Apaurusheyatva and Ilayaraja

It was a pleasant surprise to myself. After so many years of desolate existence, my blog got a life today. Yes, my mind became suddenly clear today and surprisingly I decided to blog it right away.

I have a keen interest in Music and Vedanta. Not an expert in either of those, I still pursue them both hoping that my life will be filled with these. As a student of Vedanata, the concept of apaurushEyatvA (being unauthored) has always interested me. They say that Veda is not authored by any agency, be it human on divine. I was taught that Rishis were functioning just like a radio, present at a particular place at a particular time, through which Vedas were presented to humans in a form that they can perceive. Like how the sound that already exists in wave form, that is not audible, is being made available to our ears through a proper receiving radio, the Veda which is already existing became perceivable words through the Rishis is the general concept (if not exact) of Apaurusheyatva in Vedanta. 

I am a great admirer of Raja sir's music. My favorite past time is to listen to his countless masterpieces to enjoy and possibly understand the nuances of his orchestration. On random youtubing I came across one of his interviews to Amrita TV in Malayalam in a program called "Hrudaya Ragangalude Raja", where he talks about exactly the same thing when the interviewer asks how he is able to compose his music. We all can understand that music and mood are closely related. Mood is just a matter of right time and right place. Regardless of how great a musician is, the music that captures is always a product of mood. There is no chintamanis in music that can make anything it touches to gold ! And that is generally applicable to any artist. Raja sir is a great artist who understands himself. Without a doubt, he declares that his captivating music is nothing but that which already exists and only gets manifested through him at right moods. One can explain this by saying that he is just being humble or modest. But the truth is he truly understands his creation.

He says, I am not composing a new tune. The tune already exists. When my mind falls in that frequency at the right mood, the tune automatically comes from me. He also says that it is applicable for almost all artists (like famous Malayalam Poet Ezhuthachan). He beautifully says, when he starts composing, he is not in a frame of mind to compose something which he already knew ! He himself discovers what he has composed only after the composing. It was just unknown before, and known later. Thus the music is being manifested.

Watch from 0:30 to 2:00 in the below video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhdULqv6yBM

What else we need to understand the Apaurusheyatva !

When Gautam Menon in another interview asks how come everyone loves your music - he point blank tells that the audiences already have an affinity towards a particular music, and when they happen to tune into the same frequency by listening to his music, they inevitably like it. It is not some magic spell that he created is making them to like it ! They automatically like when what they like is being presented. He says 'My tune is their tune. They just identify themselves through my tune' - nothing more can put this beautifully other than his precise simile of Alpha Rhythm. 

Watch from 35:00 to 40:00 to in this below video clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmr6pOkUoTQ

Raja is a Rishi too - Rajarishi !

Chocolate

Hello All....

Just thought that this blog was sleeping for a loooong time..... Innakki ennamooo Ezhuthanumnu oru mood vandhuthu... [:D]

So, here we go....

Diwali'07 went on verrrryy well. Lots of Sweets...lots and lots of sweets...eppadiyo oru vazhiya adhellam thinnu mudichu, indha varsha Diwali ya ootiyachu....
Had some kutti work at office, so I came to office asusual on this saturday...Immediately I got a call...yaar nu paatha - Mom...Then only I remembered that I have brought the house keys with me which I was supposed to give to the mami in opposite flat. Pinne kaekanumaa, mom got wild and I was at the recieving end :D - 5000 wala lar. Mom told to come immediately and give her the keys...but that was lunch time and I was too lazy to drive all the way home and give the keys and come back. Thank God, sister flat was nearby so amma went there...amma then called again and told to come atleast in the evening, till then she can relax at akka house. Me thought - oru vazhiya problem solved :D It was at that time Anish told me that there was a good malayalam movie running in nearby theatre 'Woodlands'. Movie was 'Chocolate'. So, I thought - Oru nalla malayala padam kandu koraya naal aayi...innu poyaal endha ??? nu. We decided to go for evening show which was at 6.30. I then had my lunch and finished my kutti tasks and went to akka home and picked up mom and reached home. Had a nice nap and it was 5.00 in the evening when I woke up. Amma made a good coffee...after having that, I got ready for the show. I still had some more research works pending at work, so I thought, let me stay back in office tonight and finish those tasks. so, I took the air pillow, shorts and bed sheets (my usual companion for night-out) and rushed to office...It was Saturday evening, and that too diwali holidays...so, the traffic on the road was very less - most of the people were heading to the theatres.

