Jayalalithaa - A few thoughts

I came to know of Jayalalithaa through an election poster from 1996. Those were the days without extensive internet and TV coverage and election propaganda happened through posters and door to door campaigning. Our house had a poster too "Sudukaatu kottakayil surandum peigalai vidamaatten viratti adippen" it said and it had a funny image of two women with ghostly bodies . The one who wore her Saree in a super weird way was Jayalalithaa I was told . That election , people were not rooting for her. My entire street and household was rooting for the DMK + TMC combine as was Rajinikanth and as was I . I was happy when she lost horribly because my family and friends were happy. That was all I knew of her and politics and the political history of my state as a 9 year old.

Come 2001 , my opinions had changed. I was a left leaning teenager trying to understand the dravidian movement. In the 5 years that had gone by , I had seen most of her movies , had come to understand the political climate in the state and had developed a reluctant admiration for her when she played a masterstroke and engineered a no confidence motion against the ruling coalition party. During that April , all that the Tamil magazines would speak of is about the various VIPs who flew in from Delhi to meet Amma . She was the diva of the season and rightly so. 

I hated the her love for sycophancy and couldn't quite understand the mass hysteria exhibited by her followers when something eventful or unfavorable happened to her. But the one thing I clearly understood was that she had immense grit , self-confidence and courage. It was remarkable for a woman who was an actress by profession and an Iyengar by birth to lead a dravidian party in a chauvinistic landscape and command absolute obedience  from cadres. She was an example and a role model for an able administrator and absolute tyrant. She made me believe that gender , profession and cultural identity was not a barrier for anything or anyone you wanted to become and that immense self belief , determination and handwork was all that you needed. She also made me hate her for introducing wide spread corruption in the system and her "fall at my feet" brand of reward structure.

Thus in 2006 and 2011 , I voted for her , even when I did not agree with her policies or politics . To me she was a woman who was PM material and I wanted to do my little bit in helping her achieve that . She was corrupt , a fact I will not deny but she was also knowledgable and efficient as an administrator. She was also shrouded in mystery and thus was a super interesting subject to study. But  as a sum of parts , she was a woman who lived and died fighting , rising like the phoenix time and again proving that gender was never a handicap and it is this woman that I will miss.

Rest in peace Jayalalitha Jayaraman . I wish and pray for history to treat you kindly where life did not.

The joy in writing

Off late , I've somehow rediscovered an urge to write . I open my blog and stare at a blank web page as thoughts and topics rush through my head on to my fingers , yet I barely write a word. Such is the inertia that I close my macbook , will my mind to settle down and promise myself that I would write tomorrow and the process repeats yet again.

Nothing calms me down like music and I fiddle my iPod shuffling songs trying to find something which would calm my mind and let me write but no. My mind keeps intervening , jumping from thought to thought , mood to mood and word to word. I shift focus and play with my phone and the man of the house gets irritated as I flutter around the phone , remote , iPad and macbook. Yet I can't stay still . I want to settle down but the restlessness drives me crazy.

I think its because I have so many things to say , to write after a silence of a couple of years. The past two years have been wonderful and fast , like a rushing stream . I've gone through so many things , loss of friendships , finding love , playing house and settling down with a wonderfully lazy man , who   loves to sift through his thoughts and emotions one by one , who is an antithesis of me. He is grounded to my restless soul , calm and sober to my emotional self , mature and internalized to my gregarious , childlike external self.  I stop writing as thoughts leave me , looking beyond the window to the corn fields a stone's throw away from my home - the beautiful and bare fields indicating the midwest's harsh and unforgiving winters. I come back to my writing and the thoughts inside my head collide , leading off to a merry dance - waltz or tango , I don't know which. I pause to think but words fail me. I look at my post and see that words have started flowing. May be I've conquered my inertia and have blasted off that damn writers block to smithereens. May be I have not. But I vow to write , and write I will  - I just rediscovered the joy of writing beneath all the chaos and madness and I will never let go of it again !

Click ! Click ! Click !

Sometimes all you need to do is meet a person , to realize the fact that they are going to be a part of your life , changing it irrevocably for the good . People who believe in romance call it Love at First sight , others call it meeting your soulmate and some others just call it a click . I called it Stupidity , balderash and loads of other stuff and when the mood struck me - bull crap.

You see I didn't believe in relationships that were meant to be a few years ago - until I met this lovely person , for whom this post is intended to be a gift .

