Break a Leg!

      All of us watch and enjoy movies. We watch them in theatres. We download copied and pirated versions and watch them. And the rest of the unfortunates watch it on TV along with the 10 min ad for every 10 min of the movie. But hardly anyone watches drama these days. Yes, live drama.

      The first time I went to the theatre to watch a drama was last week and I am glad that I did. It was a completely different experience. I felt like a kid watching a magic show for the first time. The play that I went for was Romeo and Juliet - No string attached. It was nothing like Romeo and Juliet and nothing like No string attached either. It was a story about four puppets who become free and decide to enact a play the way they want it and not the way the puppeteers want. It wasn't the story which I liked for it was like any other bollywood masala movie. It was rather the way they told us the story that has left me in awe. It was amazing to watch actors change their characters with just a hat or an apron. To watch the lights dim just at the right moment to show whether it a drama within a drama or just the drama. To watch the stringeri (one of the character's name) play and sing songs to accompany their dialogues. To listen to songs at a concert was one thing but to listen to songs tell a story was a completely new experience. It was surprising to see how much we can do with the just a few things. They almost enacted all the characters of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with just four actors. There was no change in the background but you could realize the change none the less. And to know that there are no retakes made it even better.

      I wish I had started watching them long before but I'm also glad that I watched one at least now. But rest assured, when there is a show in town next time, I'm definitely not missing it!

-Shreeji

Dosai!

Who would have ever thought that Idly batter gone bad can be turned to truly delicious food? The folded crispy Dosai with a chutney or a sambhar is complete bliss. I would describe a perfect dosai to be the one which has a lot of crispy and brittle outer region and not too thick a center. The best part of Dosai is that anything with it makes a perfect combination, be it chutney, sambhar, vadai curry, or any almost any type of curry. I love it so much that I often eat it without dipping it in any side dish.

One thing I absolutely hate is that some people call it Dosa. It is a Dosai  with an 'i' at the end! You can also call it a Dos-I but definitely not Dos-Ah. Some people also call it Roast. Roast is a name that englishmen gave it. They probably thought it's like their Toast but a Toast is not even close to a Dosai.

I'm sure people think Dosai originated from Idly. The rumour is that there was a lot of unused Idly batter and some intelligent cook found a way to put it to use. Even this article starts like that! But the fact is that, it was Idly which originated from Dosai. Tamil Sangam Literature in the sixth century AD mentions Dosai but not the Idly which only appears in the Kanada literature four centuries later. The Manasollasa written in the twelfth century AD in Sanskrit mentions the dhosaka for which only pulses were used. It has travelled to all the neighbouring countries of India being called by the name Thosai, Thoshay and the like. Today, it is one of the world's 50 most delicious dish according to CNN (between buttered popcorn and potato chips)

Though Dosai typically refers to the roasted plain batter there are many variations and it is constantly being experimented with Western dishes. Some of the famous versions are Masala Dosai, Onion Dosai, Ghee Dosai, Ada Dosai, Set Dosai, and the list goes on for more than a 100 different types! A few of which are really good in our own canteen! The Masala Dosai and the Ghee Dosai is just amazing in the F Block canteen. The Ghee Dosai in the IM Canteen is equally good (cause that's the only Dosai I ate there). 

Oru Devathai - A Review

It starts with a usual chorus with a bunch of girls singing the much clichéd tune. Well, nothing different in that now, is there? When you almost come to the conclusion that there is nothing new in that song, comes the violin background, followed by a simple tabla beat and then it goes Oru Devathai...

The first thing that caught my attention was his singing. Roop Kumar Rathod has done justice to the song. Although, he is from Bollywood, he has given the right stresses at the right places. When he sings ‘Oh’ and goes with it, that is all you need, you’ll get addicted to it. When you listen to him sing ‘nerathil’ in the second stanza all you’ll want do is to listen to him for the rest of your lives. The high notes that he reaches are just flawless. Especially when he is about to finish it off, that was the icing it needed. He has given his soul to the song.

Muthukumar has penned great lyrics for the tune. ‘Kaalgal irandum tharaiyil irunthum vaanil parakiren’ - Even though my two feet were on the ground, I was flying in the sky. I mean, to put something like that in words, it was just B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. ‘Vazhigal therinthum tholainthu pogiren’ – Despite knowing the way, I kept getting lost. Paarkathey endraalum kekathey – I kept telling myself not to look at her but my heart wouldn’t listen. Marana nerathil un madiyin orathil idamum kidaithal iranthum vazhuven – If I get a place on your lap when I am about I would die and live that way. May be it doesn’t sound all that great in English but then anyone with even a little knowledge of Tamil would understand the depth in that sentence. It’s all simple, yet the meaning and the feel that is conveyed is just magnificent.

It is indeed one of Yuvan’s masterpieces. The tabla throughout the song with a little of paino makes it very soothing to listen. Of course, the violin refrain leaves you humming that tune the rest of the day much to the annoyance of your classmates. You might think that the tune is not all that interesting but that is what makes it great. That lyrics needed a simple music and Yuvan gave that.

Bottom line, it’s an amazing song!

