Observations in Rural India

It was one of those rare difficult days in office after which I returned home to read something and face the next day with extra enthusiasm. I stumbled upon one of my favorite topics from B-School life - the 3 box solution. An interesting interview of Prof VG on this topic can be found here. His closing comments had a lasting impression on me "It (The Three Box Solution) applies everywhere. Not just business, it applies to churches, universities, non-profits, countries/governments, and to personal life. The central idea in the 3 box solution is that the future is now. The future is not about what you need to do in the future; it’s about what you need to do today to create the future."
Those thoughts enjoyed a good rest in my mind for quite sometime. A little later, I had to visit my hometown for a few days due to personal reasons. A walk around the town, and there were telltale signs of a beautiful, idle town that could become unlivable in the near future:

• The town has a population of around 70,000 as per 2011 census. One could expect it to be around 100,000 in 2017.
• The area of the district is 55 sq. km. according to government records. For the sake of discussion, the entire city is about 5 KM from the centre on both sides if we plot X and Y axis.
• Let's get to the point. At least 800 to 1000 two wheelers could be spotted in the town quite easily, which left me wondering - where is my town heading?

To put things into perspective, you can walk through the city in 45 minutes to 1 hour. How did so many vehicles come on roads? One can always argue that the purchasing power of citizens has increased over the years and folks are buying stuff. Nevertheless, a town as small as this was never built to carry so many vehicles.

In a city like Chennai or Mumbai, the roads were built to handle the traffic to a great extent. In towns like this, the streets are largely small, agraharam-type with no parking spaces. And four-wheelers are not yet taken into count. Add some 200-250 four-wheelers and you can already hear the town breathing with life-support. It can be stated with some level of certainty that many tier 3 / tier 4 cities in India are in this state right now so far as transportation infrastructure is concerned. Is there a way to improve here?

Let's try applying VG's strategem!
What's in box 1? Managing the present. The current state of 'stuffing in' automobiles into the town must reduce. The conditions of roads must improve to better suit free flow of traffic. This needs government will.
Box 2 is critical. It is never easy. The baby boomers' culture of "Get a job, get a bike, get a house" must go. Alternately, they can look at a bicycle-led lifestyle for office commute. And see how beautiful life is! And some other habits like, you know, following road rules would do the town a world of good!
The biggest difficulty with box 2 is that, there will be people in power who would have grown up this way. For them to challenge their own beliefs and get to work is not going to be easy!

Box 3 needs a visionary at the helm. Probably the easier way to make smart cities would be to target tier 2 / tier 3 towns since they are a whole lot smaller than the metros. Moreover, it is simpler to get buy-in from small town folks. Get some inspiration from cities like Amsterdam which have moved towards bicycle-led lifestyles! Once it is started, there will be no stopping.

The forces of Vishnu (box 1), Shiva (box 2) and Brahma (box 3) need to come together to make India a better place. If India lives in her hundred thousand villages, it definitely retires in these towns!

Not all rook endings are drawn;
Not all strategies are gas!

Until next time,
Adios!

Disclaimer: The views expressed are personal.

Home, People!

After a long time, I made it a point to visit my hometown. Going home is one thing, going to hometown is something else. அது வேறு இது வேறு! You can go and settle down in some city or the other; build a house there, rent, beg, borrow, steal, stay... but hometown is something different! You feel you 'belong' there.

Chennai is big, cool and awesome; but it's not home!

Carlsen thambi...

"For entertainment purposes only. Any resemblance to anything other than Carlsen is purely intentional. Don't mistake me when I make mistakes. Jai Hind"

p.s. Carlsen is a Tamil name in this story. ;)

--- Age 12 to 13 ---
Grandma calling... "Peraandi, cycle test mudinjudhaa?" (cycle tests over?)
"Paati, naan Aeroflot poitu vandhen. Title theriyumaa?!"
"Dei, olaraadha, ippo dhaan 7th standard padikra nee! Annual exam mukiyama cheks mukiyamaa?"
"adhu cheks illa chess"
"paati ya ethirthu pesariyaa? ellam unga amma va sollanum. adichu valakkala!"

