tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35232242024-03-23T23:56:16.387+05:30Clipboard Conversationsयह तो but obvious है के...J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.comBlogger1459125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-4874103739339897602018-07-22T17:51:00.001+05:302018-07-22T17:51:34.844+05:30Pencil, pen, keyboard<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Pencil, pen, keyboard- I always felt I am very inefficient at using them. After my 12th, I learned to type, even passing a 40 wpm exam. However, the standard PC keyboard's arrangement is different from the typewriter (the layers are flatter) and hence I was never able to translate that learning into the digital domain. I am a two-three finger touch typist now but obviously could do better.<br />
<br />
Same with pens - my handwriting varies with the nature of the pen, paper, and I suspect, even purpose of writing.<br />
<br />
I have recently found myself using pencils a lot more than I used to. (We have purchased so many pencils for CTQ and Thinq2win that the house, bag, and notebooks are infested by them). I think my ineffectiveness with pencils is the least worrisome. It is like humming a tune poorly or dressing badly. Done in the safety of the house, you have nothing to prove and nothing to be ashamed of.</div>
J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-38617968913278313762018-07-22T17:50:00.001+05:302018-07-22T17:50:24.849+05:30"Varumayin Niram Sivappu" - a Kamal film<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Varumayin Niram Sivappu" (or 'the colour of poverty is red') is a Tamil film by K. Balachander featuring Kamalahassan and Sridevi (it was also made in Telugu and remade in Hindi). Like films such as Mere Apne, the story is about the urban educated unemployed. Irrespective of what we think of our past, current, and future professional prospects, I think anyone reading this has never been in a desperate situation with regards to unemployment. These films serve as a document that such a period existed, and quite likely, still exists for people outside our sphere of social connection.<br />
<br />
Kamalahassan's character, born to a well to do musician, is unable to reconcile his principles (inspired by the poet-freedom fighter Bharatiyar) with the moralities of most jobs. Poverty is a consequence but as in most KB films, there is a clever way of depicting this world. Like a scene where the lead and his friends pretend to have an elaborate meal behind closed doors so that Sridevi, waiting outside the house for them to finish, thinks they have something to eat.<br />
<br />
Finally, the lead finds a job he is happy with - being a barber. It could have been treated as a comic situation but poverty, while being occasionally comic, is not a subject for slapstick. The colour is red, but sometimes, it can be light.</div>
J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-77902121133719456342018-07-22T17:48:00.002+05:302018-07-22T17:48:58.897+05:30"I, Claudius"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Did you know a lame, partly deaf, stuttering man was once Emperor of the Romans? 'I, Claudius" is a British TV series from the point of view of Claudius, who probably survived routine purges because people thought he was literally an idiot.<br />
<br />
In reality, he wasn't. The series, with a cast of some very good British actors, begins from the reign of Augustus and reaches Nero (Christ is born along the way). In between, you get an interesting lesson in Roman history of the Empire at its peak: peak of intrigue, decadence, and power. Most fascinating is the character of Livia, Augustus' wife, who outlived many a plot, and whose sole aim in life was to end up a Goddess.<br />
<br />
As Obelix might have put it, these Romans were crazy.</div>
J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-57027323396574515782018-07-22T17:45:00.000+05:302018-07-22T17:45:04.322+05:30A Persuasive Paragraph to Pardon a Pig<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<i>(written on a prompt on a writing group - "convince me that this pig deserves to live")</i><br />
<br />
Winston Churchill once said: "Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Only pigs treat you as equals."<br />
<br />
So my friend, there's not much that separates you and me. Don't go by the exterior (yours, not mine). We all know the filth you are capable of wallowing in. Perhaps it is a sign of my much-acclaimed intelligence that I refuse to hide it under cloth and cover, polish and perfume, bath and beautician.<br />
<br />
