Ithu podhum enakku...idhu podhume.....

It was my first A R Rahman concert, except for the Classic Incantations performed by the Germany based Babelsberg orchestra in January 2012. As the organizers intended to accommodate more people (and mint more money), which in turn resulted in shifting the venue from Nehru Indoor Stadium to YMCA Grounds, I could get tickets for the show. That's enough for the intro.

The Concert - December 29, 2012 - YMCA Grounds, Nandanam, Chennai

The weather forecast for the day was, in single word, “Thunderstorms”. The show started at around 1915 hours. The skies were opening up intermittently. It rained heavily for a short period of time. But most of the time, Puyal (storm) just allowed the Isai Puyal (Musical Storm) to take over, because the latter was in top form. 

The show started with “Udal Mannukku Uyir Thamizhukku” by KM choir and accompanying harmony. The orchestra was perfect. A dance performance with good formations accompanied the track and helped set the “100% Tamil” theme for the concert.

The man himself took the microphone for the next track with “Unthan Desathin Kural”. The orchestration was similar to what he did in MTV Unplugged with able support from KM Choir. The lethargic audience, who were waiting for long, woke up, stood up and then finally were on the chairs till the end of the track. 

“Elay Keechan” was magnificent. The orchestration, the performance showing the fishermen rowing their boats, everything was just superb. People were not getting down from the chairs. ARR was top notch. 

Then ARR introduced 7 guest percussionists, all female, from the west (guess from US). The only names I could gather were Katie, Kelly and Megan (not sure of these too). They performed with their drums, which was like a Safri Duo performance. After that, ARR asked them whether they learnt Kuthupattu and one of them played the same. A small round of applause. Nothing special about the part.

The next was a medley, with Hariharan and Mano doing the honours. Hariharan started with “Arima Arima” and within a minute the orchestra moved to “Veerapandi Kottayile”, performed by Mano. “Anbe Kollathe” followed and then moved on to the rural Tamil folk, “Manuthu Manthayile”, post which “Kuchi Kuchi Rakkama”, “Thillana  Thillana”, “Kannai Katti Kolladhe”, “Padayappa” and “Vaaji Vaaji” was performed. The finale was “Ballelakka”, for which ARR joined the duo. 

Mano was back for “Puthiya Manidha”. I’m not sure who sang Khadija’s lines (Jaya TV contest’s winner?). Although the orchestra was good, I felt Mano couldn’t replace SPB. There were a few flaws too.

K S Chitra was on stage and started the humming for “Kaadhal Rojaave”. Hariharan did a good job, but again I missed SPB. He sang a few lines in Hindi, the only instance in the whole concert and in between he forgot a bit of the lyrics too. 

It was time for the young and famous; an extended medley starting with Benny Dayal with ARR  for “Omana Penne”, but a surprise followed with orchestra changing gears. Karthik stormed in with “Girlfriend” and the crowd was on the chairs again. It was high octane stuff and the energy levels were at the peak. Karthik and Chinmayi were on for “Aathankara Marame”. A classic from yester years, played out and performed brilliantly, but Mano and Sujatha couldn’t be matched. Neeti Mohan was on stage, for the first among the many she performed in the concert, with “Akkadanu Naanga”. The attitude was there, but the diction had some issues. Yet, she tried hard and the result was good. Karthik and Chinmayi were back for “July Maadham Vanthaal” and once again I missed SPB. But, Karthik was good. Chinmayi also managed well. It was again time some adrenaline rush; Karthik was back with “Endredrum Punnagai” and then moved on to “Kannum Kannum”. Benny and  Naresh Iyer accompanied. The result was pure magic. The crowd was again standing on chairs.

ARR was back for that evergreen first night track. “Humma Humma” rocked big time. Everything was perfect for the track. 

Sanjeev Thomas gave the perfect rock feel intro for that masterpiece song on friendship. Crowd, standing on the chairs, swayed to “Mustafa Mustafa”, which sounded ageless in ARR's voice. 

