Sangeeth Saritha, Radio Programme, Again!

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As I have already written earlier, I am a fan of radio since my childhood days.  We grew up hearing the radio throughout the day, well... until TV took sometime of the day, later.  Even then, the mornings are exclusively for Vividhbharathi programmes.  I don't listen to FM radio because the presenters shout all the time and too many advertisements.  Vividhbharathi gets minimum advertisements and many are govt. sponsored like 'gobar gas', 'road safety', PM Modi's 'swachch bharath' and other reforms (this is the recent addition!).   Other programmes will be heard randomly without much attention but the 7.30 to 7.45 am programme is THE Sangeeth Saritha.  I love to listen the discussions on Hindustani/Carnatic music...many maestros discuss the raagas, how they are used in film music, different types of taals and many more.  Just to influence ordinary people who are not serious classical music lovers (I am not a serious classical music fan...I love all sorts of music!) mostly they include one film song based on the raaga in discussion.  I have written a couple of posts about this programme earlier and here, they are!    And here!

Normally, in this programme, one series about some subject goes for 10-20 episodes.  Now, I am hearing for the past few days, a programme about different music directors, the way they use particular instruments for songs, some famous classical singers who sang for a couple of movies....etc. etc.  The VIP here now, is Pt.Nithyanand Haldipur who is a famous bansuri/flute player.

Today, he was discussing about Shiv-Hari's (famous santoor player, Pt.Shiv Kumar Sharma and famous flute player, Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia) contribution to film music. Today, he was talking about one song from film, 'Tere Mere Sapne'
and the song is given below.  He said, 'In those days, RD Burman, SD Burman's son was becoming famous and was very busy recording songs.  SD Burman got the above movie for directing music.  Singers, Latha Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar were fixed. He had shortage of orchestra players.  At that time he came across Shiv-Hari and got an idea.  He asked just the both of them to play for one song.  With just two instruments, Santoor and flute, he finished recording one beautiful song.  I hear just the tabla sound apart from the two instruments in the background.  My favourite song.  Really, SD Burman is a genius.  Now, hear the song.  The lyrics by Neeraj is superb.



Kishore, Latha's voice, Dev Anand, Mumtaz's acting made the song a hit.  The movie also was a hit.  My parents were not happy about us, young girls, watching this movie (adult theme it was, in those days (1971, I think!).  I and my sister went with my cousins to Rajkumari theatre (a complex is there now!) at Pondy Bazaar, Chennai, to watch this movie.  All the songs were good.  A movie was always a hit in those days, if the songs were good!

I had written about SD Burman and RD Burman's music here!

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Lata Mangeshkar, Who Was/is My Favourite Singer Since My Childhood!

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The Great Lata Mangeshkar!

Where shall I start? I had been hearing Lata Mangeshkar's songs from my childhood via radio.  It was 'Aap ki farmaayish' during daytime in those days and even now, though we hear her in 'bhoole bisre geeth' in the morning too, where very old songs are played.  She is 87 years old now!

From my mother, grand mother to my sons, love her songs/voice! My son loves her old songs, though!

Wikipedia gives more details about her here! I think I will write mainly about the precious cassette we had during the late 1970's!

It was the Cassette season then! No CDs.  We used to hear via radio for many years until then.  Then my husband brought home a car stereo.  It was like small box with knobs and a slot for inserting cassettes.  My elder son was around 2 years old.  He grew up hearing music even when he was in my womb! I am crazy about music...mainly film music, a little doze of bhajans too! I used to play the radio, mainly Vividhbharati from early morning bhajan programmes to night's 'aap ki farmaayish'.  You must be knowing that I am a great fan of 'Sangeet Sarita' programme which can be heard even today from 7.30 to 7.45 am.  The result, my sons also became very familiar with music.  (I think this programme has influenced us to appreciate all sorts of music from ghazals to western classical music).  We used to have many cassettes after the tape recorder came home.  One was 'Lata Mangeshkar's 1971 Live concert  at London's Albert Hall'. It was played 3-4 times a day, everyday! I remember my son mimicking the English words which can be heard in the beginning of the cassette! Dilip Kumar speaks in chaste Urdu! I can't follow many words in his speech even now! But it sounds good in his voice! The cassette became useless after it got cut 2-3 times (I had pasted them again and again!).  I couldn't get a new one later.  I had been searching for it for many years now.  Thank god, I got it now, thanks to 'you tube' and Mega Ayub! Her voice during this concert was at its peak! Soft and clear! Each and every song covered here, is a gem!

Here is some notes about this event at the famous 'Albert Hall' in London:

The 103-year-old Royal Albert Hall in London -- Britain's most prestigious auditorium with a seating capacity for 6000 -- witnessed a musical phenomenon unequalled in its hallowed history when the inimitable Lata Mangeshkar made her international "debut" on its august stage with a series of three concerts in the aid of the Nehru Memorial Project in Britain in March 1974.

Seldom, indeed, has the hall been booked for a single recitalist three times in one week. What, however, made the event equally unique was to have the hall packed by an oriental artiste for all three nights -- and something more. For even after the intermission on the final night (March 14), there still were crowds willing to pay double the highest price for admission to the hall!

