Social Networking - (Dis)connecting People ?

Recently one of my colleagues raised a question, whether Social Networking is good or bad? Because he was worried about his teenaged grandchildren always hooked to the computer at home and talking jargon that is alien to my colleague who is due for retirement.  Natural for a person who had Conventional Friendship Network (CFN) all his lifetime and the idea of Social Networking (SN) in cyber world seems to be a bit irritant as he feels that the Social Networking Sites (SNS) are invading the privacy of lives.  He had gathered some information from his friends and relatives settled abroad about the impact of SNS in the western world especially USA, Canada and UK where the users are more.  The most number of divorces occurring because of SNS, to be precise Facebook (FB) and other SNS are on rise; one out of five divorce petitions filed were related to FB and not to say many more marital breakdowns, failed engagements & debauched dating expeditions.  Looking at the facts and my colleagues concern for his grandchildren ‘Whether Social Networking is good or bad?’ seems to be a valid question and lot has to be dwelled regarding this.  We had a total evening devoted to the discussion at ‘Café’, Baroda and here I put some of my observations debated passionately into the subject.

There is no doubt that SNS such as FB, Orkut, My Space, Bebo, Twitter etc., have created a powerful medium and revolutionized the interpersonal relations by allowing us to be in touch with lost friends, existing ones, strangers, share emotions, profiling, tastes and preferences etc, however when you look at the ever growing legion of online friends and ask ourselves out of that legion how many are actual friends? … The count may be surprisingly low, check out.   In order to use SN in a better way and to develop good interpersonal relationship, especially with strangers, we need to see whether the other person is trustworthy….because it is easy to be deceptive on internet.  Initially when FB was invented for the Harvardians it was for two good reasons to be in touch with their buddies, ‘faster information’ and more ‘public outreach’, but the impact of the said two reasons reflect in a  incident when International Technology Journalist T Crampton’s engagement put him into jeopardy, when they felt that their ‘private lives should not be for public’, hence removed their ‘engaged’ status from their FB profile, first good reason ‘faster information, the feed moved like a wildfire put them into a horrible situation when the condolences started pouring in….‘power of jumping into conclusions’ on SNS, culprit,  ‘improper online behavior’ of users.  The beauty of Social Networking and the fun embedded lies in the ‘Online Behavior (OB) of its users.  The more modest Online Behavior, the more fun.

The use of SNS in India and other Asian countries which are comparatively more traditional than those in western part of the globe is at rise.  Increasing trend is good but not without discussing the underlying negative implications in traditional societies like India where the concept of friendship is still viewed with utmost care especially between opposite sexes, not to say that the dating which is strictly forbidden atleast in the Indian middle class, which is eager to come out of the cocoon known as traditions.  There are no boundaries on Internet,  the whole Planet Earth is one village, access to any place is on finger tips and the complexity of communication with other societies is quiet easier now, thanks to ‘SNS’ like Facebook and My Space have become the part of daily living.

In India, these days a person for not maintaining a profile on FB or Orkut is looked as an odd man out and viewed as someone who doesn’t belong to this era.  Frankly, speaking how many of us do really believe that the online behavior reflects a person’s traits and foreshow his/her social behavior.  It may not be easy to evaluate a person’s traits in a Conventional Friendship Network (CFN) at first sight, especially when meeting a stanger, however I believe a person’s traits and social behavior can be guessed with simple glance at a person’s profile (subject to the setting is meant for everyone) or by following his/her online behavior, considering the fact that the internet can be deceptive to meet the strangers.

The beauty of SN is the freedom of expression and the reciprocation thereof.  As any society has its own principles, traditions and foundations, the same can be followed in SN, again the crux is ‘online behavior’ and ‘sharing of information’.  Emotional quotient and instant reaction plays a vital role on SN which reflects the behavior of a person at any particular point of time.   It should not hurt other person’s or any related person’s feelings while commenting, a classic example, recently one of the famous South Indian singers lost her grandfather after a prolonged illness and the same was updated on her status with a message ‘I am upset, I lost my beloved grandfather yesterday’, and to her utter surpise there were number of ‘likes’ to this update the next day, God only knows the wisdom behind these ‘likes’, a debatable issue though.  Beware Internet is addictive,  Some ‘like’ each and every comment just for the sake of pleasing the other one….case of switching to deceptive mode knowingly or unknowingly or a fear of losing friendship if not ‘liked’!  A genuine ‘like’ must pour out without any hesitation and one who balances the expression of emotions enjoys the fun on any SNS.

