A Professionals Mirage 2

Siri was super excited when her manager called her and told her that she has been selected as part of the on-site team going to Milwaukee in USA.  Her seniors in the team already told her that Milwaukee may not the right place to visit USA for the first time. But, it had been Siri's dream to go to USA. She studied MCA just to get into IT and go to USA. Otherwise, she would have preferred to pursue post graduation in music rather then take up job as software engineer. Going to USA is her dream for life. She jumped and could not sit properly in the office after she got this news. She was eager to go home and share this good news with her parents.Siri was devastated when her mother declared she cannot go to the onsite trip without getting married. This was something new for her. Her mother who had brought her up as equal to her brother in all aspects, never showed any difference between them stopping her for the first time saying she's a girl!!! How much ever she tried to convince her, she was not ready. With a broken heart, Siri informed her manager she cannot travel. 

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'TING TONG' the sound of incoming email broke the thought process of Siri and she read the mail from HR asking her for her papers to process H1. She signed heavily and replied to the HR saying she cannot travel due to personal constraints. She remembered the mess she got into on personal front  when she travelled just for 6 weeks. 

The sound of phone woke up Siri from her slumber and the first words that she heard on picking up the phone made her feel like 'Why did I lift the phone at all'. 'Don't you have common sense at all. R u a fool .... blah blah ' continued her husbands rattle over the phone. Siri finally spoke saying she had to get ready in 5 minutes else she will miss the bus to reach office and she does not have budget to hire a cab daily to office and cut the call. She wiped the tears from her eyes and rushed to the bathroom to get ready. In 10 minutes she was ready and picked up a sole apple for breakfast and rushed down to join her team to catch the bus to office. It's been 2 weeks since she had landed in Brussels, Belgium and as always luck had failed her. Her laptop crashed the second day she had come and she has no other option other then catching up with her work in office. On top of this, her husbands daily rattle over then phone had started making her feel home sick already. She missed her 2 year old kid terribly. She remembered the day when she left him with her husband and in-laws and boarded the flight.  Her Father in laws words still rang in her ears. 'She is acting. If she really cannot leave her son , why will she go'. She felt like giving back to him, but, just kept quiet and went on with her other works. 

Fortunately, the team with whom she had come are really great and they made her feel at home. They used to make her smile and laugh when she was down and remember her baby. Together they used to cook meals and have long strolls on the beautiful streets and enjoy good food. Life with them seemed so easy ad they helped her a lot with her work as well. They visited the world famous flower show, enjoyed the different Indian food available in Brussels, and indulged in the Belgian chocolate. They had great fun over the weekends watching movies, cooking food together, going out. One weekend they got time to visit Brugge and they had great fun over there. 

All these were giving her the strength to continue and complete the 6 weeks of stay. During the 5 th week of stay , she could no longer take her husbands abuses over the phone and she told him she wanted a divorce from him or they should go visit family councillor. After this, he was little calm and allowed her to concentrate on her work. She finally completed and 6 weeks and without giving chance for another word returned back to Bengaluru. The minute she landed and saw her little one, she understood her dream of going abroad should be shelved permanently. Sriram sat quietly in her lap all through her journey back home fro airport. The first words he spoke finally after an hour were 'Never leave me and go anywhere'. It broke her heart and she vowed to herself that she will never leave him and go anywhere.

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To be continued....................

A Professionals Mirage

Siri was looking intently at the screen of her laptop when suddenly she felt her eyes blur and head spin. She looked away from the screen and tried to concentrate on the view outside the window. Disappointed looking at the concrete jungle outside, she got up from her place and went to cafeteria. After picking up a coffee and settling down at one of the tables, she started thinking what had happened to her.  She realized she had not slept properly since the past few months and felt depressed about the way her life turned out to be. She dozed of into a deep slumber trying to compose herself.

"Ammaaa! Ammaaa! I am getting delayed. Please make it fast." shouted Siri at her mother worried she might be late to office on the first day. She is super excited as it is her joining day at her first job. Her parents did not mind all the mess she has been creating since morning feeling happy that they could give their daughter the life she dreamed of. Between all the excitement, Siri started to office. Her dad made sure to call the driver and send her in the car to avoid any confusion and had given him a 100 instructions before finally allowing the car to move.