Inside the hall, Lata, the cynosure of all eyes, received a big ovation as Dilip Kumar -- one of India's top-notch film stars, who was also specially invited by The India League, sponsors of the Memorial Project -- introduced her at every concert as his "little sister" and as "a singer with the voice that defied description and definition".

Tribute after tribute, as also bouquets galore, came to Lata from many eminent personalities of England and India.

Then amid the ideal setting that matched her many-splendoured talent, Lata sang her songs with a seraphic impulse. She could demand and obtain the spontaneous surrender of her 18000and odd listeners -- and sent them home with gladdened hearts and nostalgic memories.

That is at once the singular distinction of the one and only Lata Mangeshkar..."the undisputed melody queen of India"..."the pint-sized bundle of musical genius"... "a singer with a moonlight in her throat"... "a legend in her lifetime"...                                      

I am hearing this now after many years but still can remember the song list clearly!  She is singing even now....for the current famous music director, AR Rahman!

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P.S.: I heard this song just now, from the movie, 'Anand'. Goose bumps! She is unbelievably good!

Ganesha Chathurti!

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We grew up reciting

'Gajananam bhoota Ganaadhi sevitham,
Kapiththa Jamboopala saara bhakshitam,
Umaasutham shokha vinaasha kaaranam
Namaami Vigneshwara paada pankajam'   from childhood.

Ganesha Chathurti festival means, at home, in my mother's place, is normal Ganesh pooja with many Ganesh shlokhas.  We, Mangaloreans don't keep painted Ganesha or clay Ganesha but pooja is done to the usual Ganesh vigraha! Amma used to make coconut and jaggery stuffed modaks out of maida or wheat flour, fried in oil.  The usual different types of fruits are kept in front of god.  Appa  used to do the pooja reciting a number of shlokas. 

But after marriage into a Tamil family, the celebration of this festival became entirely different! We have to draw rangoli in front of our doors which was not important in Mangalore/Udupi.

                                                            

Normal day rangoli/kolam

Festival day rangoli/kolam

                                                
We have to draw normal rangoli/kolam on normal days and padikkolam with red coloured border (Kaavi).  Normal days' kolam can be drawn with rangoli powder but on festival days it is maakkolam (rice soaked and ground with water, drawn with a small piece of cloth).  I learnt to draw this kolam very soon.  We lived with my sis in law for a few months to learn cooking (very slight difference from Mangalore cooking...use gingilly oil and groundnut/refined oil instead of coconut oil!) and the way to celebrate festivals in Tamil style. I was working then and so learnt some of the tough cooking slowly! One was the making of kozhukkattai/modak on Ganesh Chathurti! I was postponing to learn this and one day my husband said that his cousin had prepared kozhukkattai, the taste of which was still in his mouth! This woke me up from slumber/laziness.  I opened the book 'Samaiththuppaar' (cook & see) which was given to me by my friend maami .

Did the kozhukkattai and I never stopped from then on! Started doing all the sweet and savouries for all the festivals, thanks to the book!  Our Hindu festivals make us become active from our routine cooking.  God doesn't expect anything from us except whole-hearted prayers.  But in India, different regions celebrate our festivals in different styles.  Everything is interesting in their own way!

I had written about the way we celebrate Ganesh Chathurti is explained here.
My mother had ingrained in my brain that if we skip celebrating festivals once, we might be compelled to skip for the next 3 years, means, some death or something will happen in the family and we are barred from celebrating festivals the whole year! I know it is silly, but....

So, celebrate festivals happily and enjoy! The recipes might not come out easily in the first attempt, but you will improve in the years to come!

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P.S. (Edited to add on Vinayaka Chathurti day, 5.9.16): I want to add this song of Seekaazhi Govindarajan, which is my favourite song on Ganesha till date! This is the first Tamil song we learnt after coming to Madras in 1962, without even knowing the language! I, my sister and brother used to sing this together...all of us were very small children then! Enjoy!

Summer Holiday Games From Pallaanguzhi, Anju Kal To Uno Card Games!

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Pallaanguzhi (click this to know about the game)

5 kal game.

Tamarind seeds

My niece had come home for her children's summer holidays.  The children are small kids, 4 and 8 year olds.  My sons have grown up now and the word 'summer holidays' has gone out from my memory! But when these kids came and the way they enjoyed their holidays, brought back my old memories (I am an expert now recollecting old memories, you know by now!).

Now, let me start with the way I spent my summer holidays, during late '60's! I have 4 siblings and during the holidays, either we were going to our native place Udupi (we used to get concession forms in our school to go to our native place which would get us tickets for less than half the price of the original ticket price) or spend time at home playing Pallanguzhi (the first game in the picture either with tamarind seeds, which is shown below the game or with some red beads)
Anju kal game (the next picture) with ordinary stones.  These games can be played by two players at a time and mostly played by girls and women.  Boys used to play outside the house.  For more girls and sometimes boys also joined, we used to throw the tamarind seeds or red beads 100-200 at a time on the floor. Take one bead, throw it up and before it comes down, pick up/sweep up the beads on the floor in 2s, 4s, 6s.  Collect them and count them.  The more seed holder is the winner.  Or play this...sort of chess.  Four people can play at a time:

5 Kal game: I don't remember the game exactly.... Any feed back?!

Then my sons' days, in the late '80's! It was scrabble, chess, card games like ass, rummy etc., carom board....reading, watching TV (TV days had started!).  Evenings were for outdoor games.  In my childhood, we went to movies, very rarely but it increased in my sons' days/holidays! Though I too was reading books, it increased during my sons' days!

