MohanKumarIyyer's Thoughts and Moods

Sitback and Relax.....

2010-12-06T14:40:00.001+03:00

Last 10 days it's hectic travelling in India (Starting from Mumbai) and enjoyed each and every moment to the maximum. A rarity in today’s times. Where do we have the time to sit back and watch and listen to the world. To discuss and flow with the essence of life. To have opportunity to ponder, to wonder, and go back to the nostalgic memories. As I was born in mumbai (Malad) and always visited this city every year when i had annual vacation,I do have a special bonding with mumbai. But mumbai is totally changed. The traffic has become horrendous ! And so has the environment in and around. But still enjoyed the crowd in juhu beach, where we stayed this time. Visited Elephant Caves, a long time goal I had and only this time it got fulfilled. Paid homage to the martyrs of 26/11, as coincidentailly we landed on the same day. Also, had the golden oppurtunity finally to get darshan at shirdi and sanisinganapur. enjoyed the sugarcane juice made by bull ! it's a diff experience of life altogether! Mumbai, the city of dreams and ambitions ! Long may it live ! Eagerly waiting for the next time to visit Mumbai, my dream city, again.

Happy Diwali 2010

2010-11-04T16:45:00.003+03:00

Presenting a DIWALI Greetings with Enthiran and DIWALI short film mocking film DEEWAR.

Diwali Message from American President

2010-11-03T19:33:00.002+03:00

U.S. President Barack Obama wished all who are celebrating a happy Diwali! In a video message recorded at the White House and posted on its Web site. This version is last year message from the whitehouse. At that time no one knew that the next year president will land in India with his family on a Diwali Day (Nov 5th). Ofcourse with Forty aircraft - including the Air Force One military plane - and six heavily armoured cars will follow the president around the country.This will be the biggest ever visit to india by an american president as US will be spending around $200mn a day.

Doha Tribecca Film Festival - Filmy Weekend

2010-10-29T19:46:00.003+03:00

Enjoyed a lot to the visit to DTFF 2010 at Doha Cultural Village. It's a different world altogether. Felt like visiting hollywood. Hollywood actor Robert DNero was the chief guest at the Red carpet function. Other famous personalities included Mira Nair, Ramgopal verma from bollywood, famous writer director Randall Wallace. One of the highlights was the premeiere of 'Raktha charithra'. Couldn't watch that movie as we had to cover a lot of activites area. Thoroughly enjoyed the spots and the gigantic open air theatre built specially for the festival.

Navarathri Bommagolu 2010

2010-10-16T22:28:00.003+03:00

By God's grace Navarathri Bommagolu 2010 was celebrated with blessings of almighty. As usual, it's a grand gala setting and this time variety was Harrypotter theme and magic pipe; goblet of fire. Vishnulokam projection using my pocket projector.

Highlights from our golu with background music by me and my students in chorus.

CNA-Q Convocation

2010-10-15T19:48:00.001+03:00

A Great day of achievement ! Graduation ceremony at College of North Atlantic. It's a canadian college campus in Qatar. I did my postgraduation in Human resources and it's a professional certificate. It's a part time course in the evening hours from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for almost one year. It's a return to the college life. Enjoyed a lot studying again.....

On Oct 13th Wed 2010, was the Graduation Ceremony. The president and dean of College of North Atlantic Qatar presided and I was the guest speaker representing the graduates to explain about the experience of learning in CNA-Q. Thanks to the almighty for giving me a chance again to become a student and enjoy college life in the busy office life !

SPB CHITRA Concert at Doha Cinema

2010-10-14T22:38:00.001+03:00

SPB-Chitra Concert during navarathri time was a gift for Doha indians. On thursday we rushed to Doha cinema in great joy and excitement to listen to SPB after around 10 years. (last 2001 SPB came with SJanaki to Doha). SPB voice has not changed a bit and in the higher octaves it was more powerful. Started with Muthu Song, chitra followed by ovvoru pookkalume. for malayalam numbers kerala singer biju narayanan was providing melodious tunes. All in all, it's a great programme and highlights of the songs were 'anjali', Enthiran, Kehna hi kyaa, sankaraa, Eekadalum (first mal song by SPB), pular kaala sundara and final climax ninaithaale inikkum song. SPB anna vaazhga. Chitra chechi vaazhga.

ENDHIRAN - a Trend Setter for Indian Film World

2010-10-02T21:20:00.004+03:00

Enjoyed the movie on very first day of release in Doha cinema. A great leap for indian film world for special effects and technical perfection. Really the full team of ENDHIRAN has done tremendous work. All the shots are 100 percent perfect although some of the shots in the climax is not on par with hollywood. But considering the attempt it's a great achievement. Rajni no doubt, is at his best; his style or mannerisms are missing. but 'meaaah..' will be a hit with masses, llike 'laka laka laka'. liked the villain rajni rather than hero.

Music is Life

2010-09-29T17:46:00.003+03:00

That is the name I gave to my wireless network. Infact, given by my friend prakash when he set up the router. But last week has got a 'notice' for the musicclass I have been practising for more than 6 years. Yes, 6 years of teaching carnatic music in qatar has come to an end. Now I realise, for every start there's an end. I am totally touched and moved by reaction and response my students and parents gave me. Most of them don't know the real reason as I am not in a situation to reveal. We all know that in this hard world, only music can give solace. Even a desperate terrorist would soften up (at least temporarily) when he listen to some kind of music.
However, thanks to technology, no one can stop singing in the net.........

Raavan A Big Dissappointment

2010-06-23T21:07:00.001+03:00

Much awaited film is a big disappointment. Watched both the versions just to compare the performance of actors. Vikram has done more justice than abhishek in hindi. The real hero of the movie is kerala's prestigious Athirappilly vaazhachaal location and santosh sivan's cinematography. ARR is another wasted talent in this movie and couldn't pick any one of the songs as memorable.

2010-06-19T21:20:00.002+03:00

Sooryanaaytazhugi-Father'sDay Gift | Upload Music

It’s very rare to find songs dedicated to father rather than mother. There are plenty of songs praising mother ! This gem is from malayalam film ‘Sathyam Sivam Sundaram’ composed by Vidyasagar , lyrics by kaithapram and rendered with full emotion and touching our soul by Chitra is the best dedication to a father.

My best friend Balamurali has programmed the entire orchestration in his KORG and this is one of my old recordings. Bear with the jarring vocals because of some problem in mixing.

Film : Sathyam Sivam Sundaram (Malayalam-year 2000)
Original Singer : K S Chitra
Track by : MohanKumarIyyer
Music : Vidya Sagar
Lyrics : Kaithapram Damodaran Namboodiri

Orchestration and keyboard programming by Balamurali

Karhtika Vilakku celebrations at our Thrissur House

2009-12-01T19:24:00.003+03:00

Celebrated Kaarthika vilakku pandigai with Appa Amma in our Thrissur House. Deepa sruti helped lighting and preparing the lamps for kaarthikai pandikai

Happy Karthikai greetings to all.

Starting to Sabarimalai tomorrow by the blessings of lord Ayyappa with Sruti.