I reached office and kept my companion there and headed to Woodlands. Anish was already there waiting for me with tickets. I parked the bike and we went inside. To our surprise, the theatre was house full - which is not a usual scene for a *malayalam* movie in *Chennai*. But there were two reasons for that:
1) It was Diweali holidays
2) Movie reviews were good.

Our seat was almost next to the Screen, and that was not something new for us. We had watched a hell lot of new blockbuster movies on first day sitting right under the screen in the first rows, so we got used to it. Movie started with full of whistles from the audiance, typical chennai theatre atmosphere you know. The Audio System was not so bad, a decent dolby DTS and all that. Pretty much ok.

The film was directed by Shafi starring Prithviraj, Roma, Jayasurya and Salim Kumar. It was a youthful masala movie. Well, the movie started in the typical  Ladies College atmosphere in Ernakulam (St.Marys College). Heroine (Roma) and her trio were trying to oppose the college management  which decided to make their college as co-ed. Roma and gang were afraid that they will loose all the attention and control that they have if guys were allowed inside their territory.

But other girls in the college were dying to make it co-ed so that they can drool on some nice guys out there. Parents of the girls were totally against this decision and so the management was helpless. Surprisingly there seemed to have a clause in their university bylaws which permits a male student to secure admissions in the Post Graduate level in a Ladies College based on the Sports Quota. Vanaja (Vanitha), Shyam's (Prithvi) mother and a lecturer in that college makes a special request to admit his son for a PG course in the Sports Quota. Princi broad mindedly agrees to it, as she was already frustrated by the parents' conservatism.

There comes our hero - Shyam (Prithvi) - who was suspended 9 times with 7 police cases in his academic history - as the only guy in the ladies college to study amongst 3000 girls.

This concept of a rowdie student amongst 3000 girls of (that too) ladies college is very unique and that itself is a good way of creating sensation among audiance. It was a good feast for youthful eyes ('visual anuboothi' as we call it)  [:P]

The entire sequence of Prithvi and the Roma clashing each other was made very interesting by this concept and that was handled quite well by Shafi. Especially - Prithvi wearing Petticoat, running for gents toilet in ladies college, insulting roma and her gang by proper punches, later supporting her in elections and joining her gang - everything was enjoyable. It was a thrill mixed fun *till interval*. The second half was a veeerrryyy normal, much expected love story - where the hero and heroine clashes due to some misunderstanding caused by the apparent villain (here its a girl from the same college who hates the heroine gang and takes revenge on them).

Inspite of that the climax ended in a hilarious and jovial way where hero and heroine gets together again in the college youth festival drama stage.

Coffee with Anu

Anbulla Diary,
Naal: June 03, 2007 - Sunday.

Hi Friends !!!

Today was certainly a memorable one for me :)

First of all I would like to acknowledge my friends who has taken pains in reading my first blog and posting their valuble comments. It was really encouraging :) Thank You Pals !!!

Day started as usual in the morning. Since its a Sunday, I was a bit late to wake up. It was very late when I went to bed yesterday. so, I skipped my regular Shuttle match with Anish :(. Amma made Pongal for breakfast. One of my Periyappas had joined us for today's breakfast.

We were talking about our Kerala trip which is on June 8th, 2007, planning out some places
to visit which are nearby Chalakudy and Thrissur like Athirapally Falls, Guruvayur Temple, Veega Land, IJK, Paathirattu Kaavu Bhagavathy, Ooragam, etc... I was praying that Rain Gods should not spoil our show :(. I had heard about rainy season in Kerala. I am always jealous of that place mainly for this reason. TN, unfortunately being in the rain shadow region of Western Ghats, facing lots of south west monsoon failures [Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon ]

I managed to have a good nap on a nice Sunday afternoon after some tiring work for past 6 months. It was about 2.45 PM that I got a call from Anu to confirm our meet. I had to return some of her CDs back, so I had fixed a meeting with her at 4.00 PM today in Cafe Coffe Day.

