Mastering music

On my way to office this morning, I was listening to Amruthavahini radio channel. A talk show with veteran musician, Vid. Seethalakshmi Venkatesan was being aired. She has been singing for more than 6 decades now and is a disciple of Semmangudi.

Few points she mentioned to be noted:
1) Music needs practise and dedication - Now-a-days, kids and their parents aim to learn for a short span and start giving performances. This doesn't bring the best of music.

2) Audio recording class sessions these days have made things worse - kids tend to make this a usual routine and end up not getting the micro-intricacies of any song. Also, seeing the text/book and singing is not the best way of expressing music. My brother and I have seen this and we always made it a point NOT to see the book and sing. This distracts the singer and also makes the listener concious about the fear of missing some lyrics.

3) Audience has changed over generations - Few decades ago, one had to sing 'ghana' (raaga-s with great strength and depth) raagas and songs to get appreciating from the audience. Now, it is easy to add few lighter songs and get more appreciation. My view is, to be the best, one has to mix and match both tradition and trend.

This talk show is aired every Tuesday and is called Sampatha - a talk show with a musician to discuss their journey in music. Next week, it will have, Ra. Sathyanarayana.

Monday mixture

Mixture of items to blog -
1) Finished setting up Sony home-theater system during the weekend. The system was kept idle at home without being put to use. So, thought of arranging the set up in the so called "Entertainment room". The quality and sound is good. Hope we (family) get to sit, relax and enjoy some movies in future!

2) House wiring - finding plug points in the house has been a hunt. Each room has just one point - that is how houses were wired couple of decades ago. Now-a-days, each room is fitted with atleast 3-4 plug points. To solve my problem, I have been trying to get extension cords and make sure they don't come in the way of we walking around.

3) Big Bazaar drive - My wife and I wanted to check out Big Bazaar on Sunday evening. We drove to two of its outlets and returned home without getting to enter it! No parking space in the Bazaar and surrounding radius of 1 Km.

4) Radio Channels - Radio City is one channel where RJs are supposed to talk always smiling. It is so artificial that at one point, it becomes too monotonous. When RJs talk, they mix English and Kannada and their Kannada sounds more like English. Full estyle ;). I think FM Rainbow and other channels soothening to the listeners than this one.

5) I am trying to get BSNL Broadband. A week ago, they have connected the phone line. Last Saturday, they call my phone and start talking to the walls. They need to improve their conversation skills. I was not impressed :(. This is how the conversation sounded
BSNL: "Hello, we are calling from BSNL. You had put application for Broadband and in the application you have mentioned that you need Type IV modem. We don't provide Type IV anymore. You have to pick Type I or II. Go to your BSNL office and tell them."
I: "What?????? You are the people who accepted the application in person. You must have mentioned it earlier (grrrrr)." Other side cut the phone!

Usually, any customer care call would start like this - "We are calling from ... . Could we talk to CUSTOMER_NAME?" After getting to confirm the recipient of the call, the customer care starts explaining the scenario. In my case, it was just off from blue moon on a Saturday morning.

Spotty spotted

Spotty spotted in the dark few minutes ago! It is 4:00am now and I am back from chasing away Spotty, the frustrating street dog which I mentioned earlier in my blogs. After a few frustrating nights, I asked my dad about that dog and he told that its pet name was Spotty. Why the name Spotty? Answer - It has spots on its body ;)

Tonight too, it started off barking an hour ago. With few shouts and warning from me and my wife, it did shut its mouth for a while before starting again. I took a mug, went out to balcony and splashed on it and the place it usually sits/sleeps/barks from. Moments later, there was silence in the street. I am so familiar with this dog's barking sound, I could recognize its barking 2 streets away - nightmare for those neighbours there :(

One curious question - what makes this dog bark so relentlessly each night? It doesn't synchronize with other dogs' barking in the locality. So, it is not a question of response-ack. Something different though.

An inspiring story

This is an inspiring story of a person whom I recently met. Moral of the story - Good education will make one achieve higher heights.

Vijay (name changed), 27, is a successful man now. Dad and mom are based in a small village near Ooty, TN. With three kids, it was a hard time to bring them up for a couple who had small earnings. Dad, with matriculation, was a bus conductor and mom had hardly finished 8th grade. Everyday, dad witnessed 100s of bank employees (and others in similar cadre) travel in the bus and earn a decent living. His only dream was to make his kids study well and earn well.

At high school, Vijay was a boy with more activities outside the classroom. He was more interested in playing cricket with local village kids than going to school. Not bearing this, dad decided to put him in to local hostel (2 Kms from home) of his high school. This is a situation where a son is made to stay at walking distance away from home and stay under direct vigilance of Principal. Strictly under Principal's control, Vijay had his first transition in life and did a decent job to get through his 10th grade.