Sixth Sense

2009-11-22T21:35:00.001+03:00

SixthSense is a wearable gestural interface device that augments the physical world with digital information and lets people use natural hand gestures to interact with that information. It was developed by Pranav Mistry, a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab.
The SixthSense prototype is comprised of a pocket projector, a mirror and a camera. The hardware components are coupled in a pendant-like mobile wearable device. Both the projector and the camera are connected to the mobile computing device in the user’s pocket. The device projects visual information, enabling surfaces, walls and physical objects around the wearer to be used as interfaces; while the camera recognizes and tracks the user's hand gestures and physical objects using computer-vision based techniques. The software program processes the video stream data captured by the camera and tracks the locations of the colored markers (visual tracking fiducials) at the tip of the user’s fingers using simple computer-vision techniques. The movements and arrangements of these fiducials are interpreted into gestures that act as interaction instructions for the projected application interfaces. The maximum number of tracked fingers is only constrained by the number of unique fiducials, thus SixthSense also supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction.

LataMangeshkar turns 80 - A Great Legend

2009-10-05T21:06:00.004+03:00

On September 28, 2009 India's Great Legend Lata Mangeshkar turned 80. A wonderful singer, Lataji is the second vocalist ever to have received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

I am posting a wonderful moment of lataji sharing with Javed Akhtar on CNN-IBN for a special interview telecast on her birthday. Lataji was referring to the old system of recording and how difficult was in those days to record one song. Her first hit was perhaps the song sang for Madhubala in 1949 in the film Mahal called Ayega Aanewala. At the time of recording lataji was told that the first part should sound as though the voice was coming from far away. At that time, recording techniques were not as advanced as they are now. lataji was made to stand a good distance away from the microphone and while singing she came closer and closer to it. Finally when the Ayega bit came she was supposed to stand next to the microphone to get the right effect. She had to do the entire process some 25 times to get it right.

Saraswati stotram

2009-09-27T21:42:00.001+03:00

This is a beautiful musical prayer for Goddess Saraswathi, the goddess of Knowledge Science and Arts. The reference of Saraswati is as old as RIG VEDA.
According to Vedas, Maha Saraswati is the presiding "Goddess of the Final episode of Devi Mahatmya". Here she is believed to be a part of the trinity of Maha Kali, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati.

Golu2009EventonSept20th2009

2009-09-21T14:21:00.001+03:00

On Sept 20th Golu invitation was given to all our freinds. My sishyas rendered keertanams on diff dieites. Highlight was keerthanam on Guru by Rangasree and SreeRangaPrasad.

Navarathri 2009 BommaGolu

2009-09-18T22:26:00.001+03:00

Navarathri 2009 Bommagolu was prepared by Sept 17th Thu and Sept 18th Fri being Amavasi day. Srutimma was the designer for the golu stand and she prepared the banner in her computer.

dorakalyanam

2009-09-08T05:51:00.001+03:00

Presenting the highlights of DORAI's Kalyanam held at Madurai on Sept 2nd (THIRUONAM NAAL) 2009. Event covered by Deepa thru Apple IPHONE 3GS.

Onam Ponnonam 2009

2009-09-01T22:20:00.003+03:00

Wishing all of you Happy Onam !

PaadasmaranaSukham in Lathaangi ragam

2009-08-29T19:41:00.002+03:00

Recorded this song as I got lot of spare time. First of all it's ramadan and moreover, deepa and sruti left for a short vacation to attend marriage in Madurai. Lathaangi is a rare ragam used in films.

A Great Classic song composed in rare ragam (in filmworld) lathaangi. Please excuse the quality of the track I got in analog is not at all clear but still wanted to do this as this is one of my favourite songs.

In my limited knowledge, in mal film only dakshinamoorthyswami has composed in lathangi for an unreleased movie sung by (who else) ganagandharvan yesudas staring ‘swarangale sapthaswarangale’ not so popular as the film was not released.

Other than this, in Tamil Maestro ilayaraj composed a super hit song ‘chinna raasave chitterumbu…’ in lathangi. He has presented an incredibly pure Lathangi in a “tappaanguthu kind of format” in this song. It was a mega-hit song reverbrating throughout the Thamizhnadu, from the slums to the elite! Prabhu Deva (became famous thru this song) and Sukhanya danced for this song in the film ‘Walter Vetrivel’. Classic example of maestro’s intelligent use of a hardcore classical raagam and becomes wonder-struck! Ilayaraja has tuned another Lathangi in eeramaana rojavE (adhO mEga oorvalam).

Film : Sallapam
Lyrics : Kaithapram
Music : Johnson
Singer : K J Yesudas
Karoake track by: MohanKumarIyyer (as offering to great ganagandharvan who's done a marvellousjob (as usual)).

Apple iPhone 3GS

2009-08-17T16:28:00.005+03:00

Getting Apple iPhone 3GS is like dream come true. Apple released this only in Hongkong as SIM FREE and thanks to Apple, finally got a SIM Free official Apple iPhone on Aug 16th. The phone is real SMART Phone. The interface is stylish and very easy. Attractive features are Voice command, Video , and video editing and sending to Youtube or facebook directly.

Now using Apple iPhone 3GS as Mobile Broadband device with Nokia E90 Communicator.

Thiranurayum in Nattakurinji

2009-08-13T10:59:00.005+03:00

When I heard this song for the first time itself, it was registered and became crazy on this. Recently when I checked my ipod it showed this song played more than 500 times. Our great ganagandharvan's rendered this song so beautifully that no one can do full justice to the song. The song is composed in Nattarkurinji which is rarely used.

Tried to sing to the best of my abilities, but found the magic touch given by wizard KJY is missing.

Film : AnandaBhadram (2005)
Music : M.G. Radhakrishnan
Lyrics:GireeshPuthancheri
Singer:K.J.Yesudas
Karoke sung by : MohanKumarIyyer

NakshatraDeepangal

2009-08-03T05:50:00.002+03:00

NakshatraDeepangal | Online recorder

This song is from the 1978 film 'Nirakudam' starring Kamalahaasan and Sridevi (B/W movie directed by bhimsingh). It had music by Jayavijaya (disciples of Chembai vaidyanatha bagawatahar). The song was so popular and even today no body dares to sing this song on stage and even if they attempt the singer and the performers are seen struggling in the charanam as it is quite difficult. A great composition. It has got the Double swarams of chembai in the charanam, which yesudas has handled in his own inimitable style. It's quite difficult to sing that portion.

Interesting fact is although this song mentions chembai singing in Navarathri mandapam, he never performed in the navarathri mandapam concerts and also yesudas hasn't performed in the mandapam till date.

Blip

2009-08-01T10:05:00.001+03:00

A nice animation by Irish students of Animation.

Blip from Sean Mullen on Vimeo.

Paying Tribute to RafiSaab

2009-07-30T06:42:00.003+03:00

Mohammed Rafi, that name will never be erased from the music world. He's a true genius personified. Rafi's association with Naushad helped the former establish himself as one of the most prominent playback singers in Bollywood. Songs from Baiju Bawra (1952) like "O duniya ke rakhwale" and "Man tarpat Hari darshan ko aaj" furthered Rafi's credentials. Naushad, began favoring Rafi as the male voice in almost every song composed by him. Rafi would sing a total of 149 songs (81 of them solo) for Naushad.

One of my favourites by Rafi saab, which was not featured in any movies, is this song 'Jis Khwaab ke raat ..'. The tune is really haunting and has got an emotional touch. The original track is much slower. I have used the track of malaylam song (which Naushadji composed in 1989 and became superhit duet of that time sung by Yesudas and PSusheela).

