Raja rajathaan! Part 2

Here’s the next installment of my favorite Raja hits!

Kodai kaala katre

Prathap Pothen, Mohan, Ramarajan – these are heros who got wonderful songs from Raja even if their movies turned out to be crappy. Not to say that this a crappy movie. Actually, I’ve watched this movie only once and all I remember is the songs. In this movie, it’s very tough to pick between this song and Aananda Ragam. I wanted to include this song cos I feel its one of those less known gems of Raja that was simply overtaken by a more popular song from the same movie.

When I listen to this song I fall in love with Raja’s orchestration and harmony all over again. Not to mention the wonderful prelude that just transports you to another place in your head. The slightly off sounding Malaysia Vasudevan only adds to the beauty of this wonderful lilting melody.

Un Parvayil

From Kaalai nera poonguyil to Namma kada veedhi, this movie has both the quintessential Raja melody and typical folksy beats. This one is however my favourite. A combination of Yesudas and Chitra, this song has a very breezy melody. Every time I listen to this song, it gives me the feeling of a pleasant evening walk on a foggy mountain!

Thamthana

This is a typical case of a great song with a crappy video. Both Rathi and Baghyaraj look horrendous. A typical Bharatiraja type set up with many aimless girls in white running all over a field. Even if I make my peace with the girls and the horendous lead pair, I just can’t get over the random pose striking through the song!

However, its an evergreen favorite of mine just for its complicated sandham and melody. I do wonder, however, how this song might have turned if sung by another singer like, say, Janaki.

Andha Kandamani

Kamal haasan – Ilayaraja always turns out to a formidable combination. This movie, Virumandi, came out at a time when Ilayaraja was largely believed to have crossed his prime. But he made everyone who said that eat their words and how. Even though I love Unna Vida from this movie, this song ranks a little higher.

And this is why. The arrangement in this song blows me every time I listen to it. This song could’ve been another “thiruvizha” song with just jang-jang type violins in the middle to convey the grim mood. The way he’s used voices including his own here shows that the man is capable of reinventing himself after decades of excellence.

Ye Aiyasami

First things first, Karthik looks gorgeous in this movie. I think in this movie, he showed glimpses of Mano from Mouna Ragam. I feel no one has been able to pull of this sort of boyishness with such style and charisma in Tamil cinemas since Karthik.

I love the way this song progresses from a teasy tone to a rendition brimming with love and beauty. It not only makes this transition but manages to end with the same boyishness it started with.

More of my Raja favourites to follow

A post a day…

Blogging feels alien now. I’ve lost the flow, the drive and things to talk about! In an effort to revive this space and reacquaint myself with the joys of blogging, I’ve decided to post everyday for the next one month.

I haven’t registered myself with NaBloPoMo or anything. But I hope to stick to this commitment for the next 30 days.

Here’s to the renewed spirit of blogging!

Pre-wedding gyaan

I don’t know how the last few months whizzed past the oblivious me. Before i know it i’m crossing off my last few single days on my calendar. Taking a break from all the last minute errands, here are my pearls of wisdom:

- Being the ‘bride’ will be your new identity. You’ll breathe, eat and sleep wedding plans. And they keep changing every minute of the day, much like an army operation.

- Even if you start shopping months before the wedding, the list will grow and grow and grow and the shopping will not show any signs of ending. The once upon a time very relaxing activity will turn out to be the most stressful part of your day.

- You will expected to glow, blush and look coy everytime the word ‘wedding’ is uttered. Any other reaction will not be favourably received.

- I suggest you pick a tailor even before you pick the boy cos the process is just as intense and the decision life altering. The relationship you share with your tailor will be a love-hate one. But just remember that you picked him/her after a lot of deliberation and he/she has your best interest at heart. Without trust the relationship will not work.

- If you don’t make a list of the colours of sarees you already own before you shopping, your eyes will dance over to the colour of the season. Then you’ll end up with 5 sarees in different shades of blue like me. For the ignorant, there are more than 5 shades of blue.

- You know its time to call it a shopping day when all the colours start to fade in and out and merge.

- The skill of selective hearing must most definitely be cultivate. All the hints dropped about improving one’s culinary skills must be dutifully ignored. We’ll cross the bridge when we come to it.

- Pretending to understand the complex family tree is mandatory.

In all this frenzy, there’s very little time to even think of getting cold feet. This where i currently am. So do you guys have any gyaan for me?

My 25 things!