Chitra was back for “Nenjinile”. The harmony lead by KM choir was superb with the Malayalam lyrics. 

It was time for some soft tracks. Hariharan started with “Nilaa Kaigirathu”, followed by Chitra’s high quality vocals for “Uyire” and then both finished with bits of “Pudhu Vellai Mazhai”.

The “Changing Seasons” video was played next. Still don’t understand why “Naan Varuvene” track was excluded from the CDs when it was released. ARR's voice sounded heavenly.

“Thee Thee” followed in Neeti Mohan’s voice. But, Ranjit Barot rocked the track with his energetic vocals accompanying the percussion.

It was the time for Harpejji. ARR played the same and was in good humour. Chitra was on vocals. Naveen Kumar and Ranjit Barot accompanied with flute and percussion. Chitra showed her prowess in classical music, starting with “Kannaamochi”. She moved on to “Anbe Sugama” and completed it with an excellent rendition of “Enge Yenadhu Kavithai”. 

It was the time for the new generation. Shaktisree sang “Nenjukkulle”. There were flaws at some instances, where she was out of shruthi, but it’s her first experience performing live with ARR. Guess experience will get her better. But, the voice was magical as in the original recorded track and ARR’s humming was lovely. 

“Infinite Love” video, with only the track portion, was played. The audio sounded great. Audience watched in silence as I guess it’s just a week old.

It was time for Sid Sriram with “Adiye”. The way he conveys the emotion in the track with just his voice is truly amazing for a young singer. I felt he could just stick to the flow in the original track as he strained a bit. Experiences will make him better.

Neeti Mohan was back with “Hello Mr Ethirkatchi”. I felt her Tamil improved here and overall it sounded really good. Her performance was getting better.

“Moongil Thottam” was brilliant with Abhay Jodhpurkar and Harini at the vocals. There were some minor flaws in his singing, but what a voice! Harini’s experience showed and was just flawless.

Next track intro’d with “Boom Boom Robo Da”, but swiftly changed to “Irumbile Oru Idhayam”. ARR looked smart. But the show-stopper was Neeti Mohan. Guess she got some tips from her sister Shakti Mohan too. The way she sang was superb and the way she moved was almost like what Aishwarya Rai did in movie. 

The next was “Urvasi Urvasi”, where ARR proved he’s still young at heart. Benny and Naresh accompanied. ARR even pointed to Benny’s head where the song refers to head and Tirupati. The crowd was back on the chairs.

Aaryan Dinesh was stunning with “Magudi Magudi”. Chinmayi accompanied well. But the Lankan was unstoppable. He was just amazing. 

“Jai Ho” in Tamil followed. The crowd sang it along with ARR and his sisters. The vocals by Raihana and Ishrat was good.

“Thaai Manne Vanakkam” was the befitting end to the show. There’s no chance that this track would go wrong in any aspect in any concert.

The musicians were all good and almost perfect. My throat still aches and was completely dehydrated, but the energy levels were so high. And I have no complaints.  