Once done with 10th, dad's next decision was to put the kid to Ramakrishna Ashram in Coimbatore. I need to tell this interesting story here. Vijay, after one month into it, couldn't stand the disciplined nature of Ashram. I heard that one had to get up early at 4am and follow rules to the core. One day, Vijay, returned home to his village and decided not to return back to Ashram. Dad and mom were not worried about this. Dad was calm enough to echo his voice - "I won't put you in to any school here. If at all you are studying further in life, you are returning back to Ashram." The next 7 days in village was a dull life for Vijay, watching out through the window and keeping mind blank. After 7 afternoons, Vijay said to his dad, "I wish to return to Ashram". Dad replied, "The bus is at 7:30pm and here is Rs. 200." Next 5 years is a short story!

Vijay completed 12th there. Also, he completed BSc in Computer Science at the same Ashram. He did start his MCA there. Just then, he got admission in a Govt College in Erode for his MCA. Being a better college and also cheaper fees, he completed MCA and joined an MNC in Bangalore.

With good success in career now, Vijay stands tall and has really made his parents proud. His next dream is to see what it feels to do an MBA in IIM. Hopefully, he will cherish his dream. On the other side, parents are successful too now - they worked hard the past three decades to own a tea estate near Ooty!

Test driving cars

Choices to buy a car in India are many now. Compared to 2002, 2008 has many more cars in a whole range of prices and classes.

I have been trying to test drive as many cars as possible to get a feel of the current auto market here. One conclusion is, we have some great brands with full comfort facilities - but with a price to pay.

Hyundai cars are smoother compared to Maruti Suzuki when it comes to changing gears. Local brands like Tata and Mahindra have good steady cars with lower price tags. One needs to consider them if they are not too much in to resale value.

1) Hyundai i10 Kappa Sportz 1.2 AT - A very smooth and comfortable small car to drive. Did a test drive on this last week and found that it is suits me the most. Legspace is very good, headroom is good too (being Hyundai). Autotransmission makes it very much suitable for city drive. We have to keep the fuel efficiency aside when driving in city ( 10 Kms/lt). 1197 cc engine with 80 hp is sufficient to give fast pickup. One point to consider - it is in the small car segment - suitable for max 4 people.

2) Maruti Baleno 2000 - This comes in mid to big car segment. I test drove this to see how the engine feels and to feel the gears. This car has good road grip and also very good leg room. The engine is smooth. The same engine has been put to the new SX4. So, if we need to go for a new Baleno, SX4 is the car to pick. Price tag for SX 4 : 7-9 lakhs.

3) Hyundai 2006 Getz 1.3 GLX - Very very smooth car and great road grip. It is a small car, plus heavy too. Hence mileage is 10-11 Kms/ltr. The engine has great pulling power. Space inside is good for 4 big adults. Gear switching is piece of cake compared to Maruti Alto 2006. Price for a 2006 model is around 3.7 lakhs. Brand new one is around 5.6 lakhs.

Drove to office today!

Driving map from Home to Office
(Courtesy - http://in.maps.yahoo.com )

Started home at 7:15 am and reached office by 8:15 am. It was not a bad drive with jams at only couple of junctions. I took the green path which looks pretty straight forward. The red path is the one which Yahoo Maps suggested me once I reached office! Yes...! now, one can get driving directions online. Directions are available for 'known' landmarks (or area) only. This is more than sufficient for someone who needs to drive from place A to place B.

One cute thing about yahoo maps - it will give you Auto-Rickshaw fare! For the above map, it showed - Rs. 70.

Driving back home in the evening is a bigger challenge.

Good music, nice video editing

Kannada movie industry's music has singers from all over the place. I can hardly find a local boy singing - all are 'hired' singers from Hindi.

Below is one song which is a good one. The video is not the original one. I liked the way this guy edited this video - a nice job indeed!

A dog in the dark

Isn't it frustrating to hear a dog barking late in the night? This is what has been happening frequently next to our bedroom window.

The previous tenants next door who were dog lovers took care of this street dog by feeding it often. Now that they have moved out, there is no one to feed it. It comes there and starts barking with a standard frequency which is hard to skip. If it skips, it becomes a waiting suspense for me.

Last night, we tried to locate that dog. My wife first made window noises to make it stop barking, which it did for a while. But, at regular intervals, it slowly started again playing a virtual hide and seek game. After a while, I got to the act of chasing it away, but couldn't find the dog in the dark.

I don't know how other neighbours sustain the frequent noise of this specific dog!