It was in 2005 that I first met her . I was at the auditorium of our college , waiting in line to participate in a series of competitions and she was volunteering for Shristi , the literary club. I was the nervous ickle firstie and she was the confident senior. In fact , the only thing that bound us together was our gender - never mind the fact that I looked and acted tomboyish .

Then we got talking and I discovered that we had quite a lot in common. As we shared a bus back to town that evening ,we talked about anything and everything under the sun and quite specifically on Movies , Maniratnam and Ponniyin selvan and just like that the boundaries and differences seemed to vanish , atleast from my side.

We kept bumping into eachother , on and off , sometimes for a chat by the corridor at other times for a chaat treat in the evenings . Life moved on and so did we . She moved to Chennai and from there on to B'Lore and I settled down in Coimbatore for the time being . We were in touch but not quite - friends on facebook but rarely in touch. Life kept interfering - She got married and I fell in love with life as a business analyst - and then Twitter happened .

It was cricket time - more specifically it was The World Cup and 2011 was India's turn to host the tournament. I had been on Twitter for quite some time and she was a famous twitterati .It was then the magic happened. I started tweeting about cricket and she started replying , and in between our mad conversations ranging from , Sreesanth's bird nest hairstyle , Sidhu's florid pink Turbans , Mother-in-laws and Monster crushes - I rediscovered the camaraderie , connection and click that people talk about.We exchanged numbers , started talking and met in person soon after that - and the years between seemed to vanish just like that.

She discovered that I was the same crazy tomboyish girl who wanted to marry vanthiyathevan and put down roots and I discovered that she was the same lovely  friend , who still had a huge crush on george clooney. A couple of months later , she became my best buddy - just like that and two years later she still continues to be that one person who can understand all my crazy ideas and can fathom my reasoning behind the same.
Are we in touch always ? No - But she is always in my thoughts and I am sure I am in hers. We may be living in different time zones , but she is the one person who comes to mind when I drink authentic filter coffee or when I chance upon a new shiny gadget or when I think about crazy conversations .

There could have been many things I could have gifted her on her birthday this year - a new gadget ( she may claim she's not a gadget freak , but inside her heart she is ) , a book ( she would have loved a good one ) , a nice bottle of wine (now she's rolling her eyes) or Rafael Nadal's phone number (Unfortunately , I don't have the means to get it ), but I wanted to do something different. I thought I can write a beautiful blog post about how she's made my life better - but then it turned out to be too less and too meager . Its not her fault though - cos if I start writing about how she's made my life better, I would not know where to start , there are too many things to write about and words too few to describe them.

So here it goes Sandhya - a short and rambling post about 'us'. Thanks for being such a lovely friend , philosopher and sometimes foe (Clooney!). Have a great birthday and party till the day gets over - Oh and before I leave , I call the Dibs (on you know who) !!!!!!

Keerthi's day out - The Boston Chronicles

What do you do when you have a four day weekend in a new country? Shop , Read , Mope Around and may be travel. I chose the last option and my oh my I've been paid back quite well. A close family friend offered to show me around Boston and I jumped at the chance with glee - who wouldn't for Boston is a city steeped in History - so much of it that one day has not been sufficient to see all the sights.

The day started bright and sunny - which was to me an indication of things to come. With that thought in mind and warm clothes on person , we started our day with a drive to Alewife station on a cute Honda Civic. The drive was very pleasant and so were the sights - so much so that I wanted to stop by and take a pics. That would have meant quite a delay and hence I let it pass and concentrated on what was to come.

Alewife station sounds like the name of a pub or an old English buttery . But in reality it is a train station where we caught the first of our many trains. It was also one of the many English sounding names that I've come across since I've travelled to the United States - Worcester , Devonshire et al a couple of other's I've come across - but that's the story for another blogpost and before I can digress , let me get back to destination one - Harvard Squire and yes this station is where you disembark if you want to check out one of the most prestigious institutions in the world and check it out we did. It was queer to find out that the university is open to public as a tourist spot but the feeling vanished as I stepped inside the gates. We roamed around taking a couple of snaps , seeing some sights like the library which used to be Gore hall , the war memorial and the founder's statue. We'd have seen more had our tummies not grumbled - but grumble they did and hence we rushed for lunch at this place called chutney's in JFK street.

