Saturday, May 22, 2010
IX-812
My prayers are to all those families who have lost their near, dear and loved ones in the horrible plane crash that happened earlier today. May GOD give them all strength and courage to face life in the event of such a huge disaster. My GOD also give all the lives lost in this accident PEACE and may they all RIP. God Bless!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
TEMPLES
For the last few years I have been staying in Muscat and only visit India only once in every 11-12 months. And every one of these times I spend most of my time between Tripunithura and Irinjalakuda. Without any doubt – I love going to these places and spending time with my parents, in-laws and meeting a lot of relatives.
Between visiting relatives, shopping, going this way and that – one thing that I and my family do not forget to do is going to temples – both in and around our houses and a few ones that are a little away from our place of stay.
Before I came over to Muscat, I used to stay in Chennai. There were a couple of temples that I used to frequently go to – the Mahalingapuram Ayappan temple, the Anna Nagar Ayappan temple and a very small temple tucked away in one of the by lanes in Adyar. This temple also had Lord Ayappan has the presiding deity and all the temple “poojas” were performed by priests in the style that is usually performed in Kerala. This temple is a very small temple compared to the other 2 temples I mentioned. This temple is quiet close the main road leading to Besant Nagar.
I used to find this place very serene, peaceful and very devotional. I mean the hustle and bustle of the main road would be completely lost once you enter this temple premises. I happened to discover this temple one day by chance and after that I used to be a regular this temple. The evenings in this temple used to be so beautiful – with diya’s lit around the temple. The “payasam” that you get as Prasad after the pooja used to taste out of the world. My wife and I would sit there for a long time especially during the weekends. I hope to go and pray in the temple the next time I visit Chennai.
Another temple that I fell in love with the first time I went there is a Shiva temple, about 10-15 kms from the centre of Thrissur. This temple is situated in the place called Neythilakavu. This temple is also very beautiful and serene. It is not a very big temple, but definitely quiet popular. This temple actually is the “kula prathistha” (deity belonging to your family) for my wife. Once you are inside this temple, you would feel that you are in some isolated land that has just the temple in the middle. Especially when you look out from inside the temple campus, there is hardly any building that is visible – you can see trees all around!
In Bombay, I happened to go to the “Siddhi Vinayak” temple just once. The approach to this temple is crowded with shops, people, devotees, taxis and cars all jostling with each other for space and attention. The temple is generally crowded on most days and times, but once you are in front of Lord, you are drawn in by an unknown magnetic force.
Similarly at the Udipi temple, in the state of Karnataka, Lord Krishna is the presiding deity. The temple is one of the most famous of temples dedicated to Lord Krishna. When you have darshan inside this temple, you are drawn towards in by the power of the “vigraham”. You feel blessed by just having a darshan of the lord in this temple.
Some of the temples that I have visited at various times are Shabarimala, Guruvayoor, Mamiyur, Chottanikaara, Kodalmanikam, Thirupathi, Suchedaram, Ananthapadmanam temple and various other temples.
There must be thousands of temples all around the world where you feel blessed by just having visited these temples.
Between visiting relatives, shopping, going this way and that – one thing that I and my family do not forget to do is going to temples – both in and around our houses and a few ones that are a little away from our place of stay.
Before I came over to Muscat, I used to stay in Chennai. There were a couple of temples that I used to frequently go to – the Mahalingapuram Ayappan temple, the Anna Nagar Ayappan temple and a very small temple tucked away in one of the by lanes in Adyar. This temple also had Lord Ayappan has the presiding deity and all the temple “poojas” were performed by priests in the style that is usually performed in Kerala. This temple is a very small temple compared to the other 2 temples I mentioned. This temple is quiet close the main road leading to Besant Nagar.
I used to find this place very serene, peaceful and very devotional. I mean the hustle and bustle of the main road would be completely lost once you enter this temple premises. I happened to discover this temple one day by chance and after that I used to be a regular this temple. The evenings in this temple used to be so beautiful – with diya’s lit around the temple. The “payasam” that you get as Prasad after the pooja used to taste out of the world. My wife and I would sit there for a long time especially during the weekends. I hope to go and pray in the temple the next time I visit Chennai.
Another temple that I fell in love with the first time I went there is a Shiva temple, about 10-15 kms from the centre of Thrissur. This temple is situated in the place called Neythilakavu. This temple is also very beautiful and serene. It is not a very big temple, but definitely quiet popular. This temple actually is the “kula prathistha” (deity belonging to your family) for my wife. Once you are inside this temple, you would feel that you are in some isolated land that has just the temple in the middle. Especially when you look out from inside the temple campus, there is hardly any building that is visible – you can see trees all around!