SNS, like FB, Orkut etc has made private life available to public for anyone with eyeballs to see, mouse to click and fingers that strike on keyboard. Facebook admits it divulges to marketers "insights into people's activity”, tracking relationship statuses is huge market in western world, revealing the status to firms dealing and serving the dating needs of the society where it is not seen as a taboo, unlike in India.  However, some argue SNS like FB is denting the Indian traditions by encouraging private lives to be made public and documenting them online and in real-time, may be true.  One of my friend’s brothers has updated his status as ‘engaged’ and the info traveled at jet speed into his community, matter turned worst when they learned that his fiancée was not from their community, it doesn’t end here, a few days later he started receiving congratulatory calls for being immigrating to Canada, surprised as he didn’t even own a passport.   Another bolt came from the blue when he saw his fiancée’s status update ‘Immigrating to Canada’, unknown to him till then. She left overseas, putting him into great embarrassment.  Who is to blame? When someone blunders by documenting their own private life to public online and in real-time, SNS? Or the user? Thoughtful ‘Online Behavior’ would have averted the embarrassment, had he differentiated his private and public life status updates…..beware, SNS puts you in an awkward situation like a first date inexperience in courting if the things are not handled sensibly while Social Networking.

Unwelcome and improper comments on the status even for the sake of fun may have negative impacts on the relationships of the concerned directly or indirectly leading to damaging relationships.  In a country like India where customs & traditions are so tight that a simple hello on a SNS may lead to  breaking relationships – devasted spouses and angry children “if the boundaries are not defined where to start and where to stop while chatting, commenting or updating profiles on an SNS”.   A recent survey showed rise of divorce cases, marital breakdowns and mutual mistrust between spouses among urban populace in India, especially those who are in high flying careers, and the SN is one of the factor for such breakdowns.  Fingers too are pointed at ‘Westernized Indian middle class’ for blindly aping liberal western cultural ethics.  Though Social networking websites offer people the chance to reconnect with people they had long forgotten, and to meet new people with similar interests like Music communities etc, may not necessarily promote real relationships, as often such instant communication is mostly through hastily-typed emails and the sending of racy photographs.   This artificial friendship may sometime lure singletons or even married couple to flirt online, particularly men, also the right use of SNS may prove fruitful for those sincerely looking for a right life partner.

Social Networking is a wonderful way to connect with people, good to see many of old buddies meet after a long time, and have a good laugh at old school photo (as I did), grandparents keep updated with new pics, and homemakers enjoy their day by Social Networking with their pals.  In fact, FB has a great potential in expanding business, organize ourselves more effectively as far as we are not engaged with other activities in the cyber world, just remember to live within healthy boundaries, because even the strongest level of trust can be weekend by a single incident, and It could take years to rebuild, as it is said ‘emotions last longer than events.’  Another important issue with social networking sites is that they take away what little time a married couple has together.  So many people are absorbed into these sites that they lose track of time.  Every couple needs a certain amount of time together to hold and to hopefully grow that relationship.  Well, it can be frustrating to find a spouse glued to the computer while using a social networking site, but be clear of the purpose for having good fun and laugh. 

Some healthy guidelines may help in enjoying Social Networking:-

•   Decide how much you want to spend on SN? and come out exactly on the set time.
•   Do not engage in intimate conversation (spouse is an exception) on SNS.
•   Do not disclose personal details on a SNS.
•   Privacy settings must be set to comfortable level.
•   Do not comment on friends updates that may affect your mental or emotional peace later.
•   Be honest with your partner about your page, and have the maturity to allow them the necessary space     to  tell you about their page, remember it always cuts both ways.
•  Do not ‘like’ for the sake of pleasing others.
•  Do not post or update pics of others without their prior consent.
•   If there is something you might not want some people to know, avoid posting such info.
•  Spend more time with spouse rather than lurking on internet and SNS.

 Social Networking is a powerful medium and a potential tool, enjoy SN to the fullest by setting your own parameters and staying within that boundary, and don’t forget that with social media comes the responsibility and can make our life beautiful, and colorful.  Though I am not a big fan of Social Networking, it has been a great source of community and fun with friends, family and had given a wonderful opportunity to meet people having same hobby, Music and Books.

 

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Ilayaraja & His BGMs - The Lion Roars again.....

57^th National awards were declared on 15.09.2010 without any controversy, well handled by veteran film maker Mr. Ramesh Sippy and his team.  As per the news reports a two tier approach was followed, i.e first filtration was made at State level committee and finally at National level wherein final authority is given to pick films which were skipped by State level, result two films were picked by National level committee one Marathi and Bengali which were not recommended by State committee, this system made the selection process air tight and no scope for any manipulation – All is well that ends  well.  Finally selection committee has forwarded their recommendations to Central government for further improvement of selection process.

