theirthoughts. Some people get sloshed and blabber their hearts out. Some people rant and rave.Great poets express their sublime feelings through immortal poems. Modern poets write out their feelings in prose without regard for punctuation and grammar, and call it poetry. Great painters create masterpieces of art. Modern artists slash at their canvasses with brushes and then crumplethem up. Then they un-crumple the canvas, spit and stamp on it for good measure, and call it modernart. Their unquestioning aficionados go ga-ga over the modern art, and buy their works for millions.Bottom line is, everyone needs to unbottle their feelings.
But now my views have taken a U-turn. Blogging is an amazing anti-stress thing. Probably one of the best things to do when you are alone. Infinitely better than sitting in front of the idiot box.Develops your language. Relaxes you. Refreshes you. The sheer bliss of expressing whatever you wantwithout caring two hoots to what others think about you. I think everyone needs an outlet for theirthoughts. Some people get sloshed and blabber their hearts out. Some people rant and rave.Great poets express their sublime feelings through immortal poems. Modern poets write out their feelings in prose without regard for punctuation and grammar, and call it poetry. Great painters create masterpieces of art. Modern artists slash at their canvasses with brushes and then crumplethem up. Then they un-crumple the canvas, spit and stamp on it for good measure, and call it modernart. Their unquestioning aficionados go ga-ga over the modern art, and buy their works for millions.Bottom line is, everyone needs to unbottle their feelings.
Trav-e/ai-ls of a restless young man
It is barely September, and yet this year I have been in five countries - India, USA, Taiwan, Singapore and Macau.Endless hours of packing, unpacking, repacking, going over checklists to make sure everything is packed, calling hotels in advance to make sure they have the amenities I need, endlesstrips to and from airports! My passport reads like an atlas. I have been through http://www.lonelyplanet.com/a gazillion times, making a mental note of places I want to see in the countries I travel to, and checking them out with uncompromising efficiency and meticulous planning.
On one hand it pains..all the burden of travel. On the other, who would get an opportunityfor free travel at this age - undisputedly the best time of life for travel. And yet, why doI feel like a rolling stone ? Unable to buy the things I like much and can afford easily because I can't carry them around with me.
Travel is fun, travel is a friggin' pain. Like everything in life, it has its pros and cons. What a cliche! Why am I rambling!What the heck, this is my blog. Ah, this leads me to the topic of my next blog.
On one hand it pains..all the burden of travel. On the other, who would get an opportunityfor free travel at this age - undisputedly the best time of life for travel. And yet, why doI feel like a rolling stone ? Unable to buy the things I like much and can afford easily because I can't carry them around with me.
Travel is fun, travel is a friggin' pain. Like everything in life, it has its pros and cons. What a cliche! Why am I rambling!What the heck, this is my blog. Ah, this leads me to the topic of my next blog.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Ponniyin Selvan (Kalki)
I formally studied my mother tongue Tamil only upto class 5. After that I started learning Hindi till class 10. (All the way, I indulged in my first love - English) Since my formal Tamil learning was abruptly cut off at class 5, my skills in reading and writing Tamil dwindled to near non-existence. Those skills were barely kept alive by reading the titles of Tamil movie posters and cut-outs. To those who say big posters and cut-outs must be removed from Chennai, I say, guys, don't do the language a disservice.
Ah, I am digressing. To get back to my original thread of thought, my Tamil skills were dying out, and it needed a whopper of a miracle to revive my interest in Tamil language and culture. That happened when I was on a trip to SriRangam for my vacation after my first year of undergrad study. My dad got me the whole set of 5 books of Tamil writer Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan. The miracle was that I actually got started on that unprepossesing tome, notwithstanding the fact that my Tamil reading speed was about 2-3 words per minute.
But once I started, the book was simply un-put-down-able. (I can feel the grammar purists squirming in their seats here. But then language is merely a means of communication, and as long as I am able to put my point across, I don't give a damn. Ah, I am digressing again!)
By the time I had finished the first of five parts, my reading had improved from agonizingly slow to painfully slow. By the end of the second part, it was uncomfortably slow. At the finish of the third part, I was crawling. By the fourth I was trotting. By the end of the fifth (and largest volume), I was galloping!!
