Mathe Mungaru

I agree. I am at fault – for not coming back to my blog. But you know, it needs a push, a reminder or some event to change the sides and to be back in business.

The title suggests – Monsoon, again! Monsoon is a synonym to good times. And yes. I am back to the good old days, means blogging too!

A change in the personal ‘status’, a little too much work and work and family related travelling has all added up to my inability to put some stories here. I am overcoming all of them, to be back to (another) eternity.

Well… Life has been good all these days. Marriage is a definite eye opener of sorts for a youngster. And very much – IT IS A GREAT FEELING TO BE MARRIED. I really mean it.

Monsoon, again – Mathe Mungaru is incidentally a movie in Kannada which is hitting the screens today. The promos and the story looks to be intriguing, intense, and the songs are awesome, to say the least. I hope the production house, which lead every Kannada speaking creature in getting drenched in that eternal Mungaru Male, is successful in recreating that feel of monsoon, again.

Let me review this album for you.

The music is composed by some Paul Raj. I am sure he will attain the new heights with this album, which has been made with lots of innovative techniques, and melodious tunes.

The singers – the Likes of Asha Bhosle, Hariharan, Chitra, Karthik, Vijay Prakash and Shreya Ghosal have lent their voices to this beautiful album.

The album opens with a tragic solo by Karthik, “KangaLu Kanalive” – This sets the tone for this whole album. Background music for this song is exceptional at places. Though slow paced, the song gets straight in to the soul of the listener. However, the same feel is not kept thru the song, it dilutes in the middle, and catches up again. The song, however, gets its due and succeeds to connect to the listener. Karthik does superb in this song.

The duet ‘Chita pata chita’- by Karthik and Shreya Ghosal is fantastic. The melody, pace, the orchestra, the lyrics and the heavenly vocals of Shreya all are in perfect harmony through out the song. A must listen for any Kannada music enthusiast.

"Summaniruva ee manasali" by Ranjith is smooth and passes off. It is just another seasonal song added now a days by default to a Kannada album. Ranjith is high with energy throught this song. a peppy one.

There is a patriotic song ‘Mera Bharat Mahan’, which is sung by the ‘Jai Ho’ star Vijay Prakash for the most part and though he does well – the music and the lyrics are off synch. It fails to pull any patriotic feeling in the listener. Chitra’s vocals towards the end bring the much needed lift to this song.

“Belagayitu” is a theme song sung by Hariharan. Hariharan’s magical voice is tailor-made for this sort of a song. He performs wonderfully in this song. I felt the lyrics are heavy, though. I am not sure if that had anything do with the actual intensity of the movie. Wonderful folkish music accompanies Hariharan here.

The crown of this wonderful album is “Helade karana” rendered in an emotional tone by the veteran melody queen Asha Bhosle. Beautiful lyrics clubbed with an apt musical blend lift this song to the voice of Asha Bhosle. I appreciate her for having taken this song, and making this a complete album!

In all, this is a complete album, with a perfect mix of singers from north and south – Kannada and otherwise too. Karthik is a revelation in this album. Lyrics are by the director Dwarki Raghava and V Nagendra Prasad.

I give my best rating to this album. I will try and see this movie as well this weekend. Let me see.

Here is a related story that appeared on Rediff today. This movie, as the article states, is based on the true story of some Narayana from coastal Karnataka's life's roller coaster ride.

BTW – Here is a picture taken by me, which has been picked by Rediff to showcase in their monsoon pictures series. Let me know if that was worth it!

Tracing the foot steps of the master in Malgudi.....