Presenting this song to the memory of Rafisaab who lives and will always live in our hearts and soul.

D K Pattammal passes away

2009-07-17T19:47:00.002+03:00

Another carnatic music doyen passes away. Heard the news in the evening. She passed away on July 16th Thursday noon.

Hailed as one of the “women trinity” – M.S. Subbulakshmi and M.L. Vasanthakumari were the other two — of Carnatic music, Smt. Pattammal carved a niche for herself, which was marked by an uncompromising adherence to tradition, deep engagement with technical nuances and emphasis on bhava and rakthi.

In the unique timbre of her voice and unmistakably clear diction, compositions of Subramanya Bharati and Papanasam Sivan reached the masses. She had the honour of performing at the foundation-laying ceremony of the Bharati Memorial at Ettayapuram.

Smt. Pattammal’s background that was steeped in orthodoxy, but her contributions were progressive — from being one of the earliest women to give vocal recitals on a concert platform, to becoming one of the first women artists to handle the ‘Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi,’ traditionally considered a male bastion.

Smt. Pattammal was also one of the earliest Carnatic musicians to sing in films, beginning with ‘Thyaga Bhoomi’ and later, for others, including ‘Naam Iruvar.’ As someone who popularised patriotic songs, she was invited by the All India Radio to sing on the eve of Independence. She was a recipient of several awards including the ‘Padma Vibhushan’ and the ‘Sangeeta Kalanidhi,’ which she received from The Music Academy in 1970.

Srutimma's Trophies

2009-07-14T19:23:00.003+03:00

On July 12th Sunday 2009, BPS Cultural Fiesta winners were awarded the prizes. Sruti got first prize in Classical and Light music. Also she was awarded as Best performer among Junior Boys and Girls.

Lal 's excellent Performance in BHRAMARAM

2009-07-12T19:39:00.003+03:00

Was waiting for the movie release as this was blessy's 5th installment and after Tanmaatra, blessy-mohanlal film. Went to Gulf cinema on Sat evening with deepa and sruti with much expectation and it was well maintained.

Bhramaram is a genre breaking movie. A new kind of thriller genre to malayalam cinema. Shot on eight locations within 54 days, most of the story takes place between Coimbatore and Munnar.Blessy the director has successfully managed to build in the necessary tension and suspense around the lead character, which pushes the movie till the interval. And the second half is a real splendour with one of the best performances from the versatile star in Lal. He, with the help of fabulous frames and interesting dialogues, propel the movie toward the climax, which is a real stunner.

Historic Match

2009-07-05T19:08:00.001+03:00

What a match it's ! Its a great fight between gladiators. Gladiator Russel crowe was also there to watch the fight. If someone missed yesterday's wimbledon final, sorry guys you've missed the match of the century, for the HIstoric Last set.

Noopura - Annual Day Celebration of CEC-Doha

2009-07-03T19:02:00.005+03:00

Rushed to Doha cinema by 5:15 pm after picking deepa and sruti from the makeup camp of CEC. by 6 pm sharp the programme started. Sruti was performing today in 3 items of bharatanatyam.

It's a colorful evening of Classical Dance, Music and Martial arts presented by students of Children Education Centre Doha. Started with Rangapooja to the tune of Vaishnavajanatho which morphed later to mahaganapathim in nattai and leading to grandfinale of vishnusahasranamam verses 'shuklambaradaram' and saanthaakaram. It's hearttouching to view all the dancers in rhythmic synchronization and in the end they formed a beautiful lotus. It's followed by several items in bharatanatyam. later martial art karate was demonstrated followed by keyboard recitals by some students. Carnatic music students performed Swathitirunal's version of Ramayanam in raagamalika set to roopaka taalam. The programe ended with dance drama 'Maanishaada' which was innovative in its presentation aptly using the projection systems for creating the background of forest. few highlights below is not clear as I was shooting with my nokia E90 communicator. later will get some beautiful coverage when official video is released.

Newspaper report published in Gulf Times about this programme.

Anjali Kalyanam Highlights

2009-06-21T18:01:00.006+03:00

It's memorable function indeed. I was attending our traditional marriage after around 5 years. And this was 3 days marriage with joy, tears and tradition all mixed in one package. Well done, Rajumama, for your great endeavour and prayers, god has given a wonderful gift to cherish for ever. Visiting Chennai and met all our relatives after more than 8 years.

Watch the highlilghts of the marriage function of 2 days cut into less than 5 mts.

Wait after pressing play button for buffering and reduce the volume of your speaker or player as the sound in the hall is not edited.

UP - Animation Movie

2009-06-01T16:25:00.003+03:00

Up is a computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios about a cranky old man and an overeager scout who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons. It is distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, and premiered by opening the 2009 Cannes Film Festival as the first animated film ever to do so. The film was released on May 29, 2009 in North America and scheduled for release on October 16, 2009 in the United Kingdom.

On its opening day, Up is estimated to have earned $21,400,000. It went on to be at #1 at the box office with an estimated $68.2 million.

production designer Lou Romano has posted a massive post on his blog, chock-full of production artwork and tests from his work on Pixar’s newest film, “Up”.

Visit http://louromano.blogspot.com/

Dubai in Recession

2009-05-23T21:07:00.004+03:00

Dubai is going thru the tough times in this period of recession. Go thru the photos which photographer Mouse Chellappan had captured in his innovative camera, which is not visible for normal cameras. The above photo shows the famous Dubai Metro which gives cost effective solution in the time of recession. Click to ENLARGE.
Poor fellow who bought the dream vehicle of his life, HUMMER, is not ready to leave his favourite. Giving innovative economical finish for the recession and use to the maximum.
Kerala has extended its support by offering 'cheap' and the 'cheapest' transport in the world the notorious, ooops, famous KSRTC. Yesterday KSRTC started its service from Dubai direct to Valaanjeri kerala.

U Tun Verdict

2009-05-18T11:44:00.003+03:00

The Recent verdict by Indian Electorate was a classic U turn, which inspired me to draw the below cartoon.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE CARTOON TO VIEW IN DETAIL

Yatho Annah Tatho Manaha

2009-05-11T20:56:00.010+03:00

If you wish for a healthy mind and body, our ancient Indian Culture and scriptures suggest VEGETARIAN FOOD.

One of the great minds in California University, Prof WinBurg, did an experiment. Wild Animals like Lion, Tiger and leopards were caged in the backyard of his huge house and he started to take care of these animals. Once he had a sudden idea to give vegetarian food to these carnivorous animals and started feeding strictly vegetarian food, that too in Indian Style. After about 75 days, these animals were freed and allowed to walk in the backyard of his house. He noticed that they were all very calm and peaceful. He had a powerful electrode with him the same kind used in circus to control animals. He realized that he did not need an electrode to control these animals. Using all his experimental data, he wrote a book on the subject. He concluded that book using a sanskrit verse from the upanishad

"YATHO ANNAH: TATHO MANAH:" meaning our mental state depends on the food we eat and it is not about just the body. The above incident was narrated by great philosopher and scientist Dr Gopalakrishnan in 'Jeeva Dhara' programme. (Sri Gopalakrishnana is the director of Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage and his lectures of our indian heritage is a treasure to preserve. I have a very good collection of his lectures and often it inspires me to do any kind of job).

