Kandhar Anuboothi – A divine and a great musical Experience.

Kandhar Anuboothi, as the name translates “Divine Experience”, is truly one of the best/divine compositions of Arunagirinathar. I am not sure, if I am worthy enough to talk about these divine compositions by great saints like Arunagirinathar. Arunagirinathar, aptly called as “Sandhakkavi” is believed to have composed this divine work when his soul was in a parrot’s body.

For more info on this great composition, refer to Kandhar Anuboothi

I happened to listen to Soolamangalam Sisters’ rendition of this great composition. What is more great than a composition of Arunagirinathar tuned with great music and sung by a divine soul? The composition is wonderfully tuned in Ragamalika. (51 stanzas tuned in 51 Ragas). The Ragas were chosen so carefully to adapt the lyric. I tried googling for the Ragas and found no results. So I thought to Pen down myself. Soolamangalam sister’s rendition can be heard in this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIsVTt9pe0w

I have fetched the lyrics from, http://murugan.org/texts/kandaranubhuti.htm

Please feel free to comment, if you find any wrong mapping here.

காப்பு

Jayanthasri
நெஞ்சக் கன கல்லு நெகிழ்ந்து உருகத்
தஞ்சத்து அருள் சண்முகனுக்கு இயல்சேர்
செஞ்சொற் புனை மாலை சிறந்திடவே
பஞ்சக்கர ஆனை பதம் பணிவாம்.

நூல்

Bilahari
(1) ஆடும் பரி, வேல், அணிசேவல் எனப்
பாடும் பணியே பணியா அருள்வாய்
தேடும் கயமா முகனைச் செருவில்
சாடும் தனி யானைச் சகோதரனே.

Shankarabharanam
(2) உல்லாச, நிராகுல, யோக இதச்
சல்லாப, விநோதனும் நீ அலையோ?
எல்லாம் அற, என்னை இழந்த நலம்
சொல்லாய், முருகா சுரபூ பதியே.

Shanmugapriya
(3) வானோ? புனல் பார் கனல் மாருதமோ?
ஞானோ தயமோ? நவில் நான் மறையோ?
யானோ? மனமோ? எனை ஆண்ட இடம்
தானோ? பொருளாவது சண்முகனே.

Kamboji
(4) வளைபட்ட கைம் மாதொடு, மக்கள் எனும்
தளைபட்டு அழியத் தகுமோ? தகுமோ?
கிளைபட்டு எழு சூர் உரமும், கிரியும்,
தொளைபட்டு உருவத் தொடு வேலவனே.

Thodi
(5) மக மாயை களைந்திட வல்ல பிரான்
முகம் ஆறும் மொழிந் தொழிந்திலனே
அகம் மாடை, மடந்தையர் என்(று) அயரும்
சகமாயையுள் நின்று தயங்குவதே.

Natakurinji
(6) திணியான மனோ சிலை மீது, உனதாள்
அணியார், அரவிந்தம் அரும்பு மதோ?
.. பணியா? .. என, வள்ளி பதம் பணியும்
தணியா அதிமோக தயா பரனே.

Bhairavi
(7) கெடுவாய் மனனே, கதி கேள், கரவாது
இடுவாய், வடிவேல் இறைதாள் நினைவாய்
சுடுவாய் நெடு வேதனை தூள்படவே
விடுவாய் விடுவாய் வினை யாவையுமே.

Behag
(8) அமரும் பதி, கேள், அகம் ஆம் எனும் இப்
பிமரம் கெட மெய்ப் பொருள் பேசியவா
குமரன் கிரிராச குமாரி மகன்
சமரம் பெரு தானவ நாசகனே.

Abhogi
(9) மட்டூர் குழல் மங்கையர் மையல் வலைப்
பட்டு, ஊசல்படும் பரிசு என்று ஒழிவேன்?
தட்டு ஊடு அற வேல் சயிலத்து எறியும்
நிட்டூர நிராகுல, நிர்பயனே.

Karaharapriya
(10) கார் மா மிசை காலன் வரில், கலபத்
தேர்மா மிசை வந்து, எதிரப் படுவாய்
தார் மார்ப, வலாரி தலாரி எனும்
சூர்மா மடியத் தொடுவே லவனே.

Hamsanandhi
(11) கூகா என என் கிளை கூடி அழப்
போகா வகை, மெய்ப்பொருள் பேசியவா
நாகாசல வேலவ நாலு கவித்
தியாகா சுரலோக சிகாமணியே.

Kalyani
(12) செம்மான் மகளைத் திருடும் திருடன்
பெம்மான் முருகன், பிறவான், இறவான்
.. சும்மா இரு, சொல் அற .. என்றலுமே
அம்மா பொருள் ஒன்றும் அறிந்திலனே.

Dhanyasi
(13) முருகன், தனிவேல் முனி, நம் குரு … என்று
அருள் கொண்டு அறியார் அறியும் தரமோ
உரு அன்று, அரு அன்று, உளது அன்று, இலது அன்று,
இருள் அன்று, ஒளி அன்று என நின்றதுவே.

Bhagesri
(14) கைவாய் கதிர்வேல் முருகன் கழல்பெற்று
உய்வாய், மனனே, ஒழிவாய் ஒழிவாய்
மெய் வாய் விழி நாசியொடும் செவி ஆம்
ஐவாய் வழி செல்லும் அவாவினையே.

Hindolam
(15) முருகன், குமரன், குகன், என்று மொழிந்து
உருகும் செயல் தந்து, உணர்வு என்று அருள்வாய்
பொரு புங்கவரும், புவியும் பரவும்
குருபுங்கவ, எண் குண பஞ்சரனே.

