2008 Chennai Music Season

Another Music season has come and gone (almost) in Chennai and my 'to-do' is still in the pending list. I wanted to attend several concerts and learn to appreciate carnatic music better. But then, I attended only two concerts and is miles away from learning to appreciate carnatic music and identify ragas. The annual music season in Chennai is like none other in the world and here is why.

Nowhere else in the world would you get to attend the concerts of 'who is who' in the Carnatic music world in such a short span of time. Hundreds of concerts were held in the last two weeks in Chennai and I attended just two of them.


First one was a 'Katha kalakshepam' by Visaka Hari at Kamarajar Arangam on Dec 21, 2008. She started a little late as the earlier programs stretched and ate in to her time. I have heard about Mrs. Hari's unique style of combining the traditional story telling with Carnatic music and got to hear it first hand on that day.
Dressed in the traditional 'madisar', she kept her audience engaged for about 90 minutes with a story about Krishna's birth. It takes guts to take on what some people would call as a vanishing art and carve out a place. Visaka Hari, a qualified charted accountant has taken to the traditional story telling method and has created a place for herself. Till a few years, 'Katha kalakshepam' was not part of the music season, but thanks to Mrs. Hari, it is now.


Second was a concert by Sudha Raghunathan @ Narada Gana Sabha on Dec 30, 2008. This one started right on time at 4:30 PM. Mrs. Raghunathan kept the audience engrossed and eating out of hers hands for the next 135 minutes. She sang in multiple languages in a rapid fire succession with absolutely no break in between. Wonder how she does that.. I would have liked her to introduce each song and announce the raga, but then I hear that it is not a practice in these types of concerts. (it perhaps should be.. then only folks like me can follow and appreciate better!!!!).
Narada Gana Sabha has this neat way of making a few additional bucks by seating 'excess' audience on the dias for a small fee. (Rs. 50 as compared to the 'seats' which cost from Rs. 100 to 500.). I actually enjoyed sitting in the dias close to the artists. We got to observer them up close and get to observe the backstage happenings. The only downside was that we had to squat down and it becomes uncomfortable after a while.. but I am not complaining.

Next year, I would like to go for more concerts. But before that I do want to 'develop / learn' about ragas and be able to identify at least some of them. This will be in to my 'new year resolution' bucket list. Now only time will tell as to how much I empty out the bucket !!.

This is perhaps my last post for 2008 with a wish that I be 'more' consistent with my posts in 2009.

Before I sign off, Let me wish you and your family all the very best in the coming year and beyond. God Bless & God Speed...

How To Tie Your Shoes?

Do you know how to tie your shoes properly?.

Yeah, I hear you.. We all learnt it in our primary school right? That may be the case, but how many times has your shoe lace come off on you, forcing you to stop and retie only to see it come off again in a minutes / hours? I have seen a whole bunch of new / experienced /young / old runners struggle with their shoe lace (includes me as well..).

I had figured out a clumsy way to keep my shoe laces intact a few years ago. I used to go for lunch time walks in the San Mateo county college while working nearby at Visa. During these treks, my shoe lace would invariably come off but not that of my colleague, Rao Korimilli. It is from him that I learnt the trick of putting a knot over the Granny knot to keep the lace from loosening. That trick continues to serves me well and I am glad to have to picked up that trick from Rao. But, now I have trick up my sleeve to keep my shoe lace in tact. I hope you find this trck useful too. If you are in the mood for reading 5 pages about it then go here.. or simply watch this video

Books - Greatness Guide 2

Like rising early, reading books has been a continuous struggle for me. But I do know that I need to do them both consistently and easily to reach my next level whatever that might me. That said, I finally forced myself to finish Robin Sharma's The Greatness Guide 2 book.

Though I bought this book for a plane trip in August did not finish is till recently. I did religiously carry it for trip after trip adding load to my already overloaded backpack but did not get to it. At best, I would read a few pages and not touch it again for a few days / weeks only to start all over again.

