...After the Break!!

The packrats are moving(MA to GA)!! Will get back to regular blogging after we get settled in the new place.

So as not to dissappoint those of you who look forward(!!) to my Friday melody but at the same time me fighting time constraint, I am listing one song.

Vellai pookkal - Kannathil Muthamittal

Wish you all a happy, promising and more peaceful new year 2006!

Friday Melody - Devan!

Did anyone guess 'devan' this week? Anyway, from the listings you could also say it is 'Raga devan' special!!


Devanin kovil - Aruvadai naal
One of the many sweet songs of 'chinna kuyil' Chitra. It just pleases the ears!

Devan thandha veenai - Unnai naan sandhithen
Another lovely melody by IR with Janaki and Jayachandran melting us. Takes you back in time, eh?

Devan Kovil - Naan paadum paadal
Another of 'Mike' Mohan's mike song. The beginning of this song sounds similar to the previous 'Devan thandha veenai' song. Same raaga?

Tis' the time of the year!

Come December and everyone, everything gets into the festive spirit here.

I think, most work places have some fun events organised during this time. At my husband's office, they play 'Secret Santa' and 'Yankee Swap' every year. Somehow adults playing games like kids seemed odd to me in the beginning. But then, the enthusiasm and excitement that these people show to participate in these just amazed me.

For Secret Santa, among the participants, for every person another person is (secretly) chosen as his/her Santa and the week following Christmas, the Santas should surprise their 'kids'. Some artistic Santas would decorate the cubicles with lights, flowers, Christmas trees, wreaths etc. Some would just leave some candies/chocolates every day(like my hubby, gulping some in the process!)! Once, a Santa had gift wrapped every item(even the trash can!) in his "kid's" cubicle!!! During the Christmas party, every person's Santa is revealed and exchanges gifts.

Yankee Swap is even more fun with the gift that we want being grabbed by person after person! The person who picks #1 is the luckiest and #2 the unluckiest! We always used to end up with funny gifts. One year, a person had kept fake lottery (scratch) tickets as gift and the person who got it thought she won, started crying with joy and ended crying minus the joy!!

Friday Melody - Rajni!

Unbelievable?!! 'Chennai-leye mazhai kotto-kottunnu kottudhu, idhellam enna periya, ille'!! I have always been an extremely biased Kamal fan. So biased that I would not even watch a Rajni movie on TV and worse, wouldn't let my family watch it either(another reason for them to be glad about when I left home after marriage!)! The spell was broken by 'Baba'!! Just curious to know what was(or wasn't) in it that even his fans couldn't stand!!

Anyway, 'Bias-less' Balaji was upset about my last week's Friday melody! For quite sometime, I had been wondering (in 'Dhuruvan style') if I should include one Rajni song along with Bharathiar special or surprise everyone with a Rajni spl.! So, here goes to all you Rajni fans, especially my 'F, P& _G' Sadashiv and BB!!

Ramanin mohanam - Netri Kann

Thazham poove - Kai Kodukkum Kai

Iru vizhin vazhiye - Siva

Konji konji - Veera

Vidhiya? Sadhiya?

She was a widow with two children, both of them girls. Her husband had died in an accident and she got her husband's job on compassionate grounds. So, food, shelter, clothing, education and other basic needs were taken care of. The major problem was their health condition. All three often had epileptic seizures. One of them would be hospitalised almost every month. But inspite of all this, they were always positive about the future. They would never complain, blame anyone, even raise their voice. Both the girls had artistic inclination excelling in Kolam(rangoli), sketches, hand work etc. They even did graduation through distant learning programs.

Like all mothers, She too wanted her daughters to be happily married. Everyone in the family were overjoyed when they found a groom from a good family. She did not hide her daughter's medical problems and the groom's family seemed understanding. They did not demand much, not even a grand wedding! She was extremely relieved to have done half her duties now that the eldest daughter was married. Everyone else in the family too felt happy for her. But 'man proposes, God disposes'! She was shattered when her eldest daughter came back home complaining of terrible abuses! More shocking was the news of the groom's mental condition. He was normal most of the times but suffered from violent mood swings at times. Now the groom's family accepted that the groom had mental problems and had been advised that he would be cured after marriage!!!

The Elders in the family talked and decided that the groom would seek medical help and on getting cured would be reunited with his wife. The daughter was adamant about not going back to him but nobody listened. Amidst all these distressing events, She got one of those epileptic attacks which had been on bay for sometime. Again, back to the days of hospitals, medicines etc. Then came the devastating news of her elder daughter's suicide!

This is not fiction. This is a glimpse of the life of a relative of mine. Today is her daughter's 3rd death anniversary. I am a compassionate person but not a strong person. Even when I met her a few years back, all I could do was shed tears. Helplessness is a horrible feeling!