Being a hardcore music buff, I felt happy for the new talent Amit Trivedi awarded Best Music Director for his score in “Dev-D’, Amit seems to be very promising, his scores are fresh and have a touch of native flavour especially North Indian Folk fused with techno tunes, ‘'Iktara' his recent composition from the film ‘Wake up Sid’ still plays in my sub-conscious mind, an excellent Sufi number with strains of Blues genre, especially the Guitar, a perfect stress reliever. 

For the first time in National film awards, a new category was introduced in Music section – “Best Background Score”, which I feel should have been introduced a long time ago for the good of Indian Film Music.  It seems that the Indian psyche is coming of age and the recognition that should have been bestowed to the talents around is now lamented - Better late than never, and the winner of this award was ‘Maestro Ilayaraja’,  for the Malayalam film 'Pazhasiraja''. Ilayaraja is regarded as one ofthe finest composers ever produced by India, Master and Commander of Music, be it an Indian classical music format or a Western Classical Music (WCM), his scores were trend setters.    Shantanu Moitra, Hindi / Bengali Music composer observes that even A R Rahman, one time keyboardist of Ilayaraja draws from him,  that is the impact of Ilayaraja’s Music, may be it’s the reason why Rahman in his first interview after winning Oscars when posed a question to comment on Ilayaraja, has rightly said ‘Ilayaraja and his music is above Oscars’.  Ilayaraja has many first to his credit; he was the first to introduce fusion of Tamil folk with Western Classical to Tamil film audience, promptly followed by music composers in S. India and later adapted by composers across and other side of Vindhyas, had the rare distinction of first Asian commissioned to compose a Symphony for ‘Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London’ .  One of the music technology vendors disclosed that he has two customers who always wanted to update technology in terms of music and sound, one is A R Rahman and the other one is Ilayaraja.  Raja toured Malaysia and Singapore in mid seventies and imported latest technology prevailed at that time and still does so, but the greatness of Raja is that he ‘never allowed music machines or software to dominate his music’, it is often said that while Raja controls the machines, it’s the machines that control others.

Background Music (BGM), is something that was non- existant in Indian Film Music upto early 70’s, though Naushad has done some good BGMs in Hindi, they are often considered as inspiration from the classics like Ben Hur, Ten Commandments etc., no footwork was ever done in Indian Film Music until the emergence of Ilayaraja, who emerged as a magician with his music wizardry for his first ever score ‘Anakkili’, Tamil flick in mid 70’s.  Songs were trend setters and people felt a kind of different music being played in between the scenes or sometimes mingled with the screenplay, that’s the beginning of a new dawn in Indian Film Music, a new kind of trend set by Maestro Ilayaraja, to enhance the scene, and the feel, Ilayaraja starting using a different kind of music with new sound in films as early as 1976, heralding the beginning of a new feature, ‘Background Music’ (BGM) introduced by Maestro in Indian cinema which was well received by professionals as well as common cine goers alike.

In India, BGM is still not perused as a feature which has potential to make a film successful even with a bad story or poor screenplay.  Very few composers do the job of BGM with perfection and Ilayaraja is considered as an authority in scoring BGMs apart from his melodies, a rare distinction achieved by any Indian Composer.  A R Rahman, once said that composing BGM for a film is tough job as it consumes time and needs utmost concentration above all reading the mind of director and audience.  Professionals in the field awes at the speed of Ilayaraja’s music direction for his assigned films, he has a record of completing 3 films in 5 days starting from scratch to BGM.   *Ace director Mani Rathnam says “Ilaiyaraja would look at the scene once, and immediately start giving notes to his assistants, as a bunch of musicians, hovering around him, would collect the notes for their instruments and go to their places... A director can be taken by surprise at the speed of events”…(* source:- Wikipedia) this quality of Ilayaraja composing at surprising speed had made him to score evergreen BGMs with ease, a quality rare to watch.  

Those were the good old days evergreen 80’s and nice 90’s, the time when IR was at his peak and some wonderful films by visionary directors like Balu Mahendra, Bharathiraja, Mani Rathnam, Vamsi, K. Vishwanath, Bharathan, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, K. Balachander were making waves in Indian Cinema and IR with his experimental music tuning the best songs with everlasting BGMs were striking right through the heart of common man making him happy, I remember watching some movies number of times just for the sake of BGMs, films like Gitanjali, Anjali , Nayakan, Sagarasangamam, April 1^st Vidudala, Sitara, Rudraveena, Agni Nakshatram,Kalapaani (Malayalam), Guru (Malayalam), Hey Ram (Hindi), Lajja (Hindi)., Paa (Hindi) etc, these movies are just tip of an iceberg, that potrays the genius of IR.

