The other side of the coin

So many great men say great quotes and some do it very sarcastically ! All saved and thought for Independence day. Some went above my head and there were few others that made me think . One such a line was from Mr. Pritish Nandy who tweeted 'Innocent people are always the victims, irrespective of their faith, caste, status, gender.' I am the common man and hence giving my perception .


Every one conveniently calls the common man 'innocent'. Well, the real question is :
Is the man innocent cos he's deceived by policy makers who are chosen by him? OR
Is the man innocent because he is the victim due to divisions such as caste, religion .. that were made by the man himself !

Either ways ... both the routes that backfired on the man (which gave him the label of being an innocent) were chosen by him.

So now, who is actually the innocent one ?

1) The policy makers who knowingly fall prey to the votes of the 'innocent' man who cannot even make the right decision on who to trust and vote?

2) The terrorists who despite causing so much of negative impact were unsuccessful in instigating any peaceful measures yet!

'Nine At Night' videos available !

The show I am hosting for Rosebowl Channel, Nine at Night is one of the best experiences I have had so far.I wanted to upload all the videos in my video blog but just never had the time to do so..

Today I was simply checking out few videos on the net and I found that the one I did with Cello Sekar and Ramesh Narayan ji were already uploaded in asianetindia.com

Do have a dekko

Here goes the links

Cello Sekar: http://www.asianetindia.com/videos/cello-sekhar-part-1_60893.html
Cello Sekar part 2: http://www.asianetindia.com/videos/cello-sekhar-part-2_60895.html

Rameshji: http://www.asianetindia.com/videos/ramesh-narayan-part-1_61307.html
Rameshji part 2: http://www.asianetindia.com/videos/ramesh-narayan-part-2-2_61302.html


*TIA*

Born in Kerala

The much talked about 'Born In Kerala' album done by Jakes Bejoy was inaugurated on the 23rd of August in Le Meridian, Cochin by Harris Jayaraj. The same the ,it's production house -TOT Music was also launched. I am happy that I could sing a song for the album ..and for more stuff go HERE.

To check their blog you can go HERE . To get a glimpse of their trailor just go HERE .

A lot of other singers like Madhubalakrishnan, Sayonara, the Idea star singer team, Franko and Stephan (Amrita superstar) also took part in the function and even performed.

Gurupoornima was a great success!! It was completely an exciting experience cos I got to perform in front of Shri Dakshinamoorthy Swami. Mr. Soorya Krishnamoorthy was felicitated along with Swamiji and M. Jayachandran sir was also present for a short period of time. Will upload the pics soon and will try getting the videos.

Today morning I had to enter my home through the back doors! Yup! my front lock is totally screwed up and will require some mending work ..so as of now I have to get used to the 'thief' life. I will be attending a Christian wedding for the first time in my life :) , at Taj Malabar Hotel. I usually never sing for weddings and receptions but this friend is a special one so will be doing some simple yet dishy numbers.

Watched JTYJN...sooooo cute. Honestly, it's not critically acclaimed and blah blah and story was quite obvious..but the comic element is really strong and the acting is fab of Genelia and Imraan (ga ga !!). The best was the songs..especially Kabhi Kabhi.

Have uploaded few pics of the grey sky.. check them up RIGHT HERE.

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.

Pizza Hut party, Cyclone Gonu

The final closing party of the Rajanigandha team, 2008 was held at Pizza Hut, Qurum. I was the first one to reach with Johnson sir. Initially I had thought that the party would be held at the conference room which has been beautifully designed by the architect. But the party hall was opposite it. Much to my dismay we ventured the big hall and the first thing I asked them to do was to switch of two split A/Cs out of the four.Firstly, cos dad was unwell and secondly cos I couldn't sit with that kind of temperature. Before the Pizzas came we had a small lecture demonstration done by Johnson sir on falseto and fixing the swarasthanas in our mind. He has his way with the guitar. He was demonstrating it in Hamsadhwani ragam. Then he was quizzing us on various aspects of Music and even asked few of us to sing. When the pizzas arrived all were feasting their eyes as he was still explaining . But once the control was lost, there were shortage of pizzas and garlic bread. There were quite a few left overs and picked some of them for breakfast. All's well that end's well. And as we bid him a good bye it was farewell time for me as I will be air borne in a day. Exchanging some pj's and email ids I promised to meet up with them when they come over to India for their summer vacation. There ends the 2nd season of Rajanigandha, 2008.



