The Middle

Sought in failure,
Sought in success,
Sought in misery,
Sought in ecstasy,
Sought in bad,
Sought in good...

The more I sought,
The more was I lost...

Seeing through the left,
Seeing through the right,
Only tightened the blinds...

The more I sought,
The more was I lost...

Until The Hand came and
Opened the Third.

lalalalalaaaa

ஆனந்த தாண்டவம் ஆடும் அவர்கள் இரண்டு...
அவர்கள் காலடிக்கு ஆகின்றேனே பூச்செண்டு...

Scribblings

- Why is it that most of the film songs focus on the physical union of the male and female either blatantly or subtley, from yesteryear songs to songs just off the shelf... Does it speak of the short sightedness of the lyricist or the short sightedness of the audience. Won't either of them get cloyed?

- If "how are you" is the first question most of the people are asking anyone they meet, which in turn means how one is within himself as the most important aspect of one's life, isn't it imperative that one looks deep enough into addressing how one is instead of dabbling at 1000 useless things in a frivolous attempt to address how one is within.

- Definitions of life, rather, identifications, as I perceive, from the lives of ones around... The attention, initially totally focussed on oneself, be it in terms of apparels, looks, thoughts, whatever the person chooses to identify oneself with, with marriage, shifting drastically to the significant other, then with the child birth, making a total shift to the children, that the children themselves become who they are.... This probably might follow the lives of their children, one event after another, constantly redirecting the focus, that at the end of life, probably one can be sitting with a smug smile, termed "life experiences" to seem wise to the world, while within nothing much has happened except for being constantly kicked around like a ball, by life. "Wordly wise., existentially wasted..."

- The more I come across these few people who are oozing with life, that the possibilty exists for me, is increasingly brightening my days. Soon I shall make my life into one such thing: Simply Life!

- Why am I the stupid spider?

- Life, does rearrange.

- Anecdote from a friend. "People are taken aback, by surprise, when I return "How are you" with "I am happy". That is something they probably haven't heard in eons, that happiness has become foreign and they've come to conclusions that life sucks in general"!!!

- Upaasna, the way I got to understand it yesterday...

- I am happy, for No Reason!

Gift of Trees

Dear Friends,

This project touched my heart and I wanted to share it with you.

"Individuals can make a difference, if each of us did our bit, collectively we will make a major contribution." – Kofi Annan, Former United Nations Secretary General

Let your gift giving and receiving be unique:This holiday season and thereafter give a "Gift of Trees" to help heal the planet!

The "Gift of Trees" was designed by Project Green Hands-USA as an endeavor to raise awareness and funds for a marathon tree planting campaign in Tamil Nadu, India, initiated by Project Green Hands under the auspices of Isha Foundation, a non-profit humanitarian service organization registered both in India and the United States. Purchasing a "Gift of Trees" gift certificate from Project Green Hands-USA is a meaningful tribute towards your coworkers, friends and family as well as future generations. Kindly inform your friends and family who you know are environmentally inclined and would like to contribute towards the mitigation of global warming by giving and /or receiving such a consequential gift.

The certificate can be personalized in the name of the person(s) in whose honor the trees will be planted. The trees sponsored by these gift certificates will be planted in Tamil Nadu, India as part of Project Green Hands' 25 million tree planting initiative for the 2007-2008 year.

To learn more about Project Green Hands kindly visit our website http://www.projectgreenhands.org/.

The cost of planting and nurturing one tree to its self-sufficiency is just $1 and that of a nursery sapling is $0.50. Gift certificates are available in various denominations ($10 - $500) to fit all gift giving budgets. Kindly download, complete and mail or fax the order form from http://www.ishafoundation.org/donate_forms/PGH_Gift_Cetficate_12_1_07.pdf as per the instructions therein. Your gift certificates will be mailed to you within 3-5 business days of order receipt.