Paati calls daughter "Nee pora vazhiye sari illa dee..."

Carlsen flunks the model exam. Class teacher puts him in coaching class and 'advices' him to attend school.
Carlsen's parents complain he won't be able to attend, as he has to attend a few invitational events. When Carlsen comes to school the following day, the Principal arrives in his class... "Ask your parents to meet me!" His fellow classmates are shell-shocked as these words are easily the most feared, in school parlance. Carlsen coolly goes home and tells the matter to his parents. Carlsen's dad meets the school Principal, the next day.
"Enna Sir, unga payan 'activities' seri illayae..."
"Enna aachu sir"
"Ozhunga school varala, marks kammi ya iruku. Society la enga schoolku nu oru paer iruku. Next year board exam vera varudu, we won't be able to promote him if this performance continues."
"Avan tournament la 'performance' panna mattum paper la news podreengale"
Principal cleans his glasses and says, "Oh really, I will look into it. This is a special child. We eagerly look forward to encourage and motivate these kind of children. We will help them come out with flying colours. Anyway, ask him to study well too, Sir!"
"Sure. Thank you!"
Carlsen passes tenth with 61%, ten days of preparation
-----
 11th standard. Day 1 of school. Principaaal comes to Carlsen's class.
"I know you won't be attending classes regularly. And I am sure you will pass eleventh. But as the Principal of this school, I have to say a few things to you. It's my duty too.
Next year unaku 12th board exam. Idhu 10th maadhiri illa thambi... Life-u! Board exam nalla ezhuthina dhaan nalla college la seat kidaikum; enga college la seat kedaikardhu avlo easy illa! Only outstanding students get into..."
(Classmates giggling)
"SILENCE PLEASE! ...our college. All the best Carlsen"
That was the last day Carlsen attended 11th.
Common exam of 11th standard was not conducted due to the 'professional' practise of starting 12th standard portions in the middle of 11th grade!
-----
Due to family pressure, Carlsen studies till 12th and finishes board exams. Applies to Anna University under sports quota.
-- Review panel ---
Wijk Ann Zee, Tata Steel, Nordic Challenge, Qualifiers, Blitz Championship, Kasparov Training... What's all this? Are these authorized by government of India?
No
Are these official world championships?
No
Continental?
No
Selected through Tamil Nadu / India ?
No
Where is SGFI? This guy is so irresponsible! He doesn't play State events, national events. How can he afford to miss SGFI Nationals? Even if he is state board, they have a nationals too, right?
Yes sir.

Carlsen's mom tries to persuade: "Sir, Madam, he's GM sir! Super GM"
"GM naa?"
"Grandmaster"
"So?"
"SIRRRR!"
"Inna maa, summa koovada, (eating a Good Day dipped in chai...) padu bejaara pochu unnoda. Inga paaru maa, GM o HM o. Rules iruku la! We are government officials. PLEASE don't waste our time!"

Carlsen scored '0' under sports quota, after completing his GM title.
---
Exam results arrive. Carlsen pass. Anna Univ dumps him.
Where does he go?

His paati still calls him...

"En peraandi oru nalla college la Computer o Doctor ko padichu irundha, oorla perumaya solluven; ippo graamathula thalaya kaata mudiyala, oru paya madhika maatengaraan! Idhu enga poi mudiyumo theriliyae! Ivanukku yaaru ponnu tharuvaa!"

"Avalum ava dressum... eeshwaraaa! Enna usuroda podhachurvaan pola irukke! Idha en oorla paatha oora vittu 16 varusham thalli vechuruvaanga!"


Meendum sandhippom! :)

A Facebook Friend Request!

