My Musical Misadventures

Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses"

You know from where I would've copy pasted the above lines ..

Let me take you 14 years back, when the author of this blog was seen wearing a half trouser, riding a BSA champ, happy, innocent and painfully sweet. I was in my 5th grade back then. I went for tooshan(tuition) classes, played kirikket(cricket) on the streets and was an ardent fan of Janmam X(a very popular spook serial back in the days) like every other kid. But there was something extra. I started going for paatu(classical music) classes. Singing Saa Paa Saa in chorus with 8 girls and 2 boys was somehow exciting and I presumed that one fine day I'll make it big in the music field(L'ing My A Out now). The classes took place during the weekends and I never minded attitailing(hurt-retiring) from my gaajee(chance to bat in cricket). The first lesson in any paatu class would be the sarali varisai. My school(cvv) had this subject called DDMM where a student was allowed to choose from any one of the four arts namely Dance(unofficially girls only), Drawing(that's where almost all the boys of the class would be), Music(a lot of girls and three boys), Mirudangam(8 boys). Due to my sudden inclination towards music, I shifted from drawing to music.

One fine day my music teacher at the school decided to have a "SURPRISE" test where all of us had to sing the sarali varisai.

Teacher : Ok kanna, how many of you know sarali vaisai ??

->*silence*
->*teacher repeats the question*
->*same reaction*

Teacher : One month is over, no body knows aah ?

voice(me) : I know miss.

Teacher : * what the ??*
the rest: * holy mother of !! *

Me : Shall I sing miss ?

Teacher : * what now god?? * Ok

Me : *clears throat* Saa, Ree, Gaa, Maa ........................... Sa, Ni, Dha, Ni Sa, Ri, Ma, Pa, Ma, Ri ...... Ma, Pa, Dha, Pa, Dha, Ni, Dha, Pa

minutes later

Me : *heroic look*, *dude, you nailed it!!*, @the_rest_of_the_class ... *ok u can bow down now*'ish look

Teacher : Praveen, paatu class poriya ??

Me : *Duhh* yes miss

Teacher : *silence*
Teacher : *silence*
Teacher : *silence*
Teacher : *silence*
Teacher : *silence*

Teacher : ok kanna, test is postponed to next week, prepare well and come ok ??

Me : *shock, dispair, anger*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following weekend, my mom went meet my paatu saar(sir) to pay his fees

* the conversation has been dubbed to English from mallu *

Paatu Saar: Please come in madam, actually I wanted to talk to you.

Mom : Yeah

PS: actually how is Praveen studying, is he good ?

Mom : He is an average student, we don't pressure him too much.

PS : aah, don't you think that our praveen has to concentrate in his studies more ?? kids these days get easily distracted with extra curricular activities.

Mom : I agree, but praveen is really interested in music, I guess he needs some diversion too .. ... .. ah mm sir, is praveen singing loud enough ?

PS : * L'ing his A Out* .... .... .. actually madam ... I don't know how to say .. .. Praveen's voice isn't that good, I think we should not pressurise the kid to learn something that he is not interested in

Mom : but sir he ...

PS : *interrupts* Its OK madam, I can understand. He is a brilliant child, he'll achieve great stuff. God bless him and by the way, you don't have to pay last month's fee.

Conversation ends

->Mom tells Praveen about the conversation as a dinner time story
->*shok, dispair, anger*
->Praveen decides paatu class is for sissys
->Rejoins his drawing class at DDMM
and becomes a normal kid all over again !!




Note: Praveen is currently learning guitar from Kartik and doesn't know when he'll be asked to concentrate on his studies by his teacher............. again

Hamara Harrington Road

I've been planning to make this post for the past 2 or 3 weeks. My tribute to Harrington Road, Chetpet, Chennai 600031.

I love this place, its like one of the poshest places in Chennai after boat club road, with all the bungalow style houses and BMW's parked in front of those houses .. its where the filthy rich lead their peaceful lives in chennai.

