The Alchemist – my take

Very rarely we come across some pieces of art – be it a music piece, a painting, a poem or a novel, that opens up a new window in front of our eyes. And I believe that it is the responsibility of the artists or authors or poets to do that, if not again and again but at least for once in a life time. I found Alchemist opening some hidden windows of my mind that I never really realized that existed so strongly!

When I heard the name of the book for the first time, I wondered what this book deals with. The name suggested being some theory on alchemy – the study of chemistry practiced in the middle ages that involved changing base metals into gold. So I was not at all interested.

My first acquaintance with the writing of Paulo Coelho happened with ‘Like the Flowing Rivers’. I instantly fell in love with the immense sense of spirituality that his thoughts carried.

After that I was in a look out for Alchemist and recently I was able to borrow it from a colleague of mine. The book teasers never really interest me and this one saying - “A magic fable about following your dream” also could not arouse any interest in me. So I started reading it only because it’s written by Paulo Coelho remembering all the good and bad feedbacks I got about it.

What I felt was that the novel is all about positivity. It talks about the positive energy of life, the positive approaches of the world and the positive signs of the universe, which are termed here as omens. How rightly! The metaphors and symbols are so true. The king, the desert, the oasis, the war – everything is so meaningful to everybody’s life if we treat them as a reason to something!

And the statement - “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” is so true! I have experienced the force of nature, the omens so many times in my life but I really never thought that way! A mere book can’t really change the life of a reader but it may definitely influence the perception in a very strong way; if not permanently then definitely for a good long amount of time.

It's not Magic

They say learning is continuous, relentless. But What makes a person to outshine his own said words? What motiavtes him to hone his skills with every moment? And what if the person himself is the idol of millions?

In 1996 a Tamil movie released - Kadhal Desam with music by A R Rahman. The speciality of the movie was that three songs of the movie were sung by ARR. One of them was Mustafa Mustafa that became a monstrous hit at that time.

I remember reading an interview of ARR published in the Filmfare magazine just after the release of the movie. There the interviewer asked him a question, which goes like this (I don't remember the exact words) - "You have sung three out of six songs in Kadhal Desam. Are you switching to full time singing?"

In reply, ARR said (Again I don't remember the exact words) - "My voice matched the characters of the film. I know my voice quality. I will never sing a soft romantic number".

After eight years a song comes that instantly touches billions of Indians spread all across the world. A song that made many NRI's to cling their pillows and cry for their homeland. No wonder, it was 'Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera' of the movie Swades, which was not very successful in terms of box office collection but was successful to touch people's hearts. This is a song that literally stops the heart beating for some moments and you never know when your cheeks become wet.

Now try to match the words said by the singer and composer of this beautiul song - A R Rahman about his own singing ability some eight years back!!!!!

My early plunge into Mumbaiyaa Marathi

Somedays back while having lunch, a friend of mine asks me 'Do you know what gardi means?' I was clueless what he was saying. Then others started laughing saying 'she's really new in Mumbai'. Then they said that gardi means crowd, rush, etc.

Fine, I learnt it. Then that same friend asked me again 'do you know what kaanda means?' I was again totally clueless! Then they said that it means onion.

The next word was a shock! Someone asked me 'do you the meaning of batata'? This time the word seemed familiar to me and I said 'wada?'

Then suddenly all were pieces into laughter. And again I was totally and entirely clueless!
Then someone said that batata means potato and batata wada is a snack in Mumbai.

But I always thought batata wada is a single word!!!!!

While buying Jodha Akbar OST - an experience

On Monday evening I went to buy the OST of Jodhaa Akbar. No wonder, I was very excited as the long wait was going to finally end. As I entered the audio section of the Planet M, I saw two NRI ladies standing there holding the cd of Jodhaa Akbar and the Planet M guy was explaining something saying '.....the songs are classical. The movie is a period drama.....' I just picked my cd and said to the ladies 'This is by A R Rahman. You can always have it, I'm sure you will never regret later'. Then one of the ladies said 'Oh! This is by A R Rahman? Yes, I know, he is a great musician!'

