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Mystic Margazhi and Thiruppavai

 I always look forward to the month of December / Margazhi every year. There are several good things about this time of the year. There is less activity on the work side because of the holiday season, Chennai music season is in full swing and one gets to hear several good concerts and taste great traditional food and the weather is at its best in Chennai. While all this adds some serenity, Margazhi by itself is a divine month because Lord Krishna himself has said that in months he is Margazhi! And what is Margazhi without Andal and Thiruppavai. I have been Chanting Thiruppavai daily for years now but it is always a special feeling chanting Thiruppavai in Margazhi and ending with the day's pasuram. Listening to discourses makes the expereinced surreal and this year I came across some interesting explanations linking Thiruppavai verses to Ramayanam. Thiruppavai is supposed to be the essence of all Vedas and is a clear guide on Saranagathi, how to surrender to God and attain salvation...
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Chennai Music season 2024 controversy

 The Chennai music season is at its peak and I have been fortunate to listen to few concerts and I have written about some of them. This year has also been a year of controversy. It is totally upto an organisation to decide how and to whom they give awards. In my opinion the music academy is just another Sabha and I don't understand why there is so much discussion on who they choose for an award. However I have an issue on how the person in question, T.M.Krishna, is being projected as a reformer who has brought about change in Carnatic music. I don't understand how singing about a controversial individual in an RTP or wearing a lungi or saying I don't have Bakthi is recognised as a reform. These are only attention seeking tactics. How does it matter as long as one is sincere to the art form and respects the audience feelings and what is the need to declare these things publicly? The other funny thing is few people gloating that there was overwhelming crowd for TMK's 9 A...
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Chennai Music season 2024 - Sriranjani's Sriranjani

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Margazhi is just 1 day away and the Chennai music season has mostly started over the weekend. While the pandemic has been a major set back and has significantly impacted the Sabhas and the number of concerts and the unpredictable December rain has been another deterrent, the music season has slowly been trying to limp back towards normal. Hopefully 2024 will be a better year in making significant strides forward! I had a precursor to music season on Dec 1st when I attended Karthik fine arts day 1 concerts of Ramakrishnan Murthy and Trichur brothers. While the concerts were good, there is nothing like the Margazhi experience when major Sabhas are in full swing, the canteens are buzzing and Mylapore is reverberating with rich music! I started the music season with a concert by Sriranjani Santhanagopalan at Sankara School, Thiruvanmiyur. Since I don't have the luxury of staying in the city yet, this venue was a pleasant surprise nearer home with a good auditorium and plenty of parking...
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Is Loyalty a thing of the past?

As part of my work, I deal a lot with Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies. For them building and maintaining Brand Loyalty is very important. Most of us might be using a particular brand soap or household item for years because it was used by our parents or introduced to us by someone we trust.  I used to cross a TCS office on the way to school and I remember by mother telling me that TATA is a trusted company who have now got into something to do with computers and the people coming out of this office seem to be very smart. Maybe this is one reason I have continued with the same company for 27 + years! Today the world is so competitive that we check prices across apps and across brands, look at ratings for the products and go for whichever is cheap and best! This is true for work life as well. Almost 10 years back one of my friends told me that one should not stick to the same company for more than 3 to 4 years! I laughed at him at that point but what he said seems to be reall...
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Desires and Restrictions!

  I have been wanting to start learning divya prabandham again for the last few days. Maybe it is because I was at a temple earlier this week, where I recited few pasurams after a long time. Or it could also be because it is the time of Anadhyana kaalam, when there is a restriction on reciting pasurams. I remember Thi. Janakiraman’s novel ( I think it is “Amma Vandhaal”) starting with how one has an uncontrollable urge to read something only on Saraswathi pooja, even if it is an insignificant piece of paper used to pack some thing like a tooth powder! “Prohibition creates the desire it was intended to curb” This is a quote by Mark Twain. Don’t restrictions always intensify the desire to act? What do you think?!
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Celebrating 100 years of my thatha Sri T.S.Thirumalai

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  It is ages since I blogged. When I started blogging my first post was about my mother and I subsequently wrote a post on my grandfather. When I am writing something again after many years, it is only fitting that I thought of writing about both of them again. This is my thatha’s 100th year and amma’s 75th year. Their birthdays are only few days apart. They left this world also only few months apart. Dec 7th is thatha’s birthday, so let me start with Thatha this time. Thatha was a happy person who enjoyed life to the fullest. He had a great sense of humour and could not stop laughing when he heard a timely joke. I used to get him to talk and tell some incidents from his child hood or college days and would use that information to pull his leg later. When it came from me he could take a joke on himself and laugh at that as well. I once even got him to tell me his pet name and started calling him by that!  Thatha was the first Post Graduate in our family and till date one of th...
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வாமனனின் நடை

 *வாமனனின் நடை* இன்று வாமன ஜெயந்தி. வாமனனை ஆழ்வார்கள் அனுபவித்த சில பாசுரங்களை கீழே நாமும் அனுபவிப்போம். திருமங்கை ஆழ்வார் தன் பெரிய திருமடலில் வாமன அவதாரத்து நிகழ்வுகளை நம் கண் முன்னே அப்படியே படம் பிடித்துக் காட்டுகிறார். தன் உருவத்தை மாற்றிக் கொண்டு தான் யார் என்பதை மறைக்க தன் நடை உடை பாவனையையும் மாற்றிக் கொண்டு தன்னுடைய சொத்தான உலகத்தையே பெருமான் யாசித்துப் பெற்றது எத்தனை அழகு. மாவலி நம்பும் வண்ணம் வஞ்சித்து நெஞ்சுருக்கி நடந்து வந்தாராம். என்ன அழகான தமிழ்! மற்றன்றியும், தன்னுருவ மாரும் அறியாமல் தானங்கோர், மன்னும் குறளுருவின் மாணியாய், - மாவலிதன் பொன்னியலும் வேள்விக்கண் புக்கிருந்து, போர்வேந்தர் மன்னை மனங்கொள்ள வஞ்சித்து நெஞ்சுருக்கி, என்னுடைய பாதத்தால் யானளப்ப மூவடிமண், மன்னா தரு கென்று வாய்திறப்ப, - மற்றவனும் என்னால் தரப்பட்ட தென்றலுமே, அத்துணைக்கண் மின்னார் மணிமுடிபோய் விண்தடவ, மேலெடுத்த பொன்னார் கனைகழற் கால் ஏழுலகும் போய்க்கடந்து,அங் கொன்னா அசுரர் துளங்கச் செலநீட்டி,மன்னிவ் வகலிடத்தை மாவலியை வஞ்சித்து, தன்னுலகம் ஆக்குவித்த தாளானை நாச்சியார் திருமொழியில் திருவரங்கனுக்காக பத்த...
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