Now, during the current summer holidays, we played Uno (card game), snake and ladder with the small kids.

We used to play this game on the nights of Vaikuntha Ekadashi with our cousins...the whole night and it was called 'paramapadam'! The modern version of 'snake & ladders' seem to be interesting for the modern kids!

The youngest one played Uno and Snake & ladder like a pro! She was advising others too, about how to play! Very very shrewd for her age.  She is going to UKG from next month!

And both the kids were obsessed with Barbie stories and movies.  The older one followed the story but the younger one made her own story! Danced with lip movement (without knowing the words or meaning!) exactly like the barbie character and with a serious face! All of us were enjoying watching her than the movie!



We got them Barbie story book (Barbie doll was given during her last visit!) alongwith Panchatantra stories and other mythological stories' book.  We took them to 'Jungle book' movie...the older one liked it more than the younger one.  The younger one was bored and was after her banana (she is allergic to milk and yeast, so we had brought some bananas for her but the security at the gate of the theatre refused to allow us to take it inside the theatre).  My niece took her out during the interval, begged the security to give the banana back saying the child will eat it in front of her. They refuse to allow us to take food items inside so that their sales of food items don't get affected! Inox theatre or any theatre, doesn't allow.



My niece wanted to watch 'Bajirao Mastani' and we watched it at home.  The kids made us to replay the dance songs and they danced (jumped) along!

Visited Railway museum in ICF, Chennai (Post will be written later!) which is very old but we hadn't visited until now.  Visited Light house at the Marina beach...the view from the top was awesome! The children were tired but enjoyed!


I cooked a lot for them and all of us enjoyed their summer holidays at our home!  It was fun!
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P.S.: All pictures of the games are from google, thank you, Google!

Moods!

When the dog bites, when the bee stings,
when I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
and then I don't feel so bad.

The lyrics of a song in the movie, 'The Sound of Music'.

I am not an extrovert! Not completely introvert either! Moody, you can say! It keeps fluctuating! And I tell myself when I am frustrated that the mood will change soon and it CHANGES with a small action or a pleasant word from people around me. Huh, I forgot music...music always changes my moods! However tensed up I am, I start humming when I hear my favourite songs in the radio (I am a radio freak!)

I heard this song in the radio a couple of days back and it is still running in my mind.




I have watched 'The Sound of Music' many many times and I notice new things to admire every time I watch.  All the songs in the movie are my favourites!

I attend yoga classes 4 times a week and we do the exercises on our building's rooftop.  2 classes in the mornings and 2 classes in the evenings.  We can watch sunrise in the mornings and sunset in the evenings, while doing the exercises!  We, ladies, 10 of us, always feel happy to watch the sun.  Every time we see it, all of us say in chorus, 'yevlo azhagaa irukku! Means 'How beautiful it is'.  And we say the same thing the next time!  I have noticed that I am always happy after the class, for a long time.  The exercises or the pranayama make me feel happier always.  My friends also say so!

I met my old maid who had been with me for 18 years (now retired!) after a long time.  She took me home and showed me her house.  It is a small house built on one cent of land.  One room plus kitchen...3 floors!  One floor for her and her younger son.  One for her older son and another for her married daughter.  When she joined work at home, she looked pathetic.  Her youngest son was sitting on her hip...both of them looked dirty.  She stood in front of our gate and asked for a job.  I felt bad for her and asked her to come home the next day, having a head bath and with a clean sari.  Gave her an old sari of mine too! I told her not to come for work without taking bath! And she did come a little bit neat the next day.  This was in 1990.  We had shifted from Hosur and were looking for a maid.  Her kids were small and studying in a government school in the next street.  She got work in 3 other nearby houses.  She used to collect food from all of us and keep on the window near the staircase.  In the afternoon, her children would come for lunch.  She used to mix all the food together, make balls of them and give them to the children, one by one! One more mouth used to wait, our dog Andy.  We were so careful not to give him salted food at home and pampered him so much but he was happily gobbling up the saambaar and rasam rice, our maid fed him.  I was shocked to see her feeding him in her hand and then giving the next ball of food to her children with the same hand! She used to say, 'nothing will happen' 'Onnum aagaadhu'! All of them used to giggle, tease each other, eat and run back to school.  The children grew up...the sons finished 10th and started working.  One daughter married an electrician.  He was very smart and changed the entire family.  Our maid also got some money from her mother's side, a couple of lakhs.  In between I had shifted to the outskirts of the city.  She came there too and worked for another 10 years.  Then as per her son's wishes she quit the job.  I gave her a good amount of money when she left.  I used to take care of the children's uniform and books during their school years.  Now, when I saw her after nearly 6 years, I was so happy seeing her happily living in a proper house! All the children came to see me and gave me cold drink. The eldest daughter had brought up the family well. My maid also worked hard (in 4 houses) to bring them up.  The elder son used to distribute newspapers in his school days, then took up the agency.  In daytime, he was selling mobile phones.  Now, he has got a small printing press.  Felt so happy, seeing all of them living happily.

I feel happy when I see my plants bloom...while watching birds...when I see the stray, but happy dogs in front of our complex gate...cats on the roads on our way to our morning walks...sunrise at the Elliots beach...the list is long.

