| Songs from Underground |
[Feb. 14th, 2007|09:49 am] |
To my sensual feelings you struck a chord,
Deep down reverberating my soul,
Bus turning and twisting to driver's fancy
Your soul sent for me
Sweet dear, you were near , by the time my heart winked
When the wings of love gave me a F
You swayed across
To fetch me an A
What needs my failing soul
Than a sweet , killing look from your heart
Acoss the G chord I place my fingers
To keep in mind not to fail and dispair in wain
Whenever my fingers make a strain , a glowing pain
Me thinks of your say
'Daily 20 minutes is worth than 2 hours on weekends' |
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| 'Rai' music Introduction |
[Feb. 9th, 2007|11:47 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Yaum Wara Yaum | ] |
I've taken a special interest in listening to 'Rai' music for the past few months and must say that I'm astounded.
Rai is a typical folk form of music from a place called Oran in Algeria. Its roots can be traced from 19th century but lately in second half of 20th century taken to the world music status by some 'Rai' musicians. 'Rai means opinion and ,as the name suggests, the lyrics of Rai songs are opinions about subjects that are considered taboo in Algeria.
Algeria was a French colony and has a long history of Arabic,French language down in its roots. It's for this reason that I started to listen to those songs. Arabic unlike lots of Western languages is not a digital language. By digital language, I mean , that the words cannot be stretched to groove with the starting of next word and thereby produce different frequencies of sound. Arabic , like French , is called a musical language for this same reason. Even the letters look musical. There is a continuous flow of varying frequency sounds when one hears Arabic.
I can easily conclude , from whatever I've heard that , the range of 'gamagams' an Arabic singer can produce is unimaginable owing only to the nature of that language and its sounds ( kind of comes deep from the throat ). ( May be 'Ghazzals' belong to same genre ?? )
We should remember that 'Rai' is a kind of street folk form and at the same time one cannot , with lots of grief , deny the status that this form enjoys compared to lots of Indian folk song forms across the globe. Don't know whom to blame. To give a small comparison , one should listen to NavaneedhaKrishnan's 'naatupura paadal' and we just cannot stop tapping our legs.
I encountered the same experience when listening to the latest as well as old Rai music.Listen to Cheb Mami or Samira Said songs ( also Cheb Hasni is good , but a little soft ) to understand the context. This kind of reverberating voice is heard in Sting's 'Desert Rose' song featuring Cheb Mami. Who can forget the 'Didi' wave created by Cheb Khaled in late 90's in India ? Also 'Deli Deli' , 'Yaum Wara Yaum' featuring Samira and Mami is mesmerizing. This guy is so very good.
In Algeria new generation male 'Rai' singers are called 'Cheb' and female singers are called 'Cheba'.Rai music has different nuances and history behind the form ( just like Bob Marley's songs ).
They belonged to a generation wherein freedom was demanded through music and the whole population was united through music. |
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| The Guest |
[Jan. 24th, 2007|10:40 am] |
On a normal day he would reach the railway station, where he takes a shuttle to office, in 15 minutes.
Today , it had taken him a little over 20 minutes to do it. His daily routine is to listen to news , songs and by the time his shuttle reaches office his playlist would have completed.But today the shuttle was stuffed and the operation's mission was to stand with numb legs , bending like a bow.
On his way to station he meets interesting people; flexible bowel movement aided by the dogs taking their owners for a walk , a Bangladeshi unloading vegetables from van , nature's wheel kept gyrating by the people with fishing kits along the riverside-millipedes stuffed in a plastic bag,council workers loading trash into coloured vans.
Today he sees none of them. For him in this lonely place all it meant was thriving life and he misses them today.
Let's welcome the guest , not in anyone's R.S.V.P list , for the first time after last Christmas.
It started snowing at the city. |
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| Dream |
[Dec. 21st, 2006|08:38 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  awake | ] |
Somehow, in the middle of the night, I was reminded of my first tamil story in my dream. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 18th, 2006|08:54 pm] |
When we were young parents teach us a lot. Quite a lot.
I don't know about lot other kids, atleast for me I was not allowed to be a 'big mouth' . Though most of the times I intented to be that way , it was more in a controlled fashion. I did not grow knowing things that would help me do everything on my own in future.Most of you , who were brought up in 'typical' conservative middle class family , would recollect and nod in agreement to these things. I was not allowed to maintain the money I received from my parents or grand parents , lest one would pickup bad habits by the abundance of money. I had never been left alone to manage my studies , be it to decide the course to attend or the kind of programs that I can watch in TV. How about providing your views about politics and politicians - 'big mouth' again.