She had lent me the Bhagavatham CDs of Sri Nochur Venkatraman (Malayalam Version) few days back. I already have SNV's Bhagavatham discourse in Palakkad Tamil but in the last CD, one part is missing :( I am desperatley searching for that missing part but in vain. When I was talking with Anu, I came to know that she has SNVs discourse. so I thought I was lucky and had borrowed the CDs to make a copy. Unfortunately, the CDs she had were not complete. The 3rd CD was missing :D. I think Guruvayurappan has fixed a time for me to listen to the complete discourse of SNV and I am still waiting for that day :)

BTW - I have to tell about Anu.

I am very greatful to Orkut which helped me in gaining relationships with really wonderful, like minded people. I joined Orkut in August 2006 and from then on I am an active member in Palakkad Iyers (PI) community. Its such an happening place in orkut. Lots and lots of discussions and knowledge sharing are going on in that comm. I became an addict to that community. Through that, I gained lot of acquaintances which later became good friendship. We had a golden era in that comm from about August 2006 to December 2006 with all my friends in action. Anu is one among those members :)

Anu is a budding Physiotherapist, studying/living in Bangalore. She often visits her grand parents who are put up in Chennai. She is young and energetic in her thoughts like many of our PI members. she has a great passion towards Social Service and she believes firmly that we could make our life meaningful through service to man kind in whatever possible way. she has
involved in lot of volunteering activities based in Bangalore through iVolunteer Organization. she is an excellant writer which is well conveyed by her posts in the Comm and blog (http://anythnnothneverythn.blogspot.com/ ). She loves her pet (Cats). she is very social at the same time try to understand our conservative principles. She never takes things personally or seriously and gets back to life easily. she is very practical when it comes to life. She often gets into mild arguments with me :) Infact she not even believes what I have told so far about her is true :D

Coming to the track, I woke up by her call and confirmed that I will be there at 4.00 PM. she was not sure about the location of CCD and asked how much should she pay for the rick from Mahalingapuram. I told it should be between 30-40 bucks and told her to wait for me at the enterance. Then, after a nice hot tap water shower, I headed to Ispahani Centre, Nungambakkam in my bike. As it was Sunday evening, the traffic was mild. The roads are decorated with red and black flags of DMK and tube lights for the 84th BirthDay Celebrations of Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

I reached there by 4.15 PM and saw that Anu was already standing there. We greeted and headed to CCD in first floor. It was full of colorful youngsters having fun on Sunday. The ambiance was very loud and girls are shouting like something. We managed to place the order for our coffee and started our convo. We covered various topics starting from small pep talks to
life of different people in our society, poverty, education, child labour, charity, value additions, dressings, uniforms, culture etc..etc..It also had some talks about each other and gossips about the people whom we know ;D.

She told about the life of child labourers whom she met and their courage and enthusiasm to live their life inspite of their terrible environment. Then we discussed about charity. I see charity only as a short term solution to the problem and it will not suffice in the long run. For that, a clear value addition has to be given to the public as to how to live/lead their life meaningfully. But defenitely it has to be started with charity as their immediate needs has to be catered first. Whe we talk about living meaningful life, we touched some areas of relegion and culture. Then we discussed how people are getting converted for silly reasons. we discussed about the over-conservativeness of elder and younger generations to an extent and the male chauvenistic approach of the society. In short, we had a great time pass and shared our thought process briefly.

It was 6.30 PM by then, and we just peeped our head into Bose show room before we parted for the day.

Through this meet, I came to know some wonderful aspects of life and a different angle to it. Thanks to Anu for sharing her thoughts.

Waiting to start a wonderful Monday morning with loads of freshness and energy..lets see how this week goes :)


Hari Om !!!

Vandalur Trip

Anbulla Diary,
Naal: June 02, 2007 - Saturday.



