Simulation's Jottings

Music Lovers or Mischief Mongers

2012-01-09T05:27:00.001-08:00

Following is my rejoinder for the articles “A Navroz by any other name…” by Baradwaj Rangan dated 23rd Dec and “Give Carnatic music a chance” by Swaroop Mamidipudi dated 30th Dec.

During music season, it is overwhelming to see the number of musicians and number of concerts, so is the number of writers and critics. I feel that people with good writing skills think they can write anything under the sky, including carnatic music without having a sense for this genre.

In this kind of articles, it has become customary to compare the carnatic music viz western music or hindusthani music as well as compare carnatic music rasikas viz western music lovers. First of all, why should carnatic music to be compared with western music, when apples and oranges are not to be compared? In this comparison exercise, the writers try to brand the carnatic music rasikas as if they are the trouble makers in any concert. May be film directors like Balachandar can exaggerate by portraying a rasika checking the diamond ear-ring of another rasikas during a concert, just for the sake of exaggeration. But in reality no such things happen. If rasikas are portrayed as trouble makers then it is nothing but a cliché.

It is often written that most of the rasikas hinder the concert by their activities like identifying the ragas through hand books and by discussing with the neighbors. In what way a concert is obstructed if a rasikas refers to a raga identification guide silently? What is wrong in identifying the raga, when the rasikas hears for the first time as long as they don’t make noise? Don’t we try to identify and appreciate when a new sweet is served in the meal? When a rasika is able to identify a new raga, he/she tries to put in his/her memory and appreciate the same when it is sung for the next time. Also they would like to discuss about the new raga with their friends and families. What is wrong in it? If we stipulate that a rasika has to keep quiet whatever is sung during the concert, the concerts would become mechanical and the artists will lose motivation.

It is also often complained that carnatic music rasikas interrupt the concert by their intermittent applause, whereas the audience in a western concert give a standing ovation only at the end of the concert. It has to be remembered that Carnatic music unlike western music is full of mano-dharma and the sangathis come spontaneously from the artists and they need to be acknowledged and appreciated then and there by a ‘bale’ or ‘sabash’. No carnatic musician has made a complaint about this so far. In fact, most of them would like to see nodding heads among the audience and expect some kind of ‘bale’ and ‘besh’ at appropriate time to get motivated. If the rasikas keep quiet with a robotic look, the entire event will become prosaic.

The next thing being discussed is the tonal quality and other aspects of sound engineering. True, if it is recorded music. One would expect a flawless music with absolute tonal quality in his/her collection of DVDs and Blue-ray discs. But we need to remember that the carnatic rasikas come for a live concert to enjoy the mano-dharma aspect of the live concert and is not bothered about some lapses in the tonal aesthetics.

It is mentioned that people all over the world instantly connect with and recognize the Ninth Symphony or the Turkish March, but that hardly true for the Pancharathna Krithis for instance. Need not be true. I may not get connected with Ninth Symphony as I don’t have any sense towards western classical.

Also mentioned that a good Dhanyasi or Ahiri can melt even the most non-musical of souls. Very true, but It is not possible for the listener to appreciate the intricacies of the Dhanyasi or Ahiri unless he/she has a sense of appreciation for that this genre of art. When it is said that Carnatic music facing stiff competition, it is a sweeping statement. Carnatic music is growing and will be eternal, since many young artists take this as full-time profession.

Let the critics and bloggers write articles on Carnatic music after making an effort to understand this great elite and classical art. Let them not make sweeping statements and false judgments.

Complex Addresses of Indian IT companies

2011-10-21T04:27:00.000-07:00

Why do Indian IT companies make their contact addresses really complex? Cant they make it simple?