In Bombay, I happened to go to the “Siddhi Vinayak” temple just once. The approach to this temple is crowded with shops, people, devotees, taxis and cars all jostling with each other for space and attention. The temple is generally crowded on most days and times, but once you are in front of Lord, you are drawn in by an unknown magnetic force.
Similarly at the Udipi temple, in the state of Karnataka, Lord Krishna is the presiding deity. The temple is one of the most famous of temples dedicated to Lord Krishna. When you have darshan inside this temple, you are drawn towards in by the power of the “vigraham”. You feel blessed by just having a darshan of the lord in this temple.
Some of the temples that I have visited at various times are Shabarimala, Guruvayoor, Mamiyur, Chottanikaara, Kodalmanikam, Thirupathi, Suchedaram, Ananthapadmanam temple and various other temples.
There must be thousands of temples all around the world where you feel blessed by just having visited these temples.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
ANECDOTES FROM MY LIFE SO FAR
I was thinking hard about what my next blog should be and then I suddenly thought about this current topic.
Everybody has lots to say from the time they were in school - about friends, teachers, first love affairs and other things.
This must have happened when I was in the 6/7th grade... don’t remember when exactly. We had a history teacher who used to be terror for all of us. Not because she was very strict in class or anything of that sort – but because she used to give impositions to people, if and when you had not done any home work. She would ask you to write the entire chapter 10 times and the like. One day we were all not in the mood to listen to her lecture about kings and queens or whatever she had intended to take that day. We told a class mate who had a good sense of humour that he should do something so that she would not take class for us. We were not sure as to what he would do or ask, but we knew for sure he would do something. As soon as she walked into the class, we said our good morning’s and settled down to see what would happen next! The guy, raised his hand and told the her that he had a doubt. She was quiet impressed because somebody probably for the first time in her career was going to ask her a doubt about history! She was totally unprepared for the question – because the question what this fellow asked “Maam, when would you retire?”!! She blew her top of and for the next 40 minutes, she went on a trip of her own. Thinking about it now, you feel sorry for irritating her – but at that time, we were thrilled because we literally had a “free” period!
Another time, when we were in the NCC we had gone to the firing range on a drill. The commanding officer had told all of us about how we were to hold the rifle in our hands, lie down on the floor, how to load the rifle and a host of other instructions. We were all given 20 rounds and were told that we should first fire 10, remove our target, show it to the CO and then fire the balance 10. After the first round was over, we got our targets and stood around the CO to show them for his comments. The CO on seeing one of the fellow students targets started shouting saying that why the hell he had fired all of his 20 rounds while the rest of us had done only 10. The student was trying to explain to the CO that he had not fired 20 and had his round of 10 still left with him. Only later did the CO and this student realize that there was another student, whose target was completely blank. This fellow had shot into the other students target instead of his own!!!
Our school shared the same compound wall with that of a very famous 5 star hospital. A VVIP had been admitted to this particular hospital once. Most of the students would come to the balcony facing this hospital – with a prayer on their lips! Not for praying for the recovery of this VVIP, but to ensure that he dies an unnatural death. Because with this, the locals of the place would storm the hospital and in the ensuing clashes, they would probably destroy our school as well. This in turn meant more holidays!! Unfortunately for all of us, this VVIP did not die and nothing what so ever happened to the school!!!!
Once I remember, we had been to Mahabalipuram on a day trip. There were 2 buses filled with school kids. On our way back the bus on which I was travelling broke down. The other bus was way ahead of us and they never knew that the bus that was following them had broken down. Those were the days when there were no mobile phones or any other device for communication. Only after a long while did that bus realize that we were not to be seen and came back looking for us. Since all the kids would not fit into a single bus, this bus went back to the school, dropped the kids there, picked a mechanic and came back to pick the stranded kids. Whilst all this was happening, we had run out of water, we were feeling extremely tired in the hot sun and hungry – but all of us were having a ball since none of us realized the gravity of the situation. We were happy to be stranded!! This only meant we could continue to play on the sands on a stretch of land that did not have any shops or houses!! Luckily for us, one the kids found a tap with running water and soon all of us were happy to drink straight from the tap! The other bus came back picked us up and by the time we reached the school it was almost 8pm. The other kids had reached the school by 4!!