Indian Government by introducing a separate award for ‘Best background score’ has done an wonderful effort which may pave way for the quality of Indian cinema especially,  we Indians believe that those music directors who do some good and peppy songs with the help of pre recorded or pre designed loops are great, but the things are quiet different in other part of the world cinema, a composer is considered great for the job he has done for a film’s background, hence the quality of their composition and the set of orchestration looks elegant and apt for the scene and screenplay.  In India such kind of elegance is seen in the compositions of Ilaiyaraja, talent compared to any greats of western world. 

Its the time for us to realize that,  to compete with World Cinema it is not song and dance that forms the part of Cinema,  but its the Background Music that creates the feel for the viewer and steer his  or her soul to be a part of the film, Ilayaraja has already showed this feat with his scores one such  film I love to watch only for BGM is Gitanjali  (Telugu)  composed by him way back in 1989.   With this award ..Maestro Ilayaraja leads another path breaking moment for Indian Film Music, its time for Indian Films to understand the importance of BGM, already recognized as a first class feature in Hollywood...

.....Maestro Ilayaraja has set another wake up call for entire Indian Film Industry.

....The Lion roars again

  

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Are we alone in this universe ?

Physicist Stephen Hawking warned Scientists to keep low profile in searching for life in the universe, as he suspects there may be some life forms in outer space which can threaten the very existence of Human kind on Earth and in reaction to this world scientific community has already started debating the pros and cons of this statement -   One firmly believe that this statement will stand hypothetical until a concrete evidence of the existence of life in this vast universe established, and the other is ready to press the panic button as if the heavens are ready to fall on our head right now.

Life in outer space is not a new concept to mankind it is the most intriguing and a puzzling question ever to answer! ‘Homo Sapien‘- is the most intelligent and even more self destructive species ever evolved in this known universe.  Since ages this species, what we call ‘Humans’ tried to find an answer for the question, are we alone in this universe? As of now the perfect answer is YES, because science believes in proofs and astro-physicists, astro-biologists, cosmologists are working hard to prove a BIG NO, and there is a good chance that in near future - a BIG NO will be a perfect answer.

The best part of debate about the existence of life in Inter stellar space, I believe will be in-between theists and atheists rather than the scientific community (there are more number of believers than non-believers of god among scientists).  I wonder how the debate would be when someone someday discovers life on other worlds.  What would be the role of religions practiced on our planet Earth? Their authenticity might be at stake.  Most of the religions have said about the existence of other worlds, at least as a myth, but not mentioned about life on them.  Einstein’s famous quote ‘God doesn’t play dice with the universe’ may seem to show his arrogance in the subject but it has an in-depth sense and the challenge it posed to the theists to prove that there is God and the funny part is the same challenge countered on the atheists to prove themselves correct, resulting another puzzling like situation ‘which came first A Chicken or an Egg?.

The institute that popularized this subject with greater significance than SETI  (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) is Hollywood; it has created some distinguished alien life forms, that we humans watched them on big screens with our mouths wide and jaws down wondering their high class technology, their ferocious nature and even some times loved them for their innocence, thanks to Steven Spielberg for his plots on ET.  They have created a new interest from the ordinary man to a serious scientist in understanding the universe, American physicist Carl Sagan was among the first and the foremost scientist to spread the word about ET to this world in scientific terms, SETI is his brain child.  SETI project has started with high hopes in the scientific community in the early 1980s apart from 'WOW' signal presumed to be a reply from intelligent life form from the distant universe there is no valuable data to its credit.

Man’s quest for knowledge is immense; he has conquered lands, discovered new worlds, climbed peaks, swam to the ocean bottoms, set foot on the Moon….all these were achieved by hard work, many lost their lives, some went unsung and some became heroes….mountaineer George Mallory in 1920’s when asked why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, he simply replied ‘Because it is there’ such was the exemplary courage brave men showed and fought against all odds to conquer nature, and I am sure that in near future man will famously utter “My dear country men, whether are not we are alone in the universe has been answered, we are able to make contact with intelligent alien life form”, and I am one of the firm believers that one day scientists will give us a pleasant news that we are not alone in the universe. 