The Song List - Movie

1. Udal Mannukku - Iruvar
2. Unthan Desathin – Desam (dubbed from Swades)
3. Elay Keechan - Kadal
4. Guest Drummers
5. Medley
• Arima Arima - Enthiran
• Veerapandi Kottayile – Thiruda Thiruda
• Anbe Kollathe - Jeans
• Manuthu Manthayile - Kizhakku Cheemayile
• Kuchi Kuchi Rakkama - Bombay
• Thillana Thillana - Muthu
• Kannai Katti Kolladhe - Iruvar
• Padayappa - Padayappa
• Vaaji Vaaji – Shivaji
• Balleilakka - Shivaji
6. Puthiya Manidha - Enthiran
7. Kaadhal Rojaave - Roja
8. Medley
• Omana Penne – Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya
• Girlfriend – Boys
• Aathankara Marame - Kizhakku Cheemayile
• Akkadaanu Nanga - Indian
• July Maadham – Puthiya Mugham
• Endredrum Punnagai - Alaipayuthey
• Kannum Kannum – Thiruda Thiruda
9. Humma Humma - Bombay
10. Mustafa Mustafa – Kadhal Desam
11. Nenjinile – Uyire (dubbed from Dil Se..)
12. Medley
• Nilaa Kaigirathu - Indira
• Uyire - Bombay
• Pudhu vellai - Roja
13. Video – Changing Seasons (Tamil) - Naan Varuven - Raavanan
14. Thee Thee – Thiruda Thiruda
15. Harpejji – Unplugged
• Kannaamoochi – Kandukondein Kandukondein
• Anbe Sugama – Paarthaale Paravasham
• Enge Enathu Kavithai - Kandukondein Kandukondein
16. Nenjukkulle - Kadal
17. Video – Infinite Love
18. Adiye - Kadal
19. Hello Mr. Ethirkatchi - Iruvar
20. Moongil Thottam - Kadal
21. Boom Boom Robo+Irumbile Oru Idhayam- Enthiran
22. Urvasi Urvasi - Kadhalan
23. Magudi Magudi - Kadal
24. Jai Ho – Slumdog Millionaire
25. Thaai Manne Vanakkam - Vande Mataram

Organizers/Other Experiences

Since the updates were only on Facebook and it was informed that the entrance would open at 1400 hours, my wife and I reached the venue at quarter past two. We didn’t have lunch and were in for a shock. At the entrance where we initially waited till almost 3 pm, the security guys informed that Rs.500-Rs.5000 would let in through the same gate. Then we had to run when it was informed that it was for Rs. 5000 and above. We ran from gate to gate twice, thrice, over a well, through the muddy terrain and finally entered the venue through the Rs. 500 gate and had to move to Rs. 1000 chairs. We got the seat at around 4 pm.  Then we moved forward again as we were initially seated at Rs. 500 seats. Only very few food counters were present. Our lunch/snacks was “unniyappams”. Water bottles were being charged by some guys for Rs. 100 during the concert. The toilets arrangement was good. The inclination of the seats also offered nothing much as we saw even Rs. 5000 guys standing on their chairs. Hope they took some insurance policy for the chairs as the damaged ones would be countless. While we were getting down, the platforms cracked and crowd panicked and although it was safe when we got down, I'm not sure whether the quality was properly ensured or not.

I guess the confusion was because different parts were handled by different event partners as usual, but the co-ordination was poor. Still I believe the police/security did a god job.

Audio/Video/Other settings

The audio system lived up to my expectations. The experience was amazing for all the songs. The video screens were good, although had temporary problems in between. The stage looked great although we couldn’t get a direct look so easily. The lighting was too good. The background screen was nice. Overall, Rapport Global Events are doing a good job making ARR concert an altogether different experience. The ads for serials in Jaya TV were irritating. The costumes were stylish. ARR looked dapper in almost all the stuff he wore. All the singers looked smart.

A few words on ARR

ARR is a world class musician and a top notch entertainer. He can easily remain at just that. But he goes beyond, and his messages at times offer a sneak peek into the man behind it all. He’s a thinker and a good human being. He expressed grief at the bad news of the morning, he is a person rooted well to his home turf speaking in Tamil often during the concert, the way he kept everything simple with slight bit of humour, the way he shows respect and love to the singers, musicians, organisers etc. are some things that are worth emulating. It’s a simple message that if you are in any environment, you make the first step to make it better. That’s the way I see it.

As the title for this post says, this is enough for me. Thank You A R Rahman for a great concert experience.

A layman thinking against FDI in Retail

The reform agenda, as the media call, has been unleashed. “What’s so reform about them?” is a question that goes unanswered, except by a few stock analysts, whose analyses sound even worse than professional astrologers. The most discussed topic among these so called “reforms” is FDI In Retail (FDIIR). What's below are some thoughts on the same.
 

