Ek chidia, Anek chidian ...Suraj ek, Chanda ek...simple but meaningful animation film by our Doordarshan!

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It is a long time since we saw a Films Division emblem/film. Nice to see this here. Nowadays, they don't show Films Division documentaries even in theatres! I don't know if they show in Doordarshan, though I often watch some musical programmes in DDs.

I did a few posts on Doordarshan serials in 2009, for celebrating 100 years of Doordarshan. Like me, many friends remembered the good old days of 'only Doordarshan serials' days in the comments section!

Recently, my son came across this video of 'Ek chidia, anek chidian' and he mentioned that this was India's first animation film, screened in TV, in 1974. I remember watching this film in the 80's and singing this song with the children. It was screened often in between serials, esp. on Sundays. We were fascinated by the birds, squirrels etc. in animation - we were not yet exposed to foreign channels, then. Tom & Jerry and other animations came later in our Indian TV! But this one was enjoyed for the animation and the message it sent, which was very simple and effective!

In this song, an elder sister (badi didi), takes the responsibility of telling good stories with some message. The voices of the singer and the chorus by children, are so natural and innocent that we feel that our own small 2-3 year olds are singing! I loved the way the sister is nodding her head and the way the children are blinking their huge eyes! The story of the hunter capturing the birds in the net and the birds flying together and escaping (because they were together, they could escape, she says!), is shown so simply and beautifully that every small child will understand and follow the storyline! I can imagine the children clapping their hands together while watching the hunter running after the flying birds!

The music director is the famous Vasanth Desai and the main singer is our own Sadhna Sargam, who must have been a child herself, in those days! The illustrations were done by Bhimsain Khurana, who had directed one of my favourite film, Gharonda! The illustrations are so simple that they look like the children who sing the song, have drawn them, which is amazing! I couldn't get much details about the director of this song, Vijay Mule...who must have been a good children story-teller! Check the no. of hits for this video - 15,42,905! 5-6 more videos of this song are available with many more hits! I feel this is one of the best National Integration song!

Bhimsain Khurana's son Kireet Khurana is becoming famous for his documentary films and animation film making.

The Economic Times says, 'The educational, lyrical, illustrated by Bhimsen and sung by Sadhna Sargam, holds cult status and sweet nostalgia for a number of TV viewers even today!' .

If you feel like telling the story to your children from the song, the lyrics are given below:

Lyrics of Ek Chidiya, Anek Chidiyan:

mmmm mmmm

hind desh... mmm huhu... hum sabhee.... ek hain... tara ra ra raaa
bhashaa anek hain
mmmm mmmm bhasha anek hain.... mmmm mmmmm


yeh anek kya hain didi ?
anek yani bahut saare....
bahut saare, kya bahut saare?
acha, batatee hoon...

suraj ek...
chanda ek.....
taare anek....

taroN ko anek bhi kehte hain ?????
nahi nahi !!
dekho phir se
suraj ek, chanda ek, ek ek ek karke taare bane anek....
theek se samjhao naa didi

dekho dekho ek gilahari
peeche peeche anek gilahariyan
ek thithli, ..... ek aur thithali......
ek ek ek karke ho gayee ab, anek thithliyaaN...

samajhgaya didi
ek ungli, anek ungliyaan

haaan,

didi didi woh dekho anek chidiyan...

anek chidiyoN ki kahani sunoge ....
haan haan

aa aa aaa,

ek chidiya, ek ek karke anek chidiya....
dana chugne aayee chidiyan .....
chorus : didi humen bhi sunaonaa.......

tho suno phirse...

ek chidiya, anek chidiyaN
dana chugne baith gayee thi .....

hai raam, par wahan byaadh ne ek jaal bhijaya tha...

byaadh, byaadh kaun didi ?
byaadh ... chidiya pakadne wala

"phir kya hua didi, byaadhne unhe pakad liya, maar daala... "

un..huh...

Himmat se gar jute rahe to
chote ho par, mile rahe tho
bada kaam bhi hove bhaiya..
bada kaam bhi hove bhaiya ...

ek..do..theen..

Chaturrr cidiyaaN, sayaani chidiyaaN
miljul kar, jaal le kar, bhaagee chidiyan
furrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

door, ek gaaon ke paas, chidiyon ke dost, chuhe rahte the....
aur unhone, chidiyonkaa jaal, kaat diya.........

tho dekha ki tumne, anek, sirf ek hojate hain tho kaisa mazaa aata hain
didi main bataoon...

HO GAYE EK ...
BAN GAYEE TAKAT..
BAN GAYEE HIMMAT...

didi agar hum ek ho jaayen to bada kaam kar sakte hain?
haan haan, kyon nahi ...
to is ped ke aam bhi thod sakte hain ???
haan, thod sakte hain, par jugat lagani hogi ...

