ILAYARAJA'S SRIRAMARAJYAM...

It is easy to tell people not to be cynical and yes we all need to be positive and always hope for the good. But in the war between honesty and being positive, i think honesty and truth should prevail and will prevail. Coming to the point, it is not just in the matters of competition, war, or achievements but injustice is prevalent everywhere. These days largely it is the hype, noise, sensation that attracts the eye and only those who succeed in all that is bound to walk away with recognition and achievement. This is not just true of politics, media or business but also percolated to music and film industry.

Can we imagine, Shankara bharanam songs becoming popular today, the way it reached people then in early 80’s. The answer seems a perfect No as if that would happen,then the same should have happened to Sri Ramarajyam songs and music. Its very unfortunate and disgraceful that the music has not reached as much as it should have. i do not want to scribble any adjectives to express the divinity of the music in that movie. It deserved far greater recognition, appreciation than any other music in the last few years. It did register in music lover’s minds and heart, but did not make an impact as much as it should have. The effort of the Great Maestro is wasted in that sense. Every song and every music bit if heard in the right frame of mind and system is bound to take to a different world and when u come back, either you don’t want to live in the same world or you are transformed and you are willing to forgive everyone and everything. The complete serenity engulfs you and you just want to keep listening to the same music.

Even to say that this song is better than the other one is insulting the album per se. But my favourite is Sree Rama lera. The voices of shreya ghosal and Ramu don’t seem that of humans. It is clearly like the voices of the angels or goddess if there ever were such reality as them. The lyrics propound the value of what an ideal relationship and love between husband and wife should be. It’s beyond subtlety, expectation or any other feelings which are impermanent and ephemeral. The feelings and expressions are something that one should possess and they seem so right and achievable. There is no intension of gyan but everyone married and unmarried should listen and digest this song. After listening to this song, we feel like childishly fighting with god to make such a relationship permanent in life.

The other favourites are Seetha seemantham, ramayanamu and it can’t be a coincidence that all these songs have shreya ghosal as the singer. This lady will surpass all the greats in the singing world and if someone says she already has, i will be the first one to buy the argument. One can’t stop wondering at the making of this song. What must have happened to Raja garu before the composition and after the recording? What bliss, what divinity he must have experienced is only what he can feel and probably will never be known to anyone? For me it is more than worship in any temple, to be able to be there during such recordings. It thinks these opportunities can come only as a blessing and god knows when will that be?  Of course jagadadanda karaka is also a good song and has got the popularity it deserves unlike the rest of the songs.

One experience which is very unique is that, no other music seems enjoyable beyond few moments when ever i listen to this song. Especially in the telugu songs of late this magic isn’t in any music. Impatience is felt for other telugu songs and automatically we tend to get back to listening to Sri Rama rajayam music and more particularly sree rama lera. But one thing is certain ... forgetting the clichéd hit or miss discussion in success terms, if one listens to sriramarajyam 3 times, we are bound to get bliss and tranquillity. They say about rama katha, rama smarana that it is very soothing and we get stuck there and nothing else interests or excites. I haven’t experienced that,  but surely felt the same about the music of sriramarajyam.

Ilayaraja is a music god and one needs to touch his feet just for this music. One way of extending the happiness is to continue to listen to Geetanjali, anveshana songs of Raja garu... There is lot of sadness and unhappiness when i have to conclude writing about this piece but i will continue to revel in listening to the same. Special mention of thanks to Jonnavittula garu also for writing to suit this generation.

I will be glad if someone tell me the raga of sree rama lera song.

still loving you....from scorpions

Any piece of art or creation appeals differently to people is a known and understood reality. But how it impacts individuals depend on so many factors. Some influence in the child hood, or extremely popular art form, or something connected with one’s own experiences can be the determining factor. When it comes to music, all of us have fond memories and associations with many songs. For instance when i listen to Bhanumati songs, Geetanjali songs or Sajan songs.. i vividly remember my dad and all the memories come back stark to me and it’s almost like re living those moments with him in my child hood and in my youth.