Sometimes, a small word from our friends or relatives change our moods to depression or happiness. I always tell myself that the mood will change from depression to happiness soon...it does for me...it will do for you too!

Be happy always!



(Lyrics are here...very interesting!)

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The Rain Started With Us Drenching/Giggling And Then....

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Sandhya Kumar

1 December at 06:44 ·

It was 'walking in the rain' for us today morning! Mild drizzle was there when we started. After half an hour, it was quite heavy with a strong wind. Our umbrella pushed us to running mode! Some youngsters were 'jogging in the rain'...It was fun. Came back half drenched!

This was my status in Face book on 1st Dec. '15 morning.  My friend's comment and my comment:

 Zephyr Nag Did you sing a rain song, or not? How about this one? Lovely Waheeda and dashing Dev Anand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_w-tQuYrWY

 Sandhya Kumar Love this song, Zephyr Nag but we were giggling all the way, even my rigid husband enjoyed and SAID SO too!

And then how the days turned out to be later!!! We had the heaviest rainfall of the century.  Our Chennai had this much rain in 1901, I read.  Never imagined Chennai facing this type of rain...ours had always been famous for heat and sweat.  People were scared of the heat here, esp. my friends and relatives from Bengaluru always said so!

As Zephyr said in her mail, 'It is the middle class in inundated places that are suffering as relief efforts are concentrated more on slum and lower income clusters. The affluent are able to find other homes to shift to and use their resources to get their houses back in order.' people from middle and upper middle class will take longer time to recover. They have been living a secured, comfortable life.  Disciplined, systematic life.  This type of calamity is not easy to face, for them...they are not comfortable for taking 'help' from others. 

One of my relative, a very old couple, had to go by boat from Velachery to Royapettah (to her relative's place) by army boat.  They have come to spend their retired life here after living in the US for more than 40 years.  Daughter is in the US.  They live alone and their siblings are scattered in Chennai.  She has got arthritis and her husband also has got many health issues.  It was not easy for them to climb the boat.  Their whole complex was inundated by flood water, cars were drowned completely, no power, no phone, no drinking water... Flood water is not just rain water, it is mixed with drainage water.  It is not easy to make up our mind to wade through ditch water.

Another relative in West Mamblam has to spend a hefty sum to repair her car...they are retired people.  A teacher in MCN nagar (outskirts) is living in the I floor now, since her ground floor rooms are flooded, even now.  She has got a 95 year old mother.  Had to carry her upstairs.  No young member is there in their house.

Another relative is the owner of a hotel, has got a house in ECR in a good locality.  Most of the houses in their locality are flooded.  They have left to his brother's place which is also surrounded by flood water.   They have arranged to send lot of food to stranded people in Semmanjeri area, which is in a very bad shape.

Our own flat has got 4 floors and the lifts are not working even now.  Water is oozing/seeping and stays in the ground in the lifts' well.  It will not dry for many days. The ground is full of water already. We pumped it out and it gets filled up again and again.  It is not easy for many people to climb up 3/4 floors.  Our complex has got many retired people like us.

Rain has started again after a 2 days' break.  Hopefully, the rumour about more heavy rains stays as rumours.

 Many more stories are there...

We thought it was a happy day and occasion for us Chennaiites to drench in rain and enjoy and how it turned out to be.



P.S.: Many areas are still flooded and people are still trying to clean their houses and start living from scratch...this post is just to show that no one is above nature's fury.

This Is To The Lovers Of 'Reader's Digest'!

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Stories you read when you are at the right age never quite leave you.

You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called.

Sometimes you will forget precisely what happened,

but if a story touches you, it will stay with you,

haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit. 

                                                                    

Neil Gaiman

When I read this quote today morning, I felt that this is very true.  And I remembered one of our favourite books of those days, the 'Reader's Digest'.  Yes, we were reading a number of fiction books too, but some small articles which came in the Digest, still pops out of our memory bank often.  

We had subscribed for the book after we shifted to Bangalore, well, now, Bengaluru, in '77.  We started getting them from '78.  Our kids were small and so it was read by just by me and my husband.

Then the kids grew up and we shifted to Hosur, as all my readers know by now.  Still the book was coming home.  The kids also started reading...first the jokes in laughter section.  Once they reached the higher classes, all the four of us would sit together and solve the 'word power'.  We used to tick different symbols for each, check and know the level of our intelligence after checking the answers.  The rapport was there and our knowledge also improved! I think my children also learned a lot from these books and they too will always remember some things from their engaging childhood, right, sons? Have a look at the books! 

The collection of 'Reader's Digest', a monthly magazine, here, is from 1991 to 2006.  I had given the earlier issues to our maama who is very old and wanted to read the old issues when he got time.  We must go to him, collect the old lot and give him the next set of books!

This is a close up of the books!

These are some old issues.  Click on them to know more pl. Content list was on the cover! Last page had paintings of renowned artists...Indian artists too!

Our favourite section, 'It pays to enrich your word power'.  This must have helped the children in their growing years and us too!

I still use this 'Quotable quotes'...in facebook!

I used to order for my nieces too as a birthday gift...the yearly subscriptions! I was famous for giving books as birthday gifts to all the children.  They still have got them at home! Some girls are married now!