Then I proceeded to see other collection in the store. While coming out, I met them again in the elevator. I asked whether they got it. And the lady said 'Yes of course. Thank you for saing that it's by A R Rahman'.

At that time I noticed the cover of the cd for the first time. For me or any other regular Indian cd buyer, locating the name of music director is not difficult. Our eyes are trained. But it may be difficult for a person who is not acquainted with the type of cover design used here. For example, those two ladies had very little idea about Indian movies. They were actually exploring Indian movies as I heard them asking for the OST of Pakeezah, Shree 420, Guide, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, etc. It's but obvious for them to skip the name of 'A R Rahman' written in the third row at font size 10. Once they came to know that it's by ARR, they did not hesiatate to grab it at once.

I'm sure many such people, who otherwise would like to buy any composition of A R Rahman without a second thought, will fail to even know that the cd they are holding is by none other than A R Rahman. It's pity! More than the actors, director or theme of a movie, shouldn't the OST of a movie be credited to its music director? Shouldn't his name come in a more visble way? And if the music director is such a big personality like ARR, doesn't his name need some extra weight?

It's a music to get the lyrics

As I listen to some of my Tamil favourites, I just cannot restrain myself from learning those sweet melodies. But learning a song was never so difficult, time taking and most importantly technology dependant before. The reason is nothing but the fact that the songs are in Tamil!

Here are the steps that I have to follow in order to learn a song -

1. Log in to internet and get the lyrics of the particular song transliterated in English.

2. Get a print out.

3. Rewrite the entire song in own handwriting. This is very important step I need to take in
order to pronounce the words properly. Because I strongly believe that Tamil words are the most deceiving elements in the world; they simply are not pronounced the way they look.

4. Start learning.

Apparently, these four steps don't seem to be very difficult. But what if I don't have a pc and printer with me? Getting the correct lyrics from just hearing the songs is almost impossible. So, suddenly in a lazy Sunday evening while listening to Anbe (Rhythm) if I wish to learn it, it just seems to be an impossible affair!!!

My day out to Haji Ali

Last Saturday I went to Haji Ali. It was such a wonderful experience to finally be there. I dont know for how long I had been yearning to visit the dargah. Can't even remember any particular reason behind that. Mumbai was never on my list to as I was always keen to settle down in Bngalore. I remember, the moment I decided to come to Mumbai, the first and only thing that I wanted to visit in the city was Haji ali.

Everything now seems to be pre-detremined and I seem to be a mere doll in the greatest force of nature. The day I joined my job here, the first person I happened to meet was Shaira. The very next day I asked her how I can go to Haji Ali and if she would be able to accompany me. She got so excited over that and said that even she was thinking to visit the place for a long time and actually she'd never been there!

So me, Shaira and two more of our colleagues decided over a date and we finally set for Haji Ali. Commuting in Mumbai is quite comfortable so our reaching to Haji Ali was not a problem at all. After that everything was simply blissful. The walk down to dargah, standing beside the mausoleum, tying the thread for mannat and getting the stroke of holy broom on head - everthing was celestial. We gave our chaddar to maulavi and he spread it over the mausoleum. I was standing there for quite some time, wondering as I was really there and then the maulavi gave me the prashad (I dont know exactly what it is called).

No need to mention of course, for the entire day the lines of Piya Haji Ali were buzzing in my mind. Consciously or unconsciously I was humming to the tunes almost relentlessly. Now, I can also relate to the words what I had been listening for so many years!

khuda apne waliyon se hota hai raazi
milegi ye dar se hamein sarfarazi
yaha dil se mango ye hazi ali hain
khuda ke vali hain

Take a trip in a bus!!!!!

Different cities, different characteristics. Even if you do not want to, you end up comparing the relative characteristics of them.

Let's talk about the nature of the mostly used public vehicles - buses in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai.

