Sunday, June 29, 2008

Rude reality?

I saw a coverage which said about how rude a reality show can get on Headlines Today. The girl didn't dance well and the panel of judges had a list of gruesome words for her. And now she is suffering from Adam's. I feel some people go into depression cos they are never prepared to face the bed of thorns. You can't completely blame the judges for it. To some extent they also do get annoyed with baseless performances. Especially when it's a show that scrutinizes and shortlists the best of bests, to see some shake a bad leg is a punishment for the eyes. If she would have failed an interview ,she would have definitely gone into depression. I mean participants should definitely be prepared to face anything when they are entering showbiz. When you are in a competition where you think it's the path that could lead to death ,you should keep doors open for another chance incase someone pulls you down to earth for another chance to live i.e. if you're sure it is a 'could' and not 'would. I've always felt that apart from giving a grand stage and the oppurtunity of performing in front of eminent celebs ,reality shows shapes up a dream at the outset and then gives it colour. When one is ready to live it ...it fades away like thick fog taking all the colour from it.
I read a very funny piece of article which wrote about how grumpy a news channel can get on it's way to increase it's TRP rating! The best one was the one with CNN IBN (I think) showing that the khukri cannot be flushed even at the 10th try and practically demonstrated it on the screen (Khukri is the weapon that was used to kill Aarushi Talwar- in reference to the Noida Aarushi Talwar case). And the one that said " *breaking news*.. no clues found yet! on ____ murder case". The breaking news is that we never found any clues !!! Hehehe...for a change I liked the whole sham of the creators of obnoxious enigma.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Kanavupol

I am quite impressed with this new album I got hear the other day. Maybe in May or something. Why am I blogging about this now?? Because the Music Director of Kanavupol has started blogging! He has started his audio blog giving an introduction about his album and work experience. I know this post isn't a commemoration but it sure is a promotion tag. It's quite occult and has a latitude of the best singers the industry has ever produced. Manjari, Jassie Gift, Karthik, Anitha, Vidhu Prathap, etc are some who have lent their voices to this mystic work. Do give it an ear and I promise you that it's a true entertainer. Check Kanavupol here at http://www.kanavupol.blogspot.com/

You can contact Mr. Sajan at saajarishi@gmail.com

Thanks guys and keep yourselves tuned :)

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Water water nowhere.....when will the drops be there??

It hasn't rained even once after I came back from Trissur. My cousin said that if it doesn't rain at all then water in the well would last only for six more days and after that maybe the Water authorities would imply rules like one hour of water flow for all per day in order to enforce conservation of water. It's kind of scary cos I really haven't been through a situation like this before, whilst in Muscat. It's like a world of luxury there. You hardly see villas, or even single rooms without and a/c and 24/7 water supply. Everyone out there have cars ,probably few bachelors who are new to the place use the cabs. And traffic is always controlled. Excellent traffic rules and well maintained roads and life was okey dockey, I tell you. But this is India. You know our main problem is that we are not rich. Just like how Chetan Bhagat said in One night @ a call centre. I am obsessed with his books nowadays. I am on my way to read his next. It's nice to see that directors are liking stories written by Indian authors than taking a regular Sheldon.

My Video blog is ready... and will be posting a very good video in two days time. If you liked the name you can give all credits to Vikas who must have not broken his head this way even during his entrance exams. Thanks Viks... and check VodCast HERE.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Enthithra Sandeham - A Teleserial song

I had recorded this one last year. I had gone there for another recording and Mr. Ronny liked my voice and asked me to sing some swaras for a musical piece he had composed for Paithrigam. After that he called me to sing for a Teleserial. I was quite excited. It is a sad song and falls under Christian Devotional genre. So please listen to it and give me feedback. Listen to it HERE.

I have decided to start a video blog and tranfer all the videos in there. Thanks for all the suggestions and support.

Monday, June 23, 2008

:(

If there is one thing I would like to change in me it would be my teeth. I hate them. I used to want to kill them five years back. But then the mettallic wire strapped on to my teeth then had brought peace in my dental home. The day I got them off I was so proud of them. It was like a freedom struggle to achieve the best smile. You would understand my emotions if you would have seen me then. I heard 2 teeth growing in the lower half. And one in the front of the upper half and the middle tooth of the upper half was all set to march ahead. Since I used to be a hardcore dancer then, everyone called it cute. They said I look like Manju Warrier. I mean whatever. I hated it. People always do that for consolation. Anyways with braces off life was happy. Until.... the middle one of my upper half started to march forward again. Why? Why does it want to lead when the master hasn't asked for it. These are those types who act smart and want to show off. And cos of this attitude my smile is again ruined. Have any of you ever faced this?? Like you took the trouble of taking off gum from your braces despite all the anger just cos you wanted your smile to be like Madhuri Dixit's. And you had to avoid pizzas and McDs to avoid pressure over some stupid mettallic wires that decide your looks to some extent. Urrghhh.... now I need to visit the dentist all over again to fix this. Unfair and my teeth is going to pay for it someday. *gloooooooooooooooooooooom*