There are hundreds of songs which strike a nostalgic chord and each of us has many experiences and memories associated with them. One such song for me is still loving you of Scorpions. Every time i listen to the song, i instantly remember my dear friend shakeel khader who went away to USA and he is not even on the face book. I tried to trace his parents place near basher bagh but failed. I and he used to revel on this song during 1990 when both of us were working in OMC computers. Listening to music to both of us was like religion. We used to talk and indulge for long. That happiness of involvement is just indescribable. I even remember how well he used to sing john denver’s song.. You fill up my senses.. Where are u shakeel? Can someone help me find him ?

Today i was going to my daughter’s school for investiture ceremony. It’s a long drive to Indus international school in Shankerpally. Good one hour and 20 minutes drive time and 70 percent of the drive is on the unpolluted roads and areas. Myself and Manas were listening to my collection of the English numbers which range from beetles to john denver to eagles to phil Collins to rainbow to led zep etc. But what was out of the world experience was listening to still loving you. I didn’t want the song to get over. It simply immerses you deeply in it and all the pain and misery just vanishes from life.

The original song itself is par excellence and belongs to all time best categories. But the new version (hate to call remix ) which is philharmonic in nature and format is just mind blowing. One has to experience this. If you are a james bond music fan, if you are A.R rehman fan, if you like Ismail darbar kind of Hum dil de chuke music, if you like zubin Mehta, Beethoven..  just imagine if all of it comes as a single master piece... can you believe it? You can’t and should not miss this master piece.. its a great work which seems like all these people sat together and created this music. IT has to be heard in an excellent music system in a decent volume in a car or in an absolutely acoustics treated studio or in a quiet place with the best i pod and a head phone.  It’s a magic and divine, real work of the best music. I always wonder how one creates this kind of music. How do they start, where do they end and how do they weave. And the conglomeration of all instruments in a very big number and perfect coordination and the rhythm sync harmony, and astounding riches of sound which is so out of the world.

No no .. one just can’t narrate the experience. One must listen to this. If you are not used to listening to these kind.. but you are a music lover.. just listen as a work , a job for 5 times and then sail along the endless timeless journey of ecstasy.

Hats off scorpions and still wonder how did they created this new version and would rehman ilayaraja have heard and if yes how do they feel?

COMMON LEARNINGS AND UNCOMMON SITUATIONS

Many a time, for the most average person like me, the distinction between thinking and worrying is not very clear and is blurred. Attitude towards everything will determine the difference. We worry if we seek benefit, if we are attached and we do not get the bigger picture. We think, i think if we have the bigger perspective, the one outside us and not for ourselves. There are 3 experiences which inspired me and want to learn from them.

1)    Few days ago, in one of my walking time early in the morning, i started strolling at the pizza hut point on the Raj bhavan Road. What caught my attention is one sight with someone looking like the lord Krishna, the one we know in the movies, television and pictures. I knew i was hallucinating and i thought so what? I just stood still and looked carefully. It was the beggar or someone who didn’t have a home or the relatives, who was waking up from the sleep or going back to sleep on a cold winter morning keeping himself warm from whatever he had. From then, i started walking just thinking about the guy, what seemed like an arrogant state of mind where i am better off than him. Then i really focussed on the thought and questioned myself.. Am i really better off than him? If yes in what way? What was bothering me was that, how would his day start? What hope does it have for the day? What will he looked forward to? How can he be normal, happy etc?

Then it occurred to me that, there are all my stories about him and not necessarily what he might feel.. Then what about me? I felt after all that i am fortunate to have in life ... every time there is some issue, some problem, some tension which keeps on bothering and worrying me. Each time the newer situation, the new issue seems bigger, difficult to handle and the older one silly and avoidable. This means that i have created a compartment in me which has to be fed with issues, problems and worries.. What if that is broken by good thoughts? Yes the habit of worrying has to be broken and thoughts have to be replaced. I have to destroy the compartment which needs to fed with negatives. After this crossed my mind, i felt he was indeed lord Krishna who made me think and realize. God has his own way of making us realize and we just need to keep our senses open.

