An Array of thoughts..

The last one and a half years have been, if not the best, the most fruitful time of my life. My life has changed completely in this short span. I've learned so much. Most of all, music. I play the flute and trumpet. A year before all i knew was to play the instruments, but now i know to get some music out of them. All thanks to my friends Karthik and Chandrasekar.
Karthik is a musician, the most musical musician i've met.. :D If he gets into music nothing can bring him out.. He just loses himself so much in music, that he even forgets food, sleep, family and everything except his Keyboard. Thats Karthik for u.
For me he's a guru. I learnt a lot of my music from him. Right from the scales to chords, he gave me the foundation. Discovered my own talent only after minggling with him. Can't thank him enough for that..
The next one big boon i got was in the form of my classmate in college, Chandrasekar. He's a great violinist and now he's a great musician. His passion nkows no bounds. During our second year in college, we formed a group and participated in our college culturals. That was when i really knew his true form. Nothing can stand between his fingers and his violin. He can make the violin talk and sing. Though we fared really bad in the culturals, I learnt a lot from that experience.
Chandrasekar excels in the carnatic form of music. I ask him for notes for songs and he just writes them and i play em on my flute. He's also a Raaga specialist. He plays with them. I can't thank him enough for his role in making me understand music so well.
These elements put together alng with a little passion is what has given this sense of music. But yeah, My first love for music was only because of ARR. It's his music that made me want to learn flute. It was the Bombay theme that came out first on my flute. I just had this fire, to learn to play that theme and i somehow succeded. I got it out note by note. Took me almost 2 weeks to play it right. But once i started playing I got this small confidence that i can play the flute. Now i can play it quite well, as an amateur.
Well.. Our life on this earth is nothing short of a miracle. We're here for a reason. And we need to search for the reason and then act towards. It's such a pity that today's world is filled with all the wrong thoughts, all negative emotions, terrorism, genocide, poverty... All this can be beheaded, if, and only if we all vow to make a small difference around ourselves. If each on of us can give a positive vibe to our society that is enough to make the difference.. Lets wake up to the reality and act for a better future where there is no Poverty, no genocide or terrorism. That's the goal to attain.

The Man called AR RAHMAN..

It was 10.30 pm on the 2nd of May at calicut, the evening before the concert. 16 of us entered the venue after a long tussle with the security, for watching the Rehearsals of the concert.. AR was already on stage geting ready for the rehearsal. This was only the second time i was watching AR at a rehearsal. previously i saw him at chennai during the Times of India concert.. But tht was during the day just 2 hours b4 the concert. This time it was different.
The rehearsal started at 11.15 pm. I guessed it would go on for about a couple of hours or so.. But tht was just my thought, not AR's. He's a man of sheer perfection and it left e jaw dropped, to see the man rehearsing at for more than 6 hours at a stretch not taking any major break. Continuously on the mic. It was such a delight to watch him on stage, making jokes, composing on the spot(he did some tune with sitar player Asad, on stage). He went on and on, on the stage, rehearsing each song till it attained perfection, He was with Netru Illadha matrum for more than an hour.:O
By 3.30 most of us watching him were half asleep and some even snoring.. But He went on and on till 6.30 am..
And at 5(his Namaz time), he sang Khwaja mere Khwaja and Maula Maula with so much divinity.. He removed his slippers, sat down wearing a white topi, and sang with all his eart.. He's one of a kind.. Every Action of his has some meaning to it..
Jai Ho ARR..

Regards,
Rakesh, Rahmaniac.

Rahmanism- A New way of Life.

The last one and a half years of my life have had some of the best days that i would cherish for the rest of my life. It all started during November 2007 when i first went to meet a set of AR RAHMAN fans at Anna nagar, thanks to Orkut. We met at Music world, an apt place i thought. The first set of fans i met included John, Narayan, Vithur, Karthik, Jayanth and Ganesh. It was such a great occasion to mingle with these fans. (That night i hadn't realised that these people would become such a great part of my life so soon. I never ever imagined strangers could grow so close, and unite under one name- Rahmaniacs.)

What followed that evening was series of weekend meets with many new faces coming in. The following week we started planning on what we could do to celebrate AR RAHMAN sir's Birthday. That was when I met other fans namely, Anees, Balaji, Arun, Baradwaj etc. We met at coffee day n discussed plans. It was like a Business meet. We shared our Knowledge about ARR first, then went on to discuss about the B'day plans. We came up with various plans like doing a special show in a Radio station about ARR n stuff like that. But the idea was not all that convincing.