A song from the year, 1996

This is one song I learned way back in 1996. One of the best songs of Sonu Nigam from the movie, Papa Kehtein Hein - "Mujhse naaraz ho to".

After 12 years of hunting for this karaoke, I got it today to sing along! With a simple laptop microphone (need to buy a new microphone), I tried recording. Here is today's recorded track.

Competition beats Courtesy

Competition is so high in every aspect of life in India that courtesy takes the back seat. Get on the street - you compete for space, try to get a cell phone - sales representatives fight for their share of profit, be at work - people always have wide open eyes!

Very few cases one can find a genuine courtesy. I am not expecting big favour from people around to be courteous - This is just my observation compared to the life in US. Also, I understand - this is how it is in India.

One drastic thing I noticed is the accent of English with my co-workers. It is so different! The phrases (plus body language) they commonly use are different from what I have been using in the past few years. I am finding this unique because I haven't had a chance to work in India in the past. All my work experience has been outside India. How is the English here then? If we put a Oscilloscope, the wave will have very less variations. It will be more or less a straight line. It is always acceptable to 'ask' (interrogative sentence) in a declarative manner. More confusing than that is the tone in which people talk. I don't understand if they are really talking rough OR that they don't really mean to be rough.

Overall, I need to take the phrase - "Be a Roman in Rome".

C for B

Car for Bangaloreans - It has become a necessity.
This is my thought if I want to buy a car here.
1) Forget about saving fuel - you will spend half the fuel in traffic jams.
2) Small cars are believed to be good in maneuvering. At the same time, it has less space inside. To get better comfort, I will compromise on this to a steady vehicle with good road grip. In all cases, roads are 'roads' in Bangalore, can't avoid it.
3) Drive slowly (don't expect to be driving over 20 miles per hour) and always expect to get your car one or two scratches each time you take your car out on the road.
4) Owning a car is to drive the whole family from Point A to Point B all in one bunch - avoiding multiple trips.

Back to Reynolds

I am back to using the most widely used pen in India - Reynolds, the pen the world prefers. Going back to my school days, we used to scratch the text on that pen to make the text look "INDIA". There were two versions of this pen - Regular... and Fine. The latest one mentions, "New Laser Tip"!

Which is the other pen? Rotomac??? Likhteh likhteh love hojaaye??? ;) That is out of market now.

Living within limits

Petrol is priced high. So are electricity and water. Not to mention the recent prices of food commodities in Bangalore. Yet, people live happily within their limits and enjoy the place to the maximum extent. I asked one techie, originally from Andhra and living in Bangalore for the past 2 years, and this is what he says, "Bangalore is a boon city to be in".

If people talk about electric shortage, there are solutions to it. One of the easiest options is to get a back-up power using USP batteries. This will last for few hours based on how many batteries we install. Overall installation cost = approx 15,000 rupees.

A day at work

Got up at 5am. Mom prepared breakfast and lunch box for my office. Everybody in the house was awake by 5:30am because I was getting ready to head to office for the first time here in Bangalore.

With good breakfast, I was ready to catch the 7:35 am office shuttle from a stop which is 5 minutes away by walk. I casually asked my dad if he wished to accompany me to the bus stop and he was glad to do that. Not to fall behind was my wife who got ready in a minute. Mom was the only person left behind! With a school bag kind of backpack and lunch box we headed to the bus stop. The shuttle arrived and I could witness a warm farewell "tataaa" from my wife and dad waiting to see me get inside the shuttle. An hour's drive (15 Kms) took me to office.

With paperwork still in progress for my transfer, I finished few things and had lunch in the cafeteria. Later, decided to take an auto rickshaw to reach home early by 3pm. It was a short day at office.

Life in Bangalore

One told, "if it is required to curse a person, just say, 'become a driver in Bangalore city' ." It is really a hard job. If I drive to work, it will take me an hour each way. Easiest way to reach office here in Bangalore is to take the office shuttle. Most companies provide that and it is not required to drive ourselves to office.

Getting adjusted back to Bangalore life is easy. Just dial few people and get to know the latest trends/deals about cell phone services, internet, cable TV, etc. With a phone call away, representatives will be at the door step the next day with completed application forms.

Customer service and support has improved a lot over the past decade. For instance, any trouble with basic services will be attended real quick. Banking also has taken a good stride forward. Major roads are good (neglect the pot holes due to rain).

One thing to avoid - 'driving in Bangalore'.

ADSL and Linksys router

It was a tricky job to set up the LAN with my Linksys router. Smartax MT882 modem provided by BSNL internet option has some unique behaviors not allowing simple plug-and-play Linksys router to work instantly.

Finally, it got sorted out today. This makes me work from home and try (if required) to avoid the 1+ hour commute each way on weekdays.