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Friday, September 17, 2004

Lost and Found

26.08.2004

With Bhagawan miracles repeat again and again.

I was in the office today. It was around 1:00 pm and many were preparing to leave for their lunch.

I heard Mr.C (real name hidden), my colleague and friend in the office saying little loudly to Mr.V(real name hidden) , another colleague to lodge a police complaint about the loss of mobile phone instrument so that it can be a lesson for the future.

I went near C to enquire what happened and came to know that V just lost, a couple of minutes ago, a valuable and costly mobile phone. It cost Dh.1600 and a costly model. The loss has taken place in the office and this was not the first time that people lose their mobile phones due to their carelessness. Generally the disappeared mobile phone never traced out. Of course, it is a shameful matter that mobile phone disappears in the office.

I called V and asked him how he happened to lose it and enquire about when he last used the phone and what all he did after the phone call. He was not clearly remembering where he could have misplaced the mobile phone and it has happened just a few minutes ago. He was quite disturbed, though he was trying to pose cool.

After talking to me, he went back to his place to search for the phone again and I saw him making enquiries with others as well.

I was standing at a distance and something in me told me that I should help him find his mobile phone. I also noticed that a few thoughts were also disturbing me telling me that after all, V may not believe the method that I am about to suggest to recover his lost mobile and after all it was his fate that he had to lose it today. May be, what if after I suggest him something, the mobile is not traced at all, then I could look ridiculous.

So, there was a mind tussle going in me about the pros and cons of suggesting anything at all to him about his lost mobile phone instrument.

All along, I continued to notice that he was searching for the mobile everywhere and making calls to others to find out where he could have possibly left the mobile.

At that point in time, I was able to feel a strong urge in me – it is difficult to explain that urge – which told me that I am the one going to help him recover his mobile through divine powers. I saw me calling V once again and he came to me. I told him to sit in the nearby place and he obeyed. There was C and S (another colleague of mine) by my side. I told V that we are going to pray and help him find his mobile. We all sat for the prayer. I saw me closing my eyes and going into a deep state where there was absolute quietness. From that state, I some how knew that his mobile is not lost and that he will get back immediately. It was a few minutes before I opened my eyes and I saw V attending a phone call rather than praying for recovery of his mobile phone. Of course, he came back and sat and I saw him closing his eyes. When he opened his eyes, I told him that his mobile is not lost and he will get it any time.

The next thing I knew was only when I saw V coming back to our place in the next few couple of minutes with the mobile in his hand stating that one another colleague had taken it from his place and that the colleague returned the mobile. I do not know what really transpired (rather I was not even keen), but the fact remained that he got back the mobile.

May be it was his frustration or anger over the episode, he was just leaving our place without any further word that I had to remind him that he needs to be thankful for recovery of his mobile – not to me, but to the Almighty whose powers only helped in finding his mobile phone. C was more emphatic about the need to be in a gratitude mood for the help God has given him. I am sure V must have felt bad. He thanked me and left the place. Once again, I had to remind that thanks are due to God and not me.

Oh Bhagawan !! How do I express my gratitude to YOU to have shown to me that we are all spiritual people capable of finding solutions to our problems instantaneously with least effort just by only knowing our true SELF and our true nature. Thank you Bhagawan for the insight YOU give us.

Saturday, July 24, 2004

Sangeetha Irattayargal ( The Musical Duo)

One of the very few programmes, I watch on and off on Sun TV is the late night ‘Thenamudhu’ where they show some of the old film songs. I enjoy such moments and it delights me to watch them for their music and melody content. But, there is another part to it – how a famous actor like MGR always ensured that his film songs are musical hits – this I will come back later in another of my writing sojourn.

I will of course place special emphasis on the music tuned by the great M.S.Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy pair and later, when they parted with each other, by M.S.Viswananthan. They were my musical heroes in my younger days when I was in my teens.

I used to go crazy whenever I could listen to their early music. I could realise that I am very sensitive to music even from those young years. In my school days in late 1950s and early 1960s, when we were not having facility of recorded music players, Radio Ceylon used to be the only forum we could listen to good film music. (Our All India Radio always lived in the past and in a different world altogether those days totally oblivious of current films and their popular music. What a bright idea! I can write on this too in a separate column)(The more I sit down to write, the more topics I can think of to write on)

“Pava Mannippu” was a super hit Tamil Film by Sivaji and Gemini Ganesan and also a musical hit. “Kalangalil Aval Vasantham”, “Chilar Sirippar, Chilar Azhuvar”, “Vandha Naal Mudhal Indhia Naal Varai”, “Paalirukkum Pazhamirukkum” were all great hit songs. I used to closely follow the rating competitions for film songs from Radio Ceylon. There used to the most popular Mayilvahanan whose commentaries and introductions to songs were legendary. Week after week, at least one song from this film “Pava Mannippu”used to be declared winner and top rated. I used to run from anywhere, if I happen to hear the songs from this film. I vividly remember my throwing away the shuttle racket even while playing and running to the radio when this film song used to aired, while we used to enjoy our holidays in Trivandrum. The songs from this film always arouse my emotions and feelings even now.

