Ghazal.............

RaadheKrishna!!!!

Hey Folks....

A big thanks to a couple of friends who reminded me that I blog.....So without any fuss and reasons for justifying the delay, lets get started in a soulful journey...

As always, this post is also based on music.. To bring a north Indian flavor this time, I thought of writing about ghazals....I would define ghazals as "art of speaking to your beloved". The beloved can be interpreted in any manner....It can be a lady, the drink (99% its liquor), the weather or anything...Its up to the composer and his state of mind on how he wants to describe his beloved...The origination of ghazal is from Persia and medival Arabia....

Without any doubt, India and Pakistan are two countries which have mastered this art...Pakistan, of course...Ghulam Ali saab,Mehdi Hasan Saab, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan are considered the pioneers of this art. They actually can transform you to the next world. The way they present the compositions is indeed a treat to listen. The original composers of the ghazals are actually indebted to these singers for a very simple reason that they are the one who truly valued them and of course the converse is also true.

Now, comes the quint essential(many of you must be wondering that, I use this word too often, yes..it is one of my favorite word) point of music...Without the soulful element of music and the element of classicism, these ghazals couldn't have achieved the recognition which they have today. I agree to the fact that lyrics form a significant part of these compositions. I would be wrong if I say they both complement each other..Music naturally takes a upper hand..I will prove it now...Ghulam Ali was performing a soul stirring ghazal...The first line of ghazal goes like this..."Dil Mein Ke Leher Si Utti"...With his brilliant musical abilities, he sang the word "leher" in such a beautiful manner one could feel the waves coming in to them..This itself proves that without music that word could have remained so ordinary. I know many of you will disagree here...But am sorry folks...I am biased towards music...

The sad part...Our country hasn't produced great ghazal singers. Now, everybody will think of Pankaj Udhas, Jagjit Singh and Hariharan. But believe me, they are no way near to the legends whom I have mentioned above.. One can argue that art is such a relative concept that it totally depends on the person's liking and preferences. But personally, I find that the Indian singers are far behind their pakistan counter parts.....Common Guyz, lets give them the credit...Recently I saw in papers about a programme involving Hariharan and Ghulam Ali...There is absolutely no match.....But am sure there is immense talent here. Lets hope that those talents get unleashed in the most prospective manner and make our country proud.

On that positive note I am ending this post and putting my head phones to hear a mind blowing mehdi hassan ghazal with a "meeta paan" in my mouth..Awesome Combination eh????

Khuda Hafiz......

RaadheKrishna!!!!

Music-God's gift

RaadheKrishna...

Hello everyone...no..not again...no apologies for yet other procrastination. By this time I think you all should be used to this. But well, If some of you are still curious to find out the reason, there isn't any...So sit back and enjoy this blog...I am all excited to write this post. As promised my future blogs will some way or the other relate to music. So even if I write something about nuclear physics (which obviously I can't) I am sure that I will relate it to music. So here we go..I have a small exercise for the readers. There is one video below. I want you to take some time out and watch the video. I bet it is not going to be a futile exercise and then scroll down for the continuation of the blog. Please do this....

Hope you are dumbstruck. What a performance....This little phenomenon is 11 years old. If Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan would have listened to it, I am sure he would have fallen for it. The reason why I am saying this is that a best gift you can give a music composer is to sing his song most appropriately. Needless to say, this wonder has done tremendous justification to this song. For all those budding and aspiring singers (even others) , please try singing the first few lines of this song. Its very very difficult. Out of the zillion songs that I have heard (irrespective of the genre) I would rate this as one of the most difficult and brilliant composition.

As i keep watching the video, every time I ponder the capability of this boy. Is it plausible that boy of this tender age can sing so precisely and creatively?? There is only one definite answer to it...God's creation...Thats about it. These 2 words say it all..I have to give credit to this programme. It is one such program which is consistent from the past decade and of course with few exceptions.

And now the worrying factor, being from South India I am saddened by the class of music shows being telecasted. The underlying reasons could be very simple to analyse but equally tough to find the possible solutions. I am sure that there are many kids down south who can be as brilliant as this guy. But it will be a haunting task to find them and give them such a huge platform where they can showcase their talent. Or is it a simple fact that there are shows which produces immense talent and I am ignorant of them...If yes, I request the readers to update me.