Infosys Limited
Plot No: TP 1/1,
Central Avenue,
Techno Park SEZ,
Mahindra world city,
Natham sub post,
Chengalput - 603 002

Infosys Limited

Special Economic Zone,
Survey Nos. 50 (part), 51, 54, 49, 48, 44 & 45 (part), 41 (part), 36 (part),
Pocharam Village,
Singapore Township Post Office,
Ghatkesar Mandal, Ranga Reddy (Dist)
Hyderabad - 500 088

Tata Consultancy Services
Unit No. 801, 901 & 1001
A-Wing
Kensington Building IT/TES/SEZ
Hiranandani Business Park
Powai, Mumbai 400076

Tata Consultancy Services
Deccan Park,
Plot No.1,
Software Units Layout
Madhapur
Hyderabad 500 081

Tata Consultancy Services
Yantra Park Unit No 6 ,
Voltas Compound
Opp Voltas HRD Centre
Subhash Nagar , Pokhran Road 2
Thane (W) 400601

Tata Consultancy Services
Empire Plaza
Empire Industrial Estate
101, LBS Marg
Vikhroli West
Mumbai 400 083

Cognizant Technology Solutions

Global Delivery Center

Technocomplex
Plot GN-34/3, Sector-V
Saltlake Electronic Complex
Kolkata 700 091

India

HCL Technologies Ltd
ETA- Techno Park” Block I
SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE
33, Rajiv Gandhi Salai,

Navallur Village and Panchayat,
Thiruporur Panchayat Union,

Chengalpet Taluk,
Kanchipuram dist, Chennai – 603 103

HCL Technologies Ltd
ELCOT – SEZ Unit -I
Special Economic Zone
602/3, 138, Shollinganallur Village,
Shollinganallur - Medavakkam High Road,
Tambaram Taluk

Kancheepuram (Dist),
Chennai- 600 119. Tamilnadu, India

HCL Technologies BPO Services Ltd(C-5)
Module 1, Tower 1,
Floor Nos. 1 & 6,
“Chennai One” SEZ Unit
ETL Infrastructure Services Ltd.,
200 Ft, Thoraipakkam,
Pallavaram Ring Road,
Thoraipakkam, Chennai – 600 096

HCL Technologies Ltd. - SEZ Unit
M/s. Unitech Hi-Tech Structures Limited
Special Economic Zone – IT/ITES
Plot No.1, Block No. A2, 3rd & 4th Floors.
DH Street, 316 New Town
Rajarhat, Dist. North 24 Parganas
Kolkata – 700 156, India

Satyam Computer Services Limited
Chennai Satyam Center
Survey No. 478/1A, Door No. 11A and 13
Old Mahabalipuram Road,

Tambaram Taluk

Sholinganallur,

Kancheepuram District
TamilNadu

Satyam Computer Services Limited
Registered Office
Info City
Unit-12, Plot No.35 & 36
Hitech City Layout, Sy No.64
Madhapur, Hyderabad-500081

Satyam Computer Services Limited
Satyam Gateway
Block 1 & 2,S.No. 79(P) & 64 ( P)
Madhapur Village
Serilingampally Mandal and Municipality
R R Dist., Hyderabad 500 081

Satyam Computer Services Limited
DLF
Special Economic Zone - Unit
DLF Commercial Developers Ltd.,

Special Economic Zone
S.Nos. 129 (P), 130, 131 (P) and 132
Gachibowli Village
Shirlingampalli Mandal,Ranga Reddy District

L&T Infotech

2nd & 3rd floor, IT-6 Building,
Flagship Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.,
IT & ITES, SEZ, Survey No.154/6,
Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park,
Hinjewadi, Phase-1,
Pune 41105

Dr.Padma Subramanian's Lecdem on Influence of Tanjore Big Temple

2010-12-21T04:31:00.000-08:00

What would happen to the workmen when they try to remove several feet of piled of bat excreta (Vavvaal Puzukkai) accumulated over a period of around 1000 years? Some of them fainted. Some of them even blood vomited due to the gas release, while removing the cakes of excreta. But their hard work paid dividends to the dance lovers. After few months of cleaning, beautiful sculptures of dancing Siva were found on the walls of Tanjore Big Temple.