Mindvoice...
I am telling with utmost certainty that you would have received uncountable friend requests in facebook, mostly from complete strangers. If at all you know half of them, let alone knowing them all, you are really lucky!
On the other side of the sea, have you ever made a New Friend and connected to him/her (her/him, sorry girls; don't go on a rally now!) in facebook, you will understand what I am saying after this! Until this happened, I've never had any prognosis that a thing so simple as a friend request would be so daunting, so painstaking!

True Story...
As a rank tyro in IT industry, it was hard enough to finally get a project. Now that, the offices are mostly located out of the city on the National and State Highways I had to opt for company transport services. I knew no one in the bus. Moreover, the difference in ages of "colleagues" makes it all the more difficult to strike conversations during travel. Been a frequent traveller and a gregarious person in recent years (SRM, what do you expect!), I found this situation absolutely antagonizing. Digital storage is not plenipotentiary! The gigabytes of songs saved in the gadget did not help the cause, for, 70km a day consumes the quantum of songs in less than a week!

Slowly I started finding people to talk to. Again, if at all we make it to the same bus in the same shift, well, yeah, some talking after an exhausting day. Otherwise, it's mostly sleeping and Radio!

I finally met a (newly-made) friend the other day on my return journey. We started having a pleasant conversation after an arduous day in the office. Office stuff only, can't help it! Eventually it came down to doing a facebook friend request on the go. We were both loaded with 3G internet connectivity, so that was not going to be a problem. Er... Issue (we are all IT!), or so I thought! She was magnanimous enough to login first; well, she was always online. I told my name with correct spelling. I missed the initials.

The search results did not match. I told to include the initial.
Now the output went haywire - Zuckerburg had designed his website in such a way that the initials are expanded to His will. Except me, we found many names.

A smart person, she intimated that we could search using the email id! "Of course", I thought! Elated with the turnaround of events, I gave my email.
Zuckerburg was smarter this time. His brainchild gave a 'No results found' reply. I was so distraught at this. The bus started moving faster too.
Thankfully, she was showing her customary patience, associated with most people from her region. "You are in any pages or something like that?"

"Yeah! Wait, let me log in". While she was searching something, I finally logged in. It happened quickly, thanks to Airtel 3G - no I am not advertising you Bharti, you still stink all the same! I thought I will give a query this time, as she was doing the harder stuff all the time.
"Tell me your name. I will search", I offered. She told her full name. I typed it super fast. The website has its habit of adding some letters to the beginning or the end of names at will. You just don't know how to control it. And even if it does display some thing, it's just not sane! She did not come up. All I found was a junk of unorganized data.
I repeated the ploy of email id. Didn't work.
"You are in any Confession pages?"
"No. You know anyone from this school (she mentioned some school name, not important for the story)?"
"No."
She again gave an inkling.
"We have no choice, tell me any page where you do some activity. May be, we could find your name!"
"Alright go to Chess Confessions page. I would have liked the first post or something!"
She went to that page. To my horror, there was a stupid post that time with no likes or comments!
"Scroll down" I said. She did it.
As events unfolded, there were so many jobless people in that page and hence so many posts. With no offense to the users of that page, you guys are not helping my cause here! My comments were no where to be found.

"O...kay, I will like something here!" (Eating up all my pride - the first post was totally horrible. No one would even man up to post that one liner)
She smiled and said, "You can unlike this after everything is done!"
"Amazing, their brains!" (mindvoice)
So I liked it. She clicked the item. My name came. She clicked on the link and went to my profile.

(The story is far from over!)
When my profile slowly loaded, I heaved a huge sigh of relief at the moment of triumph. However...
to my dismay, there was no 'Add Friend' button. Only 'follow' and 'subscribe'! No mutual friend it seems!
"You have strict security settings, it seems...!", she said.
"But we are sitting right here! Can't facebook see that!? I know this person! U stupid Markie!"
There were no mutual friends, only common pages, that too, a very few, not of any use. Now what?
"Alright, I will send you a message. That way, you can see me!"
I was out of my mind. Still, I parked myself well and sent out an "I am-cool-with-it" smile. She 'inboxed' me.
In my phone, I opened the links "chat" and "messages", but there was none. She hinted "Reload!" I did the same, no use! There was no message. Only notifications. Where's the message???
"Mark Sucker_burp!"