 

 



 After a huge lunch and a very desi Masala Chai , we validated our options and took the train to Kendall - yet another puritan sounding station in the Boston area. From Kendall we took a brisk walk to the bank of River Charles  and we were greeted with a spectacular view of Boston's Skyline. The deep blue of the river , the towering buildings in the background and the cool wind blowing made us want to linger but walk on we did ( after a couple of photographs of course) to yet another university - this time the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

 

 

 If Harvard was about Old red brick buildings steeped in history , MIT was about the new world , the abstract sculptures and concrete structures bearing evidence to the fact. The Two institutions are on the opposite side of the spectrum going by how they look - but they share a common goal - growth of wisdom , a sentiment so lovingly engraved on one of the Harvard gates. It was with this feeling that I left MIT for Boston.

 

 

  

 

 

 

Boston for me would be synonymous with the American Independence movement. The city has borne witness to the birth of a great nation and is littered with monuments everywhere. It's a vibrant vibrant place , teeming with people all around , reminding one of Bombay or Delhi - cities which never sleep. We covered parts of the Boston Freedom Trail but it soon started becoming dark and we turned back after a cup of coffee- back to Hudson , taking a train to Alewife and the driving back to Hudson - back home to TV and dinner , carrying back memories worth a lifetime!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foot prints ...

Most people discover Rahman the music director first and fall in love with him , but being the contrary nerd that I am , I fell in love with Rahman the singer . Any Rahman fan worth his salt will have certain songs , which converted him from an enthusiast to a fan , and from a fan to a acolyte. For a vast majority , his soundtrack in Roja was the starting point and Chinna Chinna Aasai would be mentioned many a times. For many others , it would be Veera Pandi Kottayile or Tanha Tanha. But for me , it was his number ‘only you’.

I was all but five years when Roja released . Well not quite five and not quite six to be exact , and at that age , music just didn’t interest me. Did I listen to ARR’s songs – yes , but did I pay attention to it – no. After his phenomenal success with Roja , Rahman kept churning out hits and I kept climbing trees , and making a nuisance out of my tomboy self until the inevitable happened . On a rainy afternoon in September , in the year 1997 I finally discovered Rahman. My parents had purchased the audio cassettes of Vande Mataram and Gurus of peace the previous day and having nothing to do but to sit at home and enjoy the rain , I popped the tape recorder open and placed Vande Mataram inside and epiphany happened.

As ‘Only you’ started playing I fell in love – in love with a voice which seemed to convey the feel behind the lyrics , a voice which was so different from the norm those days – a voice which was raw yet mature. As days went past , I also discovered Rahman the composer , and came to love his compositions – but it was Rahman the singer , who reigned supreme with me. Fifteen years have gone past since , but Rahman the singer is still a hot favorite.

So here’s my tribute to AR Rahman completing 20 years as a composer – a compilation of some of my favorites – sung by the master himself!

1. Chinna Chinna Aasai : This song of Rahman has a lot many things going for it. Lovely orchestration , beautiful singing by Minmini , and wonderful scenery from my beloved Tirunelveli. But the zenith of the song is that yelelo humming by our maestro. Every single time I listen to the humming , I can visualize the beauty of a lone boatman navigating a serene river and you feel as if nature is singing a beautiful lullaby.

2.Columbus : Not many Rahman fans like this song and I’m not sure why. The typical weekend song , that I listen to, on most Fridays when I travel back home , Columbus has nothing spectacular going for it unlike some songs of the master , but the lyric and the honesty in ARR’s voice is commendable. Not a great song , but a favorite nevertheless.

3. Only You : I’ve talked a lot about this song at this post , but braving the risk of sounding repetitive I am going to talk about it again. This in my opinion was the best song from Vande Mataram. Lovely lyrics , super singing accompanied by kick ass percussion. I don’t know if people see their motherland as a lover , but the lyricist of this song certainly did and Rahman through his brilliant singing conveys the emotions so beautifully.

4. Dil se : What can I say about this song except for the fact that its magnificent. Rahman excels again as a composer and as a singer leaves you spellbound with his vocal range. He proved that he was a consummate singer and added another feather to his singing cap. I was in class seven when the music release and was hooked to this song the moment I heard this – I am still hooked , fourteen years later.

5.Piya Haji Ali – Fiza was a good film and I ended up seeing it in theaters due to the Haji Ali song composed by Rahman. I didn’t understand much about Sufi music then , but this song in its serene glory impressed me pretty heavily . ARR entered into the Sufi realm of which he is a master now , with a quiet bang. Another gem in the master’s crown.