Anandha bairavi
(16) பேராசை எனும் பிணியில் பிணிபட்டு
ஓரா வினையேன் உழலத் தகுமோ?
வீரா, முது சூர் பட வேல் எறியும்
சூரா, சுர லோக துரந்தரனே.

Saranga
(17) யாம் ஓதிய கல்வியும், எம் அறிவும்
தாமே பெற, வேலவர் தந்ததனால்
பூ மேல் மயல் போய் அறம் மெய்ப் புணர்வீர்
நாமேல் நடவீர், நடவீர் இனியே.

Kapi
(18) உதியா, மரியா, உணரா, மறவா,
விதி மால் அறியா விமலன் புதல்வா,
அதிகா, அநகா, அபயா, அமரா
பதி காவல, சூர பயங் கரனே.

Natabhairavi
(19) வடிவும் தனமும் மனமும் குணமும்
குடியும் குலமும் குடிபோ கியவா
அடி அந்தம் இலா அயில் வேல் அரசே
மிடி என்று ஒரு பாவி வெளிப்படினே.

Kundhalavarali
(20) அரிதாகிய மெய்ப் பொருளுக்கு அடியேன்
உரிதா உபதேசம் உணர்த்தியவா
விரிதாரண, விக்ரம வேள், இமையோர்
புரிதாரக, நாக புரந்தரனே.

Varali
(21) கருதா மறவா நெறிகாண, எனக்கு
இருதாள் வனசம் தர என்று இசைவாய்
வரதா, முருகா, மயில் வாகனனே
விரதா, சுர சூர விபாடணனே.

Kanada
(22) காளைக் குமரேசன் எனக் கருதித்
தாளைப் பணியத் தவம் எய்தியவா
பாளைக் குழல் வள்ளி பதம் பணியும்
வேளைச் சுர பூபதி, மேருவையே.

Tilang
(23) அடியைக் குறியாது அறியா மையினால்
முடியக் கெடவோ? முறையோ? முறையோ?
வடி விக்ரம வேல் மகிபா, குறமின்
கொடியைப் புணரும் குண பூதரனே

charukesi
(24) கூர்வேல் விழி மங்கையர் கொங்கையிலே
சேர்வேன், அருள் சேரவும் எண்ணுமதோ
சூர் வேரொடு குன்று தொளைத்த நெடும்
போர் வேல, புரந்தர பூபதியே.

Maand
(25) மெய்யே என வெவ்வினை வாழ்வை உகந்து
ஐயோ, அடியேன் அலையத் தகுமோ?
கையோ, அயிலோ, கழலோ முழுதும்
செய்யோய், மயில் ஏறிய சேவகனே.

Bhimplas
(26) ஆதாரம் இலேன், அருளைப் பெறவே
நீதான் ஒரு சற்றும் நினைந்திலையே
வேதாகம ஞான விநோத, மன
அதீதா சுரலோக சிகாமணியே.

Sindhu Bhairavi
(27) மின்னே நிகர் வாழ்வை விரும்பிய யான்
என்னே விதியின் பயன் இங்கு இதுவோ?
பொன்னே, மணியே, பொருளே, அருளே,
மன்னே, மயில் ஏறிய வானவனே.

Amritavarshini
(28) ஆனா அமுதே, அயில் வேல் அரசே,
ஞானாகரனே, நவிலத் தகுமோ?
யான் ஆகிய என்னை விழுங்கி, வெறும்
தானாய் நிலை நின்றது தற்பரமே.

Saveri
(29) இல்லே எனும் மாயையில் இட்டனை நீ
பொல்லேன் அறியாமை பொறுத்திலையே
மல்லேபுரி பன்னிரு வாகுவில் என்
சொல்லே புனையும் சுடர் வேலவனே.

Atana
(30) செவ்வான் உருவில் திகழ் வேலவன், அன்று
ஒவ்வாதது என உணர்வித் ததுதான்
அவ்வாறு அறிவார் அறிகின்றது அலால்
எவ்வாறு ஒருவர்க்கு இசைவிப்பதுவே.

Saramathi
(31) பாழ்வாழ்வு எனும் இப் படுமாயையிலே
வீழ்வாய் என என்னை விதித்தனையே
தாழ்வானவை செய்தன தாம் உளவோ?
வாழ்வாய் இனி நீ மயில் வாகனனே.

Khamas
(32) கலையே பதறிக், கதறித் தலையூடு
அலையே படுமாறு, அதுவாய் விடவோ?
கொலையே புரி வேடர் குலப் பிடிதோய்
மலையே, மலை கூறிடு வாகையனே.

Valaji
(33) சிந்தாகுல இல்லொடு செல்வம் எனும்
விந்தாடவி என்று விடப் பெறுவேன்
மந்தாகினி தந்த வரோதயனே
கந்தா, முருகா, கருணாகரனே.

Chakravaham
(34) சிங்கார மடந்தையர் தீநெறி போய்
மங்காமல் எனக்கு வரம் தருவாய்
சங்க்ராம சிகாவல, சண்முகனே
கங்காநதி பால, க்ருபாகரனே.

Mukhari
(35) விதிகாணும் உடம்பை விடா வினையேன்
கதிகாண மலர்க் கழல் என்று அருள்வாய்?
மதி வாள்நுதல் வள்ளியை அல்லது பின்
துதியா விரதா, சுர பூபதியே.

Patdeep or Gowri Manohari
(36) நாதா, குமரா நம என்று அரனார்
ஓதாய் என ஓதியது எப்பொருள் தான்?
வேதா முதல் விண்ணவர் சூடும் மலர்ப்
பாதா குறமின் பத சேகரனே.

Begada
(37) கிரிவாய் விடு விக்ரம வேல் இறையோன்
பரிவாரம் எனும் பதம் மேவலையே
புரிவாய் மனனே பொறையாம் அறிவால்
அரிவாய் அடியோடும் அகந்தையையே.

