Joy...

Having been so busy for 2 weeks, I decided to well, write something on the blog, rather than waiting for some sort of idea to strangle my poor little brain.

Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought." --E. Y. Harburg

I read this quotation somewhere and thought how true it was and how much sense it made when you think about it. There are quite a few songs that make me wander through my childhood and experience the bliss of it in my daydreams again..

‘Brahma kadigina padamu’. Annamacharya keerthana, always sung by my beloved mother when she completed her daily prayer early morning at 5:30. I must say that I woke up to the song everyday when I was 5 years old. I can never forget her sweet base voice singing to perfect modulation of any renowned music teacher. She never sat me to teach the song but I learnt it as I grew up and made it a custom to sing with her every Thursday ever since.. (Thursdays being the only days I found time to stay through out the prayer)

‘Virinchi nai’ from Sirivennela movie – I guess this song was popular on the radio when the movie was released in 1986. I heard my music teacher singing this song as he was preparing to include it in his concert. Though the actual song consisted of mainly female performers, I was stuck with awe when I heard it from the lips of my teacher. I can never forget this melody.

‘Neela megha syamudu’ this is a song that is also taken from ramadasu keerthanas. I learnt this song from the music teacher’s daughter when I was 8 years old and it was mockingly popular until my college days. I remember the good old summer holidays spent with music and dance competitions with my teacher’s kids when I think about this song. All three of us were enthusiastic participants at every music festival. I lost touch with them since 1997, but I do know that Gayathri,, the girl is a mother and plays veena in Sun TV and Phani, the boy is happily married and assistant music composer in Tamil movies.

‘Chalo tumko lekar’ I try to mimick Shreya with this song from Jism but I fail to do so. I love the way she plays with the tones and also mesmerizes me with the intensity of pure joy. I remember my Mom’s words when she used to say ‘one day I will stop working and both of us can go on a long trip to wherever you choose and you can tell me about your experiences as my daughter’ albeit the day never came, I feel like it when I listen to this masterpiece..

All hail music and the power of melody…

Moi Travels!!!

I always wondered about my mental ability at the time of my travel out of the country all by myself. I can never say that I have not travelled before, but this particular one has its own significance. I was more than enthusiastic and really looking forward for this trip. It was the second week of February 2006 and I was going to land in Toronto, Canada with its 5 feet of snow at that time of the year.

As many of you would know, I was given a cultural orientation at the office one week before and was asked to meet the Business manager for any doubts. I never had any doubts as I am used to doing my own research. I followed Toronto weather religiously to check if there was a snowstorm due, went on a shopping spree for cardigans that out-numbered the ones in any English granny’s closet.

It was just three days for my journey and I was still waiting to receive my passport stuck with the visa. Finally with two days left for the D-day, my travel documents arrived. I was given my travel card for my daily grub and allowance and also my little data machine in the form of an age-old company Laptop. (! At least I have something; some of them just travel with a data key!!!!)

I started on my expedition on the 17th of Feb and was so confident that I did not bother to do a checklist. My layover was in London, the largest airport in the world. I was amazed at the size of it and the only question in my mind was about my luggage reaching Toronto along with me. The total journey was about 18 hours and finally I was excited to land on snow. It was 2:00 in the afternoon as I reached there.

My idea of snow day was that it is great and exciting to play, as seen on TV. So I walked out of the airport to find a placard with my name written on it, just wearing on of my stylish pullovers. I swear that I have never experienced any kind of excruciating pain as I did then; I never knew cold could be piercing. Within two seconds I was back in the airport wearing my winter proof gear and resumed my search for a cab driver bearing my name.

I could never find one and it was almost 2 hours since I had deplaned. I was smart enough to carry contact numbers of the people responsible for the project. It was Saturday and I could hear the voice mail on all of the mobile numbers. The next best thing to do was take a taxi and get to the hotel I was supposed to check in. That’s when I was doomed. Lack of checklist told me that I had forgotten to get my lodging details.

I continued calling all the numbers and found that I could talk to one person who did not know where I was checking in. I did not have a mobile that he could call back and he did not know where I was going. We made a deal that I would keep calling him every one hour until he can find out my hotel reservation. It took 5 full hours for me to know that the place I was to check in did a complimentary airport transfer and I just need to let the travel desk know about it. It was 7 in the night when I reached my destination for the night and could call home to say I reached safe. Its a different experience that I stayed in Toronto for more than 5 months and downtown Toronto is my all time favourite.

Lesson learnt from my amateur travels.. to note where you are going..

To the most successful woman in the world....

She was a ethno-modern woman. She always wore a saffron bindi and her feet smeared with turmeric, a true symbol of purity and beauty. She was always mistook to be a history teacher rather than a Computer operating Civil draftsmen in the 1990s. She was a true nucleus of the family. A true believer of wealth in the form of knowledge.
She renewed studies at the age of 35 as she wanted to lead by example to the kids who started schooling. There was no end when she graduated with flying colours in BA and succeeded to complete her MA in Political Administration to combine it with post graduation in Constitutional Law. It took her 8 whole years to complete this huge journey just for the sake of acquiring knowledge. The kids always look upto her as their hero.
Family and kids were always her priority. The kids were always in discipline without a raise of voice and spanking was out of question. Her daily routine started at wee hours in the morning and always ended late. Inspite of working 10 to 5, she ran a peaceful houshold with never a moment of chaos. She wanted to be ahead in every stream of knowledge and where not possible she encouraged the kids to be champions.
I can still remember the days when I woke up at 5 in the morning to practice classical dance and music, complete my chores all by myself and head to the Gita recital in front of the sanskrit teacher before going to school and in the evening get ready for my veena class before completing my homework without complaints, all at the age of 7.... Such was her leadership
It was a golden era and I truly cherish the moments spent with her. There is no mourning for the lack of her physical presence as I always have her leading me to a successful life. Would I be able to lead a life similar to her's... I shall definetely try!!!!!

