This is now serious, okay. I was giving a serious thought about my future over a judicious dose of nicotine. Why in the name of all that’s holy did I qualify as an engineer, I am clueless about as I certainly seem to lack in knowledge and passion for it. I thought a careful selection of courses that I need to do in the future would fetch some satisfactory results perhaps.

For instance if you become a scientist of some sort, you need to wear white suits, rubber gloves and yellow glasses, and then your girl friend is going to run away with some sports man. Please don’t advise me to become a sports man, because I kind of can’t.

Doing an MBA is an appealing concept to the youth that talks about business and money. But it is far from that. A business man has to spend most of his life in attending meetings, sticking a plastic clamp on his ears in the name of ‘hands free’, fiddling with his laptop that has a million ports that don’t connect to anything and spending the rest of the time in gym and hospital to protect himself from certain death.

After getting frustrated that I had made a wrong decision of taking engineering after school, I started listening to music and lit my second cigarette. Then I remembered the fact that I have once been trained to make music out of a violin.

The last time I ever played my violin was about eleven years ago when it was broken er… on the trainer. Then I went on studying something called ‘Biology’ that ended in a monumental fiasco.

A sudden realization sprung from nowhere when I was in college, for reasons I can’t quite comprehend, I enrolled myself to sing in my college festival. I might have done that because it was a girl called whatsername, a thin sweet singer that was in charge of the musical events and I wanted to impress her by my talent.

That didn’t go quite well, I must report. And I caught cold and ended up in the stage singing like I was being kicked in my testicles. I am no quitter, so didn’t abandon the project and ingratiated myself for the next year events.

I got an opportunity to meet her more often and get something in about music. But still I couldn’t make a worse noise than an electrocuted cat on a polythene sheet. Finally the performance was satisfactory though, I needed not de-egg myself after it. In fact many said it was excellent.

As there were some girls sort of, in my office last year I tried to show off again by unleashing my talent in a function. Sure, I got plenty of appreciations and hugs, but from guys. I became angry by that, so the next time when requested to sing a melody by that infernal boss, I performed metal music.

Thing is though, recently I have developed a liking to Rock Music. There is nothing in this world that is better than listening to ‘The dark side of the moon’ in a darkened room and figuring out whether it is about hope or death or despair.

It was deeply distressing to think that if I had learnt my music lessons more earnestly I would have become a Rock star. I really am jealous of them. All they have to do is sing, drink and have a joint and then catch Chlamydia.

Yes, they are a bunch of overpaid lunatics and I absolutely adore them.

So Kids, if your parents are telling you that they want you to become an engineer, tell them that they are daft and they are ruining you.

Especially if you are an eight year old, just go and get a Guitar and get cracking NOW, or it will be too late.

Time and again in my blog, I have been trying to establish that watching television is not all that great to do. But whenever I get bored by everything else that is the only thing I am left with.

But after spending a couple of days with it, I am not very happy to report that it is full of rubbish.

You do have some good things like channels that are dedicated to play music for instance. Nice. But are they actually playing music? I am not so sure. All channels are having some music reality shows which as far as I can figure out are pretty much the same. A lunatic will make some clamor in front of the microphone and a fat female and some nutty judges would get all teary eyed and wet all the tissues available. By the time they bring another box of tissues there would be a thousand adverts.

I would not recommend that ‘Roadies’ either. Like I said a man with a beard always tries to kill the contestants. And then a plump female with enormous bosoms will start shouting at others and start jumping vigorously. I have always had a temptation to chain saw her nipples and hit her with a shovel.

There was a program about how a bunch of junkies in America set sail in a ship and do some fishing. And there were documentaries about how some angry Muslims in Afghanistan extract heroine from Opium. And there was some lion porno movie. When it got over, snake porn was played. That is what we are shown under science and technology.

Fashion and Travel too are not doing well. There was a program where some witless females spent an hour in choosing a sun tan cream from three different brands. I would have solved it in five seconds by telling them ‘Don’t be daft’. They were discussing the texture of the cream, smell, shine, feel factor and some more terms which we can’t really comprehend. All they show in travel shows are how people in different parts of the world macerate meat and how the texture of the cooked food varies geographically. Machine gunning them is what I would suggest.

Then there is the problem with all the local channels. They are always full of serials that never end. News was one thing I used to like, but nowadays they do the old-fashioned news for half the time. And for the rest they show documentaries about speeding, drugs and child molesting.

I was very worried about the television programs of today. If they continue to do this, people will watch only YouTube in future, which is a pathetic situation.

The only reason why people watch YouTube is they enjoy watching someone catching fire and someone falling from the skate board and landing on their genitals. That is very similar to how we watch pornography. We fast forward the bit where the milkman arrives and they talk and slow it down when the wife starts to strip.

I have been giving it a thought for only a few minutes and I already have a solution. That would be a new channel that I have come up with. It is called Fun.com. This channel would be packed with interesting shows.

There will be debates about whether smoking is good or not and in the end all the non-smokers will be tied up and the smokers will be told to smoke in front of their face.

Races will be conducted in specially designed tracks and the drivers will have to drive the cars backwards around the circuit. There will also be an adventure show in which celebrities like Raki Saawant, Himesh Reshamya and Kareena Kapoor will do bungee jumping and the rope will be disconnected after they dive.

The low budget travel program will be a group of cool chaps from Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai travelling to northern portions of India and laugh at the people who live there.