Indian Retail

The significance of Indian retail is just because of the number of people involved in the sector. Actually, I doubt that we underestimate the scale and size, when we call it “sector”, because it’s much more than that. I’ll explain, but will continue to qualify it as "sector" as it’s easy for me to do so. Our country has around 120 crore people. Around 50-60% depends on agriculture. Services come second. Retail is a major chunk of the same and about 4 crore people (via Wiki) are involved directly in the same. Considering the indirect dependence on the sector and the size of our workforce, the number of people who depend on this sector for their survival is pretty huge. But, in wake of the new developments regarding FDIIR, you will find this data being hidden. I'll explain it later in the piece.

Now, the popular perception that has been created about the FDI in the sector involves a few arguments. They go mainly in two directions. FDIIR will improve efficiency of supply chains. FDIIR will give the right prices to the end consumers as well as the producers by getting rid of middlemen. Ok, for now, I’ll discuss these. 

Efficiency

What’s our current efficiency? Btw, what’s this efficiency we are talking about? Simply put, if I gather 100 units from the production, how many will be lost or how much wastage can happen how much time it will take to reach end consumer etc. defines the efficiency. Statistically a combined effect can also add to the same. For instance, the popular argument says that we waste 40% of our fruits and vegetables, and this is an article that checks that argument. You draw your own conclusions. 

Now, even if pilferage happens, what could be the possible reason? Please think a while. Yes, it's the storage. I’ll draw your attention to this Infrastructure Policy document posted in the Infrastructure Development Website of Karnataka Government. (Disclaimer: No, I’m no BJP supporter) Just check the applicable sectors, and see the first one. Yes, you read it right. Agri-Infrastructure. Please see the third point in it. Agro-food processing and allied infrastructure (including common-user cold storage facilities). Yes, it may not come in our usual infrastructure parlance that always get stuffed with roads, rails, ports and such.  FDIIR may create this for themselves. But, as a common infrastructure? A point to ponder over.

Middlemen

Picture this scenario. You get something for Rs. 10 in the current setup. You get Rs. 9 if FDIIR comes. I’ll prefer latter, to be honest. But, will it be only Rs. 9? Hopefully, because the FDIIR patrons promise that they will get rid of the middlemen. Now, what’s the significance of these middlemen in our context? Are they really such shady characters or perpetrators like they are being portrayed by the popular media or they are the facilitators in the chain? I don’t have a clear cut answer to this as I believe a thorough research is needed on the same to understand their roles.

Now, I’ll draw your attention to this article where someone argues that middlemen will stay even with Internet.  My conclusion from the article as well as personal evaluation (purely based on first-hand experience. No stats to provide.) is that facilitators are a must. But, why are they not called middlemen? May be we have to go to the root of the issue. I’ll try to explain.

Consider two scenarios. First scenario. An end consumer pays Rs. 10 for a unit of a product. The producer gets Rs. 5. Suppose there are 5 facilitators getting Re. 1 each. How many parties are involved? Including producer and excluding end consumer, it’s six. Second scenario. FDIIR will enable keeping these facilitators out and become the single facilitator for the product from the producer to the end consumer. Now, the no. of parties involved, including producer and excluding end consumer, is just two. Now, this facilitator says that he/she is happy with Rs. 3 for all the facilitation he/she does, which was erstwhile done by 5 parties and can sell it for Rs. 8. What will happen? That will look like T Nagar during Aadi/Pongal/Diwali.

Now, take a pause. Look at it from two different angles. One, from the cost point of view. What if the costs for the 5 facilitators remain the same for the single facilitator and he/she too claims Rs. 5 to maintain his/her margin? What will end user do?  Second, from the job opportunities point of view, considering these facilitators as just individuals. You had 5 people working in the first scenario and now you have one. How many are driven out of employment? Four in number and to get a bigger picture, consider it in percentage. Yes, 80%. If the single facilitator is an organization, will it be able to employ this 80%? This is a reason why the same person who argues about job creation in FDIIR, hideously cover the fact on the number of people who currently depend on the sector. It's because the numbers just don't match.

