Michael Jackson - RIP

I shed a tear or two for Michael Jackson today. Felt really sad. I remember the 80's in India. Never knew what MJ sang..yet loved his songs !!

The day ended in a very low note..and somewhere, somehow, this song by Devarajan Master came to my mind. And I cried even more !! as I listened to this beautiful song !!

Watch Rahul sing this song, the comments by the judges and then the original !








The Masterpiece by Devarajan Master and Gandharvan Yesudas !

Sharath - A genius

Enough has been said and written about the great Music Director Sharath and his skills. Legend has it, that Unnikrishnan once cried...'cause he couldn't sing one of Sarath's composition.

I've also heard that his hard compositions probably is a reason why he is not super-popular ( he deserves to be ).

My respects for Sharath went sky-high after listening to 'Mazhaiye Mazhaiye' from June-R.

Listen to Sharath performing it here live. He is an amazing singer as well !

JO's ReethiGowla

How to create a hit song ?

Easy...In my opinion any song set to the raaga Kalyani, Reethigowla or HindoLam will be a hit ( to name a few raagas )

This post is about ReethiGowla. Today I was listening to JO singing 'Kandu Njaan' from the movie Abhimanyu. One of my favorites, JO has done a great job.

I have a handful of movie songs set to this raaga in my Zune.

Whenever I feel low, I listen to these songs to get back to speed.

One of my ambitions, is to compose a song in this Raaga. Let's see how that goes.

I found these ReethiGowla videos in Youtube. Check them out as well.

Local Newspapers and businesses

Call it the era of death for newspapers. That's what we are witnessing in the USA. Too many wonderful, well respected newspapers are facing the brunt of the economy with dwindling advertising revenues.

Result - we hear mergers and closures of newspapers.

I've taken it upon myself to support the local newspaper in Fairfield, 'Daily Republic'. I feel it's important for these local newspapers to thrive, as they cover more of the local news.

The 'Daily Republic' covers a lot of news in Fairfield. I feel it's very important for my community.

I want to know more of what's happening in Fairfield since it's my hometown.

Now, where am I heading. I would request each one of you to support your local newspaper/publication.

To add spice to that, please support your local businesses. Eat and shop where you live and let the tax dollars go back to your community.

I read somewhere: THINK GLOBAL EAT LOCAL !!

My Favorites

Another Ilayaraja song this time. From the tamil movie Agal viLakku.

Came out in 1980. I was doing my 2nd year Bachelors degree at MCC Tambaram.

I remember singing this song for the college audition. Hmm...I was rejected !

Vijayakanth during his leaner times in life ( physically and during the start of his career I guess ). Looking at the bell-bottoms, and the pants that go up to his chest...makes me laugh...thinking..I've done that too. Not to forget his hairstyle.

Shoba - An amazing actress whose life was cut short by God knows what happened. They called it suicide. Suspicious that so many Tamil actresses commit suicide ( Silk Smitha , Fadafat Jayalakshmi, Deepa, Simran's sister - to name a few ).

Ilayaraja - I have no words for his music. Truly the Maestro.

Yesudas - What a voice..!!!

Not sure who the female singer is..but she has also done a great job

86 இல் சாதனை!

86 இல் சாதனை!

தமிழ்ப் பெயர் வைத்தால்

ஒரு கிராம் தங்க மோதிரம்!

அது சரி...

கிராம்

தமிழ்ச்சொல் இல்லையே!

My Favorites

'Mella Pesungal' was the first film for (Late) Vasanth and Banupriya.

I didn't watch the movie but I loved the songs from that movie, especially this one:

Deepan Chakravarthy who became famous after 'Poonkadhavae' from Nizhalgal has sung this song with Uma Ramanan.

The movie was directed by Bharathivasu ( SanthanaBharathy and P Vasu - who did a couple of films together ).

One of Ilayaraja's several masterpieces.

I am not sure why Deepan just faded away. I love his voice. Even these days I see him on TV his voice is good.

Magazines

During my younger days, we had wonderful magazines in India. I must say those were the golden days of Indian journalism.