Dr.Padma Subramanian was explaining her personal experiences while demonstrating on “The influence of Tanjore Big Temple on Dance” at Music Academy on 21st Dec (9-10 am).

She also mentioned that an unknown passage was accidently discovered by one Balakrishnan, an employee of Archeological Survey of India (ASI), while removing some weeds in the Vimana of the temple in 1956, which finally led to the discovery of 81dance sculptures. The then ASI Joint Director-General T.N. Ramachandran, identified the sculptures as 81 of the 101 Karanas portrayed in the Natya Sastra.

RTPs at Music Academy -2010

2010-12-17T07:32:00.000-08:00

Date Time Vidwan Raga of RTP

16.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm K.Hariprasad Vachaspathi

16.12.2010 7-9.30 pm Manda Sudharani Purvi Kalyani

17.12.2010 9.15-11.45 am B.Kannan Dharmavathi

17.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm Savitha Narasimhan Dhanyasi

17.12.2010 7-9.30 pm Kunnakkudi Balamuralikrishna Suruti

18.12.2010 9.15-11.45 am Bombay Sisters Purvi Kalyani

18.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm Prasanna Venkatraman Gowri Manohari

18.12.2010 4.15-6.45 pm O.S.Thiagarajan Bhairavi

18.12.2010 7-9.30 pm Dr.Panthula Rama Kapi

19.12.2010 9.15-11.45 am R.K.Srikantan Shanmugapriya

19.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm Sumithra Nithin Kalyani

20.12.2010 9.15-11.45 am Neela Ramgopal Simhendra Madyamam

20.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm Sankari Krishnan Madhyamavathi

20.12.2010 7-9.30 pm Prema Rangrajan Hemavathi

21.12.2010 9.15-11.45 am Trichur Ramachandran Karaharapriya

21.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm Sherthal Renganatha Sharma Kapi

21.12.2010 4.15-6.45 pm S.Sowmya Saramathi

21.12.2010 7-9.30 pm Ravikiran Karaharapriya

23.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm R.Suryaprakash Kambhoji

23.12.2010 7-9.30 pm U.Srinivas Natabhairavi

24.12.2010 9.15-11.45 am Geetha Rajasekar Madhyamavathi

24.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm K.Gayatri Ramapriya

24.12.2010 4.15-6.45 pm Nithyashree Mahadevan Kalyana Vasantham

24.12.2010 7-9.30 pm Lalgudi Krishnan & Vijayalakshmi Hamsanandhi

25.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm T.N.S.Krishna Kalyani & Lalitha

25.12.2010 4.15-6.45 pm Ranjani & Gayatri Dwijavanthi

25.12.2010 7-9.30 pm E.Gayathri Suddha Dhanyasi

26.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm Nisha Rajagopal Kambhoji

26.12.2010 7-9.30 pm B.V.Balasai Nasika Bhooshani

27.12.2010 9.15-11.45 am T.S.Sankaran & J.A.Jayanth Bhairavi

27.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm Sumitha Vasudev Karaharapriya

27.12.2010 4.15-6.45 pm P.Unnikrishnan Thodi

27.12.2010 7-9.30 pm Dr.Jayanthi Kumaresh Charukesi

28.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm Iyer Brothers Ramnath & Gopinath Sankarabharanam

28.12.2010 7-9.30 pm S.Saketharaman Hamsanandhi

29.12.2010 9.15-11.45 am Maharajapuram S.Ramachandran Madhyamavathi

29.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm Amirtha Murali Bilahari