Today did some minor last minute shopping. And it's time to say goodbye to my second home. I really couldn't take pics of the bald mountains cos I really didn't do any sight seeing. But someday I'll definately comeback and get some real desert pics and show you what the real Oman is all about i.e. if it is still there. There are rumours of another Cyclone Gonu attack on the 29th. Apparently temperature could rise upto 60 degree and a/c s would drip off and the petrol pumps could burst, and etc. Warnings will be given just like last year via mobile networks. Last time it was quite an experience and I am still surprised on being alive. Hopefully this place shouldn't get washed away as the rumours predict. To read more about last year's Cyclone Gonu effect check this POST and THIS from my blog.

Rajanigandha, 2008 Concert details

Concert pics available HERE.

Today's fortune: The luck that is ordained for you will be coveted by others.
So true. Though the show was delayed by 15 minutes the crowd was jam packed. The show commenced with the 8 singers lined with diyas lit. One by one with the prayer song satya soundaryme playing in the background, we lit the traditional lamp which is an unusual sight. Coz as far as I know in most of them it's the chief guest's duty to light the lamp. Then we had a string of short speeches and finally the show commenced. Mine was 5th in the song sequence list. And I was all excited coz my opening song would be with Srini sir. Brahmakamalam, Arivin nilave, Nila Kaygiradhu were the first few songs after which Srini sir sang Vennila thumbile. Then came Minsarakanna and we had a blast doing it together. He did a lot of extra fittings to the song that I was stunned and was probably left open mouthed. But the distinct part was the last three aalaps I had to do. The day before when I took him to check out the cornish he had asked me if I will be doing any songs with him and when I told him I would be dpoing this one, all he said was "Nityashree has sung it so well and it's a pretty hard one. Have you practiced?" All I could do was nod. So on stage when I gave my best shot I was hoping that he should think that I have done justice to the number. Which I understood when he acknowledged me as a fantastic singer :) The other songs were Rajahamsame, Manyu pole, Thumbi vaa, Barso re, Kanampoochi, Yeh ishq Hai, Ajab si, Pinayum pinayum, etc. Srini sir's best song was Kaisi hai yeh from Dil Chahta Hai. Johnson sir was the chief guest and so after he did the opening song he was relaxing in his couch. The concert was ended with Oh lalala . As planned portions of the song was distributed among the singers. And I was asked to do the hindi version of Maetachalayile (which is originally sung by Unni Menon). Srini sir took over from the second Manamadhura for which Johnson sir supported him with his guitar. After the finishing song he had to run off to catch his plane. So with a lot of thank yous and good byes he was gone. With him off Johnson sir was hogging all the limelight and boy! he can talk forever. He's quite a jovial person.

After all the photo session and talking we headed off straight to Restaurant Divine where the after-show party was organised. Was too tired to even eat but managed to get something into my growling tummy. Crashed when I saw the bed.

I was anxiously waiting for this day. As it was planned we reached the airport at 9. Waiting is a punishment. Sort of. I was suppose to greet Srini sir with a bouquet and another small girl was supposed to welcome Johnson sir. Initially it was exciting and when the waiting became longer and longer I was suggesting the lil girl some books of Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl. Gulped down a whole bottle of water and still time ,the biggest villain just doesn't take the name of running fast. We actually heaved a sigh of relief when Srini sir called after landing to ask about where to get the visa and all that. After receiving we left them at their respective hotel rooms and there after met for lunch. Actually Srini sir was so hungry that he messaged dad saying he is hungry and wants to hog and then hit the sack. So we had to arrange things a lil earlier than scheduled and all of us had 'chettinad thali'.

Admist the lunch Johnson sir was telling how Malayalam music is still not used or is unknown to many. He was saying that in all reality shows most of the singers hardly sing malayalam. Al of them outstretch into other languages, mostly tamil and also ape for the west. Whereas the other regional reality shows always have sungs sung in their respective language. Johnson sir being the only National Award winner from Kerala for the Best Music Director in our state was also saying that the jury for the National Awards hardly cared about the South Indian Industry. And Malayalam was considered as a baby or rather a minor in the field. Whenever there is a Satyajit Ray film, it had to win a national award. That was the system and people were comfortable with it. Except for a few. Few became many in time. He has his side of humor too where in once he apparently considered the finger bowl to be a bowl of lemon juice and devoured it warm! He's devoid of fear, sharp, talkative and hardly cares about what people think of him.

He's shy, suttle, gives one a feeling of warmth, not too glamorous, diplomatic and a sincere musician. That's Srinivas for you. He was too hungry to even discuss. Infact when one of the media person came to get a video byte from him, he said 'Food first and then the rest'. After the big fat lunch we had we went onto ordering something not cold and tasty for desert. Majority opted out for gajar ka halwa and Srini sir jus obliged.He was explaining the terms 'minus track' and 'plus track'. On not knowing what the latter meant he said it means miming i.e. a track with the singing where the singer just has to mime. He was telling how disgusted he was with such practices. These are times when a singer is lost and doesn't exactly know what he wants.. money or justice to his talent. Savouring each bite of the extremely sweet carrot halwa we ended the lunch with a photo session. And everyone was off to catch some Zzzzzzzzzz.