So the following weekend we met again. This time it was at Alan's office. We discussed various ideas before Alan suggested that we sponsor food and other amenities to some Orphanage. That idea bloomed into a great one and we pitched up right away.. The weeks that follewed saw us searching for an orphanage in the city. We ended up at Nethrodaya, a place which housed visually challenged students and aided them in their studies and other important stuff..


On 30th December, 2007, we conducted a program at nethrodaya. We sponsored their lunch.
A week before that I formed a music band off the various hugely talented musicians from the fans group. Many of them volunteered. What turned out was a great blend of musicians(exclude me) coming together and performing for the students of Nethrodaya. They enjoyed it. The band played various AR hits.
Singer shalini was amongst us that day. She cut a cake that we had made for celebrating AR's birthday. She cut it n distributed them to the students there.

The show was a real hit amongst AR fans. Many fans wanted to join us and it became a small revolution of sorts.
On Jan 6th, 2008 we met AR for the first time. It was an unforgettable experience and the visuals of the day r still on my mind, as fresh as ever.


Meeting AR was like adding petrol to fire, i mean it was such a big motivation for all of us tt we started doing social service on a weekly basis. We distribute food for the needy people on the road sides. This is how we come about it: We meet at a place(usually outside KM music conservatory). We pool in money. And there's no lower or upper limit to the contribution. With the money that is collected we buy food packets. Usually some variety of rice (Sambar, curd, tomatoe etc). We set off with the food in bikes around the city and give it out to the most needy. Sometimes when we find people sleeping on the road sides, we just keep the food near them. Nothing can match the happiness that u find on them when they wake up hungry, to find food beside. :-) And that happiness is our blessing..
This has been on for more than a Year now. it's such a heart filling experince to serve the poor people.

All this has changed me, personaly. There is so much to life than just work and play and family and friends. There's so much happening around us, both good and bad. And in some way or the other we are all part of all the happenings. And we can make a huge difference to the world around us by indulging and involving ourselves in the worldly affairs. Instead of just sitting indoors and brooding about tpoverty in the country and stuff like that, come out into the open and try and make a difference. Our lives are too short to cry about the past or think about the future. All we have is the present. It is upto us to realize this truth and start acting in the present, to make a small difference around ourselves.
It is only my love for music and AR, that has made me realize this. And u will have that special something that will make u realize what life is.. Just keep searching.. Because remember, anytime "The Search is more important than the Destination."

Day 2: WAYANAD.. The Lap of Nilgiris!!

It was 1 in the morning. We were still playing cards and chatting. We had totally forgotten that we had a bus to catch at 7. That was the only bus to our next destination, which is Wayanad, from Mattanur. If we miss that bus we would have to travel some 20 kms extra. Realising this i pestered everyone into bed. I kept the alarm for 5.30. When i woke up i found guru already up n ready. He dint play in the night as he was tired. The time was 6 and 5 of us had to get ready. I immediately woke all up n pestered them into getting read. I took a quick shower and packed a few of my clothes and got ready. It was already 6.40. The guys had to do everything in a fuzz as we had no time. It was already 6.55 when we left home. We reached the Bust stand just after 7 and unfortunately the bus had left!

Now the only way out for us was to travel south by a 20 km and catch a bus from a place called Kuthuparamba to Wayanad, which was about 94 kms from there. We had a hard day ahead of us. We got into a bus and reached Kuthuparamba in half an hour. We waited in the bus stand for some 15 mins but dint find a bus to wayanad. We saw an array of Jeeps on the road. Benny said we should just try renting a Jeep for a day. That would make our trip more enjoyable and les tiresome. I agreed but the others were against the idea saying it would cost a lot. But Benny and I somehow talked them into the idea and they agreed. We got into one of the Jeeps and started our 4 hour long journey into the mountains.



The Jeep we Rented! It was costly but worth it!!

The route to Wayanad was filled with reserved forests on both sides during the initial part and towards the end it was Mountains, Tea estates and Mountains all the way!! It was a great experience! As we took the Jeep we could stop every now and then and enjoy the surrounding nature. It was about 9 when we realised we hadn't had our Breakfast. So we decided to stop at the next hotel. But we weren't surprised that there was not a hotel that we found until 9.30. We had a small breakfast. Outside the hotel there was a small spring with ice cold water coming from the mountains. We had a small dip in it.

The spring at the Hotel! It was damn cold. But was awesome!!