Siri felt lost seated at the grand reception watching unknown faces and probing glares around her. Her friends from college along with whom she got selected through campus recruitment are yet to arrive. HR asked her to wait till they come to initiate the joining process. Finally, when Siri saw her friends entering the reception area, she felt like jumping up and hugging them. She composed herself and greeted them with a Hi. Finally, the HR took them to a conference room and told them to wait and make themselves comfortable. The three of them were so tensed and lost that they could not even initiate a discussion between themselves. All the excitement that Siri had till then got converted to a kind of confusion with fear and to overcome the same, She started of a conversation with her friends. They were so engrossed in their own banter that they hardly noticed a person entering the room and waiting to get their attention. Suddenly, when they saw him standing over there, the three jumped out of their chairs and cursed themselves for having got so involved in their own banter. The person introduced himself as their PM and told them he would speak with them individually before taking them into his project. Siri felt her knees tremble with trepidation and irritation and thought one more interview, ahhhhhhh! Finally Siri and one of her friend got selected and other friend had been told that she would be sent to another project. Unaware of the nightmare ahead, Siri felt elated and exited that she got into one of the best groups of the company  on the first day itself.

Mam! Mam! R u alright? Hpw r u feeling? Siri woke up from her sleep and realized she had slept lying her head on the table in the cafeteria itself. She cursed herself and muttered an excuse and rushed back to her seat just in time for the status update call. Sure as hell, the call went bad as she wasn't prepared for the same. She wanted to hit and blast herself for having dozed of into sleep when she had this important call to prepare for. This was the second time this happened and the Senior Manager was clearly irritated and indirectly pointed her out saying she is careless and is not bothered about the meeting. Siri tried desperately to control her tears and felt it was better that she has taken this call from a conference room and not from her desk. She did not want her team to see her weak fearing they might not listen to her after that.

To be continued..................

కర్నాటక సంగీతం లో సాఫ్ట్వేర్ పాత్ర

సాఫ్ట్వేర్ ఆనగా, కంప్యూటర్ లో మనం వాడుకునే అప్లికేషన్స్ తయారుచేయడానికి ఇంకా నడవడానికి ఉపోయోగపడే శాస్త్రం - ఒక కంప్యూటర్ యొక్క ప్రాసెసర్ పని చెయ్యటానికి కావలసిన లేక అవసరమైన సూచనలు. ఒక కంప్యూటర్ లో ఏదైనా పని చెయ్యటానికి అవసరమైన డిజిటల్ ఎలక్ట్రానిక్స్ సూచనలను కూడా కంప్యూటర్ సాఫ్ట్వేర్ అని అనవచ్చు.

ఆధునిక కాలం లో సాఫ్ట్వేర్ పాత్ర అపరిమితం. సాఫ్ట్వేర్ ఉపోయోగించని రంగం ఏది లేదు. సాఫ్ట్వేర్ వినియోగం ఎంతగా పెరిగిందంటే పిల్లలు ఆడుకునే ఆట బొమ్మలు దగ్గిరనుంచి ఆకాశం లోకి పంపించే రాకెట్స్ వరకు సాఫ్ట్వేర్ ఉపయోగం ఉంది. సంగీతంలో కూడా సాఫ్ట్వేర్ ప్రభావం చాలా ఉంది. విద్యార్ధులు నేర్చుకునే పాఠం దగ్గరనుంచీ మనం వింటున్న కచేరీల వరకు, నేడు సంగీతం లో సాఫ్ట్వేర్ పాత్ర అపరిమితం.

పూర్వం సంగీతం నేర్చుకోవాలంటే, గురువుగారి ఇంట్లో ఉంటూ, ఆయనకి సేవలు చేస్తూ, ఆయన ఎప్పుడు నేర్పిస్తే అప్పుడు నేర్చుకుంటూ కొన్ని సంవత్సరాలు ఆయన దగ్గర వుండి నేర్చుకునే వారు. కానీ నేడు యీ సాఫ్ట్వేర్ వినియోగం తో ఇంట్లోనే ఉంటూ స్కైప్ మొ|| ఆన్‌లైన్ అప్స్ ద్వారా నేర్చుకుంటున్నారు. ఇంకా నేడు అంతర్జాలం లో అనేక వెబ్ సైట్స్ ద్వారా కూడా పాఠాలు నేర్చుకుంటున్నారు. కేసెట్ రికార్డర్స్ ద్వారా, CD  డ్రైవ్ ల ద్వారా కూడా మనం నేడు సంగీత పాఠాలను నేర్చుకోగాలుగుతున్నాము. ఇవన్ని కూడా నేటి కాలంలో మనకి అందుబాటులోకి వొచ్చిన ఆధునిక యంత్రాలతోనే సాధ్యపడుతోంది. ఈ ఆధునిక యంత్రాలన్నీ పని చేసేది సాఫ్ట్వేర్ సహాయంతోనే.