So why do I like this place ??

FOOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its got so much food that you go gaga about it. Its really tough to find a place that throws so many food options at you.

To start with, Creamy Inn (in case you've just landed from Jupiter .. creamy inn has branches at anna nagar, shanthi colony and chetpet) ... aaaahhh .. divinity. It is the perfect place to treat your friends. They serve some of the best Ice Creams and Milkshakes in the world. You can order a Cold Coffee(Rs. 10) and just sit there watching test match for hours. The perfect place to chill on a typical hot chennai day.

My favs here -> Cold Coffee, Nutty Crunch, Strawberry fantasies, Chocolate ice cream soda.......

The next place is the popular "harringtons", its got a petty shop, a tea shop, Chaska(chaat), sweet chariot(cakes, pastries etc), VIVS(a restaurant), a juice shop, a frankie stall, and parvati sandwich shop.... phew... Seriously you can eat your hearts out at this place. The sandwiches that this person makes are amazing and believe me, this guy gives you thick sauce straight from the bottle and doesnt give u watery red liquid that the "alsa mall" sandwich guy pours on your plate. Bread omlette, Cheese Masala, Jam Cheese Toast .. god my keyboard is all wet now. Chaksa is a pretty good chaat shop, the prices are reasonable and u the people who run the shop are damn sweet !!! .. Sweet chariot is kinda costly. I almost forgot, there is a new MOMO stall, dont even think of having the bloody thing. Perfect example of PATHETIC food. There are people who like that stuff.. no offense meant. VIVS is a very good place, worth every penny. Frankie is reasonable too,but its got one teeny weeny problem.. the minute you finish your frankie, you'll feel hungry and if your purse is weak you'll start swearing at the reserve bank !!

I've never been to the French Loaf, and people who go there usually boast about their custom made sandwiches .. bhoo whoo I get my sandwiches custom made at parvati's for 20 bucks. !! !! and there is a CCD coming there in a weeks time. And the world famous suprabhaa is just seconds away from Harrington road.

So if you're rich and you wanna impress your girl you wud prefer CCD ( Rs. 100 and above)

If you're rich and single the perfect choice is French Loaf (Rs.75)

If you wanna hang out/ have a reunion/ treat your friends at a "decent" place - Creamy Inn (60 for a cold coffee and an ice cream)

If your wallet is ok-ok - Chaska and juice / frankie and water packet (Rs.40 to 50)

If you're me - Bread Omlette(Rs. 10) + Jam Tost (Rs.10) and cold water at the Heritage Center ..

dont even get me started on Heritage Center .. !!

Stuff you find around my computer

I stay in this corner of my bedroom for at least 13 hours a day .. But I seldom notice whats around .. These are what I spotted when my eyes radar'ed over my compter.


On the top of my monitor, a small koala bear holding a plastic boomerang (my mom's colleague went to Australia, he thought this would be a better gift to give my mom rather than a Hershey's bar) and crushed mountain dew tin can (my idea of modern art :D). Two diaries and a notepad that has no connection whatsoever with me or my computer. The remnants of the murukku and some spilt tea with the tumbler that it came with hours ago, just in case I forget why there is a stingy taste of tea in my tongue. Two dvd's lying with their recording side on top(to avoid getting scratched) and a fine layer of dust on its top(extra protection). Speaking of dust... heaps and heaps of it. My mobile getting charged on a hotline charger that is connected to my UPS and spews power eternally. A lan line phone that'll ring only if karunanidhi calls up in a recorded voice asking us to vote for him or for a recorded voice(again) that calls one in two months asking us to pay the bill. Two USB cables, one for my mp3 player other for my mobile. My mobile phone's user guide. Hundreds if not thousands of CD covers inside a thick Ubuntu shipping cover. A USB joystick. My bike(wyack) keys, some more dust, a big glass of ice h2o some of which will magically find its way to the spilt tea and the murukku crumbs and three big pouches of CDs and DVDs with some dust on it. phew ...

and Me ..