After nap time Johnson sir was taken for his say in the video byte and Srini sir was bored so we took him to the cornish. He loved it... and the weather was pretty cool by evening. After some ghup shupping at the sea side we headed for the dinner party organised by one of the members of the Rajanigandha team. Had great fun and all the singers of tomorrow's show were asked to hum a few lines. Nervous as ever I sang one of my personal favourites Manjaladam. Then we had a small photo session with the mummys and daddys. We soon called of as we have to wake up pretty early for tomorrow's show. So I think I am gonna Zzzzzzzzz...

Rajanigandha, 2008

I will be performing at the Al Falaj on the 23rd. The show is named Rajnigandha. Last year we held a show by the same name which was illuminated by eminent artists like Shri. Arjunan, Shri. Vidyadharan, Shri Kallara Gopan and Vineeth Srinivas. We had held it on a non-profit basis and much to our surprise it turned out to be a super hit. Infact AlFalaj which accommodates around 1200 audience had to get in 100 chairs extra for the standing crowd in the auditorium. And they told us that such a show was never held in the last 10 years of the history of the hotel.

This year it's something different and better. We will be getting National award winner Johnson and State award winner Srinivas. Srinivas sir will be singing a couple of solos and duets. This year also it is being held on a non-profit basis. And entry is only pass. Actually this show is being organised by the parents of the children taking part in the show. Some are not even working for the children but for the success of the show. Hopefully this one should go well. The show begins at 6:30 and should go on non-stop for 3 hours. We have a mix of old and new numbers in different languages. So if any of you are in Muscat do try to make it for the show! For the rest... pray for meee :D



No prizes for guessing where I am :)

Lot's in a name !

A pretty funny one from the Reader's Digest, May edition:

A New Zealand couple have named their son "Superman." 4Real. Actually, reported the London Telegraph, 4Real was their first choice, but the Govt. registry nixed the name coz it included a digit. Meanwhile a Chinese couple clashed with their Govt. when they tried to give their newborn this moniker: @. Some celebs have followed suit, and their's nary a Jane in the bunch.

Audio Science (son of actress Shannyn Sossamon)

Bluebell Madonna (daughter of Spice girl Geri Halliwell)

Daisy Boo (daughter of chef Jamie Oliver)

Pilot Inspektor (son of actor Jason Lee)

Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily (daughter of TV host Paula Yates)

God'lss Love stone (daughter of singer Lil' Mo)

Jermajesty (son of singer Jermaine Jackson)

What is the world getting into????

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Another humor @ Work : When hiring new staff at her public library, my daughter always asks applicants what sort of supervision they'd be most comfortable with.
One genius answered "I've always thought Superman's X-ray vision would be cool."

From one joke to another Buhahahaha till next post :D

Beauty and Brains

The Beauty Pageant, Femina Miss India has created history many a times before. When the ads of the pageant used to flash on the screen , we already started preparing from the side of a spectator. From Pramila to Parvathy Omanakuttan a long chain of beauties have left behind their mark as the world's most beautiful women. But the journey , as I have witnessed from the transformation of a pretty woman to one with brains have also brought in a lot of changes in the system. The kind of questions asked and the kind of answers given in the pageant nowadays has nothing exclusive to offer. I am sure India has'nt run out of intelligent beauties. This time's pageant , not a single one did I find appealing. All of them wrote like hardly two sentences , that too vague, in the final round. Having shopped goodies from Big Bazaar.. some new Orio wafers, all of us had great plans to enjoy the evening only to be disappointed. All the answers were so blunt . Half the time went answering that 'western culture hasn't influenced the increasing rates of divorces'.. and before they even try reading out the rest, they thank and shut up. Well according to me , one reason as to why divorces in India have been increasing is cos women are growing as per education and career.. and this leads to ego clashes cos men are not too happy with their partners enjoying their success. Besides most of the men , however broad minded ,do want their children to be put to sleep by mommy and to be fed and to be cooked by them. Anyways my thoughts are not at all relevant here... only if I were given an oppurtunity.. *sigh* .. so much for beauty!

