Acts of faith

I am not an atheist. Really (though for some reason, my friends and family seem to think I am)

I grew up listening to my family preach the principles of Advaitha - it all made perfect sense -

* You get good or bad things based on your karma
* Your next life time is determined by your good deeds in this life time
* So really, just be good, and suck it up and pay for your past misdeeds
* And sometime in the distant future, you will start pulling out of your good deeds-bad deeds rut and truly start seeking God
* And you will find his divinity in every living thing on this planet
* And you will start loving everyone selflessly and not even hurt a fly
* And you will be released from the bondage of life and death and become one with the One
* And all through this journey, your Bhakthi will help you stay focused on the right path

I always took pride in what I thought was truly absolute devotion, which in my words was complete love and acceptance of God's will. If he wanted me to suffer, I would. I refused to bargain. I chose instead to accept.

However, my friends and family (while acknowledging that i get all basic concepts right), want me to sneak God some favors, and escape from doing time for my bad karma. I truly don't get it. Would my beloved Anjaneya hurt me if I accidentally sang a hymn in praise of Janani instead of his Chalisa on Saturday? Would Dhakshinamurthi refuse to bless me because I didn't have the time to make sundal, as I was busy making money that i am saving up so that my husband and I don't have to work till we are sixty, so that we can retire early and volunteer all our time for good causes?

Don't get me wrong. I am all for prayers. They soothe the heart and help lead you along the right path. But why pray only for 10 minutes a day and why think only those 10 minutes count? Why cant the life that I lead become my prayer? And why cant Love be my God?

I HEART NY TIMES!!!!!!

Its a dawn of a new era....free speech that is truly free! For many years, NY times restricted access to articles by some of it's most important columnists via a subscription only service - times select. NY times has finally figured that there is one thing people truly expect from anything online - free stuff. So, they are offering access to the likes of Maureen Dowd, without the annoying Times Select log in screen!

And why does this matter? NY times is an important voice in the Murdoch era. Their columnists spoke their minds even during the years when toeing the party line was the in thing. So, do yourself and in turn the planet a big favor. Do read the NY times.. its free after all!

Bol na halke halke...

"aaga moththam sangeetham unakku saapadu maadhiriya?

illa, sangeetham enakku swaasam maadhiri"

This is one of my favorite dialogues from Sindhu bhairavi. It totally struck a chord with me. I am obsessed with music. You cannot tell this by looking at my (non-existent) CD collection, or my humble 2gb walkman/SonyPod. Music is in my heart, my head and truly in my swaasam. Its presence is so powerful, its almost like a friend or a family member. Ofcourse, I have the same frustrations as with a real person - sometimes we are simply not in synch. And then, there are times when I truly fall in love.

And I did last week. Reading my cousin's not-so-glowing review of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, i had to watch it. Hey, seeing the final product, the producers should have really called it Doom Barabar Doom (in Su's words), marketed the whole thing as a very clever spoof, and they could have started their own scary movie style franchise! Anyway, after constantly ff-ing the movie (in both ways), i finally got to the Bol na halke song. OH MY GOD! It is truly one of the most brilliant numbers I have heard in a very long time.

The beginning of the song is slow, just a few tentative tabla beats, and then, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's golden voice goes "Dhaage thod laaon..." and you are transported. To the narrow streets of old Delhi in the 18th century. To the Taj Mahal. You can almost feel the swish of gossamer veils, inhale the fragrance of gulabs, and taste the pedas from Agra! The song just keeps getting better. Mahalakshmi's performance is a true revelation - Soulful, romantic, and simply brilliant. She pours emotion into every syllable - not just the brilliant lyrics by Gulzar, but even when she sings plain old swaras.

All kinds of instruments are used. There is a wonderful 10 second electronic guitar piece (immediately after the first time she sings Bol na halke halke). It is simultaneously modern, and wonderfully classical as well, and woefully short. I liked the picturization too, all fantasy, slow motion shots, and Abhishek is kinda cute!

So really, this movie has not been all doom. For the past five days, this wonderful 5 minute slice of heaven has truly made my heart Jhoom.

Music Review Kannamoochi Yenada

Ok, this is really more like a review of one song in the movie - Sanjaram seiyyum kangal. For the past 2 days, this is the only song I have listened to during my drive to and from work. About 40 times to be precise.


Promise to self and more importantly my blog readers - I WILL NOT BITCH ABOUT MADHUSHREE IN THIS POST (though there is enough material, just in the context of this song) Well, I'll probably just make a teeny mention somewhere towards the end of the post about the massive thamizh kolai and just rant a little at Yuvan Shankar Raja. But like i mentioned in my earlier post, this is one of the two things I have to accept if i want to continue to enjoy Thamizh music.


Sanjaram is easily one of Yuvan's best to date. Everything about the song is unique and brilliant. Yuvan seems to deliberately underplay the instruments, and the focus is truly on the lyrics. I was just about to type my favorite lyrics in the song, but then realized I have to type the entire song! Its sheer poetry. There is a violin piece, before the first saranam, and everytime I hear it, I am reminded of Ilayaraja. No, Yuvan is not "inspired" in a plagiaristic way - it almost seems like he is saluting his Dad is the most creative way possible.