Kedaragowlai
(38) ஆதாளியை, ஒன்று அறியேனை அறத்
தீது ஆளியை ஆண்டது செப்புமதோ
கூதாள கிராத குலிக்கு இறைவா
வேதாள கணம் புகழ் வேலவனே.

Vasantha
(39) மாஏழ் சனனம் கெட மாயைவிடா
மூஏடணை என்று முடிந்திடுமோ
கோவே, குறமின் கொடிதோள் புணரும்
தேவே சிவ சங்கர தேசிகனே.

Arabhi
(40) வினை ஓட விடும் கதிர் வேல் மறவேன்
மனையோடு தியங்கி மயங்கிடவோ?
சுனையோடு, அருவித் துறையோடு, பசுந்
தினையோடு, இதணோடு திரிந்தவனே.

Gowlai
(41) சாகாது, எனையே சரணங் களிலே
கா கா, நமனார் கலகம் செயும் நாள்
வாகா, முருகா, மயில் வாகனனே
யோகா, சிவ ஞான உபதேசிகனே.

Desh
(42) குறியைக் குறியாது குறித்து அறியும்
நெறியைத் தனிவேலை நிகழ்த்திடலும்
செறிவு அற்று, உலகோடு உரை சிந்தையும் அற்று
அறிவு அற்று, அறியாமையும் அற்றதுவே.

Saraswati
(43) தூசா மணியும் துகிலும் புனைவாள்
நேசா முருகா நினது அன்பு அருளால்
ஆசா நிகளம் துகளாயின பின்
பேசா அநுபூதி பிறந்ததுவே.

Reethigowlai
(44) சாடும் தனிவேல் முருகன் சரணம்
சூடும் படி தந்தது சொல்லு மதோ?
வீடும், சுரர் மாமுடி, வேதமும், வெம்
காடும், புனமும் கமழும் கழலே.

Keeravani
(45) கரவாகிய கல்வி உளார் கடை சென்று
இரவா வகை மெய்ப் பொருள் ஈகுவையோ?
குரவா, குமரா, குலிசாயுத, குஞ்
சரவா, சிவயோக தயாபரனே.

Shubapanthuvarali
(46) எம் தாயும் எனக்கு அருள் தந்தையும் நீ
சிந்தாகுலம் ஆனவை தீர்த்து எனையாள்
கந்தா, கதிர் வேலவனே, உமையாள்
மைந்தா, குமரா, மறை நாயகனே.

Shudha Dhanyasi
(47) ஆறு ஆறையும் நீத்து அதன் மேல் நிலையைப்
பேறா அடியேன், பெறுமாறு உளதோ?
சீறாவரு சூர் சிதைவித்து, இமையோர்
கூறா உலகம் குளிர்வித்தவனே.

Sama
(48) அறிவு ஒன்று அற நின்று, அறிவார் அறிவில்
பிறிவு ஒன்று அற நின்ற, பிரான் அலையோ?
செறிவு ஒன்று அற வந்து, இருளே சிதைய
வெறி வென்றவரோடு உறும் வேலவனே.

Jonpuri
(49) தன்னந் தனி நின்றது, தான் அறிய
இன்னம் ஒருவர்க்கு இசைவிப் பதுவோ?
மின்னும் கதிர் வேல் விகிர்தா, நினைவார்
கின்னம் களையும் க்ருபை சூழ் சுடரே.

Malayamarutham
(50) மதிகெட்டு அறவாடி, மயங்கி, அறக்
கதிகெட்டு, அவமே கெடவோ கடவேன்?
நதி புத்திர, ஞான சுகாதிப, அத்
திதி புத்திரர் வீறு அடு சேவகனே.

Madhyamavathi
(51) உருவாய் அருவாய், உளதாய் இலதாய்
மருவாய் மலராய், மணியாய் ஒளியாய்க்
கருவாய் உயிராய்க், கதியாய் விதியாய்க்
குருவாய் வருவாய், அருள்வாய் குகனே.

Malaya maarutham – A gentle breeze in heart.

After a long gap, continuing my blog again.

I am a coffee freak. A cup of Coffee in the morning always gives me the first throttle for the day’s run. Coffee lovers generally prefer not to take anything after coffee at least for few hours, as normally the taste lingers in the tongue for few hours. So is the Caffeine effect. But Good Music in the morning has a Strong effect than this. You may be surprised as to why I relate coffee and music here.

Couple of days back, in the early morning, I accidentally landed up on youtube video of Ranjani and Gayathri’s “Karpaga manohara” composed by Papanasam Sivan. The rendition was so good that, they brought the bhaava and essence of the raaga in every line they were singing. It was so influential that Couple of hours later when I headed to office I kept singing the Raga while riding the bike. In office, I realized I was so calm, peaceful and yet joyful by heart. Immediately I could relate this to the effect of Raga. This is one of several times, where I have really experienced the effect of ragas on my mind’s state.

Just like “Revathi”, Malayamarutham creates a swirl of Bhakthi around you. Even after reaching office, I couldn’t stop my thirst for the Raga. Started listening “Anumane saamikinda” composed by Arunachala kavirayar sung by Bombay Jayashree. My thirst for the raga just shot up even more that, I started listening different version of the same song from various singers. I started listening to Sikkil Gurucharan’s version of “Anumaane saamikinda” where he effervescently starts it with a virutham from kamba ramayanam(சூடையின் மணி கண்மணி) in Ragamalika(Behag,kapi and Malayamarutham). OMG, what an excellent rendition of the song. Arunachala kavirayaar chooses this Raga for the situation where Hanuman meets Sita in Ashoka vana. She gives her Choodamani to hanuman and tells Hanuman to show this as proof of her existence to Rama. This anecdote of Ramayana is centering around “HOPE”.