Plan A, Plan B, Plan C... thanks to Chennai traffic, the bus was still moving without reaching the destination!
My Cover Photos were public. She was a kind person - 'like'd a few of the photos and told me this was the photo she liked. I duly followed the instructions. Opened the EXACT photo and found her name. Meanwhile, she checked her security settings - "Any one can send friend requests"
>> I gave The Friend Request!

So much for the 'technology'! And yeah, I unliked the post, you can't find it now! It was just a temporary variable. Destroyed it after using.
"Software Engineer"
ak

Jillu nu oru sandhippu!

ஹாய் !

I often say this! When ever I travel down south of my state, I always get this ‘feeling of belonging’!

Recently I went to தஞ்சாவூர் (Tanjore) with my CSE A (and E) classmates for a wedding. Mr.A___ (yeah, "Mr." from now onwards; well and truly!) tied ‘the knot’ on February 14 – no no, it was an arranged marriage!

The function was fun in the sense that we classmates all got to meet once again - possibly the beginning of many similar events! Also had a chance to catch a glimpse of the “Big” temple in the centre of the city amidst heavy rain! Yeah real rain, not like the ones in Madrasapattinam.

What is always impressive to my monitor-looking, bus-sleeping eyes is the unhurried pace of lives in the not-so glamourous towns of the south.

True, Tanjore is not yet ready, it just looks foot-in-mouth for the oddly placed Maruti Swifts, Taveras and SX4s – the roads are too tiny to accommodate the huge cars. Strangely, there are a surplus number of buses on roads – the buses are mostly half-filled or empty. The vehicles never cross 3^rd gear and I am sure of this – when our car went above 3^rd and 4^th, it was chased by dogs! Proof enough, the animals were not used to such speeds! And then there is the more-than-convincing pleasant-looking ‘Vegetarian’ restaurants; something that I am personally very happy about! Being a veggie and finding a good place to eat in any street is always a good thing!

நாங்கள் கல்யாணம் கண்டு களித்து விட்டு பெரிய கோவில் சென்றோம். Nature started blessing us with water-drops, progressively becoming heavier.
"என்ன டா பசங்களா! என்ன feeling-U?" (வாய்ஸ் from heaven)
 We were running a little behind schedule. We had to reach Chennai on 14th night to catch up for office the next day. You see, 'Leaves' are worth more than gold in the Corporate world. They will be available but you cannot use them.
"Lay-offs are easy;
day-offs aren't so!"

 We weren't prepared to leave without visiting the shrine! And we did just that.
Most of us were thinking what to do in the next 5 years or so with our lives... It wasn't easy. Some of us had jobs, some of us didn't, some wanted, some didn't; it's harder than semester exams to decide...
On the way back to our hotel rooms, we got the 'privilege' of getting this guy's auto.
ஸோ far ஸோ குட்!
And திஸ் is what happened... (we were three of us in the auto, with the driver in front)
Autoguy (AG): "எந்த ஊர் தம்பிங்களா?"
"சென்னை "
"படிக்கறீங்களா ?"
"வேலை ல இருக்கோம் "
(2 minutes silence)
AG: "இன்னிக்கு பெப்ரவரி 14. தனியா வந்து இருக்கீங்க?" (chuckles. He looked to be around 60-70)
"friend கல்யாணத்துக்கு வந்தோம் "
"ம்ம் ஹ்ம்ம் ... நானும் டிப்ளோமா படிச்சிருக்கேன்! வெல்டிங் வொர்க் பண்ணிருக்கேன், ஒரு 3 வருஷம்! ரொம்ப புழிஞ்சு எடுத்தாங்க. வேலை ய விட்டுட்டேன்! பிச்சை எடுத்திருக்கிறேன். accident ல கால் damage ஆய்டுச்சு! அதனால பிச்சை எடுக்க முடியல . ஏதோ இந்த ஆட்டோ வ வாங்கிட்டேன்!"
(எனக்கு வயிறு கலக்க ஆரம்பித்தது! "who is this guy???")
He continued...
"எல்லாரும் நைட் தான் தண்ணி போடுவாங்க! நான் காலை ல கூட போடுவேன்! full  தண்ணி தான்! எப்பவுமே தண்ணி ல தான் இருப்பேன்!"
 (Dude! Watch the road!)
My friend intervened... "அண்ணே! steady ஆ  தானே ஓட்றீங்க , அப்றோம் என்ன!"
"அதெல்லாம் ஓடும் பா! அவ்ளோ ஏன் இந்த ஆட்டோக்கு RC book, registration கூட கிடையாது!  "
(That's ok!)

