One more reason for being happy!

Click here for the news item and video. (Somehow CNN-IBN videos no longer work if embedded. Anyone of you have the same problem?)


Among people I know, Ambi, Subbudu write in Tamizh and going by the number of comments they receive, they could well be in the 4000!

Three cheers to Ambi and Subbudu!!

I'm Happy!!

Today I got to do what I really wanted to do from August 10th, 2005 (my first day in US) - to go for a jog early in the morning - I did get some extraneous help though!

LKS

Sunset Photography

I really like photographs taken in sunset twilight. I have posted a few of my pictures (with and without me in them).

Clearwater Sunset Pics
I like this photo a lot, for once I have a good smile in a photo, but thanks to my complexion, I appear as like a commando soldier with war paint all over.

I know the second one looks funny - I was looking at the sun only!

These pictures are courtesy Srinath, who uses a Canon Powershot SD400.

San Diego Sunset Pics:

This picture and the one below were taken at Sunset Cliff, San Diego (I thin that's what I remember it as). The sunset here was gorgeous except for the fact that for a guy who is Floridian, it gets cold suddenly near twilight.

Taken using my Camera, Canon Powershot SD600. All the pictures which follow are also taken using the same camera.

Sunset under the Golden Gate Bridge, SFO

The ferry service around the bridge and the Alcatraz prison is a treat for any traveller going to SFO Bay Area. The Sun creates awesome patterns when viewed from certain positions with the bridge in between as it is evident in the pic above.



The sun sets on SFO (arguably, the last of the populated city to have a sunset, excluding places like Hawaii and Alaska). Again this was shot from the ferry ride.

Sunset at Hollywood

This is the mountain with the letters H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D and nobody knows the significance. Thanks to a local desi travel guide we got to the most closest point near this sign.

This photo is the scene on the side opposite to the HOLLYWOOD sign. The color play is absolutely stunning.

Sunset in Tampa:

The place which is the closest in terms of weather to Chennai, Tampa is perennially hot.



A picture snapped near a construction site - the sight in reality was really breathtaking.

Sun on my face, this photo isn't a favorite but just to complete this blogpost with a photo with me in it! ;-)

Disclaimer: I know my photography skills are very limited. This post was to share a few sunsets which I really enjoyed and wanted you guys to know it too - my stills might have captured only 10% of the actual sight. So if you are a fellow Sunset-viewer, put Clearwater,FL/SFO/LA/SD on your travel plans! :)

That was a good one

I feel that carnatic music is fast becoming a fading art form and the primary reason for that has been the inability of carnatic music to appeal to the common man. To appreciate a carnatic music concert, you necessarily need to know a few basic things, which makes it less appealing to many. It is for this reason that I like A.R. Rahman and Ilayaraja, who have popularized Raagas and they have, on multiple occasions, acknowledged the versatility of carnatic music.

Popular carnatic raagams in cinema music are kalyani, mohanam, reethigowlai and perhaps a few hundred others. Very good adaptations which have bowled over the common people are:

1. Reethigowlai Raagam - Azhagaana Ratchasiye from Mudhalvan, Kadhal Neruppu from Veyyil, Sudum Nilavu from Thambi and Chinna Kannan Azhaikiran from Kavikuyil ( a really old movie)

2. Abheri - Kannodu Kanbathellam from jeans.

3. Sahana -Azhage Sugama from Parthale Paravasam

4. Sri Raagam - Theendai from En Swasa Katre ( a very tough raaga adapted brilliantly)

5. Revathi - Kaaka song from Naan Avan Illai (Thanks to a knowledgable friend of mine who told me this)

6. Yaman Kalyani - Varaagha Nadhikarai Oram from Sangamam

7. Mohanam - Paakadhey Paakadhey in Gentleman

8. Naatakurinji - Kannampoochi yenada from Kandukondein Kandukondein (it has some traces of Sahana in some places in between)

9. Ananda Bairavi - Mettu Podu from Duet

10. Sindu Bharaivi - Enge Enadhu Kavidhai from Kandukondein Kandukondein.

This list is just an arbitrary one. If you want to know more, click here. (Thanks to Hawkeye)

Now coming to my main theme, I always felt that carnatic music singers themselves did not do much to make it appealing to the common man. For all the carnatically-challenged souls like me, the raaga alapanais and other such intricacies are lost in the quest for Vadai and badam halwa being served outside.

In this scenario, I heard the Maadu Meikkum Kanne song in Youtube and was really felt that songs like these will definitely go a long way in helping common people get attracted to carnatic music. For all those who want to give it a try, I have added the esnips link (courtesy: Blogeswari).

Madu Meikum Aruna ...

If you really want to know how it could change the atmosphere in a concert, look at this video and the violin vidwan's bit too!




I loved this song and incidentally when I spoke to my carnatically - challenging sister, she told that this song was written for the younger lot - especially the 5 - 7 year olds who are learning music. Perhaps I have one strong claim to being young! :p

Hits the nail right on its head

I saw this article in Rediff.com. This article is seriously one of the better articles in the usually-nonsensical Rediff.

Click here to read.

After 'Abhiwarya', this might well be the most irritating media covered event/incident this year.

Good excerpts from the original:


Sanjay Dutt was born in 1959. That means he was well into his thirty-fourth year when he was arrested in 1993. A man that hasn't gained a modicum of common sense by that age is certainly not a man that can be trusted with any kind of firearms, leave alone an AK-56.

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Even imprisonment does not seem to have shoved a modicum of common sense into Sanjay Dutt's skull. In November 2000 the police allegedly taped him talking to the notorious Chhota Shakeel. The release of those tapes' transcripts proved too much even for Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray (who had stood by him when his father's Congress colleagues were dropping out of sight in 1993).

This conversation reputedly came within days of Sanjay Dutt receiving exemption from appearing in the special court for two months; at such a time he had no business talking to any suspect acquaintance, even if the conversation were confined to inanities about the weather.

The actor was subsequently asked to confirm whether he had indeed spoken to Chhota Shakeel on the night of November 14, 2000 as the tapes indicated. Sanjay Dutt then told Judge A P Bhangale that he could not remember anything much from that evening because of all the liquor that he had consumed. Full points for honesty perhaps, but after all this it is utter nonsense to claim that this man is any kind of a role model for youth.

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Actors are fond of flaunting their credentials as social activists. Perhaps the greatest social service that Sanjay Dutt could perform in his troubled life would be in ramming home the twin messages that actions have consequences and that nobody is above the law.