Blog se bhaago !!!

Okey !!! I have decided to return to serious blogging only after 17th of June. Till then it's a sanyaas from the blogging as my exams are nearing and there are loads of things to do in office.

I am on vacation for the exams from 8th - 17th June.

Until and unless something really comes up (rather goes down !!) and I am not able hold it any more, I will come back to this space and throw it into this space.

Till then, take care.. Ciao.....

People who influened My Life - Nagaraja Murthy

KV Nagaraja Murthy

Sometime during mid 80s, I was wishing to get actively into theatre. I was not sure whom to contact. Someone told me (I seriously do not remember who it was who told me and it's my unpardonable mistake on my part for not remembering the name) to go Ravindra Kalakshethra and talk to someone. That was the first time I went to Kalakshethra in the afternoon. So far, I went in the evening with all those glitz. On the steps of Kalakshethra, Nagaraja Murthy and CG Krishnaswamy (CGK) were sitting. I went and asked them as to whom I can meet if I wanted to be part of any of the plays. CGK and Nagaraja Murthy looked at me and asked me what can you do? Can you act? I told them I can act and I can also sing. Suddenly Nagaraja Murthy sprang up and said.. oh.. haagadre ondu haad haadu kelona (oh... in that case, sing a song, let us hear). I was not used to singing in open areas like that and felt awkward. However, I sang a song. Nagaraja Murthy, suddenly said why did you not meet me earlier? Hew told CGK, Saarr... why don't you take him for the play Kalagnaani Kanaka? CGK said ok, come for the rehearsals. That was my entry.

From there onwards, Nagaraja Murthy has been my mentor, my god father, everything in theatre. He took me into his folds and nurtured me like his own son. 1987-88, 88-89, two years successively I won the inter-collegiate theatre festival awards. This was the festival organized by Nagaraja Murthy. He made me part of the street play "Cancer" and asked me to be the lead singer for this. A good break for me was here. I got a chance to perform at least around 80 shows of this street play in all nooks and corners of karnataka. The next immediate break was Manteswamy Katha Prasanga a play directed by Suresh Anagalli, one of the major productions I worked in my theatre life. Nagaraja Murthy chose me as a Lead Singer for this production.
When times go bad, wrong things happens. For some trivial issue, he shouted at me during one of the shows (which I know was not intentional) and I was too childish and just came of out of the team Prayoga Ranga which gave me a foot hold into theatre. From there onwards, life took a total different unexpected turn and so many things happened. Started focusing on my career and was in touch with theatre, but never worked in that. It was bit painful to remain like that. This went on for almost 10 years till 2004

Since I was unemployed during 1991 - 92, Nagarajamurthy used to give me 100 rupees for every show I perform. He used to drop me home, he used to feed me lunch, dinner. I can never forget his affection towards me. I think I did not remain faithful to him. Today, whatever I have achieved in theatre, all those credit should go to Nagaraja Murthy. He was the one who recognized my "potential". He was the one who introduced me into Shankar Nag's team. He was the one who introduced me to well known theatre personality MS Sathyu and pushed me into his production "Mote Raamana Sathyagraha". He was the one who introduced me to film actor Ashok and Ashok involved me in his theatre productions. He was the one who made me a part of the theatre workshops and asked me to compose music for the play "Napolean maththu Naayi" (Napolean and the Dog). I played a major role in this production as well.

So much to write about Nagaraja Murthy. He still remains my god father, my mentor and I am always indebted to him for making me whatever I am today.

People who influenced my life - Hari Babu

Hari, as he was affectionately called by all of us is a person who came into my life influenced and just went off. I do not know where he is today. Some of my contacts says that he is in Kerala and is actively into politics. Well, that's nothing new for those who know Hari.