29.12.2010 7-9.30 pm Srivalsan Menon Purvi Kalyani

30.12.2010 9.15-11.45 am Suguna Purushothaman Keeravani

30.12.2010 1.45-3.45 pm Calkutta Vijayaraghavan Shanmugapriya

30.12.2010 7-9.30 pm Abhishek Rahuram Hamsavinodhini

31.12.2010 9.15-11.45 am Palai Ramachandran Shanmugapriya

31.12.2010 4.15-6.45 pm Gayathri Girish Lathangi

Carnatic Musicians who broght name and fame to their towns

2010-12-10T22:46:00.000-08:00

1 Akkarai Subbulakshmi

2 Alathur Brothers

3 Alleppy Krishnan

4 Anayampatti Ganesan

5 Annavarappu

6 Ariyakkudi Ramanauja Iyengar

7 Ayyalur Krishnan

8 Banagalore Ramani Ammal

9 Bangalore Amrit

10 Bombay Jayashree

11 Chembai Vaidyanatha Bagavathar

12 Cuddalore Subramanian

13 Damal K.Pattammal

14 Erode Gururajan

15 Erode Nagaraj

16 Hyderabad Brothers

17 Hyderabad Sisters

18 Injikkudi Brothers

19 Kadri Gopalnath

20 Kalakkadu Ramnarayana Iyer

21 Kaniyur Narasimhan

22 Karaikudi R Mani

23 Kovai B Dakshinamurthy

24 Kovai Balu

25 Kudanthai Sisters

26 Kunnakkudi Bala

27 Kunnakkudi Balamuralikrishna

28 Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan

29 Lagudi Gopala Iyer

30 Lagudi Jayaraman

31 Madurai G.S.Mani

32 Madurai Mani Iyer

33 Madurai Shanmugavadivu

34 Madurai Sundar

35 Maharajapuram Ramachandran

36 Maharajapuram Santhanam

37 Maharajapuram Srinivasan

38 Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer

39 Malladi Brothers

40 Mambalam Sisters

41 Mambalam Siva

42 Mannargudi Easwaran

43 Mayavaram Sisters

44 Melakkaviri Balaji

45 Musiri Subramania Iyer

46 Mysore Nagamani Srinath

47 Nagai Mugunthan

48 Nagai Sriram

49 Namagiripettai Krishnan

50 Nedhunoori Krishnamoorthi

51 Neyveli Santhanagopalan

52 Neyyanttinkara Vasudevan

53 Palladam Sanjeevarrao

54 Pattanam Subramanya Iyer

55 Prapancham Seetharaman

56 Pudhukkottai Dakshinamurthi

57 Rudhrapatnam Brothers

58 Salem Desikan

59 Sembanarkoil Brothers

60 Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer

61 Sengalipuram Anantharama Dikshidhar

62 Serugudi Sisters

63 Sikkil Gurucharan

64 Sikkil Mala Chandrasehar

65 Sikkil Sisters

66 Soolamangalam Sisters

67 Soolamangalam Vaidyanatha Bagavathar

68 Sreevanchiyam

69 Srimushnam Raja Rao

70 Thirupambaram Brothers

71 Thiruvarur Bakthavachalam

72 Thiruveezimalai Brothers

73 Trichi Sankaran

74 Trichur Brothers

75 Trichur Ramachandran

76 Trivavaduthurai Rajarathinam Pillai

77 Udayalur Kalyanaraman

78 Umayalpuram Sivaraman

79 Vellore Ramabadhran

Please let me know if I have missed out some names.

Photo Blog on Mylapore Civic Issues

2009-09-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

I have created a new photo-blog to address the civic issues in and around Mylapore.

Please visit

http://mylapore-civic-issues.blogspot.com/

Madras Quiz-01

2009-08-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (22nd Aug) Chennai that is Madras celebrated its 370th birthday. Week-long celebrations as part of the "Madras Week" is coming to an end by today.

I participated in a Heritage Walk into St.George Fort last Sunday. Yesterday it was the lecture of Dr.Chitra Madhavan on four popular Temples of Chennai at Rain Tree. Today I will be participating in the much awaited Madras Quiz. Many quiz lovers are eagar to particpate in this event.

My 2 cents for the Madras Quiz which focuses on the etymology of names of localities in Chennai.