"எனக்கு லைசென்ஸ் um இல்லை! "

(what??? I started to analyze... No license, no RC, no insurance, PLUS watered! Will I reach home alive? Forget home, atleast our hotel room??? It was raining; clouds dim; vehicles whizzing past... it all seemed so 'perfect'! :D)
"போலீஸ் கேக்க மாட்டாங்களா?"
"யார் தம்பி இதெல்லாம் கேக்கறா! இது என்ன சென்னை யா???" (smiles, all along!)
-----
After we got down, he asked "5 ரூபா எக்ஸ்ட்ரா தாங்க பா!"
Yeah, right! Value addition for our lives! :)
This man doesn't really portray my sense of belonging, but definitely, the 'takeaway' from this,
"Life goes on"

 இப்படிப் பட்ட மனிதர்களும் வாழ்கின்றனர் ! போராடு! "தொங்காதே"!
Yeah, that was heavy!

வாழ்க வளமுடன்!
"Proud to be a தமிழன்!"


ak

Men ... Women!

Two and a half men... How I Met Your Mother... Big Bang Theory... FRIENDS... Russell Peters... The list may be long. But there's one person who rocks forever - JERRY SEINFELD - the ultimate genius of all !

Going with the topic, don't expect a detailed essay on this controversial topic. What I am going to share with you here is a funny take on the subtle differences between men and women by Seinfeld. Got to agree, see one of his episodes (Seinfeld 1989-1999) and you will become his fan!

"I swear, I have absolutely no idea what women are thinking. I don't get it, okay? I I I admit, I, I'm not getting the signals. I am not getting it! Women, they're so subtle, their little everything they do is subtle. Men are not subtle, we are obvious. Women know what men want, men know what men want, what do we want? We want women, that's it! It's the only thing we know for sure, it really is. We want women. How do we get them? Oh, we don't know 'bout that, we don't know. The next step after that we have no idea. This is why you see men honking car-horns, yelling from construction sites. These are the best ideas we've had so far. The car-horn honk, is that a beauty? Have you seen men doing this? What is this? The man is in the car, the woman walks by the front of the car, he honks. E-eeehh, eehhh, eehhh! This man is out of ideas. How does it? E-e-e-eeeehhhh! "I don't think she likes me." The amazing thing is, that we still get women, don't we? Men, I mean, men are with women. You see men with women. How are men getting women, many people wonder. Let me tell you a little bit about our organization. Wherever women are, we have a man working on the situation right now. Now, he may not be our best man, okay, we have a lot of areas to cover, but someone from our staff is on the scene. That's why, I think, men get frustrated, when we see women reading articles, like "Where to meet men?" We're here, we are everywhere. We're honking our horns to serve you better."


Until next time,
Enjoy the last week of 2011! :)

Classically Classical !

A big 'வணக்கம்' to all readers! Yes, Tamil is overflowing here since it's the MUSIC SEASON here in Chennai and all the 'sabha's are flooding with people!
I've always had the feeling that Chennai did NOT represent Tamil Nadu in the recent times. Probably, I was wrong. During the months of October to December, some how Chennai manages to put up a decent show! And How!!!

