WEEKEND MUSINGS

Something was troubling me throughout the day.I was feeling uneasy and restless.No I did not Pee in my pants,it's the sort of feeling when am not able to recollect something which had taken place.And there it came to me like a flash.It struck me as a jolt.How cud I ever forget this?Immediately I rummaged The Hindu and to my surprise I found nothing.Mebbe it cud've escaped my blind eyes but am pretty sure there was nothing mentioned.I did not find the sunday magazine to have a thorough check but according to what dad had said it seemed that it wasnt mentioned even there.Bunch of jokers I guess the media has become.As Aamir Khan rightly pointed out there is room only for sensationalism and nothing else.So wat if anyone mentioned or not am not gonna wait anymore.So I thought, make use of Online Journalism available to you and that's what am doing right now.It was exactly an year before, not exactly 365 but 366 days to be precise,on the 11th of december 2004 that the Nightingale - M.S.Subbulakshmi or MS as she is fondly called passed away.It really hurts me now that I was very near to the place of her death - Isabel Hospital in Mylapore and I dint even go to the hospital to pay my homages.Not that she was expecting me 2 do it.I was doing the Clean ur ass after u shit routine.Ya u got it rite,it was my final year project which was supposed to break laws of computational science but ended no where.Coming back to the matter at hand I was shocked at that moment when she passed away because me and my friends considered her as the near thing to perfection.She was a Saint and a Queen bundled into one and add to that a voice that could make u hang like a raindrop on the tenterhooks of a slanting roof.Such was the mesmerising effect her voice had the world over.No wonder Gandhi proclaimed her voice as the next best thing after freedom.My father was the person who introduced me to this world of declared divinty.He was a very big fan of MS and it was natural that even I started to listen to her songs.I think lots of credit must go to her for introducing Carnatic Music to the world when she sang at the UN convention I think in 1967.Even today her Vaishnava Janato and Bhaja Govindam cud make you sway.How cruel that such a person was initially not even given state honours after her death.Only when the President said that he wud be flying to Chennai did they make all arrangements in a hurry.One could argue that Sachin on saturday had bowled over India and the newspapers dont need a second invitation to publish news as sensational as this but a small column atleast cud've been devoted to her.Well who am I to blame everyone?I myself remembered this yesterday nite and the same thing might have happened elsewhere.But lets see if anyone else takes the cue from me and does something.A person who has been awarded the Padma Bhushan,Padma Vibushan and Bharath Ratna cannot be forgotten so easily.

But weekend was real fun.I found that there is something better than the combo of Vodka and Floyd.Vodka and Pulikaachal is woooooow.I guess I can start writing a book now.And for those who are wonder wat on earth is Pulikaachal(in Tamil) it is the paste u use to prepare Pulihora or Imli rice.Am not getting the name in english damn.Had couple of gulps and was in wonderland for a long time.The last thing you can ask a drunkard is "Tell me Wat happened Exactly yesterday Nite?".But this combo man I can never forget I suppose.After getting up we decided to watch Ek Ajnabee and I had to use all my fucked up persuasive skills to get Venkat to watch the movie.He was really irritating me and was behaving like a mom who had to urgently breastfeed her child.Somehow we managed to get hold of the tickets and even though I knew it was a remake of Man On Fire I wanted to watch it as the promos were very slick.And yaa AB dint disappoint anyone.He is simply mindblowing in the movie and the kid is even more better.Arjun Rampal tries to act very cool but cannot just make it.But you see these Hindi films they cannot even make a copy.They would try to prove their intelligence and somewere down the line they wud screw the movie.The second half is a bit of a drag but AB makes it up.Classic eg of AB bigger than the movie.Anyways worth a watch.I got hold of a book called Vernon God Little.

It won the Booker Prize in 2003 and man it sure rocks.My friend Vijay was the person who always spoke about that book and when he speaks about something highly it's definitely worth it.There's a story to the author of this book- DBC Pierre.Vijay told me DBC stands for Dirty But Clean.This guy was a big time drug addict and one day found himself fallen near some dustbin and the typical case of no money but hungry.The he had realised how low he had stooped in life and now look he has written one of the best books I've rad so far.Must match with Catch22,no 2 steps below that.I havent finished it but it's brilliant to say in the least.Hope the ending doesnt get screwed up like One night @ call center.Anyways do listen to MS songs.Every song will be a new experience.

P.S:- It's Thalaivar's Bithday,as he is called.So happy b'day Rajnikanth.

ashwin