Shankar Mahadevan is inspired. His voice soars, and is perfectly complimented by Yuvan's innovative sound arrangement of echoes, which makes the song also sound refreshingly modern and youthful. In the second saranam, there are portions where the percussion instrument is replaced by the sound of water. It almost sounds like someone tapping the surface of a bowl of water instead of a tabla. I LOVE IT!!


Ok - now the rant. I know i bitch about Madhushree non stop. I know i sound tedious and repetitive. I am really trying to keep an open mind and hoping she would grow on me, but no way. She is terrible in this song - many words are bungled, and looks like not one person in the entire production crew has made the effort to correct the mistakes. S.V Shekhar in a drama tells someone "dei, ne pesum podhey eppadi spelling mistake varudhu?" With Madhushree, ava paadum podhey spelling mistakes, and apparently, neither Yuvan nor Priya cared. She ends up taking all the kurils in the song and flipping them with the nedils and vice versa Just a few examples-

* Instead of "un vaasam thangivida", she sings "un vaasam thaangivida". So, the meaning gets changed from "your fragrance lingers in my heart" to "your fragrance is tolerated in my heart"!!

*"Paarvaigal ondrai serkadho" - Should it not be Paarvaigal ondraai serkadho?

* i think its supposed to be "thodu thodu" (which makes sense in the context of the song), but you hear all kinds of versions from "thada thada" the first time to "thoda thoda"

You cannot really blame Madhushree for the lyrics, because to me, Yuvan and the director Priya are to be blamed equally if not more. But, even as a singer, Madhushree ends up sounding very very mediocre, even technique wise. She sings with zero gamakams, does not convey any of the "yekkam" in the lyrics and is barely able to mouth some of the lines in the lower octaves.

I hate sounding like a bitch, and I am normally not this critical about anyone. But music is such a wonderful thing. Bhaava is so important when you perform, and there are so many wonderful singers out there, it is a shame to see someone waste the great opportunities they have been blessed with. Often, years down the line, the ages we lived in are defined by the works of art we created. So, is our generation going to be looked at as one full of "sor-pizhais" and "karuthu-pizhais"???

Music Review - Bheema

I spent the past week floating in a wonderful haze of euphoria, all thanks to three amazing songs by Harris Jeyaraj in Bheema.

Enadhuyirey Enadhuyirey -

This is in the munbe va genre - slow, melodious, romantic. Nikhil Mathew is soulful. Sadhana Sargam's thamizh is surprisingly better than usual, but the song would have been even better if Harris had used Shreya. I checked out the singers on Raaga and found that Chinmayi's name was also listed for this song. Then i realized that Chinmayi has actually sung the second saranam, but i would not have known it was her if i had not read the album credits. This is the major trouble with her - she is an excellent singer, but for some reason, ends up sounding entirely different in every song. Being versatile is not a bad thing, but, I'm not sure how she can make a lasting impression without a signature voice.

Siru paarvaiyaley -

I love Karthik! His voice is young, peppy and near perfect. I'm listening to Harini after a while. She has matured as a singer, and its a pleasure to hear her sing the beautiful lyrics

"thumbiyaaga maari undhan veedu varavaa
thoongum unnai thottu paarthu muththam idavaa"

Mudhal mazhai -

If you ignore the "mehu mehu" throughout the song, this is easily one of Harris' best. Mahathi is superb - she sounds like a seasoned carnatic singer, but her voice is also light, and young, like a really cool version of Bombay Jayshree. I love the lyrics in this song too....

"Ore naal unnai naanum kaanaa vittaal en vaazhvil andha nannaley illai
ore naal unnai naanum paarthey vittal annaalin neellam podhavillai"

However, in order to appreciate these songs, I have forced myself to accept two annoying things that many Thamizh composers do -

*Pet peeve 1 - Use singers who do not bother figuring out the right way to pronounce thamizh words -

I do not have a problem with hindi singers performing thamizh numbers. The wonderful thing about true rasikas is the way we appreciate and enjoy the real spirit of music without restricting ourselves to the narrow confines of languages. Afterall, the mecca of carnatic music is Chennai and not Hyderabad (i mention this in the context of Thyagaraja's telugu compositions), and didnt SPB became the voice of Salman Khan during his best days? I love Shreya Goshal. Her pronunciation of thamizh words is near perfect, and if you listen to her soulful renditions of munbe va and elangathu veesudhey, you wouldnt believe she is not a thamizh speaker. Madhushree however just kills me. Its not her accent which bugs me, but the very mutiliation of one of the greatest treasures of the world - thamizh. In Vaaji vaaji, she sings "azhagai saani idu" instead of "azhagai saanai idu". Small difference? No way!!! Anyway, it looks like i am the only person getting rattled by her voice. She ends up getting to sing really good numbers such as Mayilirage and unakkul naane, and now Ragasiya kanavugal in Bheema. I listened to this song once, and promised myself it would be the last time. She tries to sound sexy when she sings "ilamai ilamai". She really could have focussed on getting the "la" in the illamai right.

*Pet peeve 2: Weird words in no particular language

Harris is probably the worst offender. I was hoping he would have changed with this album, but no. And we listeners have recently been spoilt by Vairamuthu's fabulous senthamizh in Sivaji - "Poompaavai aambal aambal". So, listening to "kaiba kaiba" in Beema's siru paarvaiyale is like nails on a chalkboard.

I waited for many years hoping they would change, but looks like i have to do the changing if i want to listen to good new Thamizh music.