Venkata Uvaacha...

A subliminal effect was mounting into that mass of nerve tissue inside my cranium. 5:20 bus – i-pod plugged into my ears… ‘On-the-go’, loaded with a set of very special kritis from a very special singer, was performing the DJ’ing for me even as my tympanum was relishing each auditory impression that came its way. Stalwarts of the carnatic tradition often imprint their signature on certain kritis and make them their own just like Maharajapuram Santhanam made ‘Thunga theera viraajam’ his... the first song in my playlist… I tried to pierce those foggy memories of my 6th grade days when that cartridge of magnetic ribbon inside our ‘Sanyo’ tape recorder played this voice for the first time. Those were the days when the ‘sophisticated’ stereo recorded cassettes were introduced. Appa , a connoisseur of this great classical tradition that is carnatic music, made sure that his almirah housed a rich collectible. Madurai Mani, MSS, Chembai and a host of other such exponents embellished the a

D10 – I was seated alongside my pal Kartik (D9). Studio – 5 was filled to capacity with 78 other nocturnes. That irritating model (?) in the Nalli Silks ad was standing between us and Nagesh Kukunoor. After 10 minutes of agony, the censor board certificate flashed! The first few frames, toggling between the lush green valleys of Himachal to the vast desert expanse of Rajasthan, both aesthetically captured, sets the context for the narration and introduces the main characters – Amir, Zeenat, Shankar and Meera. Himachal - Amir marries Zeenat the day before he leaves for Saudi Arabia in search of greener pastures. Rajasthan – Shankar, married to Meera, too leaves for Saudi to earn good money. Few months later, Meera receives the news that Shankar is dead and Zeenat is informed that Amir is jailed for allegedly killing Shankar and awaits death penalty very soon. Zeenat has only one option to save her husband – get a signed letter from Meera that her husband is innocent. The rest of

“Archanai will be done in Tamil” I read as both of us were standing in the long queue, waiting to get a glimpse of Arjuna’s charioteer. The Parthasarathyswamy temple, Chennai’s oldest surviving temple, situated in Triplicane, once‘Thiru Alli Keni’ (‘The divine Lilly pond’ is the literal translation), has withstood the challenges that time has thrown on it for centuries, witnessing everything that has happened in Chennapatnam, Madras and Chennai. For many years a Brahmanical stranglehold, or rather a Sri Vaishnava stranglehold, Triplicane has retained its traditional charm and flavour even as modernisation has, for many years now, slowly invaded its territory. The narrow alleyways between rows of ancient Aiyangar houses and shops doesn’t seem to hinder, even a wee bit, the unceasing traffic of bikes to cars to cycles to tricycles to cows to what not. The temple is hailed as one among the 107 ‘Divyadesams’, that every follower of ‘Visishtadvaitam’ has to visit in his life so that he

“Kuch to log kahenge…” I was humming Kishore, thanks to the all-morning Hindi nostalgia, as I walked back home. I was looking at the moon. I love the sight of her shyness as she tries every now and then to hide behind the veils of nimbus. I looked at my watch.. 15 minutes for Sunday to take over… It had been a wonderful meal, thanks to Ajith. More than that it had been a superb Saturday. A very fulfilling one! ‘Sachin Ka Dhaba’ is one place in Chennai that can declare with authority that they serve ‘bona fide’ dhaba food. Might be that name they had kept has a lot to do with their class I guess:) . With every eat-out in town claiming “We serve Punjabi too” (“Naanum naan serve panren!!”) authenticity becomes the key differentiator. No wonder Shyam chose this place. After all, he is my cousin which means that I need not elaborate too much on the tastes he has. I had been to this place 3-4 times already. And the waiter, I guess, will automatically pen down “Ek Pudina Paratha aur

Things were too pressurising for the past two months. I was literally sitting inside a cooker. I won't say that the work load was huge. But I had to do too many things. Filling innumerable spreadsheets, plan & track, code, test, deliver, boost team's morale, withstand every rotten egg and tomato that my boss & onsite co-ords throw... throw some back as and when you get a chance.. Well being a project lead is afterall not that simple.. 'With power comes responsibility' :) Now that the BIG release is over. Am out of that cooker... to see more pleasant things... scribble things like these, read Bourne Identity, be with my ipod, guitar and mandolin more often.. missed tasks during the past 60 days... Just now completed an Adv Java e-learning course and typing this aaraam se... God! Let life be like this for some more time........

As I entered the hall, ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ flowed into my ears. ‘Sanskar’ was telecasting the usual 6 PM prarthana … an animated visual depicting the greatness of ‘muscular Hanuman’ … real good stuff… that too amidst a dozen TV channels that telecasts nothing except Ms.Sherawat, smooches & Mr.Hashmi.. (oops! Sorry for those synonymous repetitions.) Those animations pulled me into a flashback...... ‘ Hanuman to the rescue (adapted from Kirttivasa Ramayana )’ was the title of that comic book. Publisher: Amar Chitra Katha . It was a gift from ‘Bala athai’ ( athai - Aunt). I was in III – ‘C’ then. I utter a ‘Thanks’ to her for this book till date… my first handshake with Hindu mythology. I read (read studied) that book cover to cover almost everyday… so many times that each description, each dialogue, got imprinted in my mind. I would be fast asleep and appa would ask: “What does Hanuman say when he meets the physician Sushena ?” And I would spring from my bed with the answer. This

The conductor shouted “Thennangur” as the three of us alighted. She also got down with her suitcase. We exchanged looks as I started casually “How long is the temple from here?”, wanting to strike a conversation with her. “Not very distant. But normally a bus will ply till the temple. Seems like it will not today given the road’s condition”. We smiled at each other. Mission accomplished! “I’ve been coming here since 1989, the year when Guruji established the temple. By His grace I’ve attended every ‘utsavam’ …”. “What about your accommodation mami ?”. ( Mami is the Brahmin way of addressing an elderly woman.) “Since I belong to the mandali I won’t have any problems. You guys can also stay with me.” ‘ Lakshmi is safe’ – we smiled again. Detailed introductions filled the next five minutes of our walk. Pallavaram to Infosys to Haridos Giri … She then directed us to the Pandurangan temple and said “Have darshan . Come to the cottage. Vishalam mami’nu kelungo. Solluva ! ”. ‘Vishala

70 odd days since I had penned into this space… Lots of interesting things already happening in 2006… Everyday I think of writing something. And as usual my laziness takes over. But not today… this ‘Small Wonder’ has made me sit up and scribble some lines… ‘Konjam Nilavu’ has always been THE song. It has got everything. Everything. I had tested my sub-woofer and music system and my Sister’s as well with this particular song. If you cry for ‘effect’, this is the song. I always get ecstatic when I listen to this piece of Rehman. But this time I didn’t. I didn’t know how to react. Speechless I was. Ear phones into my pinna… the other side of the wire connected to iPod video! When Srikanth plugged those white little buds into my hearing organ some ten months back I decided instantly – ‘this is MY gadget. I’ll buy one soon!’. That was a ‘Mini’. Patni and Hitachi made sure that Sathish smells some Nippon air. I made sure that he gets me one of those amazing small pieces that Apple makes eve