ఇంతే కాకుండా, నేడు మనం మంచి కచేరీ వినాలంటే, ఇంట్లోనే వుండి సాటిలైట్ ద్వారా ప్రసారం అయ్యే అనేక చానల్స్ ద్వారా వినచ్చు. AIR ప్రసారం చేసే కార్యక్రమాలన్నీ కూడా సాఫ్ట్వేర్ సహాయం తోనే మనకి రేడియో ద్వారా అందుతున్నాయి. దూరదర్శన్, ఇంకా అనేక టీవీ ఛానల్స్ ద్వారా మనకి ప్రసారం అయ్యే కార్యక్రమాలన్నీ కూడా కంప్యూటర్ మీద ఆధారపడ్డవే!

ఇంకా విద్యార్ధులు సంగీత సాధన లో సహాయ పడటానికి 'శ్రుతి బాక్స్', మెట్రోనిం' ఇంకా 72 మేళకర్త అప్ మొదలగు అప్లికేషన్స్ విద్యార్ధులకు ఎంతో ఉపయోగ పడుతున్నయ్యి. ఇంకా యుట్యూబ్,  రాగా.కాం మొదలైన వెబ్ సైట్స్  ద్వారా అనేక సంగీత కచేరీ లను విని వారి సంగీత పరిజ్ఞానాన్ని పెంచుకోగలుగుతున్నారు. ఇంకా సంగీతాసక్తి కలిగిన వారు, వారి సంగీత పరిజ్ఞానాన్ని బ్లాగ్స్ ద్వార అందరితో పంచుకోగలుగుతున్నారు.

Back after a long Hibernation with Kalyani!

Weather is so hot making us ready for enjoying the Rains and the cool breeze that it brings along. I feel like having nice mirch bazzi and hot T watching the rain and listening to the vibrant voice of "Sangeetha Kalanidhi , The Musician of the Century" Dr.MBK singing "Sogasu Nee sommu Kalyani". I personally feel, this modern day vaggeyakara has witnessed the Kalyani ragam itself dancing to his voice when he wrote this song. It shows us in words the beauty of Kalyani. The Ragam is so rich and complete that it can be tuned to any emotion, be it Bhakthi (Nidhi Chala Sukham by Saint Tyagaraja) or Vilasam (Sogasu Nee sommu by Dr. MBK) or Divine (Sundari nee divya roopamu by Saint Taygaraja) or the Vanjakshi Adi tala Varnam which when sung in the second speed reminds us of a gushing river  and so on.

The word 'Kalyani' means 'One who is auspicious) and standing to its name, the Navavarnam 'Kamalambam Bhajare' by Deekshitar depicts the depth of this ragam. This is the 65th Melakartha ragam and falls into the 11th Rudra chakra of the 72 melakartha scheme and is the Prati Madhyama ragam of 29th Mekartha Sankarabharanam. It has Chathusruthi Rishabham, Anthara Gandharam, Prati Madhyamam, Chathursruthi Daivatham and Kakali Nishadham. It is a very beautiful ragam and being a melakartha is sampoorna ragam. Inorder to accomadate the 'Ka Ta Pa Ya di' sootram, the word 'MECHA' is added before it's name and is called 'MECHAKALYANI.It has many janya ragam's, of which Hameer kalyani, Mohanakalyani, Saranga, Sunadavinodini and Yamuna kalyani are very popular.

It belongs to the set of Major ragams which include Sankarabharanam, Thodi, Bhairavi, Kambhoji and Kharaharapriya. As per the Gramamoorchana, the Gandhara moorchana of Madhyagramam is Kalyani ragam. It is a Sarvaswara Gamaka varika rakthi ragam meaning all the swarams are teevra swarams and are sung with gamakam. All the swarams are ragachaya swarams and ga-pa are amsa swaras and ri-ga-da-ni are nyasa swaras.

Kalyani renders lot of beauty when the Janta swarams and the daatu swarams are sung in it. Being a Moorchana kaaraka mela ragam( derived from Madhyamagrama Gandhara moorchana), this ragam derives Harikambhoji, Natabhairavi, Sankarabharanam, Kharaharapriya and Thodi by doing grahabedham taking as Adhara Sadjamam: ri, ga, pa, dha, and ni, respectively.Though it can be sung any time during the day, it is bascically an evening ragam and makes a good impact to begin a concert with. Also being an elaborate ragam it can be sung as the main item for the concert or as an RTP.

