Nested with love

Days go by slowly, months go faster! And we keep wondering how! Yes it is high time for yet another post from me. While it is interesting to experiment my voice and guitar with recording and mixing trends, it is also challenging to keep pace with new faster or retro rhythms simultaneously both on my vocal cord and the instrumental chord. This time I've uploaded a long forgotten RD Burman guitar number, when Jaya Bacchan was at the best of her charms as Jayabhaduri. Check it out on my jukebox. And the sequel to my previous post is coming up soon too.

As I'm even writing this post, my mind still wanders outside into my patio at this dark hour of the night, disturbed as well as awed by the dedicated little sparrow, which has laid its eggs into the nest that it built on one of our hanging pots out there. In spite of the complexity and convolution of the nest, I was able to take a quick peek into it last week after a great venture, to see how many eggs it actually is mothering. And here comes the picture of four cute small eggs. The darling little mother and its mate with some thugs along wouldn't let me water the plant nor even touch it! I'm now reading facts about how long it takes for a sparrow's eggs to hatch etc.. An interesting fact that I've learnt: "Disturbing any species of a migratory bird's nest, feathers or eggs is punishable".. as per the Migratory bird treaty Act ;-) although house sparrows are an exception.. Well it has been fun for more than two weeks now.. I hope it is just couple of more weeks to go for the babies to fly!

http://www.youtube.com/user/21uthra#p/u/0/Fj3zHlXWwbs

Ragas and Scales - Part 1

For quite a long time, I had been equating the western scales with our native south Indian carnatic or Hindustani ragas. It was effortless to learn it that way as a beginner in Guitar back home, when I started playing the Guitar ten years back. Just a few months and then I told myself, "oh there's nothing in this instrument! It doesn't have enough depth like the Veena" - and switched over to Veena, played it for more than five years.. a beauty by itself, I felt completely satisfied and in love with it. After so much of training on it, I kind of somehow got back to playing Guitar again. And all that was taught to me, not to blame the teacher, was that I just had to know two ragas Sankarabharanam & Keeravani plus some rhythms and that is all about a Guitar. It left me unsatisfied. I was sure that there was more to that instrument. Nor was I right when I felt that this instrument doesn't have any depth. It was then very rare to find an authentic place to learn all the Scales appropriately. So what are these Scales after all?? And what makes a raga different from a western scale?? Both Ragas and Scales are simply a combination of musical notes (swaras). Scale is a set of all the notes that are expected or allowed in a particular piece of music. And it is the same in a Raga too, which has a set of swaras of course with extra flavors, slidings and a dominant sequence of notes ascending or descending or both (often called Raga chaayal in the southern part of India). So what is it that's different about a Scale other than the native feel? Is it the same as a Raga? Pls leave your comments if you have an idea. I'll continue it in my next post.

And stay tuned till I work on my next medley of some 90's and 21st century Hindi songs.

180 No Rules - Nee korinal

I'm back with a latest flick in Tamil. This is a really beautiful mesmerizing song in Tamil after a long time by Karthik and Swetha. The whole album is too good, must listen! And this one is surely an innovative number in terms of rhythms and beats. The pace of the song increases slowly with a perfect mixing of traditional tune followed by jazzy beats. Music is by Sharreth or Sharat, relatively new composer in Tamil. Hopefully this movie of Siddarth doesn't turn out to be one like "Boys" again!

I'm uploading this one on Youtube and on my jukebox as well, since it is an Audio mixing that I've done with some minimal effects. It is again, my version.. This is the first time I'm using a recorder/mixer (finally started using it!). So there are a couple of places that I couldn't handle to perfection. Hope I get better next time. It is so much fun using a mixing software although it takes a lot of time. The song is definitely enjoyable. Listen to it and leave your comments.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thofzqGXyvw

No rains in Spring?

It is a weird phenomenon that we haven't got any rains yet this spring! The last two years that I have been, both the months March and April were raining non-stop! It is sad but true, it has started burning hot right after the day that winter was gone :-(

Praying for rains to come soon...

Here, pls tune to my channel for some of my most favorite numbers by RD Burman, Kishor Da, Asha, Andrea, Shankar Mahadevan, LR Eswari and more..

