A timid and yet shameless sense of pride

Today, while I was uploading some music that I got hold of and wanted to share with the rest of the world, noticed the statistics on the previous music files I have uploaded. They were downloaded thousands of times and thousands of people who downloaded have also voted on those songs.

I know that those are not my creations, I was simply sharing some songs which were quite rare to get, still there was this tiny sense of pleasure to see that so many people have actually devoured them.

Carnatic Fusion - Mystic Waves

You know, sometimes you get things EXACTLY the way you asked for and immediately too - like as if your prayers were answered. Thats how I would put this - I was telling my colleague one day about how I felt like listening to some Carnatic music fused with some techno beats and percussions. He said - "I have a huge collection right now, do you want it?".

Wow! That was fast.

Anyways, for people with similar interests and for those who do not have this already, I took the time to upload them in cooltoad while watching back to back episodes of Seinfeld.

Mystic Waves - A carnatic fusion performed by various artists. My personal pick would be the Jaga Janani and BrOva BhAramA.

01 - Saraswathi Namosthute
02 - Sudhamayi
03 - Karunai Deivame
04 - Srinivasa
05 - Brova Bharama
06 - Bantureethi Kolu
07 - Maravairi Ramani
08 - Kaliyuga Varadhan
09 - Jaga Janani

Poonkatru Pudhidhanathu - Moondram Pirai

Last week one of my beloved reminded me of Moondram Pirai songs. Unfortunately I was not carrying those songs in my mobile or hard disk. I was left stranded with the song just running in my mind. I desperately wanted to listen to Poonkatru Pudhidhanathu from that classic movie - One of Raja Sir's infinite gem of a creation.

With most sites blocked at my office, I was pounding the net through my mobile and found a few links. I clicked on one of them and waited impatiently for the 3 minutes it took to download and played it only to realize that it was a karaoke version and was sung by some not so gifted yet quite so audacious, Yesudas sir 'wannabe'.

After listening to him the craving to listen to Yesudas sir's actual voice only exponentially increased in me. Its too difficult not to yield to such temptations. I strode to the internet kiosk and pulled the song from cooltoad and plugged the music into me and allowed myself to be hit by waves and waves of goose bumps...

தமிழ் blogging

எனக்கு தமிழ் நல்லா பேச வரும். ரொம்ப வேகமா இல்லாட்டாலும், ஓரளவுக்கு படிக்கவும் தெரியும். ஆனா எழுதறதுதான் கொஞ்சம்.... இல்ல ரொம்பவே கஷ்டம். Especially இந்த 'na', 'la' use பன்னனும்கரதுல எல்லாம் பயங்கர doubt. Thanks to Google, இந்த மாதிரி transliteration பண்ண முடியறது, helping people like me.

Still, என்னோட உயிர் தோழி help பண்றேன்னு சொல்லியிருக்கா, to atleast proof read.நான் இப்போ அவளைத்தான் ரொம்ப நம்பியிருக்கேன்
 
அந்த நம்பிக்கைல நானும் இப்போ தமிழ்ல கிறுக்க ஆரம்பிக்க போறேன். அங்க அங்க english use பண்ணுவேன். வேற வழி இல்ல. After all இந்த blog எல்லாமே நம்ம நேர்ல ஒருத்தர பாத்து பேசறது போல தான் இருக்கணும்கறது என்னோட எண்ணம். Besides, there is one more reason. 
நான் தமிழ் படிக்க கத்துண்டதே saloon போகும்போதெல்லாம், அங்க இருக்குற பத்திரிகைகளை படிச்சிதான்.

அதுல எனக்கு படிக்க ரொம்பவே கஷ்டமா இருந்தது எதெல்லாம்னா இந்த English words அ தமிழ்ல எழுதியிருப்பாங்களே, அதுதான்.

போட்டு கொலை பண்ணியிருப்பாங்க. நானும் அத எழுத்து கூட்டி படிச்சி புரிஞ்சிக்கறதுக்குள்ள 2 பேரு cutting and shaving முடிச்சிண்டு போயிடுவாங்க.

So, என்னோட இந்த blog ல அந்த கஷ்டத்த நான் கொடுக்க மாட்டேன்.
நிறைய எழுதனும்னு ஆசை படறேன்... பாக்கலாம்.

Cricket Craze

While at work today, I stopped by a colleague’s desk to discuss something as I noticed that he hurriedly minimized a cricket live score website after seeing me. It reminded me of how crazily I used to follow cricket once.

I used to follow cricket so much that I used to keep statistics of batsmen’s strike rates, bowler’s economy and each team’s wins/losses etc. Again, as mentioned, I USED TO. Not now; not for the past 4 or 5 years. I simply lost track of it, partly because of work and travel making cricket inaccessible, but mostly due to my sudden drain of interest for the sport. I honestly tried to watch as much cricket as I could, but I preferred playing some games or watching movies over it.

My ignorance and unawareness is so severe now that I don’t know what ‘Power Play’ is; don’t even know the names of most of the players; needless to say that I can’t even tell which country one plays for, especially with all this league teams hiring players from all over.It is a shame for me to let my sister educate me on these things.

But then I somehow happen to have the time to type and post this blog, yet, I just don’t want to google ‘Power Play’ and read about it. Clearly, that is just as much I care about it.

I remember from my school days (when I was a crazy cricket fan) on one episode of Kaun Banega Crorepathi, there was this opening question posted at the contestant. Mind you, the opening questions would be that simple that answering it wrong would be tougher than wrestling a bear down all by yourself.

If I remember right, the question was ‘Who is the current opening batsmen of Australia who opens the innings with Adam Gilchrist?’ or something of that sorts. The options were laid out in front of him which included a couple of retired cricketers in the list .

No one watching the program got excited until the time we saw the contestant not having the slightest clue about the answer. The contestant had to use one of his lifelines to get past that question.

I clearly remember cursing him and scoffing at his ignorance. Ironically, now I am in an even more pathetic condition myself, with my knowledge of current cricket affairs.
What goes around comes around…

Work and the Tea Shop...

Nowadays we have started visiting the tea shop near our office more frequently, almost 5 times a day. I wonder why… probably because our team management shifted to some new guys; probably we became complacent; or probably we just got too tired; probably all the above.

It is that phase of a project where you think you have done it all and you expect something in return besides just getting your salary paid. I personally have been given high ratings in my appraisals and have been promised a lot of special skill bonuses, so I would not crib too much.

But then, work has slowed down tremendously or that is the way I feel. The bunch of people managing our team are more focused on just taking control over things, thereby not giving us the freedom on our work and that rapidly decelerates the progress. I am sure this phase would not last for long. Things will improve… and the guy who runs the tea shop will quickly realize that when it happens.

Lesser Mortals

A couple weeks ago, as I entered my home on a Sunday evening returning from yet another weekend at office, I saw this program on TV. It was some event where A.R. Rahman had just performed. Singer S.P.Balasubramaniam was standing beside Rahman and was ushering him with blessings. It was so nice to see a genius like SPB being so humble and all. It was an all nice moment when suddenly, standing to the left of SPB, actress Suhasini spoilt the aura... She started her usual banter of how Rahman does not know the meaning of Ego, Arrogance or Pride etc.. all in her usual tone of sarcasm.


It was not just me, but I am sure a lot of other people would have frowned at this inappropriate lashing at you know who. Some lesser mortals never know how to keep their tongue behind their teeth...