Musical magic

The old and young, rich and the not so rich, lovers and non-lovers of music, were all compelled to shed their egos, inhibitions, become speechless and let their hands and legs talk for one evening. It was a magical "musical" beginning to the week-ahead. To all those who wanted to reminisce those days of pre-Mungaaru Male era, it was a perfectly made occasion, thanks to the Kannada Koota of Northern Calfiornia who took painstaking efforts in what was considered one of the best programmes ever arranged. Once again Padmashri Dr. SP Balasubramanyam and his troupe proved that there are only two kinds of people in this world - lovers and non-lovers of music. If there are non-lovers of music, then yesterday had been the day of enlightenment for them.

    As always, the Indian organizers in the Pacific time zone proved their strict adherance to Indian Standard Timings. The fabulous evening kick-started at 4:50p.m. which was 25 minutes beyond SPB's plan. But, there was absolutely no sign of impatience or anger given his preference to begin a program atleast five minutes before the start of Raahu Kala. A true patriot, SPB started his concert with Vande Mataram, joined by his singer-sister SP Shailaja, Kalpana, a talented singer from Tamil Nadu and Sri Krishna,music based reality show winner from Andhra Pradesh. The sleep-deprived team after having performed in North Carolina, the previous night, travelled to California over night, and with less than two hours of good sleep, they were back on the stage for an excellent performance.

    SPB and his troupe went on deliver some of the best songs ever made in the Kannada film industry. Some of the old unforgotten songs like Maamaravello Kogileyello, Jeeva Veene, Madikeri sipayi were a tribute to the recently departed Kannada super-star Dr. Vishnuvardhan. The artists on the instruments performed brilliantly with the co-singers doing more than justice to the original singers, though SPB stole the thunder. If one thought, he or she was blessed to watch the God of Indian music perform, the God himself surrendered to the ultimate supernatural power, when he removed his sandals while singing Pavadisu Paramaatma Sri Venkatesha from Sreenivasa Kalyana. The concert also included some of his ever-green hits from the movies Geeta, Bandhana, Nammora Mandara Hoove, recent hit Nenapirali. The ardent fans unfastened their seatbelts to dance for the song from Nenapirali.

    The singing troupe had less than three songs of the post Mungaru Male era. The budding singer from Andhra Pradesh Sri Krishna got an opportunity to realize his potential when he sang what is apparently considered the second Kannada Anthem Anisuthide from Mungaaru male as a token of appreciation for the "AmeriKannadigas" who boast of the renowned Bay-area based music director Mano Murthy. Kalpana, another budding singer from Tamil Nadu, sang on the Kannada stage for the first time. She proved her prowess singing some of the best hits of the South Indian singer Chitra. Her solo performance of the song Nadheem Dheem Tana from the recent Kannada flick Gaalipata was mind-blowing. SP Shailaja, undoubtedly did justice to S. Janaki by co-singing with SPB and singing a few solo songs.

    At the age of 65, the living legend cast a magical spell on the insatiable music lovers not just by his wonderful rendition, but also by his mild and timely sense of humor. The mesmerized house-full audience had nothing in return other than ovation, and saying "once more", "awesome", "excellent", "superb" and "come back again". The audience seemed relentless to even let the organizers share stage and wanted only SPB and his group to make maximum use of the three hours. This short, beautiful, triumphatic musical evening came to an end with the much awaited song "Santhoshakke haadu santhoshakke" from the movie Geeta.

One life - live it

            Few months back, I read "Last Lecture". Yes, I know, I should have listened to the lecture. I prefer reading than listening or watching. So, I chose the former. A lot of professors are invited to give Last Lectures. A professor has to keep in mind that, his death is imminent. So, what does he want to impart to others in his last lecture before leaving this world forever? With regard to Randy Pausch, former professor at CMU, this was indeed his ultimate lecture since he was suffering from pancreatic cancer then. But surprisingly, the last lecture from a 45-year-old man nearing his death was more filled with life than a person who had breathed 80 years without living completely.

          One thing, I realized from Randy's lecture is that, you must implement whatever you plan and should never regret about not doing so. Only by executing all plans will you really live life to the fullest. His last lecture was more rejuvenating than actually it should have been given his deteriorating health. No wonder, there is always a paucity of time, energy, resources etc. But overcoming all odds is the only solution. I feel, we are all crazy about several things in our life. After reading the inspirational book, I started noting down all those crazy or whatever it be things I wanted to accomplish in my life. My list seems to be endless. His words resonate in my mind so much that, whenever I think about something impossible, the gut-feeling I got after reading his lecture, makes me take up the task seriously.

          This book, undoubtedly was an eye-opener to me. It  gave an insight into how you should lead your life, do whatever you wish, etc. Trust me, if you happen to read the book or listen to his lecture or if you have already done either or both, then you should start applying it in your lives. You will surely realize how worthy you could be. You will not just breathe but you will live your life. After all it is one life - live it.

Hello Again

           After a short hiatus, I am back on blogging arena.  I recently enrolled in 2 part time courses in a near-by community college. I had to accustom myself to the new change in my daily chores which explains why my "blogosphere" went to a hibernate mode. I have taken up a course in Marketing and the other in Journalism, both of which I was keen on learning from a tutor to make my skills more professional.


          The marketing course I am currently studying gives an insight on how a company should view the market place, understand the needs, wants of customers, marketing environment that can affect the business, buying behavior of the customers etc. Well, I don't want to go more technical into the subject. All I can say at this stage is am lovin' it. So, if you or your organization needs a marketing manager, here I am :-).
 
         In journalism, I am pursuing a feature writing course. I could say, I have to start from learning the alphabet in journalism. I am happy that, I have a wonderful instructor who makes learning, writing more passionate. I am learning a lot from this course. The very first lesson I learnt was, the job of a reporter is to get the news right, keeping it objective, targeting the news and not the news-makers(who-so-ever it could be). Unfortunately this principle is hardly followed these days. When you read a movie review, you see the reviewer saying a word or two about the actor. An actor plays a great role in making a movie good. But an actor is not responsible if the movie turns out a box-office disaster.

       From now on, I have decided to post my feature stories. I wish you guys could highlight my positives, mistakes and help me take corrective measures.