What an excellent choice of Raga for the situation. The Raaga just suits the situation. Everybody is hoping for some good everyday. After so many days of hurdle and sorrow, Sita is seeing the first ray of Hope for her rescue via Hanuman and now you know why Kavirayar has chosen this raga. As the name suggests “Malayamarutham – A gentle breeze from mountain”, the raga just fills your heart with bliss. The Raga also brings in hope in the confused minds(Chanchala manam) and opens the flow of karuna rasa from loveless hearts.

Similarly, Thyagaraja swami’s composition “Manasa etulorthune”, the lyrics is written in such a way that it counsels the mind. Brings in bhakti rasa and positive thoughts.

Allied Ragas:

Classical compositions:
Manasa etulo – Thyagaraja
Smarane ondhe – Purandaradasa
Karpaga manohara – Papanasam sivan
Anumaane saamikinda – Arunachala kavirayar

Film Music:
Kanmani nee vara – Thendrale ennai thodu
Poojaikkaga vaadum – Kadhal Oviyam. IR’s excellent composition. Especially the notes sanchaaras in charanam are notable.
Thendral ennai muthamittadhu
Oomai Nenjin Sondham – Manidhanin Marupakkam
Ragasiyamai Ragasiyamai – Dum Dum Dum

Trip to Kshetra Karnataka – Day2

The next day morning we woke up early and within couple of minutes we are all ready set go for our next destination. Manju was already waiting for us. It’s now, mom told there is a Gomateeswara temple here near manjunatha Swami temple and we headed towards it. Mom couldn’t climb Sravanabelahola, so she was interested in seeing this, as this was having relatively lesser steps. We all climbed the hill within couple of minutes and had a nice darshan there. When we reached the top of the cliff, we found some cars and taxis there. Only then we came to know there is a road path to the top of the cliff. We told this to Manju, when we returned to the car. On the way back to the lodge, we visited the Ram mandir near Ujire. This mandir has an awesome outlook and was neatly maintained. There were several sannidhis such as Gayathri devi, saraswati, Ganesha, hanuman, ram seetha lakshmana, so on and so forth. It had a separate space where all the navagrahas are placed with their respective chariots/vahanas. We then headed to have our breakfast. We went to Hotel Mavanthoor Residency, as everyone suggested that this would be a good choice, but only to get disappointed. The Idlies were horrible and the sambar was worst. Manju had some “vegetable bath” and everyone synchronously nodded to leave the hotel and move to a better hotel to complete our breakfast.

Soon we were out of the hotel and a small hotel in opposite grabbed our attention. Appa on seeing the pooris stacked there, told we would go to that hotel. We all nodded as we were sure, however bad the hotel/food be, it would still be better than the one that we had at Mavanthoor. We had pooris and took hot vadas freshly prepared after waiting for around 15 mins, then paid the bill and headed towards Horanadu. The combined bill was still less than 200 for four of us. We reached Kalasa after a journey of 2-3 hours. We visited the Kalasa temple and as I told, even here there was some Annadhanam going on. Pilgrims were taking plates and taking paayasam. Mom asked me, if we should go get it. I told her, as we are heading to Horanadu which is famous for Anna poorani, we should certainly take food there and so we decided to skip it here. Around 11:30 Am, we all started to Horanadu. Its another 15-30 mins travel. On the way we saw swarms of vehicles and concluded we can get darshan only around evening if we join the queue now. But we didn’t mind anything, as we have already taken a heavy breakfast, no one was really hungry and we entered the temple as soon as possible to join the queue. To our surprise, we had darshan twice within 10 mins and soon we were on our queue in the Annadanam area. I asked thrice, should we really wait this much time for food, having got darshan so quick?

At last we decided to stay on the line. After 20 mins, we were all made to sit on cement slabs laid back to back on a big hall. The hall had a big photo of Annapoorani and can easily accommodate around 300 people. The temple had 3 or 4 such big halls. In a fraction of a second, one person kept the plates, the other one a tumbler and the other one filled it with water. The mega climax here is how they served rice. One person kept moving the trolley having the rice and there were two persons who kept serving rice for two rows facing each other. They served in a rhythmic fashion. The speed of the trolley and the speed at which these guys served made me say awesome. The moment the rice was served, there is another trolley in which sambar was brought and served in the same fashion. Although I shouldn’t call it as sambar [chilly+tamarind hot water]. But in our hunger, it didn’t taste that bad. But the payasam they served was awesome. Unfortunately, they didn’t serve it much and no chance of asking it again as already people for next pandhi are already waiting in queue.

After our meals, we came out and to our surprise, now the queue was till the outer entrance. We then purchased coffee powder there, as my aunt had told to get her a kg. We then headed towards the cab. I told Manju to have his lunch there. But he told he would have it in Sringeri. We then headed towards Sringeri. This was the best roads with best sceneries. You will forget your own self in the nature’s beauty. We reached Sringeri around 5:00PM. We went inside the temple and inquired about Thorana Ganapathi, as I had to offer my special prayers and thanks to him. We then had nice darshan of Saradambal and the Tunga river there. The Tunga river had lakhs and lakhs of fishes of varying size and the pilgrims were feeding it with pori. We then offered our prayers to Thorana ganapathi. You can offer modhakams made of sugar by paying Rs.100 or Rs.200 and take the prasadam home. Thorana Ganapathi here is very powerful and he blesses you with all wishes you pray for.