*
* *
* * *
* * * *

achaa, eh jugat, wah... bada mazaa ayegaa..

hind desh ke niwasi sabhi jana ek hain, -2
rang-roop vesh-bhaasha chaahe anek hain -2
ek-anek... ek-anek...

suraj ek, chanda ek, taare anek,
ek titli, anek titaliyaaN
ek gilhari , anek gilhariyaaN
ek chidiyan, ek ek... anek chidiyaan

bela gulab juhi champa chameli..... -2
phool hain anek kintu mala phir ek hai ...-2

Lyrics courtesy:

Manisha

Should we laugh at this picture or feel sad...

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Ground Reality!

A child tries to make some money with a monkey in tow, even as college students campaign against child labour at the Marina beach recently. How serious are the students? Do they understand this problem or is this campaign just an outing at the beach with friends?

Picture courtesy: The Hindu

Aurjitya - A unique programme of music by Shakti Foundation

Shakti Foundation, had organised a concert of music at the Music Academy on the 19th of this month, some called it 'fusion' music, but it was quite a good music - no distortion of any type of music. They called it 'Aurjitya', means 'energy', the energy of music, we can say. All the four players, blended all the instruments so well that I was not bored even for a minute throughout the two and a half hours of the concert.

When I saw the advertisement in the newspaper, I asked my son if he was interested in attending the concert. He said 'yes' and insisted that I should accompany him. First, I thought, it is not Hindustani or Carnatic music but mostly percussion, so I may not be able to sit with the loud sound for a long time. And I saw the photos of Melmaruvattoor Aadi Parashakti and the poojari of that temple, Bangaru Adigalaar, whom I despise, as soon as I entered the Music Academy and sat in my seat! Thank god, the organisers never mentioned the name of the temple or the poojari during their speech! And, I enjoyed the music throughout, alongwith the mostly, young audience! Selva Ganesh saw to it that we got involved with their music. He is a great entertainer! We, Chennai people are not that outgoing to even move our hands for clapping that easily, but here, we followed the rhythm with our hands!

The best part in the concert, according to me, was Kanjira, by Selva Ganesh. This unique instrument, which was not very popular earlier, seems to catch interest now, thanks to Selva Ganesh! I got some videos of his concerts abroad, but nothing is comparable to what he played here, in this concert. The sound which came out from that small instrument was wonderful! His konnakkol (vocal percussion), also was very good. But, he is the son of the legendary ghatam player, Vikku Vinayakram, who is world famous and is a key player with Shakti band.

Nobody needs introduction for Mandolin Srinivas. He is a great musician, but in this programme, he was not his usual self. But the sound of the mandolin and Jonas's Guitar were so peaceful with the other faster paced musical instruments.

Jonas Hellborg, is a Swedish bass guitarist. I don't know much about this instrument, but it blended well with the other instruments. He and Selva Ganesh are in a band for the past 15 years, it seems.

Steve Smith, is a famous American Drummer. He is not connected with any of the other musicians here. But the Organiser, Mrs. Raghuvir, invited him to come and play in this concert and he flew down from the US, reached here at about 12.30 pm, started rehearsing from 2 pm and played superbly at the concert on the same day! He had been playing drums with Zakir Hussein, Prasanna etc. for many years now and is very familiar with Indian music. He did konnakkol (oral percussion of South Indian classical music style) along with Selva Ganesh. He didn't seem to just memorise the rhythm, but enjoyed our music (Watch the video and you can know, how much he enjoys Indian music!). More than that, he was a happy man, smiling all the time and moving his hands and legs like an octopus!

The four musicians came from 3 continents, but blended well with each other. They gave space to each other, did not stamp on others' feet and were very happy people. We enjoyed the evening.

The Shakti foundation organised this programme for its “Project Ramp”, one of its attempts to make Chennai barrier-free for the disabled. This project was presented in the short film prelude, featuring the foundation's brand ambassadors Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble.

Now, here are some interesting videos of these artists. Hope you enjoy like I did!

My family members have become fans of Selva Ganesh, now!

Picture courtesy: The Hindu

Edited to add on 24.2.11: Another earlier post on the 'fusion music' category

Feline Friday!

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Anna, please, please, don't take my picture!

(Her anna also blocks his face if anyone tries to take his picture!)

Don't irritate me, I want to sleep, grrrr...!

Golie is too sophisticated to curse her anna, so she escapes through the window!

The Great escape!

Edited to add today (12.02.11):

The last comment is by my friend, Manju! Isn't this a better title for the above picture?!

More kitten/cat stories

Wordless Wednesday! Portuguese ancient Anchor!

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One of the Four Anchors of the First Dredger, Lord Willingdon. Lord Willlingdon was the principal instrument in the execution of Sir Robert Bristow's brilliant design of making Cochin, a world class port. Lord Willingdon, which was brought from Scotland in 1938, had distinguished dredging career upto 1979, in which year, she sunk in the outer channel of Arabian sea in an accident.