Philosophy comes as naturally to us pigs as pork. Keep me on the other side of your plate and we can write a best-selling self-help book together. I even have a title: "Bringing home the bacon".<br />
<br />
Shall we shake hands and oink the agreeement?</div>
J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-88980287775920130292016-10-29T18:02:00.001+05:302016-10-29T18:02:26.465+05:30"Mere piiche maa hai"In an interesting gesture, Indian cricketers are wearing jerseys with names of their mother instead of where their first/last name would be. Not sure whose idea it was, but since Star, both the sponsor of the Indian team and the sportscaster for the series, has used this in their promotions, it's clearly a PR/marketing choice.<p><br />
Call me cynical, but I thought this was a fairly hollow gesture. Not so much because it's obviously driven by a PR objective (which seems to have worked well - fair amount of online chatter and coverage), but because it doesn't feel very authentic. None of these players, from what I know, have been associated with this line of thinking before, and it's not associated with the brands of the BCCI, the game of cricket, or Star. And assuming it's a one-off gesture, this is going to be ultimately meaningless. <p>Compare this with:<br />
<p>* Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali who has adopted his mother's name in his own<br><br />
* The Pink days at the SCG to raise awareness about Breast Cancer by the McGrath foundation (because of a deep connection with Glenn McGrath)<br><p><br />
For this gesture feel 'authentic', it ought to be * reflected in everything the brands behind this do from here on (including supporting women's cricket?). I'm sceptical. Will this just be one piece of trivia for a future cricket quiz, or can one expect more meaningful outcomes along with a PR success?J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-419549060874734702016-10-19T12:55:00.002+05:302016-10-19T12:55:17.693+05:30Cynics and dreamers - the aisle seat is for neither.<a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2016/10/where-do-you-sit">Apropos this Economist article</a>.<br />
<br />
I used to prefer aisle seats on domestic flights until I realised one day, I'm going to end up murdering people sitting in the middle/window seats who want to get into the aisle as soon as the plane has landed so that they can stand uncomfortably on the toes of mental midgets like themselves. Have had quite a few if-looks-could-kills and actual arguments.<br />
<br />
So looks like the cynics should prefer the window seats, and are better off dreaming about a future where everyone remains calmly seated as the plan comes to a halt instead of wanting to instantly eject out of their seats (which I would gladly help them accomplish while in the air, if I could). J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-87407932438037441042016-10-19T11:22:00.002+05:302016-10-19T11:22:49.550+05:30"Cat Pictures Please"<a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/">Here's the winner of the 2016 Hugo for Best Short Story.</a> In keeping with the flavour of the season, it features an AI. It's pretty good.J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-79598720268252268942016-09-25T08:16:00.002+05:302016-09-25T08:16:47.414+05:30It's been 2 years since the Mars Orbiter Mission (also known as 'Mangalyaan' when it's at home, sipping tomato juice) officially began its orbit around the Red Planet. They hoped it would be there for six months - another 18 months and it seems to be doing just fine.<br />
<br />
I wrote <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B808E55EhcBdcDRueWotVXBZbVVKdTNPd2RRNnJDZGpXclNB/view?usp=sharing">this piece for Architectural Digest</a> last year about MOM on its first orbital anniversary. Here's to MOM painting the town red for some more time.<br />
<br />
J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-25334055451977399052016-09-22T16:09:00.000+05:302016-09-22T16:09:36.120+05:30Chrome FumeThe biggest personal productivity boost in recent times has come by unchecking a single checkbox: the one that says 'enable hardware acceleration' in Chrome's settings (on Win 10). I haven't quite figured out why this option had caused such a slow down, but apparently, it's something to do with the display drivers.<p>I've often had to wait for as much as 10-15 mins after the laptop resumes from sleep for Chrome to come back to life.<p>For once, a silver bullet.J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-46378342248352106592016-06-19T18:44:00.001+05:302016-06-19T18:44:41.920+05:30How do you tell......a kid that he is a total git?J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-51481482752031637532016-06-15T17:55:00.001+05:302016-06-15T17:55:58.735+05:30Brian Bilston, the 'Poet Laureate of Twitter'OF NO FIXED ADOBE<br><br />