Today I had a good time with my colleagues in Vandalur Zoo :)

Rajan, Saravanan, Anish, Saminathan, Lakshmanan and I went to Aringar Anna Zoological park in Vandalur to spend our evening in natural surroundings. The plan was a grand success (Please have a look at the Links Section at right to see more pictures).

We needed to go out desperately to some where to ease out our pressures. Initial plan was to make a short trip to Konai Falls but thinking that there will be no water in summer, we changed our plan to Vandalur Zoo because of its easy accessibility and serene environment.

Initially it was Rajan who insisted that we should be there by atleast 1.00 PM to spend more time in the zoo. I was very reluctant with that timing and suggested 2.00 PM, but I communicated it to Lakshman alone.

When Rajan called up and blamed me in the morning that why I changed the plan to 2.00 PM without even informing anyone, I became a bit irrate and told thats when I could make it and who ever is willing to come may join.

Then I had a nice bath (hot water directly from the tank [:D], remember its June).

That helped me to passify my irritation and I was back to normal energy level.
Again I got a call from Rajan and this time he sounded very polite ( I had no clue for his sudden transition) and informed me to come to Vandalur at 2.00 PM (which was decided by me earlier). I readily accepted. Even If he had been harsh at the second time, I would have accepted. He called up others also and confirmed the plan.

I left home at 1.20 PM sharp (to keep up my words, as I am considered as the one who is always late for outings :D). It just took about 30 mins for me to reach Vandalur. The ride was good in Pulsar as after a long time (8 months to be precise) I am taking my bike on a National Highway. NH45 was good with trees on both sides.

When I reached Tambaram, I got a call from Lakshman asking me where I am. I told him I am at Tambaram and will be there by 15 mins. Lakshman would have been surprised by my reply. He was expecting that I wouldn't have left home at that time. When he told me this later, I had a big grin on my face :D

After parking the bike, I met Lakshman in the enterance. He told he also came there just now. We were very thirsty but very happy to see a tendor coconut shop right in front of us. Who will not be tempted to have a tender coconut in this scrotching Chennai heat ??? So, we quenched our thirst there and proceeded to enterance.

Thats when we met Saminathan in our way. It was 2.15 PM by then. But just three of us were present at the venue. So, we called up others to know their status. Anish was inside the bus at Pallavaram and so we guessed that he will reach Vandalur within 30 mins. Saravanan was at Guindy Rail Way Station planning to come by train. We calculated that it will take atleast 45 mins for him to reach here. Ironically, Rajan, who made this plan, had not even left home at even 2.15 PM. When I called him, he was at Vadapalani Vasantha Bhavan, finishing his lunch. He promised that he will be there by 30 mins. I was ROFTL.

Three of us waited in the enterance itself. We had some small pep talks. We thought of taking the battery operated vehicle to cover the entire zoo but later decided to walk as it would be more fun. I saw a small Ice Cream Candy vehicle coming in our way. Its been a very long time that I had this kind of Kutchi Ice from petty ice cream sellors. I am not very health conscious and all when it comes to food. Feeling nostalgic, I grabbed a Pal Ice [just Rs. 3/- ;)] and gave the change to the sellor. It was not as nice as how it would taste in olden days. Quality is taking a hit in every thing now a days. Sipping on to the Ice Cream Candy, I continued the pep talks.

Then Anish turned up when it was 2.45 PM. It was already late for us as the zoo will close at 6.00 PM. So we decided to make a move and the rest of us can join in our way. It was a right move and we started our walk. When we were paying the entry fee for our still camera, which was just Rs. 25/-, we were shocked to note that they are charging Rs. 150/- for a handy cam. I thought its good that i brought my still camera instead of a handy cam.

We headed to Tamil Nadu Hotel which is located right at the enterance and got some water bottles for our journey into the jungle. Lakshman was very tempted by the Ice Creams there and ordered a strawberry one. How could we control ourselves when one is eating a strawberry ice cream in front of us in this hot climate ??? so we all ordered the same. Saminathan, being the eldest in our group, was not interested in having ice creams and all. He managed himslef with mineral water. We headed to the board showing the route map and planned our walk.