I remember the very first issue of 'SUNDAY', 'SPORTSWORLD' and 'THE WEEK'. I used to wait every week to buy SUNDAY. Amazing articles, great photography and very interesting. SPORTSWORLD was edited by M.A.K.Pataudi. I loved the photos in SPORTWORLD. Looks like, THE WEEK is the only magazine that is still alive !

However, I have to admit that my favorites were ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY OF INDIA and THE BLITZ.

ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY OF INDIA - Khushwant Singh was the editor. Size was kinda 11 X 14. I always liked Khushwant Singh's writing ( Memories of 'Train to Pakistan' are still fresh ). His editorials used to be amazing. Sports and news coverage was outstanding !

BLITZ - Editor was R.K. Karanjia. It was also a 11 X 14 in a newspaper format. Had a lot of gossip, scoops besides some good editorials, articles. Lots of fun to read. Mr.Karanjia is long gone..but memories of his BLITZ are still fresh.

I wish I could have a copy each of the Illustrated Weekly, The Blitz , Sunday. I'd cherish them !!

If you find a copy of these magazines, can you please buy them for me? I'll be very thankful !

My Favorites

Vikatan Online Subscription

Most of the websites start to email you about an expiring subscription a few months before the actual expiration. That's my experience so far.

Ananda Vikatan is unique. I am not sure, if they don't care about the online subscribers. Or maybe it's an area they need to improve.

My online subsciption to Vikatan expired a month back. I've not got a single email till date from Vikatan about it. A message pops up when I login to the website that I'll have to renew my subscription.

I am still waiting...I am not going to renew until they wake up and ask me 'Hey, don't you want to renew ? ' .

Nostalgia - The Turntable

Pic coutesy: The WWW

During my elementary school days, I wasn't allowed to walk from Tambaram to Perungalathur.

School used to end around 3.15 PM. The next train to Perungalathur those days was at 4.30 PM. There were no PTC buses !

I used to walk to Tambaram railway station and wait for the 4.30 PM train. ( The monthly train pass between Tambaram and Perungalathur was 1 Rs. 45 paise ! ).

Every now and then, a steam engine would be turned on the turn table in Tambaram. It was a fantastic sight. The engine would come in from South to North and go South after it is turned.

It was manual labor. The driver and the helper used to get out after parking the train on the table. They used the levers and went pushing around in a circle turning the engine.

These days, I am not sure if the turn table is used anymore. I don't even know if they dismantled it.

However, great memories. Nostalgic !!

Rajiv Gandhi - 18th death Anniversary

Photo courtesy: The WWW

Tomorrow marks the 18th death anniversary of Mr.Rajiv Gandhi the ex-Prime Minister of India.

21 May 1991, that was the day his life was taken away ! He was only 47 years old when he was assassinated.

I was shocked and ashamed that it happened on 'Tamil' soil, in India, assassinated ruthlessly by a suicide squad from Sri Lanka sent by LTTE.

I remember the deserted roads, the shocked faces, the processions and the hours before TV mourning my beloved Prime Minister's death.

That was the day I lost any impression I had, about Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of LTTE who masterminded the assassination.

Today, we've come a full circle. The mastermind is also gone along with his family.

May Rajiv's soul rest in peace.

Let the world know that violence is no answer to anything !

Worldwide Photo walk

(With family - May-10-2009)

One of my friends at work mentioned about 'WORLDWIDE PHOTO WALK'.

This year it is on July-18-2009 a Saturday.

Photo walk is a social photography event where photographers get together, usually in a downtown area or trendy section of town to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers.. They finally meet in a Pub, Pizza place or a restaurant, socialize and leave. Of course there is a competition and prizes.

The best part I like in this, is the socializing. I am hoping to meet some good photographers and take some tips/notes.

I've joined the 'Santa Cruz Group' and I am looking forward to the event.

Here are some stats from last year's event:

8.324 photographers register for local walks
47 Countries had participating cities
44 States in the US had Photo Walks
We had a total of 236 cities worldwide
More than 1,017,125 photos were taken on walks that day


If there is a group in your city why not join and have some fun !

If you don't have a group please start one and participate !