6.Vellai Pookal : Vellai Pookal to me is an ode to peace. a lovely melody which Maniratnam had cleverly used as a prologue before jumping into the core story where we are introduced to Amutha. This one is a must listen for the superb lyrics written by Vairamuthu and superb singing.

7. Lukka Chuppi – Every single time I listen to Lukka Chuppi I end up crying . Lata mangeshkar in magnificent form supported by ARR conveys a mother’s emotions so beautifully. One of the most underrated songs by ARR and the best song of the album IMO.

8. New York Nagaram : Rahman was not very frequent in the Tamil scene starting 2000s and by 2006 the top spot in the Tamil Music Industry was seemingly up for grabs , until ARR came back with this gorgeous beauty. Sillunu Oru Kadhal was not a great album by Rahman standards but new york nagaram stands out even today for that splendid tune and wonderful singing.

9. Tere Bina – Tere Bina is what I’d call a semi qawwali . The entire song is a beautiful package starting with the Dam Dhara strain, Rahman’s pitch perfect singing and Chinmayi’s lovely cameo. An all time favorite which I constantly hum to the irritation of my friends

10. Naan varuvene / Jaa Udd Jaa : The best song of Ravanan was the one not included in the soundtrack. This song starts when the visually stunning movie ends with Veera’s death. A haunting melody with exquisite orchestra work , Naan Varuvene is a vintage Rahman tune to be cherished by music Lovers.

Other Mentions – Al Madath Maula , Khwaja mere Khwaja and Kun Faya Kun : I did not number these songs in my compilations not because I don’t like them , but because I can’t rate them given the divinity they ooze. All three are favorites of mine , and for some reason always give me a reprieve from stress and depressed. When I feel down all I need to do is play one of these songs and I’m back to normal.
One of these days I’ll come up with additional playlists on ARR , but here are a set of my favorites sung by him and hopefully you’ll enjoy them too.

Until the next compilation ,
Adieu,
K

Very Very Special ...

Dear L,

I do know for a fact that VVS stands for Vangipirappu Venkata Sai. But for me and a million other cricket fans , it would always expand to Very Very Special - Special , because of your superb batting skill and technique ; Special , because you made my generation believe that it was indeed possible to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat , case in point your splendid knock in Mohali on what seems a tour from long time ago. You were to me the hero of the test , having scored a superb 73 in the second innings, fighting cramps  fatigue and the suicidal tendencies of your tail ender partners amongst a gazillion other things.

I also remember that before you made that 73 , you also had a very forgettable outing in the first innings - a single digit score , that set tongues wagging again , calling out for blood.It was always like that wasn't it ? That your place in the team was the one that was most questioned , no one giving a damn about the fact that one could indeed have an off day and god forbid , an off tour or an off season . Trust me I used to be so perplexed about  the fact that people were questioning your place. There were never any questions when Sehwag got out in the nastiest manner possible , because that was how he played. Tendulkar was never questioned simply because he was God. Rahul , your partner on the crease and at the slips , could have off days too , but you were expected to perform every single time , failing which the axe was called for.

Human minds are fickle or so they say. If that wasn't the case , why did everyone , including self , question your position on the team , when you slipped. I didn't know and to be frank I didn't care. In fact I didn't even bother to find out why , until today - a black day for Indian cricket fans , as you walked into the sunset following your partner into retirement.

I was not that much into cricket when you made your debut , against the most formidable side in test cricket today , in 1996 and I guess not many nine year old girls were into test cricket then. I did not see that match and have not seen it till date , but most people tell me that your knock in the second innings of that match was the cause of the above mentioned problem. My father tells me that you made a splendid half century . Some of my older colleagues talk about the repertoire of strokes you exhibited that day. A few of my friends talk about your fighting spirit but unfortunately none of them call it special. A legend was born that day without the pomp and splendor that was normally associated with the event.  May be it was that air of simplicity around you , may be it was that appearance of ease in your stroke making ; people took it for granted  that a man called Laxman would always pull them out of trouble - never mind how deep the shit was.

The problem lay in the fact that while a machine's efficiency was expected from you , which was met with in most of the cases , you were at the end of the day a human , a human prone to mistakes , a human who did fail sometimes. When I think about your sixteen year career , the first thing that comes to my  mind is the success you enjoyed against Australia . According to the judgmental humans who watched your career , they were by far your most favorite adversaries , never mind your splendid performance against the West Indies or the South Africans and if I look closer to home the Sri lankans.   You loved playing against the Aussies didn't you ? I would like to think so , given the fact the a majority of your batting milestones were chiseled in an Ind vs Aus fixture. What many of us failed to realize was that you loved your other opponents too. In fact you loved  everything about the game , be it batting , be it fielding at the slips or shouting at a stupid lower order batsman for taking a suicidal run. I still look back to that day some years ago , when you measured the gap between the slips , as Gautam Gambhir stepped up to relieve you of your slip duties for a while. It brought a smile to my face and along with it the realization of the commitment you had for your duties. But sadly enough , I forgot all of that the moment you hit a rough patch and the rough patch for many of us was the Tour of Australia , in early 2012.

