31 December 2007

MY REFLECTIONS, on this special day…

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart"
Helen Keller


There are these moments that leave you bereft of words. Moments those stir every emotion in you and form a kaleidoscope of nothingness. Today was one such day, where I was lost in the world of the challenged, breathing every minute of their existence.

Today, 30 December 2007 is a day chosen to celebrate Music God A.R. Rahman’s 41st birthday(which is on the 6 January 2007). A bunch of extremely genuine, socially conscious Rahman music slaves (that’s a degree higher than fans) decided to do something noble on his birthday. After a lot of thought process and option-exploring-sessions, Rahmaniacs, as they (read- we) proudly call themselves (read- ourselves), decided to spend a day with the inmates of an organization called Nethrodaya, a home for the Blind.

Rahmaniacs certainly have qualities of their idol imbibed in them. They’re bouquet of simple, humble people who belong to different backgrounds united with the power of A.R. Rahman’s heavenly music. We celebrated his birthday, with God’s special people – the visually challenged.

The day began with everybody feasting breakfast king-size. Meanwhile, we had our Rahmaniacs’ band inaugurating the day by invoking A.R. Rahman’s presence amidst us. Singer Pop Shalini, the guest for the day, did the honors, by cutting the piano shaped cake as we all sang “Happy Birthday to Rahman Sir”. The first piece of cake was received by Rani, one of the inmates in Nethrodaya. She was someone whom we all named “Paadum Rani”, owing to her singing prowess! Pop Shalini and myself sang a couple of A.R. Rahman numbers and then our very on Rahmaniacs’ band put together a wonderful show for us all.


The best part of the day, was the contest that we had for the inmates. We had our self-manufactured DJ who played some wonderful interludes of Rahman songs while the inmates had to identify the song and sing it! The enthusiasm we witnessed was rather infectious! We were awestruck by the response each one of them gave us as music penetrated into their ears. They were on their toes, throwing their hands up in the air, to identify the songs and grab the brownie points. Every correct identification of song was followed by truck-loads of applause, and all of us singing the song, in one voice. We even had a tie breaker and quiz for the ones that competed for the first and second position! This was one of the most gratifying events ever.

These people are indeed special. I made my way to this very pretty inmate called Pricilla, first. Introduced myself as Megha and she was elated! She patted my head and said she enjoyed my singing. I held her hands as we chitchatted about our lives. She was telling me all about herself – her routine for the day, how she travels by bus by herself for her computer classes. She felt my hands, my hair and said she’s really sure I look beautiful. She showered generous words of kindness and said, “Please come back and visit us whenever you can”. I was choking already. I did not know if I had the courage to talk to another inmate… I made myself feel really small in front of their might and strength.

Next came four other little girls, who were physically challenged. Rosy, Padma, Madhavi and Selvi… They were all really excited as we talked about each other’s lives. Incredibly touching. I was surprised when they sang along with me, when I did a mini private performance of my songs, on demand! It felt overwhelming to be at my end, where I am an ordinary person at heart, but get treated like an extraordinary person by these people. They tore a piece of white paper into equal fours and asked me to sign them autographs with my contact details. They said, they will be at my doorstep one fine day… I smiled with all my heart and invited them over, fighting back tears at the same time…


Next came, the Paadum Rani, as I have already introduced her earlier. She is an amazing vocalist and sings at concersts, as well. When I asked her, about her achievements and what she feels about it. All she said was that she wants to improve on her singing and her dream is to at least sing a scratch track for a music director. She loves singing “melodies”, she proudly beamed. I held her right hand with a pen, as we signed “Paadum Rani” with a smiley on the A.R. Rahman Birthday Wish Card that did its rounds. Rani expressed her joy as we wrote each letter of her name on the card, together…


Rahmanias were all in Cloud 100… The event filled our hearts in totality. We saw that as each one expressed in their own way. Each one of the Rahmaniacs went out of their way in doing their lil bit, towards the success of this event. Dedication and passion showed in their every gesture. This event is indeed very special to each one of us. We dedicate it to the man, we worship – A.R.Rahman. We are thrilled to have spent his birthday in a way, he’d wanted us to have celebrated it...


Rahmaniacs – Thanks a million for making me a part of this event, so willingly. You guys were incredibly sweet. I’m humbled by all your gestures. Please accept my gratitude with a smile. The very first event turned out nicer than we all imagined it to be. Here’s hoping every one of you get together for many such events. Let’s spread the divinity of Rahman’s music to many more special people, as one family.
In specific – John, Vithur, Narayan. Thanks for coordinating with me all along :)

On that note, here’s wishing all of you Rahmaniacs, a very Happy New Year..
May God bless our Rahman and all of us in abundance this year, and for years to come.

