Brinjal

The rotund brinjal went to the kitchen

With all the pride of an egotist.

A firm green stem atop,

And a matte-purple bottom,

Resembling the sketch of humpty-dumpty.

Ignorant about hitting its pyre

It seethed with life,

Displaying fullness.

Soon- its heart, pierced, and body burnt

Shedding tears, ego shrouded

Skin wrinkling, fullness shrinking.

Hissing with hesitation, the fat vegetable cried even more

The firm green stem remained

Only as a grip to strip the vegetable.

In all its famished benevolence,

Brinjal dear was soon food for the egotist human. 

Cusp

You know what, I know it now!

You are a cusp!

He whispered into her ears

She asked why in amazement

Shades of two

The thrill of being with two women at a time

Both satiating him equally

Like the Parijatha tree

Symbolising Rukmini and Satyabhama alike.

But Draupadi, is aided by Krishna too :

She retorted. 

And chose to remain a multi-shaded Cusp

Drinking up mirth from every glass

Living her living by the day

Forgot and remembered things per convenience

Insanely dumb, cusped-madness.

Rickshaw

They met in a night's dream

And chose to take a rickshaw ride

Their arms brushed as the rickshaw was pedalled 

Across the streets of the city

Whose air was laden with the smell of spices

Pepper, dry ginger and cardamom in particular

Their disposition was 

As modest as the mode of transport :

Little nothings were shared, and careful kisses planted 

Their fingers entwined, held tight,

Under the cloth- shelter of the rickshaw;

Stealing a look or two of each others' hidden naughtiness.

As they went past the spice city in gay abandon,

They dozed. 

From Dream to Reality.

Girls

When their handwritings had not taken shape yet

As much as their chests hadn't;

Much before they knew what the word friend actually meant

Times when they were obliviously dressed in petticoats

Or even carelessly walked about in their red and green, particularly short PT skirts.

When they went about blowing a kiss to every red car they saw

Only to get get lucky with some favourite food of theirs back home.

They said the name of every car of their time that passed by :

Daewoo Matiz, Contessa Classic, Mitsubishi Lancer, Esteem and the likes,

Some silly fetish they had nursed to remember these names :

Lest they could even think of owning one!

Mathematics remained elusive, anything related would make them freeze in fear

They tried their best to just scrape through the exams :

By inspiring themselves with pretty stationery:

Smiley, Apsara and Natraj Pencil, Natraj and Faber Castle Eraser, Pens that had refills with incense.

Whatever they wrote would come out with a pleasant smell;

However Maths still stank for them, and vice versa!

At a time when The Hindu's Young World came out on Saturdays

The Mahabharatha on Sundays

Swabhiman, Junoon and Shanthi during the week

Their days were made, their childhood, pretty much the same!

Sunsilk shampoo came out with small pretty clips- pink, black, yellow and crimson hues

Their hair was long enough to be decked with these clips.

They went through the same drill for their hairgrowth :

Coconut oil followed by Clinic Plus or Sunsilk Shampoo.

Menstruation was almost together too-

They whispered and stayed-free...

They were together almost always,

Familiarity never bred contempt, even once.

Even as they parted from school, they kept in touch

In the most intimate manner:

Neither via phone calls, nor by meeting each other at their homes;

But through letters- they felt the sameness through their handwritings.

And then they remained elusive

Until recently when they first spoke on the phone

Not once they had realised how they sounded on the phone

How their voice had developed

What it meant to call each others' name on the phone

For they had always only met or written to each other!

They still had remained those girls of yonder in their heart

Regardless of the changes they had gone through.

For some strange reason, they looked the same.

Women of their thirties

With a shapely body and mind.

Hamir Kalyani

Reeti Gowlai remained elusive

For no rhyme or reason.

It simply was not heard

Despite frantic requests.

Then came Hamir Kalyani,

To mitigate the sinus, fever and coagulated messy mind.

The singer spoke in Hamir Kalyani to the violinist

The violinist knew his language too;

Reciprocating each nuance of Hamir Kalyani.

A phone message popped asking:

"How are you?"

She replied, I am with Hamir Kalyani.