When I joined Equations, he was one of the persons with whom I really got to work very closely as Hari was an expert with the issues related to Coast (he is from Kozhikode, which is a town on the coast). It was the time when the Anti-Cogentrix movement was at its peak. There was a protest rally organized by the network in Mangalore. Hari and myself traveled to Managalore for taking part in the ralley. Hari introduced me to so many people in the coast and few of them I still remember. Yathish Bykampady, Natesh Ullal, Ranjan Guruvayanakere, Leo Saldanha, Dr. Ravindra Shanbhag, Dr. Sharatchandra from DANIDA, so many other people. I was amazed at the knowledge Hari had about the coast and the violations on the coast. He was prolific in the area of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). No one could beat him in this subject. I kept on wondering as to how simple and down to earth a person can be. Hari spoke to me in length about the issues faced by the fishing community, the threat to the coastal environment, ecology on the coast, deep inside the sea. His knowledge was as huge as the ocean itself. I always dreamt of thinking like him and gaining knowledge like him. I cannot even imagine of reading like him. He used to read so much and it's a wonder that he had so many thought processes in his head.

Hari had a lean towards communist ideologies in Kerala. He was from Kozhikode and during his heydays has been part of so many movements in the state. He is an avid reader, he was into film making. He used to tell me about the film he jointly produced "Amma Ariyan".

More than anything, one thing which bonded both myself and Hari was the craze for hindi film music. I still remember, whenever we used to go traveling, he asks me to sing some Mukesh numbers and just gets emotional. The song "Humne Tujh ko pyaar kiya hai itna" sung by Mukesh became so popular for me only after Hari spoke to me in length about the intensity of that song and the love. Another song of Mukesh "o jaanewale ho sake tho laut ke aana" is one song which he just loved and today, whenever I listen to that song, I just remember him and the picture of Hari's eyes filled with tears comes in front of me. Such was the intensity with which Hari loved music. I never knew that a song can be loved so much. I learnt a lot from him. I learnt to listen more of malayalam songs because of Hari. He made me taste the kerala paratas in Thippasandra, he used to joke about Arvind Swamy's face in the song uyire uyire from the fillm Bombay, mentioning that the guy makes his face as if somebody is squeezing his bottom.... :) Such was the zeal of Hari.

Not sure where he is. Hope to meet him some day

Remembering People who influenced me in my life - KT Suresh

Few blogs from now on, you will see me writing about people who made a tremendous influence on my life and changed my life forever.

It was in January 1995 / 1996, I was introduced to Equations by Manjunath, an IES officer with Central Institute of Coastal Engineering for Fisheries where I was working as Admin Assitant to the Technical Consultants. Manju felt that I am sensitive enough to be part Equations, an NGO who were into research and documentation for tourism.

Well, I was venturing out into a new world and was not sure what my goal was. I had to meet Suresh, who was popular as KT among his friend's circle. This was supposed to be an interview. I finally met him. He had a broken leg and was plastered and I could see the art works all over the plaster of paris and maximum was from Dhanaraj, one of the artiste who was working with Equations. Suresh sat in the balcony of Equations office in Indiranagar behind Indiranagar Club sorrounded by plants and spoke to me. I blabbered all sorts of things which came to my mind. About theatre, my life thus far, etc. etc. Manju had told me that I should speak something about environment and so I did.

Suresh said... hmmmmm... ok ondu kelsa maadi.. send me a small write-up in Kannada on environment protection by fax. Let us see. During the discussion I came to know that one of their resources Yamuna left the job of coordinator for Karnataka area and they were looking for someone who is politically, culturally and also mentally sensitive person to work with them. Manju felt I can deliver what they were looking at. I wrote something about environment protection including something from Krishna's Bhagavadgita which goes like "Patram Pushpam Phalam Thoyam....." and very little I did know that I was sending it to the person who was a total Aethist !!!

After few days later, I got a call from Suresh, mentioning that I had been selected. I was thrilled that I am into something new where none my family members have ventured (that's the case till today !!!)

I went along with Bhargavi to collect my "offer letter" which mentioned I also will be part of internal policy related decisions .

