No Comparision!!!

Ilaiyaraja is one of the most famous Indian music composers of our times.
Our's and the previous generation grew up listening to his songs. This is true specially for people from the south.

Use of violin, guitar and drums is very prominent in his music. Compare this to ARR's style who uses technology a lot. Both of them complement each other well. To me, listening to Raja and ARR's contrasting styles gives a feeling of having listened to best of Hindustani, Carnatic, Classical, folk and western!

It is always good to listen to music that reflects your mood. Romantic, depressed, ecstatic etc...

I share my knowledge on music of these legends. I list four songs that I feel best reflect the specific mood . It is Raja's songs first and then ARR's. Here we go!

Ecstatic

All of us have experienced this. I sometimes feel ecstatic to the point where I get goosebumps !!! So, though listening to songs itself might not necessarily make you ecstatic, try listening when you have the feeling. You will not regret.

Background score for Johnny.

Starts slow then picks tempo. Mix of folk, classical. And the love theme from 2:00 to 3:13 is one of his all time bests.

Ecstatic Raja

Bonus:

oh butterfly from Meera

Language doesn't matter. A true music lover listens to good music of all genres and languages. This is a sample of Raja's genius.

Why I choose Johnny BGM over this: It was a close call. Instrumental music is a better judge of the composer's genius since there is no voice or lyrics to bias our judgement.

Ecstatic Raja bonus

Vellai pookal from kannathil mutham ittal

When you are feeling too good, the slower the music, the better. What other way to take in the feeling than by listening to this song.

Ecstatic ARR

The video is from his version for the water campaign. The movie version can be had at movie version

Bonus

Khalbhali

This is one of ARR's all time bests. Got the whole nation swinging to his tunes.
Though he was famous in North India even before this song, with songs like Chaiya Chaiya from Dil Se, Rang De established him as a national hero.

Ecstatic ARR bonus

Depressed

We hate to be! Can't help it sometimes...Music helps you get out faster than even
your best bud. I believe listening to a sad song when you are sad, brings it out of you. Some of us may feel otherwise and would like to listen to happy songs. Well, each person is different.

Rasaathi Unna from Vaidhegi kaathirundhaal

Depressed Raja (Raja's prescription for depression sounds better?

Bonus: Unna nenachen from Aboorva sagodharargal

If Raasathi Unna had not been composed, this is the one.
Don't miss the video. Kamal Hassan and Ilaiayaraja combo!

Depressed Raja bonus

Kaadhal Rojave from Roja

This song complements Raasathi Unna as songs for souls missing their dear ones.
Rahman's first commercial movie music composition. A legend enters the Indian music scene!

Depressed ARR

Bonus

Second song from RDB...Lukka Chuppi
Heart melting score...

Depressed ARR bonus

Romantic

Indian movies are full of Romantic songs. Every movie at least has one song in this category. Listen to the below songs, Cupid will not regret!

Valayosai from Sathya

Awesome song! Kamal-Amala pair make the song even better.
The movie wasn't a big hit, but it was in theaters for a few days, I think it was mainly for this song!

Romantic Raja

Bonus:

Khajuraho from Oru Naal Oru Kanavu

Again, this movie was'nt a big hit, but Raja's music was extraordinary. There is another awesome song in this movie: Kaatril varum...I believe this album is one of his best post-2000. And yeah, you can't take credit away from Shreya Goshal for rendering female voice and making this song a treat to listen to.

Romantic Raja bonus

Tanha Tanha from Rangeela

This is one song that will get you in a romantic mood even when you are down.
One of ARR's all time bests. Scantily clad Urmila and the beach side add more color to the song.

Romantic ARR

Bonus:

Ennavale Adi Ennavale from Kaadhalan

A very romantic song rendered beautifully in UnniKrishnan's amazing voice.
Listened to this song probably a 100 times, still doesn't bore me. Nagma looks Hot.

Romantic ARR bonus

Spiritual:

Its good to be sometimes. Reflecting on the meaning of life and events is something that adds value to life. All of us have thought about this at some point in our lives.

A good music composer is one who can take the listener's mood for a pleasant ride and know where it leads. These are two very good music composers we talk about today!

janani janani from Thai mookambigai

Amazing song and the best spiritual music composed by Ilaiyaraja. This from a man who himself is very spiritual and religious.

Spiritual Raja

Bonus:

Devanin Kovil from Aruvudai Naal

I heard this song only recently, but liked it a lot.
Pretty sure many people have not yet listened to this song. Do
try, worth the time!

Spiritual Raja bonus

Khwaja mere khwajaa from Jodha akbar

Awesome song with soulful Sufi music rendered by ARR's divine voice. The toughest question would be to pick one between Janani Janani and this song. I am out!