Jus Fusion-Kriya at OMR Escapade, Kriyates- Rasikapriya Festival- 13th Dec'14

The OMR music festival organised by Rasikapriya had just begun, marking its début. The very atmosphere was unconventional in every sense- the place, and the event by itself. An evening which wasn't for an esoteric crowd- quite clearly threatening to melt the heart of even a layman. Jus Fusion- Kriya, as the band was named, were unfazed by the predictably unpredictable Chennai rains. The music they created was a euphoric treat amidst the breezy, neatly mowed locale of OMR. 

The band consisted of S.Muralikrishnan on the Drums, Karaikal Venkatasubramanian on the Violin, Madurai B Sundar on the Mridangam, Varun on the Keyboard and Mridul on the Guitar. A set of 11 songs they played were a transportation of sorts to joy land. Murali was quite charming on the mike too- announcing the names of each composition and the ragas in which they were composed. No question of being raga-illiterate there, the hunger was well-fed in terms of music and knowledge. 

The names of compositions were just as stimulating: Ganesh in raga Hamsadhwani, Walking in the Dream set to the raga Malayamarutham, Brahma- in raga Jog, Lotus Colony in ragas Chala Nattai and Pantuvarali, Chennai Rain- in raga Madhyamavathi and Out in the Wild- in raga Kalyani: one outdid the other. However, Chennai Rain takes the cake, for it was a contemporary piece that blended seamlessly with the wet weather in Chennai. The other songs that ensued were Yentharo Mahanubhavulu , Raguvamshasudha, Bho Shambo, Kurai Ondrum Ilai and Vande Mataram- not to forget the thaniavartanam which was incorporated into the fusion with so much ease. 

Engineers by profession and musicians by passion - could be a one liner to describe this beautiful band of musicians. A special mention to the violinist, he easily zipped past the sounds of all fellow accompanists, making sure to lure us with every sound he produced. Nevertheless, Murali's power with the drums could never go amiss despite a power outage for a few seconds- he continued to play on without letting an eyelid batter. That happened exactly during the song Chennai rain- just as unpredictable! Drums power was royal during the song Bho Shambo- as powerful as the deity that was being invoked. Something as simple as 'hara hara shankara jaya jaya shankara' blended with the raga Revathy was magnetic. 

Carnatic music is certainly treading along newer realms with each season witnessing a sense of novelty. Jus Fusion-Kriya was one such. Thanks to the band for an exotic evening.

Photo courtesy: S. Murali Krishnan (Drums Murali)

Tribute to Mandolin U Shrinivas at Tchaikovsky Music Club - Russian Centre Of Science And Culture - Sunday, 14th Dec'14

Sunday couldn't have started better- last night's showers gave way to some morning warmth- with a blissful session of piano, mandolin and ganjira. The artistes included: Anil Srinivasan on the piano, U.Rajesh on the Mandolin and Krishna Kishore on the ganjira. The melancholy of Shrinivas’ demise was wiped out albeit just temporarily, through the music produced by his brother U.Rajesh.  The performance was the season’s first festival dedicated to Mandolin U. Shrinivas. Being the first musician to use the electric mandolin in Carnatic music, every tune played was but a resonation of the sounds produced by the maestro.

All the compositions played were personal favorites of Shrinivas – they were recorded 14 yrs ago in his presence- all the ragas chosen to be played had been recommended by Shrinivas to both Anil and Rajesh. The morning began with the raga shyama with the lilting notes of Annapoorne Visalakshi – which gradually gave way to raga dhenuka with the song Teliyaleru Rama. Kaliyuga Varadha composed in the raga Brindavana Saranga was heart rendering; especially with some fleeting moments during a prelude consisting of an eclectic raga assortment- nalinakanthi, reetigowlai, chandrakauns and bilahari- This song was composed by Shrinivas for the Hollywood movie’s sound track- Eat Pray Love.

A tall vinyl image with black and white undertones of the maestro adorned the stage – setting a class apart. The concert closed with John McLaughlin’s composition–Lotus Feet, in raga durbari kanada - Shrinivas had rendered his alluring Mandolin notes to this heartwarming unison of eastern and western classical music.

Picture courtesy: Agni Sharman- Photography blogger