Here is what I have planned to do.. call it a early 'new year resolution' but here it is.. 'Will read at least one book a month'.

Now back to the book..
My introduction to Robin Sharma was through his book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrai. I enjoyed that one for its easy reading and the Indian connection. With that name recognition, I picked up The Greatness Guide 2 hoping to enjoy and learn from it as well. I am glad to report that Robin Sharma did not disappoint me. Like many of the self-help books, this also urges to be gentle, humble, truthful, give back etc., As we all know, it is the seemingly easy stuff that are the most difficult to practice consistently in life.

As Robin Sharma says in his book, you are the company you keep and keeping good thoughts / reading good books ought to make you act in a positive manner.

One thing liked about this book is that no chapter is more than two pages long. It is easy to read a few pages and continue later. I liked that convenience.. (Richard Carlson's Don't Sweat the small stuff series is also like this.. easy to read.)

Few quotes from the book..

What is Success ? "To me, success is all about being in the process of joyfully creating a life that reflects your highest values, your deepest beliefs and your greatest dreams."

What matters? "At the end of our lives, the only thing that endures is who we became, the difference we made and the love we gave"

Powerful stuff.. much to think about and internalize.

My two cents: I enjoyed reading this book and would strongly recommend it.. I am sure you will enjoy and benefit from it too.

This book and will remain in my library for revisits and will be enriched with couple of other Robin Sharma books soon: 1) The Greatness Guide 2) Who will cry when you die.

My next book: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

Varanam Aayiram - A decent movie but..

Saw Gautham Menon's Varanam Aayiram last night at Sathyam, my favorite movies in Chennai. The movie experience at Sathyam is perhaps the best in Chennai, but for a small problem. One can't get in or out.. barring that everything else is super... Now back to the movie...

Varanam Aayiram is a decent movie but is awfully long and feels like rudderless in the second half. But to Gautham Menon's credit, he kept me awake for the whole 3 hours and particularly considering it was a late night show. (Unlike Aegan which I just slept through.)

This movie is actually the story of a son (junior Surya) but unfolds as a story about relationship between son and his father(senior Surya). The depth of relationship unwinds as the story spreads out on the screen. It comes through in a gentle but in an impactful manner. Thanks to Mr. Menon, we are spared of loads of dialog or buckets of tear.

Though there isn't any reason why Surya ought to be playing dual role in this film, he has done commendably well in both the roles. He compensates for what some folks would call as 'lack of charisma' with his sheer dedication and hard work, which is evident in every frame of this movie. In some places the director tries to over do it, like in the case of Surya's much talked about 'six pack abs'. They show Surya shirtless in many scenes just to show sell his body. It gets to be little tiring to see him shirtless, scene after scene.

Though it was Surya movie, one other actor has managed to stand out and that is Simran. She stands out taller than Surya in this movie both literally and figuratively. Her mature and dignified portrayal of a mother's role is bound to make her second innings (in the industry) stronger than the first one.

There is something to be said about Harris Jayaraj and Gautham Menon combo that produces chart busters movie after movie. Most of the songs in this film are hummable and pleasant. I am no music connoisseur, but have a feeling that Harris likes to leverage Guitar the most in his songs. Several of the songs in this film too have Guitar base and that makes the songs personally appealing to me. Its unfortunate that Harris Jayaraj and Gautham Menon have split and will not be doing films together anymore... but then I am sure a talented director like Gautham Menon will continue to produce melodies anyone he teams up with.

The movie starts to meander aimlessly after the interval and would have been better off particularly without the kidnap episode and Army stint. Without them, the movie would have been lot more crisper, sharper and forceful.

Overall the movie is watchable for its melodious songs and Surya / Simran's performance.