We started the journey into the mountains of the Western ghats. With our jeep moving up every feet, we could feel the chillness in the air building up. It took us some 40 mins to reach a small town called Mananthavadi from where we had to climb up another 30 kms. From what our driver said this route was gonna be really exhilarating. And it was. We made our way through the Muthanga reserve forest. It was more like a jungle safari but we couldn't spot any animals but our cousins the rhesus Monkeys!!

We took rest on this mountain highway linking Mysore n Kerala!!

I forgot to tell u where we were headed to. We were on our way to the Tirunelli temple which was on the peak of a mountain. It is a beautiful place. The place was a remote village. There was hardly an independent house in the area. Full of forest cover and this temple on the mountain. Awesome scene it was. An amazing visual treat.

Tirunelli. Nothing but thick forest on the Bluish Mountains.

We reached the place at about 11.30 AM. We bid a big bye to the Jeep n the driver and plunged straight into action. There was a spring in the place which comes from the top of the mountains. Its called the PAPANASINI spring. Thats the major attraction of the place. So we headed straight fo the spring. We had to Climb down some wat seemed like a 1000 steps down to reach the spring. The route was awesome with Green forest around and the chill breeze blowing on your face. The fleet of steep steps we had to climb.


At first sight we saw a small spring of water flowing down from the forests. The volume of water was too little. We thought this wouldn't be fun. But as we climbed down we found it was quite an interesting place to be. There was a small pool of water at a point. That was the point till which tourists are allowed. The water came from beyond the point from the mountain through the forest. We thought we should just try climbing up beyond into the forest. This is where the real fun began. Though Guru and Leo were against this idea, we forced them into it saying things like "Be a man", "Life's all about risks and adventures" and stuff.

The spring came through huge rocks. We climbed the rocks and made our way through. At a point there was a fence made of bamboo sticks and a board read "Do not Cross". But nothing could stop us from going further. We climbed over the fence and continued our trek. The route was really scary owing to the fact that we were the only human souls in about a KM radius. Also it was a thick forest. The water was filled with blood sucking Leeches. All of us fell victims to these creatures. My leg after a leech made its way through.

The rocky terrain i was talking about.

We climbed up the rocks for a long distance. Beyond a point it had become utterly impossible to traverse. Also we were hungry and thirsty. So we made our way back. On the way back we stopped at many pools of the spring and took a dip. It was the most refreshing dip of my life. It was just awesome.
Wow What A Bath it was?!

After the dip in the pool.

We also took a god bath in a big pool of water. After this awesome experience we made our way up the stairs to a Hotel at the top. We had a great Kerala meal and many snacks. The 4 hours trek had really taken every bit of Energy out of us.

Earlier we had planned of going to an old palace in Mananthavady. But now it had already become 4. We had to travel 40 kms to reach my Grand uncle's place were we were supposed to stay for the night. We took the last bus from Tirunelli bound for Mananthavady at 5. The route back was awesome and we got to see many more animals this time.

We reached Mananthavady by 7. Then we had to take another bus to reach my GU's house. We reached the house by 8. He was there waiting for us. We were given a separate room on the first floor. We went and took turns teasing each others for the silliest of jokes, which we called "Mokkai". By now everyone of us had started cracking the silliest jokes and this was fun. This way we took bath changed clothes and spoke to my Grand uncle and aunt and their son. Then we played a couple of rounds of Cards. At 10 we were treated for an amazing meal.The guys just loved the food. It was a completely different country side dishes which they've never even heard about. They even loved the house. It was a new house and was surrounded by Rubber plantation all around. At 11 we went up and started playing cards which had now become the most interesting thing after the roaming.
My Grand uncles House were we stayed!

Thus the day two went fabulously well. We had the times of our lives. I was the happiest off all cos i hadn't disappointed them by bringing them here. Its past 12am now. Somehow i completed the 2nd part after almost a month. More to come. The third day is the most thrilling of all. A day none of the 6 would ever forget, thanx to Benny. Do be in touch and lookout for the Google Ads on the sidebar. Click on them and do me some Good.. Lolz..
Be back in a while, Hopefully.

Now that was some vacation!!

The Gang including me(behind camera)

It was the evening of the 4th of may, my birthday. I was amidst all enjoyment when suddenly i realised it was the next day my friends were arriving from chennai. Oh i forgot to tell u, I was in Kerala, my native, for the holidays. My friends were coming for sightseeing the so called god's own country.