On March 1st, First day, I go to Equations and I could not see Suresh or any other people whom I expected. Only Mr. Sundaram, who was managing Admin and Finance was there and when I asked about Suresh, he was hiding something from me. It was quite fishy.

A day later, Suresh met me and gave a shock of my life. Manju, who introduced me to Equations, committed Suicide because of some personal problems !!!! I could not control my tears...

From there on, Equations totally gave a new perspective in my life. I started seeing so many things which I had never seen in my own world. Suresh introduced me to all the colleagues there. Hari Babu (about whom I need write another piece), Shirley, Dhanaraj, Lakshman and Mr. Sundaram. It was a different world altogether where there were no gender discriminations, no hangups, no egos, no artificial lives, nothing... all so natural, so true and so clear. That was my impression about equations and I am happy that even today, it remains so.

I must tell about Suresh. One of the most interesting persons I have ever met in my life. I am not sure whether I am going to meet anyone who can be like him. Those days, a smoking Chimney with beard, Suresh never sounded like a boss to me. I was so much used to the boss-subordinate culture and it was a culture shock for me. I was surprised that can bosses be like this also??? He used to suddenly infuse kannada words during the discussions with me and whenever he was angry, I could see his nostrils exapand and his ears go tomato red.. always I used to read the article what I wrote in Kannada in front of him and he used to keep staring at me while I was reading the article.

Suresh changed me forever. He spoke to me about so many things in life which I never knew, they existed.

A great friend and a even more great human being, Suresh put me on to so many of his friends and few of them, I can never forget. Rose, Vish, Sreeni, Joy, Ganesh, Mirza Yawar Baig, et.al. More than anything he put me in the middle of this great gang through the mehfils which used to happen in Rose's house.

Suresh sensitized me about environment, forests, coasts (of course, Hari had a great influence on me aboout coasts as well), Adivasis, how to establish network, how to maintain it, what to write, what not to write, what to speak, what not to speak. Overall, Suresh put me into the world of NGOs of which I never knew anything. During our struggle against Taj hotels in Nagarahole, It was Suresh's support and guidance to me along with Susan Mathews (again this is another person about whom I will write), which helped us succeed.

Today, if I am anything good, a huge portion of the credit should go to Suresh. Because of him, I stopped using plastic covers, I never drank pepsi or coke, I started getting sensitive about people cutting trees, I started becoming eco-concious, I even tried making my home an eco-friendly one, and I can say that Suresh is the reason for it.

Today, Suresh sitting in Mumbai still inspires me and I am indebted to him and will always be. Thanks Suresh for making me a human being from being a total insensitive fellow.

Jaayen Tho Jaayen Kahan - In Memory of Talat Mahmood

Talat Mahmood with Rafi and Manna De

Photo Courtesy : Tribune India

11 years back, 09 May 1998, Talat Mahmood moved out of this big bad world. May be god might have got bored and he wanted to listen to Talat Mahmood....

Very few people of my generation, would like to listen to Talat Mahmood. I can challenge, some of them have not even heard of his name, forget about listening to him.

.......... Producer-Director-Studio Owner Mehboob Khan of 'Mother India' fame, would always put his finger on Talat's throat and tell him " Khuda ka noor tumhare gale mein hai ! "

Talat Mahmood, who was popular for his ghazal singing, had a very interesting voice which had vibrations and so far, till today, there are huge number of people who could imitate Kishore, Rafi, Mukesh and even Manna De and succeed as well. But none to imitate Talat Mahmood as it is not easy to do so. Such was the voice of Talat Mahmood.