1. Saidapet - Syed Khan Pettai - named after Syed Sha (Sayyid Musalman Sahib) a high ranking official of court of Nawab.

2. Avadi - AVADI is an acronym which goeslike this. Armoured Vehicles and Ammunition Depot of India.

3. Aminjikkarai - Amaindha Karai - A delta formed from the deposition of sediment carried by riven Coovam.

4. Perambur - Place where Perabu/Ratan/cane/ florished.

5. Porur - Place where fierce battles (Por) have been held during Pallava times.

6. Velachery - Veda Shreni - Abode of Vedas

7. Egmore - named after near by Elumbur river

8. Chetpet - Chettiar Pettai - could not recollect the name of the Chettiar

9. Teynampet - Thennam Pettai - place where Coconut (thennam) groves were there.

10. Royapuram - Royappar Puram - Town of Peter - Royappan is the Tamil equivalent of Peter

Please add more, if you want...

Walk inside the Fort St. George

2009-08-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I participated in a Heritage walk inside St.George Fort organized as part of Madras Week celebrations.

View of St.George Fort and India's tallest flag mast

Vincent Desouza and Dr.Suresh guiding the tour
One of the canons of the fort
No one could explain this. Is it a Sivalinga?
York Street within the fort campus
Seagate Street
View of the St.Mary's Church. This is where Robert Clive got married.
Clive House, where Robert Clive lived.
Proof of Clive's living.
Multi-storied building in a place of Archelogical importance!
Me, before the cupola.

Swaraksharam

2009-02-10T07:43:00.000-08:00

Swaraksharm is another dimension of Carnatic Music. If you closely observe the word "Swaraksharam", it is a combination of 2 words namely Swaram and Aksharam.
Every one of us are aware that the Sapthasawaras Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni are the basic notes for any raga. Aksharam is nothing but the meaning words of a compostion. If the composer is able to coin the Aksharam with the help of Swaras, it is nothing but Swaraksharam. This is a delightful jugglery of words.

Thirvarur Ramasami Pillai composed the poular song "Jagadheeswari, Kribai puri..." in Mohana raga. The composer has played with the Dhaivahdam (Dha) in several aksharms of the following lines.

"THArukkuthavi seyyum aduTHAarukuthavi seyyum THAi unaivida verulaTHA?
THAmadhaminri vedhapuri THAsanukkurundhan enbathariTHA? PeriTHA? varam THA?"

GNB has also used Swaraksharam in "SADHAPAlaya". Another example for Swaraksharam would be in the phrase "PADHASAroja" of the Navaragamaliga Varnam. "SAMAGAna Lola" in Hindholam and another "SAMAGAna" in Anandha Bhairavi are further examples of Swaraksharam.

Swaraksharm is also beautifully used by te Tamil Film world. It find a place in the movie "Agathiyar". The song "Vendriduven. Endha Naattaiyum Naathaththaal Venriduven" has couple of words like "Manitha. Padhaka Mnitha, Sagasama" aptly embedded with Swaraksharms. Mastero Ilayaraja has nicely used Swaraksharm in "Enna Samayalo" in the movie
"Unnal Mudiyum Thambi" If you wish to hear the song and identify the Swaraksharsm, please visit:-

http://simulationpadaippugal.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post.html

Music Season 2008-09

2009-01-16T18:33:00.000-08:00

*Most Enjoyed Auditorium:* The Sivagaami Pethachi Auditorium, which is devoid of parking issues and is located in the midst of tall grown trees. It
had been rented by Bhrahmagana Sabha for this music season.

*Marvellous Auditorium:* Music Academy's Kasthuri Srinivasan Hall which attracts the rasikas and the vidhwans time and again. The Value Added
Services such as volunteers helping the aged rasikas by holding their hands
and helping them to get their seats and also by providing excellent parking
facility deserve a special note.

*Homely Auditorium:* After buying old books from Mylpaore Luz's renowned "thatha kadai", one can enter the Srinivas Sastri hall with ease. If bored,
one can immediately enter the library in the ground floor to check out the
newspapers. Thatha kadai is a famous second hand book shop with excellent
books located at Mylapore Luz corner's pedestrian and is run by an old man
since ages.

