Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Entry to the Gates of Heaven

If you are a mallu, don’t miss this divine piece of music from Shahabaz Aman and Rafeek Ahamed.

If you are not a mallu, you can still enjoy the song for its feel , maybe you can even get the lyrics translated. You are sure to thank me for sharing this!

A couple of years ago, I happened to listen to this song from the movie ‘Spirit’ and fell in love with it! In the movie, it was rendered by Unni Menon, one of the most versatile singers in mallu arena.

At some point later, I came across the rendering by Shahabaz Aman, the composer himself.

Awwww!

Can’t describe the feel in words! Believe me, No one can sing it better than him. The voice, the feel, the way the words glide up and down from him can take you to a different world. When I heard Aman’s rendering, I just understood what the idiom ‘from the horse’s mouth’ really meant. 

While there is no doubt that Unni Menon’s rendering is a fantastic one, Aman’s version has an unearthly power that makes you feel - you don’t belong to this material world!

Many people take the song to be a description of one’s yearning for death, but it isn’t really that. It’s love in its purest form, the truest form, the ultimate form!

If you have a window close by, open it widely, let the breeze tickle you. Sit by the window sill and shut out the world from you, put on the best headsets you possess, hold your phone and click this link. The gates of Heaven get unlocked!

Close your eyes and enter right away!

Trust me, if you have ever experienced love in the very sense of the word, in its true essence, you won’t come out of the song without touching the unknown corners of your soul or without wetting your eyes! That is the power of this song and the ones behind the making of this song!

Sharing both the versions here, the one by Unni Menon 

and by Shahbaz Aman



Mesmerizing - No better definition for him and his voice!



No wonder, people are crazy about him!

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Conversation


Don’t know why!
The past always looks colorful to us; that’s why we call it Nostalgia!
When I got hooked up to this thought today, my ‘not-so-easily-satiable’ mind started throwing questions at me.
My Mind:  Can you walk through the old lanes and bring back a handful of memories which would brighten you up?
Me: Easily, I just need to close my eyes!
My Mind: Okie, so what are you gonna bring me?
Me: Wait a sec; take a ride to the 90s.
My Mind: Gossh! Exactly what I wished to hear!
Thus, we took a happy stroll together to those good old days.
As I said, the past always makes you think it was far better than what we go through at present.
As we dive deeper and deeper, each frame turns out to be brighter and colorful.
And, the best thing when I look back; is definitely the capacity I had to etch even the little bits and retrieve it now.
My Mind: So, how were the days like then?
Me: Simple – Days started well and ended well!
My Mind: Hey! Why don’t just try to narrate how a day really went about?
Me: Lemme try! Mornings were good; most of it went into getting ready for college - Off to college by 8:30 by bus, carrying a load of thoughts and sights till the bus reaches the college gate - UCC used to be part of my life. (7 years in UCC – the college in Premam movie) Time with friends – inside and outside the classroom - Lazing around during the leisure hours – back home by 5 or 5:30 - Sure time for making snacks and gorging on it - Make a trip to library and park and later on to the temple nearby - Time with friends in the residential colony – Badminton - Back home with a chilled mind! Home-time!
Most days went by that way! Holidays were much more fun!
My mind: And, now?
Me: It isn’t this good, still not bad either! Well, I can talk about a week, not a day! I think I am pretty much the same, but for a few responsibilities that I have to shoulder at home and at work. There is always time to roam around, click pics, sip some good juice and melt on a nutty ice- cream. There is enough time for making some good snacks/ dishes and gorge on it. There is time for listening to the favorite songs and getting mesmerized! There is always time for not looking into other people’s business and ignoring advice. There is enough time for silence and me-time.  Most importantly, there is always time for making time for what I badly need!   
My Mind: Bravo! Bravo! Just when I was thinking you might give me pathetic description of the present day, you surprised me!
Me: Yup, we learn it from a lot of experiences that we must make time for ourselves, no one else can give it to us! Anyway, It was a good ride and I owe it to you for making me do this mind-exercise! Meaningful conversations refresh our minds!

And, am off to making some snacks and black coffee!
BRB!

And, I 'm back...

Have a nice evening, y' all!

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

......finally, I found him!


…………finally, I found him!
It had been a long search!
But then, I found him.
I thought I had eternally lost him!
But then, today morning, amidst all the trash and chaos, he came out like the ‘DEVA’ who appears from the flames when you do a ‘TAPAS’.
Lol!
I am talking about Swaminathan, the cute little Swami from Malgudi. I would have read it umpteen times, believe me, he never tires me out! For long, I had been searching Narayan’s ‘Swami and Friends’, which was very much in my collection of much-loved books. But last time, when I felt like reading it, it wasn’t there. I could not really bring back to my memory if I had given it to someone for a read. I had searched the whole bookshelf, but in vain.
Swami used to come back to me during my busy schedule and I missed him every other inch. The thought of having a look at him used to energize and enthuse me, ‘coz he had been my comrade from my school days.
Awwww! How I used to love his pranks! Like I mentioned once, when Doordarshan started airing ‘Malgudi Days’ I must have been happiest person in India!
Owing to the holidays till 31st March, I went on a ‘Swachh Bharath’ HUNGAMA today and this brought him back to me.
Blessing in disguise indeed! I had to put on the masks and waded through a lot of dust, but then, he is with me today!
Just when I found him sleeping under a carton in the little room, 
I shouted ‘Eurekaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’.
Definitely, I am happier than Archimedes!
People at home came running to find who this modern-day Archimedes is!
God only knows who had dumped my Swami there! If only I could find that person, my knives would have had a good feast!
The rest of the story is very simple – I didn’t do anything else today other than being with him!
Swami, I can’t love you enough!
Needless to say, but still I would say - Simplicity, Cuteness and Intelligence personified, rather overloaded – that’s my Swami!
Thank you for coming back to my life!

Sunday, February 23, 2020

I need you.......much more than you think!


I made my way back to you today, almost after three years! Through all the crowded corridors of my mind, crossing all the nasty in lanes and by lanes, waiting patiently at the signals, against all the speeding thoughts that came my way, I landed here! 

Sometimes, in the midst of what we call life, on the busiest pathways that take the life out of us, we do get lost. I may have lost track with you like that!

Honestly, it feels good to be back with you, after many moons. Hope to ride along with you, the way we did on those good old days. Lots to share, to ponder, to contemplate, to make fun of, to complain and crib, cry over and much more to be happy about!

Life is so and so are we! No hard feelings! ‘Coz no one belongs to anyone! You to me or me to you! 

Thank you blogger for settling me back in you, when I came with a weighing heart!  Happiness is making up the mind to scribble something here!