As you fumbled and failed on that nightmarish tour , the voices calling out for your blood became louder. Whatever little support you had vanished the day Dravid retired . Many of us steadfast Dravid fans believed that you deserved to go before our master , given your horrible outing in England. The voices kept rising as we heard of our young future's domestic successes and due to the mistaken belief that they were being kept out of the side ,out of deference to the failing seniors - until you decided to put to a stop to it in your own way.

When reports started leaking in , that you were planning to retire - I was one of the many who thought that it was time. Why, I even tweeted that the decision was in good stead and it was necessary to blood the youngsters in before the 2013 SA series. I did not cry as I did when I read of Dravid's retirement. I did not wince as I did when injury forced Boucher out of action. Why I did not even indulge on Nostalgia , as I do when sportsmen I watch call it a day and I am very very ashamed of this fact.
 
 As you walked into the sunset , head held high , with a shy smile that hid your inner sorrow , I realized that you were a hero that many of us mere mortals took for granted. I now know I am not going to see you in action at Hyderabad - not on the cricket field at least. I know without an ounce of doubt that I cannot take victory for granted when we are trailing behind by 200 odd runs with 8 wickets down. I know that however talented and prodigious your successor might be , he will never match you in terms of presence or stature.


Today , you made me realize what was under my nose for all these years - that you were a supremely talented human being , who always kept punching above his weight , despite the brickbats that were directed at you , without any reason. I did not realize it much earlier , but today as I pen this letter I realize the fact that you were a super talented cricketer , a splendid human being and last but not the least , a humble hero.

As I realize the magnitude of your action , I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the lovely memories you provided and humbly apologize for the thoughtless abuses .

                                                                                                          Bidding Adieu with a heavy heart
                                                                                                          K 
                                                                                                             

 
 

Pot Pourri....

Mathematics has always been a favorite subject and yours truly can claim to be an expert in the rudimentary aspects of the subject - ie , counting. Therefore I when I flipped the dates on my calendar today morning , I was surprised to note that my last blog post had been nine days ago - nine whole days , which didn't feel quite long in hindsight. May be it didn't seem long as too many things were happening around me , things which related to the greater good , happenstance stuff and minor irritants caused by my favorite guy in the entire universe , that dude Murphy of the famed Murphy's laws. Therefore when I opened my blog and started typing away , I realized that there were one too many things to write about and the best way to go about it was to make an Aviyal ; a mish-mash of everything. So here goes - an Aviyal of events - good and bad , people crazy and otherwise !!!!

The Big Bust Theory :

It all started on that fateful evening , when tatadocomo went through a huge nation wide outage. The network went Kaput for 12 hours and it took ages for services to be restored. While friends around me felt handicapped without their mobile and claimed to be dying ( a bit overmuch that - like something out Philip Pullman's books where a person dies , if their pet animal/soul mate/whatchamacallit is separated from them) , I stayed calm , waiting it out and accepting that such things do happen. The elders always say that Good karma will be rewarded with good things but in my case it was not to be so. the network came back , but with it came so many issues that there came a stage when the customer care number became the most dialed number on my cellphone and my sleepy murmurs included 'Hi! I'm calling from Coimbatore and have been facing some issues'.

I had dreams of bashing up the poor lady from customer care for hanging up in the middle and gnashed my teeth many a times at the sheer cleverness of the network to create such an issue ( If you are wondering what its all about , its just that my network went bust. if My GPRS works , then telephony will go down and vice-versa). I have finally reached a stage where I've calmed down ,taken deep breaths and have finally decided to get rid of my operator. As I write this blog , I've started the procedure to port my mobile number to another operator.

Hopefully the network I'm porting to will offer better service and the customer care reps will not stalk you to offer packages , call you five times after you've paid the bill to confirm your payment ( They really do that trust me , asking the cheque no , time of payment , size of the drop box et all) and generally act like pests. They say hope is eternal and it is with this hope , that I am moving to what I think is a better network.