Technological advancement may take Man to the distant stars, he may explore deep universe or even set foot some celestial bodies, but his quest to shake hand with the Supreme Being – ‘The God’  will be the most daring attempt in the whole history of mankind.  Theoretically he has achieved this by creating a school called Religion and God as it’s Principal, but he never was a good pupil, never followed the syllabus designed by its Principal.  Man was always a spoiled brat when it comes to learning or following principles of his religion, he failed in each and every way.  Hatred among own species is found only in ‘Homosapiens’ , the proud humans said to be the most intelligent life form in this whole universe fought wars, killed children, molested women, in the name of Religion.  10000 years of recorded history since Sumerians is full of war and gory, my ears would be in an high alert receptive position in class when history was taught about WW-II, Crusades or how Alexander defeated Porus? and at low receptive mode when Algebra or Calculus was explained. It’s the scientific temper that is the need of today and others secondary.  Nikita Krushchev asked  Yuri Gagarin on his historic space shot  "Did you see God, there Yuri ? ",  Gagarin  answered this with his famous smile silently..., this shows the arrogance of communists who competed with their counterparts the Americans  whom most of them are God fearing,...Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin second man to set foot on the moon has recited passage from Genesis taken from the Bible when their mission entered the Lunar Orbit... this  reflects the different mind set of Humans though they are working to achieve the same goal. Once should understand ‘Religious scriptures show the way, how to go to heaven, but not how the heavens go’.     

  

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Paa - Xtra ordinary Movie with Ordinary Story

On 4th of Dec I happened to watch much awaited film 'Paa' at Inox, Baroda, Gujarat.  Paa is a story of a child suffering from a very rare genetic disease known as 'Progeria', (for more details click here) it is explained in the film that there are only 40-50 cases which were genuienly idendified world over, and in the film, character 'Auro' suffers from progeria, performed brilliantly by Big Boss of Bollywood - 'Amitabh Bachan', a world class performance by Big B and in no way we get bored, infact audience were in alert mode on seeing Auro on the screen,  eager to watch for his next hilarious witty dialogue intelligently penned by Director R Balkrishnan (Balki) finely blended with the story, a simple one though, the last of such intelligent hilarious comedy I ve seen was in 'Kamal Hasan's -Sati Lilavati'.  Vidya Balan played a role of a caring Single Mother and a gynecologist, Abhishek Bachan as a Gen-X politician with high hopes  and a vision to change the society is upto the mark.  Vidya has given a matured performance as a caring mother, the way she explains 'Genetic Glitch' to a curious woman is fun to watch and Jr. Bachan seems to have borrowed 'Real' roles for his 'Reel' role from Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia or even from Rahul Gandhi he smartly imitated our Gen-X MP's, Paresh Raval had a small role to play but his sarcatic satire on politicians makes us glee grudgingly on them.

Watch out for Titles - Don't ever miss them, film starts with magic of 'Maestro Ilayaraja' who handled Music Direction with brilliance as usual.  BGM too had played a major role in the film through out the film 'Maestro' has showed his Musical brilliance, watch out the BGM when Abhishek takes Auro for a 'Rashtrapati Bhavan and again when children play Cricket at school, last 30 minutes it is only 'Auro' and 'BGM' that stole the show, emotions are musically captured by Maestro.  Title Music of this film is mindblowing and stands as one of his best OST which is rarely found in Hindi film music, it has an output of International standards as he is famously known for scoring such BGM's down south, being the first Asian to compose a Symphony for 'Royal Philharmonic Orchestra' London (for more details...) and the only Indian to compose Symphony and an Oratario, Maestro Ilayaraja has succesfully showed his authority that he is the only 'Master and Commander' of scoring such brilliant BGM's, film has much lesser scope for songs, and may b this is the reason why songs are not in the main theme ! though 'Mudhi Mudhi' came out well with audience.  A little dissappoint for IR fan's 'Gum Gum..'(Telugu version by Maestro, hear @ 1.02 to 1.19 it enchants U) has appeared only upto first stanza, no regrets,  we have already heard 8 versions of this song in 5 languages and one of IR's Italian performance in a music festival, but Hindi film buffs are gonna miss this enchanting piece and yeah remix version of Paa song is not there. 

P C Sreeram's camera work is excellent as usual,  the brilliant work he has shown during his stint with Maniratnam down South is again revoked in 'Paa' with Balki,  especially the RP Bhavan road, Delhi scene is superb.  A brilliant canvas of nature, emotions are captured wonderfully.  Professionally there's a lot to learn for Indian film industry from these Master's of art, especially Hindi films where mostly the superficiality rules, unlike regional cinema, I remember this sort of camera art work started from Maniratnam's  'Mounaraagam' where Camera and Music by Ilayaraja are the only roles that made this film a hit and technically acclaimed all over and went on to win Presiden'ts award.