2)    The second incident touched me very deeply. Shiva, the office boy once, supposedly took some decent money from me and he kept calling me to return the money. I was ignoring for sheer lack of time to coordinate and did not know how much money also. In one of the calls, he quoted a quite a good sum and said he has to return the same day His determination made me say ok. He came and returned first 5 figure amount and i was just baffled with his integrity and what not. If he wanted he could have easily avoided returning especially since his needs were very dear and sensitive. I remember his hardship in working as a newspaper delivery boy, pizza hut delivery boy to study and support family. His attitude to money and life has taught me indescribable lessons. Hats off shiva and you are my teacher. Such people have to be honoured always.

3)    Just yesterday, i was getting to ready to go to office and as i was locking the door, one of the servant maids of the apartment did not wait for me and she just closed the life door and went down. For a moment i felt she is so impatient and her wait would have saved some energy of power. But i decided not to take the lift and as i was walking down the stairs, i felt we all expect so much from the poor and the vulnerable. Why should i expect her to be so socially conscious when she has so much suffering in life? Are we, the so called educated and decently privileged behave and act responsibly all the time? We can afford to talk about several things because we can simply afford several other things in life. We don’t realize how fortunate we are.. Ok i correct myself and remove the plural and tell myself very strongly that i need to learn a lot from all situations around.

Humility every second, gratitude to god every moment and openness all the time enables learning and makes us richer and happier. This is my experience and i will convert these thoughts to implementation and not leave it at worrying about it... God bless all who have read this. Happy are all those who smiled after this ..

HAPPY MUSICAL NEW YEAR...

Every year that is past, has 2 dimensions to it. 1) One year is gone from our life  2) and the next year is of hope. What is gone can never come back but what can travel with us is the experience that we gained and rich moments that we cherished. It is all up to us on what and how much we make out from the year that is passed. Many a learning happened to know and understand life better. So much richer was the experience that i could perceive failure in success as nothing is permanent , and also success in failure as everything changes for the good. Even if the obvious is stated, the experience of wisdom is always new, good and useful.

The best personal joy in the year 2011 was listening to Rock star music and watching the movie twice. The music is something which is indescribable as every time i heard to the rock star music,  it took me to a very personal and reverential experience. The voices, the sounds, the orchestration, the feel, the texture , the tone, the  mood and just about everything was so perfect, so different and so ahead of times that, if someone liked it, then it can only be maddening and extremely fulfilling. The one song that can be talked, detailed and every music lover has to listen without fail from the movie is HAWA HAWA... This is a brilliant piece and perfectly justifies the belief and adage that music has no boundaries.

The beauty about this song comes from the deadly combination of  Rehman, Irshad kamil and Mohit chauhan. An out of the world amalgamation of Music , Lyrics, singing and orchestration.  It’s simply an extremely brilliant piece of music that will rest in your soul and makes the soul reverberate with joy and dance. The song seems to have the European flavour of instrumentation and back vocals but gently reminds us of the beautiful era of Raj kapoor songs,  with doses of Shanker jaikishan’s touch. It does not stop there. It also seems like having the traces of Naushad, that near to heart beat sounds of O.P. nayyar, subtleties of R.D. Burman and S. Rajeshwar Rao use of violins and Meastro Ilayaraja’s oriental mix. In one expression, its the best of most music that we heard. There is pain, there is joy, there is celebration and there is life perse in the song.

I think hundreds of times as how this song could have be thought of, developed, how did the lyrics fit in? How was the singing? How was the initial mix and what processes it went thru for the final mix. Just can’t stop wondering on the making of the song. Wish the making of the song was shot. It will not be an exaggeration to state that, if one were there from the beginning of the song, till the end, it would be like a great education on music for them. Every single member associated with the song has to be saluted as every time i listen to the song, i discover either the new sound, new expression or the new meaning.