Recently, I visited Malgudi. I stayed there for a few days. "My days" in Malgudi started with cricket. "Swami and Friends" played with me. After the cricket, I was walking down the "Lawley Road" towards the "Boardless hotel" when I met "Mr. Sampath". He was doing fine. Now a days the "Boardless Hotel" has "The Dark Room" which had captivated "A Tiger" sometimes back. This tiger was "The Man-Eater of Malgudi", whom the "Talkative Man" killed on "An Astrologer's Day". I met "The Guide" in the hotel who then took me to "The astrologer" who was sitting "Under the Banyan Tree", who told me that he was going to shift to some other profession from "Next Sunday". I also saw "A Horse and Two Goats" besides him. I had a small nap on the bank of "Sarayu" river, which was all "The World of Nagaraj". Here I dreamt of roaming on "The Emerald Route". I spoke to "Raju, The Guide" about it, who then remembered his "Grandmother's Tales" which also had similar stories! Then I met "The Vendor of Sweets" who was renovating his shop, had "Painter of Signs" working for him that day. He was very particular about the Indian tri-colour be painted on the board. I visited "the temple" and came out, I found my chappal worn on one side. I got it repaired from "The Cobbler" who sat next to the temple, under the shade of the tree. When I was getting my foot-wear done, I saw "the beggar" approaching me, and I gave him a coin. As I was roaming on the street, there I saw "Leela" waving her little hand at me. I played with her for some time and then looked at the next compound where the "Margosa tree" had been grown to be three times bigger than my last visit! Then I saw "Eshwar", who sat in the far-off corner of the "Ellaman Street" and dreamt of passing "The Bachelor of Arts" exams. Finally there came "The English Teacher" walking on with "The Doctor Raman", "Gopal" was on the other side of the doctor. They were all heading to the garden off the "Kabir Street". I wished all of them happy time. There came "Talkative Man" again. He said there was a warning about "Cyclone" in "Dodu". I travelled in the taxi to the other end of Malgudi to "Palace Talkies" to watch a Tamil movie. I saw "Mr Lawley"'s statue being re-instated by the corporation, and also observed the "Road Roller" being removed from the ground. On my way back to "Elma Road", I saw "Margayya" busy sharing his "Financial Expert"ise in front of "the bank". "Railway station" was not crowded this time, so I could talk to the "Railway Master" without any hicups. But the "Market road" was much crowded than ever. I was walking back to "Lawley Road" when I met "The Post Man", and had a casual chat with him. I also saw "The Watchman". He was again into creating the clay articles with his bare hands. There was that little "Naga" playing with the snake. This time I walked past the "Nallappa's Grove" to the "Untouchables" colony where people were "Waiting for the Mahatma" to come and reside there. After meeting all these people, I was reluctant to come back. This is "The world of Malgudi" for me. But I had no choice this time. I again had a cup of coffee at "The Boardless" and boarded my train at "The railway station" reading my "Dateless Diary".

Some writeups from the fans of RKN :
1. My tribute to RK Narayan
2. Great tribute from the biggest of the fans of RKN
3. 100 simple years
4. RKN Smriti
5. RKN on Rediff
6. Hindu's tribute

And here the legendary Indian writers group up for RKN
1. V S Naipaul
2. Shashi Tharoor
3. Jhumpa Lahiri

Many more links are there, please provide the same if you have any.

A small walk into the past....

A glory in the tragedy.. Please read onnnnn on this forgettable page.

I was roaming through that street... I heard "Illi Banni. Muthu tagolli serige
nalakku kaasu!!!!" (Please come Sir. Buy the pearls from my shop. They are cheap here). "Ee kade banni swami... mooru kasige bangaara ondu seru..."
(Please come here Sir. gold one count is just three units of money)!!!

I saw the street full of life... full of activity... full of people...
buying diamonds... gold.. Pearls... silver.. corals.. and what not!!! It was a market where the sellers were ordinary people… selling these valuables in hunks called "seru"!!! The buyers were not extraordinary either!!!!!!! They were normal villagers who work hard and be content at their two-meal-a-day kind of life!! Buying and selling these metals was a part of their lives here.