Some of the songs which I remember today are here:

1. sham-e-gham ki kasam
2. Phir wohi shaam wohi gham wohi tanhaayee
3. Aansoo samajh ke kyon mujhe aankh se tumne gira diya
4. Jaayen tho jaayen kahan
5. Meri yaad mein tum na aansoo bahaa na, ne jee ko jalana, mujhe bhool jaana
6. Hum dard ke maaron ka, itna tho phasana hai
7. Aaj ke mulaaqat bas itni, dekho humein tumse hai preet kitni (Sung with Latha Mangeshkar)
8. Dil-e-naadan tujhe hua kya hai, aakhir is dard ki dawa kya hai
9. koi nahin mera is duniya mein aashian barbaad hai
10. Tasveer Banata Hoon, Tasveen nahin banthi
11. Jalte hain jis ke liye (this is one song which I cannot forget and makes me quite emotional)
12. Zindagi Denewaale sun
13. Seene mein sulagthe hain armaan (with Lata Mangeshkar and one of the ever memorable composition of Anil Biswas. You should listen to this song to enjoy those vikrit sur, sharp notes suddenly coming and flying off !!!)
14. Dekh li teri khudaayee

Well, the list goes on......

Talat used to sing Bengali songs in the name of Tapan Kumar

Talat has sung for very few films compared to the thousandwallahs like Rafi and Kishore. Talat is miles behind in terms of number. But, the quality is unmatchable.

Weekend Weakness....

Bit of disturbed mind since morning...... Issues will be there... all part of life..... These are short lived ones.....

Weekend - Event 1 - Planning to be part of the protest against the metro morons.....

Weekend - Event 2 - Studies, Studies and studies...

Weekend - Event 3 - Planning to go to Rangashankara for 3:30 PM show on Sunday

Nothing special beyond that....

All 19 Down !!!

Sad to know that the morons from Metro Rail have cut down all the 19 eucalyptus trees in Lalbagh.....

The count of killed trees for the purpose of Metro Rail has gone beyond 700 !!! These bastards will never learn in their life... They will suffer and are making us suffer even more....

Rabindranath Tagore - The Soul

It's quite difficult to write about him. Writing about Rabindranath Tagore is like the blind touching the elephant. However, I am one more blind who is trying to put across my thoughts.

Today is the Rabindranath Tagore's birthday.

He is a great soul, who gave a new branding to West Bengal and to the field of art, culture and philosphy of India. He gave us the national anthem (forget about the controversy created around it, saying that Tagore wrote it to please George IV !!! We do not know whether it is true or not).

Geethanjali - The noble award winning work from Tagore, is a collection of poems and is one of the greatest works of Tagore (It's a sad thing that our own country men's work is known only when recognized internationally !!!)

Rabindra Sangeeth - This is one form of music which I always liked. I have collections of Hemanth Kumar singing Rabindra Sangeeth. Very unique and very very bengal. The music gives you the feel of Bengal land. I have heard other singers singing Rabindra Sangeeth. Very interestingly, There is a tinge of Thumry style.

Shanthinikethan - This is one dream place for me. I always wanted Deeksha to study here. Not sure whether the dream will come true or not. Bhargavi has been protesting on my proposal of sending Deeksha to Shantiniketan. Need to wait and watch.

Tansen - The Epitome of Music

Tansen's Tomb in Gwalior
Mia Tansen

The one and only name which stands out still after hundreds of years of Dhrupad Gaayki is Sangeet Saamrat Taansen. The moghul emperor Akbar just bowed down to this genius. Akbar had sent his army to the king Ramachandra Baghela to get Mia Tansen into his court. Tansen was granted the highest rank in the court of Akbar.

An anecdote - Some of the musicians who were jealous of Tansen, conspired and asked him to sing Raag Deepak so that the heat creates uncomfort for Tansen (After all, human beings !!) . All the lamps were lit with this raag and the heat in the atmosphere was too much to tolerate. Tansen asked his daughter to sing Raag Malhar and the impact was unbelievable !!! The atmosphere became cool. That was the power of Tansen.