Spiritual ARR

Bonus:

O Paalanhaare from Lagaan

Another amazing song composed by ARR. Very Slow and soulful. Sung by Lata Mangeshkar & Udit Narayan.

Spiritual ARR bonus

Vande Matharam is not here coz am not sure if it can be classified as 'spiritual'. Patriotic song, yes, number one!

Inspired:

There are these times when we feel inspired to do something that we feel is pretty challenging, but still needs to be done. Confidence that we can and will do it no matter what is very important. And we can do with a helping hand or a nice song. Here we go:

Ram ram from Hey Ram

This is one song that speaks directly to me. When am faced with tough situations, this is one of the songs I listen to. Love Shruthi hassan's voice: fresh and energetic.

Inspired Raja

Bonus:

vetri Nichayam from Annamalai

Used to listen to this song (in most cases ended up watching the full movie) before exams. Very inspiring and motivating.

Inspired Raja bonus

Jana Gana mana from Ayudha ezhuthu

Awesome song from awesome manirathnam movie. Surya's subtle acting adds color to the song. Rendered in Karthik's amazing voice.

Inspired ARR

Bonus:

Vetri kodu kattu from padaiyappa

Fast-paced song. Very motivating.

Inspired ARR bonus

Sound quality is not very good hear, but I could barely hear the song in other youtube links. That why am posting this.


Miscellaneous

There are these super cool songs that do not fall in any of the above categories or just missed out. The list wouldn't be complete if I left these out.

Vaa vennila from Mella thirndha kadhavu

Amazing song. if there was an actor whose career would have died without Raja,
its Mohan. Amala looks super pretty.
This song was definitely the one for Romantic category, but both MSV and Raja composed music for this. had to leave this out from the main list.

Miscellaneous Raja

Bonus

Nee oru kaadhal sangeetham from nayagan

Miscellaneous Raja bonus

One of my all time favorites. Composed during Raja's best years when no other composer dared to compete atleast in the south.

One of Kamal hassan's best movies.

Tu Hi to meri dosth from Yuvraaj

ARR is one of the big reasons I listen to Hindi film music. I do not regret with songs like these.

Miscellaneous ARR

Bonus

Narumugaiye from Iruvar

Super cool song from Mani rathnam's Iruvar. Excellent picturization, male (Unnikrishnan) and Female (jayashree) voices.

Miscellaneous ARR bonus

My top ten!

So, am not this movie buff, its just that I wanna kill some time before starting work on my assignment!

I have not tried to be neutral here. Thats why its my 'My top 10'. And this is definitely not a movie analyst's top 10. No technical aspects, camera angles and stuff.


10. Baazigar

Plus: Kajol, Music
Minus: Shahrukh aka overacting


9. Michael Madana Kama Rajan

Plus: Kamal's acting, crazy's dialogue, music.
Minus: Logic :)

8. Nayagan

I like this movie. A good movie alright, but you hear ppl say its one of the best tamil movies ever made, well, I don't think so.

Plus: Kamal, music
Minus: Not much original content

7. Rocky 2

Plus: Stallone
Minus: Masala english film: hero, sorrow, revenge...

6. Titanic

Plus: acting, screenplay, OST, Kate Winslet
Minus: well, can't think of any. Suggestions welcome :)

5. Roja

Plus: acting, screeplay, music
Minus: Manirathnam aka over dramatic

4. Prestige

Plus: acting, screenplay
Minus: Logic

3. Godfather trilogy

Plus: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, screenplay, what not?
Minus: NA (Maybe patience to watch a trilogy, but yeah, worth it)

2. The Wave

Lets face it, there are lots of good documentaries out there, and they do put some popular movies to shame.

http://www.documentary24.com/watch-the-wave-online-a-real-life-student-experiment--113/

45 minutes, definitely not a waste!

1. Forrest Gump

Plus: The movie itself
Minus: NA

Federer or Nadal.

So, I decided to give out my verdict on this historic rivalry.

Fedex has that elegance and style that I do not find in his best rival...Nadal has killer instincts, power and fury, but the smiling assassin is more consistent...

By the books too, Fedex has more grand slams than Nadal...

So, what about the Aussie open loss, Has Nadal surpassed federer? I would say not yet...

There is something about federer that sets him apart, the attitude in his game.

I realize this is getting biased, what can you expect from a fedex fan :)

But one thing, Nadal surpasses fedex on clay, agreed. Atleast from what we know so far!