Now, watch the video telecast in Amrita TV about 3 months back about a VEGETARIAN Crocodile living in a Kerala Temple.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T15:27:00.003+03:00

A Special Gift in the form of Song to my mother on Mother's Day. Rendered this song late in the night and some areas there's slight pitchout. I did this in one take in order to post on mother's day.

Pramadavanam a Classic

2009-05-03T21:25:00.005+03:00

HHAbdullah had lot of beautiful melodious songs. MGSreekumar got his first national award from this movie for 'Naadaroopini ' in kaanada raagam. But the most haunting ever green song will be pramadavanam by our great gaana gandharvan set in the raagam Jog by genius Raveendranmaash. My humble attempt to sing this great song may not be on par with the original. But still I have tried my best to do justice to this most melodious song I liked. After singing this song my admiration and devotion towards our great singer yesudas has multiplied especially for his inimitable innovative sound and the style of singing he had invented thru 4 decades.

Pramadavanam Veendum | Upload Music

Maargazhi Raagam - Visual Audio Treat for Carnatic Rasika

2009-04-29T09:53:00.002+03:00

At Gulf Cinema on April 29th 2009 Wednesday at 6:50 p.m. on reaching the theatre after beating the C-Ring road traffic, couldn't control the excitement and suspense, thinking what will be in store in this 'movie' and how they'd have presented. And the movie started at 7 p.m. with a meaningful musical silence with titles rolling on the screen and after that started flow of rich carnatic music (with out gimmicks) with wonderful raagaalapanas, difficult swarasangatis that took breath away.

The experience offered by this film was the first of its kind. A Great Innovation to present Carnatic Music in the form of a movie. Sridhar's Audio design , the visual treat of PC Sreeram's Digital RedOne Camera, aesthetically designed sets by art director rajeevan and satish kurusowa's crisp editing gives a different kind of treatment for this carnatic music movie. One can't express this musical voyage in words. should watch in a DTS theatre to get the real feel of it.

Attaching a trailer which gives a glimpse of this concert movie.

Memorable Evening of Bharathanatyam and Ghazal

2009-04-23T22:19:00.002+03:00

It's a memorable evening of bharathanatyam and ghazal at Doha cinema on 22nd April 2009 Wednesday. As usual following the soorya standard time, the programme started at 8 p.m. with bharatanatyam. Next day was a working day and inspite of that, we never wanted to leave the auditorium and stayed back till 11 p.m.

Click on the pictures to view enlarged.

World Earth Day

2009-04-22T14:08:00.003+03:00

Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. This date is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.
The United Nations celebrates an Earth Day each year on the March equinox, which is often March 20, a tradition which was founded by peace activist John McConnell in 1969.

April 22, 1970, Earth Day marks the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Approximately 20 million Americans participated, with a goal of a healthy, sustainable environment.
Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his old staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.
Mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental issues onto the world stage, Earth Day on April 22 in 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. The April 22 Earth Day in 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. For 2000, Earth Day had the Internet to help link activists around the world. By the time April 22 came around, 5,000 environmental groups around the world were on board, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184 countries. Events varied: A talking drum chain traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, for example, while hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., USA.
Earth Day 2000 sent the message loud and clear that citizens the world 'round wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy. Earth Day 2007 was one of the largest Earth Days to date, with an estimated billion people participating in the activities in thousands of places like Kiev, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; Tuvalu; Manila, Philippines; Togo; Madrid, Spain; London; and New York.
Founded by the organizers of the first April 22 Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect change in local, national, and global policies. Earth Day Network’s international network reaches over 17,000 organizations in 174 countries, while the domestic program engages 5,000 groups and over 25,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a half billion people participate in Earth Day Network campaigns every year.

IPL Fever

2009-04-18T16:46:00.003+03:00

IPL has started from today. My Cartoon on this.

RamaKatha A Classical Song

2009-04-18T10:48:00.000+03:00

Ramakathaa Gaanalayam Super Classic of all times | Upload Music

Recorded in 2007 for a gulf based programme telecast in KairaliTV called Qatar Kanavugal. A great composition by Raveendran maashu which should have given him National Award for best music Director which he never got. This song fetched Yesudas one more national award.

Happy Vishu

2009-04-13T13:01:00.000+03:00

Vishu Greetings.

This song was composed and recorded in my doha binmahmoud house in the year 2003 for a vishu programme by my friend Balu (Balamurali). He composed this song penned by Gopi who is working in Tayseer Doha. Balu also handled the Dholak, Tabla, Mridangam instruments. Keyboard was played by Arun and rhythm composer by Manoj. We did the recording track by track. It took one full night. I did the track vocal for balu who was supposed to sing but finally the same track was used for the programme. One of the precious gems from balu which's gone unnoticed.

Performance at CEC on March 26th 2009 by Sruti

2009-03-26T14:30:00.001+03:00

Sruti performed at Children Education Centre as part of farewell programme. Photos taken at our home after the performance.

Jai Ho ARR

2009-03-09T20:09:00.003+03:00

Watched the SUN TV Special episode of ARR beign felicitated by entire musical family at Chennai on March 1st 2009. (Telecast on March 8th 2009). Got really touched the speech of Maestro Ilayaraja pouring accolades. Heaping laurels on Rahman, maestro Ilayaraja said that there are only a few who possess immense talent and go on to make it big. Rahman is a phenomenal musician. He added, "If MSV is Athara Sruthi, me Panchamam and ARR has gone to Uchcha sthyai." (Sa-Pa-Sa) a beautiful personification of these legends.

I do consider Tamil Music period as the same. MSV-IR-ARR. It's really a musical heaven with only musicians felicitating ARR. Few exceptions were there like Director K Balachander, AVM Saravanan and few others. Could see old singer PBSreenivas, TM Soundarrajan, L Raghavan. S. Janaki created sentimental waves. This feliciation function 'll be a mile stone in the Indian Music history.

Rahman was really humble and in the end speaking on the occasion, he said, ‘I was bit disappointed watching media channels especially certain websites that were continually passing abusive comments by comparing Ilayaraja sir with me. He’s the great master of all times and I’m nothing when compared to him… Elder Musicians like him laid the foundation and I’ve represented them for these awards’

Jai Ho Rahman.

Dharavi becoming Tourist Spot !

2009-02-23T17:20:00.000+03:00

This's the cartoon that flashed in my mind the moment 'Slum Dog Millionnaire' was declared winner of the oscar. Dharavi will be a tourist spot in future.. especially for AmeriKans..(Indian Americans as well).

Click on the cartoon to view.....after this getting inspired to draw more cartoons...hmmm. let me give it a try ! The Cartoonist inside me is coming back again...

Movies in my 2008 Vacation

2008-12-23T09:57:00.000+03:00

Malayalam movies are still upto the standard. Although, there are no exceptional movies like in the 80s and 90s it's much better than other language movies, where you always feel 'paisa vasool';

On December 9th Tuesday 2008 - Girjia Theatre DTS
Veruthe Oru Bharya’ is one of the best films of recent times, dealing with domestic marriage discords resulting from mismatched characters of two people who stick to their incompatible agendas. It may hit too close to home for some; others might not key in on the psychology, but find it as a digestible fun-filled drama with light hearted moments. Jayaram, after a long gap, scores heavily in a role that is tailor made for his capabilities. He invites claps as never before, when imitating the singing styles of all heroes from yester year, Prem Nazir to today's Mammootty. Gopika looks evidently younger that what the role demands, but make better by convincing act in her complex title role as Bindu. She makes a poignant cake walk through the role, delivers majority of the dialogues and at times appear strong and scared at alternate scenes. Nivedita also shines as their daughter. Rahman and Ganesh kumar appear in short cameos.