So, they are "middlemen" when they are five in number and "facilitator" when 80% less in number. That's how perceptions are made.

Now, looking back at these middlemen from the producers’ point of view, how much exploitative are they? I don’t have any stats at hand and honestly, I don’t know. I’m yet to see a good piece of info on the same. From the elementary info I have, I see them more as facilitators and not exploiters. Maybe both are present, but mostly facilitators.

The Bigger Picture

Financial capital always looks for one thing. Profit. So, where will it go, when it finds that there are no avenues for making profit where it is right now? No big surprise. It will go to the potential markets. So, what will a Walmart do when it finds that its growth in top-line and bottom-line are slowing down? It will move to greener pastures. A growing economy is a good opportunity. FDIIR treads the same path too.

Organized retail needs much discipline. The FDIIR may not replicate here what they did in developed markets just because we are a nation of chaos, which is our way of life. Hope the same chaos will ensure what it does now to the domestic organized retail, when the FDIIR comes in place.

RIP Thilakan

 

This video is enough to define the man who passed away today. 

Empowerment - A product of the environment?

This young security guy at our office should be in his early twenties. The kind of reverence he has on his face when he talks to us even to me (being the youngest official at our office), is pretty evident. His voice gets affected, his face turns serious and he tries his best to show his obedience. To be honest, I don’t know why he tries so hard to show that respect. But, when I sit late at office doing nothing official, I chat with him. He opens up in a lovely way. He talks about his brother (who is again in the same private security firm) who earns much more than him because of his permanent posting, about his village in Odisha, his stay with friends, the struggle of coming to the city every day from his place of stay (which now is a bit strained due to the increase in ticket charges) etc. But then, during office hours he’s like that frightened kid. 

It’s enlightening to occupy public spaces (as much as possible) in our country. It’s just because one can get so many clues about the cultural nuances only when one experiences it. One will learn to accommodate and appreciate the subtle differences among us, but unified by the common identity of just being human. But, there again when we build the hierarchy at wherever possible, the dirty secrets come out. The lower cadres are ruled by everyone who just belongs to the ones above, due to the traditional seniority, untimely, but fortunate luck and sometimes just random happenings. Sometimes, offices resemble the scenes way back from the kings’ courts, although IT companies are trying to shed off such things through their policies. Still, deep inside such things remain. And, why does it happen? The real difference is the empowerment. 

I remember an instance in some Hollywood movie where a main character takes his car and parks near the fish market, takes his jacket off and wears the work uniform and goes to a counter where he cuts and sells fish. Now, plug this scene in an Indian movie. People will die laughing at the scene thinking it as a run-off-mill slapstick comedy. You know why? Because, it’s just not possible in our normal routine. Again, the reason? We empower our people selectively, or some choose the lives of others, when it should be ideally left to the individual himself/herself. And, we never understand what it is like to have an individually empowered and social conscious pool of human resource.

As one should have already got it by now, the problem starts with our education, or maybe with the whole system itself. If one studies in school or further in college and finally has a degree or further a PG, there is a high chance that he/she is educated, and along the way, empowered. How? Somehow or the other, even in the most spoon feeding systems that we have, there are some things that raise questions in mind that makes one think and somehow find some answers even if they are not complete all the time. To put in a different way, one realizes more about the self. This plays a major role in conditioning the personality, by absorbing things from surroundings that enable him/her to grow into a wholesome person, understanding more about oneself and that social world, which some refer to as society. There, he/she gets back the individuality, hijacked by the same society from his/her childhood.

All are born alike. But, what we are now is what we acquire for us, by ourselves. Our unique selves are just based on environs that are conducive to enable us to be unique. The not so conducive environs suppress even our basic instincts, and make us just a part of the bigger herd. We are still a product of our environment and I should just disagree with Frank Castello (from “The Departed”) on that. And, the unfortunate part is that the almost 100% of the empowered people get it all up in their head. They look down at people. And the ones, who are deprived, will learn things just the hard way. The globe just spins and revolves on and on and on. The questions just remain. 