This is what Nadal had to say after the win:

"I'm sorry for today, I really know how you feel. But remember – you are one of the best players of the history and you are going to improve the 14 of Sampras. It is always a pleasure to play you and best of luck for the rest of the year."

Nadi, your days as No.1 are numbered!

Guyz, tell you what, for a 'part-time' tennis fan like me, the one big reason to watch the game is you!!!

Wish you guyz play many many more games! A treat to watch!

amateur attempt!

It should have been around 10 o clock...
He hadn't kept track of time since what happened a couple of hours back...He was travelling pretty fast, he could feel it.
There comes the district minister to inspect the damage, as usual late.

There were media men all around, "God help us, what devastation, unseen in Utopia's history", he heard a reporter say. It struck him then that the voices were becoming fainter and fainter as he traveled.
Am I the only one, where are the others...Why doesn't anybody talk about this. Science, Math, Cinema, Sport...I thought that was all!

People were wailing loud to the almighty for help. One person who was a self-proclaimed theist was seen cursing his gods...some other atheists had turned believers.

For Andrew, it was horrifying to watch all this on television. He had made all kinds of plans for the weekend: drink with friends, watch "Slumdog millionare", charity work for a temple.
Bill, I love you, yes, I do...

A couple of hours back, Andrew was playing pool with his friends. If not for the message from Marc, he would still be at the Flat Iron Bar playing pool . "Man, I want you to do a favour ..am standing at Roosevelt and Michigan, when is the next bus scheduled to come here". As Andrew was checking for the schedule of buses in his iphone, an uncommon news flash popped up. He would have ignored it if he hadn't noticed the word "Utopia"...

He read the full message and his head started spinning.

Got to call Bill, Call Bill, Bill where are you...
His hands were shaking as he dialled Bill's number. The news flash appeared again: 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Utopia, thousands dead: click here for latest updates.

"You have reached the voicemail of Bill Roberts...please leave a message.."
Shit, Shit...Oh no, what do I do...Be sane, think, think!!!

Hunderds of miles away,

Where are the others, am I the only one...Cannot be...There I go...where are they taking me...

It then occured to him: what was being taken was not me, this is the real me...atleast from today, or has it always been this way?

Sometime back, Bill was a different person, literally.

It was friday and he had returned home early. There was sometime left before his usual phone call to his gal.

Its been sometime since I've made pizza.
Oops, There is no pizza base.

He decided to walk to the supermarket, he was fedup of utopia's traffic.
He closed his apartment door, pressed the elevator button. He felt something roll beneath his feet, ignored it and got inside the elevator. It was not before reaching the 21st storey that he realized what was happening. He tried to press stop, call emergency. Nothing worked. There was a huge thumping sound and the elevator hit the bottom. It had happened before, only that this time it was the opposite side on the ground.

Save me, Lord!

His head was bleeding badly. He first heard structures hit the ground, then the people followed.

May be I was lucky to be inside. The elevator might have just saved me.

He hadn't noticed the red color of the elevator floor, filled with his blood. He cried for help with all energy he could muster. No one would listen to him, there was chaos all around.
It then occurred to him that he might in fact 'die' today. The religion of his birth had taught him all about re-incarnation and life after death, but of-late he had given up faith. He often used to tell his friends religion is the cause of all worry in this world. Holy books were the fantasies of deluded men. He now honestly hoped he was wrong. This concept of 'life after death' gave him some re-assurance.

It was not intentional. His entire life flashed before him as though he were watching a movie. Giving up all hope of life and trembling with fear, he closed his eyes slowly.


Andrew was still calling the utopian emergency number, desperate to know what had happened to his brother. He had made and received close to a hundred calls since morning.

We are working on collecting the names of the dead and injured, please bear with us, its gonna take some time. I understand, am sorry.

Andrew hung up and then started crying.

Recollecting Bill as he knew him, praying for Bill and feeling miserable he reclined in the couch. He needed to spend sometime alone.

An hour passed and before he knew it, he was asleep. Tired that he was, he would not have woken up if not for the phone call. It was Marc, and he had the website where they were uploading the names of the perished.

His hands shivering, he browsed through the list. Aadi, Alex, Anand....Balbo, Banu, Byre...

He breathed a sigh of relief. He'd seen all the B's and Bill's name was missing. He went back to his couch, switched on the TV and it then struck him the list need not necessarily be in order.

He visited the site again, and his head started spinning when he saw the number of entries in the incomplete list: 3991. He's had enough, he asked Marc to go through the list.
Alas, his disturbed mind wouldn't rest. He had to check the list himself. C, D, Y, S...his fears were confirmed:the list wasn't alphabetically organized. 1000, 2000, 3000, no mention of a Bill.