I'll try and keep updating more stories here... as and when I remember or find the time to do so!
Everybody has lots to say from the time they were in school - about friends, teachers, first love affairs and other things.
This must have happened when I was in the 6/7th grade... don’t remember when exactly. We had a history teacher who used to be terror for all of us. Not because she was very strict in class or anything of that sort – but because she used to give impositions to people, if and when you had not done any home work. She would ask you to write the entire chapter 10 times and the like. One day we were all not in the mood to listen to her lecture about kings and queens or whatever she had intended to take that day. We told a class mate who had a good sense of humour that he should do something so that she would not take class for us. We were not sure as to what he would do or ask, but we knew for sure he would do something. As soon as she walked into the class, we said our good morning’s and settled down to see what would happen next! The guy, raised his hand and told the her that he had a doubt. She was quiet impressed because somebody probably for the first time in her career was going to ask her a doubt about history! She was totally unprepared for the question – because the question what this fellow asked “Maam, when would you retire?”!! She blew her top of and for the next 40 minutes, she went on a trip of her own. Thinking about it now, you feel sorry for irritating her – but at that time, we were thrilled because we literally had a “free” period!
Another time, when we were in the NCC we had gone to the firing range on a drill. The commanding officer had told all of us about how we were to hold the rifle in our hands, lie down on the floor, how to load the rifle and a host of other instructions. We were all given 20 rounds and were told that we should first fire 10, remove our target, show it to the CO and then fire the balance 10. After the first round was over, we got our targets and stood around the CO to show them for his comments. The CO on seeing one of the fellow students targets started shouting saying that why the hell he had fired all of his 20 rounds while the rest of us had done only 10. The student was trying to explain to the CO that he had not fired 20 and had his round of 10 still left with him. Only later did the CO and this student realize that there was another student, whose target was completely blank. This fellow had shot into the other students target instead of his own!!!
Our school shared the same compound wall with that of a very famous 5 star hospital. A VVIP had been admitted to this particular hospital once. Most of the students would come to the balcony facing this hospital – with a prayer on their lips! Not for praying for the recovery of this VVIP, but to ensure that he dies an unnatural death. Because with this, the locals of the place would storm the hospital and in the ensuing clashes, they would probably destroy our school as well. This in turn meant more holidays!! Unfortunately for all of us, this VVIP did not die and nothing what so ever happened to the school!!!!
Once I remember, we had been to Mahabalipuram on a day trip. There were 2 buses filled with school kids. On our way back the bus on which I was travelling broke down. The other bus was way ahead of us and they never knew that the bus that was following them had broken down. Those were the days when there were no mobile phones or any other device for communication. Only after a long while did that bus realize that we were not to be seen and came back looking for us. Since all the kids would not fit into a single bus, this bus went back to the school, dropped the kids there, picked a mechanic and came back to pick the stranded kids. Whilst all this was happening, we had run out of water, we were feeling extremely tired in the hot sun and hungry – but all of us were having a ball since none of us realized the gravity of the situation. We were happy to be stranded!! This only meant we could continue to play on the sands on a stretch of land that did not have any shops or houses!! Luckily for us, one the kids found a tap with running water and soon all of us were happy to drink straight from the tap! The other bus came back picked us up and by the time we reached the school it was almost 8pm. The other kids had reached the school by 4!!
I'll try and keep updating more stories here... as and when I remember or find the time to do so!
Monday, May 3, 2010
MUSIC & LIVE SHOWS
About a month ago, one glorious evening (April 14, 2010), SIR TOM JONES was in Muscat for a concert at the Intercontinental Gardens. I’m pretty sure that the event was a grand success. The gardens must have been full of eager enthusiasts who love to listen to his genre of songs. The local FM channels were going on advertising about this particular concert. They were also mentioning that most of the tickets were nearly sold out long before the actual day of the concert. I did not go to for this show – mainly because I have never been a great fan of English music – whether POP, ROCK, BLUES, METAL, COUNTRY or any other genre.
But that does not mean I don’t like music. I do love music that comes from my country – whether they are film songs or South Indian classical forms. I am not a great connoisseur of south Indian classical music who can identify which raga or which thaala they are singing. I like to listen to them – maybe not always, but would never mind it once in a while.
Film music is a completely different story. I can listen to it any time anywhere. I do love to listen to Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam film songs. I have lived my life in Chennai in a colony that had a majority of people from Bombay/Gujarat and I being a native of Kerala – the affinity towards songs from these languages!!