Another favourite section...I started reading and remembered about writing the post.  These books never bore me!

All of us used to read these and laugh together! After my elder son left for the States for higher studies, to do his under graduation, I used to write letters by hand (it was the norm in those days...'95,'96...), some 12-13 pages at a time! I used to fill up the margins with these jokes and tick them too, for not repeating them later! I did this to humour him! I did this for some years and then came the 'hotmail'! Then personal touch was gone!

Another favourite, 'book section'.

True stories were very interesting. 'Humour in Uniform' also used to be interesting!

I miss reading these books, new ones, but I still have the old stock to read again and again! Friends and relatives who come and stay at home love to read these books...old issues!

Later on, the quality of the writings started deteriorating...they started offering gifts in 'millions'! But the book was not interesting...So, I had to stop the subscription reluctantly.  But will remember many stories, articles from them always, at least in bits and pieces like the quote above, says!

I suddenly wanted to know what our friend, Wikipedia says about this magazine!

'The magazine was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace.'

'The magazine was started by DeWitt Wallce, while he was recovering from shrapnel wounds received in World War I. Wallace had the idea to gather a sampling of favorite articles on many subjects from various monthly magazines, sometimes condensing and rewriting them, and to combine them into one magazine.'

'The first international edition was published in the United Kingdom in 1938 and was sold at 2 shillings. By the 40th anniversary of Reader’s Digest, there were 40 international editions, in 13 languages and Braille, and it was the largest-circulating journal in Canada, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, Peru and other countries, with a total international circulation of 23 million.'

Now, we read everything online.  But you won't get this thrill of seeing old books physically and feel nostalgic!

Read more about our family's book story here!

I Know More About My Mother Tongue, Tulu, Now, Which Is A Very Rare Language !

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I read this post of a student of my friend, Usha Pisharody! She is a young girl but is capable of expressing herself so accurately.  Here, it is!

I go through the same feelings when I hear people speaking in Tulu, which is just a colloquial language.  No script is there now.  It is all gone.  People write Tulu in Kannada script.  It is spoken by a few percentage of people in Mangalore, Southern part of Karnataka (Dakshina Kannada).  I am from Udupi, Mangalore and my family speaks in Tulu.  Even in my family many sons and daughters are married into Kannada speaking families and so only some of them speak Tulu.  Kannada has become the main language.  Tulu is dying very fast.  We have got a special sing song pattern, people say so! Tulu is also spoken in different accents in different towns of Mangalore itself! Kundapura people and Udupi people speak entirely different types of Tulu! Brahmins speak a separate Tulu.

I remember seeing a book in Tulu.  But I don't remember how the script looked like.  My grand father was running a printing press and he had a few books in Tulu.

Suddenly I thought of looking for it in the net...God, this post has introduced me to the nuances of my own language! Wikipedia says:

Separated early from Proto-South Dravidian, Tulu has several features not found in Tamil-Kannada. For example, it has the pluperfect and the future perfect, like French or Spanish, but formed without an auxiliary verb. 

The above link says that Tulu works are available! Great! I have to look for it!

Mangaloreans are making Tulu movies.  Street theatre is famous in Tulu language.  Light music and folk songs with Tulu lyrics are there.  Tulu people are famous for their sense of humour, I am told! I am not one, sadly! And, the Yakshagana in Tulu is very famous! I remember watching them on the streets from midnight till early morning. The wiki link has got interesting details of this dance/song form.

The Tulu speaking coastal Karnataka area was called Tulu naadu during the Krishna Deva Raya rule.

 Another interesting anecdote about Tulu in Wiki:

The region was also known to the Greeks of the 2nd century as Tolokoyra. The history of Tulu would not be complete without the mention of the Charition mime, a Greek play belonging to 2nd century BC. The play's plot centres around the coastal Karnataka, where Tulu is mainly spoken. The play is mostly in Greek, but the Indian characters in the play are seen speaking a language different from Greek.

I am becoming more familiar with my own language now!



Tuluvas (as Tulu speaking people are called) have a saying: "Oorudu nanji aanda paardh badkodu". A loose translation would be: "If it's tough at home; run away and survive". Tuluvas are true to this character and have migrated to other places in great numbers. Early migration was to neighbouring regions like Malabar (now Kerala), Mysore kingdom, Madras Presidency ( Tamil Nadu now - areas like salem, attur, chinnasalem, thiruvannamalai, villupuram, vellore, chennai and perambalur). The large scale migration of Tulu speaking people from undivided South Canara district to other provinces (regions) of India happened during World War I, but there is no concrete materialistic evidence to prove.

Many people from my family have migrated to many places esp. to Madras (Chennai), like us.  Our town, Udupi is famous for hotels.  Udupi hotels are spread all over the world.  My family came here to Chennai in 1962.  Father was a Hotelier. We studied here, so our colloquial Tulu has got Tamil influence. Another branch has gone to Trivandrum and their Tulu is with Malayalam accent!

Well... this post has introduced myself to my language! I speak Tamil at home, since my husband is a Tamilian.  My sons know a bit of Tulu to speak (I should have taught them...they had been asking me to!), but understand it very well.   I get the opportunity to speak Tulu with my side of the family members.  Maybe I was nostalgic while writing this post.