Undoubtedly listening to this song has been the greatest moments this year, and watching the movie too matched this happiness and excitement. Apart from this, there were regular doses of all that life has to offer.. ...Success, failure, happiness, pain, learning, unlearning, surprises, shocks, disappointments, and heart burns etc. But the experience of listening to thi song will remain unique forever. No Doubt Rehman is the manifestation of god’s greatest creativity and so he is the messiah, he is the gods special child. All numbers from Rock star are special for its unique special quality but this Hawa Hawa need to be experienced. Not in a hurry, not to pass judgements but with a serene mind in a tranquil place where the only activity has be listening to music and 3 times in a row at least.

One such experience is enough for the year and expecting many more such in the coming year. Happy new year to all, especially music lovers as what else can be a best food, medicine, companion, soul mate than the music especially the one that Rehman creates.. He has a knack and the gift to bring the best from all that is best and gives us the final product. Rehman i salute you million times.

TELEPHONE DHWANILA NAVVE DAANA

This title comes from the very popular song from Bharateeyudu and a very awesome composition from musical god. Just this morning, i was happy to see one GHMC sweeper lady pulling out mobile from her saree pallu and answering the call. My happiness was short lived as it was not the smile but the wrinkle on the face and worry that caught my attention when she received the call. I did not want to imagine that there is some problem with her life as too much empathy all the time can be extremely killing especially on a Sunday morning. Instead i kept thinking again about Graham bell invention and how that is next only to the breath we take in life.

Just went little down the memory lane when the mohan and ravi photo studio (prestigious) in koti , Hyderabad had the dummy telephone and it was a great kick and pleasure to hold them , pretend to talk and get the photo taken. Telephone in 70’s was like what BMW is now and probably BMW is more easily gettable for many these days. In our entire class of about 300 students ( all sections included) there was just one phone at home. One had to take a permission to call from home to school. It was mandatory for parents to come however rich or famous they may be. The people who had the key for any telephone in any office were the most powerful guys. Or else one had to go to post offices to make a call or trunk call ( do we remember this) . The postman would act like one very powerful person there and we obviously had to wait till he finished his work. Then one day, i walked up to one sweet cum chat place called Agra in Koti and took money of about 2 rupees( could watch movie easily in so much money those days in 1978) and went and called my dad to his office. His first reaction was why did i call and second reaction was.. put down the phone and don’t waste the money.

Then one or two people would have phone connections in the entire colony and the waiting for the connection of phone was like 7 years and needed central minister recommendation for emergency lines. Oops... can’t believe. Public phones came only during late 80’s and became rampant in early 90’s. It was not an in thing to share the phone numbers also. It was a huge effort to go on cycle for 2 kilometres and choose some shop which will allow making calls for huge expenditure if we had to talk to any of our girl class mates. We could not talk for more than 5 minutes as we were not allowed to and the cost also was high. I can’t forget the time in 1984 when there was some curfew and my brother was stuck in a hotel as he was working over there. We had to go to my friend’s place, explain the situation and with great difficulty, were allowed to talk to my brother. It was a huge favour of the month for us.

The coming of the public booths was a big revolution and privacy found a new meaning, communication saw a new dimension, and employment opportunities, business opportunities came about.  We can keep talking so much about what that happened after the coming of public booths.. STD calls became cheaper and slowly written communication started taking a beating. Then came the pager, around 1993-95 and it died the fastest death among all technologies because of the shortest gap between pager and cellular phone launch. By then cordless phones and slick phones became the trend.

The charges for incoming discouraged people from buying cell phones and the coming of reliance revolution and free incoming just threw open the technology to the winds. And the changes kept happening every month and in every service provider. Now the changes happen by the hour and cell phone is no more a communication device but is a life style and most dependable companion for multiple and varied needs. Applications, i phones, BBM’s , Androids, 3 G’s etc etc has seeped into the cultural context and psyche’s of human beings.