He was too tired to go any further. He eyes were burning and he just closed them.
After an eerie silence of about 10 minutes, the phone rang.

His heart pounding as never before he picked up the phone.

Hi, this is Russel, am Bill's colleague. I stay close to where Bill stays.

Andrew: HHHi, HHHope you are doing good. Whats the mmmatter.

Am not sure how to tell this to you, but feel it is my duty to, BBBut, hmm, Bill is dddead. Am SSSorrry.

Andrew kept the phone down and cried till it was dawn. He remembered all the petty fights they had, the hugs, the cards, what not.

I'll miss you man!!!

2 years later:

It was 9 am and Monday. This has been one of the best dates Andrew's ever had. First they met for coffee, interested in each other, they caught a movie. then dinner. He reached home late that night.

Man, what a day!

He still missed Bill. A shoulder to cry on, that's what Bill was for him. One guy who was always there.
Life had to move on . He accepted that Bill could never be seen again. It was a bitter medicine, but the patient needed it. He realized nothing is permanent in life.

He dressed up, and headed to work.

He was less than a mile away from his workplace, when he heard a strange voice:

Give me your purse and phone, now!!!

He was ready to yell for help, luckily for him he spotted the silver pistol in the guyz hand.

I said give it, now!!!

He surrendered his purse and phone and watched in shock as the thief fled.

OMG, what a bad start to the week!

After reaching his workplace, the first thing he noticed was the flower vase in his desk.

May be it was a gift someone has given me.

He went to the cafe, grabbed a coffee and came back to his desk.

Andrew, I would like to speak to you, its important!

Fearing the worst, he followed his manager to the meeting room.

Twenty minutes later, he found himself walking back home. He usually catches a cab. he was in no mood today for that.

They can't do this to me. I ve worked so hard.

He saw a man by the roadside playing the guitar. He listened to the music for some time, the pain seemed to reduce.

Look how happy he is for what he earns. I wish I could be like that.

He reached home, sat on the couch in a pensive mood. He was frustrated at his helplessness and inability to control life events.

He looked at the TV and thought he saw a reflection of something. He looked at the source of reflection and almost fell from the couch.

First, he thought it was some kind of hallucination.

Am I dead. Can't be. What the hell!

It was a very familiar face he hadn't forgotten yet. It was white as light its feet did not touch the ground.

He slowly approached the entity. It was still smiling at him.

Come, Come! It seemed to gesture.

I am here to help you brother!

First post!

I've been thinking of writing a blog for sometime now, everytime I wanted to write, something else wud come up and I would forget about this!

Today I decided, am writing one, no matter what, not that there is any major reason, just that I had the motivation plus time for it today! Lets start with an about me :)

Something about me:

Professional:

I am a master's student at UIC majoring in CS. I came here 6 months back.

I did my schooling and undergrad in Chennai, India.

work at one of the departments in the univ.


General blah blah:

I am the kind of guy who believes in non-mundane existence. believe in enjoying life to the fullest. That's what were here for.

I love to be with positive, energetic people and do believe I am one of them.

if I find someone who takes life too seriously, I would love to walk to 'em and say 'relax man, take it easy, take it slow'.

I like good advice from people I respect.


About this place:

Since am fresh here to the US, I thought I'll share what little I know about this country and her people.

People of many ethnicities live in this huge country, so you will find Whites, Mexicans, African-Americans, latinos (I mean peurto rican, columbian etc...), chinese, Indians, filipinos, Japanese, south koreans et all...

Americans are generally very proud of their country and culture. They are generally positive, energetic people. The average american eats a lot and exercises for hours! they are pretty athletic as a result.

Something I have discovered in my first 23 years in India is that the average Indian lacks self-pride. He looks up to the west in many ways! So, listening to rock music, drinking beer, not knowing your native language and talking only in English etc...is very cool!!! ( I do a little of the first two, but am uber proud to be Indian!)

I hope one day every Indian feels pride in the fact that he belongs to one of the oldest civilizations with such a rich culture. That is one of the first things the Indian needs to learn from the american!

I am in America at a very interesting time: First black president, Economic downturn etc...
Man, everybody's talking about one of these, wherever you are!

Americans are paranoid about safety and security! in whatever form: comp. security, terrorism, copyright, fire and anything that has to do with any of these! The system in place to deal with emergencies is very robust and no-one can fool around or afford to be lethargic!

Americans speak very well and are generally very good managers. The schooling system here makes sure you learn to efficiently manage time. So, these college folks go to class, work part-time, hang out, study, then cut down on sleep and party!!!

Oops, got class now, got to go. Stay tuned!