On December 11th Thursdsay 2008 Jose Theatre DTS
Twenty: 20’ and its makers were there all over the net, news channels, and other media for quite some time. This mother of multistarrer '' being the most hyped movie of our times, there is only one big question to answer.... Does it live up to the expectations? The answer is a big 'YES'.What works heavily for ‘Twenty: 20’ is that it lives up to its name-just like a 20:20 match, you can't predict what will happen in the next reels. Just when you fix this as the last twist in the tale, will arrive the next that will keep you in tight seats.Personally, I feel, Mohanlal has got more scope than Mammootty and he handles the role with ease. Mammootty as advocate is prefect. But it is suresh gopi, who steals the show many a times from below superstars feet. Dileep, Manoj K Jayan, Madhu, Siddhique and Jayaram also have some solid characterizations, which they have done extremely well . Noted Missing actors are Nedumudi Venu, Murali, Thilakan, Ganeshkumar, Devan, Shankar etc. Only the songs department is very weak with no songs leaves mark. All in all, a masala movie ,that delivers good entertainment.

Was waiting for the SRK-Aditya Chopra film for long time. And that too was lucky to watch this movie in my favourite Theatre Thrissur RAGAM.

On December 12th 2008 Friday
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
It's a journey filled with laughter, tears, joy, pain, music, dance and a lot of love. A journey that makes us believe that there is an extraordinary love story in every ordinary jodi. And is a true SRK movie; and SRK is not disappointing. But...the biggest flaw is that how come a woman fails to recognize her husband with a slight-make over…. The characters of Surindar and Raj differ merely with thin moustache, hair style and costumes. Both the characters have same voice sans any modulations….On the whole, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is enjoyable on many parts with fun, frolic, lots of music and dance, pains and emotions.

On December 23rd 2008 Tuesday at RaviKrishna DTS
A Surprise thriller from BharathiRaja..BOMMALAATTAM
Firstly, the end is new. Secondly, despite the film being a murder mystery blood and gore have been handled with subtlety. And finally, the circumstances that drive the murderer to take the extreme step are shocking! The impact on the viewer is treme ndous and Bharatiraaja proves that his creative skills are pretty much active. This is literally a NanaPatekar Movie; From the very beginning to the end Nana is covered in the frame.
But to maintain suspense and not to go directly to the novel climax in between unnecessary sequences are squeezed in. And some major loopholes are there in the climax but can be ignored.

Venus Jupiter and Moon

2008-12-02T18:38:00.002+03:00

Venus, Jupiter and the moon formed a bright triangle in the night sky on Dec 2nd 2008. The next time the three will be as close and visible will be November 18, 2052

Mumbai Terror 26/11

2008-11-29T18:52:00.000+03:00

The November 2008 Mumbai attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks across Mumbai, India’s financial capital and largest city. The attacks began on 26 November 2008 and ended on 29 November 2008 when Indian security forces, in Operation Black Tornado, regained control of all attack sites. At least 188 people were killed and at least 293 were injured in the attacks.

Eight of the attacks took place at sites in South Mumba proper: the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe,Cama Hospital, the Orthodox Jewish-owned Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building behind St. Xavier's College.There was also an explosion at the Mazagaon docks in Mumbai's port area. A possible tenth incident involved a taxi blast at Vile Parle near the airport, but it is uncertain whether this was connected to the other nine attacks.

By the early morning of 28 November, all sites except for the Taj Mahal Palace had been secured by police and security forces. An action by India's National Security Guards on 29th November resulted in the conclusion of the Taj Mahal Palace encounter, ending all fighting in the attacks.

Initially, a previously unknown organization called the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility. Later, Mohammad Ajmal Amir the only terrorist who was captured alive, disclosed that the attackers were members of Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Pakistan-based militant organization, considered a terrorist organization by India, the United States, the United Kingdom, among others. However, no official attribution of responsibility has been made by the Indian Government.

The attacks drew widespread condemnation across the world.

Tribute to the GREAT SalilDA

2008-09-21T21:45:00.009+03:00

Salil Chowdhury is one of the great music directors I admire on par with Ilayaraaja and ARRahman. Although he's not a malayali he had given most of his hits in Malayalam along with bengali and hindi. He started with CHEMMEEN in malayalam from 1966 and ended with Kadappuram in 1995.

KairaliTV Channel from kerala had arranged a special musical tribute on Salil chowdhury titled SMRITHI, as part of weekly programme DOHA DURBAR aired every friday 1:30 p.m. IST (11 a.m. Doha Time). All the singers were from doha and I also by god's grace got a chance to offer a gurudakshina for this great composer in the form of a song.
This song will be aired in Kairali soon after RAMADAN may be in Oct or Nov.

I invite every one of you to just listen to the AUDIO version of this song. This was orginally sung by Dr K J Yesudas in 1978 film 'Samayamaayillapolum'; I have tried my best to do justice to the song. CLICK on the play button to listen to the song I have rendered.

Boomp3.com

Birthday Wishes from my music students

2008-09-19T06:18:00.000+03:00

It's like going back to my school days when I gave sweets on my birthday. Friday Morning batch music students and evening batch students wished me Happy BIRTHDAY. Felt like becoming young as I also joined them. Sruti distributed the sweets for the morning batch.

Almana Showroom at City Centre Opens....

2008-07-17T19:59:00.002+03:00

Finally the long wait was over by July 16th 2008 Wednesday. Thanks to the effort of AhmadBerzanjee, PankajPatil, Basantha...the list goes on... the long awaited City centre showroom (OE Division) was inaugurated by Member of Board of Directors of Almana & Partners company, Mr Nasser Almana, at around 10:45 a.m. Watch the highlights of the Inaugural ceremony. All the OE Executives and invited guests were present at that time.

FedEx stopped

2008-07-08T22:00:00.001+03:00

What a great tournament and what great final. could watch only from the middle by 7:00 pm. (doha time) Congratulations have to go out to Rafael Nadal for capturing his 1st Wimbledon crown and dethroning the former king of grass Roger Federer. Nadal was awesome through out the event.Felt sorry for Federer/Fedex being stopped at creating another record by surpassing Bjon Borg. But the fight was really thrilling like a hollwood thriller. May be in my friends group I'm the only won to watch as most of them are cricket fans and don't spend time watching this game however I think tennis is better than cricket and love more than cricket doesn't mean that I hate cricket. It will be tennis, football then cricket. that's the line up.

Spain are the Eurocup 2008 champions

2008-06-30T17:39:00.001+03:00

On June 29th 2008, Sunday Watched the Euro cup final late night. Spain became European champions for the second time after Fernando Torres's first-half goal in Vienna proved enough to defeat Germany in the final of UEFA EURO 2008™.

Spain had won their only previous piece of silverware in this competition in 1964 and had not been beyond the quarter-finals of any tournament in 24 years, yet Luis Aragonés's men chose to use that history as an inspiration rather than a burden. After a strong start from Germany, seeking a fourth title themselves, Spain were the more dangerous side throughout an entertaining final at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion although it took just one goal – in the 33rd minute, courtesy of Torres's pace, perseverance and unerring finish – to end their long wait.

during the break time browsed Safari in my macbook and got this.