Hindi audience have thoroughly enjoyed Maestro's OST as I have seen people coming out humming title music and yeah few ring tones too...as well hilarious dialogoues of 'Auro', especially with his Mums MUm - BUM, his friends.   Even in the climax,  the way he cuts Paresh raval  jerks of tears of rare mix, comic and pain from your eyes,  watch out for it, (Auro talks about a short time left and Paresh Raval thinking about 'Auro's' condition explains him not worry there is plenty of time he is only 13 yrs old and  will take him to US, Disney world etc., Auro looking at his Grandpa with a serious look says 'Grandpaa .... I am reminding you the time of visiting hours it is very short) such kind of scenes are spread all over the film, even in the end too.  But the last 15 minutes is a real tear jerker heard sobbing's from all the 4 directions even my wife too..My elder one asking me Papa Is 'Auro' going to die ?

Overall 'Paa' is an extra ordinary film with an ordinary story but the way Balki handled the film is praise worthy, Music is brilliant, what can we say about a person who composed a Symphony in 1990, conducted by famous Hollywood film conductor 'John Scott'(Scott has conducted scores for hollywood epics Benhur, Ten commandments, star trek [more on John Scott] (one of my collegue was asking about Ilayaraja coz he loved the ad music of 'Paa' on TV and enquiring whether he is 'Guru' of A R Rahman that is what he has read in a Gujarati paper.) Let us hope this film and their technicians are recognised for their hard work, already this film is expected to be a grosser and lauded for Big B's acting and Musical Score by Ilayaraja.

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Vadodara Marathon - 2009

The big day ‘VADODARA MARATHON-2009’ has started with a bad note, day before the D-Day I enjoyed a late evening show of doomsday thriller ‘2012’ at Inox Baroda, and was careless to set my morning alarm. We were instructed to report sharp 5.30 am at the venue - famous Navlakhi ground, besides beautiful Laxmi Vilas Palace, Baroda  is an erstwhile kindgdom ruled by Maratha kings  ‘The Gaekwads',  famous for their contributions to education, social development and banking   Bank of Baroda was founded by  HEH Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad-III in circa 1908 and is the main sponsor of this event, ‘VADODARA MARATHON-2009’; it was arranged in aid of ‘Vadodara Traffic Education Trust’.  The day was 22nd November 2009 and It was already 6.45am when I woke up from my sleep, hurriedly rushed to the venue, little worried as the formalities were supposed to close by 6.30 am, I was stopped at the starting point by a guard, and fortunately he let me in after looking at the BOB’s name embossed on the specially designed T-shirt, (all sponsoring corporates had their individual logo's on the running gear).   I was surprised to see that no frisking by security personnel was done at the main gates though celebrities like Kapil Dev, Paresh Raval, ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh, BOB CMD Mr. Mallya, and Charismatic CM of Gujarat Narendrabhai Modi graced the occasion with their presence and cheered a crowd of 32000+ participants.

CM, Mr. Modi expressed to make Baroda ‘Speed Capital of India’ noting that Wagon major Bombardier, Apollo, Volkswagen are stationed here and exporting their products he promised to gift two international stadiums…though someone grumbling,  to show the things done and not to make empty promises…Baroda is known as ‘Sanskari-nagari’, we find people here religiously more devoted to God and even more vigorously devoted to Just-in outfits directly from fashion houses all over world – basically Baroda has good number of NRI’s, so the brands too. Fortunately ‘fashion’ doesn’t differentiate people here, it’s every, where mixing with all classes of society'.

Marathon was flagged off by Mr. Narendrabhai Modi at 7.30 am, there were different routes planned according to distance and I enrolled in 5 km run, it was fun to run with few collegues, as we started with good spirits people lined to cheer the participants as they passed through the lanes, students from various professional colleges staged their cheering camps at the street corners with their Band, strumming the tunes which elevated the mood. Some participants were in costumes too. Highlight of this event is the half marathon of 21.09 kms participated by professionals and amateurs with great sportsmanship and cheers to the town folk of Baroda who received them with high spirits and for encouraging the runners all the way to the finishing point. We completed the run within the stipulated time frame of 45mins and registered to receive participation certificate.

As a part of the marathon a musical night by ‘Kunal Ganjawala’ was arranged at the same Navlakhi grounds though there was Indian Idol-4 runner up Torsha Sarkar, Baroda’s own Jyotsna Parikh, singer Abhijeet and Kunal Ganjawala the show was not impressive except some good number sung by Torsha & Jyotsna, a big disappoint for a Music buff like me. On the whole its only marathon run which gave an immense pleasure, joy of participation and a sense of responsibility towards the society.