For the generation born in the late 60’s and early 70’s, we will never stop wondering about this graham bell invention which is the key for so much more allied and far fetching technological revolutions in the world. IF someone does not the device, service,.affordability will be the last of the reasons for that. It will either be having a choice not to have it or too important a person that he or she can afford not to have it. For grusha’s sake, don’t want to get into gyan or sentimentality or cynicism but most often, i don’t see people enjoying talking on the phone.. There is a tension or a fight or a deal or a miss.. This can’t happen. Technology is respected when its put to positive use only. Fight in person and not on mobile. Sms positive things and settle scores when we meet. Even the bad and good news with little effort can be said in person. Let me at least have the wishful thinking.

Thanks sweeper lady for provoking me with so much of thinking.  And yes, we should all laugh like the telephone dhwani mentioned in that song from bharateeyudu.. inanimate can have such dhwani and why not us??? ha ha ha

PAID TO SMILE

                                            

                                             PAID TO SMILE

We have all heard and known the positive impact of a smile on our health. Some 60 odd muscles is said to be relaxing every time we smile. Hence it has to be understood that, our body is designed to be relaxed or else we invite illness or disease. So what stops us from doing what the body needs and can be done easily? The building of habit has to be inculcated by the active involvement of the mind. So the next question is what stops our mind from making this a habit? We condition our mind to do several things which are both negative and positive and mind acts on our training from what we learn and these are called our traits, mindsets, behaviour, attitude etc.  So we learn and acquire habits and make our mind reflect this. So, the key is what inputs we keep giving our mind? In other words, we consciously tell our mind not to smile, not to relax, and instead we ask our prime organ and entity to feel sad, depressed, tense, worry etc. It’s not anything or anybody that causes pain, but we ourselves are doing this damage and not anyone else. For all the pain or pleasure, tension or happiness, we are alone responsible for ourselves.

I remember a song composed by biddu, the music director for a movie called Star in which Kumar gaurav son of Rajendra kumar made a debut. The songs goes like this..  Teri zindagi mein yoo tho kabhi dard aayenge tho muskuraayeja.. It was wow for those times and it’s an amazing philosophy for any time. All it says is , only the smile can chase away the pain. I also recollect , the song “it’s gonna be easy now by Dan Seals , where he says, the problems will never go away and it only manifests in various forms as long as the mind is active. But we need to rationalize and tell ourselves that the earlier problem was worse or someone else is suffering more than us. Obviously i can’t feel deprived looking at film stars or big businessmen houses. I need to look at the push cart vendors, watchmen, servant maids and majority of the deprived sections and feel happy that i have at least a shelter to sleep and protect me from varying climates. Smile is all that is positive, it’s an acknowledgment, it’s the recognition, it’s the affirmation, it’s the symbol and it’s everything that makes our health and being very well and good.

All of us have read, thought, understood, and known the effects of smile and what it means to smile and how we can live on this medicine, this nectar of life and most importantly we all know it costs nothing. But some people are paid to smile and they have the toughest job. Have you ever looked at the watchman who opens the door in a restaurant? Have you ever seen several women working in so many hospitality industries? They are all paid to smile for 8 hours or more for their life time.. I feel this is the toughest job, as they need to keep aside all that is their own and keep smiling. Imagine, having to keep aside the cranky call from spouse, or ill health of dear one, or some financial issue and still smile several times as the job demands. They may not even be able to eat the good food that you ate, good flight you have had or a good party or time with someone. Or the deal that you struck or the agreement you signed. Some time it is not even the tip that you pay or the smile you don’t return.. Still they smile and most often it is the most genuine smile and if you are paying attention to the smile, will actually make you feel good. The next time, you walk into a hotel, or a flight or any place where someone welcomes you or bids goodbye with a smile, please look into their eyes and acknowledge. This act not only makes them feel that they are also humans but will get you small but treasured pleasure. Do this if you not already doing this consciously. More than telling anyone but i am telling myself now, even i knew before and been practising.

Once again the small people, the ordinary persons, the less ambitious make me learn and make me touch. It’s the open eyed open hearted life experiences that teach us and makes us happy. Being aware and being present in every moment and ability to smile all the time will heal, will help and will us healthy, wealthy and wise. And listen to the star song and dan seals song. Of course, there are several such times and quotes one can wish to listen and read but living and living simple is the key.. like the cliché goes.. it costs nothing to smile but instead can make you rich and enrich others lives.

