A peek into Prahladha Bhakthi Vijaya

Very happy with the response the book "A peek into Prahladha Bhakthi Vijaya" got. What audience numbers! Undeniably I dint expect it, Jan 24th being a lazy Sunday, least I expected was the auditorium to be half full. Though not even half the people I invited turned up, Sri Jayarama Seva Mandali looked packed :)

Mysore Vasudevaachar’s grandson Sangeetha Kalarathna Sri S. Krishna Murthy(S.K.M), Retd. Station Director, AIR, Bangalore graced the ceremony and released the book. What more do I expect? This is a blessing in itself.

“The book though slim in volume is a complete work and gives an uninterrupted import of Saint Thyagaraja’s original play. It encompasses not just the transliteration, but also a simple, yet beautiful narration of Prahladha’s story through the compositions” said Sri S.K.M sharply analyzing the various acts of the play as traded in the book. “The book is an eye-opener for music students to appreciate the context and the background in which these krithis would have taken their form” he opined in the lines of Music Therapist Dr. T.V. Sairam’s foreword. His words of encouragement and direction for the next such work will keep me going. Guru Vid Sri D. V. Nagarajan’s gesture of blessing his student’s work by taking to publisher’s role isn’t something easy or ordinary.

Words fail - the acknowledgment I owe to the many behind this work is mighty. I wish and pray for their continued support- emotional, physical and moral for my next book- not a slim volume, a complete huge one :)

Sleep more !

How strange it is…that the body has to have its entire work function shut down for so many hours every day...said a friend in a casual chat. If only 70% of the human life is active life, then there is a long way to go for us to evolve and increase the activity time...he added.

Yes, time is now undoubtedly the most precious commodity in the age of achievement racing with speed. We claim that our generation is more effective than our previous in every respect. Be it in terms of learning, being creative, achieving more - we are said to be racing ahead of time. At what cost? Depriving sleep? How? I am totally lost in understanding the concept of why people sleep.

Scientific, medicinal and neuro research have confirmed that sleep is necessary to give brain a chance and time to rebuild memories stored all day long and associate these with previously learnt things, form a linked list and keep it ready for traversal. Sleep enhances learning and that is why babies sleep so much (they learn all day; everything they see, they do is a new learning to them).

It’s often heard that the day prior to any important event shouldn’t be sleep-deprived, for, it would influence adversely. Not having sufficient sleep prior to any form of learning would be costly in terms of losing focus, less concentration, not remembering an otherwise well-remembered and liked subject. Deprived Sleep after learning will hamper the consolidation of memories; you know the linked list we just spoke wouldn’t be well linked.

So saying , this gen people are said to think more, learn more, play more, create and recreate more, so must SLEEP more!

Wanna be disciplined even in sleeping? Visit http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm

From a life of simplicity to……….

Where are the days when all I wrote was about Unnikrishnan, collected paper cuttings of Sonu Nigam, a wide-eyed wait for his Zee Sa-Re-Ga-Ma show? No complications, a simple life, small pleasures and it all worked fine then.
Now I have an ample of topics to write on, go on talking about, pictures to post, records to share, and dreams to follow; yet I end up searching for a topic to blog. I get paranoid to write. Do I write about the day of myriad emotions, the day I won many hearts, hurt a few, the terrific images of past peeping in now and then, the boring monotonic present over my shoulder all day, achievements that give me a spirit to walk upright, an all busy-day with no time for coffee, a lazy day looking for topics to blog? I think of it! Not so long ago, I was all pleased spending time with my greeting Cards collection and my Unnikrishnan cassettes.

Time changes everything. Once we looked so young, our gardens were just set, the shoes sized only 4, tests and exams were the only responsibilities we knew!
Did we take any steps to prepare ourselves for the transition with time? Naah!

To quote the hackneyed
Life varies its stories. Time changes everything, yet what is truly valuable-what is worth keeping-is beyond time.

I hope you have treasured you treasure with changing times :)

Thyagaraja Aradhana @ Vasanthapura

If I may steal Thyagaraja's words, it was "Varamaina netrotsavam" - a gifted visual feast @ Vasanthapura yesterday.

A festive atmosphere in Bhavani Shankar temple on the occasion of Thyagaraja aradhane (pushya bahula panchami).Musicians, music students, kalarasikas in and around the area had gathered at the Thyagaraja sannidhi of the temple to pay their tributes to the musical Guru Thyagaraja.
What more motivation does one need to take the day off from work?
The rendition of pancharatna kritis in “one voice” by hundreds of Musicians added to the divine milieu of the temple. What a selfless and earnest service to Music and the Musical Maha Guru by Anoor family and Shsishya parampara. May they be bestowed enough strength, health and wealth to carry on this tradition for years to come!

EndarO mahAnu bhAvulu (meek)andariki vandanamulu!

Revathi Sridharan

Welcome the year with a prayer

Have I lost interest in festivals and celebrations or have they lost interest in me? Festivities of these days have become just days of sweets and mittais. A year has passed by and nothing looks fresh, different, and new. The urge of waiting for it to strike 12,calling up frnds/relatives with a feel-good factor of being the first to wish them on the New Year has all faded up.