Lukka Chuppi

 I wake up in the morning and the only thing I want to do is to listen to "Luka chuppi" one more time. Only a few days back I realized how beautifully the song was written. Nobody writes like that these days, do they? The more I think about the song, the more beautiful it becomes. It is a conversation between a mother and her son. Her son passed away and she is calling him back home while the son is describing the place where he is in. She is calling her lamp back. The song describes the son's view of the place where he is (heaven). He is in such a place where he can simply jump and attain his dreams. He can be free and fly as high as he can. The way Javed Akhtar has written the song is just...(leaves me speechless) A.R.Rahman and Lata Mangeshkhar have definitely don justice to the song. I love the part when she says 'bahut' with full frustration of a mother.

The song goes like this:

Lukka chuppi bahut hui saamne aaja nah
Enough of hide & seek, come home
Kahan kahan dhoonda tuje thak gayi hai abh teri maa
I searched for you everywhere, I'm tired now
Aaja saanj hui mujhe teri phiker
It's evening now, I'm worried about you
Dhoondhula gayi dekh meri nazar aaja nah
My sight has become hazy, come home

Kya bataoon maa kahan hoon main
I don't know how to describe the place I am at.
Yahan udune ko mere khula aasman hai
There is an open sky here to fly
Tere kisson jaise bhola salona jahan hai yahan sapnonwala
The place is as beautiful and innocent as you described in your stories
Meri patang ho befikar udd rahi hai maa
My kite is flying without any fear
Dor koi loote nahin beech se kaate na
No one will cut my kite's string


Teri raah thakey akhiyaan jaane kaisa kaisa hoye jiyaa
My eyes are waiting for your arrival, my mind is goin through various emotions
Dheere dheere aangon uthre andhera mera deep kahan
The street is becoming dark slowly, where is my lamp
Dalkhe suraj kare ishaara chandha tu hau kahan
The sun is setting and gesturing the moon, where are you?
Mere chandha tu hai kahan
Where are you my moon?

Kaise tujhkho dhikaoon yahan hai kya
How an I show you what is here?
Maine jharne se paani maa todke piyaa hai
I drank water from the fountain
Guchcha guchcha kai khwabhon uchalke chuan hai
I have touched my dreams with a jump
Chaaya liye bhali dhoop yahan
Sunlight also has shelter here
Nayaa nayaa sa hai roop yahan
Everything has a new outlook her
Yahan sabh kuch hai maa phir bhi lagey bin ere mujhko akhela
Everything is there here, yet I feel lonely without


          I don't know if the meaning I have given brings the full beauty of the lyrics, but those who can understand Hindi and poetry will know what I'm talking about. No one writes songs like these now a days and no one has the time to appreciate poetry. I made my neighbour listen to it and she went "What's so good about this song? Nothing enjoyable about it!" In a time of "Sheila ki Jawani" and "Why this Kolaveri" (not that I don't enjoy them at all) there is hardly any soul to appreciate good poetry. Hope this doesn't end up in the disappearance of it.

-Shreeji

Why this kolaveri di?!

      My goodness! Such hype for such a simple song! What is there in that song to become so famous? I found nothing great about it the first time I heard the song. I heard it a second time due to the enormous number of posts in facebook but even then found nothing great about it. My aunt in UK heard it from a Bengali friend of hers and called me up to know what it was all about. But here are few reasons why I think it has become famous all over the world.

The tune: I must say the tune is rather catchy and stays in your head for a really long time, just like Chammak Challo. Although both songs have not so great and not so new tunes they do stay in your heads. The tune is simple enough to be sung by all. One doesn’t need to know singing to do that song justice. Where it for the great singers, I really doubt they would call it singing at all. Hence it is easily enjoyed by the non-singing community.

The language: The whole song is written in a Tamil dialect of English, Thanglish. This use of English words has made even those who don’t understand Tamil to easily grasp the words and sing along with it. No wonder it being played in Mtv, 9xm and many other Hindi music channels. It’s for the same reason that Chetan Baghat’s books also became famous – easy to understand and relate to.

The theme: The song is dedicated to ‘soup boys’ who are apparently those who failed in love. I wouldn’t really say that meaning is one of the main responsibility of the song becoming famous and all. ‘Cause if that was the case then ‘Oda Oda Oda’ song of the movie Mayakkam Enna is funnier. But I guess it was the medium of language through which its meaning was conveyed that really made the song go viral.

The phrase ‘Why this kolaveri?’: Is it really that catchy? I find the word kolaveri at least once in the comments for every post in facebook. WTF has now officially become WTK. I heard my north Indian classmate who doesn’t know Tamil say to his other friend ‘ho gaya na tera kolaveri’. Huh? That was like, completely out of context. I remember my friends and I using the Tamil version of it ‘yen intha kolaveri’ back in school as part of our daily language. I guess Dhanush was just lucky for that phrase being used everywhere.

      But is it really a good ‘song’? I don’t think so. It definitely is not a song that will be remembered over years. It’ll be forgotten when the next catchy thing comes around. Until then for those who don’t like it will just have to bear with its omnipresence. 


-Shreeji