A scary dream

I had this really scary dream a couple of days back. It was a series of events. Though I don't remember all of them, this one is crystal clear in my mind.

My team is researching about the mysteries happening in an ancient temple in a village. The newspapers are filled with articles about these mysteries everyday. People's lives are in jeopardy. My team is visiting the village after collecting all the details. We reach the village around 5 PM. A local villager takes us to the temple. Things are going smooth. People are visiting the temple and doing their offerings.

The local villager explains about the significance of this temple in ancient history. He says there are ruins of an older temple a few kilometres from this temple. I tell my team that we should visit the ruins to find any clue and they agree. The villager sends a woman priest to guide us as he needs to go somewhere else.

"Hurry, let's go" said the woman priest. She is a different lady, wearing a thick black saree with a big, round vermilion mark on her forehead. She carries a bag with a bottle containing just a few drops of a thick form of juice. She sits next to the car driver and gives directions "Left....left....right". On the way, she manages to drink the last few drops of juice and the bottle is empty by now.

After driving for 6 kms in the dusty mud road, the car comes to a halt all of a sudden. I notice the woman who has become wild and screaming from the top of her voice. The driver is not able to control her. We get down the car and open the front door. The woman falls down and her bag rolls to another direction. After a few seconds, the woman changes to a scary creature. My team takes hold of her and ties her onto a tree. I take her bag and the bottle inside. I open the bottle and smell it. Turning towards my team, I say "Polyjuice potion!".

Long wait is over!!

I have been waiting for this movie ever since it's launch. I'm talking about my favourite director's and my favourite music director's combo Guru. I got to listen to the songs this afternoon and needless to say, am mesmerized by most, not all of them.

"Barso re megha" sung by Shreya Ghoshal is a perfect rain song that reminds me of Mouna Raagam's "Oh oh megam vandhadho". I feel like dancing in rain while listening to the good beats and Shreya's cool voice.

"Ey Hairathe" sung by Hariharan and Alka Yagnik is a beautiful melody. It begins with the theme music "Dum Dara Dum Dara" sung by the greatest musician himself which sets the tone perfectly. The way Rahman and Alka alternate between "Dum Dara" and "jashn jashn" is superb. Alka is very good at slow paced songs like Saawariya from Swades. The tabla has been used very effectively. At any day, I would prefer our very own tabla rather than the drums.

"Jaage Hai" sounds similar to Bombay theme music. Less lyrics and more instrumental. At one point,I thought that the song is over. But Rahman actually sings in a very very low tone for a few seconds. And all of a sudden, he raises his pitch to such heights. Amazing voice he has!

"Tera Bina" is my favorite song of this album sung by Rahman and Chinmayi. The theme music "Dum Dara Dum Dara" is the highlight here. Very nice variations of tone and pitch. I can't explain in words why this song is my favorite. Better listen to it and you will feel the same.

I can't wait to see how these songs have been picturized by the director. Till then, let my music player go "Dum Dara Dum Dara".

30 minutes

I'm referring to my morning commute time. When I started taking my office cab in the mornings, I would just look out through the window, observe the bustling traffic, sometimes get irritated by the sudden brakes that my cab driver casually exercise every 100 metres or so, get angry at the overspeeding vehicles and continuous honking of two wheelers. As a result, by the time I reach office, my mood will be in a hyper state and my whole day gets spoilt.

I made a slight change and my days now begin with a good mood in the past few weeks. I started reading novels, especially light fiction. I read a few pages everyday and a lot more over the weekend. This helps me to return my library books on time. I managed to complete Paulo Coelho's "Zahir". Currently I'm reading Ruskin Bond's "Lamp is lit". For Paulo Coelho fans, a piece of suggestion. Zahir is not as impressive as his other books. It's very slow and ending is just straight, no twists or turns. I managed to read 4 of his books in the past year. I plan to take a break and get hold of his other books, maybe after 6 months. Ruskin Bond has become one of my favorite writers off late. I love his simple short stories and journal notes.

I have become crazy of this song "Kya mujhe pyaar hai" from "Woh Lamhe". Thankfully, the radio channels play this song every morning. It peps up my mood, though I understand very little of the lyrics. "Mitwa" from KANK is another such lovely song that's been played quite often.

I need to figure out better ways of utilizing my commute time in the evenings. Unfortunately, I cannot continue my reading as it becomes dark. Any suggestions?

I met KB :-)

One of my favorite directors of Tamil cinema, K.Balachandar had come to my cousin's wedding. Ofcourse, to whom he is related to is totally irrelevant. I went upto him and said that I'm a fan of his movies and I liked "pudhu pudhu arththangaL" a lot. He just nodded and smiled. I admire the simplicity of this man who introduced stalwarts like Rajni and Kamal.

My favorite black and white movie is "edhir neechal". A perfect movie with a superb cast. The character of Maadippadi Maadhu is a classic. The hilarious screen play, especially the scenes when the entire household thinks that Maadhu is a rich fellow and shower him with goodies, Nagesh's expressions and the body language of every character in the movie etc etc. Only a genius like Balachandar can make such a nice movie.

"Unnal Mudiyum Thambi" is another gem of a movie. The concept fits in so perfectly with my beliefs. I would have seen this movie atleast 25 times but I never get bored of it.

"Punnagai Mannan" is a tragic love story but well narrated. Who can forget the scene when Kamal and Rekha jump from the huge rock to commit suicide while Kamal gets struck by the branches of the tree? The emotions, the cryings, the music, the beats - that one particular scene has it all.

My favorite movie of KB is "Pudhu Pudhu ArthangaL". The possessiveness of a wife towards her husband and how his career gets spoilt because of her character is the crux of the story. Illayaraja's songs has captured the emotions in a superb way. The hero is a singer who sings for movies. How would it be if he sings a song all for himself? A musical treat it is - the song "KeLadi Kanmani", especially the lines "Enakkaaga naan paadum mudhal paadal thaan".

There are other superb movies as well - Sindu Bhairavi, Duet, Thillu mullu. I dream of having a entire collection of KB's well etched movies. Let's see when I'm able to achieve it.