Dancing to Kolaveri

As I recall, my first school picnic had been to Gannavaram airport and the Krishna river side near Vijayawada.

Anush had a wonderful time at her picnic at the Jade resort in Devanahalli. They seem to have eaten a lot as well as played a lot. She won some prize as well for one of the games.

The sore point-
She found it 'unfair' that her team got Kolaveri Di for the dance session they had! To me Kolaveri is a catchy song though some of the words are not okay for kids, but if they don't get the meaning and only use it while humming the song, then I am fine with it. I was surprised that her entire class ( as per her) did not find this song to be a likable dance number.

As some would say, "Good taste-u di" !

Dil Hoom Hoom kare

Another musical soul departs

I used to visualise the mighty Brahmaputra when this gentleman sang (even when he sang about the Ganga!)

Really wanted to witness this

Went to Cubbon Park even but found NO parking at all and had to turn back

I am told they perform every third Sat or Sunday- anyone knows more?

Wonder Full Life

I am not sure I like the idea of a specific day being Women's Day but I am all for fun and outings and do just that with my office gang of girls. And it does not hurt that the day began with Lindt chocolates from Jet.

A Happy day to all the ladies in my life and to the not so celebrated men as well...Here are one, two songs that capture the wonder of life in two very different ways.

Life is full of choices - they come up again and again. No regrets.

Sounds of music II and Tribal & Travel Treats

Here are the remaining Hindu Music Festival 2008 reviews from the patriarch of the Artnavy family:

"There is no doubt that both Bombay Jayashri amd T M Krishna are "acclaimed award winning solo performers". Their joint concert held for The Hindu November Fest, was billed as a hope of the vocalists "...to establish a dialogue between their styles...". This was largely belied. Krishna's style was almost imitative of dhrupad where as Jayashri was keen to experiment throughout the recital. One can understand regular artists' boredom with singing the same things everyday, but what is often forgotten is that for each audience it is a rare event. They want to hear what the artists are best known for. The earlier generations of Carnatic musicians did not wish to experiment much and their audience was also not ready for innovation. This is not true of the modern artists and audiences. But one cannot run a full concert on experiments alone.

The Thomas Siffling Trio are a competent professional group from Germany. There was nothing to fault their jazz performance from a technical point of view. Now-a-days it is rare for an artist not to talk to the audience. This certainly builds up rapport and enhances the enjoyment of the performance. But one wishes they had not attempted to converse with the audience in English, a language they did not seem comfortable with. Their attempts at humour only received polite responses.

No one needs to teach Shuba Mudgal to handle the audience. Both she and her musicians performed well. But her experiments with the classical form, in the first half, were only partly successful. For the second half of Indi-pop songs, she used pre-recorded music tracks. This attempt at Karaoke does not go well with our audience who like their meals and music to be cooked from authentic ingredients as they sit down to relish them. "

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There is a Tribal handicraft exhibition on at Sankara hall. I have not yet been to it but my friend says it is not run of the mill .

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Not many bosses would remember a long given promise and make sure to get it as well:

Berry preserve and Wood polish spray

The Sounds of Music

Here is a first person account of a person from the Artnavy Gharana, a keen music enthusiast, with no formal expertise in music except having been an avid listener over decades.

My father's review of the Hindu's November Music festival so far-
"The first three days of the 'The Hindu' November fest were a mixed fare. The hand-out described the opener Girija Devi as having "mesmerised three generations of audiences..." but one could not help thinking it was time the grand old lady took some rest and confined herself to teaching the upcoming generations. There were a few brief moments when the lady sizzled but she ran out of steam even as you tried to sit up in your push back seat. As she faded away her very able 'vocal support' Ms. Sunanda Sharma took over and sang delightfully well. In coming years let us look out for the solo performances by Ms. Sharma! I wondered why our stars never like to call it quits... During the break I asked the lady in the next seat what she thought of the performance. There were tears in her eyes as she responded in a voice gone hoarse with emotion that she was blessed to be there and perhaps it may be the last time she will get to hear the the great Girija Devi. I suppose, faced with such adulation, it is difficult to quit.

Next day we had wonderful sitar performance by Shujaat Husain Khan. He took a little time to warm up but it was fortunate he insisted on skipping the commercial break (in a barely two hours performance). The (two!!) tabla accompanists were engaging as well. It was wonderful as he mouthed the words of the lighter closing numbers. The audience could enjoy both the poetry and the sounds of the sitar.

On Sunday the 16th November, ' four voices recreated the magic of an era gone by'. It is a challenge for four South Indian artists ( at least in origin) to recreate the magic of Hindi film music from Bajju Bawara to Aradhana. Srinivas who choreographed as well led the singing was truly nervous as he asked for water on-stage before he could start off! Anooradha Sriram even dressed up in tight (chusth in Hindi) salwar kameez like Asha Parekh to provide sufficient visual clues in case her 'singing was not up to the mark'. So tight was the outfit that, by her own admission, she could change into another for her 'mera nam chinchinchoo' number. She really did tease the audience. The young ones of the quartet Naresh (with the best diction among the four) and Chinmayi will continue to enthrall us for many decades. While the singing and the orchestra were perfect, one could detect errors in pronunciation and words. The group would do well to engage a native Hindi speaker with a passion for film songs.

We have a break of three days now. Hopefully the second half will also throw up some interesting fare. "

And you could go here, here and here for The Hindu's own review of the three evenings.

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Safety week was held at office and as I mentioned earlier ( and no body noticed)- I won Rs 500 for the quiz- first prize. I also judged a drawing contest for employees- what enthu and talent! First time i have been called upon to judge anything in office. . . I must be aging, given my office norms.

Anushka's Non Stop Hits

Top of the charts is Nanna Ray from Guru
When I'm feeling blue comes a close second- my rendition not Phil Collins
Very happy in my heart...Dil dance from Tashan is the one of the new entrants
As is Salman uncle who enters the rankings with Dupatta tera
Shah Rukh uncle with Om Shanti Om finishes the list

Navy is wondering how i let her listen to all this instead of soul stirring Carnatic music. Well....

The Blue Umbrella

An engaging execution of a heart warming story by Ruskin Bond - The Blue Umbrella. The neeli chattri song is so addictive that Anush listened to it a zillion times.

Pic courtesy 123musiq.com

Reminding one of the hills in Sound of Music and the simplicity of Malgudi Days, the chirpy Shreya delivers a superb performance. What a contrast to the kids in KKHH and so on.


The story is about greed and selflessness, about loss and discovery. It centres around the little girl Biniya and her much coveted blue umbrella and what happens to both.

A MUST SEE, especially for the kids, for the songs at least.