Pls leave your comments or press the like button on Youtube if you like them. Pls also do subscribe to the channel and stay tuned.

http://www.youtube.com/user/21uthra

Youtube uploads

I'm glad to share my videos uploaded on Youtube now. You should be asking me what made me start my channel on Youtube! There are few reasons that I discovered with some effort ;-) It was initially Mohan who was suggesting it since quite a long time, since I started my blog. But I kept dismissing that idea completely. Later I started realizing that I stopped using my diary, which I used to note the chords for the songs that I play. Now that I also have a new guitar, it simply became a reason to "just do it"! Now I can also have my chords and lyrics in place! So that's my newfound (electrifying) joy on the pic. And here's what you have to do. Tune in to my channel on Youtube to listen to my latest uploads. Subscribe to it and stay tuned!

http://www.youtube.com/user/21uthra?feature=mhum

Vacation

Yes.. a vacation is necessary at least once in 6 months. It may be a day's picnic or a week's fun, whatever is feasible. Be it winter, summer, fall or spring! We all need to stretch out our legs and dangle our souls away from the daily chores in to blissful treats. And what does it not have to offer us? Not just about the fun part of it, there is also a lot of learning involved! Whats and what nots! It helps one progress as an individual. You all know why I'm writing this ;-) clearly because I was on a vacation for just one week and it has taken so long for me to write a post after that. With great gusto we set out for a trip and had loads of learning experiences and adventures. Travelling to a not-so-very-familiar destination, lessons learnt from the small and big mistakes that we did helped us gain more exposure and there's no questioning why it only strengthens the relationship between each other.

And since I'm also trying to upgrade my instrument, I had been a little busy. Since I don't have my Guitars right now, here is some vocal effort from me. A couple of my favorite numbers. Idhuvarai from Goa and Ringa Ringa from Slumdog Millionare.

Break-even

Pongal has just passed with an extended weekend. Convenience takes a front seat when it comes to celebrating a festival, performing a religious ritual or even doing simple things like buying grocery here. There's nothing that is not prevalent here or not available here. For instance, plantain leaves are avaialble here, but there's hardly any practice of kanu on Kanum pongal. Driving winter, bad weather, long drive even to buy a can of milk! And btw, even if I do the kanu on a silver foil, who is going to have it?? Forget about crows, there are no birds AT ALL during winter here!! Going to temple has become a monthly, quarterly activity! Sometimes I wonder how to break-even with what we had learnt and what we are trying to achieve here.. compromising on a lot of things in pretense of leading a life of comfort. These festival days are the break-even points. Atleast the one thing that we haven't been missing so far is good food on special occasions! Sweet and hot Pongal, carrot kheer, Poli, vada, morekuzhambu and more.. Life is complete ;-)

With that Pongal menu, here comes two more songs on my jukebox. Andhi mazhai is an old Tamil song from Kamalhasan's 100th movie.. The other one is a mix of languages.. And not many of us know that the Harris number "Ondra Renda" was only a remake of his own song "Dil ko Tumse Pyaar hua" in the movie "RHTDM" released two years before "Kaaka Kaaka", and that film was also a remake of the movie "Minnale" music scored by his own self.. hee hee! Hope that wasn't confusing! Check out both the versions on my jukebox.

Here's the video of the Hindi song, with some variations w.r.t the Tamil version:

Facebook mania

Cheers to me for writing a new post after a long break... My eyes were misted with the boom and bust created by Facebook and I had completely forgotten to scribble on my Blog! Facebook mania is the talk of the town right now.. But somehow I find myself slithering away from it these days. I thought may be I'm so accustomed to it now that I'm not even realizing how long I'm dawdling on it everyday. However the trend itself has reduced now. The rate of flow of messages and status updates has almost dwindled from what it was when FB just started exploding. All said and done it is indeed overwhelming to see what others are upto and be amused with those old gold faces from your secondary and higher secondary crawling into your pages now and then. And then comes the most interesting part.. "Friends of your Friends" - Wow!! What a mastermind that guy must have had! Nothing critical, nothing crucial.. it is simply interesting to read between their lines and enjoy knowing how those Friends of your Friends are like ;-) sirupillathanam! (childishness!)..

With my spanish-3 getting over, madness starts again.. Winter! dry cold! Not much outings! Boredom slowly creeping in! My Guitar is the only saviour.. Exploring more to compel you! LOL..

Here are two songs that I've uploaded on my Jukebox.. One is an old Tamil song in Rock-n-Roll genre. I love the way LR.Eshwari sings and I've tried the chords myself for the full song. And the other one is from the latest flick "Guzaarish". Sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, "Udi" is  a rocking song on screen with Hispanic-Arab mix style of playing Guitar, very tough to play.. I couldn't do much justice to it.. Adding to the beauty of it is Ash dancing in it.. Yes, I like Ash now-a-days :-P

Just be aware and not beware!

A rainy, misty week with a hue of mild sunshine in it, somehow nature seemed to be sad to me. Running into the morning mist to take a flu shot at the state's health and human services department, I was thoroughly enjoying my morning jog being engulfed into the mist.. concurrently stricken by the thought of how Mother nature fidgets in consequence of the deeds of its treacherous children.