See this video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4850700491697347955

Another video on Project Green Hands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf-QoJKD4mM

Quotes:

Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values …Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations … Afforestation and forest management has the highest and most economical long-term potential for the mitigation of global climate change…" - Fourth Assessment Report by the 'Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change' (IPCC ) presented November 17, 2007 in Valencia, Spain

"Every society needs individuals who will go on planting mango trees, without thinking whether they will get to eat the fruits or not." – Sadhguru, founder Isha Foundation

Sincerely,
Rams.

Thiruvasagam

Everytime I "simply" listen to thiruvasagam, that is, just listen to it without doing anyhthing else, it brings me to tears. Such is the intensity of the words. Such is the intensity of the composition. Ilayaraja avargalukku eththanai murai vendumaanalum nandri sollalaam (Respected Ilayaraja can be thanked how many ever times one wants to...)

Searched for the English translation for thiruvasagam and ended up reading the meaning of a lot of verses. The content is simply mind blowing. Today, reading thiruvasagam has moved me a lot. Life within me is responding in a way I haven't known before...

Pullaagi poodai puzhuvaai maramaagi
Palvirugamaagi paravayaai paambaagi
Kallaai manidharaai peyaai gangalaai vallasuraraagi
Munivaraai devaraai selladhindru iththaavarsangamathul
Ellaa pirappum pirandhilaithen pirandhilaithen...
(So many forms I must wear, so many lives I must bear... )

Uyya en ullathul Omkaaramaai nindra Mei-ye
Omkaaramaai nindra Mei-ye

Namahshivaaya vaazhga...

:')

When purposelessness becomes the purpose
When the path becomes the destination
When the end becomes the beginning
It's Home coming...

Diwali...

It's Diwali today... As I see a few of my friends who are also out of India get notalgic about the Diwalis they celebrated back home, I "attempted" a few moments to see if I did miss anything about the festival. well, as a matter of fact, No! All I used to do if I were at home were to watch TV, go to temple, curse all the "bombers" for screwing my ear as well as burning away money that could be made better use of, tie a kerchief around my lower visage to escape the cracker fumes, eat well, laze around with family, make a few phone calls...

Watching TV isn't as enticing as it used to be, especially given the crap channels out here. Temple, yeah I shall be going here tomorrow. There's a nice place here, and the atmosphere is well maintained with the chants. No crackers [:D]. I never was a fan of the sound-making ones, though I don't complain against the visual-ones. Food, that isn't a problem with so many cooks around here ;-) ISD phone calls to family and friends... that's what can be done about the last two... Also I get to watch Diwali release movies much earlier than in India :D... Heard ATM sucked. I am hitting Vel before ATM though...

One unique thing about this Diwali is that for a few of my acquaintances this is either the "thalai diwali" or first diwali with their offsprings or shall be the last "single-Diwali". Should be more special for them :) Hope they have a memorable day.

And funny, I chose today for my written driver's test and scored a 100% :-) Hope I clear the road test and get a license... Phew! Had to do quite a bit of reading the manual of about 100 pages.

On an unrelated note, food items experimented so far and which I can handle safe: Thakkali saadham, capsicum saadham, carrot saadham, all poriyals and fries, dhal fry, rasam, making dosa and chapathi . Sambhar alone pending... Should do that sometime and may be biryani...

Happiness shouldn't be limited to occasions. I want my life to be an expression of happiness as someone said. I wish it becomes a living reality.

Every moment, bursting with life, oozing with happiness and making the whole journey of life as one full blast of celebration !!!

Life, a vacation that has been offered, to celebrate, life.

Happy birthday !!!

There are so many people we come across... but very few leave lasting impressions on you. For me, I've been blessed to find quite a few people that way, whose very thought can bring about a transformation in what's running through my mind. Nov 5th, is the birthday of one such person: Kumaran :-)

Kumaran has been a great inspiration to a lot of us in the Hyd gang... His energy, his levels of activity, his enthu... the whole place turns lively when he's around... I can write a whole bunch of things :)

Here's wishing you a very very happy birthday da! May all your wishes turn true. It has been a great blessing in knowing you da!!!

