Goodness in blogging

Ever since my daughter was born my personal time is also given to her. The books were decorating the cupboards. At least once in a while I was reading English or tamil novels and I completed kalki’s ‘ponniyin selvan’ in three months. But I was not touching any of my Sanskrit books. Now as I am writing a blog in Sanskrit I have to spend time for reading, and I allot at least an hour a day for this. By which I am able to brush up the topics that I read during my college days. I find this refreshing and a break from the regular routine. I could see that I contribute more to my Sanskrit blog as it is subject (my) oriented.

CDAC

For the past 1.5 years I am working for CDAC as part of their Sanskrit team. CDAC prepares software tools almost in 22 Indian languages. It is not just writing a translation for a sloka or a verse. It is like framing Sanskrit equivalent words for computer terminologies. An interesting part about this is we have to translate and transliterate depending on the context. For example the technical terms like ‘windows’and ‘mouse’ need only transliteration but not a translation. Altogether working for CDAC is a new experience. Thanks to my friend V because of whom I am into this project.

Portrait of MS

The above Portrait was drawn specially for the book “MS - A Life on Music” authored by T.J.S. George. The specialty of this portrait is that it was drawn by Manohar Devadoss who is totally blind.

Excerpts from the book........

“Manohar was given a pair of specially made Australian glasses by Dr. S.S. Badrinath of Shankara Nethrlaya. They allowed him a narrow, if rather dim, beam of sight over a tiny dot of space if the paper was held close to his eyes. But he had to remove the glasses every other minute to let the moisture from the eyes evaporate. He was putting on and taking off the glasses hundreds of times, taking the paper right up to his eyes for every stroke of the pen, seeing only three or four square millimeters at a time, he accomplished this portrait of his “MS Amma”.

Learn or Leave

The number of times I used the public transport in Bangalore is almost negligible. The first reason I can say for not commuting by buses is that I do not travel long distances. The second reason is that the name boards are written only in the local language. I can manage Kannada in the spoken level but I am totally unaware of the scripts. At the same time being in Bangalore I cannot object that the name boards should not be in the local language. But to make it more people friendly the boards can be put up in English also, as they do in other cities. People from different states have settled here. So for everyone to learn the local language is quite impossible. Particularly, for those who are in a transferable job.

I am neither against kannada nor a fanatic of my own mother-tongue. I understand the sentiments of people who are paranoid about their language. But the language will not be enhanced just by penalizing the shop keepers, if the name boards are not in the local language.
If such things continue, undoubtedly the new rule will be - ‘Learn kannada or Leave Karnataka’.

All are Winners ………………

Though competitions motivate a child, sometimes it has a psychological impact especially when they ‘lose’. This could very much dent the child’s confidence the very purpose the competition was supposed to enhance.

In that way I am happy with my daughter’s play home -‘Podar Jumbo Kids’ totally subscribe to the topic heading.

During the sports day they encouraged the participation from all children and as an appreciation they were given certificates and a medallion. That was really a very nice gesture. My daughter was wearing the medal for the whole day………...............

My exposure to Carnatic Music

I had been to two concerts during the music season. One was Ranjani -Gayathri and.the other one was Sanjay Subrahmanyam. I enjoyed both the concerts with my SIL- B. Brilliant performances by them.
I am unable to accept musicians who sing without much ‘Gamakam’s’. I am not sure if I am moving from an average-carnatic-joe to a connoisseur. I sincerely feel that a true artist should spend a lot more time on singing the ragas than just the plain ‘text’ format.
I do agree that performance is for a varied audience with different degrees of exposure to Carnatic music. The balance the Professional Artists is able to establish during a 2-3 hr concert is more like walking on a tight rope. Overindulgence on Gamakas or Neraval might spurn the novice and the other way around would anger the purists.
Over the years the established artists have attained an impression which works well with audience. When a rasika chooses to attend (or to avoid) a concert, he or she knows what he is paying for…more like choosing between a Thalaivar film and other films :): )
Personally, I am able to relate the artist to a pre-conceived notion.

Sanjay Subrahmanyam- Traditionalist, Creativity within a set boundry.
Ranjani - Gayathri - A blend of Hindustani and Carnatic, Fast paced.
Aruna Sairam - Good in sahitya rendition.

p.s Check this wonderful data collection during the 2003-04 season. I liked the pie-charts on composers and songs.

Happy new Year

Another year has gone by .... and my best wishes to all for the year ahead.