Coimbatore - The Complete Place!

I wish all my Chennai readers a happy monsoon! :)

சென்னையில் மண்டை காய்ந்து உட்கார்ந்து இருக்கும் நண்பர்களுக்கு இந்த
blog post கொஞ்சம் சிரமத்தை உண்டாகும். ப்ளீஸ் பியர் வித் மீ!

I had the chance, rather, an opportunity to visit Coimbatore for a period of two days this summer and I got to say I am lucky to have done that. I really understood why CBE (Coimbatore) remains special to me.

Here are a few things that will attract you instantly if you are a Chennaiite (presently and also agmark)!

1. BUSES!

You will be surprised at the ticket fares. I travelled some 11 stops for 2 rupees! Also, the appearance of the tickets is totally different. Back here, it is written in rupees. In CBE, it's written 300 காசு,

Vacations!

"Cometh the exams, cometh the vacations"

Vacations are always good. Different people have different ways to enjoy. But all the same, everyone has fun. I am no exception either. But sometimes,during some point of time these days, the following doubts come to my mind. I, being basically a crazy person, can't help it. It's tough to predict how my brain works sometimes!

* I always count the number of days as soon as the holidays start - being a chess player has its pros and cons!
* After counting, I begin to think - how many days can I have fun?
* Vacations are supposed to be used for something constructive or to relax and get tired?
* Does it matter? :)
* Should I prepare for higher studies?
(Am I going to do higher studies? lol)
* What the hell are my friends doing? Can I call them up and ask how they are doing? What if I make an ass out of myself by asking them silly questions?
* Holidays are sometimes boring. That means College days can sometimes be fun. Oh no, am I becoming a nerd???
* Why am I thinking like this?
* Fuck it! I am sleeping! :) [this is always the end my mind gives!]
"What a life would this be without mind voices?" - Chetan Bhagat

Happy holidays!

Have fun! :)

2010 - a QUICK REWIND [<<<]

2010 was a great year to me. I hope u guys had a great year too!

"Every second, we grow older... Every year??? " :) [no don't think about this :) !]

2010 started traditionally with Delhi open, this time, Chennai open sneaked in too! I did not play great chess in these two opens but still enjoyed! Will remember the GOA trip with SRM... wow! That was fun! Hope we get more college tours in 2011 :) Poland trip made me a much stronger person (I saw politics against me :) )! And we won the inter universities - both South West and All India. It was a perfect ending to 2010!

Many people had a great positive influence on life this year... Can't name them here, the list is really long! But thanks to all my friends! :) U make every year special!

 These are the things that I learnt in easy and hard ways this year...

1) In any organisation, OFFICIALS suck!

2) There's nothing much u can do if they (officials) are against you!

3) Even flights can wait for u, if u have hope (if u want to know how, leave a comment)... Thanks Ashwin for making Lufthansa wait for me... lol :)

4) Boys need to make 'sense' to all times times unlike girls!

5) Life sometimes resembles tamil movies (rain scenes when we are suffering or too happy!)

6) Copying in exams (in college) is not an achievement. It's a habit!

7) Indian media has become so bad; test matches have become the most important thing to watch on TV!

8) All people online in facebook chat don't really want to chat! :)

9) Blogging is fun!

10) If you really want to get something and have 100% hope for it, you can really get it... it just has to happen!

Have a fantastic decade ahead guys! Wishing u a happy 2011 :)

Cheers!

ak

Christmas - In TN style!

Hi all! I am a South Indian, and proud to be one!

This weekend was a bit different for me. After a long time, I went to a temple - not to pray but for a mridangam performance by my friend who is in 11th standard. It was held in Ayyapan temple (Anna Nagar - everyone knows this place). I went with my mom.Got to say, I like Ayyapan temple and Shiva temple because they give me this விபூதி and I always eat it - it tastes good! :) The performance started at 8.00 PM

A 7th standard girl sang. A 6th standard guy (who looked so cute and funny) played the violin and my friend handled the mridangam. In the first five min, I thought 'What the hell am I doing here? I don't even know classical music!' But then I thought, alright I just came for a different experience in this monotonous vacation.