Azhagiya Tamil Magan

Well well... I never could imagine Rahman composing for Vijay; someone whom I admire the most working with someone who I consider should quit... But honestly, the album simply rocks. Not once did I get a feeling that it was a Vijay movie except for the lyrics in the opening song. And in fact, for the first time after quite a while, I am loving all the songs in the album without having to skip any track.

I do get the "sounds-similar" complaint about which I am not too bothered. The songs rock. And they are not blatant rehashes like a few others out there who keep dishing out the same stuff over and over again. A brief look at the songs in no particular order. Use an excellent headphones to catch many of the intricate sounds.

Ponmagal vandhaal: By far the best remix I have heard so far. Aslam's voice is excellent and the rap is out of the world. Especially when the rapper sings the "muthukkal sirikkum" line. Have an ear for the occasional female voice in the background.

Valayapatti: Only Rahman can ever come up with this number. A song that fluctuates between so many genres, yet blends so perfectly into one magnificent composition. A tight song to sing as well. Not a place where I can complain about the song. Having small aalaps for raga names is another thing to watch out for besides the stunning Nadhaswaram pieces, multitude of strings, the harmony and backing vocals. The lyrics is something noteworthy and catchy ("Nee nerungumbodhe current erudhe unga ooru kalpaakkamaa). The singers have done an amazing job in this song, for that matter, in all the songs.

Ella pugazhum: High pitch rahman sung intro for Vijay. First of its kinds and by far, should have been the best intro song for Vijay. The high pitch is something that only rahman could possibly go. The intense harmony energises the song pretty much. A much needed reprieve from the dappankuthu Shankar Mahadevan sung intros. This song is set to set the theaters on fire by Vijay's fans.

Kelaamal: What a song!!! Saindhavi's voice is so mellifluous. Especially the "kokilam kokilam" bit is simply too good. Sriram does a good job as well. A very tough song to compose and sing as well... Vintage rahman stuff.

Maduraikku pohaadhadi: Another folk number. Another winner. Am tired of writing excellent, fantastic, etc etc... Benny is someone I am going to look out for... "asarudhu asarudhu" bit is very much hummable.

Nee Marilyn Monroe: Benny rocks with Ujjaiyinee in this song. Western song from ARR has always been my cup of tea and this one is yet another one of those. Not another MD can dish this out.

An album that I expect to do commercially well too.

Am mighty pleased and very happy as a Rahman fan.

Mind.currentState

Am not ok. There is this something going within this little mind...on and on... and I don't know why... One moment it's so stable and the next moment it is at utter chaos... And surprising enough, now there is anger and intensity attached to it... Feel like kicking everyone at times... feel like destroying myself other times... ever since i came to this alien land, this strange thing is happening.... definitely it is not home sickness... i wish things get clear sooner... i don't want to simply come out of it.... i want to come out of it consiously...so that next time this shall not show its ugly face... i am getting stupid by the day... ufffff..... am being proved contrary to the beliefs i held... i am no better than the slush... but i do know my choices... the lotus or the slush... oh dear one, as i let you seep through me, make me flower... please...

The charmer

As I hear, as I hear,
The gentle sound of the magic flute,
Tears pour by,
Peals of laughter bursting through...

As I hear, as I hear,
I become lighter,
From the burdensome sack,
As they drop off my back...

As I hear, as I hear,
I see everything, about me change,
As the charmer, with a naughty smile,
Continues playing his magic flute,
I watch by, helplessly,
As I cease
To Exist.

Angels...

Yes... so many of them exist. Am so pleased that I came across a few of them... and am ecstatic that I got to spend sometime with one of them recently. A million thanks to her, him and Life!