*Place to visit again and again:*The digital audio library in the Music Academy premises. Thanks to the TAG Company for building this library.

*The thing which was missed:* Gnanambika catering's excellent canteen at Naradha Gana Sabha, which has an excellent menu and a warm hospitality.

*Most Enjoyed canteen:*Parthasarathy Swami Sabha's canteen and their hot mouth watering bondas.

*New and Appreciable Service:*The Carnatica Express, a free shuttle service between the Sabhas which has been introduced by Fortune group of companies.
Actually they've brought into practice what was once published as a joke in
Anada Vikatan a few years ago.

*Marghazi Bhajans:*One can witness around half a dozen of bhajans group within half an hour's gap in the early mornings of marghazi around Mylapore
Kapaleeswarar Temple's Maada Veedhis (The four streets surrounding the
temple). Papanasam Sivan's daughter Rukmani Ramani was seen on her group
only for one day.

*Most Enjoyed Young Male Singer:*Abhishek Raghuram, whose concert was interesting even after listening to three of his concerts on a row. The
"Kaapi" raga sung at Music Academy made us to applaud with the words "Bhesh
Bhesh, Romba Nanna Irukku" (A jingle for Narasu's Coffee Powder). A slight
discomfort was seen among the rasikas when the singer said, "I dedicate this
song to my friend who has come from Bangalore" in the middle of a song.* *

*Most Enjoyed Young Female Singer:*Sriranjani Santhanagopalan, daughter of Neyveli Santhanagopalan who impressed the audience at Sivagami Pethachi
Auditorium.

*Best Duo:*Trichur Brothers Srikrishna Mohan and Ramkumar Mohan, is being accompanied by the same vidhwan on mridhangam in all their concerts. Later,
it was surprising to know that the mridhangam vidhwan is none other than Mr..
Mohan, the father of the duo guys. It was soothing to see the involvement
and mutual understanding which existed between the brothers during alapanas
especially, when they interleaved the alapanas between them. When asked
about the details of their college, they say in a unison that they've
completed their Chartered Accountant exams and are practicing as Chartered
Accountants. The elder of the two is married too. I followed their concerts
in all the Sabhas namely Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Bhrahmagana Sabha,
Kapali Fine Arts, etc. When the kathak dance program which was scheduled to
begin on 6pm at Sivagami Pethachi Auditorium was delayed, the Bhrahmagana
Sabha secretary Mr. Balu extended the duo's concert time. They made use of
this excellent opportunity by rendering a Ragam Thaanam Pallavi (RTP) in the
Raga Jog. This was a New Year treat for the rasikas who enjoyed the concert
to their heart's content.

*Most Enjoyed Lecdem:*Sriram Parasuram's Lec-dem at Music Academy about "The role of Hindustani Ragas in Carnatic Music". What a vocabulary does
this man possess!!!

*Most Enjoyed LecCon:*Rasikapriya, * *the group which* *owns the website* *www.sangeethapriya. org and which gets 81000+ web hits per day, conducted an award felicitation function for the top contributors to the website, at Raga
Sudha Hall, Mylapore. The Lec-Con on "Mallari" was performed by Nadhaswara
Vidhwan Injikudi. M. Subramaniam and party. It was excellent. We were able
to experience Ustad Bismillah Khan's expertise when Vidhwan Subramaniam
played Subha Panthuvarali Raga at the end.

*Most Enjoyed Dance Drama:*"Man with Iron Mask", a dance drama based on the famous French novel "The Three Musketeers" was performed by Kalakshethra
Fame Srijith Krishna. Male dancers clad in French costume performed
bharathanatyam in an excellent manner. On the whole, costumes, Stage
arrangements, choreography, etc had a perfect chemistry, physics and math
and worked together well. Everybody remained on their seats till the end of
the concert at Naradha Gana Sabha till the end of the programme which ended
only by 10.30 in the night. Srijith's programmes never fail.