Again, I am thankful to God who has given me the knowledge to appreciate music. With complete faith I can tell that without music my life is null and void. On that note, I am concluding this blog.

Cheers.....

PS: U know what I write here...(For the new readers: Please do not hesitate to give your valuable suggestions)

Music is life......

RaadheKrishna!!!!

Hello Folks...

It has been sometime that i created a new post...Thanks to the mid term examinations in my college and the pathetic weather in the capital (my justifications to procrastination continues:)) I would again like to thank my readers for their wonderful responses for my second post.There were quite a lot of queries with respect to the contents in the second post, for which i think I gave decent justifications..I had mentioned in my previous post that i would conclude in this portion regarding my communication skills..I am sorry to mention that it will take some more time to furnish the post on the topic. So, the topic which I have chosen for this time (and for the times to come) is my favourite subject-MUSIC.....

The first thing my grandfather (a renowned music teacher for a period of 60 years) tells his students is that "There is nothing like music in the world" This is so true and creates such a wonderful impact every time when ever i ponder over this statement. Music is something which creates an instant rapport with the listener. It can remove any barrier and create utmost pleasure. To put it in a spiritual way, I would consider music as a way of attaining salvation. Ironically if the above sentences had to be true, there is an important underlying condition which has to be fulfilled at any cost. The condition is that, Music should have life......There might be innumerable varieties or genre of music, but again the underlying condition should be satisfied..

To further elaborate, take for instance a classical piece by Shri K V Narayanaswami or a soothing number by Elton John or a melodious ghazal by Mehdi Hassan or an ear jarring piece by Linkin Park, the common factor is of course the life which they inject to their respective songs. Another important factor is that many people feel that artists on stage should sing for the audience and present the compositions in such a manner that the audience relishes it...This can be done only if the artists involve themselves and enjoy in the best possible manner.First sing for yourself and then you can sing for the audience. This is obviously the means to achieve the end.

Coming from a family of illustrious musicians, the very thought of music pleases me and I consider myself privileged for the prime reason that I can understand the technicalities of various genres of music....

So, that was a very brief introduction to the topic of music. The following blogs will be based on this topic(This time its a promise that I wont deviate for the simple reason that I enjoy writing about music)...

So, keep sending your valuable comments and it shall be gracefully accepted..

Bye for now...

O S MUKUNDAN

RaadheKrishna!

So, its really been incredible for the response that i got for my first blog. Some of you even took the pains to write a comment(including my guru). One common thing in the comments that i received was that, people are actually waiting to read my next blog. So, the inference which i draw from this is bi fold:

1. My first blog has evoked people's interest and I have made a decent venture in to the world of blogging.

2. People are curious to know to the manner in which I have improved my communication skills, which further makes me feel delighted for the simple reason that people now actually believe that I possess good communication skills:)

After the sanskrit oratorical competition debacle, nothing phenomenal happened. I continued to see people who possessed these abilities with a slightly more analytical angle. I used to ponder over questions like whether they are born with these skills or they certainly make it a point to work at each and every stage...But still, i couldn't give myself a convincing answer. To make things worse, I never discussed about this to anyone. This happened till my schooling career.

The breakthrough came in my college life. After managing a quite decent score in 12th Board exam, I joined Vivekananda College Chennai. The course was Bachelors in Corporate Secretaryship. My class had a strength of 65-70. During the management class, pricncples of management were being discussed in length. An open-ended question about Mr.Henri Fayol's principles was put before the class. At the top of my voice, I managed to speak at a stretch for 10 minutes elucidating all the 14 principles. It was a shocker to me, the class and of course my professor. There was a silence for 2 minutes, everyone pondering about my answer..I enjoyed every moment of it. I knew that I gave an answer which will surely have an ever lasting impact.

From where it came......Was it because of my strong foundation which the school had given me, or was it the eagerness to make an impression or was it finally the awakening of inner self....I think its a perfect proportion of all the 3 components. After that class, I saw people talking among themselves about the answer which I gave. Needless to mention, all of them were really impressed. I took that incident in a very positive manner. I thought this could be the perfect stage from where i can carry on.