Another incident - Akbar was praising Tansen and was saying, you sing so well, obviously your Guru must be really good. Tansen nodded his head in agreement. Akbar said, why don't we get your Guru Swami Haridas into our court and organize for a baithak? Tansen said, no point, he won't come. If you want to listen to his music, you need to go where he is. Akbar agreed to this with bit of uncomfort feeling. Mughal Badshah and going to someone's house to listen to music?? Well, They reached the hermitage of Haridas and they could hear Haridas singing. Akbar was about to get in, Tansen stopped him and told him that he do not like getting disturbed when he is singing. The Badshah stood outside the hermitage for couple of hours listening to Haridas's music and the king was in tears !!! He could not control his emotions after listening to his singing. Akbar told Tansen that he is nothing in front of his Guru. Akbar was curious to know the reason on how Guru Haridas's music is more sweeter and mellow than Tansen's music. Tansen answered "The reason is simple. I sing for you, whereas my Guru sings for the God"

Tansen was introduced to Sufi Saint Salim Chisti by Akbar. This widened the horizons of Tansen.

Tansen created many Raagas. Darbari Kanada, Mia ki Thodi, Mia Malhar were just the tip of the iceberg. We are really fortunate that Tansen lived in the same as we are living and he sang and composed so many compositions which till today are held in high esteem in the world of Hindusthani classical music.

Just a remembering all these as it is his 423rd Anniversary today.

Thanks to Sunaad for pushing all these thoughts in my mind.

Karl Marx - The Pioneer in Labor Movement

Photo Credit : www.marxists.org


Sometime during 1995, I was attracted to Karl Marx and his philosphy. That got intense once I moved into the NGO world in 1996. Thanks to my friends who were (are) hard core marxists.

Karl Marx, who was born on 5th May in 1818 in Germany is more worshipped across the world more than Germany itself !!!

I always wondered what this marxism is all about. I got the answer only in 1996. During 1970s and 80s when my mother was working in BHEL, she used to be part of the Gate Meetings by the Trade Union leader MS Krishnan who was part of Communist Party of India. So, I had a little bit of exposure about the trade unions and their philosphy which spoke about Marxism.

The Communist Manifesto which is a kind of sanctum sanctorum for the communists, is something which I can say is one of the biggest contributions by Karl Marx. This manifesto, which was arrived at in collaboration with Engels, spoke about communist League's purposes and how they would go about it. (Forget about it. Today's "communists", be it, Karats, Yechuris, Bardhans, DasGuptas, Basus, and etal can't even swear by this manifesto as their work does not even come close to it) This document very surprisingly did not talk about anything concrete.

It was Das Kapital, which in English means Critique on Political Economy, which brought forward Karl Marx's thoughts, where he spoke about capitalism which exploits and eliminates labor. How true it is in even today's world. Even though Das Kapital focused on the labors, artisans and peasants, this still holds good for every person who is a "Labor" who works more for others than himself. Very sad part of it is that the Governments are being run by these same capitalists whom Karl Marx calls" dead labor which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks"

But, I believe that most part of what Karl Marx believed was relevant to the kind of society he was living in. Not sure whether he anticipated the concept of "Global Village". Possibly yes and possibly no.

Just remembered all these things as today is his birthday and interestingly, this is very close to the May Day which is called as International Labor Day.

Do we still relate ourselves to Marxism and May Day??

My Memories - Satyajit Ray

This was the logo which Satyajit Ray designed for his film Devi, through which Sahrmila Tagore came into the film industry

Photo Courtesy : Nimoy Ghosh

Even though 02 May is his birthday, I am punching in the lines now which I hold so close to my heart.

It was 1991 and I was working as Staff Reporter for a weekly tabloid called City Tab. I was covering Cinema, Theatre and Music. It was the time for an International Film Festival. Almost all the biggies of the cinema movemement were there at the festival. Somehow, I caught hold of Adoor Gopalakrishnan through my contacts. It was so strange, that I requested Adoor to help me in connecting with Satyajit Ray who was part of the festival. Adoor gave one curly look at me and smilingly said "why? don't you want to interview me?". Was it intentional ? Not sure. However, I got an opportunity to shake hands with Satyajit Ray during a retrospective of his films. I still remember very clearly that his movie Ghare Bhaire was being screened.