After 20 minutes (it was a 45 min performance), however, I started liking it (one big reason - I did not understand) bcz the rhythms went inside me and I was putting தாளம் for the mridangam (other instruments of course did not reach me at all). After seeing so many episodes of Airtel Super Singer in Vijay TV, I was not absolute zero in music (but relative zero!). Till the end, I enjoyed like I knew music A to Z!That's the magic classical music creates - the things which we see on TV are nothing. Live performance is a different story altogether!

Christmas day - my best friend from school (Bharathi MHSS, Coimbatore) came to my house and the 6 hours he spent were one of my happiest times in Chennai I can ever imagine! (I am not going to write about that, tat's only for us)

After he left at about 6 PM and I started for the next kutcheri by the same mridangam specialist, this time in Cine Association hall, near HCL building (and Kamala theatre) in Vadapalani. One thing I heard was that all the performers never did any rehearsal, they just came and played and sang. Also, they don't even know whom they are performing with. They said this was the work of a professional! I have NO idea how they perform with sync without even knowing what song or whom they are performing with! May be, they know the தாளம் and ராகம். But still, to musical retards like me, it sounded impossibly interesting!

When my friend went to perform, the 'ganjira' was handled by a 23 year old guy (who they said could play 23 instruments, when I counted the names of instruments I knew!), violin was played by a girl who looked about 22 (no she was not that beautiful!) and 3 female singers one after the other. The performance lasted for one and a half hours! In the previous one, my friend was the eldest, now the youngest! This time, it was funny because of the 'understanding' between my friend and the 23 specialist!

The first female was from Bangalore and never knew tamil and it was obvious from the fact that she did not sing with 'sruthi' (even I could find that, so u can imagine how bad it was!). Also before she went on stage, she fixed a digicam with a tripod just below the stage (this was too much actually!) and I guessed she lacked substance. It was not a horrible performance, but still bad by music season standards! Now came the funny part. The ganjira and mridangam got a wonderful chemistry going (the 2 guys young and old) - they could not help smiling to themselves. They split their job wonderfully that at one instant, only one was playing... the rendition never really needed both! To watch all this (they had just eye contact going) from the audience side was simply amazing (my friend's parents were telling me what was going on)... The fact that she had written the 'swaraas' in paper and looking at them and singing did not help much. There was not much breathe control!

The next singer was much better than the first... definitely! At least, there was better 'sruthi' this time and our friends responded with their instruments more prudently!

The third singer was from our national poet's family. Bharathiyaar's grand-daughter had come (she looked about 80). Her son also had come (he looked about 60). His granddaughter was the singer (she looked about 18). She had lovely tamil accent of course. But the singing was pretty ordinary. Her stress on the accent (which was more than necessary) meant that she could not control her voice for long. Also, the transition from one song to another (the in-between) times were not good. She sang about 6 songs (given the influence) and we could enjoy only one of them. All in all, it was a great performance... by the mridangam and ganjira!

This is one Christmas I cannot forget, because it was so different from watching pointless programs on TV which they call special programs! I celebrated in pure tamilian style! :)

Happy New Year to all! :)
ak

First Love Poem!

Well, as the title suggests, u may be expecting the first love poem I had composed! No, I am not doing that, also, I have never written one... If at all I write, I will post it here!
This is the first poem that I really loved! It had made such an impression on me even though I was a kid, that I became a very determined person from childhood (yeah). From that day on, I also started to read more in the English literature!
Read and enjoy this wonderful poem by Robert Louis Stevenson!

From a Railway Carriage

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows, the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away on the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone for ever!

 I know what u r thinking! Yeah, I studied in Tamil Nadu and this was a memory poem! :)
Until next time,
Keep Smiling :)