Her interest in him<br><br />
had waned,<br><br />
then gradually eroded.<br><br><br />
<br />
Like an update<br><br />
to Adobe Reader,<br><br />
he’d never be downloaded.<br><br><br />
<br />
<hr>I discovered Brian Bilston's <a href="https://brianbilston.com/">Poetry Laboetry</a>. He is wonderful to read. (Probably because I can understand what he says and there is whimsy involved.)J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-51433707326372474862016-06-15T17:53:00.000+05:302016-06-15T17:53:19.607+05:30Points to the Iceland football teamNot only did they draw their first ever tournament match, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/15/cristiano-ronaldo-portugal-iceland-small-mentality">they made Ronaldo whinge</a>. (Not that he needs an invitation to.).<p>J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-38674274847822014172015-10-13T17:02:00.001+05:302015-10-13T17:02:19.045+05:30TodayToday was the scariest day of my life.<br />
<br />
Today was the day it was supposed to happen. (But it didn't.)<br />
<br />
Things were supposed to get going, pick up, take off. (But no.)<br />
<br />
I was supposed to do things. (I didn't.)<br />
<br />
When I woke up with a To Do list bubbling with the energy of optimism. By the end of the day, it had drooped and wilted. Too much exposure to the sun.<br />
<br />
The day I was supposed to go outside and see the light. (But I stayed inside.)<br />
<br />
The day when the epiphanies, like the groceries, were failed to be delivered. (They tried calling, but no one picked up the phone and they couldn't find the place and it's your fault.)<br />
<br />
Today, I looked back at the last 8 hours. (I shouldn't have.) No one knows what happened to them. (Did they even exist?)<br />
<br />
Today was just like yesterday. (Perhaps an identical twin to tomorrow, just born a day earlier.)<br />
<br />
Tomorrow may be the scariest day of my life.J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-91652779107684749142015-07-20T19:27:00.000+05:302015-07-20T19:27:01.307+05:30Getting past the sky<blockquote>Kaun kehta hai ki aasmaan mein suraakh ho nahin sakta, <p>ek pathhar toh tabiyat se uchhaalo yaaron. </blockquote><br />
I had no idea these lines existed. <p><br />
Can't stop thinking past it. Unabashed optimism and derring-do. Something that I doubt I have ever experienced or used. Can't remember if there was a time where I could have thrown a stone "with conviction".<p><br />
Sky or not, but it just zipped past my defences.<p><br />
Now how to make going to read Dushyant Kumar a priority?<p><br />
(<a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/how-the-magic-of-dushyant-kumars-poetry-inspired-this-bollywood-lyricist/">from Varun Grover's article about using this poet's lines in "Masaan"</a>)J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-60152551114219104632015-06-15T12:58:00.002+05:302015-06-15T12:58:11.668+05:30The Magna Carta JokeFrom about the age of 10, I could remember that the historic signing of the Magna Carta happened in the year 1215. How? Thanks to this joke which I read in Reader's Digest:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>A tourist guide is with a group of visitors at Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was signed. He tells them: "this is where the Magna Carta, or the Great Charter, was signed in 1215.<p><br />
One visitor looks at his watch and remarks: "Damn, we just missed it by about an hour, then".<br />
</blockquote>J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-26456990932635161622015-06-08T08:11:00.003+05:302015-06-08T08:11:56.681+05:30"Genome" by Matt Ridley<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genome_%28book%29">"Genome"</a> is undoubtedly one of those books that will change the way you look at the world and yourselves. The triumph of the book is keeping the matter accessible to lay readers, without dumbing the import down. Though I thought Ridley's discipline ran out towards the last couple of chapters in terms of accessibility, it's still something you should pick up at the earliest. <p><br />
After all, it's your "Autobiography in 23 Chapters" (<a href="http://www.flipkart.com/genome-autobiography-species-23-chapters-english/p/itmefg2dftvnfkra?pid=9788172236090&affid=quatrainma">Flipkart link here</a>).J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-70688571835310663332015-05-18T21:13:00.001+05:302015-05-18T21:13:34.669+05:30San Diego Zoo and the suffocation of choice a.k.a the buffet problemVisited San Diego Zoo, considered by many to be among the best zoos in the world. There's always something conflicting about zoos: on one hand, however gilded the cage, the animals are in captivity, but on the other, we get to be so close to them and feel why its worth conserving as many of them as possible (which this zoo is also famous for).<p><br />