I'm not sure if any of us can remember having demanded anything from politics or politicians during our childhood ( may be from the age of 10 to 15). Were we allowed to talk/question the party people who would come visiting our places during election time? Nor did I know about the parties that existed during that time. Politics was left to be discussed only we attain a certain age , that too with a boundary which does not , in any way , affect the gradual course of our living. Till the age of 13, I never did know the actual cause of the problem at Srilanka between LTTE and the government. I was doing my eigth standard and had been to my grandmother's house for vacation. One night as usual we had dinner and slept late at 11 PM , only to be woken up again in the early hours to render my tender ears the heartless death of Rajiv Gandhi. That was the first time in my 13 years I had known that there exists groups of people outside our realm of thinking , who can be as a whole hated to the core by most citizens of my country. Till then, I had not seen such massive outburts amongst people , forgetting caste based barriers , to vehemently disown an organisation. The incident was reflected in almost all kinds of media , be it Television , Newspapers or word-of-mouth and since then it has taken into me a deep rooted view about such incidents.
At school I was always taught about how India had friendly neighbours and how lots of countries always wants to have ties with India politically. That was the first time I knew that some group had gone to India's bad books and I also grew up with the same opinion.
When the so-called ethics that we believe in fail to happen in real world , thats when life goes topsy and turns you by 360 degrees. I had the same feeling when last week following Anton Balasingham's death, tamil people at eastern part of London were mouring for his death. All through the road I was shopping , there were songs mourning the death of the great leader, lots of posters showing Prabakaran helping people in his country.I was afraid to walk on that road.My mind is conditioned in the other way and I find it so very being part of something which I was not conditioned to look/read/know about.
More about it later. |
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| Singularity |
[Dec. 6th, 2006|04:13 am] |
Hymn I
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குலங்களாய ஈரிரண்டில் ஒன்றிலும் பிறந்திலேன்
நலங்களாய நற்கலைகள் நாவிலும் நவின்றிலேன்
புலன்கள் ஐந்தும் வென்றிலேன் பொறியிலேன் புனித நின்
இலங்குபாத மன்றிமற்றோர் பற்றிலேன் எம் ஈசனே
Born, not in any holy blood
Practised, not any good arts
Given to all lowly habbits
My only abode
O! God! is your holy feet.
Hymn II
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Singularity has taken different forms in Pagan or Eastern religions. Following is a Hymn from one of the Alwars ( 7th Cenury AD)
ஒன்றும் தேவும் உலகும் உயிரும் மற்றும் யாதும் இல்லா
அன்று நான்முகன் தன்னோடு தேவர் உலகோடு உயிர் படைத்தான்
குன்றம் போல் மணி மாடம் நீடு திருக்குருகூர் அதனுள்
நின்ற ஆதிப் பிரான் நிற்க மற்றைத் தெய்வம் நாடுதிரே
Why run behind others?
When once upon something
When Universe , Life ,Time was nothing
Brahma with Our God created Universe. |
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| God played dice I |
[Nov. 22nd, 2006|03:19 am] |
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Throughout the history of mankind , men of valour,dignity,warriors,artists,atheists,mathematicians,rulers & the rules,living & vegetables, be it during their brightest of the days , may be when the last strands of the rope which kept their hopes tight were strained had always been trying to prove one point. That 'God did not , if not in his dreams, played dice'.
To identify , model ;bring the future affront. If scientist,atheists are trying to find out, through their equations,comparisons to define the laws driving man,universe- all they are ding is to define some geometric sense,an order in everything. With this order , they want to predict the future.
The irony is this - the researchers looking for intelligent life signs on other planets also look for geometric constructions. If one such is found , there *may* be intelligent life on the planet.
All the personals,gentlemen -let's call them as , knowingly or unknowingly are trying to prove some intelligence life behind the construction of this Universe !
Always been finding ways to contradict themselves and fail in their convictions,strengths. Inner-sense to fail ; winning at the same time.
