Friday Melody - 'Chinnanchiru'

Chinnanchiriya vanna paravai - Kungumam
I somehow used to hate this song whenever it came on radio or in 'Oliyum oliyum' in those good, old DD days. Sounds good to me now! Enjoy this Sivaji classic.

Chinnanchiru vayadhil - Meendum Kokila
Sweet song, simple picturisation and featuring one of my favourite pairs!

Chinnanchiru kiliye - Kannukkul nilavu
Just added this song for those who would find the earlier songs too old. Fits my keyword and sounds melodious!

Chinnanchiru kiliye - Manamagal
"Enga veettu chinnanchiru kili" is celebrating her birthday next week and this is one of her favourite songs. Though there are so many versions of this classic in movies, I love this one from the old movie, Manamagal featuring the beautiful young Padmini.

Keerthi & I discussed in my previous Bharathi song post about how this song could very well come under Kannamma, the lover/wife more than Kannamma, the daughter. Any thoughts, clarifications welcome.

Baaa...nks!

Banks have always been a scary place to me, with so many counters(cages, actually), so many coloured slips and perennially irritated people, both inside and outside the counters! Added to it, are all those technical terms which most of the times won't make sense to me. One of the many embarrassing incidents was when my ears failed me to rightly hear the often said 'panam draw pannanam' and I once told a friend that my parents have gone to the bank to 'drop money' and she laughed till her belly ached!

When I turned a 'major', my father announced that I had begun to reap the benefits of the seeds(or units!) sowed in Unit trust of India. I had got a cheque for some 150 Rs. in my name. He said it was my money and I could do anything with it. "Hooray!", I cried and thanked my Dad hoping he was going to hand me the cash. Instead he said that I could cash it (only) in a bank(oh, not again!). Since I did not have a regular bank account, he said that this was a great opportunity to open one. On enquiry we found that most banks needed a minimum balance of Rs. 500!! Anyway, after finding a bank which considered poor people like me, I went along with 'kodi veetu' mama (who had influence there!) one early morning. After a few hours(b'cos of influence, mind you!) of uncomfortable wait with many 'sidu sidu' looks and producing numerous documents, I atlast got to open an account.

After quite a while, I went to withdraw the money. First of all, bad timing, cos' it was the beginning of the month and there was a huge crowd. With difficulty, I found the withdrawal slip and shaking and shivering, filled it up, stood in the queue to deposit the slip and waited for the "token no. xxx" call. Having done so much successfully, I was quite proud and patting myself when suddenly I heard someone screaming 'Aparna, Aparna'. For a minute I thought it must be somebody else but Nooooooooo!!! I ran to that person who was yelling 'yarunga adhu withdrawal slip pinnale sign panname, Che!' The whole crowd was looking at me! Boo-hooo!!!

Then there was this time when I went to the bank to send a Demand draft to my friend. This was my first time dealing with a DD and I, once again, shaking and shivering, entered the bank, found the form, filled, stood in line and handed over the form. After this, I was not sure if my task was over or not. I was debating if I should sit down for a while or just walk away. I was walking towards the exit wondering how my DD was going to reach my friend when asusual I heard the bank employee yelling from behind "your DD, your DD"!

Friday Melody - 'Kaalam'

Fall(autumn) season has started 'officially' since Wednesday. The above picture was taken during the pre-digital camera days at Flume Gorge in New Hampshire. Fall is beautiful(some consolation to endure the long winter) in the Northeast. So, come visit us!

Kaala kaala - Punnagai Mannan
It was those days when only Kamal did any dancing (and so gracefully!) on the screen. I remember how my Anti-Kamal friends used to say things like 'pombala maadiri dance-llam aadararu!'(though the same friends boast about their heroes now as 'ennama dance aadaraaru!!!'). Anyway, wonderful music, great choreography, superbly supported by the talented Revathy. How I wished at that time that I could learn dance from 'Sethu master'!!

Kaalangalil - Paava Manippu
One of the evergreen songs of yesteryear Tamil movies. Superb lyrics of 'Kavingar' Kannadaasan, velvet voice of PBS and enacted by the great pair, 'Gemini' Ganesan and Savithri.

Kaalamidhu - Chithi
A beautiful, moving lullaby song sung by Padmini(in the movie) to her daughter. My mother was always lenient with us when it came to sleep. She will always quote this song when others chided her for pampering us! I dedicate this song to my mother who celebrated her birthday a few days back.

Toronto (contd)

Just one more left from my travel diary, the African Lion Safari in Hamilton, about an hour's drive from Toronto. Since there were a lot of pictures, I thought I'd make it a separate post.

What a great idea to cage humans in their vehicles to see the freely roaming animals [There is one such safari near Bangalore too, isn't it?]! The sight of 'singa raja' Lion or Cheetah did not excite my daughter. But the minute we entered the baboon land, it was electrifying! And then, there were zebras, ostriches, deer, rhinos, giraffes etc all roaming around, occasionally coming and peeping at the vehicles. There are a lot of things to see and do here like train/boat rides, water parks, shows featuring Birds of prey / Elephants. One day is not enough to cover all.