"Rested reasonably well last night, so why the lethargy on work today. Is it true the longer you sleep the greater the lethargy.? Should sleep less then ! Yes.?" -these words were in the mobile blog by the person I and we respect a lot, Amitabh bachchan. He's the real inspiration to do multitasking in the life. it's real that the more work or active you are the less lethargic you will be which is true and just try out that. but remember you have to really enjoy doing what ever you do and try to cherish each moments even if it's a tiring job.

Prakash Send Off Party

2008-06-24T12:40:00.000+03:00

On June 23rd Monday evening 5:15 p.m. we had send off party for Prakash Pattabiraman, who had been with us for 8 years. He's moving on to dubai/abdudabhi for a new phase in his career. had nice time. enjoy the video below.

Gopal-Varshini-Vivan's Party

2008-06-20T20:59:00.000+03:00

After my carnatic classes on friday noon went to JBK Villas to attend the party arranged by gopal.I was meeting most of the friends after a long gap. was glad to see everyone in the party. Gopal varshini were really enjoying the new phase in their life. Vivan has brought them new energy and could see their faces more brighter with joy.

Some moments from the party is below in the small video clipping.

Dasavatharam - Confused on Incarnations

2008-06-20T12:49:00.000+03:00

Decided to watch Dasavatharam today which was released in Doha last week. couldn't go because of other commitments.Today there was a special prog on Dasavatharam in Star Vijay conducted by cartoonist Madan, in which director ravikumar gave the comparison with vishnu's dasavatharam, in which only poovaragan (dalit's) character, nambi and japanese characters are convincing. Calling the villain as parasurama is too much.

One more interesting thing is the japanese name, he is supposed to be narasimha avatar (convincing) name also resembled. Shingen Narahasi (Narasimha jumbled).

The list is as shown below.

Matsya-Nambi Rangarajan in 12th century obvious fish in water

Koorma-Bush the turtle was beneath the huge churning that emitted poison leading Asuras and Devas into battle Varaha/Vamana -Khalifullah, the tall God also dwarfed by minority community status

Parasurama hatchet man/Fletcher-the hitman

Balram-Balram Naidu

Rama-Avtar Singh in love for his wife

Narasimha-Shingen Narahasi, the man who takes on the disbeliever on the shore, at dusk in bare combact (remember hiroshima?>>>

Krishna -Vincent, saves the girl from molestation when she calls Narayana, loses out the political negotiations as his community is bought over by drink. Krishna tries for a Yadava -Kaurava negotiation hat fails as Yadavas succumb to booze and Krishna and Vincent die by the seashore, their feet wounded.

Buddha-paati and today Buddhism is the religion of the Dalits in India, Vincent seems like her son as she attains enlightenment

Kalki-Govind, harbinger of doomsday through virus.

Personally, I was disappointed by this movie as What could have been an exiting adventure is spoilt due to Kamal Haasan’s indulgence and wanting to be the first actor to do 10 roles in a film. but we can't blame him for that considering the great pains he has taken to do these roles. The only fantastic feature of this film is the first 15 minutes set in the 12^th century. Quite Brilliant and excellent and is par with hollywood. Also to some extent the last 15 minutes of Tsunami but Computer Graphics has got some flaws. especially, you can't compare with Hollywood Tsunami (it is no where near 'Day After Tomorrow' scene).

Those who couldn't understand the first dialogues of Kamal in Nehru Stadium, he talks about 'Chaos Theory' and 'Butterfly effect'(which is a component of Chaos Theory) , which is true and no one has attempted these things in Indian Cinema.

The idol that is drowned in the sea along with Rangarajan(first kamalahaasan) in 12th century by Chozha king results in a fault being developed at the bottom of the ocean and creates tremors more than 800 years later. These tremors result in the Tsunami. This is classic example of 'Butter Fly' effect. (The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. ) Another explanation is that Govind is in fact the reincaranation of Rangarajan. As Rangarajani he couldn’t protect God and died in the name of God.In order to fulfill his Karma,he is reincarnated as Govind Ramasamy who ultimately saves the world from destruction.The idol in the end somewhat hints to this theory; his story began with the idol and it ends with the idol.

Basically a chaotic system is one wherein long term predictions are impossible. Like for example, if I push a car, I know that it is going to move and it will continue to do so if I go on pushing it on and on. However, in a chaotic system, this situation cannot be predicted over a long period of time. Weather, for example, is a chaotic system.

Here in the movie, The 1st scene is perfectly connected to the climax, remember what Kamal says in the first scene, that he will not say “Om Nama Shivaya” , but Asin tells him to chant it , but still Kamal refuses , he believes in his god more than anything, but Asin feels “Its ok if we change the god or chant other god’s name, its life thats most important.” Now if u see the climax its JUST OPPOSITE…. Kamal doesn’t believe in god much and values lives of people the most…. but Asin deeply believes in god and that too this dialogue comes when both Asin and Kamal’s hand is on the god which came from the sea , and it also means that they are getting united from the place they departed hundreds of years back ( Kamal and Asin).

All these points if you analyze are really great, but execution of the other parts and dragging scenes spoil the film.

(One more personal point, I liked the scene in which my favourite Apple Computer is shown. George bush is using Apple Macbook Pro.)

You should not forget to mention kamalhaasan acting. from India glitz which had given a good review on Kamalhaasan. The eyes are considered the most effective tools in creating the right kind of attitude for any actor and Kamal Haasan is a master at that. There are many a time in the film when the audience would have to force themselves to believe that it is the same actor who is the good guy as well as the bad guy.The expressive and determined eyes of the priest, the mushy and yet funny countenance of Balaram Naidu, the hilarious CBI officer and the peaceful martial artist eyes of the Japanese character have all shaped up to fit into any acting text book. Hats off to Kamal Haasan on the acting front!!

Letter from Infosys CEO

2008-06-19T08:29:00.000+03:00

Got this letter thru email send by Natarajan RameshRamadurai Sir. A Very good advise for all the late sitters.

Feb 21, 2008 10:55 am
Email from the boss

Mail sent by Narayan Murthy to all Infosys staff:

It's half past 8 in the office but the lights are still on...
PCs still running, coffee machines still buzzing...
And who's at work? Most of them ??? Take a closer look...

All or most specimens are ??
Something male species of the human race...

Look closer... again all or most of them are bachelors...

And why are they sitting late? Working hard? No way!!!
Any guesses???
Let's ask one of them...
Here's what he says... 'What's there 2 do after going home...Here we get to surf, AC, phone, food, coffee that is why I am working late...Importantly no bossssssss!!!!!!!!!!!'

This is the scene in most research centers and software companies and other off-shore offices.

Bachelors 'Time-passing' during late hours in the office just bcoz they say they've nothing else to do...
Now what r the consequences...

'Working' (for the record only) late hours soon becomes part of the institute or company culture.

With bosses more than eager to provide support to those 'working' late in the form of taxi vouchers, food vouchers and of course good feedback, (oh, he's a hard worker... goes home only to change..!!).
They aren't helping things too...

To hell with bosses who don't understand the difference between 'sitting' late and 'working' late!!!

Very soon, the boss start expecting all employees to put in extra working hours.

So, My dear Bachelors let me tell you, life changes when u get married and start having a family... office is no longer a priority, family is... and
That's when the problem starts... b'coz u start having commitments at home too.