Me, a 5 feet 1 inch character was standing in front of Satyajit Ray, who was 6 feet 4 inch tall, clad in white kurta. I, who was in disbelief that I met him, did not know what to talk to him and Adoor said "this man wants to meet you". Satyajit Ray looked at me through his angled spectacles and said "what are you?". That question brought me back into this world. I told him " I am staff reporter from the local weekly tabloid and would like to talk to you about your films". The moment I told him local news paper, his expression changed. "Haan, teek hai. Dekhenge". I was sure by now that, I lost the opportunity. Next day, I again went behind him and said "sir, time milega?" He just looked at me and said chalo, kahin baitenge". We sat in one of the corner and he told me. "Before you ask me questions, let me check your knowledge on my films. What do you know about my films? What do you think I am trying to convey to people?". This came in as a shocking thing for me. I blabbered whatever I knew about his films beginning from Pather Panchali (which has 5 characters of Apu, Harihar, Sarbajaya, Durga , and the old Indira who comes into their life to make their life even tougher) till Gana Shatru. He said, hmmmm... ask me now what you want. It was like god standing in front of a devotee asking him what boons he want. This time I was prepared and the interview went for 40 minutes where must have talked at least 25 minutes. He mentioned about Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves, the film which inspired him to get into the world of cinema to make a difference.

In the end, he shook my hand and said you have a long way to go. You have raw talent. I think you should polish it quite a lot...

This was my memory of Satyajit Ray. I can never forget his baritone voice and I felt so small infront of him. We fellows, who have so little talent, behave as if the world is because of us. and here is a person who is so down to earth and so simple, that he spoke to me, who knew so little, but was thinking myself so big. Interaction changed my perspective on how human being should live.

These moments, I will always cherish and today, after 53 years, when Pather Panchali created a history and a trend, he will always remain a person who from being advertising and graphic designing, came into the film industry and totally changed the cinematic world forever across the globe. He was a director, set designer, composer, editor, and what not? A great soul whom we miss in today's big bad world of insensitive cinema.

May Day & Other Murmurs....

A Sort of hybernation for 4 long days.... Too much of eating, too much of reading and too much of laziness....

Over the last 4 days, what did I do? Surprisingly nothing solid. The whole day of 30th April I was in Mysore enjoying the food at cousin's place because of his son's upanayana.

On 1st May, even though it was a labor day, I remained as if there is nothing to bother me, which is a strange thing about me. I always used to get into different websites to take an update on how meaningful the labor day was across the world and how is the perspective of people towards being a "Labor". Interestingly, everyone thinks that this must have originated in one of the communist countries. But the fact is that the may day was originated in Australia in 1856 and this was a struggle for 8 hours day (I don't think it holds any meaning for us as we never stick to 8 hours a day !!!). This was the struggle of Peasants, artisans and others. Incidentally, police opened fire and killed four strikers at the Haymarket Square in USA in 1886. During the "supposed" to be a peace rally, someone threw a bomb into the police crowd, which created havoc. There was a trial on the "culprits" and seven people were hung publicly. This public handing happened on 1st May and hence from that day onwards, among the labor world, it was decided to observe this day as International Labor's Day aiming at improving the life of peasants, artisans and workers in unorganized sectors (not bad... I still remember all these things since I was actively involved in some of the labor movements in Bangalore during 1995 - 1998) . But is this improvement happening?? Sad state of affairs. We sit in the ivory towers and never realize those people because of whom we are in the ivory towers with AC running and office remaining clean. We don't even care for them. We don't even smile at them, don't even talk to them. What sort of human beings we are? First of all, are we?

02 & 03 May 09 - Again excellent festival food and reading for my MA exams. Nothing else.

I am getting bogged down by the fact that I am being a total insensitive character who do not care about the pain in the world and I think only me and my family is important. Am I becoming that self-centred?