During my school days, I have never ever gone for a LIVE concert anywhere. We dint own a TV during my school days and would always listen to songs from the radio – VIVDH BHARATHI, CEYLON station etc. My father owned a PHILIPS RADIOGRAM – one that could play the radio and also the records (yes, the round discs!). He also owned quiet of lot of records – both Malayalam and Hindi songs, which we would listen to during the weekends and during holidays.
I think my very first LIVE concert was a show that I saw just after I got married in the year 2001. This was at the auditorium in Chennai that is close to the Gemini fly over (I just don’t seem to remember the name of the hall!!). I along with my newly wedded wife went to this show that had Unni Menon and Radhika Thilak as the lead singers. Even though this was a “Malayalam” event, the lead singers did sing quite a lot of songs from Tamil and Hindi as well. Even though the auditorium was not full, it indeed was a great show.
I have also attended a couple of concerts at the temple in Chennai where KJ Yesudas sang some beautiful "bakthi" songs. Here too the hall used to packed to the full that most of the listeners were on the open road listening to his music.
After coming to my current place of stay, I have attended a lot more LIVE shows. All of these shows have been at various venues and have always been full with enthusiastic supporters of the artists that come here to perform. Over the last few years, Muscat has hosted various artists such as Vijay Yesudas, Afsal, SPB, Chitra, Hariharan, Bappi Lahiri, Jatin-Lalit and various others and the Oscar Winner AR Rahman.
All of these shows were enthusiastically attended by the Indian expatriate community of Oman and for the AR Rahman show, reports said there were many people from the neighbouring country UAE.
The point that I’m trying to make is that in all these shows the venue was absolutely full up with people. The spirit at the venue was so electrifying and full of spirit, it is absolutely fantastic.
Across the globe one common point that unites people of all spectrums is MUSIC. It is also an area that is continuously being developed with new sounds, new tunes and new artists always coming into limelight.
So long as music is there in this world, there will be an audience for it.
But that does not mean I don’t like music. I do love music that comes from my country – whether they are film songs or South Indian classical forms. I am not a great connoisseur of south Indian classical music who can identify which raga or which thaala they are singing. I like to listen to them – maybe not always, but would never mind it once in a while.
Film music is a completely different story. I can listen to it any time anywhere. I do love to listen to Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam film songs. I have lived my life in Chennai in a colony that had a majority of people from Bombay/Gujarat and I being a native of Kerala – the affinity towards songs from these languages!!
During my school days, I have never ever gone for a LIVE concert anywhere. We dint own a TV during my school days and would always listen to songs from the radio – VIVDH BHARATHI, CEYLON station etc. My father owned a PHILIPS RADIOGRAM – one that could play the radio and also the records (yes, the round discs!). He also owned quiet of lot of records – both Malayalam and Hindi songs, which we would listen to during the weekends and during holidays.
I think my very first LIVE concert was a show that I saw just after I got married in the year 2001. This was at the auditorium in Chennai that is close to the Gemini fly over (I just don’t seem to remember the name of the hall!!). I along with my newly wedded wife went to this show that had Unni Menon and Radhika Thilak as the lead singers. Even though this was a “Malayalam” event, the lead singers did sing quite a lot of songs from Tamil and Hindi as well. Even though the auditorium was not full, it indeed was a great show.
I have also attended a couple of concerts at the temple in Chennai where KJ Yesudas sang some beautiful "bakthi" songs. Here too the hall used to packed to the full that most of the listeners were on the open road listening to his music.
After coming to my current place of stay, I have attended a lot more LIVE shows. All of these shows have been at various venues and have always been full with enthusiastic supporters of the artists that come here to perform. Over the last few years, Muscat has hosted various artists such as Vijay Yesudas, Afsal, SPB, Chitra, Hariharan, Bappi Lahiri, Jatin-Lalit and various others and the Oscar Winner AR Rahman.
All of these shows were enthusiastically attended by the Indian expatriate community of Oman and for the AR Rahman show, reports said there were many people from the neighbouring country UAE.
The point that I’m trying to make is that in all these shows the venue was absolutely full up with people. The spirit at the venue was so electrifying and full of spirit, it is absolutely fantastic.
Across the globe one common point that unites people of all spectrums is MUSIC. It is also an area that is continuously being developed with new sounds, new tunes and new artists always coming into limelight.
So long as music is there in this world, there will be an audience for it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)