For your boss, the earlier 'hardworking' guy suddenly seems to become a 'early leaver' even if u leave an hour after regular time... after doing the same amount of work.

People leaving on time after doing their tasks for the day are labelled as work-shirkers...

Girls who thankfully always (its changing nowadays... though) leave on time are labelled as 'not up to it'. All the while, the bachelors pat their own backs and carry on 'working' not realizing that they r spoiling the work culture at their own place and never realize that they would have to regret at one point of time.

So what's the moral of the story??
* Very clear, LEAVE ON TIME!!!
* Never put in extra time ' unless really needed '
* Don't stay back unnecessarily and spoil your company work culture which will in turn cause inconvenience to you and your colleagues.

There are hundred other things to do in the evening..

Learn music...

Learn a foreign language...

Try a sport... TT, cricket.........

Importantly,get a girl friend or boy friend, take him/her around town...

* And for heaven's sake, net cafe rates have dropped to an all-time low (plus, no fire-walls) and try cooking for a change.

Take a tip from the Smirnoff ad: *'Life's calling, where are you??'*

Please pass on this message to all those colleagues and please do it before leaving time, don't stay back till midnight to forward this!!!

IT'S A TYPICAL INDIAN MENTALITY THAT WORKING FOR LONG HOURS MEANS VERY HARD WORKING & 100% COMMITMENT ETC.

PEOPLE WHO REGULARLY SIT LATE IN THE OFFICE DON'T KNOW TO MANAGE THEIR TIME. SIMPLE !

Regards,
NARAYAN MURTHY.

Sruti's first bharatanatyam competition

2008-06-15T23:23:00.000+03:00

On Saturday June 14th 2008 Got up by 5 a.m. only because of late night sitting. rushed to children education centre where ramateacher will be waiting for srutimma to do the make up for today's BPS cultural fiesto dance competition. dropped deepa and sruti by 6:20 there and came back home to do the morning routines; rushed to office by 7:20 finished some urgent work and proceeded to CEC where deepa with sruti was waiting. 7:45 was the registration time at BPS and we reached only by 8:05;

totally there were 6 participants and sruti was dancing as 3rd participant. after finishing registration I just wanted to check the cassette position. when I opened the taperecorder - shock - cassette is missing. I told deepa and she yelled at me. what to do. it's here told deepa its in the same bag where cassette had ejected out; felt relieved. otherwise I was getting ready to make a grand return to house. sruti did well but found out that her costumes needed more attention. Also the geetam 'varaveena' was short. but it's okay for a start. mehendi was missing in her hands. because of the photographer's interruption had to discard the mobile video version and had to reshoot full dance at home in order to send to appa - amma. Later in the noon edited to shorten the length and send to appa-amma; appa became emotional on watching sruti's performance.

Below is the short video of bharathanatyam by srutimma.

Father's Day

2008-06-15T15:17:00.002+03:00

On 15th June 2008 Sunday noon as usual I picked sruti from BPS by 1:45p.m. and she gave me the father's day card as a surprise gift. I never knew that today is the father's day. In school they had told the children to make father's day card and present as surprise gift. Sruti had penned her own words and although there are spelling mistakes it is those mistakes that give a special attraction for this letter.

Send off for Sreeni Ponnambily

2008-06-14T11:28:00.000+03:00

Today it's a sendoff day for sreeni-ponnambily-ritcha. Although we got introduced around one and half year ago we became very close in few months. friendship is one other wonderful thing I cherish about a lot. havegot lot of friends in my life which I consider as a great asset. although I lost contact of most of my friends as part of destiny still I remember those wonderful moments. today infact I went back to my pre-degree college days where we had a farewell party and we're all sad and couldn't enjoy the farewell party. at that time it's unfortunate that never had a video camera or even still camera. were not planned. but still through the lens of memory I am getting the nuances of those moments. When I sang the song 'vida taroo..' it took me 2 decades back. Sreeni-ponnambily are great friends whom we will miss a lot. Although it's only one year and had only very few occassions of gatherings and sharing, those days were wonderful, which I have in my daily diary. Thru sreeni I got introduced to madhu whom I had seen in my childhood days and who was living in the same neighbourhood, but we never got chance to get introduced to each other. It's another destiny to meet in qatar.

Well we started with small speech by sreeni on Qatar, friends etc. Sreeni is proceeding to Abudabhi to join Occidental petroleum as finance manager and it's a great leap for him.

later madhu spoke about missing sreeni, followed by leena cherising the memories and small talk by ponnambily. children sang sujanajeevana song and gave individual performance as well. sreeni sang vande mukunda hare... in his own inimitable style. madhu rendered old classic oru nimisham taroo...leena gave nostalgic moments thru the song yaad aara hee hain... famous hit from 80s. ponnambily sang kabhi kabhi another hindi classic. deepa gave her contribution in the form of choodiyaan. finally I finished with 'vidataroo...'. may god bless all of us to be again together thru a wonderful destiny. thru different friends I have learnt a lot. from madhu it's the joyful humorous way of living and from sreeni to take challenges in professional life. it really need guts to take , go through it and come out of it in flying colors.

2008-06-06T16:06:00.000+03:00

Watched the Movie in our Home theatre in projection 'Horton Hears a Who' which is excellent in its adaptation, animation and total presentation. Sruti enjoyed much and I would say it's the child in me enjoyed the most .

In the Jungle of Nool, a caring, imaginative elephant named Horton (Jim Carrey) takes a dip in the pool. A dust speck floats past him in the air, and he hears a tiny yelp coming from it. Believing that an entire family of microscopic creatures are living on that speck, he places it on top of a clover that he holds in his trunk.

In fact, he finds out the speck harbors the city of Whoville and all its inhabitants, led by Mayor Ned McDodd (Steve Carell). He has a loving wife, Sally (Amy Poehler), 96 daughters, and one son named JoJo (Jesse McCartney), who, by Who custom, is next in line for the mayoral position, and as such, gives it his best effort to give JoJo enough attention. Unaware to Ned, JoJo doesn't share his father's wish. Ned is aware, though, that JoJo does not speak and tries to befriend him to get him to speak.
By 11:30 after finishing the movie, when going to bed was careful not to disturb any insects.

Risk

2007-02-24T11:02:00.000+03:00

Watched this movie. Action packed thriller. Slick editing and the camera work are the higlights of this action flick. Vinod khanna's return after a big gap to the bollywood.

2007-02-19T08:44:00.000+03:00

SouthAfrica Teaser

This is a teaser. More highlights will be followed.

2006-12-13T05:55:00.000+03:00

Teaser Diwali

Enjoy the great moments again. Wait for the edited version of our Diwali Dhamaka 2006. I am taking more time of editing the DVD as it should be a memorable classic product. In this teaser, have missed out dance by our villagewoods team, western dance by children and drama of beauty queens. well, all of these you will be able to see in the final DVD. Please bear with me, as I am totally busy with Doha Asian Games 2006 office work. Moreover, deepa and sruti will be leaving for India for a small vacation so that I will be full time spending in the editing room.

2006-11-19T15:51:00.000+03:00

Love is for ever

I liked this AD very much. So innovative and creative that I want to share with you all my friends. My friend venkat send me in his recent mail.

jana gana mana......National Song of India

2006-10-08T09:15:00.000+03:00


National Song of India-Melodiously composed by AR Rahman. This was released in 2000. Rahman has given a different dimension to our national anthem.

