Ilayaraja and his efforts to learn a Musical Instrument

The first question I asked when I got to know that my cab mate's name is Ilayaraja
was "Do you play any musical instrument?". For sometime I was using the company provided cab to commute to office. He immediately said "No," but went on to add "Infact, I tried" and continued "When I was in Madurai, in the floor below my apartment, there was a music school, where they teach music to kids" (So, our Ilayaraja stayed close to music, at-least.)

Ilayaraja added "Once I went to that school teacher and told him that I want to learn a musical instrument... And also told my wish to learn violin...". But the master had told him that he will get neck pain eventually as the violin had to be held in-between the shoulder and the cheek..."

Undeterred and also to do justification to his name, my cab mate still wanted to learn a musical instrument. So, he replied to that music teacher, "Sir, then I will learn guitar.." For which the master also agreed.

Our friend bought a guitar, paid the fee to the Master and started attending the classes. But soon, another trouble came. The musical notes were too difficult for him, to understand and to learn. So, after a couple of classes, Ilayaraja told to the Master "Sir, the notes are a bit difficult for me to understand and remember. So, can I drop Guitar and switch to Keyboard...". For some reason Ilayaraja have come to conclusion that the notes for Keyboard should be easy, as playing a keyboard is very easy. Not need to strain at all, all we have to do is to select a key and press it. It always gives some sound, unlike the violin or a flute, where it takes weeks to hear the first sound. But he lost all hopes of learning a musical instrument when his master said "The notes are same...".

After this incident, he stopped going to the classes, and never thought about learning any musical instrument in his life again. But it seems that frequently he comes across this question "Do you play any musical instrument..." Whenever people get to know about his name. I was happy in a way. When people hear my name, all they ask is its meaning, and what it refers to. Had my name been something similar to Ilayaraja, life would have been a bit more tough.

- Pavala
05-Jul-2019.

Chennai Express in Vijay Mall.

When I entered the movie hall I observed that the screen was just a bit bigger than our TV screen. I was disappointed, as I am person who likes to watch movies on bigger screens. Also our seats were in the second row, and thus I almost felt that I was watching the movie in our home. This was our first movie in the new Trichy’s Vijay Mall, the first ever shopping mall of Trichy. By the way, the mall has a nice name J. The shopping mall in Nagerkoil had an even nicer name J.

After a long time, went for the movie “Chennai Express” to theater, with family. It was a Hindi movie taken in  Tamil(pun intended). Almost all the characters spoke Tamil including Sharukh, who spoke a statement in Tamil at the end, which majority of the Tamil speaking population couldn’t  understand. Will come to that later. I am sure the Hindi speaking people would have had some difficulty in understanding the story.  

In the initial scenes, the background sceneries were more beautiful than Deepika Padukone. Or may be, with time, I have learnt to see the beauty beyond women J.  But, nowhere in Tamil Nadu one could see such a place. Later got to know that it is some place near Goa. People watching the movie from North India would assume that everyone one in Tamil Nadu will be having a sickle in hand, as when Sharukh gets down from the train, he was welcomed by a huge crowd, where everyone had a sickle in one or both the hands.

“Thangabali”, a name which I am sure, no one will be having in Tamil Nadu. Also Mr. Thangabali, is a fair, tall, well-built person, who definitely should have born somewhere in the temperate zone.

Most of the Tamil Guys will remain un-married if we were asked to lift the girl through those many steps to the top of the mountain, because…(I don’t want to complete this statement here, but I can share the complete statement over email, on request J).

The Perumal kovil Poojari in having Pattai all through his body. Mohan Ram, the actor whole played the Poojari role, would have hit his head against a pillar upon watching this scene in the movie.

Priyamani’s dance for “1234 song” was awesome. One of my short term goal is to learn her steps. All through the movie I tried to translate the hindi statements to my friend, who objected to it saying “I can understand, no need to translate”. With the flow and with many characters speaking Tamil, she was able to understand except when Sharukh Khan said “Ippdi oru appan iru-paaa-naa…” towards the end of the movie. He repeated it again, even then many couldn’t understand. I understood it at the second time. At this time my friend asked “What did he tell???”. I translated Sharukh’s Tamil to our Tamil.

The way Deepika calls “Aaapaa” was sweet and wonderful. We have a person in our family who pronounces “Appa” in almost the same way, almost having a similar name to hers. J.   

They call it a tribute to Rajini, but sing and dance about lungi. Dear Sharukh, Rajni’s dancing style is unique and not the regular lungi dapankuthu. And by the way, we Tamils cannot claim ownership over lungi. Lungi belongs to one of our neighboring state, the "Land of Lungi", but they call it as "God's own country". The Chetans will murichu our chundu, if we claim ownership over lungi.

But at the end I have to agree that it was good watch and had a good time with family. 

Some habits wont die...

This is in response to Shen's post with the same topic which can be read here - Some habits wont die.
Each one of us will have many such habits, I believe. Let me start with my school days. When I switched from pencil to pen in my fourth standard, I had the habit of always carrying the pen in hand. Even while playing it used to be in my hand. This continued for more than 6 months, after which it stopped, and I do not remember how. In those days, I also had the habit of counting the number of items in my bag once in every period, so as to make sure that I didnt miss anything till that time.

In my high school, while going to school, I got into the habit of praying to all the Gods and temples - irrespective of the religion (even now I believe that all Gods are one and the same, and that they exhibit polymorphism :-)...) - on the road, just by turning towards that temple and having a quick prayer. Also in my high school days, I had the habit of having a quick prayer to God once in every one hour and this habit lasted for around 3 years and I do not remember how it dis-appeared.

Wiping any item(electronic & non-electronic) regularly and keeping them in show-room condition till its last day, is a habit that continues till this day. In the initial days of my career, I had a small piece of cloth in my bag, with which I used to wipe the monitor of the system and then start my work. Despite my serious attempts, these days, my little friends quickly push any item out of the show-room condition.

While I was in my eighth standard, one day on seeing me a bit dull, my dad asked me go around the place in cycle, to get refreshed. That started the habit what I call as "rounds" - going around the places without stopping and without any target or agenda. Now bike & car have replaced the cycle, but still the habit of "rounds" continues and it is more fun when my friend and little friends accompany.

While at college, during the first semester, I found that many in hostel were going to the nearby temple on the previous evening of the exam. I also went with one of my hostel mate, and thus got into the habit of going to temple before the exams.

At one point in my life, I got so depressed and started searching for the meaning of my life and the reason for my existence. I started roaming here and there. During that time, one day I went to Srirangam and visited the God Renganatha, where I felt complete calmness and peacefulness in my mind, which started the habit of visiting Srirangam whenever I get a chance. And everytime I get the same feeling and even now when I get depressed I think of him in mind and it goes away. Also when I saw him in the Trivandrum Padmanabhaswamy temple, I got the same feeling.

Recently my friend says that I use more of the Madras slang when I speak and that it doesnt look(or sound???) nice. I wantedly learnt that slang, and think more of it got into my vocabulary. And the same is the reason that I avoid talking in Tamil in office with colleagues and especially with my bosses.

I had the habit of using ink pens for my regular work too. Recently I moved to ball pens. Still thinking about switching back to ink pens. Let me see.

There are many more in the list, some of them known only to my friend, and some only to my close friends, and some only to me, which cannot be dis-closed here :-).

And thank you Shen for the open invitation.

City Life