I forgot to write this: Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty, Sonali Bendre, Sunil Shetty....oh there are many Tulu speaking people in Bollywood!

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This Old Black & White Movie Was Interesting, Even Now!

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This old black & white movie,  'Anupama' brought back many memories for me...some happy and some are not so happy...I was in school when this movie was released (1966).  I had started admiring (!) Dharmendra and my mother went to this movie in Ashok theatre (Chennai) with her cousin, without telling me and I remember crying and not talking to her for some time! Feel silly now! No, we were not going/taken to movies regularly (we were 5 siblings!), but mother used to take us to good movies.  This movie had become famous mainly because of the songs (courtesy: Binaca Geet mala, radio prog.) I didn't get the opportunity to watch it until now!

My ankle has got a ligament tear now which needs lot of rest, so I seem to be watching movies in most afternoons! Because this is a black & white movie, I was postponing, though watched Gurudutt's 'Pyaasa' and some other black & white Bengali movies.

I think I need not go into the full gist of the story of this movie.  This is a 'father-daughter' relationship story, mainly.  The father gets married very late in his life and is very attached to his wife.  She delivers a girl baby and dies.  The father (Tarun Bose), who is quite rich,  hates the sight of his daughter (Sharmila Tagore) because he thinks that she was the reason for his wife's death! he becomes an alcoholic.  She is brought up by their house help.  Because of her father's hatred for her, she becomes an introvert and never mingles with anybody.  Because of the heavy drinking, he falls  ill and is asked to take a break and father and daughter go to Mahabaleshwar.  There, the hero Dharmendra (Poet and teacher) enters.  He is the friend of Arun (Deven Verma) who is supposed to marry Sharmila as per the father's choice! But Arun falls in love with Anita (Shashikala), the father's friend's (David) daughter...oooof...too confusing?!! Well, Dharmendra meets the beautiful eyed, silent girl Sharmila and their love blossoms!

You can see Dharmendra, a bit plump and young one, watching Sharmila, in the above song. 

I remembered this song (the tune led me to this song...the music directors are different, though) by Mubarak Begum.  Lovely song, my favourite!

One more surprise is Deven Verma.  He became a famous comedian later but here, he has acted very well and another surprise is Shashikala who is singing this beautiful  song. She became famous in negative roles later!

David was at his best.  He used to get this type of roles mostly in all the movies he had acted.  He and Shubha Khote were always, old people.  Shubha is Dharmendra's mother in this movie!

The hero and heroine never danced or sang together for even a single song, in this movie! They sang separately!But this movie was a hit in those days! Music ruled then!

This is the only song for Dharmendra in the movie.  Lovely song with good lyrics.



I liked Dharmendra in this movie.  He has acted very naturally.  This song is an example.  It looks as if he is really singing...he takes breath at appropriate places too! Hemant Kumar is singing this song and he is the music director for this movie.  This movie became famous for the songs and Sharmila's eyes were 'talk of the town' in those days (My mother's views!).  I was a Dharmendra fan in those days (Did a post on my childhood/teenage, here!)

This 'ankle-rest' break has shown me, that I have my mother and grand mother's 'movie-buff' streak! My mother had a cousin and both of them used to go to movies together often.  She used to tell us the stories at night, I still remember.  We were taken to movies very rarely, but stories, we knew! I can't narrate a story like her, any day! She was good in narrating mythological stories to my sons with all the minute details with lot of expressions!  She used to read a lot, both in Kannada and Tamil.  She worked in a library and used to bring heavy mythological books and read them as if they were fiction books.  I think this movie has triggered my mother's memories...I remembered her often while watching it.  She used to send us with our cousins to very good movies (she would watch them first!).  I think she has influenced me so much that I am able to watch Kangana Ranaut's 'Queen' or Sathyajit Ray's 'Apur Sansar' with equal interest! Unknowingly, we are influenced by our parents and by the time we realize it fully, they are no more.  It hurts sometimes. 

The other movies I liked during my movie marathon are:

Selma...I remembered 'Mississippi burning' while watching this. This is a movie on Martin Luther King. Good one.

Diksha...a many award winning movie with a very serious story. The story takes place in Dakshina Kannada, my native place! Nana Patekar, Manohar Singh, KK Raina, Sulabha Arya...a memorable movie. 

The Bridges of Madison County... Clint Eastwood directed and acted with my favourite Meryl Streep.  A good romantic movie.

Saving Mr.Banks... Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks movie based on Walt Disney.  Enjoyed.

Contact... a Jodie Foster movie.  A very well made film, though I had watched it many years back. Still enjoyed!

The Constant Gardener...watched this with a heavy heart.  Good movie.

Man of Fire...my favourite Denzel Washington's movie.  Still remember it.

Tamil movie, Devar Magan... A very well-made Kamal, Shivaji Ganesan and Revathy movie.  Had already watched in the theatre, still, watched it again.  Good movie.

Well, I watched so many (one was, 'Sanshodhan', a Nihalani film, but something was missing in the story. Everybody acted well, though.)  but remember only the movies I enjoyed watching.  I am still relaxing! Any recommendations?!

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Glimpses Of Our U.S.Trip! The University Of Berkeley, California!

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I had already started writing about this trip and am continuing now! This post is about the University of California, Berkeley! There are so many things to write about this place...maybe later! First, the Clock tower!