Isha Gramotsavam

Isha has been deeply involved in the Action for Rural Rejuvenation (ARR): a project undertaken for the upliftment of the rural Tamil Nadu. ARR has come as a great source of rejuvenation in the lives of the village community. Also, not to forget the Tsunami relief work and the restoration of the ravaged lives of the coastal community. As a celebration of this project, Gramotsavam is held annually.

Project Greenhands, a massive tree plantation project aimed at restoring the disappearing green cover of Tamil Nadu to the optimal 33%, already did a Guinness record last year for the maximum number of tree plantations in one day. This year's continued drive of GreenHands is going to be kicked start on the day of Gramotsavam. Details can be found at http://gramotsavam.ishafoundation.org/project-green-hands/
An excellent video is at http://gramotsavam.ishafoundation.org/project-green-hands/22/

This year, it is going to be happening in Anna University grounds on Sept 23, 2007. I sincerely hope at least the Chennai-ites make to this gala event.

The itinerary for the day can be found at http://www.ishafoundation.org/eflyers/gramotsavam.html

For those interested, the gramotsavam website is at http://gramotsavam.ishafoundation.org/

An excellent short video on Gramotsavam 2005 is available at http://gramotsavam.ishafoundation.org/about-gramotsavam/past-gramotsavam-highlights/

Please do make it to the Gramotsavam. You won't be disappointed!!!

Random

Practices... light breakfast that varies from bread to fruits to pazhaya saadham... Office... impromptu lunch: one from the wide variety of junk that's available in the cafetaria..be it the veg salad that even a cow may think twice before having it (anto relishes it though... any pun deciphered is purely reader's assumptions ;-)), oily spicy indian food, fruits, biscuits, pattini... Lots of meetings and work [the thoughest part]... back home... dinner that is mostly simple south indian food of rice with sambar/rasam,curd... at times frozen food/fruits as well... bantering with roomies, sleep...

Relishable natural richness, boring skyscrapers, junk tv channels, weird eating habits, easy to annoy people, solace offering institutions, running after all unimaginable stuff... passion to do what one wants to... not caring much about the onlookers... freedom to freak out... crazy convictions... amazing infrastructure and technology... as clueless as most people in the world are...

Hmm...

Well... a long break that was... Few of the life parameters have changed... Had taken a 5 week vacation... Had been roaming around quite a bit... the most significant of which was my yatra to Mt. Kailash and Mansarover with my Guru... Had spent some wonderful time with my parents, sister's family, friends... before I left to the current place from where I am writing this: Redmond. Decided that I shall work in a foreign place for sometime...why...I dunno...I thought working in a foreign land was less boring than working back at home... having a good time here with a few other of my Hyd roomies who hav also relocated (anto and naresh)...

Observations in the alien land:
* Excessive coffee, cheese, non-veg consumption here
* Lots of traffic sense
* Amazing infrastructure of roads
* Extreme wealth of natural vegetation
* High levels of craziness [in different aspects]
* Too much of a choice in everything, from vegetables to cars to ...
* Excessive dependence on technology. One screw out of place can cause havoc!
* People expect me to work in a timely fashion.

Whatever!

More wisdom...

A few more thoughts that I would like to get preserved in this blog...

1. Heard somehwere: People are meant to be loved while objects are meant to be used. But in the world today, it's the opposite.

2. I've heard/read in innumerous places that the journey is more important than the destination. I never could agree with it until that moment... How can one not focus on the destination (goal) had always been my point of view. We were trekking in Mahabaleshwar then... Bala was always on the edges of the cliffs trying all sorts of X-factor stuff which was causing my BP shoot. Banti remarked "Careful da... else you might trek to the end of your life". It was then it struck me... Whatever we do in life, one thing for sure, which we can also term as the end, is death. If the goal was what was more important, then death is what should be assuming the focus and not the journey, the life! But experientially it is life that is more important and at that moment of realisation, drops of tears popped out: tears of realisation!

Passing thought...