The point is , I'm going to add further confusion , by begining on my journey , oops , a journal on 'Demystifying Quantum theory' . For our own comprehension. |
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| Limericks |
[Jun. 15th, 2006|08:09 pm] |
Newton's Apple
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Ding Dong like a bell
Rushing gale, Oh I fell
On the ground, near the one
Only fistful brain gives him fun
Come close,I've a story to tell
Nero
--------
One move across completes the riddle
Don't disturb me in the middle
Let hell break loose
Stay close till I muse
Look,I don't play the fiddle |
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| Symbols |
[May. 21st, 2006|06:13 am] |
Mauve sky, broken twigs
Gushing blood,Gestalt thoughts
Frozen coordinates,orihon sensations
Residual insignia. |
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| India rediscovered. |
[May. 16th, 2006|09:21 am] |
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India is being re-discovered by those ,who in their earlier days,mortgaged their brains to the West. History treads this path, does it not? |
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| Here and There |
[May. 4th, 2006|08:35 am] |
Tootling over friendly flowers
You say "There, I see Love"
"That's my nest", I reply. |
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| Insignia |
[May. 4th, 2006|08:23 am] |
Treasure are the moments
Stolen from omniscient time
Where nothing flowed except Love
Demarcates existence and its essence
Guarded,trapped,devoured
In the purgatory of Love |
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| Hindu marriage |
[Apr. 26th, 2006|09:19 am] |
Writing to JinHo made me think about how a non-Indian would understand an orthodox Hindu marriage.What would Mangal Sutra , piety , sacred texts , recital , marriage hall , brahmins ('vathiyAr'), rituals would mean to him. Here is what I wrote to him and in the next blog would capture his reactions and responses.
If you attend an orthodox Hindu marriage , you will come to know lots of Hindu rituals, what bride's saree is(a traditional dress of India), how bridegroom ties a sacred thread around the neck of the bride ( This sacred thread has an ornament made of gold). The sacred thread is called 'Mangala sutra' and is anointed with turmeric paste. This is considered to be sacred and the women who carry this , signify their piety to their husband.Apart from this insignia, there is also a silver ring which is worn in the leg finger. This is again a mark of marriage, but as you must be aware that teenagers these days wear the rings in trivial places!
On the rituals front , you can enjoy the mantras (Vedas or Sutras) sacred texts being recited , when the bride and bride-groom sit in front of 'hOmum'.'HOmum' is a square area where dry grass is set to fire and loads of oil,ghee are added to create lots of smoke and to keep it glowing. This is for sending message to Fire God about the people getting married , for their welfare, to safeguard them throughout their stay in this World. Then the couple go around the fire holding their hands.
In olden days , there was a practice of child marriage in India. The bride groom would be ten year old, hardly knowing to button his pants and the bride would be five year old,still making her bed wet. During their marriage there were more rituals. Most of the rituals are aimed at making the couple comfortable as that would be the first they would have ever met. I hope you know that in India arranged marriages are the normal way of marrying , wherein , the couple meet just few weeks before their marriage. So hardly, they are in mental synch, leave alone the physical one. These rituals are aimed at making them comfortable. For instance , some of the rituals include playing a game with coconut,to pick a ring from a pot filled with water wherein the couple dip at the same time.
Though most of these rituals are meaningless these days, yet you can witness them at marriage halls. This reminds me to inform you that the Hindu marriages in most cases happen at a marriage hall and in some cases at Temple. For this purpose marriage halls are built throughout India and they charge exorbitantly high for letting it out. There is no concept of exchanging rings, though nowadays some couples do. |
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| Rig-Veda,The |
[Apr. 24th, 2006|12:28 pm] |
It's interesting to read a White man's translation of Rig-Veda.The translation gives an impression about the originators of veda. It seems that the authors were a group of ascetics,controlling their chastity ,eulogizing Indra,Agni and bunch of other Gods.Barrels of Soma are offered to Agni,Indra to crush the author's enemies. Some of the idiosyncrasy of the authors are interesting. They evince the ultimate methodology for revenge.
Taste this:
HYMN XXI. Indra-Agni.
1 INDRA and Agni I invoke fain are we for their song of praise:
Chief Soma-drinkers are they both.
2 Praise ye, O men, and glorify Indra-Agni in the holy rites:
Sing praise to them in sacred songs.
3 Indra and Agni we invite, the Soma-drinkers, for the fame
Of Mitra, to the Soma-draught.
4 Strong Gods, we bid them come to this libation that stands ready here:
Indra and Agni, come to us.
5 Indra and Agni, mighty Lords of our assembly, crush the fiends:
Childless be the devouring ones.
6 Watch ye, through this your truthfulness, there in the place of spacious view
Indra and Agni, send us bliss.
Full text can be found here |
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| History recap |
[Apr. 18th, 2006|05:37 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | scared | ] |
I had a super dinner of my carcass with shit as extra topping.
While reading Trotsky's autobiography I felt how History has been arrogant,sagacious,cruel to the best of the heroes.
Trotsky's tragic death, death of Trotskyism,atrocious behaviour of Joseph Stalin's red army- all these are highlighted in the book. All these makes Joseph Stalin equal to comtemporary Hitler. By the amount of killings and strategic plans to unweed his enemies, Joseph Stalin outsmarted Chanakya.
