09 September 2006

MUSIC, PREETHI AND I...

Everyone who knows me KNOW that Rahman is my God… Mariah Carey is my Goddess, my manasika Guru…

Singing has been my biggggggest passion ever ever ever… That’s the ONLY thing I put my heart and soul into….

Way back in the fifth grade, one of my good pals Preethi and I caught the Rahman fever… We were crazy… I mean really CRAZY…. We HAD to talk about him, dissect every piece of his music EVERYDAY!! We eventually grew up to be his biggest fans ever… Both of us knew, IFFF we’d ever ever get to see him jus once, even a teeny meeny glimpse, someone will have to lift us from the ground, splash water on our faces and help us regain our consciousness!
We don’t adore a Madhavan or a John Abraham… For us, its Rahman. Just him…

Our fanaticism increased in leaps and bounds by the time we reached 7th grade – a time when all our class girls used to love playing basket ball, long chain, short chain, pole-pole, catch-catch, red-letter (the list goes on..) Preethi (I’ll call her P for short) and I used to sing songs together… Sing to our heart’s content – all of Rahman’s songs. He wouldn’t know his songs as well as we knew them! :)
I’m proud to say that our singing did “impact” a few lives…hehe. Soon, we had umm.. can I say fans?! Not really! I’d call them a little “rasigar mandram” (I mean… tiny lil audience)… So P and I got a little professional (ahem.!).. I started maintaining a lyrics book (that’s still one of my biggest treasures – writ in blue ink, 7th grade handwriting). We dint have access to the internet those days… I used to listen to the tapes over and over again and figure out lyrics myself! (now that IS Hercules task!). P rocked at singing base.. and I was mighty decent in screeching in the higher octaves. True to our expertise, P used to adopt the ‘male solo’ parts of songs, and I used to pick up the ‘female solo’ parts.. and lo! Every afternoon we used to “perform” for our lil “audience”! We used to wolf down our lunch in a giffy and get the stage set up! A royal half-hour kutcheri every day… I must admit --- those little ‘kutcheris’ gave us immense contentment.. Those days I shall cherish, for years to come….

Not forgetting to mention our cycle-rides every Sunday!! Oh yes – we’ve explored a lot Bangalore in our kutti skirts and our BSA SLR cycle (o! P had a ladybird!).. Our singing journey continued here as well.. :)

This is kinda off-beat.. Drifting away from what I really wanted to write about.. Anyways, just got reminded of this little incident… I was walking on 6th Main road Malleswaram at like 6.30 in the morn.. P was already in Hindi class and I was taking myself to class as well… I was wearing this REALLY PRETTY pleated skirt and a top, with my two hindi books to my chest, skipping in delight and humming away to glory… There was this lady who walked past (she’s most definitely insane).. She slapped me TIGHT on my left cheek and walked off…. UHHH!! YESSSSSS!! This really happened… This incident amuses me till date!! And P won’t stop laughing when she reads this I know… I walked in disbelief to hindi class – emotionless! Just a little too shocked… P is the ONLY one that knows about this EMBARRASSING incident of mine.. and now I’m blogging about it! Hehe.

Back to Rahman – I had (or should I say have?) this little fantasy… And this is again something ONLY P knew all the while… My room in my Malleswaram house faced the road (uh wait.. I’ll get to the point).. and I had this (you may call it silly) fantasy.. that some day Rahman would take a walk by that road… he’d hear me sing, and shout, “Hey little girl! Whats your name? I’ll give you a song in my next movie”!!! I blussssssshhhh everytime I think about this.. It was and it still is my fantasy… P used to roll in fits of laughter everytime we talked about this.. Deep down, she knows how much this meant to me… :)
Today, with my little singing ventures off and on, I’m one step closer to achieving my dreams (nono.. not Rahman! That’s a FANTASY, remember?).. Only wish P was here with me in Madras.. We’d have lived our passion and chased our dreams together.. Today, I’m doing it alone… but no matter how many miles we’re apart from each other, music will bond us together, for eternity…

PS.: Love you, Preethi.. Miss you so much… Keep singing girl! Keep it going… Don’t get engulfed in the geeky world of studies… Breathe music, you’ll find peace.. :) and btw – the cd I’d promised you, will definitely reach you… :)

To all – Ironically, I don’t have a picture of Preethi with me.. and this blog is going to look incomplete without it.. I’ll upload a picture of hers, soon after she sends me one… (did you get the msg, P?:) )

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Harin, nice article you've written here. Really funny to picture ARR coming down our street and you and Preethi givin concerts. Ah! yes of course. I remember you listening over and over to songs. I should know as i was the receiving end of those songs. That's why i hate listenin to a song more than two times. Wow! some one actually slapped you for no reason? Surely you must have done something. Maybe you said hi in a girlish way which reminded that woman of someone whom she hated? What are the possibilities eh? My memory tells me that you had a ladybird. I'm sure about that one. Any way hope you become a great singer as well. Your other articles were nice as well. Perhaps you could explain renaissance a little better. you never mentioned what change, when, and why. The three W's could have been answered better. The beach thing sounds extremely typical of you. Oh! yeah, if anyone comes and tells me to buy flowers in spanish, I wouldn't. firstly cause i have no money ( i'm saving it). Secondly, i've never gone to the beach at that time in the afternoon where a small kid would actually stage a conversation with me ( too young ). Thirdly, i wouldn't have been touched by that what-did-you-say " emotion" or whatever. Come on, all you men out there, are you with me!!
Otherwise, all the articles were nice and informative. Perhaps a few tricks or " sticky situations " that you've experienced could be put here.