None of them... buyers and the sellers.... none of them were really afraid of a raid by un-ruly crowd... there was no policeman with big mustache and a larger than him banduk!!! There was no fierce environment. It was all active, happy and embracing.
I couldn’t believe my eyes... I felt as if I was roaming in the Heaven.!!!

Then suddenly, I was taken aback by the sudden rush of people... horses frowning... elephants screaming... women, little children dispersed in that sudden awful moment. There was tension allover, spread in no time. People were rushing out to save their lives!! Everyone was sensing something bad.. They were showing it on the faces which were clear of thoughts, a moment before. The sellers were murdered in an instant.

There was no screams of "Togolli..." "Banni..." anymore. It was all sudden...!
The place was turned into a graveyard in one flip of eye. Gold and diamonds spilled everywhere on the street... some people trying to run-away were chased and murdered... murdered ruthlessly...

"Hey Shambho!!!" "Ayyo Parameshwara...!!!!" "Dayasindho..!" were the screems, then. I was the witness for such a change of time in that split moment.

The destroyers moving onnn came towards me...
They were nearing me... one of them so near that his sword reached my hand.... I screamed...."Bhagavanta!!!!" and lost my conscience!!!

When I realized.... There was no invader.. there was no market...
there was not a single seller... no buyers either.... the place empty... no gold... no diamond... no pearl... There was no blood flow either... the place was calm... The moment was neither active, as it was two moments before, nor was it cruel as was a moment before. It was dull, calm... It was turned into a place that told the story to the visitors... The pillars of the bazaar was chopped to the extent possible, but the destroyers could not possibly do any further damage as the place was huge and real... some stores still existed as they did... some of the stores half cut... still standing.

I was angry... sad... tearful at what happened... I was alive... but the liveliness was no more... I was sad at the loss of the glory in front of my eyes..
I was tearing at the cruel behavior of the invaders...
What was the need for them to destroy the hard built place...
what was in his mind when he ordered his force to destroy the heaven!!
Didn’t he see the beauty at which the market was organized...!
Was he jealous of the glory of this place...? No answer...!
I was surprised... shocked... taken aback... hurt... My emotions then were stateless...
I cried my part. I then realized that what I lost was a part of the past.
And that I have to live with what I see now... pillars standing,
with no people interested in buying anymore... none selling anything there.... But just a barren land with the glorious story of the past.... Yes. I have to live life this way... But, is there no way to walk back to the glory? Hope there was one... but as of now... present is cruel... We have to live with this fact.

Friends,
I was walking around the Vittala Bazaar of the great Vijayanagara Empire’s capital city Hampi, when I witnessed such a huge run of emotions in my mind as I've mentioned above.

It had been a marvelous time for us to listen to those stories depicting market scene of the past. But it is really painful to see the mindless invaders chopping off whatever they can, in an end-less misery of the place. We have beauty in one hand and the tragedy of loosing that un-parallel beauty to the cruelty of some mindless beasts on the other.

I was really saddened at the way the idols of the temples destroyed, gopuras of those temples chopped off, the way in which the destruction stands as a mockery of the Indian faithlessness called secularism. To live in presence filled with agony, is all that we have today; But to touch the Hampi's soil is a pleasant journey inside the glory of our own past...

If not for those mindless barbarians and the crooky beasts,
we could have been living in a world where :
The mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action.

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake, again...
(With due respect to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore :))

My salutations to those who created Hampi
and my salutations to those carved it with artistry,
And also to those engineers who crafted the story of brilliance and intelligence.
Also to the Mother Thunga-Badhra who has blessed this land with the constant shower of affection
Also to Lord Virupaksha and Mother Bhuvaneshwari who, in spite of the ruthless destruction around them, stay there blessing everyone, blessing even the invaders..

Truly, Hampi is a mixture of three things Good, Bad and Ugly.
Lets hope everyone will take only Good things from here and bring the nation back to a position where the sounds of the Bazaar will be fearless, glorious and fascinating again.

Check out my photo and video album
Hampi trip on May1st 2006!