Er… We have some serials in the lineup as well. There will be an investigation serial where girls will find the culprit immediately and shoot them and we can show the head explosion in full detail. There will also be a family serial where Manthra Bedi and whatsername, that news reporter in CNN, will breathe heavily and argue in see through dresses and after the argument is over will start doing lesbionics in French style.

News will cover world politics, gadgets and celebrity gossips in short and there will be weekly awards for the worst in various categories.

On social service front, there will be a group of volunteers who go out and find people who honk at the signals, who throw litter and who have beard and set fire to one or two vital organs of them. People committing minor crimes like stealing and killing shall be forgiven.

Rock shows will include bands like ‘Red hot chili peppers’ and ‘Akon’. As soon as they start making noises the amplifier will be turned off and some good old rock songs will be played which will be a good opportunity for those bands to learn.

You may think all of them are out of our wonts. But let me explain.

Today all the TV channels try to show things that are more realistic. And they try to make a point. That’s why all reality shows include scenes shot in the houses of every contestant where his grandfather tells us that he is the luckiest person. Right. Shows try to convey a message.

I think it would be better if they show different people argue and laugh at each other and have fun.

Have you ever thought, “I shall watch TV for an hour and I will become a little more intelligent”. The simple answer would be no. The only reason you watch it is to spend an hour in a way that is somewhat better than boring.

So, people should know that TV is not for learning and shows need to be shallow. That will stop people watching a colossal oaf falling down and getting a keyhole on his scrotum in the YouTube…

[ This series of six posts are excerpts from my Guru, violin maestro (late) Dr. Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan’s interview with ‘The Hindu’. The therapeutic effect of music has been elucidated ]

ANANDHA BHAIRAVI

My father was the guiding force in my research studies. When he was ill he had more faith in the curative power of  music than the medicines administered to him. I was once preparing to show the remedial power of Ananda Bhairavi. Kannadasan had challenged in public to test his blood pressure after hearing Ananda Bhairavi from my violin.

He had promised to preside over a function but became ill with hypertension. Cajoled by the organisers he reluctantly came  and to my utter surprise requested me to render any raga, which could soothe him. I played Ananda Bhairavi elaborately.

At the close of the concert, Kannadasan came up to the dais and announced that he was feeling much better. Ananda Bhairavi has such soothing effect. Saint Tyagaraja in ‘O, Jagadambha’ prays for the deity’s blessing.

Muthuswamy Dikshitar underlines the importance of concentration and focus in `Manasa guru guha kripam bajare; Maya mama hrith thapam thyajare’ indicating Ananda Bhairavi’s close link to matters of the heart.

Tamil Odhuvar Moorthigal generally use Ananda Bhairavi in rendering Thevaram, Thiruvachakam and Dhivya Prabantham in temples.

DESH

The suppression of the senses releases a negative force. The process of sublimation needs a spiritual path. Rag Desh can provide that. Its positive energy gives one serenity, peace, inner joy, right valour, universal love and patriotism.

The mellifluous ‘Vande Matharam’ has been aptly composed in Desh. ‘Vaishnava Janatho,’ Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite, is set in Desh, which is a favourite in both Carnatic and Hindustani streams of music.

‘Shanthi nilava vendum,’ ‘Inda ulagil irukkum mandaril ezhil udayon engal tamizhan’ (M.M. Mariyappa for the film “Kanjan”), ‘Leelaigal purivane’ in the film “Meera,” ‘Thunbam nergayil’ in “Or Iravu,” ‘Maadu meykum kanna’ sung by Madurai Somu, ‘Muthamizhil Pada Vanden’ — that I composed for “Mel Nattu Marumagal” are well known examples in Desh.

« Part 4

Posted in music Tagged: anandha bhairavi, desh, music, raga

The Thyagaraja Aradhana is celebrated every year at saint - composer Thyagaraja’s samadhi at Thiruvaiyaru. Hundreds of Carnatic musicians pay their homage to the saint composer by rendering his `pancharathna kritis’ (five jewels of his renderings) in chorus on the banks of the Cauvery at Thiruvaiyaru.

In NITT, the Thyagaraja Aradhana is organized by Amruthavarshini, the Carnatic Music Club of NITT. Various professional musicians from Trichy and SriRangam participate in the Aradhana, along with students and faculty of the college. The Pancharatna kritis are sung in the same style as is done at Tiruvaiyaru, followed by rendering of Thyagaraja kritis by the artistes and students.

Amruthavarshini

This year’s Aradhana was conducted on March 1st, in A23 hall. On the previous day, Ganamrutham, the music competition for school students, was conducted by the club. The prize winners were given a chance to perform on the day of the Aradhana. The children sang really well. They were accompanied on percussion and violin by the club members.

The artistes arrived by van at around 5: 30. After a brief introduction by Satish, the President of the club, the rendering of the kritis started.

Rendering of Pancharatna Kritis

The gathering - gents

The gathering - ladies

The first song was Sri Ganapathini in Sourashtram. This song was followed by Gurulekha Etuvanti song. Then the five pancharatna kritis - Jagadanandakaaraka, Dudukugala, Saadinchane, Kanakanaruchira and Entharo mahanu bhavulu were rendered, under the guidance of Shri T.K.V.Ramanujacharyulu.

After the rendering of the pancharatna kritis, the winners of the Ganamrutham competitions received their prizes from the artistes. The programme concluded with a ‘banana leaf’ dinner.

It was a memorable evening, with loads of music to the ears and peace to the heart.

Posted in music Tagged: amruthavarshini, aradhana, nitt, thyagaraja