It helped that I was reading the book in SriRangam, which is an island on the river Kaveri aka Ponni, the lifebreath of ancient Tamil culture, and also the bedrock of the novel I am writing about. I would often spend my afternoons in the huge SriRangam temple sitting in some stone-pillared mandapam and imbibing the story of the Ponniyin Selvan, and in the process, the culture of the Cholas who ruled converted Tamil Nadu into a formidable power in South India and even overseas, extending their clout to Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Ponniyin Selvan is a magnum opus by Tamil writer, nationalist, historian, art connoiseur and poet - R.Krishnamurthy. Meticulously researched and wonderfully imagined, Ponniyin Selvan is a novel that seamlessly melds historical facts with beautiful fiction. Broadly, it deals with the life and times of the Chola royal family when Prince Arulmozhi Varman (later to become Emperor Raja Raja Chola - the mightiest ruler in Tamil history) was a youth. Specifically, it deals with a conspiracy of vengeance hatched by the survivors of the praetorian guard of the Pandya dynasty, which had recently been destroyed by the Cholas.
I won't go into the nitty gritty of the story - I will end up translating the Ponniyin Selvan here (unfortunately someone has beaten me to it ;-). In summary, the Ponniyin Selvan is a prolific tale of history, romance, intrigue and politics - which presents a justly flattering view of the Chola times, including their art and spiritual aspects.
Read the Ponniyin Selvan if you get the opportunity. Try to create an opportunity if you don't get it. It is worth it.
Ah, I am digressing. To get back to my original thread of thought, my Tamil skills were dying out, and it needed a whopper of a miracle to revive my interest in Tamil language and culture. That happened when I was on a trip to SriRangam for my vacation after my first year of undergrad study. My dad got me the whole set of 5 books of Tamil writer Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan. The miracle was that I actually got started on that unprepossesing tome, notwithstanding the fact that my Tamil reading speed was about 2-3 words per minute.
But once I started, the book was simply un-put-down-able. (I can feel the grammar purists squirming in their seats here. But then language is merely a means of communication, and as long as I am able to put my point across, I don't give a damn. Ah, I am digressing again!)
By the time I had finished the first of five parts, my reading had improved from agonizingly slow to painfully slow. By the end of the second part, it was uncomfortably slow. At the finish of the third part, I was crawling. By the fourth I was trotting. By the end of the fifth (and largest volume), I was galloping!!
It helped that I was reading the book in SriRangam, which is an island on the river Kaveri aka Ponni, the lifebreath of ancient Tamil culture, and also the bedrock of the novel I am writing about. I would often spend my afternoons in the huge SriRangam temple sitting in some stone-pillared mandapam and imbibing the story of the Ponniyin Selvan, and in the process, the culture of the Cholas who ruled converted Tamil Nadu into a formidable power in South India and even overseas, extending their clout to Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Ponniyin Selvan is a magnum opus by Tamil writer, nationalist, historian, art connoiseur and poet - R.Krishnamurthy. Meticulously researched and wonderfully imagined, Ponniyin Selvan is a novel that seamlessly melds historical facts with beautiful fiction. Broadly, it deals with the life and times of the Chola royal family when Prince Arulmozhi Varman (later to become Emperor Raja Raja Chola - the mightiest ruler in Tamil history) was a youth. Specifically, it deals with a conspiracy of vengeance hatched by the survivors of the praetorian guard of the Pandya dynasty, which had recently been destroyed by the Cholas.
I won't go into the nitty gritty of the story - I will end up translating the Ponniyin Selvan here (unfortunately someone has beaten me to it ;-). In summary, the Ponniyin Selvan is a prolific tale of history, romance, intrigue and politics - which presents a justly flattering view of the Chola times, including their art and spiritual aspects.
Read the Ponniyin Selvan if you get the opportunity. Try to create an opportunity if you don't get it. It is worth it.
Why this name ?
I am sitting here in the middle of Tainan City, Taiwan in a huge apartment, all by myself. Tainan city is not the easiest place in the world to find spicy South Indian Iyengar cuisine, and it is only a matter of time before I start craving after arriving here.
But as a matter of principle (and also practical convenience), I almost completely avoid Indian food whenever I travel outside India. Unless I am visiting my relatives outside India, that is. One reason is that Indian cuisine is complex hence very easy to screw up. Avoidance of Indian food cooked outside home reduces the risk of stomach upsets.
Well, the bottom line is, I am craving, and craving really hard. My craving at this point of time is for Molaga Bajji. Hence I simply decided to call my blog by that name.
But as a matter of principle (and also practical convenience), I almost completely avoid Indian food whenever I travel outside India. Unless I am visiting my relatives outside India, that is. One reason is that Indian cuisine is complex hence very easy to screw up. Avoidance of Indian food cooked outside home reduces the risk of stomach upsets.
Well, the bottom line is, I am craving, and craving really hard. My craving at this point of time is for Molaga Bajji. Hence I simply decided to call my blog by that name.
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