This makes me feel sometimes all the systems are cruel to one class or other.During Russian revelutions it was the people who tried to show off their erudition were eradicated. Proper burial ground was built and over which Russia stands today. Ofcourse most of the land areas were once burial grounds, but never would any progressing world have witnessed such tortureous,inhuman,beastly attitude as in the first half of 20th century.
After this ,it's the world's cunningly richest nation's invasion on Iraq that stands in the row to Purgotories.No doubt the civilian killings has been much less than that happened in WWI and WWII. But this stat does not soothe our souls, as the times we live are different. We are living in a world where the gates of treasury of most countries are opened up on free will( inevitable?) or by force. We are trading with the same country which connively hiding its weapons of mass distruction (tangible or intangible) has been demanding countries around the globe for declaring their WMD like a good samaritan. Its the same guy who had demanded that USSR remove its missiles from Cuba and successfully implemented the same.Again its our friend , who demamded that Russia remove all its military base from N.Korea and Cuba.
If Mr.Bush and his diplomatic officers are ready to amend their nasty behaviour,but at a cost, then it's called 'handholding' under developed countries.
How will I indemnify my actions to my unicell granny.I feel humiliated. |
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| Going or Staying? |
[Feb. 2nd, 2006|12:24 pm] |
Khalil Gibran's work opens up new dimensions to the way we see this world.Its amazing how human brain works,interprets,renders,translates vision!
Sand And Foam (1926)
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1. Only once have I been made mute. It was when a man asked me, "Who are you?"
2. My house says to me, "Do not leave me, for here dwells your past." And the road says to me, "Come and follow me, for I am your future." And I say to both my house and the road, "I have no past, nor have I a future. If I stay here, there is a going in my staying; and if I go there is a staying in my going. Only love and death will change all things."
Lot to ponder in the second point. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 1st, 2006|03:05 pm] |
Like every Hindu hymns the first stanza of 'NaAlayira Divya Prabhandham' , as arranged by NadhaMuni starts with praising the Lord. NadhaMuni arranged all the 4000 songs from different( there were 12, including few female Azhwars,importantly Andal) Azhwars , which were composed at different periods in history, the oldest one being at 500 AD.
The opening hymn(composed by PeriAzhwar) goes like this-
பல்லாண்டு பல்லாண்டு பல்லாயிரத்தாண்டு பலபோடி நூறாயிரம்.
மல்லாண்ட திண்தோள் மணிவண்ணா உன் சேவடி செவ்வித் திருக்காப்பு
Translates to
Manivanna!!With well build shoulders
You crushed the evil;
With your enchanting lotus foot
May you live for thousands of perennial years
These hymns are considered to be one of the best composed stanza's in Tamil literature. Most of the semantics are tough to construct and are considered to have adhered to strict Tamil grammar. |
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| PeriAzhwar- Thirumozhi |
[Jan. 31st, 2006|05:26 pm] |
Translation without changing the meaning and charisma of the source is tough. These attempts , no doubt are novice. But I'll try to improve in further works.
PeriAzhwar- Thirumozhi (Source)
துன்னிய பேரிருள் சூழ்ந்து உலகைமூட
மன்னிய நான்மறை முற்றும் மறைந்திட
பின்னிவ் வுலகினில் பேரிருள் நீங்க அன்று
அன்னமதானானே அச்சோ அச்சோ
அருமறை தந்தானே அச்சோ அச்சோ
My feeble attempt
O! Lotus ,Rest over my shoulder
Hug me,the Source of Veda
To have shown the light
When darkness engulfed the World
When the Universal Veda was history |
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| Vocabulary , imagination |
[Jan. 31st, 2006|01:00 pm] |
Fifteen minutes - to understand
One hour - to translate
Happiness - boundless.
Did I say I'm low on confidence? Shame on my vocabulary and translation skills.
As per records ,I did my education in English!!
As I read PeriAzhwar's 'paAdal', I envy his adroitness,imagination and command over language.
தன்முகத்துச் சுட்டி தூங்க தூங்கத் தவழ்ந்து போய்
பொன்முகக் கிண்கிணி ஆர்ப்பப் புழுதி அளைகின்றான்
என்மகன் கோவிந்தன் கூத்தினை இள மாமதீ
நின்முகம் கண்ணுளவாகில் நீயிங்கே நோக்கிப் போ
Crawling He comes mischievously
His anklets up ground dust
Oh! Moon , look at my playful son Govindan!!
Observe here , if your face beholds eyes!! |
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