Vandalur Zoo consisted of about 6 loops - Main Loop and Loops 1 to 5. We decided to cover the Loop 1 first, which is very short and full of just birds and monkeys, and to wait there for Rajan and Saravanan to join us. We exactly did the same.

In the birds section, white peacock was very beautiful. But we weren't lucky enough to see its tail stretched :(

Monkeys were asusal hyper active. We were very excited to see a dancing monkey which dances in a peculiar way which is very similar to how our friend Saravanan used to dance in his seat while listening to songs :D I was lucky enough to record the video of its dance.

Rajan turned up with Saravanan as soon as we covered the first loop. We had a land mark, Peacock Cage, to meet up with Rajan and Saravanan and we were also on call to easily identify the place in which we were waiting. Thanks to Airtel for Free CUG :D

When guys saw the wild hens, they dreamt of having it on their plate :P Since I am a pure vegetarian and so as Lakshmanan and Saminathan, we enjoyed just watching them.

There was a bird called Emu with long legs and curved neck. It was stinking. It was sleeping. When we made a sound to take a photograph, it immediately woke up with excitement and gave a good pose. Rajan imagined that it would have thought - people are attracted even if I have a foul smell, then what would be the response if I bathe for a change :D. It was a good one by Rajan. We were ROFTL.

Bison was well built. It was standing in an artificial valley. In order to take a better snap of it, I climbed down the grill gate and was focussing it, bending down. Rajan and gang tried to push me inside its cage to get a better view of it but I some how managed to escape. It would have been like Virumaandi if I had fallen into its cage :D. Saravanan was amazed by its figure and thought to what gym it would have been to, to maintain its shape.

Vandalur is full of deers and monkeys. But some of the deers were really nice, especially the ones with beautiful horns in different shapes and sizes.

Being Senior and familiar with the place, Saminathan lead our way to the lion's cage.

There was a big lion very close to us, sleeping in its cage. But we were lucky enough to hear its gigantic roar when it woke up. Such an amazing command it has in its roar. Leos rock \m/ My sun sign would have been very obvious to you by now ;)

The very sight of tigers reminded us the incidents that happened in Vandalur Zoo. Some time back, a tiger escaped from the zoo and entered the village and killed two people.

Poor tigers - their cage is very opposite to that of deers...:D How can they control the water in their mouth. The deers would be singing a Kannadhasan song - Paramasivan Kazhuthilirukkum Paambu kettadhu, Garuda Sowkyama? :D

Bamboo forest was very nice and calm. Its a good place to spend some time in solitude and with friends.

On our way, there were many Ant's hill made of mud with lot of holes in it. Every one of us were very excited to take a snap like Padayappa by inserting our hand inside one of the holes of the Ant's Hill (assuption being, no snakes will be there)

After some 2 hours of continous walk, everyone was very tired.

We were resting in a hut nearby white tiger's cage. When the zoo authority went inside the cage to feed the tiger, its reaction is noteworthy. It rushed inside for its meal.

It was almost 5.30 PM when we reached the Cranes section.

The chirping sound made by them was excellant. I managed to record it in video. I could say, that was one of the best section that we saw today.

Reptiles are the last ones we saw in the zoo. Vandalur has rich variety of crocodiles. When I was zooming to take a pic of one of the crocodiles, my hands were completely stretched out. I didn't notice that another one is sleeping right under my hands. Thank God, it didn't react. I quickly took my hands inside. Rajan commented that it was very lazy. Suddenly a stick fell on its back. One should see its reaction...wow amazing. Rajan immediately took back his comments :D

Like all other places in Chennai (Marina, Bessy, CCD, Valluvar Kottam...), Vandalur is also full of lovers with their public display of affection (PDA) :X making the place very uncomfortable for family crowd.

Finally we reached the enterance again covering almost all places in the zoo, at 6.30 PM.

We decided to have some snacks/tiffen at Tambaram Bhatt Hotel. We rushed to Tambaram and ordered some Cheese Pokkoda, which was actually good there. Service was poor but we were very hungry. We had some food and called it a wonderful day :)


No big plans for tommorrow except that I have to meet one of my friend (Anu) in the evening. so lets see how it goes :)

Hari Om !!!