Classic Incantations - Experience of a lifetime

When I first heard that a German Orchestra was going to perform A R Rahman's film scores in five Indian cities, I never thought I would get a chance to watch it. In all previous cases of his concerts that happened inside the country, I never got to watch any. But this time, I strongly felt that I was going to attend it. 

The "Effort" that lead to "The Pass"

It all started with LAPP India, the sponsors for the event starting the Facebook page with the “Info”  section giving out this. 

“All you A. R. Rahman fans, here’s your chance to pay a tribute to him.This January, the German Orchestra 'Babelsberg' will play Rahman's scores in five different cities. Keep following this page and the updates to get lucky and receive an invitation!”

I don’t remember how I landed up at the page though. I thought I'll give a try anyway.

My first try was a failure. 

But hope grew as I got the reply the next day saying that I have to do more and since I didn’t have anything in my mind at that point of time, I posted this and it happened. I got the invite.

They call me "writer" too (Nobody 'dared' to address me that before!).  I thanked them, by plagiarizing A R Rahman’s Oscar acceptance speech. They informed that all will get unique codes to be used to get the passes.

The excitement triggered the immediate query.

They posted a list which confirmed my name in it.

In between to show that I am active there (although I was pretty inactive!), I tried this too.

 The impatience grew.

Then they said this.

I was one among them and thought I will miss a concert opportunity this time too. But they asked to add “LAPP India Execution” as a friend in Facebook and within 1-2 days I got my unique code/reference number.

As per their advice, I had to collect the pass a day before (12 noon -7 pm) at Max Mueller Bhavan or just before the concert (3pm -7 pm) at the venue. An official trip came in between on the day prior to the concert. But I reached back in time at 6 pm. I got the pass after divulging the reference number to the LAPP India representative and thanked him. I forgot to ask his name as I was so excited.

The Concert

I reached the venue at 5 pm and had to wait along with others in the queue to enter. The wait outside lasted till 5.45 pm. Then we all had to wait just outside the doors till 6.15 pm. Then came in many well-known personalities including Vairamuthu, Suhasini, Ranjit Barot, singers Karthik, Sreenivas, Shweta Mohan etc. and Rahman’s family came in too. The silent auditorium became active when the cameras flashed non-stop and Rajnikanth walked in. Hoots and whistles all over. A R Rahman followed.

The proceedings started with Indian and German National Anthems.Three dignitaries from Max Mueller Bhavan, German consulate and LAPP India talked about the Germany-India 2011-12: Infinite Opportunities, just before the concert.

The Repertoire

The orchestra started with the “Warriors of Heaven and Earth Suite” which played the main melody and other pieces (like Horses) from the score of the movie. The strings, brass, percussion and KMMC choir was in perfect harmony. 

The following piece was the “Lagaan Theme” that comes as the last track in the CD. The KMMC choir was awesome in this piece. All instruments came alive in this performance. Live orchestra took the music to a different level.

“The Rising” suite followed. To be honest, I had forgotten many pieces in the movie. Although I felt familiar at places, I couldn’t dig it from my memory. It was a calm piece. I guess "Mangal Mangal" can't have an engaging orchestral interpretation, as I didn't hear it.

“Passage Suite” featured solo by Kavita Baliga and was so amazed how vocals can just define the whole “Aria” track. It was heavenly. The orchestra easily followed her vocals.

“Cry of the Rose” featured tracks from Roja. It started with the finishing portions of “Thamizha Thamizha” which suited the live orchestral version so well and then went on to “Kaadhal Rojaave/Roja Jaaneman”. Navin’s flute rendition made me feel that these are timeless masterpieces. The orchestra complemented well. 