Saw my first ever gorilla, toucan, and polar bear (<a href="http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/animals">partial list here</a>). It's also one of the most accessible outdoor spaces I've ever seen, with even an escalator segment that helps you navigate some of the steeper parts of the zoo.<p><br />
We must have seen about 40-50% of the zoo, given the size of the campus. That's pretty much the most you can do in 4-6 hours, especially with children in tow. Which means you have to choose. With a dazzling array of choices, this act is very difficult. You have this problem at large buffets and bookstores (ok, *I* have this anxiety at bookstores).<p>People have been studying the problems of abundance - when we can't have it all, it makes us uneasy, for making a choice implies saying no to something else, and thus a potential loss - what if you made the wrong choice?<p><br />
Sheena Iyengar's book <a href="http://dl.flipkart.com/dl/art-choosing-english/p/itmdzjbehuhqckqn?pid=9780349121420&affid=quatrainma">Buy The Art Of Choosing </a> sums this up nicely.<br />
J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-16870252319725757122015-04-09T12:40:00.001+05:302015-04-09T12:40:14.882+05:30The usefulness of naiveteJust completed an exercise of collating all the questions we did for Doolally's weekly pub quiz in 2014. Realised how much our thinking has changed, evolved, even transmogrified since Jan 2014. <br />
<br />
And how naive, new, and noble we once were! But it's good to know that state of mind, which accompanies anything that you begin from zero, can be rediscovered. Gives you a chance to refresh and scrape off cynicism accumulated in other aspects of life.J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-9210603285533040962015-04-09T08:23:00.001+05:302015-04-09T08:23:29.436+05:30Passive AggressiveThe great thing about passive voice in bureaucratic writing is how it allows for the person doing the writing to not attribute any responsibility to any persons(s).<br />
<br />
Consider:<br />
<blockquote><i>"It has been decided to remove access to xyz"</i><br />
</blockquote><br />
Not "I have decided" or "we have decided", but "it has been". Borderline euphemistic, don't-come-complaining-to-me. Blame the ether.J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-7133872776642749662014-09-02T17:42:00.001+05:302014-09-02T17:42:52.429+05:30Richard AttenboroughSir Richard Attenborough passed away in Aug 2014. Until my early twenties, I only knew of him as the man who directed 'Gandhi' (I hadn't even seen Jurassic Park.) Then, I happened to read a book about him, which opened up his acting life and shone light on his other films which had been out-dazzled by 'Gandhi'.<p><br />
In 2002, for my Mastermind India final, I was fast running out of ideas for a topic in the specialised round (there were just 3 weeks between the semi-final and the final, and it would have been premature to think of the final before). I eventually ended up opting for "The Films of Richard Attenborough". It could have been a disaster, considering that these were the days before movies, especially less popular ones, were easily available all around you as is the case today. I was banking on that book from the library and IMDB to get me through.<p>.<br />
<br />
It didn't happen - I got a call from the producers asking me if I would mind switching to another topic ('The Tommy and Tuppence Stories of Agatha Christie'). I didn't know why that happened, but I had no hesitation in accepting - it was an easier topic to prepare for and I just needed to ensure I had all the books of the series (I had 3 of them already). Incidentally, there is a tiny connection between T&T and Sir RA: his wife of many years Sheila Sim and he had portrayed the detective duo (on stage, I think).<p><br />
Later, I watched a little more of his work and would have no hesitation recommending the following for your viewing pleasure:<br />
1. 10 Rillington Place - he acts as your uncle next door who is also into serial killing.<br />
2. Chaplin - directed by R.A, features Robert Downey Jr. in a well-acted biopic on the famous Charlie<br />
3. Shatranj Ke Khiladi - as General Outram, the no-nonsense imperialist<br />
4. The Great Escape - leading the secret escape committee in a PoW camp<br />
<p>I have yet to watch Brighton Rock, his big breakthrough performance.<p><br />