Sather Tower (Bell & Clock Tower), sort of a symbol for UC Berkeley! The booming sound of the bells are lovely!

One more picture of the Clock tower.

The Carillon, an instrument, which the students play at 12pm and 6 pm everyday. Evening sunlight is reflecting here...The room is closed and I took this picture through the glass.

I saw these huge bells on the 7th floor, I think and it is not easy to stand nearby when it starts ringing I was told. (Link) By the time I reached this place, the music and the ringing of the bells were over:(

Hear the music now.  I heard it from outside and it was over when I reached the lift to reach the tower! Pleasing music! I got a clip from 'you tube'. Thank you, children! It is awesome!



 One more link of the Carillon music!

We visited this campus 2-3 times when we were there at Berkeley.  Every time we visited, I used to notice this tall tower.  I went inside once and saw the famous musical instrument.  The students play the organ twice a day, once at 12 pm and then at 6 pm.  No, once more in the early morning, it seems! I missed it by a few minutes but still went up and viewed the surrounding areas through the top floor (7th floor) of this tower.  We have to climb a few steps to reach the top after going by the lift upto the 7th floor, if I remember correctly. Some interesting details of the tower:

It was completed in 1914 and first opened to the public in 1917. The tower stands 307 feet (93.6 m) tall, making it the third tallest bell and clock-tower in the world. It was designed by John Galen Howard, founder of the College of Environmental Design and it marks a secondary axis in his original Beaux-Arts   campus plan. Since then, it has been a major point of orientation in almost every campus master plan. The tower has seven floors, with an observation deck on the eighth floor. Some floors are used to store fossils.
For more details, read the wiki link here.

Very old type of machine for the clock which is still going strong!

I was fascinated by this clock tower and so more details for you!

View from the tower!

I think I will write about the very old sculpture of the Football players which attracted our attention, as soon as we entered the University.  This post is about the view of the parent.  Everything was new for us! Children who are studying here are very lucky! My son and now my grand niece are among them!

More than 100 year old sculpture which is called 'Football players'

The Wiki says: "The Football Players" was created in the mid-1890s by Douglas Tilden, a prominent artist with many connections to Berkeley. Tilden was deaf and, as a child, came to live at the California School for the Deaf, which used to be located on the grounds where the Clark Kerr Campus stands today.

One more attraction here was the famous Berkeley University squirrels! We went inside the campus and were waiting for my grand niece.  Suddenly I heard some sound from behind us...we were sitting on a tree trunk.  We turned around and saw one man making sounds with his lips and talking to someone in a false voice or say, like we talk to our children! We saw that nobody was there.  Then he asked us to turn around...we did so reluctantly and then we saw them...the squirrels! They were climbing up his body and were perching on his shoulders and taking something from his fingers! As you know we are hard core animal lovers.  When I saw him for the first time, I told my husband that he is talking like Robin Williams  who is a very good mimic (my favourite).  He gave us some almond bars and asked us to feed them.  The bars were organic, he said.  I decided then and there that I would bring the bars next time and feed them and did so later.  He loved his squirrel babies, I could see! He must be doing this everyday, I felt.  

Now, to the squirrels:

Husband is feeding the famous Berkeley squirrel! This one was sitting on his lap and eating, later! They are used to humans, I am sure!

The height of enjoyment on that day was, my grand niece's thayir saadam (curd rice) which we had missed during our trip!

She had prepared the curd rice not only with curd but with lots of love, we could feel/taste it!

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Shorthand, A Boon In Typewriting Days But Now, Both Are Nearly 'No More'!

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ON THE WANE:N. Ramachandran, who set up a short-hand and typewriting institute in 1963, says that the demand for professionals has come down drastically, especially in Chennai.

I read this article in 'The Hindu' just now, about the usage of 'shorthand' which is slowly dying now. The article took me down my memory lane, to the early 70's, when I was a student of Shorthand and Typewriting!

Learning typewriting and shorthand was the 'in-thing' in those days.  I had finished my school just then and in the summer holidays, my mother joined me to a typewriting class where shorthand also was taught.  It was the norm in those days.  Most of my classmates had joined.  Every area had these typewriting institutes where shorthand also was taught.  You won't believe, the fee was Rs.10 per month for typewriting and another Rs.10 for shorthand, which were 1hour classes each! The class looked like the one in the above picture! The owner cum typewriting teacher of the class lived upstairs.  He was in his 40's I think.  He was monitoring from 5 am to 9 am (god, I still remember!) and then from 6 to 10 pm.  Students or working people came to the early morning or late evening/night classes.  It was strictly only 1 hour class at these periods.  In day time we can sit there and practice as much as we wanted if the typewriters were free. We had to take the plain papers with us and type on both sides.  We had to show him whatever we had typed while leaving the class.  Typewriter ribbon cost was not charged separately...it was covered in the Rs.10 fee! God, our fingers and shoulders used to ache in the early days hitting the keys...

asdf fdsa on left hand fingers
jkl; ;lkj  on right hand fingers

We were asked to type this sentence many times.  'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'  which uses every letter in the English language.