Cross-posted from here

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

I was tagged by Kshema and Aditya. I normally don’t like tags but keeping up with the 25 fever that’s on the prowl, here’s mine. Oh, and I’m combining this with Dilip’s tag of 16 things about me!

1. I’m lazy. But once I move my butt, there’s no stopping me. The emphasis being on ‘once’.

2. I plan and plan in my head. For every little thing. When I was tagged, I actually planned in my head about what to write and how it should progress and whatnot. Its entirely another thing that I don’t execute half my plans.

3. I’m not good at proof-reading my own work. I can never re-read it with full attention. But I’m pretty good at proofing other people’s works.

4. I love the exclamation mark. I think its the coolest punctuation ever! I can’t finish an SMS or a blog post or even sign a greeting card without using at least 3 exclamation marks.

5. I can’t stand bad grammar in any language especially English. I will respect someone a lot more if they speak in a language they’re comfortable in rather than butcher a language they don’t know just to appear cool. And also, fake accents make my spine tingle. But I think my fake accent is pretty cool cos I only use it when other people fake accent me!

6. I’m mushy. Sometimes a little too mushy. I think its cool!

7. I’m superstitious in a way I can’t explain.

8. I’m a pretty messy person. But I obsessively arrange my books and music. In fact, anyone can find what they’re looking for on my laptop cos everything is arranged neatly in folders and labelled anol!

9. I organise/clean up better when I’m upset. I feel like I’m organising the mess in my head too.

10. I’m very bad at responding to compliments. I usually say something inappropriate and mess it up.

11. I don’t have too many friends. But the ones that matter know they’re special. They’re like my family.

12. I think I would make a good shrink. Just something I’ve always assumed.

13. Most sports bore me. But I used to watch Cricket and Tennis with my Thatha. But that’s that.

14. I like talking. A lot! I love long phone calls. Especially that warm feeling after the call ends.

15. I’m a typical cancerian. I’m moody. It also takes very little to lift up my mood.

16. I can live on Pani Puri. I can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You get the drift. Sev Puri is the second bestest.

17. I’m probably the only tam brahm that doesn’t like Sambhar, Idli, Adai and Upma.

18. I hate to dress up. But I obesses about my hair. All the time! If Baz Luhrmann knows what he’s talking about, in 17 years my hair will look 85.

19. I’m not religious. But I’m very intrigued by the energy called God.

20. I think Ilayaraaja is God. I take it personally when people don’t like him or haven’t heard of him. Comparing him with Rahman is very petty. Rahman is extraordinary. Ilayaraaja is God, end of discussion.

21. Paranoia is me. I freak out very soon very easily.

22. I love reading funny matrimony profiles. I think they’re the cure to all the sadness in the world.

23. I will have a library, one day, some day. A wall to wall wooden panel in a big cheery room filled with books. If I don’t live in Madras by then, I will also have a fire place in that room. I grew up worshipping Enid Blyton, if that’s not evident already.

24. I love travelling. No itinerary, no schedule, just a destination. That’s my kind of trip.

25. Madras will always be home. I have a crazy love for this city. It will never fade.

Bread upma and a blade video

This is definitely a dear diary moment. Me putting up a recipe on my blog! There was left over bread at home from the breakfast I made for my sister yesterday (Baked beans and bread, I might as well show off completely while I’m at it, right). So, today’s evening tiffin was Bread Upma. No one in my family is a big fan of bread. So, my only memory of how this should taste is what I had at my Periamma’s house a couple of years ago. So Anoop, this is how I made it

I used:

3 slices of bread – tear it up into li’l pieces
2 tomatoes – finely chopped
1 onion – finely chopped
2 green chillies – finely chopped
Little ginger – peeled, chopped and slightly crushed
Mustard seeds and jeera for tempering
1/2 a tspn of Sambar powder
1/2 a tspn of Garam masala
Salt to taste

What Followed:

Heat about 1 tspn of Ghee with 1 tbspn of cooking oil and when it heats up, add mustard seeds and jeera. Follow it up with skined, crushed ginger (according to taste) and green chillies. After the mustard seeds crackle, add the onion, Garam masala powder and Sambar powder. It will be slightly dry at this stage. So add little water. When the raw smell disappears, add the tomatoes and saute. After a min, add the bread pieces and salt to taste. Mix thoroughly and leave on for a min or two.

I also added grated Cheese after turning off the gas and left it closed for a couple of minutes for the cheese to melt. How can anything with cheese not be yummy.

Unfortunately, we (my cousin and I) ate all of it up before I even thought of blogging it. So no picture

Following up with the recent blade movies that’ve come out, I watched Silambattam. I don’t think its even worth writing a review for. Watch this video and you’ll probably understand what I’m talking about.