Then came series of “Pa” movies by the successful film director Bhimsingh. He always relied on simple family stories involving love and affection, conflicts within the family and their resolution. I remember movies like “Paasa Malar”, “Paalum Pazhamum”, “Paarthal Pasi Theerum”, “Paar Magale Paar” “Padithal Mattum Pothuma”. All films were not only commercial successes, but great musical hits too.

All by M.S.Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy.

There was a great combination. Bhimsingh, film director, Kannadasan, the lyric writer and a great poet (and an unpopular politician), and Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy. Later in my age, I learnt that Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy will innovate a tune first (write the ‘santham’first) and Kannadasan used to give poetical lines on the spot to fit into the tune and the situation in the film. Unlike today, the songs carried deep meanings and unlike most film songs today - where all that one hears is the screeching noise from the female singer and the hollow or coarse sounds from the male singer. The amazing thing, I learnt, was that Kannadasan could give several alternate poetical lines for the tune instantly all conveying similar meanings. We used to debate among like-minded school going people – whether their music came first or the lyrics came first.

Then, probably, the great matinee idol MGR too discovered MSV and R. I am told that MGR used to insist that he must clear the songs before they are included in the film. He seemed to have had great tastes for music and rhythm. He never faltered in his selection. In most of his movies, the songs were great hits and jingling more cash for the music distributors as well.

Going back- at a time, when we did not have the facility of music recorders or players, one fine day, a distant relative of mine who was working for the Tamilnad Electricity Board, bought a gramophone and invited all known and close to his house to see its functioning. It was a great news in that ‘agraharam’ (the locality where Brahmins were predominantly staying). That place was almost 2 miles from where we stayed. Every now and then, I used to hire cycle and pedal down to his residence only to listen to “Ponal Pogattum Poda”and “Palum Pazhamum Kaigalil Yendhi” from, the film “Palum Pazhamum”- the only one gramophone record he could immediately afford to buy at that time. Initially the gramophone records could take only one song on each side and they were called LP records. They worked on keys and one has to wind the key every now and then to ensure that the play speed is maintained – lest you can hear all kinds of hollow and shrill sounds. We would happily wind it every now and then. At times, we would play that record repeatedly again and again much to the annoyance of the auntie in the relative’s house. The pain of cycling down in the hot sun was always forgotten in having listened to the songs. I think this happened in very early sixties or late fifties - I have now forgotten when was this.

My brother in Madras is crazier about MSV and R’s music than myself. During our very young days, we were considering ourselves as another musical duo in the making. (This gives me another topic to write on  - I cannot but mention about SGS, our childhood friend in Tirunelveli , who was a part of our musical adventures) Whenever we visited our relative’s places, there were lots of fans for our singing and we happily sang songs (Listener’s choice).

I can write volumes on this topic. May be another time I can continue.

But before I conclude for the time being, I wish to mention about our surprise decision to visit M.S.V’s house in Madras on a New Year day. We were in Mylapore, Madras those days during 1980s, long time after M.S.V has virtually taken retirement from film music. He was doing films very rarely. On a New Year day, I suggested to my brother in Madras that we go to M.S.V’s house and greet him. He was too enthusiastic about the idea and more than him, was his daughter (my niece and greatly talented in music) who was only in her early teens. It was early night and we three went to M.S.V’s house and as I expected, there was no one to stop us at his gate. We went upstairs and rang the bell, though the front door itself was wide open. We told someone at his house that we are just fans of M.S.V and wanted to greet him on the New Year day. We were asked to be seated in the visitor’s room. In a short moment, the great M.S.V came in a simple white Dhoti and white shirt with all his ‘religious decorations on his forehead with chandan, vibhuthi, kumkum – his usual appearance. We introduced ourselves – those days I was working for a public sector bank and he mentioned that he was quite happy to be associated with that bank as a client – he was too happy to talk to us for almost half an hour. My niece was too quick to sing one of the songs from the forthcoming film where M.S.V has tuned the music after a long gap and he was greatly excited about the little girl singing his song. He even called his wife and introduced us, specially my niece and was very proud that the little girl could sing well a song from his forthcoming film that was not yet released in the theatres. We were served with hot milk and he carefully remembered to gift my niece with some nice fruits.

 It was a great feeling to meet a very popular personality whom you revered and admired in your life and that too two decades after you have known him as a famous film music director. We returned with deep appreciation of his simplicity and his friendly approach to people. That must sure have made him very popular in the industry. It was again a very pleasant surprise, when he happened to be seated by my side in a small aircraft on our way from Madras to Salem sometime later during middle 1990s. We were recollecting briefly our personal visit to his place and about my niece who sang the song composed by him with enthusiasm. He was clearly remembering our visit – thanks to my little niece who’s singing were fresh in his memory. I could not spend the entire journey talking to M.S.V as the actor Prabhu and Koundamani too travelled by the same aircraft and they engaged in conversation with each other.