As i was saying i totally forgot about the fact that these guys were comin. I was least prepared. I dint arrange a room nor informed my grandma. So i figured it was a tough night that was ahead of me. I started acting fast. I immediately emptied a Room on the first floor which was unused and it was the only room there which would give us the required privacy. I cleaned up the whole room with my mom's help. I Made arrangements for the guys to relax, sleep n stuff. All this took me almost till midnight. The train arrives at Kannur at 6 in the morning. I had to start here by 5 as it a full 30 kms from where i stay.

Sudhir, Benny and Leo waiting for me at the station!

So the next day i woke up by 4.30, got ready n went to pick the guys. I reached the station only by 6.30. They were seated in the platform. There were 4 of them from chennai n one who was in kannur itself. He had come there before me. They waited for me to arrive. The first thing they asked me when they saw me was, "Whats the Plan dude?" Well i couldn't tell them i hadn't thought about it.. So I just managed by saying we would first go to Earnesto's(classmate from Kannur) place and freshen up and Roam about in Kannur.

So as per the sudden plan we took an Auto to Earnesto's place which was about 10 kms from Rly station. You wont believe me but the Auto ride costed us just 100 rs. Rs. 100 for 10 kms for 6 ppl. In chenai he would've asked ur property for it. Jokes apart, we reached his house by 7. His dad was not at home. He had gone to the church for sunday Mass. Earnesto dint have the key either. We were stranded outside till 8.30. But made the best of the time by trying to stone down mangoes n eating.

His dad arrived by 8.30. The guys took till 10 to get ready. We then started off into our Voyage.

Day 1:

We set off from Earnesto's place. We had to walk our way from his place to the National highway, which was about a km, to catch a bus. By the way our first destination was to Parasinikadavu, a famous temple on the riverside, for Boating. It was 10 and we hadn't had our breakfast yet. So when we reached the Highway we found the first hotel and made our way into it. It was more like a Teashop. But it was fine with al of us as we could find a good hotel only 10 kms away!! We had good Parotas with the Kerala Kadala Curry!

Earnesto, Leo and Benny waiting for Parotas at the Hotel!

It took us about an hour to complete the Breakfast. Then we waited for the bus for some 10 mins. After boarding the bus it took us about 15 mins to reach Parasinikadavu. It was a damn hot day. The travel had made our throats sore. So we decided to have a drink. First they asked for lemonade but i insisted they had SAMBHARAM, a typical Kerala drink which is made from Buttermilk. Its the best thirst quencher ever. So they all had Sambharam and i was all in Praises.

We then made our way via the temple to the River bay. Here we had to hire a Boat for 15 mins which costed us about 300 bucks. But i would say it was too worth the ride. It was awesome. We got to watch the Beautiful Coconut trees bending their way into the river. Unexplainable Beauty of God's Own Country was what we Experienced.

That's me behind the Motors of the Boat

Gurunathan and Benny Posing!

After the boat ride we made way out to the hilltop wer we had to board the bus. We had two more glassfulls of Sambharam each due to the exhaution from climbing the fleet of stairs. We then went to a Snake park very close by. We had a gala time there. It was Snakes, Monkeys, Wolfs, Crocs.. all the way. After spending about an hour in the Zoo we made our way to Earnesto's place to takr rest for a while before we could resume our Route.

It was 2 when we reached his house. We had till 3.30 to leave. So we took a short nap.

Thats me taking a Nap!

By 3.30 we left Earnesto's place. We had to trail back to the highway before we could catch a Bus to Kannur town. I had planned to take them to the St. Angelo's fort in Kannur. But before that we had to have our lunch. So as soon as we got down the bus we found a good restraunt and had to our Hearts content.

Then we took another bus to the Fort which took us a further 10 mins. At 4.30 we were in the Fort. This is no normal fort. It is a beautiful Landmark that Kannur can Boast of. We trailed around the whole fort for around an hour and a half when the security showed us the way out due to the fact that it was closing time. We came out and I knew exactly where to take them. I took them to an artificial fishing reservoir built out of the Sea. Its a beautiful place to spend the evening under the golden rays of the setting Sun!

The Gang at the Fort!

That was a memorable evening! The whole day was Memorable! After the beach we made our way to my place which is called Mattanur. We left Kannur by 8 and we reached the house by aroun 9. We then had a great dinner and made our way to the Private room where we enjoyed the whole night chatting and playing Cards.

The first Day has been a success beyond Words. The next few days to be penned in another post in a few days. Do look out! The Trip only gets more Adventurous, more exciting, more exhausting, more hardships as we make our way to the Wayanad district of Kerala. Keep reading.

Yours

Rakesh!

Be an AGNOSTIC!

