A long break and deepavali wishes...

Hip hip hurray...I am going to India tomorrow...Just taking a break from my exhaustive studies and travelling...

Btw wishing all of you a very happy and prosperous Deepavali...

Let the festival of lights add more glow and happiness to your lives...

It's been 26 years...

...now!

It is a double celebration for my hubby today as his 'dream'girl Sneha and 'reality'girl (yours truly) celebrate their respective birthday's!

Netru guitar, indru keyboard, naalai ennavo?

It has always been my dream to learn a musical instrument. Violin remains my first and last choice. I had always believed that learning to play it was easy since I had an expertise of 6 years in Vocal Carnatic Music. Its just that I never got the time to actually put my dream into practice.

Since there's no one in my city who can teach me to play Indian Notes on a violin, I decided to dabble with Guitar which was lying around in the house. My husband had bought it years back to learn playing the same but it did not work out. Ofcourse he can still play it...

Just 2 months back I went and picked up a 'Kiddies - Guitar book' to rock and roll but I never crossed G-chord. Sigh!

Yesterday my hubby gifted me with a "Yamaha Digital Keyboard'(Its not exactly the one as in this pic). It was a birthday gift but bought and handed over before my B-day :) He hopes that I learn to play this...Poor fellow...still hoping :p

I can play the keyboard but mostly my carnatic notes...I can play till the varnam and not keerthanas or western numbers...

I manage to play "London Bridge", "Are you sleeping?", "Happy birthday..." and nothing more...Sigh! That reminds me, if any of you have a soft copy of keyboard notes of western songs, please send them to me...

Netru guitar, indru keyboard, naalai ennavo?

About a bottle...

Jinguchakka wrote a poem in his blog about a bottle...
http://jusfun.blogspot.com/2006/10/shards-of-soul.html

Here is my two cents on the same...

Be it medicine or liquor,
I served mankind during their needy hour.
Not long ago was I fully filled,
I now stand empty and purpose fulfilled.
Here I am broken and down,
Anger and Agony making me drown.
I am lying on the ground without care,
Waiting for the sweeper to dispose me somewhere.
Alas my wait has turned futile,
And I end up hurting everyone with vile...

Seetha KalyaaNa Vaibhogamey...

I am a big fan of Artist Maya's Wedding Cards. Infact I wanted to have my wedding cards printed from them but work kept me so busy that I could not have them done. Also my parents wanted to print a more traditional one. Anyways...

There's a site available where you can go and check these cards out. Here goes the link:-
http://www.artistmayaweddingcards.com/index.html

The photo shows 'Oonjal' an important ceremony in tambram weddings where relatives(mostly old aunties of the couple) take aarthi of the couple, keep 'nalangu' while singing 'Kannoonjal aadi irundhaal kanchanamalai', 'Gowri KalyaaNa Vaibhogamey, Seetha KalyaaNa Vaibhogamey '!

Picture Source: Artist Maya Wedding Card

Chamaththa slokam sollu...appo dhaan padippu varum!

A close pal of mine had called me up from India yesterday and we were talking about the Saraswathi Pooja celebrations at home. I remember the celebrations which we had at home every year. My mom would take the Saraswathi, Lakshmi and Ganesha idols from the pooja room and place them on a 'manai'(a low wooden plank), after decorating the plank with a 'padikkolam'. She would decorate the idols with chains, flowers etc. Then she would keep her office books, bhagavad gita, cheque book and would ask dad to do the same. As for me, I would be asked to keep my academic books(majorly text books), 'suthee petti', music notes, pen, geometry box etc etc. After I joined college, it was my OS, DS, DLD, CO books...phew...Happy to find that things are well kept before the idols, she would go about cooking the delicacies while my dad would insist on a 1 hour recital of slokas with me sitting next to him and offering flowers mumbling 'namaha', 'potri'. Since I was a hindi student (I know Sriram, I am a tamil drogi :p You need not re-iterate that here :p) I escaped reciting all the tamil slokas from books. Once the sloka recital is done, my job was to keep sandanam and kumkumum on every damn thing in the house - main door, television, refrigerator, music system, computer and what not...Next day keekave vendaam...Akshadai pottu, ellla subjects lendhum oru page padikkanum...Phew...Adhu poradhunnu amma would ask me to sing few carnatic songs...Maattennu sonna..."Chamaththa slokam sollu...appo dhaan padippu varum!"

Whenever I think of those days, I drift into nostalgia. Though I made a fuss about getting up early for those pooja(s) then, when I think of them now, I am like "Good old days!". I loved those days more for the reason that I got to eat vadai, chakkrapongal, more kuzhambu, appalam and what not...My childhood friend Pratap who used to join me in this food exploits had his own reason to rejoice these festivals especially Saraswathi Pooja. Guess why? That was the only day his parents would not urge/nag/pester him to study. Especially during our board years (10th and 12th), he was made to study for 8-10 hours besides school. So Saraswathi Pooja day was the only day he could watch television and hang out with friends rather than studying. Unfortunately his joy was short lived for a day and his parents would be back to their usual self on Vijayadasami...Ennatha padichu, ennatha panradhu!!!