We all need Subhiksha but not with this!

Thanks to peekayar@yahoo.com (P.K.Ramakrishnan) for this insight.

Deepavali  In South India the name used for Deepavali is Narakachaturdasi.  Chaturdasi is the fourteenth day of krishnapaksha. This day is dedicated to Naraka. Naraka an asura,  the son of Satyabhama. Satyabhama is said to be an incarnation of Lakshmi or Fortune.

Now let us discuss the mythological aspect of this. Naraka is the Sanskrit word for hell. Hell is another word for misery. When misery is annihilated fortune automatically springs.  Both cannot co-exist.   When Naraka is killed people take bath to get rid of the pollution.  When fortune springs people are happy and partake sweet things and celebrate with row of lighted lamps called Deepavali. This appears to be inner significance of Narakachaturdasi and Deepavali.


Thanks to peekayar@yahoo.com (P.K.Ramakrishnan) for this insight.

Now thoughts,

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of diwali is the crackers. 

Throughout the city, round the corners you are able to see cracker shops of various brands from “Standard” to “Kuyil”. Somehow, I am fascinated by crackers. It might be because I am not afraid of the sound/noise.

This year the troubled retail chain “Subhiksha” started a பட்டாசுக்கடல் (Sea of Crackers). The advertisement claims the cost of crackers are much lesser than other shops and it also claims that a “40%” flat discount is available in the shop.

I have gone and visited (Visited) one of the shops near Velacherry Railway station. It was a surprise to me that there is no “standard” brand crackers and top of it, you don’t find any GOOD fancy crackers.

Reasons for why a consumer should not get cheated on seeing false advt., boards.

• You don’t get a Price list. 
• Brand of crackers is not mentioned
• There is comparison with other shops

Price Comaprison : it is way too costly comparing with other shops. I am 100% happy with advertisement boards saying “40%” on crackers. Note : Discount not applicable for standard crackers.

A “Standard” brand 1000Wala costs around Rs.375, where as in Subhiksha a xyz-branded costs Rs.440. Invariable all the items are costlier by Rs.20 or more.

Yes I agree that cracker industry got a hit off-late because of child labour problems. In subhiksha’s case, I think they have spent more on the shop area, covers, lights, Generators, advertisement hoardings and increased the cost of the crackers.

Caution: If you are planning to buy from subhiksha, make sure that you compare the prices with other shops and then start off your purchase.

Note :  Yes, I agree that there are people who say "No" to crackers or "Ban" crackers during diwali. It depends on family to family. If you have kids who are crazy about crackers, I dont want  to let them down. Other than New clothes, Sweets, Wishes and  Aasirvathams,  crackers does make the kids remember the diwali in a special way. Yes we have planned something special this Diwali (Fireworks). 


Of-course yes, there are other ways to celebrate diwali. I agree to that.

Wish you all Happy, Safe and colourful diwali.

AaShai Mugam from Remixed Iyer girls

First listen to this song in Youtube :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib3r6mPD3aY&feature=related 

I dont have any complaints about the music, and it doesn't mean that I liked it completely.

This is the first message from the Music Choreographer  “Shankar Tucker” (ST)
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To preemptively address any arguments about pronunciation, there are different dialects of Tamil, in which the lyrics can either be pronounced "Ashai Mugam" or "Asai Mugam".
-
Shankar Tucker
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I am really happy that ST knows that he is doing a mistake WANTEDLY and to be on the safer side he has given the two line explanation about the slip (lisp).

ST is no Freaking god to change the dialects or invent a new dialect in tamil. Its completely stupid, if people do not know the language or the way how the words should be pronounced. I am sure that ST is having more of information and less of knowledge which leads to such stupid albums.

The moment I hear the words Ashai Mugam Maranthu pochey, I started thinking about “Collector Durai”. Why would someone think of Robert William Ashe (ஆஷ்) , Was he So Smart ? He is one among the thousands of Britishers responsible for all the ills, poverty and ignorance in india, and finally killed by the great martyr Vanchinathan Iyer.

Is that connection what made the Iyer Girls to sing “Ashai” Mugam.

No, wait wait.. thoughts shifted to Arthur Ashe (ஆஷ்). A  great Tennis player who remains to be the only black  man to win the Wimbledon championship.

I am sure that the Great “Mahakavi bharathi” never in his dreams would have written about Robert william Ashe (ஆஷ்) or Arthur Ashe (ஆஷ்).

To me its a pure act of 

• Deliberate mispronunciation for laughs 
• Deliberate cruelness to language
• Deliberate Lisp

OR

• A person with No knowledge about language
• A person who is Physically challenged (Not able to pronounce words correctly)

OR

• An attempt to defame Mahakavi Bharathi
• An attempt to defame the language Tamil

OR

• A Publicity Stunt
• A Negative Publicity

ST and the singers should refrain from maligning the compositions and concentrate more on singing perfectly than trying these stupid "Re-Mix".

Other Publicity Stunts :

a. http://it-all-happens.blogspot.com/2010/11/kanjeera-or-frisbee-flying-disc.html

b. http://it-all-happens.blogspot.com/2010/09/ghatam-or-grinder.html

Kids - Parents

Its not enough if you are very soft/kind with your wife/husband alone (Pun Intended). You need to be very kind, soft with your kids. It not only shows your affection to your kid(s) but will also teach them in an in-direct way that the kid should be kind with his friends  relatives.