I got somewhat tired of watching the slightly too-positive 'Gandhi' over the years, but it's a tremendous piece of cinematic work - kind of like watching a long, carefully constructed Test match innings by the likes of Dravid or Gavaskar. And like their notable performances, there are a lot of great behind-the-scenes stories of how he went about putting it together.<p>Now that would make a great movie.J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-33802100115918200052014-08-25T07:44:00.000+05:302014-08-25T07:44:16.873+05:30My Mint Lounge articles and the benefits of an editorIn the past, I've occasionally contributed travel-related articles to some in-flight magazines and wrote some short stories for some publications and contests. This year, thanks to a personal resolution to begin writing with more purpose once again and thanks to the fact that I know the Travel editor for Mint Lounge (<a href="http://shamanthrao.com/">Shamanth Rao</a>), I pitched and published two articles for Mint Lounge.<p><br />
The articles are:<p>1. about <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/3KMy1C7ANoNrnBoTP5OiMM/Pune--Houses-of-lords-and-commons.html">the 'Waadaas' (traditional residences) of Pune</a><br><br />
2. about <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/vKGU2fiEEOhqQboZGzO5LI/Mountain-View-US--Geek-history.html">the Computer History Museum in California</a><p><br />
Unlike in my earlier submissions, this went through a slightly more intense editing process. Mint Lounge has a very clearly stated set of guidelines on what the article's typical 'voice' should be like: it should read like a personal narrative, not like a travel guide's summary or neither an extremely autobiographical piece. The first version of my first article fell through so many of these guidelines that I think we had to send out a rescue mission and some oxygen. Based on the editor's pointed inputs, I reworked the entire structure almost inside-out. What you see in the article above is largely that structure (and if it works, I can't take much of the credit for it).<br />
<p>The second time, I had a fair idea of what worked, so the process was easier and shorter. This time, most of the follow-up work was spent on fleshing out details: 'it's still not vivid enough', 'describe that object in greater detail', 'who was around and what were they doing' and so on.<p>Having someone skilled looking at your work really helps: it's a mix of an outside-in view, detachment, the ability to see what works and what doesn't, what can be emphasized and what can be thrown out without remorse, and most importantly, in my case - someone that I, by pitching and researching and writing, had made a personal committment to in terms of seeing this through to the end.J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-36415624512901225672014-08-22T17:11:00.000+05:302014-08-22T17:11:22.509+05:30I was one of the earliest bloggers in India. That was a decade and more ago. About 7-or so years ago, I joined Facebook & then Twitter. The last time I blogged - seriously that is - was in Sept 2013. I made over 300 posts in 2003 and just 9 in 2013 (2014 - has just one before this - that too for some contest).<p><br />
I think I'm coming back here now. One is that it doesn't get too many hits now, which is good. Plus, I won't be suckered into hankering for likes and RTs (which I anyway don't manage to pull). There is just so much volume (and hence noise) on every other media (social, news, etc.) that I think this is like a slow-food version that I like. <p><br />
Plus I think I'm ready to write a little more. Let's see - 90% of my projects fizzle out soon, so let's give this another shot.J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-35612842563628497512014-01-03T16:56:00.001+05:302014-01-03T16:59:03.201+05:30A new way to vote - Indian General Elections 2014 with social mobile apps<i>This entry was written for a contest organised by IndiBlogger and WeChat: <a href="http://www.indiblogger.in/topic.php?topic=96">here's the contest page</a></i><p><br />
Ok, so everyone (above 18) can vote, and presumably everyone who can vote (at least in urban and semi-urban India) has a phone. Some of them also have smartphones with apps that can do everything from entertain you, to inform you, to keep you in touch with friends (on a second-by-second basis), and even show you pictures of cats doing Aarti with Alok Nath.<p><br />
So how do you put this massive infrastructure to get people out to vote? For, if past records are any guide, voting in a General Election isn't necessarily always high in priority for people.<p><br />
Here are some ideas on getting butts to booths:<p><br />