Was speaking with Anto the other day. We were talking in general about how happy children were. They didn't have a reason to be happy. They simply were. It was the observation of my second niece. I could easily relate to how everyone has been in that phase of being happy for no reason to the deplorable state of restricting happiness to events...

Well, Anto made an excellent observation at this juncture: We have investments in our lives (and hence the associated fear, avarice, ... Let's call it baggage). Children don't have any.

True... experientially true!

Everyday routine...

Just thought I'll pen down the routine stuff that I engage myself with almost every single day...

- Music: Most of it is Rahmans. Be it film music, BGMs, albums... Ilayarajas pieces comes second. Other MDs do play occasionally on my box. CORRS is the latest find, an Irish band. The genre of music depends on the mood I am in and the work I am doing.

- Softthinkers: The email group which is for a close set of friends from our UG class (Anna Univ Comp Sc 2004 passouts). It is more like a forum and an excellent time pass that one can indulge in without affecting work productivity

- Office work: Of late it is more of coordination work for me and hence more of mails and meetings

- Yoga practices: The best thing I do every single day!

- Food: It is generally 2 meals a day and with a variety of cuisines in my office, and occasional cooking at home, I ain't complaining any more.

- Madha Makkal: The set of friends who stay together in Madhapur. One awesome group of friends with whom time just flies past.

- Enthu's PC: This is rather a recent addition. With a half Terabyte hard disk, this has the best collection of movies, TV shows, music, what not! One perfect stop shop for entertainment!

At crossroads...

Crossroads... plenty aren't they... at so many instances in one's life...
To make a decision, at the crossroads... phew...how I wish someone made the appropriate choices for me.

Am simply going to delay the crossroads for the time being. Am going to take a stroll in to the bush near by before again returning to the crossroads. But whatever be the road I shall choose, whether it is the one that is next to the stream or the one over which the stream is running, at least one of my legs is going to be in the stream.

While I am whiling away in the bushes, I wish I get the vision, the one vision that shall guide me in choosing the roads.

By the way do the roads really matter...not really! It's just a choice... whether I want to run and play in the stream or swim and play. Afterall, it's just a game and I am going to play it!

Movies...Lots of them...

Have been seeing a lot of movies over the last few weeks. Each movie in itself can be converted into a post, but due to lack of interest I'll stop by simply revealing their names so that you can watch it if you wish.

1. Bommarillu:
One of the sweetest (telugu) movies I have ever seen. The highlight being the heroine's character "Hasini" played adeptly by Genelia

2. Perfume-The story of a murderer:
A very very different movie in terms of plot and narration. BGMs and picturisation are amazing, not to forget the hero's performance and the most important, the story line.

3. The Prestige:
Another moview with a very different story line and and extra-ordinary screenplay that keeps the viewer guessing till the very last frame of the movie. An awesome suspense movie, nice performances, worht more than a single watch

4. Shrek the Third:
Am always an ardent fan of animation movies, esp the Shrek series. This doesn't disappoint me in any way. Yet anotehr roller-coaster ride for the crew and laugh-your-heart-out movie. I love the humour and the message of the movie that is playfully spun.

5. Water:
I've never seen Deepa Mehta's movies and by seeing just this one, I can proclaim her to be one of the very good directors. I had written a mail to my friends urging them to watch this movie, that I shall paste here...

Yest, at 1.30 in the night, I wanted to see atleast one song from the movie WATER and started playing the movie. I couldn't stop myself from seeing the entire movie inspite of the long day...

I wud recommend a watch of the movie. No wonder the movie bagged a number of awards and was an oscar nominee as well. (Sad part is that politicians in india banned the movie from screening. Even for shooting, the director wasn't allowed and i believe it was shot in srilanka)

The most important reason of the mail is the social reality that existed during those days and the movie claims sucha situation still exists in many parts of India, which, I wish isn't the case. A very very poignant movie. The theme of the movie simply sends a shudder down my spine. Though I've read abt the yesteryears, this movie brings to the eye how the world was a man-concocted world where women were treated sub-human, as objects of man's whims and fancies. Painful!

