Aug 17

Through a poet’s eye!

From a long time, there was this urge in me to write a poem, in Kannada, titled “megha sandesha” – a letter through the clouds! I tried many times to write this, which resulted in the premature end of many pages lives! They are all now cursing me in the trash can! Well.. tragic as it may seem.. an interesting thing is also happening!
The day I decided to write this poem, the clouds arrived to Wichita! And since then, they are lingering here, showering what seems to be their discontent at my lethargy and impaled imagination! I would like to believe, inspite of what meteorologists have to claim, that these clouds are indeed here for me! Albeit, probably the reason that I haven’t yet written the poem, may be that I still do not have a loving heart to address it to!!! Should I allow my imagination itself to conjure up one of ’em?! I dunno!
Anyways, here is what I have in mind about what the poem would sound like..
“Ashaada” is the month of rain, and usually no marriages are done during that season. Soon after Ashadha comes “Shraavana”. There is the young man, whose marriage has been arranged with his sweet heart. The month of Shraavana is fast approaching the the last clouds of the Ashaadha are about to depart. The young man, sends these rain clouds to the place of his sweet heart as his messengers, and beseeches them to dress up the girl, and have her prepared for the wedding, as he is to arrive there soon, and thus end the days of separation!
He specifies how he wants his bride dressed up! He also cautions them to cover the full moon, lest he cast an eye on her beauty and scorch her beautiful skin!
*deep sighs*… well, so runs my imagination.. I better write the poem soon.. it has again started to rain outside!!!

Aug 12

Mahabharata: A mirror to the human psyche!

When I was probably in high school, I had dared to analyse Mahabharatha! I call it daring because, I believe that at that age, I was absolutely incompetent to understand the depth of knowledge embedded in this work. Without getting into the discussion whether the story was a fact or fiction, an analysis can still be made of the importance of this work not just for Indian philosophy, but also in various other aspects.
One thing that always has me avid is the psychological interpretations embedded in every Mahabharatha character. The story though overtly appears to be one of Pandavas and Kauravas, the roots run very deep! They are as embedded in the blind devotion of Bheeshma as is in the mercurial nature of Shantanu. Dhritaraashtra represents the infatuation we have for our possessions! Duryodhana was a mistake of Dhritaraashtra! He was a mistake, because he represents the ignorance of Dhritaraashtra, the attachment and selfishness embedded within the heart of the blind King. And indeed he turned a blind-eye towards him, which as I see it represents the attitude we have towards our shortcomings. In order that we continue to enjoy the pleasures that we have (be it wealth, sensual or power), we always choose to ignore the shortcomings that we have. In our eyes, these short comings infact represent the means to enjoy the pleasures and thus become dear to us!
Karna, I feel, was never a friend of Duryodhana. He saw himself as an obligated servant. I wouldn’t also classify him as a good servant, as he never foresaw the danger awaiting his master. Nevertheless, since he was under the obligation of Duryodhana, he tread the path walked by him! Apart from this, the whole story revolves around one basic psychology – Revenge! Dhritarashtra’s ignorance of Pandavas, is just a manifestation of his revenge for not being chosen king in the first place! As he was born blind, Dhritarashtra was not made King, Pandu was chosen! Draupadi insulted Karna in her swayamvara, which led to Karna instigating Duryodhana to strip her! Duryodhana’s this act, resulted in Draupadi and Pandavas’ vow for revenge! Shakuni who played the pivotal role in the destruction of Kauravas, did so for avenging the “injustice” meted to his sister Gandhari! Shikhandi, Arjuna, Shalya, Drona, Drupada, Drushtadymna! All the pivotal characters let the revenge to take control of their actions! The death of Upapandavas, the attempt to kill Parikshith, everything is a product of this one human emotion – revenge!
What is the essense of this?
Isn’t it indeed a wonder how effectively so much information has been embedded in a single work! Indeed it is the greatest work ever composed in the history of mankind. We must try to study this in depth and imbibe its vast resources and make our lives more meaningful! The Question being…Will we?

Aug 05

Guess who!

Guess who says
Hi Praveen, Just happened to come across your blog…couldnt stop myself from reading. Tht blog was so typical of u..glad to know u havnt changed too much.