I envy the talents of M.S.V (and R too) and their simplicity in life. I could not even try to enter the field of film music in my lifetime though it used to be my childhood fancy. But our appreciation for M.S.Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy and for their work in Tamil film music field stays forever.

May God bless them and bless this earth with more such talented musicians.

Thursday, July 22, 2004

Anubhavam

21st July, 2004
 
I had been wanting to start writing about some of my experiences and the messages I have in those experiences. I Had always wondered where I could begin. But, it always happens - when you really have the mind, life always conspires to present an opportunity as though it was just waiting for you around the corner.
 
Thanks to Nattu from Australia and his spirited advice and guidance that I have a web site now where I can write, for others to read and comment.
 
Where do you think our ears are located? Anyone would answer just as easily …  But do you think only our ears listen and hear….. I think otherwise.
 
Do you know that you can talk to your body and the various parts of your body listen to you. Just look at this experience. Remember this was not the first time I have experienced this and may surely not be the last time even.
 
I had severe pain in my legs last night- a kind of nervous pain people get quite often when they strain their legs. May be it was due to my exercising in the last couple of days. The pain was more severe when you lie down. In the normal course, I would have immediately looked for ‘Bengay’ an ointment (thanks to Viji and Bala) – an US product that is quite effective in controlling such pain – or many times I used to be too quick to go for a pain killer tablet. But nowadays, I use a different technique. I talk to my body – specifically that part of the body that aches. So, I talked to my leg and the pain disappeared. I did not feel the pain anymore.
 
Strange, but it is true. It happened. I closed my eyes. I was quite intent and also was quiet inside. I spoke to my leg as though I just speak to another person. I just make a fervent appeal to my leg. I just tell my leg that it can heal itself so that I do not have to feel the pain. I also assure myself that yes, the pain I experience will not be there anymore. After this conversation – all these things happen even while I was lying down – I just wished the pain away and closed my eyes quietly and I never felt the pain the for the rest of the whole night in my sleep.
 
Miracle !!!!!
 
Yes, I trust this can happen to anyone.
 
It is even possible to talk to another person’s body as well.
 
 Incredible.
 
The other body responds the same way.
 
I have tested it – on whom else – only on my wife. It happened yesterday only and again in the night. She complained of severe pain in her both upper hands – similar nervous pain. I just held her one hand with my both hands at the point she experienced pain and I do the same thing – yes, just talk to that hand. It listened. After this talk, I told my wife to just ignore the pain and sleep. I am sure she followed what I told her. She quietly slept without any further complaint of the pain during the rest of the night. I believe the hand listened to my request to heal itself and gave her relief.
 
I do not know how this works. The feeling of pain goes when you talk.
 
This, of course, was not the first time I spoke to my body and it heard and obeyed.
 
May be it has to do something about what we ‘feel’ of a particular situation, experience and about how our mind-brain interprets it. May be there is a disturbance to the physical system and how that is interpreted by our brain or how it is perceived by our mind makes all the difference. May be due to suggestion given to it, the system gives its own response.
 
Finally- to make our moods lighter - youngsters might definitely tend to agree with me definitely eyes do speak. When your favourite girl or boy is there, you hardly have to speak – the eyes speak for you. ‘Kanngal pesina, karuthorimithom, kaadhal kondom’
 
Do you wish to comment on this?
The two figures whom I always cherish remembering are my favourite Tamil Film Music Directors Shri M.S.Viswanathan and Shri Ramamoorthy.

They are legends.

Myself and my brother Raman never fail to dwell on his music whenever we are together in Chennai for hours together. I would like on this in my next report. I hope you would all join me in this appreciation of our memories about them.

Just await the release of my report shortly

Monday, July 19, 2004

Profile

Age : tending towards retirement
Profession: Financial Services Consultant
Location : Middle East - United Arab Emirates
Married
Children: Employed
Native of Chennai, in Southern India
General Interests: Soft Music from India, devotional singing, bhajans, reading and writing, watching English movies, cricket and tennis games, sight seeing, visiting places etc.
Current Interests: Spiritualistic pursuits,healing, prayers,counselling,enlightenment, and charities
Current Favourite Authors: Dr.Deepak Chopra, Neale Donald Walsh, Dayananda Saraswathi Swamigal,Michael Crighton, John Grisham,
Past Favourite Authors: Earl Stanley Gardner,Irwing Wallace, Arthur Haily,David Baldacci,Leon Uris,Fredrick Forsith, Jeffrey Archer,Sujatha Rangarajan, Kalki, Javar Seetharaman and a host of others
Favourite Music Director: M.S.Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy
Most Remembered Persons on Earth : My parents who have given me this life experience