Beginners get the introduction to this ragam with the geetham 'Kamaljaadala' by Purandaradasu. There is the Vanajakshi Adi tala varnam by Ramnad Srinivasa ayyangar and Vanajakshi Ata tala varnam by Pallavi Gopala ayyer both of which give a good exporsure to students in understanding the ragam as well as tuning their voice.

Though there is lot more to share with regards to Kalyani, am going to end my post once again with a composition of  Chevalier Dr. MBK thillana in Kalyani 'Tanamnom Tara Thillana', in which the 'THAYAM' or modern day grahabedham has been showcased. In the charanam of this thillana, each line is sung in different ragams and is called a THAYA RAGA MALIKA.The lyric contains the phrases “Raga Thaya malika”. Sankarabharanam, Kalyani, Hindola, Mohana and Darbarikanada ragams are showcased and goes in Trisra gathi in between. This is an excellent thillana by the Meastro.

Gobbemmala Patalu

Gobbemmala Patalu are sung during the time of sankranthi by young girls. Sakranthi is the festival of harvest. Indians primarily being farmers earlier, used to celebrate this festival during the time of harvest i.e January when the entire years efforts are in front of their eyes in the form of Rice etc.....

Makar Sankranti marks the commencement of the Sun's journey to the Northern Hemisphere (Makara raasi ), signifying the onset of Uttarayana Punyakalam, and is a day of celebration all over the country. The whole event lasts for four days, the first day Bhogi, the second day Sankranti, the third day Kanuma and the fourth day, Mukkanuma.

One month preceeding Sankranti is called Dhanurmasam and is also an auspicious period. Haridasu's wake up early, take bath and go around the streets singing devotional songs. Houses are whitewashed and farmers clean their warehouses. Colorful rangoli (muggulu) are drawn in the front yards of every house during this month. These patterns are decorated with marigold placed on cowdung balls and are called Gobbemmas. Colorfully dressed young girls go round them singing songs.

The young girls prepare gobbemma using cow dung(which used serve as a pesticide) and decorate it with flowers and keep it in the muggu or kolam(artistic floral designs are drawn on the floor with rice flour or fine powder from limestone) in front of their house. This is continued the entire month of Dhanurmasam and during these days, they used to celebrate Sandegobbemma in each little girls house.

Sandegobbemma is three big gobbemmas representing lord Krishna along with his mother Yashoda and Gopemma's or Gopika's. The girls invite each other to their house and then start going around these gobbemma's like Gopemma's or Gopikas singing songs. These songs are called Gobbemmala patalu and they teach the young girl about the nature, Indian culture, Indian traditions, Indian mythology etc etc.

For eg: The below song if we see tells the growth of the plant right from the stage of sapling till the fruit.

Dukkulu Dukkulu Dunnarata, Emi Dukkulu Dunnarata,

Rajavari Thotalo Jama Dukkulu Dunnarata.

Aanati akkallaraa, Chandragiri Bhamallaraa,

Bhamalagiri Gobbiyyallo Gobbiyyallo.

Vithu Vithu vesarata, Emi vithu vesarata,

Rajavari thotalo Jama vithu vesarata.

Aanati akkallaraa, Chandragiri Bhamallaraa,
Bhamalagiri Gobbiyyallo Gobbiyyallo.

Mokka Mokka molichindata, Emi mokka molichindata,

Raja vari thotalo Jama mokka molichindata.

Aanati akkallaraa, Chandragiri Bhamallaraa,

Bhamalagiri Gobbiyyallo Gobbiyyallo.

Puvvu Puvvu Poochindata, Emi puvvu poochindata,

Rajavari thotalo Jama puvvu poochindata.

Aanati akkallaraa, Chandragiri Bhamallaraa,

Bhamalagiri Gobbiyyallo Gobbiyyallo.

Kaaya kaaya kachindata, Emi kaaya kaachindata,

Raja vari thotalo Jama kaaya kachindata.

Aanati akkallaraa, Chandragiri Bhamallaraa,

Bhamalagiri Gobbiyyallo Gobbiyyallo.

Pandu Pandu pandidata, Emi pandu pandidata,

Rajavari thotalo Jama pandu pandindata.

Aanati akkallaraa, Chandragiri Bhamallaraa,

Bhamalagiri Gobbiyyallo Gobbiyyallo.

You Listen to these classics at http://www.esnips.com/web/Gobbemmapatalu