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Aapki Nazaron ne Samjha has been uploaded after a lot requests. Check it out here.I had been to a wedding yesterday in Trissur and since I hail from the place I love the traditional cuisine. Infact a survey held on the best traditional food in Kerala, the place won it.I think Cochin was included as it shares the same kind of style. The best is the payasam, 3 kinds. And though I am an ex NRI and have not eaten a lot of traditional stuff in the traditional way and been to the big weddings and blah blah blah blah blah... I LOVE having the payasam in the banana leaf aka *ela* which a lot of "non NRIs don't know of". I hate the whole assumption of NRIs don't know this and that and they are just a bunch of show offs who try to rub off their desi culture and bring in a lot of foriegn goods and are fussy about using local stuff. I mean woteva! It's so untrue...and that's not the way we are. Infact the moment I meet some localites ,there are some who speak in a 'put on' engilsh accent and despite my replies in my mother tongue they never seem to get rid off their angrejji. Sometimes I feel people should be their selves first and must accept that we are normal people like them who can eat with hands and can smell with a nose. Anyhow the wedding was a small and a cute one and got to meet up with a lot of 'ol friends. After the Big Fat Malu wedding we went back to Trivandrum and surprisingly there aren't any rains here. I love travelling by the 4:15 bus coz then you get to see Cochin in the lights. It's as though they celebrate everyday. Have never seen so much of lights and enthusiasm in any other place in Kerala except for a special festival like Onam or something. The place is so tempting that everytime I pass the branded stores there is this urge to break the window and jump out to get some real shopping done. Yeps, I am maaad about clothes-shopping. I hate shopping anything else. But clother be it indian or traditional..it's just my thing. Usually by eight or so the bus stops at a hotel where the people always serve the passengers. But this time we went to different one. More like a 'thattukada'. I've always fancied eating there since a child. And I must say, that's one thing we NRIs never got to do :)

Today we had a lunch party at my neighbour's place as an acknowledgement of the fixation of his marriage. I went there only for lunch (food factor always works) and my favourite was the 'ada payasam'. Apparently in traditional Trivandrum food 'semiya payasam' is always served on top of the Boli. My mom had taught me the Hindi name i.e. puran poli (or something like that) since she spent major part of her life in Bombay. I don't like the taste of that dish nor do I like to have it with the payasam. But in Trivandrum weddings if the payasam is served without the Boli then the sadya is termed as a 'bad' one. Once I and dad had flied to Chennai through Kingfishers and they give this menu card for a choice of the snack we want. Now I saw these weird names and asked my dad if he really wanted to have. Now my dad is a terrible foody and sticks to his all time favourtie *mummy ka khana*. But I didn't want to miss it so thought of ordering the chicken one. When the snack was served, actually it's not right to call it a snack ,it was some kind of a 'mid dinner' (as the flight was in the evening). The had noodles and chocolate truffle (desert) and the starters was chat stuff. Batata Vada if I am not wrong. In the menu it was given this long weird name something starting with a T. It took the chef (perhaps) three long words to describe our very own Mumbai ki chat...arre apna ghar ka khana. But it's an art to translate all these names to English though I didn't get a word of it. Anyways, the food was great and so was the truffle. You never know how time goes in a short domestic flight but in the international ones ,one can die of boredom. When I was younger we used to fly to Mumbai first and then to Kerala. So for the former we used to fly by Gulf Airways and I used to love that airlines only coz they had a screen and used to even distribute toys to small kids like me. Maybe it's their job to give those toys off cos I never even had to give them the cute smile. After that in tenth I couldn't take my days off during summer hols cos I am in 10th !!!! Something parents and teachers used to consider as big as the World war where a soldier better fight through or else it's goli maar bheje mein. Thankfully my math tuition sir said I could take two weeks off cos I am progressing well :) Math runs in my family blood. And that is the right reason for the good scoring in my boards only for math. That was the only subject where I scored above 90. A 96 to be precise. And I boast about it even today cos earlier I was compared to my sister as she had topped the board for scoring the highest in maths at that time. So it was an 'obvious' assumption that I had to lead the family tradition as though it's like carrying the olympic torch or something. So with my musical shows and basky and whatnot I was quite adamant about scoring somewhere near sis. For the sake of my prestige. Since then math is my most favourite subject. Honestly, it is. I don't have the brains for an invention or for mugging up raaga names. Am not too spontaneous on answering the name of the raaga for any given song. But math....I am good at it.I guess it's cos it runs in the family and maybe I am the first one to initiate a musical background at the Vattappillys. But I hate physics. From the bottom of my heart I never found even a tinge of connectivity of the subject with math. I mean V= IR or whatever never seemed to do anything with math except for the ODMAS. But if you see that way then everything is math's sibling. Like in geography we have graphs represented by numbers that too decimals! Enough of bragging. I have this tendency of deviating from the topic everytime. Can never keep it succinct unless it demands. I actually wanted to say that that year I didn't fly to Bombay and had to fly through an other airlines and it totally sucked. I mean no screens, no toys (I know I was 15 then, and a big girl..but still) and horrible food. After that flying was so boring that I wish I could be a superwoman or something to just click on some gadget attached to my wrist and say hooolaaa..and whoosh I reach the destination. But this time I flew though Jet Airways...great food, single screens, and the best of all.... ok never mind ,I cannot mention such things in blog :P My best friend calls me a radio FYI. And therefore it's the no. (___) FM station in the blog world {the ___ can be filled with an appropriate number between 1 and 2, no decimals allowed as per rules}....... *Stay tuned* :D

