MELLIFLUOUS MAANDU AND MORE!

There are few ragas that remind us that they are not performed as often as they should be and Maandu is one of them. For some reason, I find Maandu short, sweet and crispy. Its Hindustani equivalent is Maand ( Maandu is how it’s called in carnatic terms). It is beautifully structured with the following aarohanam and avarohanam:

Aarohanam: S G3 M1 P D2 S
Avarohanam: S N3 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S

A couple of days back, some of my friends and I were in the music room, baffled. Well, we’re always stuck when it comes to choosing songs for a performance. It became more difficult because it was for the fresher’s day. For other occasions, we are relatively quick in selecting songs. But this performance was for the students and more so, freshers, who hadn’t had the faintest idea of what happens at college before! So it had to be different and interesting!

We were rest assured that majority of the freshers would enjoy film songs. It went without saying for us! *Sigh* Still, we represented the c.l.a.s.s.i.c.a.l club, and the classical flavor had to be kept intact thereof! After a brain storming session, one of them suggested the song ‘Sowkiyamaa’ from ‘Sangamam,’ an ARR’s composition in Maandu raga. And then we added on, “How about a fusion? We’ll find another song from the same raga and fuse it! That might click!” Another friend immediately came up with an idea, “Muralidhara Gopala? Sounds good for a fusion right?” All of us in unison said, “Sounds perfect, finally!” So we set about sandwiching Muralidhara Gopala between Sowkiyamaa, and it did click just as we expected! Incidentally, in one of our performances post freshers day, the dancers of our team performed for the song ‘Narmugaye’, another ARR’s number set in Maandu! It all seemed like a, ‘Maandu’s in the air’ effect. :)

I am embedding a thillana set in Maand raga, sung by Charulatha Mani, with this blogpost. Happy hours listening!

Words’ worthiness

Words can do wonders, they’re powerful, they’ve created history, brought us to what we’re today. True that! But are words the be all and end all of things around us? Not at all! Or so I feel. There is what’s called ‘actions.’ Yes, words can be one way to express things; but they’re apparently not sufficient always. Unless one shows it in action as to what he feels like, I don’t really think he can get his thoughts across to others, effectively at least.

Not that I have anything against words; in fact being a keen follower of George Orwell, I do believe in what he says, ‘good prose is like a windowpane.’ Writings and words thereof do open up things about life and its realism. Hang on! There’s more to it. It has always been easier to put things in words. The worthiness of things, however, surface only in actions; or so I feel (again, LOL).



If you’re wondering as to why this post is rambling, well, it is perhaps because I was bored to death and was reminded of a lighthearted chat I had last night with a certain somebody, a friend. Having penned things out, it feels so much better now, LOL.

Oh and by the way, having sounded as being against words (though I did NOT intend to), I’d like to say that the saddest irony lies in the fact that most of my classmates (including I) are learning words by rote for obvious reasons like PLACEMENTS, GRE, CAT and the like. Again, LOL. ;)

I think I’ll stop writing now, and wait till I feel like penning out something crazier. Bye for now, LOL.

A song that made my day...

FIFA fever kept me awake last night, for a very long time and I fell asleep after watching Spain’s tremendous playing. And this morning, I woke up anticipating another monotonous Sunday. Attending classes on a Sunday is not something which I look forward to; especially when I have to reach the class early to save the first few seats for my friends and myself! So, yes, very reluctantly, I managed to get ready, and boarded a bus by 7.30 AM! I was certain that I’d make it to class in time! :)

I was rather sleepy in the bus; just then, the one sitting next to me set the song ‘Athangara marame’ playing in her mobile. A.R Rahman’s one of my favourite music directors and this particular song of his, is a very cheerful one, set in a village ambience. Wow! There was something to buoy up my spirits at last! “Now,” I thought, “I’ve finally geared full throttle for the long day ahead.” :)

So what’s extraordinary about this song? Rahman has definitely given us better numbers, but this one had a special impact on me, at least today! I came home from class and played it a couple of times again. God, I got hooked onto this song! Sung by our very own Mano and Sujatha for the film ‘Kizhalukku Cheemayile,’ the number is clearly brilliant.

Now for a mild run-through of the musical technicalities, this song is set in ‘Harikhamboji’ raga. Harikhamboji, an ancient raga in Carnatic music, is a Melakartha raga (parent raga) with all the seven swaras (notes) in its ‘aarohanam’ (ascending scale) and ‘avarohanam’ (descending scale);

Arohanam: S R2 G3 M1 P D2 N2 S
Avarohanam: S N2 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S

Harikhamboji is best when presented in a slow pace; this particular Rahman’s number holds up the beauty of this raga nevertheless. Thyagaraja’s ‘enthara neethana’ kriti is one of my favourite compositions and is a classic example of how wonderful a raga, Harikhamboji is! ‘Nenjukkul peidhidum’ from the film Vaaranam aayiram, is another popular number set in this beautiful raga!

Well, whatever it is, one song made my day and held me in my spirits! Cheers! :)

Raavanan - The Bright lights

Directed by Mani ratnam, Raavanan has sleek camera work, powerful characterization and a brilliant adaption and portrayal of Ramayana in a contemporary fashion. Veera(Vikram) is a savage, who is apparently hunted for by the police but all the same revered by fellow villagers. Veera is also known as Raavanan in the film. Marked by a garbled diction and literally ‘ten’ mood swings, Vikram epitomizes Raavanan very well. Veera kidnaps Ragini ( Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) to avenge his sister’s ( Priyamani) death.

Ragini exemplifies Sita and is a strong-willed person. Her fearlessness astounds Veera and he falls for her. She constantly defies him however. Aishwarya , as Ragini, does her performance with élan.

Dev (Prithviraj) is the quintessential Rama who has to win over the evil. He enlists police personnel and sets on a mission to track down Veera and save his loving wife. Prithviraj, as the angry cop separated from his wife, fits the bill well.

Gnana Prakasam (Karthik), the forest officer, helps Dev with his endeavor. An embodiment of Hanuman, Gnana Prakasam comes across as a chatter box and adds humor to an otherwise serious scenario. Priyamani as Veera’s sister makes a mark despite her short role. Her performance is definitely laudable. Prabhu as Singarasu, Veera’s elder brother, does a neat job and so does Munna, as Sakkarai, Veera’s younger brother.

Ace cinematography of Santosh Sivan and Manikandan is complemented by AR Rahman’s score. Sreekar Prasad's editing is very polished and maintains the pace of the film. One however feels that the Suhasini’s dialogues could have been crispier.

To sum it up, Raavanan is a neat script packed with dazzling visuals. The film deserves 4.5 on a scale of 5.

This is my plate for you

What will happen if a person, who is on the run almost every passing day, gets to be idle for some time, all of a sudden? He/she might eat, sleep, sing, watch television and perhaps even write. At least that’s what I did. Looking back at my life (college life especially), I am wondering if I, in my attempt to be a jack of several trades and master them, have become a jackass instead! Well, let’s see studies, singing, Japanese, theatre, internships and projects; I have them on my plate; I wanted to master all of them even, the inspiration being some of my friends who have done that successfully and my mom herself. But there have been times when I’ve felt the brunt of heaviness, when my plate was at the verge of breaking and when I’ve felt like screaming. Times like those made me ponder over what I wanted to do in life! Ok, there are these things like earning a good name, making parents proud, et.al and perhaps they’d sound clichéd. So apart from these, I wanted to go around the world visiting every country possible. Why then do I have all these dishes on my plate? Well, because I am hoping that someday, at least one of the dishes would help me realize my dream. With crossed fingers, I’d like to say that THIS is my plate for you.