“Enthiran/Robot Suite” started with a mismatch (I felt so, may be I'm wrong) between the visuals and the pieces. KMMC choir performed “Arima Arima”, which sounded good although I felt it needs many more vocalists in the choir to give that effect when we watch it on a cinema screen. But, “Puthiya Manitha” was too good. It was great. To know what we witnessed and listened to, just observe where all the tune is used in the movie, especially at the movie end credits. The performance gave that proper symphony effect. And never thought that it will sound so grand. The orchestra was simply amazing. 

“127 Hours Suite” started with “If I Rise”, followed with “Tears of Sun”. I was expecting “Liberation” themes to make it large. It didn’t happen. The orchestra was so good that I didn’t miss them.

“Lord of the Rings Suite” was grand with the vocals and the instruments were all over the place. A special mention to the male vocalist, Arun HK. His vocal range  is amazing. Kavita Baliga was splendid too. The “Lothlorien” piece was too good.

The interval followed. A short film on KMMC Music Conservatory was played. Audience loved it. 

“Bombay Theme” opened the second half. Navin’s rendition on flute was superb. The orchestra, especially strings, made it grand. The orchestra didn’t do anything different, but it was enough. After all, the same version is being widely used all over the globe because of its universal appeal.  

“Tribute to Indian Composers” was splendid. It started with a piece by his father, R K Shekhar, followed by MSV, Ilaiyaraja (Sendoorappoove), SD Burman, Naushad, Laxmikant Pyarelal (Hero), Jatin-Lalit (Pehla Nasha) and SEL (Kal Ho Naa Ho). Apologies for the ones I missed. But, the piece became grand by a sudden switch to ARR's tracks. “Kannalane/Kehna Hi Kya” was too good and then those epic portions from “Oruvan Oruvan Muthalali” followed. The orchestra was wonderful on all instruments. The applause at the end was deafening.

“Elizabeth: The Golden Age Suite” again showcased the importance of vocals. A girl from the KMMC choir took the lead. The orchestra followed it very well. I guess the lead portion was the “Divinity Theme”.

“Netaji Suite” started with portions from “Azaadi”. The visuals gave a patriotic feel. The orchestra played it well. I couldn’t really connect the other portions and the names of those themes. Sounded familiar, but was elusive.

“Meenaxi Suite” had some beautiful pieces from the movie. The visuals were a tribute to Indian beauties such as Madhubala, Nargis, Hemamalini, Madhuri Dixit etc. to name a few. The orchestra was good and kept a minimal character.

“Slumdog Millionaire Suite” started with the “Latika’s Theme”. The vocals by KMMC choir added the beauty. “Mausam and Escape” followed. Asad Khan came on stage with Sitar. I felt he made a few mistakes here and there (Again, I may be wrong!). A R Rahman came on stage and sat at the piano. Both played a Jugalbandi kind as a beginning and the orchestra joined them. It was a wonderful finale. 

The "Swades Theme Suite" (which should have played before "Netaji Suite"), was not played.

The felicitations for the Babelsberg Orchestra, the KMMC Choir, the soloists Asad Khan, Navin Iyer, Kavita Baliga & Arun H K, the conductor Matt Dunkley and the maestro followed. (The MC told that Navin is getting engaged today. Best wishes to him)

After the felicitations, the orchestra performed “Aayo Re” from Water (incidentally, for which ARR has given himself 10/10). The male vocalists from KMMC choir were too good (even with 1-2 mistakes here and there) and female vocals did their portions very well. The orchestra was splendid too.

The Man. The Music. The Legend

A few words. It was amazing to see what a simple and humble MAN could create within 20 years of MUSIC, MUSIC and only MUSIC. And, only a true LEGEND can do a tribute to include even those who negatively criticized and took potshots at him when he flourished across the boundaries and won hearts.

Other Notes

I met Suresh Kumar of the famous “Background Score” blog. Talked to him briefly. 

They issued 1132 passes (the seating capacity of the hall!) in Chennai and the number of people who couldn’t get was more than 4000. Although lady luck eludes me a lot, she gave me company at the right time.  

The experience was so unique that I’m sure I won’t forget it for a long time.