Friday, June 20, 2008

Guruvayur Concert

Can you believe?? A strike !! I thought I wouldn't be able to make it but the Police force said that it is safe for private vehicles to move around after afternoon. So started by three thirty and reached there like in 45 minutes. We were expecting less crowd as it was strike but much to our surprise we had to wait in the queue for around an hour. The nada which usually opens at four thirty opened at five twenty today coz of the shiveli. Love elephants. Especially baby ones..I wish I could own one some day. The long hours of wait and complaining is finally put to an end when you witness the Guruvayurappan idol. Once we got out I was listening to some kiddies who were singing their lungs out. Children are so innocent. It's sweet to hear them and also reminded me of my young times. Oh my God! I am talking as though I am already 50.... well it feels that way .. going to turn 19.... my last teen year :( Anyways I was sitting backstage when I noticed a lot of commotion going on right outside the place. Didn't bother giving it an ear so I didn't know what the matter was. But later it got quite serious as in the people who were fighting brought their instruments and other materials inside. As though it was their turn next. That's when I got to hear the whole problem. Actually these guys had booked the 6:30 slot and so had we. But the committee people didn't make a note of the former one and hence the commotion.I was suppose to perform after the girl who was singing then and the time was already past 6:30. Then my guru and the other guys had a major discussion for five minutes or so. And I was asked to cut down my 1 1/2 hours katcheri to 45 minutes. I chose to sing Vatapi Ganapathim, Bhavayami, Elara Krishna and few bhajans ending it with a thillana in Bhupalam. The point was performing at Melpathur. As far as that is fullfilled I am least bothered about what others want to do or say.

I thought of starting a Video blog. As in so far I put all my videos in Surmitr. Thoguht of seperating it. I guess it will be more convenient. It won't be updated that soon... cos I hardly take videos of my concerts... but with whatever present I will commence. Suggestions needed!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Surmitr Updates

My audio blog, Surmitr was hibernating for a while due to problems with my converter. But thanks to Fani Kalyan, I could update songs to my blog .One is Satya Soundaryame. You can listen to it HERE. It's a prayer song I have sung for various shows. Actually I choose this song as my prayer song everytime coz it's secular in nature. Doesn't praise any lord or religion in particular and therefore doesn't show any kind of partiality to any religious force.It commences in Sahana raagam and ends in Surruti. I had recorded this prayer in Denny uncle's studio in Muscat for a purpose which was nullified due to technical issues. But this one is really special to my heart and that's why I had to pester Denny uncle to get me a copy of this track. Do give it an ear and expecting positive feedback.

Catching up on some old stuff

Busy with some preparations for the Guruvayur Katcheri, I am also trying to catch up on some reading and painting. I read Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat. A must read. Quite funny and for a change it's something not too technical though the background is .You get to read a lot of indian terms like 'paranthas' which made my mouth water. It's almost 4 years old but I could read it only now. Now I am onto his second book - A Night at the Call centre. Apparently they are going to make a movie out of the two.At some places I felt he writes like me :D...see now that shows I've got good sense of humour (Actually I am confident that Chetan is not going to read this). Good going Chetan!

