Youtube...my tube to life

Listening to a lot of world music nowadays. I am incredibly thankful to Steve, Chad and Jawed for youtube , my source to majority of my collections. When my dad used to brag about his once-upon-a-times I really used to chuck it saying every gen next have their share of struggles. But this time literally , dil se, I totally agree with him cos of youtube. I mean what more could once ask from life??? I got some of the golden-est (really mean it !) of the golden classics to the most jazz-iest of the lot in any language !! Life's totally revolving around a click. This is where I support technology 100 x infinite times !! :)

Chetan Bhagat should be given the credits

Feeling really bad for Chetan Bhagat cos of the whole '3 idiots' issue. Definitely the makers should be given credits for original 'screenplay/ script' and not for original 'story'.Infact I find the story modified and not recreated. Like Chetan highlighted at a live News talk , how can a film be given the credits of original story when it has been based on a hit seller book? Irrespective of Chetan being given his dues as per agreement it certainly is not ethical to be forward enough to take up the credits themself. Clearly 3 idiots is a lot different from Five.someone but the basic things like Raju moving over to Chatur's room, they splitting up, they stealing the papers, Raju trying to commit suicide, Raju's family conditions are interpreted in the movie just like in the book. This is the soul of the movie . I totally agree with Bhagat to fight for his moral rights and also he's being reasonable by asking for genuine compromise in terms of giving him the 3rd place in credits for the adaptation and not in terms of money. Sad is the state of writers who spend years for making a book like five.someone. Whether the credits are given or not I am still going to remain a big fan of his books and hope that the humour nevers dies out from his future works.


P.S.Got to watch 3 idiots 2 days back and one great work I say. Truly enjoyable though they included a lot of cliches.

Welcome 2010 !!!

Late by two days I know!! but... HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! Well the first half of 2009 was pretty low for me. Silly predictions, zero results, bad bad health, dealing with intolerable problems attached to the college, University and their tantrums... it would be better to not blog about it !! But around mid April I got to sing for Ritu and I still feel very blessed to be a part of the project. I am one of the lucky ones to be a part of this film and most importantly it felt like a family rather than a 'film'.

My work accelerated as a TV presenter too. Got loads of offers but I didn't take them up cos I felt I am best made for singing, music. How much ever I indulge myself into photography, news debates, blogging and wotnot ..at the end I feel full only when I am into music. To work with Stephen Devassi at a very early stage of my career is truly a blessing in form of Rosebowl. The amount one gets to learn from the experienced is like a treasure box. I also came up with a lot of innovative ideas, took my first step into composing seriously, etc. So 2009 was almost like 'making of a musician' ..I'm there..but not completely. Everyone has been raving about what a great year 2010 is going to be for everyone. Wonder why 2010! Somewhere in the midst of all this discussion even I feel, out of my intuitions that something big is waiting for me in 2010. I hope there is progress in law and order of our country and the climatic conditions. Hope is not all we can do .. it's time to make a difference in some way or the other. So this year is going to be one of the action-oriented decision-making years.. Wishing you all a year of excellence!!

Outcast Vocals

This was another musical shoot for Rosebowl. Planning had been going on since September but materialized only in November. Apart from Suchith I wanted few other young singers to be a part of this but somehow we worked it this way. Vineeth George was on the Piano in his typical jazz style and Siddharth too. We had Avial bass guitarist Benny also. Did a whole lot of melodies and fusion and semi classical and wotnot. Just had a dekko at the trailors today. Naming it was a big headache !!! First it was Coconut Machans then that was apparently sounding too whacky so finally we finalized with Outcast Vocals. It's going to be aired tomorrow on X'mas..from 10 AM ... Please do watch it and give me some great reviews (hopefully) ... bubyeee

Merry X'mas and fun filled new years to all !! :D

Single or married?

I was catching up with the re telecast of Talking Point on Rosebowl. The topic was about remaining single or married. The point was which gives you more happiness. It's hard for one to reach a conclusion on such topics and there was this huge argument on girls being forced to get married by 23-24. By putting a certain age limit for marriage does make one's marital life much much organized. But one must not be forced to an extent where we might end up taking a hasty decision about our companion. I think for women, getting married at 25-26 is apt for them to plan their family life and balance their career alongside.

This whole notion that women lose their freedom after marriage is an absolute myth. Of course we have to change or compromise in a way to blend well with the ways of our partner but that certainly does not imply that we have to give away our freedom. Perhaps the way we apply our freedom might have to change. But that only changes the route; it does not take away the freedom from us. For a woman to get married at her mid twenties helps her in planning her future, her companion's future and the future of the generation she is going to build thereon. Honestly I am today's woman but I do not see my self lonely at the age of 40 , nor do I see myself being a mother to my teenage child at sixty. A mother has to be physically and mentally fit to nurture her child's growth. It has a lot of biological factors too. I am implying only on women here because there was so much of fuss being created on whether women should get married by 20 or after 30. More than the age factor it depends on when we feel settled. Also God has made women in such a way that they mature my 13 or 14 already. But today's lifestyle, which has become a necessity, has definitely not prepared a 13 year old to nurture a family of her own like olden times. I remember that during school my classmate had a brother 7 years younger than her. Her parents had a late marriage and the kids even later. When she was telling me about their late marriage she suddenly realized that her brother would be 13 when her father would be 60. The amount of effort parents have to put on a child saturates at their teenage years. When a parent is not physically prepared for that it could affect their child who is bound to go through a risky path being a teen. I hope that explains why we have certain age strategies for women and men when it comes to marriage.