1. Mobile+Social is a great way to show off your achievements. How about making the casting of a vote as an achievement worth bragging about? And even something that gets publicly commended? Here's one possibility:<p>- Let's say you go to an election booth to cast your vote. You get 'indelibly' inked on your finger.<br />
<br />
- Now, get out, and take a pic of your finger with a mobile app. This sends it to a special a/c (say, a person/group on WeChat) or a twitter a/c or a FB page or an email id.<br />
<br />
- Get a personalised autographed pic as a 'thank you' from your favourite film/sports star - people who have signed up to be election ambassadors. (Remember the BCCI-Sachin Tendulkar autographed digital picture). Perhaps even the Chief Election Commissioner or even the President of India!<br />
<br />
- Now share that around on your network!<p><br />
2. Mobile is a great way to get people banded together, to plan for a trip. Use a mobile app to find out when your friends are planning to go visit the polling booth. Or use it to get a lift to the polling booth from someone in your neighbourhood, in case you don't have easy accessibility to the location yourself. Use Mobile for Mobility!<p>.<br />
<br />
3. Finally, sign up as a volunteer with the mobile app to help (gently) get people in your network out to vote. The app tells you who among your n/w is yet to go out to vote. Give them a call or message them on election day and see how you can get them to go and vote. You can even get a series of avatars in which to make this plea: for example, the Arnab Goswami avatar will help you ask: "the nation demands to know why you haven't yet voted!"<p><br />
Ok now, go out there, and vote. That's the least you can do for yourself.J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-40320741141434098162013-09-06T17:50:00.000+05:302013-09-06T18:00:29.413+05:30A.R.Rahman - Coke Studio 2013A.R.Rahman's production for Coke Studio's Season III (which also inaugurated the season) is an almost perfect capsule of his career's work: the accessible innovations, the spiritual reference points, the C-L-A-R-I-T-Y of the sound, the difficult balance between styles, the new faces, the do-I-need-to-tolerate-this rap, the sincere yet often bad diction, and those irresistable, unavoidable goosebumps.<p><br />
I sometimes think we are fortunate to have film music in India: this allows talented musicians a potentially expansive breadth with the option of breaking rules, traditions, formats, and boundaries. Part of Rahman's success has been the willingness to push beyond existing playbooks, collaborate with a diverse range of creative people, and to use his influence to bring new voices and sounds to the fore. In my limited knowledge, I can only think of Pt. Ravi Shankar and R.D.Burman to have exhibited a similar creative diversity while being hugely successful at pulling it off. What they can also do is guide you, the listener, if you are so willing, to new places, gently and gracefully.<p><br />
Take "Zariya" - a Tibetan nun, a Jordanian singer, a continuum, a set of talented backing vocalists, Hindi lyrics, Sivamani. Soaked in abstract thought. It took me a while to get used to all of this (individually and together), but it works together. Ineffably so. And that deep, haunting sound in your ears, that is a Rahman trademark.<p><br />
"Naan Yen", set to the questioning words of the late Vaalee, asks questions and draws from rustic metaphors. This song clearly underlines the value of knowing the language of the lyrics: unlike someone like Vishal, Rahman has been more of a 'onomatopoeic' composer, by which I mean that often, the combination of the song's lyrics and its musical neighbours is because of how they sound together rather than to underscore the semantics of the lyrics (if this was hard for you to parse, it is harder for me to explain). This is more so with non-Tamil lyrics. In "Naan Yen" (and in the other Tamil song), the music is not just a guy-in-the-next-seat to the lyrics, but is in an intimate embrace - each fits in snugly with each other. Add to that, Rahman's much improved singing (with the gamakams), and his sister Rayhanah's opening and backing vocals. <br />
<br />
"Naan Yen" is a potential top-10/top-20 contender on that hard-to-break-into list of "The Best of Rahman". That, for me, is saying something. <br />
<p>"Aao Balmaa", a multi-generational classic, has in it so many things to rave about that one needs to properly sit down, focus, and make a good fist of it.<br />