It is supposed to be the beginning of Fall here. Summer has not been its usual self. There has been more of rain and humidity than heat this year. There's a busier-than-usual hurricane season projected in Atlantic ocean. Haiti, already devastated and Gulf of Mexico - with a giant oil slick can't handle another hurricane or any natural calamity at this moment. Rising ocean temperatures, ice caps and glaciers melting into salt-water oceans, rising sea levels, changing landscapes, flinching monsoons.. all caused by global warming, global dimming.. These bigger terms of science are still not striking clear enough on us to understand nature as part of our own sphere and NOT as an external or peripheral layer in the space around us, which is trying to threaten us since we have done something wrong. Unfortunately we are more scared than being aware these days. Nature by itself is a beautiful term known for its balancing sense. And we, the human beings are an integral part of it. Whilst we love the cool evening breeze and the magical morning mist, the ice capped mountains and the grassy green plains, let us also be at least aware of even the most diminutive effects that we could be creating on this earth. First and foremost! Not just knowing or being scared, but being aware will itself pave way for resolution.

These small and little things are not humongous tasks to be implemented by us. They are very much doable: 

Conserve power at home! Check the AC temperature inside the home. Be aware that human body is not capable of fighting greater differences in temperature inside and outside the home. Its not even good for health. Use pedestal fans instead of it. Do exercises to keep yourself fit enough to adjust your body temperature.

Reuse and Recycle! Tissue papers! they are not insignificant just because we use it for wiping dirt. Be aware that we could preserve forests by reusing paper at home, educational institutions and job.

Minimize the consumption of natural resources! Save Gas/Petroleum. Carpool or use public transport as much as possible.

Save battery power! Use phones only when it is required. Switch off your laptops or monitors while they are unused, don't keep the television or laptop running some channel while talking to a friend on phone, wash clothes in a lot, dry them outside if possible.

Save water! Don't let the water run while soaping the vessels. Have the same awareness at hotels and other public places as you would have at home wile washing hands. Use the drier to dry your hands instead of using paper towels.

Don't waste food and clothes! It is tough to prepare just enough for everyone when you throw a party, but make sure you don't dump the remaining food into the dumpster. Share it and eat it at a later part of the day. But watch out for the unnecessary number of coke bottles or plastic plates that you may order. Prepare fresh drinks, buy paper plates or at best use your own plates at home. Wear good clothes, but don't wait for it to be torn in order to donate them. Donate regularly any apparatus, tools, books, bags or items that you might have stopped using ages ago.

Don't pollute the environment! Get vehicles inspected regularly, throw trash regularly into the common dumpsters. I have had neighbors who leave the trash outside their entrance and not throw it away for days together! Take responsibility to be aware and also to educate or share the knowledge with such people around. If they repeat it or they don't listen to you, don't hesitate to complaint.

If every individual can take care of what best he or she should do and should NOT do in his home and the surrounding environment and do a bit of possible service through knowledge-sharing, we can definitely set the nature back in its state of equilibrium.

The image here on the top has more suggestions. Pls do share any other useful tips that you know.

An indigenous art

"Uthra! evlavu naazhiya kuptundrukken.. variya illiya chappathi idardhukku!" - Mom used to bawl at nights in her thick voice.. I would be surfing the net while watching a favorite program on TV (the usual Airtel Super Singer.. God! why would they telecast it at 8PM in the night when mom wants to make chappathis!!??). Sheesh! I used to despise it so much when I had to make at least 25 chappathis for all of us in the family while my mom would roll them. I did not learn to roll them until after I went to Bangalore for work. "Hmm.. Its ok, I'll do the rolling part today again", she would initiate the process with her usual satiric comment, everytime indicating that I haven't grasped it yet! And then it would roll on along with the chappathis.. with chapters of My Life being stuffed in them.. "Whatever you will do, if you get married.. however you will learn the nuances of cooking! You know, I started cooking when I was 13 (only) and that too for 50 and 100 people at a time, the whole village would have to be fed on a lot of occasions.." blah blah blah! She is not a mom who would throw tantrums at me all the time, but she wouldn't spare me once I'm inside the kitchen with her. Not to deny that she is fun and very easy to get along with, except for snobs! Btw, all this drama was for receiving a sarcastic comment from my dad on the chappathis that we made!

When I come to think of it today, I wish I get an opportunity to make these wonderful "phula hua" chappathis specially for her, simply to show her how chappathis are actually made, unlike how she used to make.. hee hee!! It is in the needing and the rolling of the dough and has nothing much to be done once it comes on to the tawa. Needless to say.. mellow and melting inside the mouth.. here puffs my flawless chappathi! Its not even required to show it on the flame to get it puffed. Part of my gratitude goes to the room-mate at Bangalore who taught me how to roll a chappathi round and the rest goes to my husband's colleague who gave a demo of the puff. Even after his demo, it still took a while to conceive the mood and consistency of the dough and the synchronization of the mind, heart and hands during the process to evoke this indigenous art in me - The art of making soft and fluffy chappathis! "And I know that mom will only be proud of me" ;-)