Education, career, a secure future had made today's woman very independent and capable of self decision making. But we must not forget about evolution. After a certain age I am sure none of us want to die lonely however popular we are to be surrounded by 'people'. To have that special someone is definitely much more than 'people'. Staying single until you find the person is justified totally :)

Growth has to be there in all forms be it the human brain, discipline, maturity or the future gen. Meeting of the two sexes is a beautiful purpose for cultivating the human farm. So one should stop being too insecure about losing out on their freedom and instead let things happen the way nature had bestowed upon us.

Nine@Night is featuring Neelathamara singer, Shreekumar at 9 PM exclusively on Rosebowl tonight. You can catch its repeat on Sunday morning 9 AM :)

Tribute to courage?

How can people believe to be paying tribute to the 26/11 martyrs by attending some stupid peace meet? 'Tribute to courage' held at the India Gate this evening is one such an example. 26/11 anniversary has already been media hyped but there are no productive results. Can we have slain ATS Hemant Karkare's wife sleep peacefully tonight? Or can we have Late Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan's parents heave a sigh of relief that tomorrow we would not have to shed blood for blood? Such gatherings don't have any positive motive to stop terrorism. We all love our country, want peace, and want to lead peaceful lives. Definitely lighting candles and holding charity events and materializing such social gatherings can never restore peace, or eliminate the fear of terrorism in our minds. The only possible way is by fastening the Kasab case and by revealing its content. Kasab has to be punished. From the time the 26/11 took place, media has always come up with flash news such as 'Pak is not doing enough', 'Pak is not serious'. That's all we've been hearing. It's been a year now, the Taj has got back to its feet, Karkare's family has moved on with hopeful eyes, but Kasab is not yet punished. We always land up focusing at the wrong things. We had a recent article and a photo clip of the PM partying with Obama when he visited the U.S. during this period. It was indicating that he was partying there as the nation acknowledges the 26/11 a year after its occurrence. What do you expect the PM to do? He was there to sort out the rising problem of terrorism, you can't expect him to mourn and start crying there. That's not how mistakes are rectified. For a change, focus on what we are doing. SRK wore a nice suit addressing how proud he is to be an Indian, Javed sahab with some of his beautiful poetry and the likes only expressed how sorry they all are. We all are sorry. But why is the Govt. taking so much time to punish Kasab? The Babri Masjid case came up after such a long time and I have never seen so much importance given to any other case as this one has been attended to by the media. Several debates and ‘tweets’, etc. has only shown how much of precious time we are wasting on such issues. I have never seen such a coverage being done on the state of the Policeman in our country, or the state of illiteracy in our country. What's more important is restoring the belief on Lord Ram within Hindus which at the first place has not gone at all! What restoring and proofs does one want to give to prove that Ayodha is an important historical place accounting to Hindu beliefs? Move on.

Tribute to courage - was a mere social gathering of a lot of celebrities from the entertainment field and the politicians. But apart from that I don't think that the people feel any safer now. Like how Karkare's wife had very diligently put across how 'superficial' all these ways are to show India's tribute. Lighting candles, gathering people over a few consoling words, talking great promising words on the security is not going to being about the change we are looking forward to. It's only going to waste wax and time. The bottom line is that the culprit has to be punished. And definitely not after permitting a time span of 20 years but to materialize ASAP. That is the only way we can restore the faith in the people, restore belief in our Government and restore faith in eradicating Terrorism forever.

A tale of self proclaimed King and his slaves

K.C.Singh had exactly the right words to use when he was asked to speak at the Times Now Debate. It was nice to see a patient Sitaram and Mr. Manish should definitely take some anger management classes from him. Obama having given China the 'opportunity' to play cupid for Indo-Pak relations probably forgot about how legitimate it is for China to carry out this responsibility. Having an almost broken Tibet maybe Obama should realize what their 'actual' responsibility is. I will pour out any sarcastic comments here like the journalist but yeah! We definitely do not have to be envisaged by China and of course we can look after our selves!!! Mr. Singh did have something to point out. Our response on this issue came 24 hours later which actually portrays us as a tube light of some sort. I absolutely feel that we do not have to waste time on wondering if to be diplomatic to Obama as the PM will be visiting the U.S. in sometime. We have to be more vocal if someone is taking us for granted. Granted is not the word. I would say it's some sort of sweet subjugation! Sometimes it's within the nation sometimes it's some self proclaimed king and sometimes it's some superficial movie. 2012 is not the world end for heaven's sake! I wonder about being an inactive blogger when there's peace around. Obviously I would not be inspired then the way I am nowadays to blog about such appalling happenings. Would I prefer being a positive saint meditating in a peaceful world or would I prefer to blog and fulfill my 'journalism' dreams? Let me think about that over a cup of coffee...