Soon we came out of the temple and I asked Manju if we can reach Agumbe before the sunset. We know we are already late. Agumbe is 20 kms from Sringeri and the sun set here is very famous. The sun sets in between two cliffs. I had only drawn pictures on my K.G.s like a sun setting between hills but never witnessed one. So was very eager to see that. Manju tried his level best in driving at his best speed possible on ghat roads. We reached the place around 6:30pm and we could only see the whole sky painted in red. It was like “Harathi sprinkled on the whole sky for the Surya bagavan”. I then realized, if this itself is damn good, how would the sun set be? I decided to come here again. There is no wonder why Sarada devi got stumbled and stopped here seeing the natural beauty. Without God’s will you cannot enjoy his creations too. I pray god to give me a chance again to witness sun set @ Agumbe.

We took Agumbe route to reach Udipi. In another 2 hours we reached Udipi. After a marathon search in udipi we atlast found accommodation in Vaishali lodge in outer. It took us around 3 hours and 25 kms of drive to find one. We then went out to have our dinner. It took another 2 hours to finish our dinner, as the restaurant had poor serving. Meanwhile, we went to the temple and checked out the timings and there were lot of sevarthis. There was some dance festival going on. We decided to wake up early and reach the temple as early as possible in the morning. We then came back to room and had a nice sleep.

Trip to Kshetra Karnataka – Day 1

I was longing to write this post for a long time. At last after a long gap, I forcefully found time to blog. It is always a great moment to think back and cherish the experience when we write posts about our own trips.

I had heard lot about Sringeri, Agumbe and Kollur from my parents and uncle. They keep telling about their childhood trips to these places and their experiences to me. My uncle told Sringeri is a place where a snake held its expanded hood as a sunshade for a pregnant frog which was about to deliver. Frog and snakes are deadly enemies. But the place is so pleasant that it kindled love and affection between the two and such is the greatness of this place. Also, in the story of Sarasavani and Adi Sankara, this is the place where Sarasavaani[avatar of Saraswati] got established. I remember the kannada phrases my elder uncle told about agumbe. “Nakkare dhanthatha bomme, athare aagumbe”. It translates as “she looks like ivory statue when she laughs and she looks like agumbhe when she starts crying”. Agumbe is the highest rainfall prone area.

I woke up around 7:45AM and rushed to switch on my PC. I opened the browser and hit the busiest site from 7:45AM to 8:30AM. I checked the time and it was 7:53AM. I clicked on the “Plan My Travel” in the irctc.co.in page and booked a Tatkal ticket to Yeswantpur Railway station from Chennai Central for me and my parents. Two days prior to this I had spoken to my brother and got contact of a travels in Bengaluru. My dad has booked the return ticket couple of days back, as I have already planned the places to visit and accounted for some cushion/buffer time. The one thing that we didn’t plan was the place of stay or hotels. We had some advantage of this but had tough time too, which you would come to know as you read further. However the order of travel was planned and also the stay at Bengaluru was confirmed as it was on my father’s Railway Guest House.

I took a print out of the map and the tickets and we are ready set go. We reached central far ahead of our boarding time. I asked mom, if she wants a cup of coffee before we board the train? We never say NO for coffee(Good coffee of course). [This was the last time we had good coffee in the total trip.] I held three cups of coffee from saravana bhavan in Central station and we boarded the train. I suddenly felt a jerk in my pant pocket. It was a sms confirming the cab booking. They had sent me the driver’s number and name. I called up immediately Mr.Manjunath and confirmed him our travel and asked him to come over to Yeswantpur railway station the next morning around 6:00AM. I made him come 15 mins ahead of us, as I know, no cab driver arrives on time. The train reached Yeswantpur on time and as expected the cab driver has not yet reached. I gave a call to him and he responded he would be in the station in another 10 mins. He reached the station after 20 mins. We boarded the vehicle and my dad asked him to drive to his guest house which is just next to Bangalore city junction. He drove the 6km stretch in about 10 min and we reached the guest house. We quickly refreshed and within couple of mins we were ready for our breakfast. Now I realized how fast things are if my sister is not with us. lolz….

I asked Manjunath, about a good hotel to have our breakfast. He suggested Sri krishna bhavan which is just behind the guest house.We took a fast and light breakfast there. Manju had no clues other than the info that the trip is for 4 days and we want to visit some places like Dharmasthala and Sringeri. He drove to a petrol bunk and fueled the cab. I noticed that we were tracing back the same route that we took from Yeswantpur. I asked Manju about the route. He told, sir we should go via Yeswantpur again. He accelerated the vehicle as soon as we reached the highway. He asked me “sir shall we take the Nela mangala toll route?” I told him, to take the route/road that he would feel better and safe. Soon the speedometer crossed the acute angle and it started touching 90kmph. The road was awesome and smooth. Manju started talking to me about our native, work, college, tamilnadu, chennai, so on and so forth. He moved well and never felt boring.

He suddenly saw the printout of the map I was having in my hand and tried making something from the contour seen on the printout. He then asked me, so you have planned to go to Kukke subramanya first? I nodded my head and he had a bigger map of karnataka in his rack which he gave to me. I asked him, how long will it take to reach Hassan? He told, it would take around 3-4 hours. It was around 11:00 AM when we crossed Hassan. On the way he stopped at Shravanabelahola and told me “this is my native place”. I have heard about this place and the deity. The deity is Gomateeswara[often referred as Belaka ummachi @ my home.]. This is a Jain temple following Digambar custom. My mom and dad stayed in the car. I rushed to the top of the hill climbing the 1500 steps and took couple of photos and rushed back to the cab asap, to keep the plan in tact, as this was not included on our plan earlier. In around 45 mins I am back in the cab. We took tender coconuts [This place is very famous for tender coconuts]. My thirst got quenched and my stomach started feeling chill.