2006-10-05T10:02:00.000+03:00

SeshadriMamasShastbdprty

We had really great fun on Sept 30th celebrating Seshadri mama's 60-am kalyanam. Nadaswaram was by Sheikh Chinnamoula , Vaadyar was Narayanamama who was referring the mantrams throughout the function. Sujathamami was given a detailed makeup and it took sometime for the bride to come out of the makeup room, which made seshadri mama little upset and lead to sambandi sandai. Had taalikattal function and oonjal function. leading singers were Srinivasaraghavan (kalakkittaar), Krishnan (old TMS song was good), srividya mami and others. Ramumama's tengais were rejected by vadyar and later accepted. Ramaswamy mama's house became marriage hall and we had a small photo session in the end.

BommaiGolu

2006-09-28T11:09:00.000+03:00


Srutis tandanaana pattu in our bommai golu

Happy Birthday

2006-09-21T08:31:00.000+03:00


I celebrated my brithday this time with a difference. Sruti who is learning now western classical piano was practising happy birthday lessons; she managed to play happy birthday to me early morning; in the evening my monday batch students of carnatic music sang happy birthday and cut the cake. thanks to god for his blessings and his mercy.

2006-08-30T06:45:00.000+03:00

Onam

Sruti's onam dress send by amma. It was taken on vinayaka chaturthi day when we had sahasranamam in our house.

2006-08-22T06:15:00.000+03:00

SchoolReopening

School has reopened for sruti on Aug 20th 2006. She got up early by 5 took bath and got ready. Interview with sruti on this day before going to school.

2006-08-19T08:07:00.000+03:00

Janmashtami Celeb in our Home 2006

We celebrated SriKrishnaJayanthi in small humble scale at our house. Deepa had put footsteps of little krishna in kolapodi. Sruti was amazed to see this and was asking questons like why krishna's footstep is so small.

2006-08-14T23:01:00.000+03:00

Sruti's Portrait

At Kualalumpur Tower, Malaysia we met a wonderful artiste who had created famous personalities portrait who visited KL tower in 10 mts. He made portrait of our little one sruti's in 8 mts.

HONDA CIVIC PARKING TRICK TOP VIEW

2006-08-13T15:19:00.000+03:00


A parallel parking trick using the hand brake on a FWD Honda Civic.

2006-08-07T20:02:00.000+03:00

Reem's Farewell

Remembering Reem who has joined another company in Dubai. Wishing him all the best...

AvaniAvittam-Why we should do ....

2006-08-07T15:24:00.000+03:00

On Avani Avittam day, the most important karma for a Brahman, i.e.,
Upakarma or Avani Avittam as it is popularly known, will be observed.
This article attempts to inform the reader in advance, the true
meaning of Upakrama so that he may appreciate as well as perform his
karma appropriately.

There is a general belief that the main event in Upakarma is changing
the Upaveetham/ poonal. In reality, this is but a minor part of the
Upakarma. The main event or purpose of Upakrama is Vedarambha.

To understand better, let us look at the meaning of the
word "Upakarma". According to The Practical Sanskrit English
Dictionary, (V.S. Apte, 3rd Edition, 1924) Upakarma
means "Preparation, beginning, commencement". The prefix "adhyaya" is
used in the sankalpa. Adhyaya means "learning, reading".

Quoting from the same dictionary, Adhyaya Upakarma is "a ceremony
performed before commencing to read the Veda after the monsoons".
In the past, the learning of Vedas was done for a period of six
months every year, ending on Pushya Pournami (Thai Pournami). The
stopping of studying Vedas is called "Adhyaya Utsarjana". For the
next six months till the Shravana Pournami, the student studies
shastras.

Studying of Vedas starts again in Shravana month. (Avani). This
restarting of studying of Vedas is a karma which is peformed as
Upakarma. Thus, the most important part of Upakarma is the Veda
Arambha that the Sastrigal/Vadhyar will perform after changing of
Upaveetham.

Actually, over the years, the practice of "adhyaya utsarjana" has
stopped. That is why, on the day of Upakarma, the "kamokarishit
japam" is performed.

The sankalpa of the Kamokarishit Japam translates to " For not having
performed the Adhyaya Utsarjana, I am doing this Japam as
prayashchittam". Therefore, this is also an important karma. For
completion of the Upakarma both the Kamokarishit Japam and
Vedarambham must be performed.

One of the important segments of the Upakarma is the Mahasankalpam.
The Mahasankalpam is done after Kamokarishit Japam, but before the
changing of Upaveetham.

The word Sankalpam means " mental resolve, purpose, aim, intention, a
solemn vow to perform an observance, etc." The mahasankalpam defines
the sankalpam/objectives sought to be achieved by the Upakarma.
The Mahasankalpam has three parts.

Part 1. Defines the location at which the sankalpam is performed.
The actual place of sankalpam is defined with reference starting from
the entire universe, the sapta lokas and narrowing down to the
Bharata Varsha and then to the final place.In the process, the rivers
that flow, the crops that grow in these areas, the forests ,
important towns and the temples that are there are listed.

Part 2. Defines the time at which the sankalpam is performed. The
actual time of sankalpam is defined with reference starting from the
Calendars of Brahma, Manu and the four Yugas, narrowing down to the
current Kali Yuga, the year, time, Nakshatra, thithi etc.

Part 3. Defines the types of Papams (sins) , absolution from which,
is the purpose of the karma . The sankalpam seeks absolution from the
sins committed

a. from birth, across the various avasthas of life (childhood,
studentship, youth, old age),
b. while awake or in sleep
c. whether in public knowledge or in private
d. arising out of lust/ desire, anger, greed and/or unconsciousness
(Kama , krodha, lobha, moha) and
e. whether with the knowledge that it is a sin, or without such
knowledge

The sankalpam further divides the sins into 9 types and seeks their
absolution.

1. Maha patakas – e.g. Killing a Brahman, stealing gold, drinking
liquor
2. Ati patakas – e.g. abetting a maha pataka.
3. Upa patakas – e.g. killing kshatriyas
4. Sama patakas – e.g. Killing cows
5. Sankalee karanas – e.g. Killing cats
6. Malinee karanas – e.g. Killing insects
7. Apatri karanas – i.e. acts declared as unfit to be done
8. Jati bhramsha karanas
9. Prakeernakas – e.g. Not doing one's karmas

2006-08-06T12:14:00.000+03:00

MagicFountain

The highlight of our singapore trip was Magical Sentosa and its cast of characters in this
S$4-million sound, light and laser extravaganza at the Musical Fountain,sentosa island. (Sentosa is an entertainment island-you need atleast 3 days to cover all the attractions). During the half-hour multi-media musical, Kiki the hyperactive monkey and his friends took us on a journey into a secret Sentosa unknown to the world.
The special effects – a combination of state-of-the-art lasers and computer graphics, water jets and fiery flames – our Magical Sentosa experience was quite unforgettable.
To reduce the file size I have edited a lot of porton but in DVD it is quite good. I used my recently purchase JVC Everio 30GB Harddisk Camcorder which has brought back the thrilling experience.

Joining the Blog

2006-08-05T15:27:00.000+03:00

Struggled to decide which blog portal to go and finally decided to go with blogger. wanted to include video post as well with this but has not found the tool to insert a video file.