Paparazzi

Just happened to watch the movie unknowingly. Well it shows that life isn't a bed of roses especially for the media circle and also put me into thinking about how the biggies live their life in peace. It was so irritating to watch the paparazzi after Cole Hauser who played the lead actor in the movie. And though it was just a movie it got me agitated and I really wished for the truth not to win ,indirectly. I have written about this before too ,i.e. the media who claim to be exposing are most of the time just exploiting. Ofcourse there has been a lot of exaggeration in the movie ,but to some extent media can get annoying. Maybe we need to go through it personally to digest it. To have you followed all the time , the way you walk, talk, eat ,behave ,my.. that's mollifying. The freedom and the life one is forced to give up is almost like a curse. Then the alternatives chosen like having extra mobiles and bodyguards and a life which is sealed externally..all such a nightmare. Always bothered about how you look and behave and think before you leap each time, boy! that's as good as being a vegetable. I heard that Ishant Sharma could'nt celebrate Holi with his family cos he was deterred by the thought of media and for Sreesanth , that guy has been in news for quite some time making history with hotty celebs and shake-a-legs. And with his Transitional Meditation (Wotever :P), thanks to the media once again , I am so proud to see a Keralite as a hot shot celeb! (No Sarcasm at all :I)

Trust me guys, enjoy being a no one :D

A busy week. Beginned with the AIKKTAN last sunday.It was all of a sudden.I and my parents were in the midst of doing a lot of incomplete work. And since dad was leaving to Oman the next day, he had to get them done asap.On the way he just met up with Vidyadharan master who offered me 2 songs for the award night.The main singers were Chitra Iyer and Afsal.I was completely nervous and unprepared. Everything was fine until I was asked to sing Minsarakanna (Padayappa) by the orchestra head.I was so unprepared , besides I was only fluent with the female portion and I was asked to sing it solo :)Well with God's grace I got my friend to mail me the lyrics in english which helped me a lot !! With 3 hours left for the show to begin, I was frantically learning yeh mera dil , the second song given to me.Then whatever happened after that was like a roller coaster ride. Freshened up-put on some war paint-got the file which contained the lyrics and ran to Nishagandhi auditorium, near the museum.It was really humid initially but later on cooled down.After a couple of songs by Chitra and Afsal, it was my turn.The show was covered by Jeevan but I have no clue when it will be telecasted.And some of the pics of the show have been uploaded in Snapshots.

Then I had to catch up with a lot of college work since my exams are approaching. And as march has marched in, it speaks of a season of exams and a lot of celebrations like , my very close friend celebrated her b'day on the 8th and so was Women's day.And as usual we got to see the dark side of this world showing women doing labour work which earns them low wages. They even had a footage done on a woman who was 'ditched' by her husband after she gave birth to her baby.Women's Day ofcourse beginned by wishing my friend and after that wishing all the womenfolk at my place, of which I didn't receive any back.But hey, no doubts.. I am a woman!

Today, Sunday, as usual , just boring.Was fiddling with my lappy when I met this friend of mine online who decided to enhance the A.R.Rahman community. We are planning to do more of social service and a lot of shows .The community is centered at Trivandrum.We are also holding a meeting this sunday. All are ofcourse invited. Interested members can mail me at nehasasi@hotmail.com ..I am in search of a good name for this club. Do suggest some !!

This evening I attended the Dreams'08 concert at Nishagandhi ,Kanakakunnu. Amazing. With Sreenivasan as the celebrity guest we had surprise guests like Unni Menon and Chitra Iyer too along with a couple of the reality show singers. Shradha, one of the Amrita Superdancer finalists did an amazing job. And Sreenivasan stole the show wid this 'pallavi only' session.. kinda unplugged which included numbers like ethreyo janmamayi , kaisi hai ye. Minsarakanna was his master piece and the OOo Lalala was superlative! Totally!! I had to leave the place by nine, so couldn't catch up with the rest. Hoping to perform with these biggies some day :)

Jodha Akbar is one good epic I got to watch. It's not dragging , to the point and for all those who said that very less was shown on Akbar's fight sequences and ruling, it's actually a romantic movie which speaks more about the love of Jodha and Akbar which went unnoticed. And the previews never said that the movie had something to do with his ruling and achievements though a lil of that too was shown. Excellent cameras, awesome costumes.. and the best part of all - it's music. Once again kudos to Rahmanji for making yet another memorable record.Well about acting skills.. Hrithik an Ash have done a fair job.

I was just so sure about something crazy happening on the Valentines.I have seen people desperate for fame , but not as desperate as Rakhi Sawant and Abhishek! She slapped him or whatever and he apparently thanked the Headlines Today for patching them back!! And the news channels are even more jobless to telecast it all on television. How low can they fall ? And ofcourse not it isn't a matter of sour grapes but of 'lathon ke bhoot baaton se nahi mante'..or in Javed Jafferey's words - The ghost of the kicks don't listen to the talks :) Ciao