Monna Lisa

Monna Lisa... meaning My Lady Lisa..

What is so mystic about this painting? I was in awe for a moment when I looked at the painting.. (to be fair, I never thought of it as a painting until I physically checked it in the Louvre).. Interestingly enough there is a lot of controversy behind this mystic woman..

Sometimes I think she has a mocking smile.. and can never rule out the sadness in her eyes.. my concern had always been about her ratings as a top model if she were to be alive in the modern world.. would she be accepted as a beauty if not for the mystery behind the painting? never mind!!

Truly, this masterpiece of Oil on Poplar had really been my quest for over a year.. From the time I have been travelling I always had a destination in mind and that was Paris.. not for the great romantic metal tower but for the sole purpose of visiting the Louvre, with its wealth of paintings, sculptures and art..

Its truly a feast for eyes looking at the painting. The idealistic feature is that the whole painting looks feminine. Despite the controversies about the person in the painting to be a lady or a man(Davinci himself) the picture itself portrays feminist composure.

The background of the painting is also a state of the art landscape.. the mysterious valleys and rocks form a picturesque background for the mystic lady.. one of many stories say that this is the painting of a lady who just gave birth to a son.. another story says that this is a self portrait of Leonardo himself celebrating his bisexuality...

I don't need the facts to enjoy a perfect painting.. I could have spent my whole tour in Louvre if not for my sweetheart's boring face...

Celebrating beauty of the art....................

Princess and the seven fairies

Its always wonderful to think about good old days... Here is another story from the glorious childhood/teenage...

Princess was in her late teens and had a band of seven fairies that followed her wherever she flew... Princess was kind and beautiful and very emotional... she always wanted to share everything she had with her band of fairies.. tears and joy alike and the fairies also were equal in reciprocation.. Unlike other teenage bands, this particular group did not just wander in fairyland.. instead, they wanted to set an example to other teenage fairies..

The fairies believed in wealth of knowledge as they knew it would help them in future.. that does'nt mean they were geeks.. beware.. princess and the band could do anything to get rid of bothering boys... the credit of sitting in the back benches and coming first in the class goes only to the fairy band..

Sometimes princess and the fairies were also lovingly foolish.. one of the favourite fairies had a problem.. that she would have had to leave the fairyland.. and lead a different life forever... this was a heartache for all the fairies for they could not bear to let go the favourite fairy.. then the wise fairy came up with an idea.. round up the God's castle 108 times and the problem would disappear the next day.. all the fairies were foolish enough to believe it and were ready for the revolution.. foolishly enough the problem was solved and it never came back...

Such was the unity and belief of the fairies... Princess was always witty and mischievous... she would not bother about the boys but let the boys bother about her... she would pair-up with the wise fairy and tease boys about their attire and habits...

Princess and the band won many accolades during their reign at the fairyland and lived happily ever after..

more stories from fairyland to follow...

Thing of beauty

Vanity.. this is something I have failed to display.. Why is it so important to be beautiful.. beauty beholds in the eyes of the seeker... is what I know and that is exactly not what I have experienced.. Coming back to vanity... does it come by default to a woman? Is there a theory that proved woman = 2 x vanity or an epic written in 200 BC claiming women to be absolutely vain? I never bothered to check..

How many successful women are vain? Are you not allowed to a social event if you do not visit the powder room every half an hour? Is your financial status dependant on the cosmetics you use? Would you dare leave the house without having your sheer gloss mascara? there are a lots of un-answered questions...

There is an unknown image of yours in the masses that you should always keep up with.. Should you be conscious of this image of yours when you are with close friends? - I ponder... Should'nt you be excused if you are unable to straighten your hair for one day? or for not wearing your eye makeup as you have a sore eye?

After all we are human and is'nt a thing of beauty joy forever.....

Teloola

Teloola.. I do'nt know what this name reminds me of! but it got stuck in my brain since monday.. unsure whether I fancy the name or was fascinated by Teloola herself..

She was wrapped in pink as the same color on her Mom's cheeks, accompained by the proud Dada and the quite young grandmom - carrying her in her arms.. she was 10 days old and reminded me of the pink rabbit I yearned as a child..from chandamama comics.....

All the fuss was about what to call her.. Tooly.. Loola... Lola were some of the options.. none of it made sense to her though... for she was so excited to meet the world and make her presence felt..

I was scared to hold her... for some unknown fear- that she would vanish into thin air if I were to cuddle that pink fairy in my arms... nevertheless we made our acquaintance and agreed to meet again the following monday..

Teloola ... she had great eyes and were quite inquisitive as well.. she was eager to communicate in any way her body would respond - shake a fist... nod her little head or just yawn her way away to you...

God Bless..

Epilogue/Prologue

I was against blogging all these years as I thought it was for kids!(No offence kids!!) Few blogs have changed my perception towards it and here I am.. I always thought of inventing a venting machine which had a minimalistic feature of only input and no output... then I realised .. there is good venting and bad venting.. so if people needed to vent they could come to my machine... vent all they can and lo and behold nobody else could know how many things have been said about them... but here lies my point.. if such a machine existed there is no ego satisfaction for any one.. so here goes another creation from a million called... BLOG..

Coming to the title.. I could not decide on what would be the idealistic title... as I know that I am not great at literature and god knows how many grammatical mistakes I am gonna make with this little toy of mine hence I started with an epilogue to all the great blog literature and a prologue to my own...