I was just picking some stuff from Big Bazar and finally I got what I was searching for since ages.A Painting book. I am just an amateur in this and thought of starting with small painting books where I can learn how to paint within the given borders. The first one was my niece's book. I actually promised to teach her how to paint but finally ended up teaching myself. I was so engrossed that I got restless when the book got over and had nothing to paint on. I went to many stores but they all had only colouring books or blank ones for us to draw our creations. But finally this time I got this Hanuman Paint book where they have pictures of the cartoon 'Return of Hanuman' for tracing and then painting. Got some brand new paint and will start whenever time permits. I feel like a baby now. And I am totally not ashamed of writing this :) As for my photography, I left my camera in my sister's bag and now it's in B'lore. So I guess the photos which I will take from here on will lack quality coz I'll be taking it with my N73. I forgot to watch my 'Food for thought' on News X. Sheesh! My first talk about Food on TV and I missed it :( :( :(

BTW the Guruvayur katcheri is on the 20th .My slot will begin by 6 p.m. So if you are around ,do make it.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

DXB?

It is frustrating to memorize silly abbreviations for small words. I was chatting with my friend and she was telling me that her boyfriend is in DXB now. I was like what is dxb? Can't think of any place that has a 'd', 'x' and a 'b' in it's name. DXB is apparently the short form of Dubai. Since I had to ask her which place she meant by that silly abbreviation she typed... she was amazed that I did'nt know that. It's totally meaningless and doesn't make any sense to me. I don't know why the creator made such an abbreviation. There was a time when I didn't know what 'lol' was. It's apparently 'uncool' to not use this lang especially when your in a cool party with the hunks gaping at you. Wotevaaa...... who am I to say!.. I am no one to comment on the World of Web Lang.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Buddha's footage by News X

Me, mom and Nish were lunching at Buddhas after some hardcore shopping. We go there only for the Tofu which is seldom found in Indo-Chino cuisine. I think they are found in B'lore but it's white in colour. This is the first Chinese outlet which I have seen that is Vegetarian. It serves food that is full of greens but surprisingly tastes like chicken. More like the soya chunks. We usually start of with the juices and Tofu and then onto the main course. Actually the Tofu we order is a 'chef's speciality' in the menu. Whilst all the hogging we noticed a little hustle bustle outside the restaurant. There were cameras being fixed with a short and stout man checking the mic. There were couple of others who were busy taking snaps from different angles .By then we had gone onto the deserts and I ordered a Mango mousse cake and sis ordered a Date pancake. When I savoured my first bite of the desert I realised that the cake was decorated with ice cream and not cream icing. Since I have stopped ice creams due to personal reasons, I exchanged my desert with my sis and continued with our business.

Meanwhile the media people entered the restaurant and was doing some kind of an enquiry with the main guy there. After which we were asked if we could lend a few words about this place. As we agreed ,cameras were focussed and sis was asked to do the talking first. Later I was asked and I told that I luuuuuuv the food out here and it's a good way of letting the Vegetarians know what Non-veg is like.BTW me a non-veg :) Then mom was asked on the usual cooking stuff and that she is the best person to judge such things where she is the master. This was covered by News X which is a 24/7 news channel. It's subordinate channels are 9X (for music) and some other for sports. It should be telecasted tomorrow by 3 p.m. or so. The news is available in ACV too. So do check out. I don't exactly know what's it all about but it should be a part of the entertainment plus wherein they do a small footage on the food outlets here. The channel is actually from Calcutta. So hopefully I shall be seen on the 'idiot box' for a different reason tomorrow..at Humpty dumpty THREE. Ciaaaaaaaaaaaaao

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Protest!!!!

Sprite has Buffalo semen inserted during it's manufacture which makes it colourless and more tasty. Save yourself!!! Please spread this piece of healthy news and unite together to stop it's sale. A request from a true blogger. For more details read HERE


P.S. Source of Information : Vikas

Thursday, June 12, 2008

A kuku from the woods...