Twenty Ten or 2010 or call it with the UN christened name - “International Year of Youth” and “International Year of Biodiversity”. What do we expect out of it?Definitely a year better than the previous, in every respect!
Many main events dominated the year 2009, some good, some bad and many ugly.
The year would be probably remembered best for the death of so many celebrities right from Michael Jackson to DKP, some preceding,many succeeding and some in-between the two. The ugly demon did not spare even the retiring month taking away Vishnuvardhan, Ashwath.
The economic downturn and the financial crisis painted a major canvas of the year.
Probably the year wasn’t as bad to the movie-makers and the actors. There were a couple of movies rated good and lauded.

Jo hua, so hua…Moving ahead, let us welcome the Year 2010 with a hope and prayer for things to silhouette better and in favor of everyone.
May this year of TIGER (as the Chinese call it) fill the homes with exotic treasures and hearts with contentment. May this year give -
More time for friends, More love to family, More soul to live everyday with zest and more strength to live the year thro’!

How would you reflect being called a Feminist?

Well, I wouldn’t mind as long as my views are heard and I am content with placing my point across.
There was this usual irksome statement that I heard yest which pushed me to blog this. "Hey dont cry like a gurl!" WTH does that mean? How do I even counter, there is even a movie carrying this "Boys dont cry" which features a gurl getting converted 'coz she wants to be treated a "boy".

"Look there, this lady in the car has blocked the traffic". "Comeon gurl, give way, do not walk on the road". "No wonder shes in for this post, she used her charms and not her brain."- Why do the index fingers easily point to a gurl at every case, in every site?

If we put on weight, it is coz we are lazy to work out. If the guys do, the blame shift is on the fast food place down the street and their heavily loaded job schedule which doesn’t let them take time off to gym.

And why juggle with numbers, giving 33% ,40% seats/reservations. Btw, what rights do the givers have? We are no minority to take permission from them, to get a concession from them. A lady being a home-maker can well balance work at an outside firm; Girls outdo boys in many competitive examinations, at variety sports, workplace, arts etc.
This being the case y still discriminate?
A tall gurl is often blamed by her parents for not being able to match a guy's height during marriage-hunt. If the guy is tall, the term used is "Handsome".
If a gurl concentrates on her career, she is termed "work-o-holic" ;if its a guy- “he is smart and career oriented”. A gurl wishes to go to the distant states for further studies- people would declare she s escaping marriage with creative stories unfolding. If a guy wishes to continue his studies, people call him studious, intelligent and goal-oriented.

People speak of feminists’ acts, discrimination laws with pride, but nothing seems to change this fractured society.
It would do lot good not to hear statements like “You can’t do it, you are a gurl”! “Why don’t you give time to the family, let him concentrate on his career”! “It is better you relocate, he can’t think of changing his job now”!
Keeping away from these sweeping declarations would help gurls get out of the chilly home climate and think of a warm world outside. Reservation for women is just a distasteful remedy; the need of the hour is to remove the discrimination from the minds than from the roots.

Charukeshi

I had no topic to blog till a friend shared a "Charukeshi" piece sung by Unnikrishnan. I am any day biased to Unni’s renditions, but keeping that aside too it is indeed a beautiful presentation.

Can’t believe one can elaborate on such a raga to this vast extent. Charukeshi, the 26th ragam of “Carnatic Sampoorna melakartha” scheme is a recent import to Hindustani music.
Chatushruthi rishabham, anthara gandharam, shuddha madhyamam, shuddha dhaivatham, kaishiki nishadham frame its scale.
(Aa: S R2 G3 M1 P D1 N2 S ,Av:S N2 D1 P M1 G3 R2 S)
Uttaraanga(first 4 notes S,R,G,M) is Shankarabharana’s import . Madhyama, panchama and Daivatha are accorded dominant notes in Charukeshi.

A ragam which is known to incite emotions of grief and devotion is handled with vigor in the kalpana swara sancharam by Unni. A 35 minute rendition of "Adamodi galadhe" is a brilliant package of the needed Nidhanam in aalapanai, expected vegham in swara kalpana and a clear, placid rendition of the krithi.
The alapanai gliding through the notes gives a sorrow appeal which is the emotion of the Raga. In the krithi section he displays the virtuosity but within the boundary of Thyagaraja’s composed work. Swarakalpana in “Chaduvulanni” is as gleaming as it could be. The final swara hides in it a variety of combinations,tisra sancharams, janti-swara usages,a beautiful korapu and a simple yet powerful mukthaya. The swara sancharam in 3 octaves , reaching daivatha in the higher octave takes us to a musical crescendo and only speaks for Unni’s unswerving dedication .

It’s impossible for such a rendition without mental and emotional commitment. The sophisticated patterns leave behind an unsophisticated expression - soothing to the ears.

One needn't get into the intricacies and technical complications of the theory of the ragam or lyrics. It is true music beyond the precincts of words and technicalities.

Must listen for any mind that craves for true music:
http://www.sangeethamshare.org/manjunath/Carnatic/Audio/032-UnnikrishNan-VOcal-Augusta_GA-2007/

Revathi Sridharan