By ajsriram | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

A very effective approach is sometimes referred to as 'Stop, look and listen'. If your kid needs to speak to you then stop whatever you're doing, look directly at the child and listen to what he or she has to say. Giving your children your attention in this manner sends a strong signal that you are interested in what they have to say and that you value their views, thoughts and opinions. (Thanks to Parenting for Dummies)


It not only helps the kid, but surely will help you when you wanted to say something to your kid,  she/he responds in the same way you did. 


At 30's you might not understand this, when you are in your late 70's and if your kid doesn't listen to you, You dont have to blame anyone other than yourself.

Lord Krishna - Recursion

Gone are the days I used to write programs to test my recursion skills. It ranges from writing a program to print the Fibonacci series to print the contents of the file in reverse order using recursion algorithm.

No more FindFirst, FindNext or No more Variable= DIR You can do all such stuffs with inbuilt API'S not knowing the internals and not knowing how much memory it takes to complete the given operation.

I am sure many would have heard of Narayaneeyam, Many would have Listened to Narayaneeyam and many would have done Narayaneeyam parayanam atleast once in their life time. To others who don't know what is narayaneeyam here is a small one liner.

Narayaneeyam, A complete and condensed version of Srimad Bhagavatham covering Jnana, Bakthi, Karma yogas. The best part of narayaneeyam is that it is nicely and precisely written without omitting any of the important explanations. It was written in 100 days consists of  1034 slokas.

Note / Warning : Now dont ask me what is Srimad Bahagavatham. If you dont know or heard of it Do not read this blog further.

The 10 slokas of Dasakam 46 are all about Balakrishna showing the universe in his mouth to his mother Yasoda. They are the best example of Recursion with no problem of  “Out of memory” or “Too much recursion” or “Recursion out of Stack space”.

In the Slokam 9 of 46^th Dasakam, Bhattathiri has written about Bala-Krishna leela. Where the Lord Krishna's mouth reveals the endless revelation of infinite quality.

__________________________
vikasad bhuvane mukhOdare nanu bhuuyO(a)pi tathaa vidhaananaH 

anayaa sphuTamiikshitO bhavaananavasthaaM jagataaM bataatanOt

__________________________

She was able to see the whole universe, she saw yet another similar face and open mouth, with the whole universe shining in it; within that yet another mouth, displaying the whole universe .. . . . . . . . . Making her understand that the world is limitless and temporary.....

Hare Krishna!

A - Z by a Critic

Few things in life will never change. One among them is the one liner appreciation / critical view of a music critic on the Mridangam / Ghatam / Khanjeera Maestros/Vidwans/players/artists. This trend is continuing for a long period of time and there has been no improvement or there has be no step taken by the Professional music Critics to learn what to write. Now a days new trend has started, Rasikas started to give their views on the concert. 

The views have become stale, bad, worse, biased, TOTALLY biased and top of it writting without any knowledge. Yes, I am talking about www.rasikas.org only and nothing else.


The so called Rasikas have started commenting about the artists who have seen generations of musicians and have given lots and lots of concerts, and these so called rasikas giving their opinion on how to sing, what to sing and  even going to the extent of giving suggestions to the vidwans. 

26 One liners - By different "so called" Critics

Accompanied by X and Y on Mridangam and Ghatam.

Both of them did a spelndid job in the thani.

Commendable support in lifting the concert.

Demonstrated his mridangam playing skills along with equally esteemed ghatam player.

Energetic thani by the mridangist was enjoyable.

Fireworks allround and the thani was majestic, with nice support

Gave a good accompaniment especially during main

His left side play was very good this morning. first round of his thani was a bit long and convoluted, but there was probably some intiricate kaNakku I failed to grasp.

Intellectual thani by the accompanists was really enjoyable

Joyous thani followed by a quick thillana and thukkadas was the highlight of the concert.

Kritis were followed aptly by the mridangam player and for the manOdharma portions as well.

Loud and obnoxious, he banged way too much and it was entirely inappropriate

Math oriented tani-avarthanam, with excellent Sarvalaghu. Enjoyed it very much.

Nothing (Can be interpreted in what every way you like ;-) )

Outstanding performance by the percussionists.

Played well, was very able in support.

Quick Tani, and it was well done. There was very good support by the ghatam player.

Really brilliant support and nice rotation from both percussionists.

Sowkyam of the mridangam & ghatam was pleasing to ears, his tani in Adi- 2 kalai was good.

Thoroughly enjoyable tani by percussionists

Undoubtedly, this is best thani I have ever heard in my musical journey.

Vintage style Tani with xxxxx was scintillating and illustrative

Was very good on the mrudangam

Xerotic Thani avarthanam led to boredom. (Couldnt find a word starting with X.. its mine :P)

Young mridangist was vibrant on stage and his tani was really good.

Zestful performance by the Mridangist and Ghatam player.
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Few examples by the so called rasika from rasikas.org:

Lack of knowledge : http://www.rasikas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9851

Stale : http://www.rasikas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=15341&p=184555#p184555

Worst : http://www.rasikas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=15215&p=183555#p183555

Bad : http://www.rasikas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=15201&p=183423#p183423

Age factor, Look who is talk about who.. Makes me laugh through out.. Good joke buddy : http://www.rasikas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=15116&p=182669#p182669

What to say, It shows his prowess in music : http://www.rasikas.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=15399&p=185167#p185167

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