I asked Manju, where can we have our lunch? He told, the ghat road starts at Sakleshpur and that is the place where you would see some decent restaurants. By around 1:00 PM, we reached Sakleshpur and quickly had lunch over there. Mom had horrible curd rice and myself and dad safely had meals. Soon, we headed towards Kukke subramanya. The cab moved through a small railway bridge and manju pointed me, and told this is the the train route from Mangalore to Kukke subramanya road. He also added, you should once travel by train from Mangalore and you will enjoy the journey through thick forest and enjoy the natural beauty. Soon we passed through a river. I turned towards Manju, and he told me “This is KumaraDhaara sir”. My mind immediately associated with lord Subramanya. Oh ok. Thats why this is special for lord Subramanya. In about 10 mins we reached kukke subramanya and we rushed in thinking we might have a big queue. To our surprise the temple hardly had few devotees. We had a nice dharshan. Haan one think I forgot. In kerala and karnataka, In most of the temples, you will have to remove your shirts before entering the shrine. It is really adorable that they strictly follow this custom to maintain sanctity of the temples.

We had coffee along with Manju in Kukke and soon headed towards Dharmasthala. Now mom told, Dharmasthala’s deity name is manjunatha swami. Now I realized why this is a very common name in karnataka. We reached Dharmasthala around 6:30 PM and Manju asked us, if we would search for a hotel and board the lodge? I asked mom, if we could visit the temple now. Mom’s instantaneous response was a “YES”. No one really worried about anything. Soon we were on the queue. My estimated Darshan time was around 1 hour as the queue was moving fast. The queue seemed like a never-ending road as we progressed. There were several school students behind us. They were rushing, pushing and playing around. They keep bypassing queues and playing around and they were really entertaining us. I started talking to a college student a native of karnataka who stood before me. I asked him why was it crowded and he told me about the rush during pradosham and Maha shivratri. He told, the rush we were seeing then was nothing. I am sure, the rush then would be more or less like the Tirupathy during bramhotsavam. Atleast tirupathy had some vacant rooms with seats to make pilgrims comfortably sit, when they are waiting on the queue. Suddenly we noticed a big crowd coming out of a room in batches and my mom told it was Free food scheme that Dharmasthala has. I would like to mention that, every temple in this stretch has this free food scheme and I felt very great about Karnataka, or in fact felt proud about India.

After 3.0 hours of wait, at last we entered inside the sanctum sanctorium and had a great darshan. One thing which I have to accept is that the happiness that gushes in getting a darshan after so much of waiting has no words to explain. The difficulties/waiting that we underwent was nullified in a fraction of a second and some joy or happiness starts to blossom in the heart quickly.

Soon we were out of the temple and Manju was waiting for us with the car. He asked me if we should rush to find a Lodging as the time was already 09:45PM. But on the other side, everyone was feeling Hungry. But we didn’t mind the hunger and continued to search for Lodges. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any room/Lodge. I kept running zig zag across the road to find accommodation. But no help. Its my bad that I didn’t pre-book the Lodging. Now mom told, “when you are traveling with your family how could you go on such an assumption”. I now felt really bad. My dad told “worst case, we would get into the car and sleep da”. I cannot imagine that situation. I continued my search again. Now, I got a different answer. They told, all the lodges in Dharmasthala are full and they told me, “If you have cab, you can travel to “Ujire” and try your luck to get an accommodation there”. Soon we were heading towards Ujire. Its a 5 km drive down the hill. I forgot to mention, “Right from Sakleshpur its full of ghat roads till now”. We reached Ujire in couple of minutes. We kept rushing from Lodge to Lodge again to find accommodation. At last I found a lodge with some room availability. When I spoke to him in English, he responded “Only kannada” and moved on to next customer. I told my dad “It seems they would give accommodation only for kannada people”. Then some one near me replied me in English. “Sir you misunderstood, he told you, he can only understand kannada not that he wouldn’t lend rooms to you”. At last we managed to grab a non-AC room there and my heart and mind filled with peace and joy.

We entered the room and left again for our dinner to a Jain Dhaba nearby. We were served with Akki rotti and pooris. We came back to room and soon we were asleep.

Day-2 continued here
https://ravikumarv.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/trip-to-kshetra-karnataka-day2/

A Plan to Kshetra Karnataka

Be it a Holiday trip or a trekking challenge or a relaxing vacation, it’s always a great feel/reminiscence to write a post about our experience. Whenever I plan for a trip, I always read many blogs, to get info about routes, weather, Hotels, Transport etc. So many blogs had helped me in planning a great trip to Karnataka. I should thank all these bloggers for their useful info. I feel I can reciprocate my gratitude, by sharing my experience too 🙂

I conceived this thought about a trip to Karnataka somewhere around the month of September. But didn’t work on that much. December last week is a year-end shutdown in my organization. Employees have to apply mandatory leaves from 26th to 30th of December. 24th, 25th, 31st of DEC and 1st of Jan being Saturdays and Sundays, we get totally 10 days of rest from work. The plan was to start on 24th of December and return home on 30th of December.

I started plotting the places to visit on Google maps and connected them all using “Get Directions”. I saw a lot of retracing when I connected them initially. Then I formed a logical circuit by moving up and down the destination points[sorry back and forth] in the Google maps and reached a place where there is minimal/no retracing.

Note : Please click on the above image to generate the Google map for you

Day 0 : 24-12-2011
11:10PM – Start by Yeshwantpur Express from Chennai to Yeshwantpur. [Tickets were available only for Yeshwantpur.]

Day 1 : 25-12-2011
6:00 AM – As per prior booking, the cab will pick us from yeshwantpur railway station and reach my father’s Guest house at bengaluru City Junction
8:00 AM – After refreshing, start to kukke subramanya after having break fast
3:00 PM – Reach Kukke subramanya, have dharshan
5:00 PM – start to Dharmasthala
6:30 PM – reach Dharmasthala and check in a Hotel.