Regards,
Megha

PS:
Log onto: http://www.nethrodaya.org

For more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/Narayan.Srivathsan/RahmanBdayCelebrationPics

19 December 2007

Hey There Delilah

For once, I wish my name were Delilah. And I wish more than anything else, someone sang this song called ‘Hey There Delilah’ for me…

This song just fills me up…There’s something about this song that just makes you feel like an innocent lil school girl, who’s just so blessed to have a boy that loves you more than anything else in this world... Life would be so pretty if all men were like this, meaning every word of this song…


This song does weird things to me, every time I listen to it… And this song cannot get any better than it already is….

If you haven’t heard it, here goes the link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbJtYqBYCV8
And if you’ve heard it, that’s still the link… Listen again…


Hey there Delilah
What's it like in New York City?
I'm a thousand miles away
But girl, tonight you look so pretty
Yes you do
Times Square can't shine as bright as you
I swear it's true

Hey there Delilah
Don't you worry about the distance
I'm right there if you get lonely
Give this song another listen
Close your eyes
Listen to my voice, it's my disguise
I'm by your side

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
What you do to me

Hey there Delilah
I know times are getting hard
But just believe me, girl
Someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar
We'll have it good
We'll have the life we knew we would
My word is good

Hey there Delilah
I've got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you
Would take your breath away
I'd write it all
Even more in love with me you'd fall
We'd have it all

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me

A thousand miles seems pretty far
But they've got planes and trains and cars
I'd walk to you if I had no other way
Our friends would all make fun of us
and we'll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have felt this way
Delilah I can promise you
That by the time we get through
The world will never ever be the same
And you're to blame

Hey there Delilah
You be good and don't you miss me
Two more years and you'll be done with school
And I'll be making history like I do
You'll know it's all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there Delilah here's to you
This one's for you

Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
Oh it's what you do to me
What you do to me.



This is the simplest song ever, with the prettiest words, ever…. Love in its most pristine form. One song beats all the love songs that have ever been churned out so far… His voice, the simplicity, I dunno.. Love…

I know I’ve found a song that’s gonna comfort me at all times…. And make me fee like a pretty lil girl in my heart always..



Thanks a bunch, Raka for introducing me to this song, and to a world of pretty music that you so generously share with me..
**hugs**
**smiling with grateful twinkle in my eyes**

03 December 2007

FACET PRESSURE!

A lot of you may be able to connect to this – when you are jobless, you are so extremely bored to tears that you’d do anything to get your mind occupied. When you have work, that’s when more, and more, and still more of work come in from nowhere! How the heck would anyone multi-task when work just keeeeeeeeps coming in?!

The last minute master that I am and so happens that the college I study in is filled with many such me’s… We finally decide to wake up and WORK our asses off for the upcoming big event “HR Symphony”, which by the way, all of you are invited to.
Date: 6 December 2007; Venue: Madras School of Social Work, Egmore, Chennai.
Theme => HR – A Strategic Business Partner
I wish my blog had more traffic, I’d have attached e-invites and I could perhaps even bet on the number of people that’d turn up :P

Four days before the event, when we just about begin with the major part of the work, Ms. Megha gets busy, leaving Harini in a fix! Megha gets called for a shoot by Mega TV, she gets a dozen recordings that she’d LOVE to go to, she has someone from the press that suddenly decides to write a story on her ‘journey as a playback singer’ **chuckles**, she’s booked by another coupla event organizers to “judge” some music events, her next movie releases and she’s all excited about it – she attends her first audio release function! Harini’s choking on the other end, wanting to pat Megha’s back at one end and kick her butt at the same time! Now, DON’T picturize that!!!

And then there’s another part of her that writes. Serious stuff. Dont ask me what, thats for me to know and you to wonder! :D She works on deadlines, btw. So that’s more work!! Apart from this, there is this eternal be-a-chivalrous-sister that I have to play all the time. For that lil boy of mine just demands I take him out to eat, libraryfy, stationeryfy….. Momma that gives me gharelu work, daddy that’s behind my life to get my medicines (which I’ve been putting away for a long time now)….. All my friends who have been socially inactive all along suddenly decide to meet their long lost friend called Harini… I just remembered – I have to go to the tailor to get my accessories done for college uniform saree! Damn o damn! Pongal o pongal! Naa dead o deaddu!

Moral of the Story:
• Be kind. I’m suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder. Multiple facet pressure, I say! Hence, the disorder. Reiterating - BE KIND.
• Megha just went a lil overboard with her trumpet-blowing business, that she’d like to modestly call PR **tongue-out smiley**.. Forgive her! Well, she actually doesnt do all of that.. or maybe she does :P
• Pray for Harini and the event that she’s a part of! It better go off well, or people will assassinate her. You don’t want to attend a funeral, do you?





thats me! anyone wants to shove in another hand into me?!