So, i started to bridge my impression at each and every walk of my college life. I could very easily analyse the difference. The confidence level was growing in a comprehensive manner. There was no looking back from there on....I had developed good communication skills.

This was the analysing part which i had mentioned in my first blog. For the realising part, wait for the next blog which will include further incidents which made my stronger. That will be the final episode on communication skills.

Regards

O S Mukundan

PS: Continue giving your valuable suggestions........................

RaadheKrishna!!!

So here I come..It is an enlightened feeling that i have started blogging today.I feel like something as if I have won some award:) It really has been a long wait. I usually procrastinate things and this one comes with no exception. Before i start, i have to profusely thank 2 people who have been a real source of inspiration for me to start blogging.

1. My maternal cousin Sruthi Muralidharan, who is doing her PhD in US. I am a huge fan of her blogs. She brings life to each and every composition. I see each and every blog of hers as a composition. Its a virtual treat every time. So, she is my first guru of blogging!!!!!!

2. My school friend Amith Nag who is currently working for IBM in Bangalore. His blogs are incredible. His way of developing a plot is amazing. Some of his blogs are really hilarious.

So, thank you so much for being the inspiration. Please keep up the good work going.

And dear readers, most important thing...While reading my blog, do not have expectation of any sort. I am sure that I will commit at least a dozen of grammatical mistakes and thanks to the spell check, i can avoid spelling mistakes. The post might be totally irrelevant or might not suit your taste. Hence, am cautioning you people in the beginning.

As I earlier said that I usually procrastinate things, but usually find a reason to justify the same. The reason why i prolonged the decision to start blogging is, I could not find a topic where I shall be comfortable. There would be millions of ideas which would pass through my mind, but none would be convincing enough. Finally, I came to a conclusion that for the first time I would write about something which i personally analysed and realised simultaneously(don't ask me how) couple of days ago.

I was very very poor at my communication skills(especially verbal communication) during my schooldays. I sometimes used to wonder on how people could speak so efficiently in oratorical competitions. For some of them, it literally used to be a cake walk. Give them any damn topic, within minutes they would come out with gazillion points. Sadly, never I had the curiosity to improve upon it.

When i was in sixth standard, I had taken sanskrit as my second language. My school frequently conducted oratorical competitions in as many languages as it could. Can you imagine an oratorical competition in sanskrit?? Read further to believe it...

One day, we heard an announcement that there is going to be a sanskrit oratorical competition. There was an open entry system. My friends wondered whether the competition would attract even one entry. Since we had taken sanskrit as our second language, it was compulsory for us to remain as an audience through out the tenure of the competition. So, it was all set. The judges took their seats. The comparer announced the first name(who happened to be my classmate). He did a great job. Obviously I could not understand even a single word. But his body language, confidence and clarity impressed me.

Now, the comparer after giving a few words of appreciation about the previous speaker called the second participant. The name which came out of her mouth was O S MUKUNDAN. I am not able to put any adjective here to describe the feeling which i underwent. I felt terrible and shocked to say the least. My initial thought was to fight with the school administration who didn't even ask whether a person is willing to participate in a competition. But, I thought I would reserve it later. I still remember the walk from my seat to the stage. I think there were some 200 million steps which i took. I went up to the stage and stood before the mike. That's it folks...I was dumb stuck for 2.5 minutes. I couldn't even utter a word. My mind was blank. Even if somebody would have asked my name, i wouldn't have recalled. One of the awful moments of life ....the judges were shattered. One of them, actually went out of the auditorium:) Finally the judges rang the bell indicating that the time was over. I rushed back to my seat. Some of my friends even gave a small clap:) After the competition, I ran to the authorities and asked them how could they include my name when i had not given my intent to participate. The reply that I got, is that since there were only very few entries, they made it compulsory for all sanskrit students to participate.

The worst part is that i could not learn a lesson out of it. Even if I had a reasonable amount of communication skills, I would have managed at least something. At least I would have spoken something in English:)

Now, where is the part of analysing and realising(which i said in the earlier paragraphs) here.

WAIT FOR THE NEXT BLOG......................

PS: Please give your valuable suggestions. I will be more than happy to receive criticism irrespective of being constructive or destructive.

Bye for now....

O S MUKUNDAN

01.07.2009