If there’s a Padmashree for dialog writers, it must go to the one who wrote dialogs for this movie (don’t know who it is).

Just because you’re white,
Not everything you say is right! wah wah wah

One more,

You want to brew beer
For me, my land and people are dear
I will fight you out without any fear
Am I clear

I have only one response, durai ingleesh indhi ellam pesudhu
pongada neengalum unga cinemavum!

Domestication..

Last Saturday, I went to the Chennai Book Fair with my parents. They were very excited with the whole thing cos the stalls that sold English books were unfairly outnumbered by the Tamil ones. I don’t read Tamil books. (My Tamil’s not fast enough to read books and I get impatient very fast). So here’s what I ended up buying:

• Simply South by Chandra Padmanabhan

• Pure & Simple Homemade Indian Vegetarian Cusine by Vidhu Mittal

• 200 Classic Lunch recipes by Mallika Badrinath

• 50 Great Tiffins by Master Chefs of India

• Iyer Kitchen by Master Chefs of India

And oh,

• A Dilbert comic book (the only silver lining)

But I must say, reading cookery books is very interesting. I say reading cos I haven’t yet reached the trying them out stage. Still venturing into lesser known (not unknown) waters you see. I’m still mentally marking the doable recipes and scratching out the undoable ones. And also, I love the photographs!

Sometimes, I amuse myself

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Nerdy wedding

Ok, here comes the first official announcement on my blog. I’m getting married! The big day is about 3 and half months away. The typical bride is supposed to be busy and flustered with loads of things waiting to be done. Apparently there’s lots of things that i need to do too. But i somehow keep telling myself that there’s still time. Something similar happened with the engagement as well. I kept telling myself that 20 days is more than enough time to get 2 blouses stitched. When i finally realised it was time to head to the tailor, there was 5 days left for the engagement. So having been left with no other choice, i got my blouses stitched with Raju Urgent tailor next to Abhirami theater. Not to say he’s bad or anything cos he saved my day but it wasn’t my ideal ‘designer’ scenario.
Coming back to the matter at hand, i have my cousin driving me to at least get things started. Given my obsession with making lists, i decided to turn to my other obsession, the internet, for help.
Slightly digressing, since the wedding got fixed, we wanted to chronicle the days leading upto the wedding. Not just RC (the boy) and me, but also everyone who’s a part of it, like friends and tech savvy family. So my cousin, Chikku, started a blog for the wedding. Its called ‘My Whole Nine Yards.’ (No link here cos its an invite only blog). She puts up updates very once in a while on the status of events with guest posts from the two of us.
Coming back to the topic at hand, i now have 3 google docs that i share with the family. One has the guest list. The guests are divided into categories and sub divided into mode of invitation. Then there’s another doc with my list of things to do, stuff to buy, deadlines, follow ups and what not! The next one is my most favorite list. It has all the music that we want to play at various functions in the wedding, starting with the mehendi. These songs are sub divided according to language. Phew, these are all the excel sheets i have for now. Nerdy enough? Or have i left out something?

Imagination is a fairly potent tool. It is intoxicating and amusing. Its a plaything that’s very hard to lose interest in. The moment you think you know what’s about to come, it shows you one more of its alluring, undiscovered sides. Almost like a wave! Its the whole journey of discovery that makes it interesting. Like begging for permission to stay in the water for one last big wave and dismissing every wave to be smaller than the other.
But when the wave becomes too big for you, it can engulf your being. Just like a wave, imagination too has a mind of its own. Once it has you completely wrapped in it, your senses numb but perceptions heighten. There’s a whole new world, waiting to fulfill your every whim. Its heady scent disillusions. Reason and logic are just plain words thrown around to undermine your make believe reality.
But when the big huge wave encompasses you, there is nothing to do, but to go with the flow.

Familiarity can sometimes be intoxicating. The smell, the sound, the touch, the old stories, the shared laughter can rock you into a gentle sense of belonging that comes from deep rooted comfort. The kinds that you know you can take advantage of and rattle of whatever’s on your mind without worrying about explaining people, places and circumstances involved cos you know that everything will be understood perfectly. The reassurance gained from the link to your past, and the glow of confidence is like none other. To know that the fondness hasn’t diminished one bit and is growing irrespective of timeframe, is, in a twisted way, a silent nod to what you’ve turned out to be. That, as much as is routinely denied, is very important boost to a slumped ego and a bruised mood.