Ok, so this was the comment left to one of my blogs jeevan ke safar mein in my home page. Now, the whole idea behind someone leaving a comment on your blog would be to share their views on the particular subject! Wudn’t it be so? Otherwise, it would be to acknowledge you, say a friend or a relative! Now, apart from these two categories there seem to be this really strange category of people who leave some comments, making you think about who they are! After all what is the whole idea of being anonymous! Is there a certain sadistic pleasure some may obtain, by hiding their identities and making a person wonder about them! Or is it one of their methodologies to earn a write up for themselves 😉 from the likes of me :D.
Anyways, whoever this “Guess who” is I’d like to say that it was heartening to know that you do find me quite unchanged. So my dear stranger, wish you a very happy day!

Aug 02

Writing Letters!

Modern technology! The more we seem to use the modern technology the more we seem to be making several arts archiac! One of it is the art of writing letters. When I first came to United States, one of the several directions given to me was to write letters to them regularly. I devotedly used to follow that, and write to them regularly, atleast once in a fortnight. My father has preserved them all to this day! Anyways, coming to the point! In the modern days, no wonder, we have the e-mail, which has infact gotten rid of the snail-mail, or letter as we know of it!!
It has infact brought people from all around the world so close! The thing that has me tongue-tied, is that, now even writing mails seems to be an arduous task! I sit for hours together, and writing even a couple of lines seems highly impossible! What is so tough in conjuring up some words of enquiry and goodwill?! I wonder!
There are moments when words just fail to turn up in your mind, how much ever you fret and frown! Then there are moments, when a verbal avalanche seems to be set lose in your mind. Whatever be the issue, writing seems to be in need of a revival ! There are ofcourse different methods to do this. Technology has brought to us different techniques, including blogging!
But somewhere amidst all this, the mind still longs for the days when the arrival of the postman would fill my heart with excitement at the thought of a letter, carrying personally handwritten feelings by a heart somewhere that was thinking about me!

Jul 28

Ilayaraaja – the uncrowned King of Indian Film Music!

Ever since my childhood, I had a keen ear for music. I wasn’t much of a musically talented kid! I used to sing, I still do (much to the dismay of my room mates) in the bathroom (so what’s new!!). I did go to classical music classes, for about an year. Anyways, the point being that since my childhood days, I would be significantly attracted to music, especially soft lilting, melodious tunes that would stream forth from the radio, every morning at 8:15 during the “nandana” program on vividh bharathi. There were particular songs that always had my rapt attention, especially from movies “nanna neenu gellalaare”, “Pallavi anupallavi”, “Geetha”, “janma janmada anubandha” and the likes.. all these songs had one thing in common – The music score by Ilayaraaja.
IR’s music has such distinct features as compared to a lot of his contemporaries, which is what has established him in such strong foothold for nearly 4 decades. I guess he studies the mood of the song and understands its context before he composes the BG score for them. How else can one explain the stricking befittance that each score offers to the listener and viewer alike! The classical touch, the use of symphony and the repertoire of raagas and swaras that flow so mellifluously characterizes the music of IR. If one listens to the songs of “Bhoomi geetha” a wonderful movie in kannada, one can relate to the aforementioned statement.
My other favorites of his include several telugu movies – Abhinandana, Coolie No 1, Saagara sangamam, Swathi Mutyam, etc.
As gigantic his niche is, in the film music world, so also gargantuan is his stature in the private albums. Worthy of mention is the instrumental series, “India 24 hours“, “Nothing But wind“, etc. I can barely think of any music director so versatile and articulate in his work! An ingenious prodigy, a master of melodious, euphonious music! IR Rocks!!

Jul 26

Reflections!!

It is 11:10 PM and the day hasn’t yet ended as yet! I stand infront of the mirror and somehow, I have become a stranger to myself! This is a part of me that I am not familiar with! A part that consciously hurts someone! A part that is so rude and nasty at the same time as it is kind, gentle and understanding.
Have you ever felt turning into one of the very, most horrifying person you have always despised in your thoughts?!! It is so much like changing into a were-wolf on a full moon day!! What made this metamorphosis happen so suddenly, I am not able to confess!! All I can say is, this is one person who I cannot claim as me and yet is so much me! How can I turn so ghostly as to hurt someone’s emotions! Knowing what hurts a person and irrevocably inflict the same damage!! But all I can say is, I did this to avoid further pains! But yet, wasn’t it my presence which indeed caused all this to come forth! Maybe if I wasn’t there none of it would’ve happened! God! What kindof a torture is this, that I cannot even share with anyone! A pain that I shall have to carry to the grave with me! Why make me bear this burden!
Help me! Plz! Help me!