Friday Melody - Bharathiyaar II

December 11th, 2005 is Mahakavi Bharathiar's 123rd birth anniversary. So, I take this opportunity to share another installment of his gems. Today's special features some of his 'Kannamma' songs.

Kaatru velli idai - Kappalotiya Thamizhan

Veenai adi - Ezhavadhu Manidhan

Ninnaiye - Kanne Kaniyamudhe

I have to thank the cinema medium for attractively packaging the works of Bharathi to people like me. Even though I got to learn his poems in School, singing 'Thayin mani kodi paareer...' or 'Om Shakthi om shakthi om' didn't exactly excite me the way the 'kaakai chiraginile' or 'Theertha karaiyinile' in movies did. Anyway, today I enjoy his songs in any style. A few years back, I had asked a friend to record all Bharathiar's songs featured in movies. Since that criteria did not fill the entire cassette, either my friend or the cassette store fellow included some carnatic ones too. Thanks to her or him. Today, it has become an obsession with me to collect Bharathiar songs sung by different singers.

Check out my Earlier special on Bharathi.

Dus, Nau, Aat....(sing in 'Ek, Do, Theen' tune!)!

Like from time to time, Florida sends its weather system to us in the North East, my fellow Floridian blogger friends send me Tag showers! This time it is from TMDB, Raju!!

10 favorites:
Favorite Season: Chennai Winter!
Favorite Sport : Odi pidichu (Tag, is it not in English?)
Favorite Time: Morning
Favorite Month: June
Favorite Actor: Kamalhaasan
Favorite Actress: Revathy
Favorite Icecream: Brownie Earthquake
Favorite Food: Masaal Dosai
Favorite Drink: Flavoured Milk
Favorite Place: Home

9 currents:
Current Feeling: Relief (Prev Post)
Current O/S: Windows XP
Current Windows open: Outlook Express
Current Drink: none
Current Time: 3:20 PM
Current Mobile(s) used: Motorola
Current show on TV: Barney!
Current Thought: What to cook for dinner?
Current Cloth: Fleece

8 Firsts:
First nick: Appu
First kiss: Got or gave?
First crush: Blackie!
First computer: 8088!
First vehicle I drove: BSA SLR!
First job: Trainee
First movie I watched on Pulse Global's Print: ???
First pet: My daughter!
First shave (men)/Hairstyle (women): At age 7

7 lasts:
Last chai (tea): Celestial seasoning's Chai
Last movie: Majaa
Last time I drove: Tuesday
Last time shaved (men) / Beauty parlor visit (women): last year!
Last website visited: bbcnews.com
Last software installed: not my dept. now!
Last pill I had: can't remember!

6 Have you evers:
Have you ever broken the law: Yes
Have you ever been drunk: No
Have you ever climbed a tree: No
Have you ever kissed someone you didnt know: No
Have You Ever Been in the Middle/Close to Gunfire or Bomb Blast: No
Have you ever broken anyone's heart: hopefully!(how many broke mine!)

5 Things:
Things you can hear right now: water dripping(got to shut it!)
Things on your computer table: too many to list!
Things on your bed: pillows, comforters
Things you ate today: Rice, Rasam, Curd
Things in mind: same as above!

4 places you have been today:
Only Home

3 people you can tell anything to:
Amma
Hubby
Sadran

2 choices
Black or white: Black
Hot or cold: Cold

1 thing you want to do before you die:
Already covered in Rainbow Tag

Ajamila

Recently, I read an old issue of 'Anandha Vikatan' where there was an article by Gnani about Lal Bahadur Shastri and the simple life he lived even after he became the Prime Minister of India. Today's polititians might laugh at him saying 'pozhaikka theriyadhavaru pa!'
This reminded me of the story of Ajamila - 'a fallen brahman who was saved from hell by unintentionally chanting the Lord's name at the time of death'. Guess, today's man-kind have learnt that like 'Ajamila', they can engage in wrong-doings all their life and at the end cry out to someone to save them or perform 'parikaram'.

Friday Melody - Sangeetham

It is December and in Chennai, after(hopefully!) all the monsoon mazhai, it is Sangeetha mazhai season. So, this Friday, it is all 'sangeetha' songs.

Sangeetha swarangal - Azhagan
Music by Maragadha Mani. If I remember right, he went by different names in each language. I loved his music. Pity, he did not make it big in any of the language!

Sangeedha megam - Udhaya Geetham
One of 'Mike' Mohan's movies and a good thriller(in those days!) too.

Sangeetha jaathimullai - Kadhal Oviyam
One of the many movies with excellent songs for listening (only! Can neither watch "Kann"an's expressions or Radha's so called dance!).