Rah'Maniac'!!

‘Music fills the infinite between two souls’, yes, it does. In fact, last night, it did fill the infinite (not literally) hiatus that had been in existing for long time between west and east. Finally, Rahman’s sleight of hand did capture the hearts of Academy award. The honor was befitting and remarkable to his excellence in music.

When I listened to the tunes of Roja first time, even though Rahman was a some new guy on the block, those tunes were so mesmerizing that I totally fell in love with his work. Undoubtedly, it was not just me, but the whole nation gone wild tapping their foot to the tunes of Roja and predictably he was honored by his first national award and a new era embarked in Indian music history. Since then his music always had his essence added to it. His tunes were/are typically peculiar. Some of the songs demanded the audience to listen more than once to get into groove of the song.

In this journey he worked with different directors in different languages. Amongst, some of his combinations have proved to be setting new trend in music history. I would be lying if I said I could pick his best numbers. There are so many, there is Roja, there is Indian, Bombay, Rangeela, Taal, Dil Se, Rhythm, and the list goes on and on… His tunes have all the flavors one would expect, some are nostalgic (theme of Bombay for sure), some are soothing (Jashn-e-Baharaa, instrumental Flute), some would set you afire, some would let you perspire in astonishment, some are romantic, some are classic and some are periodic and some are contemporary. He alone, invaded all the genres of music and he himself invented a genre of his own.

Of all the experiments, I like his Sufi songs more than anything. They totally draw my attention. I think Sufi has that magic to drive you oblivion to the contemporary world and divulge the beauty of divine words with the sense of music.

I am completely privileged to be in the era of AR Rahman. I have been witnessing and relishing his music and of course, keeping my collection updated since the time he started off his journey. The journey has led us to explore a world beyond our thoughts, a rainbow beyond the colors and dreams beyond our imaginations, through his music.

Watch out world, here comes the Mozart of Madras!!

Familiar Stranger!!

"With gun in my hand, I feel safe" I hear these words even after the weeks of conversation that I had with my colleague. Those words keep hammering my tympanum and conscience keeps questioning me.

At the beginning people living in particular places developed a particular culture according to their needs and availabilities. A habit in one culture might be an offense in another. An abuse in one civilisation might be a trait in another. The place where I work is full of people who started playing with guns and ammo at the age of five or six, where as me touched my own toy gun at the age of nine. My zero knowledge about guns keeps me totally out of the loop when it comes to the group conversations at work. I don't regret that though. I regret that they look at the gun as peacekeeper (at least mentally). I regret that they feel safer with the gun in hand.

As the recession looms bigger and deeper, the urge to own a gun grows bigger. There are few people who believe that melt down in economy would lead to a spike in the theft and lootings. One feels these hand guns ammo would be handy at the times of difficulty to keep oneself safe and secured.

Meanwhile, the quagmire of Indians living in US keeps bulging with the increase in mysterious homicides. This puzzle becomes obscure and murky with never heard feedback from investigators. Obviously, Indian media send chills to the parents making this whole quandary more complicated and more convoluted. I believe, these murders have nothing in common except that they all are Indians(thats why they talk about these back home). One big coincidence is that all are Andhraites. It would be preposterous to take this coincidence as preconceived notion by killers to gun down Andhraites. By going gaga over these murders and by covering up ourselves under the blanket of terror, we wouldn’t achieve any better solution. One way to minimize the threat, if not prevent, would be staying alert of environment and refrain ourselves from the designated dangerous neighborhoods. We all have to accept that, even in a free country, there are certain places where we are not allowed to roam around freely at certain times.

The plunge in economy and growth in unemployment certainly drove the US to doldrums. The turn around might take an year or two, which is very uncertain as we are not yet sure that meltdown had hit the bottom. But in the meantime, the desperation to stay aloof from penury will definitely lead some of us to inhuman. Those are the times one needs to more vigilant and more humane. I am not saying, being humane would solve all the problems, but holding a gun wouldn’t solve the problem at all.

If I look at the circumstances, I feel pity on myself that I don’t know which one I should consider more threatening, an unknown ruffian who is after Indians (supposedly, as per media) or familiar face at the work who holds a gun and is not hesitant to aim at me, if he feels a threat, to keep himself safe.

I asked one colleague, why do you carry a gun? He replied, “its my freedom, use it or else, will lose it.”

What a Bummer!!