Though there were some glitches in the event, as people struggled to find out the registration desk at the finishing point, it was in the national newpapers that timing was not properly noted in the half marathon etc., however, this marathon was a great success, event organisers has assured to have learned some lessons from this event and will see that the next year’s event will be more successful. Organizers have already declared that the r(f)un will be for ‘Human Nexus’….So count down started…for GO VADODARA GO- 2010.

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Guinness and the City of Banyan Trees

These days a lot of good things are happening for the ‘City of Banyan Trees’ – VADODARA( Click here to know more about 'BARODA' ) also known as Baroda. On 02.10.09 kids of Baroda (I prefer to call it as Baroda as it spells easy for a non-Gujarati like me) as a prelude to the mega event of Marathon to be held in Baroda on November 22, 2009, Bank of Baroda as main sponsor  ( www.bankofbaroda.com ) has created a Guinness record of ‘Longest Canvas Painting’ in the world which measured 4.2 kms in length and we are proud that my elder son Prajwal as a member of ‘Team BOB’ (Bank of Baroda) brushed in his own way to be a part of history. Watching kids handling the colors was a real treat, children when left to demonstrate their skills in the right environment will definitely do wonders, as the bright, beautiful & vibrant colors on the canvas are the proof of their thoughts – pure and innocent. The theme of the historic event was ‘Traffic Awareness’ and the observation of kids especially on the issues pertaining to traffic hazards made me wonder, their perception should be a lesson to adults. One that impressed me most is a painting depicting a most common scene in our country attending a cell phone while speeding on a bike, highest number of accidents in major cities is due to this attitude of bikers and major responsibility lies on the authorities to create awareness among citizens, unfortunately the careless attitude of these responsible authorities is the main culprit.

I remember when the transformation was under way in Andhra Pradesh during Mr. Chandrababu Naidu as CM (…..he enjoyed being addressed as CEO, AP Inc), motorists when caught jumping traffic rules were taken to a big convention hall and there begins their hard time. Traffic defaulters are made to watch a 1-2 hrs educational programme on traffic needless to say about the penalty imposed almost Rs. 500/- as penalty for not wearing Helmet, driving without license, zebra crossing etc., it is hell for someone who is in a hurry to attend an important meeting or an interview, valuable time is lost as well bucks too. Now atleast we can some regularized traffic in Hyderabad thanks to authorities and a visionary Chief Minister.

Truly the menace of traffic default can be addressed firstly by creating awareness among common public and secondly by imposing heavy penalty. Whats your say ?

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Ilayaraja - SubConscious Mind (Part- II)

(This is in continuation to my earlier post… Thanks to my friends who have responded with their encouraging comments to my post, though they are masters in this subject)

..In the early 90’s critics said that the Golden period of Ilayaraja is fading away and a new sound will dominate the film music and people who master the art will survive, I happened to be one of many music lovers who were eagerly waiting for that Oracle to come true. Techniques initiated by Maestro Ilayaraja was humbly followed by his contemporaries, his style is a rare fusion of Indian and Western Musical elements that none in Indian Film Music has ever dreamt of, that was the era of Anthara – Mukhada in North India and down South Maestro Ilayaraja was drenching South Indian Film Music with the showers of his Melodious compositions quenching the thirst of good music for Music lovers and stunned the ‘Masters of Music’ with his never dreamt of fusion experiments with native and world music, R D Burman has once said “This man’s music is 50 years ahead of time’. Techniques in Sound Engineering come and go. Sound, introduced by Raaja might be out dated now but his Music is still afresh, I strongly believe that some of his very early compositions if mastered with today’s Digital Sound Techniques would have created a rage all over the world forget South India, I would say unfortunately - ‘Ilayaraja’s Music was far ahead of his times, than the technology prevailed at that time in our country’. New breed of Music Composers of today heavily depend on Technology than their senses, they are so dependent on Machines as if they cannot survive without them , do they lack confidence in their ownself ? I feel pretty confused on hearing certain compositions - Who is actually controlling Music? a Machine or its Composer !!!! these days it has become a fashion to hear an high decibel Sound of a Loop rather than melodious Sound of Music, I really pity for such scores but it’s the era of Pizza’s, Burger’s, frankies and what not prefering a traditional dish like a hot Idli or a Chole Bhatura is considered to be old fashioned. A few weekends ago I have been to a Restaurant and to my shock there was a dish displayed on Menu “CHINESE IDLI”, till today I am searching for the answer? When did Chinese taught us Idli making?and yeah there was an another shocker..."CHINESE SAMOSA" too.

