Maa - Sagarika - Video

I had blogged sometime last year about the song Maa by Sagarika- streaming its audio!
Found its video on YouTube now



So many years have been spent searching for it ... finally!!

Marathi manoos

Mee aazz Marathi bhaasha'pratee maajhe vichaar blog karat aahe!!

Every Indian state has this craziness or a set of white-clad men wanting to impose the local language. I think - one would learn or speak a language only if they are comfortable with it or along with a set of people who understand it. As a third-generation (3G) Punekar, I speak Marathi as good as my mother-tongue Tamizh. In fact, I started to respect my mother-tongue more after I met Kaushal through my cousin 3 years back, knowing his respect and love for his mother tongue - Marathi. He was the first person I called up after watching 'Mi Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy', as it reminded me of his passion for Marathi. I like the language Marathi as much as I hate being called a Madrasi by any non-Tamilian friend (Want to avoid usage of 'North Indian' term). I always explain to them (patiently) that Madras is not my native. I am not saying this because of the 'Marathi manoos' wave around, me or my ancestors were not forced to speak, we ourselves spoke it.

• My paternal grandmother came to Pune after getting married from a remote village in TN. Till her last day, she did not know to speak Hindi - but only Tamil and Marathi.
  
• My mother also belonged to TN, and learned Marathi after landing in Pune, with help of her colleagues.
  
• As a child, I was not exposed to Hindi much - I knew more Tamil and Marathi (Fusion of both rather) until we moved to Devlali for few years and that was an Army area, where most families hailed from North India and spoke Hindi. To gel around, I had to take interest in speaking Hindi. When I visited Bangalore in 2007, the Cauvery water issue was on and there were bandhs - I was warned by my relatives to not speak in Tamizh (even to an auto-rickshaw driver) but instead say you are a Maharashtrian and speak Marathi if any trouble arises.

Ultimately, its about survival. I will always survive this wave of 'Marathi manoos' cos I know Marathi, I feel bad for the others who are being forced into it against their will. I have always told people who get into North-South debates, that 'South Indians are ignorant and North Indians are arrogant' - and more so, its the intolerance towards other culture or language. In school, we were taught that India is an example of 'Unity in Diversity'. The reality being - all states doing nothing unitedly. The politicians of this country are not a result of the people. The (cynic) state of the people today is the result of our politicians.

of Birthdays and Anniversaries

Just awake at 8.40AM, was checking GMail on phone - and also got a call from cousin's wife.
SIL : Got up yet or not ?
Me : Just up, whats up with you?
SIL : When is Mummy's birthday?
Me : Whose Mummy? (considering my mom, her mom, her MIL)
SIL : My mother-in-law rey! I know something is in November, birthday or anniversary
Me : Anniversary to my knowledge is in the month of May
SIL : Then birthday only - wondering if its today... do not know!
Me : Am not very sure, let me ask my Dad
(Dad not in scene, I go and ask my mother who replies its not today, but someday in month end)
Me : Its on 'so n so' November, as per my mom!
SIL : Sure?

Me : I think yes, as Athimber (my uncle, her FIL) was saying something like 'during her birthday' when I mentioned about the lift getting ready for new flat in Nov end last weekend in Thane. (Land line phone starts ringing at SIL end and call dropped).
Most of our generation folks have Facebook to keep reminded of others birthdays.
Wonder how those without access to these social networking sites keep it in memory.

Baul Music and more

Okay, my post on Iktara song by Kavita Seth led to posting many links/songs that use the instrument. It is one of the best instruments I've seen someone play at a concert in Jul 2007 at Chennai! I got introduced to Baul Music through Joy Da sometime in early 2006 - I liked the music. Most songs were in Bengali language and I could get the lyrics as I had many friends from Calcutta while studying at Fergusson! Here is a complete information on Baul Music

http://sacred-songs.blogspot.com/2007/06/baul.html
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071118/asp/calcutta/story_8559828.asp

Years passed have passed by, and my interest in sounds and music has gone deep. I love sounds of instruments like morsing, konakkol, ek-tara, du-tara, sarangi and more! An instrument I want to learn someday by self is called as 'Kottanguchi' in Tamil (do not know the Hindi/English equaivalent). It is the instrument which usually people of Rajasthan play and sell too - here is picture of the same. I was a college student when my parents, brother and I visited Jodhpur in Dec 2004 and they thought like many other interests - music was a 'temporary' interest to me and did not buy me that instrument. They never expected me to reach the stage I am in today. Some friends don't even bother to talk about mainstream film music knowing my taste in music. I have the CDs of The Laya Project - want to own the video/making DVD sometime! Kaushal's Rain Raga concert was another experience last year - right from sound-check to meeting the artistes in person, especially George Brooks and discuss little about Jan Garbarek!! Rudresh Mahanthappa is another artiste whose albums am looking for (not available for sale in India).



The song 'Kashmakash' by Alms For Shanti is one of my all time favorite - more so for the lyrics and the way its been sung.
The English version of the song 'Varanasi Trail' is also available on YouTube.

The Mumbai weekend !