Day 2: 26-12-2011
6:00 AM – Have dharshan @ Dharmasthala temple
9:00 AM – Head towards Horanadu
11:00 AM- Reach Horanadu and have darshan
1:00 PM- Start to Sringeri
3:00 PM- Reach Sringeri
4:00 PM- Finish Darshan in Sringeri and start to Agumbe and stay near Agumbe or stay @ sringeri itself.

Day 3: 27-12-2011
7:00 AM – start to Udupi
9:00 AM – Have breakfast in Udupi
12:01 PM- Start to Kollur
3:00 PM- Have Darshan @ Kollur, and head to Murudeshwar
6:00 PM -Reach Murudeshwar and then stay @ Murudeshwar

Day 4 -28-12-2011
7:00 AM – Have Darshan @ Murudeshwar
9:00 AM – Have breakfast and then leave for jog falls
12:01 PM – Reach Jog falls – spend few hours, Have lunch
17:00 PM – start from Jog falls and reach Arsikare

Day 5 -29-12-2011
7:00 AM – start towards Bengaluru after having breakfast
12:00 Noon – Reach Bengaluru and rest of the day for shopping if possible:)

Day 6 -30-12-2011
6:00 AM- Start to Chennai by Lalbagh Express

Watch out my next post for my real experience and photographs. I felt I can split my plan and the real experience in two posts so that post will not too long. Also the readers don’t get bored going through a lengthy post on a blog.

A.R.Rahman’s compositions – A classical view – Part II

Compiled another set of Classical based compositions of Rahman Ji. This time I have tried to list some of the Hindi compositions too.


Bilahari– Omana penne from the movie “Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya” is based on the Raga Bilahari. The most beautiful part of the song is the interlude “Maragatha thottilil” which brings out the Rasa of Bilahari.
Nattai – The song Narumugaye from the movie Iruvar is based on Naattai. However usage of Gambeera naattai is seen in the pallavi for the female portion of the song. Also the ending of the charanam “Ilaithaen Thudithaen Pørukkavillai..
Idaiyinil Maegalai Irukkavillai..” is in the Raga “Maand”.

Maand – Sowkiyama in Sangamam is purely based on the Raga Maand. The most beautiful portion in the song is the starting of charanam, when nithyasree sings “Suriyan Vandhu Vaavenum bodhu” and the briha following it brings the main saaram of the Raga. The saz piece in the end is also wonderful.

Kaapi or Mishra pilu – The song oru poiyavadhu from the movie Jodi, is based on the ragam kapi. pilu is a hindustani raag that is almost similar to kapi in carnatic. However in the charnam the lines “aanaal penne ullam kallil seithuvaithaano….kaathal kanne ullam kallil seithuvaithaano” is deviating from kapi and is set in “Dharbari”.

Saraswathi and Hameer kalyani – Kaiyil midhakkum from Ratchagan is based on the Ragas Saraswati and Hameer kalyani. The Ragas were switched alternatively in elegance to produce a great tune. “Kanava kaatra” starts with saraswati. However the line “unnai mattum sumandhu nadanthaal uyaram dhooram theriyaadhu” in the charanam perfectly brings out the essence of Hameer kalyani. The song “Malargale malargale” from the movie Love Birds is also based on “Hameer Kalyani”

Charukesi – The song “Aahistha Aahistha” from the movie Swades is based on the Raga Charukesi. The tamil equivalent “Thai sonna thaalattu” is sung by Jesudas and Madhusri.

Panthuvarali – Hay Rama from Rangeela sung by Swarnalatha and Hari ji is based on Panthuvarali. Also the song “Machiniye” from the movie star is based on panthuvarali or kama vardhini.

Bhimplas – Manmohiney Morey from the movie “Yuvraaj” is based on Bhimplas.

Hamsadhwani/Shankarabhranam – yeh jo des hai tera from “Swades” is mainly based on Shankarabharanam. However, the song uses lot of phrases of Hamsadhwani. The pallavi starts with notation “yeh jo des hai tera …..[P N S S S S]”, ” tujhe hai pukaara …[P S R..S R G]”. In the charanam, “Tujhse zindagi ….[R G gp G G G] hai ye keh rahi….[R G gd P P P]” usage of Da is seen.

Shubha panthuvarali or Gujri Todi – Bhor Bhaye song from Delhi 6 is based on Shubha panthuvarali. The hindustani Equivalent of this raga is Gujri Todi.

Hamsadhwani and Vaasanthi – Manmadha maasam song from Paarthale paravasam, starts with Hamsadhwani and as the song progresses, it moves to vaasanthi, which is evident by the usage of the Sudha Daivatham.

shankarabharanam, behaag and hameer kalyani – Nee thaan en Desiya geetham from the movie Paarthale paravasam is an excellent composition and it is a magic to hear in Balram’s voice. Wow what a composition! The song starts in Shankarabharanam. After the interlude but before starting of the charanam, Balram does a Aalap which is set in Hameer kalyani. As the song moves to charanam, the Raga shifts to Behag.

Ragamalika – Suttum Vizhi chudar thaan from the movie Kandukonden kandukonden is a ragamalika. The sequence is Behag, kalyani, Vasantha and back to Behag.

To be continued…

continue your reading here:
https://ravikumarv.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/a-classical-perspective-of/

Must Have softwares

Seen lot of sites listing the Must have Software and most of them are promotional ones and aims at Advertisement.

I prefer going by personal blogs which will mostly be an unbiased and personal recommendations.

Here is my list of software that I have tried on my own.

1) Free Music Zilla

This helps you in downloading any streaming audio/video in your browsers. I use it mostly to download youtube videos, audio songs from esnips and other streaming of karaoke songs where there is no download option.