Religion is something which was started by early men under some misconception. According to some idiot named Taylor. According to this guy, who was an Anthropologist, Religion started with Dreams. Very Funny isn't it? Taylor proposed some theory called The animist theory.

He says that the so called uncivilized man Dreamt of his Ancestors n Animals during his sleep. He took it for granted that these dreams were Real n had something to with him. He then came to a conclusion that the men he saw in the Dream were his Ancestors. This is when he started believing that though the men were dead There is some part of them which is still alive. This is what is regarded as the SPIRIT. He considered the spirits as Something supernatural.

The movement of things around him he accounted for on the analogy of his own movements, which he knew by immediate experience were due to the activity of his spirit or will. To early man, as to the savage today, all Nature was alive, filled with innumerable spirits. Thus religion, Tylor believed, arose in an effort to propitiate these spirits by offerings and to win their favor by prayers.

Well this is of course could be what the Early men thought. It is really great for them to have thought in such ways. But the question is Why r we still in these Early Trends? Being so much Scientifically n Intellectually Advanced, It is a sin to still being Following what Our Ancestors did out of Ignorance. That's all they could think. But we are so Broad minded. We have capabilities to think in too many angles. Then why still go under all these misconceptions of Religions?It is a known fact that 90%of the conflicts taking place in today's world is due to Religion. After all the demarcating of people into Whites, Blacks and Browns, into Asian, American, African and so on why the hell do we need to be Separated by Religions? Religion is something which is causing the maximum trouble in today's World. THEN Y THE HELL DO WE NEED RELIGION?

Though it is obviously not possible to stop Faiths in Religions for Generations to come, Atleast there is some % of people who wud Teach their Kids abt these Problems n let them think by Themselves. In that case maybe WE can expect a Peaceful world in about 2000 years from now.... If THE EARTH COULD SURVIVE THAT LONG...

ItZ bOuT u!!

Its been a really long time that i've been wanting to write a blog on us. I mean about the youth of today. I got this idea after i had a brief talk about youth mentality with ma best buddy, Raja.

Interestingly in todays world, most of the guys we meet share a similar kinda thought. i.e, Most guys think alike. When i say think alike, i don't mean anything with respect to profession or career. What i'm trying to say is that most of the guys from the age of 15 think bout nothing else but girls. Certainly not all. And thats the whole point.

My friend and i were havin a debate on this. He was like, all the guys except a handful r mad about girls. Its quite normal to be behind a girl for an adolescent guy. After all thats what girls r made for. I was shocked by this. Girls evolved for guys to be behind them?? I was totally against his view. Not all guys r behind girls. Neither r guys born to trail behind a girl nor is a girl born for a guy to go behind her. Everyone has his or her own conscience or the so called EGO Boundaries. Its crossing this boundary that makes one lose control of wat he's supposed to do.

No guy in his rightest senses wud waste a hell lot of time on a girl. Apart from time he wastes the hard earned money of his dad for a girl who he has met just a few months back. This is insane. The situation is totally different if this guy has the power to earn money on his own. Broadly viewing, there r 3 categories into which youth, both guys n gals, of today can be divided.

1.Those who r really jobless. i.e, those who have no idea of what to do with their time that they engage themselves in relationships which, even they're sure, won't work out. After reading this u, those into such relations, will realize how much a reality this is. If a consensus is taken on this, it wud undoubtedly reveal that almost 50% of guys n gals in the city fall into this category.

2.The next is the intermediate. The set of ppl who have r most unlikely to go behind girls. They're time conscious but they don't mind wasting a bit of time chatting with friends or roaming about with friends(both sex). These people live their life to the full without the fear of commitments. If carefully noted, many girls wud fall into this category(denoting their cunning nature..lol)

3.The next set is the extremely time conscious n they're always into studies or related stuff. They're so preoccupied with their work that they never spend time on friends n stuff. My friend and i were really suprised when we were talking about such guys. Both of us could give living examples for such a guy from our own classes. The surprising part was that these guys were the most intelligent guys in the class. We could do nothing but think that Girls r a big intellectual block to guys. Not many guys or even girls who r behind others r intelligent. Thats the whole point. Only if ur not intelligent u go behind gals n guys. The converse also holds good, if u think about it. You're not Intelligent if u trail behind a girl. lol.. Just kidding.. But then it does sound like a fact .

Think about it. This blog is just MY view. Each person can interpret it in his or own wish.
Comments are MOST WELCOME!!
All text that has been posted here is the intellectual property of R.Rakesh