Music, to be precise ‘Classical, be it an Indian, Western, Latin or even Opera has a Divine string attached to it, ‘Chords’ of such Music is a ‘Cord’ that links emotional and physical levels of a Human being, a Composer is said to be ‘Genius’ only when he awakes your mental, emotional and spiritual senses with his Musical compositions and I believe no other composer can take you to such a level with a Musical score except ‘Ilayaraja – The Musical Saint’, hearing his “JANANI – JANANI” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlj3Uor2R8g) is like practicing a Yoga Mudhra it cleanses your mind and keeps you afresh for that day, show me one such score of others. No matter what type of advanced technology a composer handles, no matter what latest instrument he plays….whats the use if a composer’s score doesn’t fulfill your musical thirst!!!! Emotionally.

The greatness of Ilayaraja is his adaption to technology, he never allowed technology or its soft wares to dominate his Music, and He always controlled the machine I always discuss confidently with some of my best friends who try to justify that IR's Music is out dated...I proudly say to them "Even Machines kneel before Maestro, because he commands & controls them, show me the other one who can do that...." this sentence should be the final nail for the end of discussion. He is still giving us a clean and wonderful Music, critics who has predicted his doom in the early 90’s are in awe for his latest comeback with wonderful hits in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi, I wonder how a man of 65 years is still holding his fort so strongly for 30 years of Musical journey and still making waves in the contemporary Music and a guiding spirit to GenX Music Directors. A true music follower in India cannot ignore the fact that it was Ilayaraja who had laid a foundation and showed a new way for the contemporary Music Composers to explore and experiment in various music forms, some blindly imitated him and were successful., some camouflaged him, and a few learnt and mastered his techniques, used their own talents, ventured out and are famous eitherway it is only Ilayaraja who stood as a Lighthouse, ARR has rightly said that "Ilayaraja Sir's Music is beyond awards like Oscar"...a talent can only appreciate a real talent. Time and Tide wait for none and only the time can judge Music’s reverence to a Composer and today - “Ilayaraja is the only God, if Music is Divine”.

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Ilayaraja - Subconscious Mind (part- I)

Ilayaraja once said that “Music for me is something that must take the listener to a different sub-conscious level, and Mind must be engulfed by the melody and must make you ask the question Is there a connection with this and me…?”, what a wonderful quote. No other Music Composer can stake claim to this statement, when “Maestro Ilayaraja” proved that he can take people to that level with his numerous compositions.

Truly, while hearing to some of his compositions, unknowingly we move into a different state of mind may be just for a second…on a particular interlude or a prelude, may be on a counterpoint. There are many instances of our heart skipping a beat on a specific instrument being making a call and another responding, in the song "Om Namaha..."from the film Gitanjali, we observe or even feel a kind of trance being created by the Orchestra, its not the picturisation that is sensual, but its the tune and Orchestration that created the magic. The Rhythm, the synthesized beat of heart, 1st interlude and the 2nd are the best examples to support this statement.

Ilayaraja entered into the film world with a bang and his ‘Annakilli’ is a phenomenal success, no contemporary Music Composers in India is as successful as Ilayaraja, though A R Rahman hit the Music world with a Storm and gained the popularity as well a National award for his debut ‘Roja’, there is a wide gap of situational difference between the emergence of these two greats. Firstly, Ilayaraja broke the monotony of film music and ARR continued it, secondly, technological advancement and media, thanks to the liberalization and globalization Indian techies were atlast recognized globally, and ARR’s emergence in the National arena is a good example of how a person can sell his product if ventured out at the right time and at the right place, thirdly, approach - though Ilayaraja has laid foundation to the process of daring experimentaion in the world of Music and many of his scores were pathbreaking trendsetters, he is more strict to the grammar of Music and ARR a bit liberal to it, you may find some inspired or even adapted tunes in the compositions of ARR eg., Lobo's-The Kube Land was used in his National award winning score “Merupu Kalalu” O Vaana Padithe.... for the number “O Vana Padithe…”, a serious introspection into the song Varaha Nadikkarai from the film Sangamam will give you an impression of the sufi song Dama Dam Mast Kalandar  though ARR is a genius, as his Slumdog proves , he trails “Maestro Ilayaraja” in originality.

At times, I feel that ARR killed the tune and did a Phoenix thing to sound, some times it is reverse, that’s the genius adaption of sound engineering. It is mentioned in the Biography of A R Rahman ‘s “Musical Storm” , that he purportedly told S A Rajkumar, that a mere song or a hit number cannot overthrow Ilayaraja, it needs a different sound and a big force, because Ilayaraja is such a genius every time he used to hit back with a thumping tunes to the awe of listeners.

....(contd)

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