Elephant show

King of the Jungle Rhino

Zebra and a beautiful strange bird giving a fine pose!

Baboon Land!!

Giraffe giving a close-up

Bulls

P.S. - Forgot to mention about the various crazy records that people have created climbing the CN Tower.

Trip to Toronto

The trip, for the most part was to meet friends. So, I list down the few interesting spots we visited!

Hotel Saravana Bhavan - HSB is a 2 min. walk from our friend's house. Needless to say, it was our first outing. We enjoyed a wonderful brunch buffet with Kesari, Pongal, Kichadi, Masala dosai, mini idlis, vadai etc.

Richmond Hill Temple - The temple is the 'largest of its kind in North America' and has the 'tallest Muruga idol in the world'. A big 'ther'(Chariot) welcomes the visitors at the entrance.

Lakefront Promenade Park - One of the lakeside parks in Mississauga. When I say 'lakeside', it is the gigantic Lake Ontario that borders this side of Canada. These Lakes are aptly called the 'great lakes' for they look like an Ocean! A little jealous that this North Americans are blessed with so much fresh water! A great place for water sports lovers . Saw a faint skyline of Toronto from here.

Hippo Bus tour - Went Toronto sight-seeing in this funny looking bus. It is an amphibious vehicle which goes on land and water. The bus went through the narrow Toronto downtown streets packed with people, with the tour guide rushing with the details of the various landmarks. The last 20 minutes was a cruise on the Lake. A considerable portion of Toronto stands on man-made land(the construction waste pushed onto the lake seems to have made a good base for the new developments that includes the CN Tower!)

CN Tower - Every city with a tower like this boasts of having the tallest tower in the world. IMO, it was similar to the Sears tower in Chicago with views of the city, lake etc. One unique feature(I don't know if other towers in other countries has this) here is the glass floor through which you can see the ground below directly(dizzying!! I did not have the courage to set my foot on it even though the glass floor is said to be stronger than the surrounding concrete!). A small airport along the lakeside made a beautiful sight from the tower.

Friday Melody - "Kanmani"

Kanmani anbodu - Guna

Kanmani nee vara - Thendrale Ennai Thodu

Kanmaniye - 6-il irundhu 60 varai

Rainbow Taggu...(bgm: Anniyan 'Remo, remo')

'Me too' tagged by Deepak Giant. Initially, I struggled to find seven things to fill in but now I have seventy things to write down!

Seven things I plan to do before I die:

1. follow 'take it easy' policy
2. find the person who started/created this Tag(empa yosikka vekkareenga!)
3. be a "Naadha/Vasuki(Mrs. Thiruvalluvar) style wife" to my hubby
4. decide on either theism or athiesm
5. learn knitting and make atleast one sweater
6. straighten my teeth
7. make a difference/be a positive influence to atleast one person
on this earth

Seven things that I can do:

1. eat sweets anytime
2. be a reliable, life-long friend
3. appreciate/enjoy art
4. write in a neat hand
5. draw/sketch
6. get emotional easily
7. window shop


Seven things that I can't do:

1. not make plans/schedules/routines(even for others!) in my head
2. forget Family/Friends' special(b'day, anniversary) days
3. make quick decisions
4. write poems
5. pretend(even for fun)
6. forgive/forget
7. stand hypocrisy

Seven things that attracts me to the opposite sex:
1. Simplicity
2. Knowledge
3. Patience
4. Non-temperamental
5. fun-loving
6. Affectionate
7. Understanding

Seven things I say the most:

1. Chellam!
2. Oh, God! or 'Kadavule'
3. Amma... Raamaa...
4. Not bad
5. Semma!
6. ille?
7. I don't know!!


Seven celebrities I want to meet:

1. Ayn Rand /Audrey Hepburn
2. Gorbachev
3. P Chidambaram
4. Thenkachi Swaminathan
5. 'Annathe' Kamal / Tom Hanks / Aamir Khan
6. Nagesh Kukunoor
7. Marie of 'Everybody loves Raymond'(the rest of the cast too!)

Seven people who have to take this quiz:

Anybody not tagged yet, please free to carry on the chain.
mmm... tag Rajni?!! Heard he is doing 7 roles in his next movie!!

Friday Music - Bharathiyaar Paadalgal I

September 11th is Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi's 84th death anniversary. His works greatly influenced my love for tamil language & poetry. He remains immortal through his works.

Ethanai kodi inbam Mahanadhi Shobana

Ninnai charanadaindhen Bombay Jayashree

Kaani nilam vendum Unni Krishnan

Nirpadhuvey Harish Raghavendra

I will post more of his songs (categorised) in the coming days/months.

Back to routine!

I am back from Vacation. The title actually means still trying to get back to routine! I have so many posts ready in my head but have some minor challenges ahead of me in the next couple of days. Will try to resume from Friday.

Happy Ganesh Chathurthi!



Jai dev arathi

'Mangal bappa mourya'!