<p>There's Rahman's piano-playing. There's the spectacular 'Guitar' Prasanna, who is an absolute joy to listen to, solo or in jugalbandi mode. There's the bass guitarist, Mohini Dey, who, if you factor in her age (she's a teenager) seems almost unreasonably talented. The family of Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, three generations of it, completely at home in this left-field take on something they've probably sung a hundred times in a traditional manner. I am completely bowled over the percussion (Sivamani can often be too gimmicky for me, but not here). But what hit me between the eyes was the jazz-like dance between the piano and the guitar.<p>That's when you realise this isn't mere Hindustani-meets-Carnatic-meets-Western-meets-jazz, but something that you don't take a scalpel to. <br />
<p><br />
In "Ennile Maha Oliyo" (that is one heck of an opening line), Rahman decides to show that his other sister, Issrath, can sing too. It's feels like an abbreviated song (is there more that will be revealed in the album that the siblings are working on?), but powerful in its quietness. The swarams are crystal-clear, the percussion is muted, and the arrangement adds a dimension for which the word 'ethereal' will do nicely to describe. And there's Prasanna. <br />
<p><br />
Suchismita Das - I've never heard a swara-motor-mouth such as her. What a singer! To steal the thunder in a gallery of stars, as she does in "Jagaao Mere Des Ko", is an achievement. Rahman's opening for the Bengali section uses Tagore's lyrics as a prose poem rather than setting it 'properly' to a tune, but when the Hindi lyrics (Prasoon Joshi) kick in, you are ready to forgive his diction because the melody and orchestration soars. The backing ladies, Mohini Dey, Prasanna, Sivamani give the song its wings (do you really need caffeine stimulants when you can listen to this?) and its terminal velocity. For once, just for once, Blaaze's rap is tolerable. Sivamani's kunnakol is somewhat forced on the scene, but the song recovers, takes off. Off the cliff. End of story!<br />
<p>"Soz-e-Salaam", not telecast in the first episode (it will be on the season-ending episode), but available on the Coke Studio website, is a soothing balm from the Mustafas. It ticks off many Rahman boxes: the spare orchestrations, the higher-pitch voices, the interesting sounds. It touches, ever so lightly, on many of his best works, reminiscent of the Bombay theme and his 90s songs of the 90s that so prominently featured woodwinds. <br />
<p><br />
In summary, this tells you what some Indian film musicians, when let loose, can do even if they have the baggage and expectations of two decades of work. And when you hear Rahman ask "Naan Yen Piranden" ("why did I come into this world?"), you know the answer to that. <br />
<p>Also see <a href="http://itwofs.com/milliblog/2013/08/18/coke-studio-mtv-season-3-episode-1-music-review-a-r-rahman/">Karthik's review on Milliblog</a>.<br />
<hr>(A note: if you've heard the songs on TV or from the internet via your PC speakers, do yourself a huge favour and listen to them through your head-phones. There's so much happening that you can risk permanent tinnitus if ony to have this ringing in your head.)J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3523224.post-41976297227519063082013-09-06T17:07:00.000+05:302013-09-06T17:07:00.664+05:30Verbal Lice This<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Does the modelling agency have a ramp up plan for its new models?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Does a book club meeting end with all its members on the same page?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Did the jail superintendent keep the hangman in the loop?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Did the stunt supervisor send out the action items to his team?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Was Mike Tyson thinking out of the box when he decided to give Holyfield an ear-ful?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Does the HLL distributor have any leverag</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">e over company salesmen?<br />
Did that sherpa touch base with the mountaineering expedition?<br />
What was the outcome of the parachutist's blue-sky thinking?<br />
Just how much bandwidth did the fat drummer need?<br />
Just how did the epidemiologist's slide go viral?<br />
Was Dolly the sheep the best-of-breed option?<br />
What is the obstetrician's next major deliverable?<br />
What is the telepath's mind-share of the market?<br />
Wasn't Cain who made the first killer app?<br />
Going forward, get it into the marathon team not the tug-of-war team, ok?</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span> <span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i>(posted elsewhere, some time ago)</i></span></div>J Ramanandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03700969855424872769noreply@blogger.com0