It was a weekend in Mumbai - My parents were in Vashi for a wedding and I was in Thane on Saturday for my nephew's birthday. In the afternoon we went shopping to Big Bazaar (one of the stores I hate like anything for the crowd at billing) for picking up a jeans to go with a T-shirt I bought for him from Pune. After shopping, I was destined to watch the movie Aladin with 4 kids (2 nephews, and 2 of their friends) and SIL J. I almost slept after interval and woke up to a dreadful voice of one of the female singers in the climax song. My elder nephew (13) said what crap movie it is - how can Amitabh (an old man) perform such stunts. The other three-kids enjoyed the movie it seems. I am still wondering what the movie was about - I have no words to express. This October - I've watched 5 Bollywood movies (a rare feat which my close friends will be surprised at). Later in the evening was the typical cake-cutting followed by dinner at a nearby restaurant. Was almost dead at night.

Next morning, I opted to go to Vashi. I took a bus from CIDCO Bus Stop in Thane. In all - the 6 "Ladies seats" were occupied by youngsters. One lady come and stood beside me, she must have been 65+ years old. None of the youngsters got up to let the old woman sit and even seats meant for senior citizens were occupied by other men. Initially I thought - why should I give my seat - I am dead tired etc. - but don't know, I offered my seat to her. She was hesitant - but I insisted. The stop for the old lady came after some half hour at Airoli Naka. She got up and told me something which I did not hear as I was standing thinking about some other stuff. I asked her "Kya?" ("What") - and she said "Thank you very much beta" with a wide smile and appreciation. It was something I did not expect - I offered my seat to her by choice, not that she requested me for it. I replied to her "You're welcome Ma'am" and her smile made my day. After about 40 minutes more, I reached the Vashi Depot and walked towards the wedding hall (Jhulelal Temple, very close to Depot).

The wedding was of Mr. R - brother of my SIL M. My mother was representation of her MIL at the wedding, as my aunt - her original MIL deceased about four-decades ago. I reached there around 10AM, post-muhurtam time and many folks out there were surprised to see me (most of them assumed I won't attend it). After all family gossips, lunch etc. around 12PM, at the time we were leaving - my SIL said to Mom "I'm waiting to come to Pune, am all-trained on how for conducting/ arranging wedding-work stuff". To me it sounded like - "I have finished the internship at my bro's wedding and want to start practicing soon - maybe at a wedding in Pune??". I knew things were pointing out to me, I raised a question in my mischievous tone 'Whose wedding' and there was a laughter in the room. I told her am not going to give an opportunity so soon (LOL). Then started the usual 'get married / click' dialogues which was in a friendly manner than what usual aunts do (thankfully).

My parents and I took a crowded bus from Vashi to Panvel (long route via MIDC areas) with two luggage's - it was a tough one indeed and then luckily got into an Asiad bus of Thane-Pune from there. I realized later it would have been easier to have gone to Chembur and taken a bus from there instead of Panvel. Anyway, we all came back home in one-piece (pun intended).

Waving finally!!

Yeah! Finally got in to Google Wave...

Fruit & Nut

Hilarious movie - no story, but script has satire and slapstick humor - worth the money I spent for a Sat night show!

Cyrus plays the innocent Parsi boy who turns hero overnight, Diya is the aamchi-Mumbai girl who falls for him later. Mahesh Manjrekar as the boss and chairman of Mumbai Heritage Society, he is fun throughout the movie, and best is when he speaks something weird in English and then translates to Hindi. He reminded me of a relative who'd usually talk something weird in English, and later translate it to Tamil on what he meant. Some examples - Got Saved Brother-in-Law (Bach Gaya Saala), Hit Giving You or Relief Giving You (Maar Diya Jaaye Ya Chhod Diya Jaaye)!! Rajat Kapoor comes as professor to make a bomb, and when the remote button does not work - he claims he has done PhD in Chemistry and not Electronics. His role is of a gay (by looks in the movie), one of his lines to Mahesh (wearing shorts) is "Thodi waxing karwa lena, baal ug gaye hai..."!! Boman plays role of a Maharaja wanting his ancestral palace possession from BMC, with a punch line - Nashta kiya? Breakfast.

On-time Pizza delivery, Mumbai beggars, RAW agent, killer duo Salim-Sulaiman - who are actually two men aged 70+ from Dubai doing hit-man job. There is a joke for all and pun throughout the script. Brilliantly funny - in the league of Bharat Dabholkar's movie God Only Knows for satire humor. The movie is a laughter riot from the start, and Mahesh's lines are wacky!

Good cinematography of Bombay town-side in one of the songs - recalled how I was clicking snaps of the same places in Jan 2008 when I got the Fuji S700 camera. Noticed during the starting credits that Tapas has done the background score for the movie! Also noticed other familiar names - Sangeet Haldipur, Amar Haldipur, Gino Banks and few more in end credits!

The film's length is 94 minutes. In all - we were about 10-12 people in the backseats at Inox. During the first song of the movie, after some 20 minutes - a huge Gujarati family came in with a total of about 35-40 members - old men, women, young men, women, children and toddlers. They took about 10 minutes to settle down and 3-4 of them started commenting 'arey picture rewind karo bhai', then some commented '190 ka ticket liya hai, film poora dekhne do' and after 20 more minutes came the interval. Am sure they were not allowed to bring their 'farsaan' and sweets to the theater to eat, and don't know how much they would have spent in the interval for food, for tickets itself - 190x 40 people. . . Recession - think about it?!