Overall - B+
Acting - Surya & Simran - A (For solid performance)
Director - Gautham Menon - B+ (For decent story telling.. could have been better though)
Movie Length - B (For making us sit for three long hours.. one hour longer than needed)
Music - Harris Jayaraj - B+ (For melodious and memorable songs)
Story - Gautham Menon - B (For meandering story line)

Marathon # 6 - My Slowest

I am glad to finish the Singapore Marahton 2008 and not be part of DNF list, but this also is my slowest. I took 5:38:41 and the details can be seen here.

I went in with a goal of coming under 4:30 but took much much longer than that. I have been trying to understand what went wrong. I have a long list of lame excuses along the lines of 'bad hair day', 'Dog ate my shoe'.. let me get them out first..

1. Couldn't find babysitter : My daughter had come with me to the starting point and I was hoping to 'handover' her to babysitter. But didn't anticipate the problem of trying to locate the babysitter amongst the sea of runners and onlookers. Had to leave her 'out there' with lot of instructions to fend herself.. that weighed in on me..
2. Didn't empty my bladder: Since I was running around trying to locate the babysitter, didn't have time to empty my bladder and that weighed in on me..
3. Like a rock: Did too many 'touristy' things in the two days leading up to the run resulting in no rest & exercise. On the run day, my thighs felt like rocks and couldn't lift them.. so my thighs weighed me down.. (otherwise I wouldn't beat those kenyans!!!!)
   
4. Too many sharp turns: The route had too many sharp / U-turns causing me to slow down.
5. Heat: The entire route wasn't air cooled causing me to slow down.

As you can see, I could probably come up with 100 other reasons.. but none of them are valid. The simple truth is it simply wasn't my day. One thing I have realized is, I cannot combine walking and running. The moment I start walking and try to do a combo, I invariably give running. It happened too soon past Sunday. I started walking past the 10K mark and that did it for me. From then on I took too many walk breaks resulting in the time it did. I discussed this with a running buddy in US and he tells me that I need to work on my 'mind' to condition it to alternate effectively. I guess, have some work to do on this front.. may be a lot of work to do.

Now that... I got the weight off my chest, let me come to the Singapore Marathon 2008. Overall the organization and the planning was great. This my fourth Singapore marathon and the experience is only getting better every year. Organizers have improved all they can. barring one thing and that is the weather. Singapore being where it is, gets hot, muggy and humid quite early in the day. Though organizers tried to beat the heat by starting @ 5:30, it does not help runners like me who took a long time to complete.


The location for race pack collection was different this time. Last three years it was near City center @ Esplanade and this time it was near the Changi airport at Expo Center. Nevertheless, it was easily accessible via the ubiquitous Singapore Metro. I could see a drove of people walking towards the Expo Center to pick up their race pack which included the bib number, chip, T-Shirt and Shoe bag.


Race pack distribution was well managed. Lines clearly demarcated and well segregated with enough counters to keep the lines moving.


Belive it.. I wasn't the oldest runner in this marathon. Though I would like to be that.. someday.


Running fair.. lots of vendor ready to gobble up your money.


Entertainment at the race pack collection area.


Some of the Chennai Runners "Ready to go" after collecting race pack. (note the bags all of us gleefully carrying..)


Some of the Chennai Runners.. Rearing to go..


Plenty of water points producing plenty of garbage.. Singapore known for its cleanness had people and vehicles lined to start the cleaning work. In fact, at some place cleanup crew were already at work.


Impossible is Nothing.. hey.. I went through that Finish Point.


Balaji, Raveendran, Hari & I after finishing our runs. I was hoping to connect with all of the Chennai Runners but couldn't. That place was packed and folks had drifted away for some well deserved rest.

More photos in flickr

Interestingly, marathon photos had no photos of me :-(.....

Off to Singapore for my Sixth Marathon

Leaving for Singapore tonight, to participate in the Singapore Marathon this Sunday. This will be my fourth consecutive marathon in Singapore and Sixth Marathon. Wish me luck.. Have only 44 more to go..