And finally, Thank You A R Rahman, for your MUSIC.

Aren't they critical part of our society?

I always find verifiable data and information answering lot of questions and clearing doubts. In statistics terms, it gives trends, seasonality, prove or disprove hypotheses, which helps us to substantiate facts and discard factual errors. Economics data is something that fascinates me at present because of my job as well as due to my general interest in the same. A significant data in the field is the economic value generated inside our country or the GDP (not going into detailed technicalities). Every analyst speaks of how much a sector contributes to the growth of GDP or how much it pulls down and other stuff. But no one speaks anything about how much housemaids (I don’t know if there is any better word to use here) contribute to this economy. 

Even before women started coming into the skilled jobs that generate income (If I may count a homemaker as a skilled person who is not generating income in economics sense) in large numbers, we had housemaids. Then, it was mainly supporting work. But now, they have become a critical ingredient of every family such that sometimes a child is more attached to them than their mothers.  But in the social psyche, where do they stand? Does anyone care about their lives? What pushes them to do such hard jobs? Since they are mainly women, what do their husbands do?

I stay in an apartment where the housemaid comes every day to clean and she is paid an amount less than Rs.1000. Since I’m not paying it, I never thought if it was enough. She does the job at hand in 20-30 minutes and does the same at other nearby apartments and goes back to her place from where she travels around 1-2 hours in the morning to come for work. She doesn’t come strictly on time, but she comes almost every day and tells in advance when she doesn’t come. I’m not sure if she does the same work throughout the day too. Sometimes, she comes even when she is ill. She has two sons; one is doing his engineering and the younger one in school. Somehow with her income and with some help from the houses where she work, she managed to pay the fees and other related expenses. Her husband doesn’t go for any work.  

Currently, the elder son has some health issues and he had to be admitted in hospital and she was not able to understand and explain what his illness is. The doctor told that it is fever and she was not able to understand what it means. He was taking medicines for a month. Yesterday, she came for work and told that his son needs an operation. She looked so absent minded while doing the work. After all, she is the mother. A mother may be conscious about what she is doing even when she’s very sick; but if her child is sick, I don’t know how to explain how a mother feels. She told me that she doesn’t know what exactly is his illness or why is he being operated. I didn't know how to tell her that everything will be ok, even without knowing what exactly is the issue. Today, she didn’t come.

I’m not sure how many families would have sustained if the considerable inputs from housemaids had not been there. The surprising part is that we will easily stereotype them as depicted in that Tata Docomo Ad. May be the company had just used the normal societal notions about housemaids.  When Chetan Bhagat said he helped his maid and her daughter, he was made fun of in every way possible in social media. Nobody was trying to understand the significance of what he tried to convey. He even mentioned that his family warned him before he helped.  I don’t know the root cause of such behavior among us. May be this is what we have ‘learned’ over decades and centuries. May be this the dark side of our 'glorious' traditions. May be we are taking so many things for granted, about which we don’t even think or ponder about.  Coming back to the economics point, we may not be even realizing the value they are adding to this country by doing much work which don't count in any GDP numbers. 

Like almost in any social aspect, here too I have only questions. Why do many of us treat them like second class citizens, only because they were born in such conditions and had to struggle in life even from their time of birth and so they are unprivileged? Why do many of us treat them inhumanly for even the most trivial of mistakes? Why wouldn’t we think that their sons/daughters can also be like our sons/daughters, if proper resources are provided? Why wouldn’t we think that they also have same rights as we enjoy?  

One more point. In the traditional “breadwinner” stereotype, she is the one who is running the family in most cases I have seen, including the one I mentioned above. If he was a responsible man, how would have been her life? I still don’t get the idea of not taking any responsibility, being a husband and father. May be our patriarchal leanings never taught men to own up responsibilities, but to have only power.  Here again, I’m lost. I have no idea. Why is it so? Is there something really wrong with how our society has shaped up? I don’t know.  The questions just remain.