Am I Who said...

@the one and only, balaji
enna man?! "one and onlyaa" nee?!

those are jus some really fond memories for me.. somewhere down the line, when you're 19, like me.. i'm sure you'll get senti one day and will want to blog about your best days.. :)

and nooo! i dint offend that lady in anyway.. i probably reminded her of some age-old acquaintace whom she really wanted to slap! poor me!

and heyyy! i had a b s a, slr cycle! not a lady bird!

vinay said...

humming a tune....and a lady hitting!!!! cant you see the coincidence!!!!well...i dont wanna say it here.....big time devil wala smiley!!!btw ARR is my cousin's uncle's aunt's niece's neighbours drivers friends..second cousin..you want a chance?

Am I Who said...

@vinay
generous offer indeed! :) thanks for being so thoughtful :)

The Inquisitive Akka said...

Why on earth did that woman slap you????? I hope your dream comes true some day!
Hey I live in Malleswaram now :)

Itchingtowrite said...

so true- the wriing of lyrics & singing it along. i think every teenager does that & also the fan club bit... hope ur dreams come true & we can hear you too

Am I Who said...

@the inquisitive akka
pooh. i must've reminded that woman of some terrible acquaintance of hers! :)

thanks a ton for your wishes! :)

malleswaram is a lovely place, aint it? do you go for walking along 6th main road? :)


@itching to write
thanks so much :)

Twisted DNA said...

I wish your fantasy comes true :)

I have an idea, if you start posting your singing sound clips on the blog, it might help. You know there is more probability of Rehman waling down the blogosphere than by your road :)

Am I Who said...

@twisted dna
;)
hehe. i wish!
how would i post music clips on blog?!

Twisted DNA said...

If you have a camera or camera phone that can grab video clips, you could record video clips, post them to YouTube and embed them in your blog. Take a look at my friend Momo's blog.
Here is the link: http://www.momo-blogsongs.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

good to see another 'rahmaniac'! he rocks my world too..
btw, checked out your songs in multiply...gal u rock! Sing more and upload plz.

Am I Who said...

@twisted dna
yep.. checked out your friend's blog.. :) its nice :)
i'll do the same, soon! i dun hav video clips.. i've audio clips, though!! :)

@sruthi.layam
hey fellow rahmaniac! :)
thanks a ton the compliments :)

.:: ROSH ::. said...

Thank you for the comments in my blog, do let me know your mail id so i could send more details abt starting an audioblog. Here's mine...voice4music@yahoo.com

Twisted DNA said...

Hey! I checked out your songs... they are AWESOME! I just heard them mesmarized by your talent. They are great. Where did you get all the accompaniment from?

We can't go so much of talent unnoticed. I think you should have the songs play automatically when somebody visit's your site. If you want, I can do some research and find out how.

But seriously, you have some real talent there.

Am I Who said...

@magic lens
thanks so much.. :) my id is - harini.ramachandran@gmail.com
do enlighten me about audio blogs!

@twisted dna
i'm flattered :D
thanks so much for your appreciation :)
yep.. how do i play audio when someone logs into my blog?

Twisted DNA said...

I noticed that you can directly link from your multiplicity site. It should work if you embed a music player into your side bar.

Email me, I will send you the code to include in your side bar.

Am I Who said...

@twisted dna
jus sent you an email.. :)

The Visitor said...

I too have downloaded your songs. I'm not much of a music expert, but the songs sounded great!

But, I am equally enthralled by your writing skills.

Am I Who said...

@the visitor
thanks for listening to my songs.. :)
well, my friends would swear i cant write for nuts! i'm not writers' material. but yeah.. i write when i feel very strongly about certain things. more of an emotional writer. and i must admit, i've started doing tat only lately :)

Kalu said...

I can't able to tell about this , wah, you'll be good writer and also a gud singer, basically am a music lover, but i like your songs very much, Super songs....., most of good singers are introduced by A R Rahman, superb. Please one time meet your ' P ', i'm get surprised u're lived in Bangalore once upon a time, you'll definately meet your P, Simply Superb.....,
i wanna meet you, and i've to talk with you once in my life.....
Oh, God please bless me this boon to me...

Unknown said...

Honey!!
I am reading this again NOW, after sooo many years and I still feel as thrilled and happy as ever :)
And guess what, your dream did come true after all :) Yayyy!