Kolkata is the most unorganized city I've come across. The buses stop anywhere and everywhere for any amount of time to get a single passenger. The conductors actually scream the destinations at the top of their voice. The important bus stops sound like a fish market at the important office hours. People can get in and get down from any of the doors. And moreover, the mini-buses have only one door!

Delhi is the capital city of India so things are better organized there. But it's undobtedly the most corrupted city I've come across. The blue line bus conductors actually bribe the governmnet ones for not plying in the office time! Though the buses dont stand in betwwen stops, but they take the liberty to stand for any amount of time just like Kolkata buses. The conductors there also scream at the top of their voice in their typical Hariyanvi accent.

The Mumbai buses are both organized and mysterious. Particular buses stop at the particular stops. You first have to check the board in the bus stand to make sure that the bus will stop here or walk ahead to the next bus stand. The bus numbers are written in Marathi (Thank God Marathi numbers look the same as Hindi numbers) and if you can't read that, then you will come to know that you have missed your bus only after it leaves the stand, as the number is written in English just near the back door. No point of running behind it, as it won't stop unless for its stop. The conductors never speak a word here about the destinations and it's always advisable to get a bus-route schedule in order to catch the right bus. And yes, if you miss your stop and move forward, there is no way of knowing it as the conductors won't call you out at your stop, unlike Kolkata and Delhi.

What's the mystery?

It is but obvious that after changing the mobile-sim card, we get to lose some numbers that are saved in sim-memory, smses and all call register information. But this time when I changed my sim card, I lost some smses that were very precious to me. And I was surprized by the fact that the deletion was on random basis!

I generally delete and clear my sms inbox in every 2-3 days. But there are some smses that I never delete. Those are the smses sent to me from my friends saying that they have 'met Rahman'. I even dont delete the reply smses I got from my friends after I met Rahman.

Very surprizingly, I lost two smses sent to me by Prabhu and XXXX after they met Him. Quite surprizingly I do have the further smses I shared with them, but not those ones :(

Note: XXXX does not want his name to be mentioned.

Jo gharon ko chhod ke hain chale

Sometime some music or some piece of poetry gets tied to the senses without even knowing or realizing it. We get so attached to it that after some point of time we start to posess it like our own asset! The song 'Mere Hamsafar' from Refugee is such a song that happens to be my all time favourite. But more than the song, it's the two lines coming at the end that captivates me. A simple thought said in a very simple way. But I've always found this two lines so meaningful to my life. It says-

Jo gharon ko chhod ke hain chale
Unhe kya daraayenge faaslein

Some Random Thoughts

So, finally I'm in Mumbai. And quite strangely, I'm finding the city so nice. Here I must confess that I didnt have any such expectations at all. The reason behind my such a mind set or prejudice, if you call it (though I try not to be prejudiced) is definitely my almost three years stay in Delhi. After coming here, I feel like I have come out of the dead lock that was shaping to be an infinite one. I feel so free!

I am yet again fotunate to have some real good colleagues and room mates. But I guess, everything in life does not come with such sugar coating. I'm suffering from an enormous longing for my family, my little kitchen and my small house, where I used to maintain each and everything. Sometimes I feel like my life has come to a full stop! Earlier I used to crave for sleeping at least half an hour more....and now......

Life never stops teaching you. And of course, for a headless adament person like me, no bumps seem to be adequate. There is no learning of the fact on my part that I SHOULD NOT discuss my private matters with anyone except my family members. But since I have not learnt the fact over the years, there is no limit of people taking my advantages. Yes, I feel bad, just like I felt bad on the previous occassions. But again, no one but I am responsible for that.

And of course there's is no stopping of people to misunderstand me! I think as a precaution, I should deliberately and immediately stop SMSing with people. C'on, this costs me too!

Amir Khan's next production - Delhi Delhi, which is reportedly going to be an out and out international project will be composed by SEL!!!! This news is confirmed by none other than Shankar Mahadevan himself! Lets face it honestly and confess it- that I am very sad :(

update: I guess this is the perfect post that justifies the name of my blog - a jabberwock!