Link : http://www.freemusiczilla.com/

2) Reinlendar

This helps you in remembering your friends birthdays and gives you an alarm before 1 day[customizable] and adds a recurring event. This lists for you the birthdays, you have in this week[customizable]. This also helps you in tracking your tasks and other meetings. This can be integrated with the outlook to pick our outlook events automatically. This has a very cool look and feel.

Link : http://www.rainlendar.net/cms/index.php

3) Audacity:

This is an excellent software for recording, editing, and mixing sound tracks. This has several options such as adjusting pitch, speed/tempo, loudness, and other effects such as adding echo etc.,

Link : htp://audacity.sourceforge.net/

4) FormatFactory :

This can convert basically any type of audio/video/image to any other type. It can also extract audio from video files and can repair some audio/video files. It also supports ripping of DVD and some of the image editing functionality like Zoom,Rotate/Flip.

Link : http://www.formatoz.com/

5) Primo PDF:

This Creates PDF files faster in one-click and supports drag-and-drop PDF creation. Convert to PDF from any file you can print, including Microsoft® Word, Excel®, and PowerPoint® formats

Link : http://www.primopdf.com/

6) Buxfer – Online Budgeting/Finance tracking tool

If you want an easy way to track your expenses and for budgeting, this is the one. You can create monthly budgets in a easy way. Can maintain several bank account info. Generate report on the expense, balance sheet, and project your balance. As this is a web based interface, you can access it anywhere and update it now and then if you have a smart phone.

Link : http://www.buxfer.com/

7) crashplan :

CrashPlan is backup software that allows Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris users to back up their data to an offsite data center, computers belonging to friends and family, as well as to attached drives / shared folders.

Link : http://www.crashplan.com/

8] Stickies :

We always need some easiest way to make note of certain things and track it by some way. You need not open a notepad and type something and save it as a file and remember to delete when finished and also keep junking your desktop with *.txt files. Stickies remain in desktop even after the reboots. Just close the sticky to delete. You can email it, take a backup of it too.

Link: http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/

9) Panda cloud Antivirus :

This is a cloud based antivirus software that is very intelligent in making smart decisions, light weight and very secure. This is given as a free ware.
Link : http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/forHome/

web link directory

Sargam for Lukka Chuppi – A.R Rocks

The original composition is sung by A.R.Rahman and Lata ji.

I have tried to notate the swaras as closely as possible. In case, if you find any change, please feel free to intimate me.

Note:
, indicates a single pause.[1 maathirai]
; indicates a double pause. [2 maathirai]
The Swaras in red indicates the taara sthaayi and the green indicates the manthra sthaayi.
 

Magic of Raja – A lil bit of this and lil bit of that

Ilayaraja is one of the finest music directors whom I admire most. He surprises me every time, with his great knowledge base and composing ability. In this post I am going to share the great technical intricacies hidden in few of his compositions which have got me goose bumps, when I hear them and try to decipher it.

One such mystery is the song “Malargalil Aadum” from the movie Kalayana Raman sung by S.P.Shailaja. Any common man hearing this song could not stop himself from appreciating the great composition. But for those, who are trained in classical music, it could be a mystery. The song is actually based on the Ragam “Mohanam”. It took several minutes for me to decide whether the Ragam is “Mohanam” or “Sudha saveri”. Something was preventing me to decide on either side. Then I browsed in the net to check out the ragam. In few of the sites/ blogs, it was mentioned as Mohanam and some other sites it was mentioned as Sudha saveri. In some others it was mentioned as Mohanam/Sudha saveri.

Now this brought me more confusion and it was a challenge for my brain cells. One side of my brain tells it is sudha saveri and the other says it is Mohanam. Now at this instance, I decided to notate the song. I found all the swaras are of Mohanam. But I asked myself, why was it difficult for me to identify the Ragam? Why am I not confident? I started analyzing the reason. It is after 1 hour, it struck me, IR has done some magic in this song. And now I reveal the magic. IR has carefully done a Griha beda/Sruthi bedam in the song. For those, who don’t understand the terms, please read the post completely.

The Arohana and the Avarogana of Mohanam is

S R2 G3 P D2 S
S D2 P G3 R2 S

But the Arohana and Avarogana of Sudha saveri is

S R2 M1 P D2 S
S D2 P M1 R2 S

Logic of Griha bedam.

Look at the following figures

If you carefully look at these figures, sudha saveri varies from Mohanam in the third note [G for mohanam and M for Sudha saveri].

But if you think logically, you can bring sudha saveri from Mohanam, if you extra polate and shift the sadjam

If you see the above figure, we can see the S[sadjam] is shifted to P[panchamam] and therefore the subsequent swaras take appropriate position to get the sudha saveri Raga. But the Swaras are still on the Mohanam scale. Now you compare the above figure with the one for sudha saveri and find out how this magic works.

The song starts like this,

Malargalil aadum ilamai pudumaiye

PDGR SDP GRG PD PD

Manadhukkul odum ninaivu inimaye

PDGR SDPGRG PDPD; P

In the song, the chord progressions are such a way, that the Panchamam is heard as sadjam in our ears and thus we conceive the whole composition to be on shudha saveri.

Look out for more such posts on my blog.

Chittai Swara for Kannodu kanbathellam

Due to popular Request, I penned down the chittai swara in the song kannodu kanbathellam from the movie Jeans. The song is based on the Raga Abheri, and has influence of the Raga Shudha Dhanyasi, which is no offense, as the Raga Abheri itself is the superset of Shudha Dhanyasi, literally(theoritically) although not musically.

I have tried to notate the swaras as closely as possible.  In case, if you find any change, please feel free to intimate me.

Note:
, indicates a single pause.[1 maathirai]
; indicates a double pause. [2 maathirai]
The Swaras in red indicates the taara sthaayi and the green indicates the manthra sthaayi.
 

Prelude :

Chittai Swaras :