GURUJI.. LIFE AND DEATH

                                        GURUJII.... LIFE AND DEATH...

Knowing is only a minute aspect of life and what happens and how one experiences life is very different from the knowledge of it, most of the times. Life springs huge amount of surprises and totally unexpected situations surface, giving all of us experiences which seem common, but will always be unique. Just like how the DNA determines the characters and traits unique to each human, even the pain and pleasure though seem known will hit each individual differently.

There was (unfortunate to put him in the past tense) a guruji whom i had met while i was working for FM in Nizamabad. The first thing that appeals to anyone about him is that, despite being blind there is so much of radiance in the face and his positive attitude and energetic talk would attract people to him. He was full of life and always talked positive and would be so subtle in everything he talked and did that, it would need an attentive and caring human to understand him. Something about what and how he said would encourage me and scores of other people. Be it about my cooking, my behaviour or just about anything. He would never crib or sulk that he became blind ( he was not born blind, making it more difficult to cope up)  nor did he ever talk or behave in a way that made anyone to sympathize with his state. He was fond of music and radio was his best friend and he would know all matters of the world more than what people know by surfing the net.

He had a tremendous discipline in food matters, sleep patterns, exercise, body fitness and never gave any chance or reason to skip any of these. His memory was something that would bewilder anyone who knew him. He was rational and would never be particularistic about anything that would cause any harm or inconvenience to anyone. He kept losing everything but would never lose the self. He would always wish well for all and kept cool even if people ignored him. His unconditional love was most apparently experienced by all. There are quite a few things that i learnt from him, most of all is the ability to be strong and composed irrespective of what the situation is.

I could not take his call few weeks ago and did not call him back. Today i feel very guilty. It is a strong lesson that we should never postpone to call someone or visit someone if we feel like. The last Sunday, 4^th Dec 2011, my mom suddenly asked me how was he? I said i need to call him and as usual i did not call him. The next day morning at around 10.30 am, one of his disciples called me and informed me of his death. I did not know how to react. The people who were with him and spoke to him on Sunday kept saying that, Guruji expressed that he is getting a call from heavens and that he is going to go. He actually said the same few minutes before he passed away and asked his son not to worry after his death. When i was just trying to assimilate this information, i was in the office and i had to face nearly 4 different situations and respond and be there mentally. I wanted to go to Nizamabad and i was reluctant to postpone the Monday evening meeting. By the time i made up my mind in next hour and dispensed matters and people, i knew i will be late for the last rites ritual as i would not be able to reach on time. So i did not go to attend his last rites.

Life is very ironical. Death is inevitable and yes i was in office and no one could connect ( understandably) the importance of this guruji in my life and i was expected may be to be normal and continue the work as obviously they were time sensitive and had to be done. I feel guilty and i also justify for not starting on an impulse as guruji’s rationality would not allow me to suddenly jump and start going there. But its all so strange. When we know the person is alive and we do not meet or contact , we are fine with that and suddenly when we realize that , this person is no more and he cannot be contacted,  is a very vague and difficult feeling to digest and suddenly we feel the loss. Is this all human life all about that death takes away everything in a jiffy? When this is inevitable why is all the negative emotions and feelings dominate us most of the times.. Inevitability of death should all keep us guarded of all that is negative. But it hits us only when someone dear passes away and lesson learnt won’t last long.

Guruji would chase people like me on phone to talk, never gave up and would try to be in touch, shower love and blessings and all unconditionally. I did not bother about him as much as he did about me. This guilt is going to be there all my life. But i will convert the guilt into learning and not commit the same mistake. Will be in touch with all the people i know irrespective of the past, as life is so short and we take nothing from this life except leave so much good like guruji. I miss you a lot Guruji alias Ramachandrananda.

Life never ceases to teach and we should only be ready to learn every minute and move on.