Saint Chinmayananda said that once a boy came to seek his blessings and according to Indian customs he was going to touch his feet. Just when the Saint said that "by the boy touching my feet, only one thing is going to happen. My hands are going to become oily after touching his hair through my blessings." When you are a celebrity you have to follow all the customs and traditions of calling a senior by his work and age , 'ji' and by touching their feet. Especially one's guru is to be given utmost care at any occassion. Everything from the guru's arrival to his food choices to his departure in a function is to be given primary importance. Infact I am asked to eat and rest only after these duties are carried over accurately. But more than anything I believe respect should come from within. I've seen many who do these things for being impressive or to be diplomatic or for the sake of being a some one. But what's the point when it doesn't reach out from the heart. I hate being diplomatic but many a times I have to for making sure I don't hurt anyone's feelings. Since I have now learnt to be a diplomat I can easily find out those who behave the same with me. It irritates me. But that's the rule of the society. The society which is me and you and the society which me an you are scared of. You can't always be yourself. The other day I was boasting about how good a singer I am to my cousin brother and he said I am just over doing it. I can't obviously walk around telling how good I am ...atleast I deserve the freedom of expressing my thoughts on my singing to my dear ones. When can I show off? Or am I suppose to be ignorant on how good I can sing. I am stressing on 'good' only coz there are millions out there waiting to catch on one tiny weeny mistake. On the other hand there are people who go on bragging and bragging on how good I am. It crosses the limits of dishonesty. Fake. Ah ... but who am I to comment? Me just a small little kuku struggling somewhere in the woods where darkness befalls forever and a ray of hope for a glimpse of the sun's rays clings onto my mind. A hope that is like the setting sun which never extinguishes but is only clouded.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

102 nd Post

Yup it's past a century!! Chennai traffic is terrible. The long wait...the wait for the end..which never seems to happen. Didn't get to see much of the place apart from a lot traffic and pollution. Went to two great temples ,one an Ayappan kovil and another of his father. I had so many dosas and idlis that I am now into some kind of a juice diet. Not to shed kilos but to drown that uduppi taste from my tongue. Getting a loooot of miscalls nowdays, special thanks to Vikas :) Another one :listen to gum sum from Ada ...refreshing, distinct. Totally love the rains..was waiting for them.

With the A.R.Rahman's Ada contest on, one blog friend Kumar remixed KMT which I had uploaded in Surmitr. Do give an ear to the remixed version. Suggestions invited ...

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Coffee at M.G. Road , Ada

Have to really catch up with some photography. For the past few weeks I have only been uploading my concert pics. I'll be going to Chennai tomorrow for a couple of days and shall hopefully get some good snaps. Blogging will be taking a backseat as for now. Finished listening to JTYJN....I must say , Rahman sir has his way with his voice. Quite dishy! And the much talked about Ada also has a lot of sufi to offer. Parul Mishra ,another 'pepsi can' picked up from trash has rendered Ishq Ada so well. Listening to our very own Jayachandran sir sing Milo Wahan Wahan got the goosebumps back. The last time I had goosebums while listening to Jayachandran sir singing was when he sang Nenjil jil jil in KMT. Hardly two lines but whattaa voice!! Alka Yagnik was one voice I always tried immitating as a child. But somehow she was just gone for a looong time and with her re-entry in Ada looks like the lost world is back. I can never forget the first time I sang with him Kanil kanil on stage . Good eye sight. He was pretty confident of his eyes with that book he held which was as big as maybe thumbellina's pillow!

Another one is Coffee at M.G. Road by Vineeth Srinivasan. The shy, timid and suttle natured lad. Surprisingly whenever a 'star' doesn't mix up or mingle with the common public during a concert or for rehearsals, people in a very convenient way term it as 'head weight'. Irrelevant of whether he/she is an introvert, reserved or even dumb !! But with Vineeth , it was not that way. When he came for our Rajanigandha, 2007 show he was obviously shy and an introvert. But people just liked him . He had this very stange and natural way of impressing them. During the concert he had mentioned about making this big album for which he was doing concerts to enhance the production of that album. But no one had a clue about how big it was going to be. Especially after Malayalee, expections had risen conspicuously. And he has kept his word. As of now I am still listening to Kabhi Kabhi Aditi and hey! that's my caller tune too!! I got almost contemptous calls regarding my previous caller tune 'No woman no cry' which I 'by mistakely' had set it due to an involuntary action performed by my fingers by pressing the * . It got copied and my life became hell. Solutions like taking it off never worked coz of my lethargic nature and ofcourse some unavoidable work. Anyhow now it better be better than heaven with this new caller tune. Adios amigooooo.

Rajanigandha, 2008 Snaps

After a long time i know! You can see them here. And catch up with the writing here.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

LOVED IT TO THE CORE ! Kabhi Kabhi Aditi...lovely guitar by Rashid and Sanjeev and singing is awesome .There is so much of rawness and a tinge of something imperfect that makes it even more natural and precise. Yet another talent discovered by A.R.Rahman. He just knows how to pick the pepsi can from the trash :) I wish to be that can someday! Have just listened to this one song as of now. Will listen to the rest and update. till then.....................CU MIU PIU TIU :P