The cinematography is spell bounding. So is the performances and usage of songs.

Special mentions to:

Lisa Ray!!! Have I seen an angel on screen... no make-up, no non-sense giggles... I wonder if anyone cud hav done a better job... I am not able to get her out of my mind... clad in whites, eyes that speak so much... Class performance!

The little girl Sarala: Perfect! Awesome! She should have been awarded in at least a couple of film festivals.

Seema Biswas: I've never seen any of her performances and this one performance shall keep her high in my views.

If u get a chance, don't miss...

May be I saw a few more movies, but they don't demand a mention here...

Enna ezhudhardhu...

Knowing not what to write, with an urge to write something at this odd hour, I write this.
Total incoherence ahead. Better to skip reading this post...

The wooden log,
With the dead mind,
Constantly being pushed around by the current,
Though still thinking it was by conscious choice,
At last knows, at least knows,
It is the current that is making the choices.
With this awakening,
Is born a new mind...

No fear exists, for now the log knows the ways of the current
I can see the land.
The end is getting clearer with every push.
As I relish the last of my swims... I can see the land.

Tit-bits

1. Loved the Sivaji songs. Special mentions to Athiradee, Ballelakka, Thirupavai bit in Sahana (sad) and Style :-)

2. Having a tight week in office due to last minute issues

3. Having a hell a lot of time with Lokanetra and Sw.Rijuda at our house :-) While we attempted giving them a taste of our "host-(h)ellish" lifestyle, we seem to be miserably failing with Lokanetra beginning to take over the reigns.

4. Heard Sadhguru saying this somewhere "The problem is, you know everything in this universe except for one thing, YOU!"...Got reminded of this and hence thought of sharing it here...

5. Oh yeah...forgot that the tamil new year is tomorrow...Happy new year!!!!! Long time since I ever awaited a function/festivity. May be because I stopped confining my happiness to only certain dates in the year, wearing new clothes and all such trivial stuff.

6. Anything else...Hmmm???

7. Nothing is clear...nothing need to be clear...everything as it is, at this moment, is.

8. Excellent zen and sufi stuff at http://www.zensufi.com/index.html

9. Listening to Munbe Vaa from SoK for the umpteenth time...One song that keeps on growing with every single listening. Shreya Goshal is gonna give the listeners diabetes... Such sweetness!

10. TEN

Retro

The mad venom,
as it poisons through
the sheaths of ignorance,
on reaching the core
shall become the elixir itself, some day...

Bees...

Anything that has a beginning
Has to end
Be it good times
Or bad...

The honeymoon period is
Drawing to a close
With each bee in the hive
Going after it's own hive

Torn apart by the whims and fancies
Likes and dislikes
Each bee is deserting the hive

Each one hopes its' new hive
To be a sweeter one
H.O.P.E.S!

Know not what the future hives shall be
Know not what the honey is going to be like
But in my wings I trust
The wings, not mine
The one offered to me
The one that was offered to all the bees
It has its' ways
I hope it again brings back all the bees to one common hive
The one of eternal sweetness.

Well...long time

Candies...real sweet candies
Wrapped in every possible color
Red, Blue, Green, Yellow

Candies, real sweet candies
So sweet, that the wrappers gave way
For some sweetness to seep into the wrappers

The innocent children came
Each was given a candy
Each candy enriched with the same sweetness

The innocent children,
Could they miss the sweetness of the wrapper
They licked and indulged in the sweetness of the wrapper
Thinking the sweetness of the wrapper was all that was there

Oh children, innocent ones,
Only if you had the helping Hand to unwrap the candie to savor the actual sweetness

Only if you had, the helping Hand...

Another group photo...

While Vimal was aggregating some of the photos to show his fiancee, I happened to get across some of the animated moments frozen in time... Always worth a watch. This one's on Anto's b'day...

Let the monotony break...