The Auditory Explorations :

I've always been a huge music buff , so much so that my Ipod is one of my must have items inside my backpack and on days when I don't have it with me I truly feel bereft. It has much to do with the fact that I cart around 25 GB worth music inside it , which caters to my every single mood and whim. My playlists range from Raja to Rahman , Naushad to Pritam , seamlessly integrating the Burmans with Boney M and Adele with Asha Bhonsle.

That said , I've often shied away from listening to new groups and new music due to my fear of not enjoying the new styles and being labeled as a music retard.But off late , to my surprise , I've found the courage to explore varied genres of music and frankly I've enjoyed every thing I've listened to , starting with Coldplay - who were unknown entities to me , a couple of months ago and whose albums always play on a loop nowadays. My other discoveries from this year and the last include Loreena Mckennit , The Dubliners et al and last but not the least  Advaita , whose music can be labeled Carnatic Rock at its best , whose members include a splendid sarangi player and superb classical vocalist. Their albums "Grounded in Space"  and "Silent Sea" are must buys and give an indication of how rich our indigenous music is.

How can I ignore Coke Studio , when I talk about indigenous music ? The Pakistan series has completed its fifth season this year and is known for the wide variety of Asian music it  showcases - this year being no exception. The Indian edition in comparison had a lukewarm first session ,and has started with a bang in the second session. Having seen the chakwal group in action and the rock star Sawan Khan Manganiyar sing away to glory, I can only wonder at the musical richness our ancestors have bequeathed to our custody and try my level best to spread awareness. Hopefully , One day , I will get over my speechlessness and blog about the musical heritage of our country - till then I'm afraid people have to make do with my outbursts of happiness through Twitter , Face book and what not!


 No Country for Young Women :

Off late , the print and the visual media are filled with articles on crimes and offenses committed against women and the recent Assam incident takes a cake in my opinion. A member of the most honorable fourth estate not only had the gall to engineer the whole incident for media publicity , but went ahead to proudly upload the video to youtube , and other media , bringing unwanted publicity and another round of torture on an innocent victim.

The head of the news agency which was responsible for this appalling act claimed that only loose women were molested and continued to tweet links to the video footage of so called incidents where loose women were preyed upon - as if the so called animals in our country are honorable enough to let a woman in a churidhar kurta pass through unharmed.

What disgusts me is the fact that some one can plan a heinous crime against a woman just to get those extra TRPs and get away with it , squeaky clean , having people offer mock resignations and feigned remorse. As I write this , youtube is highlighting several such videos as the most viewed , offering them on the first page .

Organizations that are responsible for women welfare are asking women to dress safely ( dress conservatively I understand - but safely? is there even a definition of what is safe?). Women are asked not to venture out of their homes unnecessarily and very soon , women might as well be asked to stop coming out of their homes to earn a living.It makes me wonder if the crimes are going to stop if these diktats are going to be followed - I would think no.

In my humble opinion it's not a woman's fault , that she lives in a country where Lechers are allowed to run free and victims are penalized. Its not a woman's fault , that few men can't act their human self and think that their gender gives them the right to act the way they do.

I really hope that we as society take stern actions against heinous crimes and treat women as they are supposed to - a citizen of the country who is entitled to all the rights , privileges and freedom that comes along with the citizenship 

And the light goes out , Slowly:

As I was boarding the cab yesterday , my cellphone beeped. It was an alert that a friend of mine had posted something on twitter - Rajesh Khanna , the actor had passed away. While I've not watched a great many of his movies (but I have liked the ones I've seen - Aaradhana , Daag , Anand ,Bawarchi to name a few)I can state with absolute conviction that most of his movies were musical hits - so many lovely melodies - who can forget the soulful melodies that became an integral part of our generation : Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye , zindagi ek safar hai suhana , kuch toh log kahenge , mere dil main aaj kya hai , o mere dil ke chain , mere naina sawan badho - to name a few from the top of my head. Death is nothing but the next great journey and something tells me that somewhere up above , Hrishida is planning his next with Rajesh Khanna with Music by RD Burman , Kishore featuring on the vocals.

The end , but not quite :

Whew , another long winded post at 1400 odd words. I wonder if someone is going to be really patient to read through this long rambling of mine , but as they say - one might never know. Hope you've enjoyed my Aviyal and I'll be back with yet another blog post soon or may be not - what with the cricketing action in store and the Olympics on the horizon .

Hasta La Vista until we meet next,
K