Got this 'fingering' picture from this link 

I remembered the name of the typewriter also, which I used, Remington! Thanks to google

I got 'Higher' exam certificate for typewriting.  The typewriting classes and the examination centres (Govt. Schools) used to be very crowded.  The Hindu article says how it is now, very deserted. 40 words per minute for 'Lower' exam and 100 words per minute (wpm) for 'Higher' exam, I think. My sons and husband use the computer keyboard in their own type/style of fingering now! I got the Pitman book and fingering book for my elder son...I must ask him if he is using the old fingering method for typing in his computer! He didn't learn shorthand though!

An old gentleman was taking shorthand classes (Pitman method) in the intstitute.  I still remember him...he used to chew paan! But his English Accent and booming voice were superb.  Words were very clear...he used to read texts (books were there especially for this purpose with marks/lines after every 40 words (40 wpm) for lower speed and 100 for higher exam speed).  The tone should change when the next sentence starts. Concentration is very very important while dictating or while taking notes. We took notes in shorthand in a ruled note book, which looked like it is shown below.  Lines have more gaps in between for writing 'on top of the line, on line and across the line' strokes with PENCILS!

Shorthand note books (link)

Students/people who went to colleges and offices, used to take shorthand notes in the morning, transcribe it in daytime, come back in the evening or the next morning and get corrected.  After I wrote Lower shorthand exam, I started assisting our teacher in the evenings with dictations.  Clarity in words is important for shorthand.  The strokes are written according to the phonetic sound.  Our grammar should be good because when we write strokes we skip the strokes for some words/grammar etc.  My language improved because of my shorthand learning, at least to some extent!  Now, to some strokes:

The two pictures show the shorthand strokes clearly (link)

You can notice that the strokes are written above the line, on the line and some reach below the line.  The strokes will be thick or thin and the meaning changes accordingly.  After a lot of practice, we can start using our own shortest strokes.  I used to dream about new strokes in my dreams in those days! I was really obsessed with shorthand!

I wrote the higher exam also in shorthand and I was the only person who passed from the exam centre, I remember (the centre was some Govt. school in Kodambakkam, Chennai).  I don't remember the marks or class! The certificate is somewhere with my old papers now!

Our Institute teacher gave me a thick ink pen as a prize! I had it for many years!

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P.S.: Thank you google for the above link!

Down Memory Lane...School Excursions!

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I was looking at the picasa album now for writing captions for the photographs we had taken during our tours recently.  Saw many photos of school children and remembered discussing about them with my son.  I remember going to Mahabalipuram once, to Children's park in Adyar once and then to Egmore museum once.  I don't remember going anywhere else with our teachers.  I remember it was fun.

My sons had gone to more places than me...like Mysore, Kodaikkanal and other exotic places.

My relative is a teacher in a private school here, in Chennai.  Their school takes the children every year to Maya jaal, Golden beach etc. where children are asked to play video games, make them watch a movie, give them some food and bring them back. I haven't heard them visiting the Vandalur Zoo or museum or Vedanthangal Bird sanctuary, which are educative to the children.  They collect money from the children, use their school bus, get concessions at the resorts and make money.  Nothing is there for the children to learn about anything.  I have visited Vedanthangal bird sanctuary thrice and saw only govt. school children visiting there, all the time.  They were so excited to watch the huge birds there and were taking down notes from the placards written on the platforms.  The teachers also were explaining about the birds.  It was nice to watch them.  Private schools never take this much effort.  Well, I forgot, they take the older children to Singpore, Malaysia, every year.  Do they take them to Acquarium or bird sanctuaries over there? Or shopping malls and game stations? We have got so many treasures here, in India but they prefer going abroad!

Do you remember your school days' excursions? Please write about them in the comment section!

School children at Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, near Chennai

School children at Vedanthangal bird sanctuary, near Chennai

School children at Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur

School children at Badami cave temples! These children asked us to take pictures! Posing seriously!

School children at Gol Gumbaz, Bijapur

School children at Pattada Kallu Temples, Bagalkot dist., Karnataka

Small school children at Alamatti dam, Bijapur

Our 'guide' at Aihole!

A girl 'guide' at Aihole! Our guide had finished explaining about the temples at Aihole and we paid him.  This girl, her brother and some other children were watching intently what was going on.  Then, first the boy came near us and told us that he would like to explain the history of 'Aihole' to us.  We laughingly said, 'OK'.  The boy recited his lesson, without stopping, in one breath! It was fun watching his face.  I should have taken a video! Then, his sister stepped in and started reciting the same thing! Look at her expression.  We gave them chocolate bars.  Before other children started acting 'guides' we ran away! We heard 'saar, saar, naanoo heltheeni'! We didn't look back!

EDITED TO ADD ON 20.4.15:     Times of India link:

Educational consultant K R Maalathi said this trend was worrying. "Schools don't want to take any risk these days. Tours give children an opportunity to understand the world better. If they are not given such exposure they will continue to remain tied to their mother's apron strings," she said. "There is no need to stop trips. One only needs to take precautions."

P Vishnucharan, correspondent of Shree Niketan Patasala School, said it was unfortunate that while the board encourages schools to go beyond the textbook it is now clamping down on field trips. "There is no doubt that safety is of utmost importance. But we should not have to restrict tours based on their relevance to the curriculum," he said.

 I CAME TO KNOW YESTERDAY FROM A TEACHER THAT CBSC BOARD has asked the schools to stop taking children on excursions, unless needed.  Checked and came across the TMI link.