*Most Enjoyed Music Ensemble: "*Heart Beat", performed by Embar Kannan on violin as lead, accompanied by Ghatam Karthik, Keyboard Sathya, Kanjeera
Purushothaman, and Rhythm Pad Arun Kumar. Vocal Accompaniment was performed
by Dr. Karthik who has made a research in North Indian Languages. He sang
mostly in tamil. Embar Kannan for his Jog Raga and all the artists who
exceeded each other in their performances need a special round of applause.

*Recent Article: *An article written by me which is titled "Do away with Thematic Concerts!" was published in KutcherryBuzz newsletter and
kutcherrybuzzonline .com

*Recent Delight:*I won the second prize in the last year's "Mudhra Quiz" with my son in my team. This year I was determined to get first prize. Out
of 50 participants in the preliminary round, 12 got selected. When picking
lots, I was surprised to have my wife in my own team. Prize money of Rs.
1000 perhead was won by us after answering the challenging questions asked
by Musician Dr. Radha Bhaskar, Dancer Roja Kannan, Doordharshan fame
Quizmaster Subramanian.

*Disturbing event:*The elderly musicologists, who sang in their own voice during their Lec-Dems. It was not pleasing. They never had the heart to have
their students sing the songs, though many had such capable students.

*Amazing Person: *A young Japanese citizen named Akira. Akira, who lives in the vicinity of Naradha Gana Sabha, can be met at almost all the Sabhas in
Chennai. He's an excellent photographer. His most liked hobby is to
photograph Indian Musicians. Though he said a wrong answer as
"karaharapriya" in the audience round in Mudhra quiz, he won the hearts of
others and a round of applause with his toddler's accent.

*Recent Friendship:*Since I came to Naradha Gana Sabha early by 10 minutes, I was able to have a pep talk with Charuhaasan. My father in law who was
with me recounted his experiences with Chandrahassan as his colleague. I was
able to get his friendship due to his simplicity and friendliness. Since his
car did not come on time to pick him up, I got the chance drop him at
Suhasini Maniratnam's home located at eldam's road. While travelling from
TTK road to eldams road which is just a 5-10 min drive, he spoke so simply
and asked some questions like "why do nobody sing Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar's
Thillana set in Kaapi Raga" and chuckled. This exposed his immense musical
interest. Reply assured if he is contacted by mail.

The above post is an english version of my earlier Tamil post at

http://simulationpa daippugal. blogspot. com/2009/ 01/2008-09. html

When I shared the above link in Sanggethapriya yahoo group, some of the members could not read the contents as it was in Tamil. One, Shri.Balasubramanian helped to translate this content in English. Let me thank him at this moment.

-Simulation

Revival of my Numismatic Interest

2008-06-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

Few months back, a senior person joined my office; in the welcome message, his profile was also circulated to the entire team by my RM. I found something interesting in that brief profile. It was none other than one of his hobbies, Numismatics, the study of Coins and Currencies.

As soon as I got an opportunity to meet him and had a conversation with him and I started enquiring about his Numismatics. When he mentioned that his collections are worth of around 2 lakh Indian Rupees, I was surprised. Immediately I was also reminded of my own collection of coins. Unlike my new friend, I was not having any currencies, but only coins, that too in small numbers. But this conversation kindled me to revive the hobby of Numismatics.

That week end, I went and started digging out my chest of drawers and started consolidating my coin collections. I had my childhood collection of say around 50 coins, which I got from my father. I have also travelled to many countries and retained many coins without any intentions. When I started consolidating, the numbers grew around 250 and the sources varied from India, USA, UK, France, Germany, Thailand, Singapore, Korea and not to the least, Sudan too. I also started collecting some coins from my own network as well as from the market. I am still in the nascent stage of my Numismatics.

My forthcoming posts would address more and more articles in this subject. Of course with some interesting pictures too.

- Simulation