History of rasikas.org and its future

[MaheshS]

ThanjAvur, only been a visitor, but my Grandpa is from "Thrikalavuur" !. But I am a Madurai boy My mum is from Palakkad, I have two sides to deal with. Thank god, my wife isn't from Thirunelveli

And message understood, time for mangalam indeed.

[arasi]

Mahesh,
I think I missed something here. I was only talking about the post on Uday. Where did Cool's family figure in all this? Yes, she is such a fine lady, Mrs. Cool and like you, I'm all admiration for her.
Anyway, I better not say anything more because I obviously have missed something which was posted.

It's great to have Manku thimma back!

[MaheshS]

Coming to CML, if we frown on his behavior even after he takes back his words, it somewhat cancels out all that he's been to the forum. A couple of indiscreet (but not at all malicious) statements shouldn't make us take him to task unnecessarily--as while happily welcoming one of his friends back.

Have *I* missed some posts???

[cmlover]

Let us close this chapter.
Above all mankuthimma and arasi know me best to understand my language. Others are guessing and trying to have some fun at my expense and there is no harm at that!

Now let me share a case history from my dusty files regarding a 'doctor's dilemma'. You be the judge of that.

Quite some time ago a young man walked into my office complaining frequent severe head aches. As I found nothing physically/mentally wrong with him I suggested that he should go to a specialist for a detailed examination as well as having an MRI which was expensive and time consuming. He pooh-poohed the idea and said that all he needed was a prescription for a strong pain-killer which I refused. Three months later i learned that he was suffering from a severe form of brain tumour and six months later he was dead. He had mentioned to his relative that I did mention the possibility of a brain tumour but did not insist on detailed invesigation which perhaps would have saved him. On the other hand his GP did oblige him with a strong pain killer and had failed to investigate him further.

Do I feel guilty ethically or morally? No! But in a US law court I would have been bankrupted by a clever lawyer!

Now back to History and let us celebrate the return of Thimma without any champagne

[vasanthakokilam]

... mankuthimma mankuthimma mankuthimma mankuthimma There I typed it four times in a row without mistake. You can practice an imposition by writing it 100 times in a slate with a balappam. After that scan it and post it here. I'll promote you to 2nd grade.

MK's post gave me the idea to lighten up the mood a bit. I requested my friend who knows Sanskrit to compose a set of sanskrit lines based on the theme I gave him. Here is what he came up with... I will let CML translate and I can provide some vyAkyAnam based on what my friend told me, if needed.

भोः मन्ग्कुतिम्म, न जानीमः वयं भवतः महिमा !
भवतः नामं सहस्र वारं लेखनं तु बहु श्रेष्ठं
नामसहस्रेण लब्धं ईश्वर प्रसाद गतिमोक्षं
भवतः ललाटलिखितं श्रेष्ठं किम् ?

bhoH mankuthimma, na jaaneemaH vayam bhavataH mahimaa!
bhavataH naamam sahasra vaaram lekhanam tu bahu shreShTham
naamasahasrENa labdhaM eeshwara prasaada gatimokSham
bhavataH lalaatalikhitam shreShTham kim?

[mahakavi]

Send this "slokham" to TMK and ask him to render it in the rAgam rEvati

[cmlover]

Brilliant VK!
Who is this friend? Kudos to him for the arthagarbhitam shloka

bhoH mankuthimma, na jaaneemaH vayam bhavataH mahimaa!
bhavataH naamam sahasra vaaram lekhanam tu bahu shreShTham
naamasahasrENa labdhaM eeshwara prasaada gatimokSham
bhavataH lalaaTalikhitam shreShTham kim?


Rough translation:
Hello mankuthimma! We don't know your greatness/reputaiton.
If your name were to be written 1000 times it will be superb!
When by thousand names God's grace and liberation is available
how come what is written on your forehead be greater (?)

We do need a vyaakhyaanam to appreciate the shloka! ..and what was the theme?

[arasi]

Mahesh,
The man from COzha nADu has just indicated--in good humor the answer to your question in his post just now.
Now to the lessons--let me go see if I can learn the verse on our Mankuthimma!
Just came back from a neighborhood child's birthday party. Had fun. Two of them who were trying to grab the same toy and needed their parents to pacify them were the ones who were laughing uproariously as I left the scene. They were having fun bouncing a ball all over the place in turns!

VK,
Please thank your friend for the verse!

[mankuthimma]

Let us change the subject.After understanding that CML is my staunchest wellwisher.
SP - one thing I forgot to mention is about languages.
As soon as I landed in Chennai , I wrote back home with great joy that I had taken up a room close to Kannada Sangha in T Nagar . ( I had never been even to Bangalore until I finished my College , except for a days visit ) . Being home sick I was thrilled to find some place where I could find Kannadigas.
I got an immediate reply by post card :
Get back to Harihar , if that is the way you are going to handle yourself in that new place. My advice to you is that one day in the future you may regret that you took too few risks in life . The next time I see you here , I want to see you evolving into a Tamilian - Its language , Its culture . I want all that reflected in your letters.
Love for your own mother tongue is great . Use that Love to enrich others . But don't fill yourself up to an extent that you cannot take in more ,, from outside.

That letter brought me to where I am today.
Much earlier , when we were preparing to travel to Chennai , we were all under the impression that he would be accompanying me to Chennai until I was "SET UP " here.
Those were not the days of advance reservations , and so at the railway station , in full glare of passersby , he announced.
I Have decided not to accompany you to Chennai , My son.
For the first three months you will curse me everyday , for this decision
And after that ,you will thank me everyday , for the rest of your life .
So you see .I am where I am because of a lot of pushing and prodding.But I maintain that there could be no better place than Chennai to evolve into a person with a very balanced push-prod.Great City,Chennai.
.

[mankuthimma]

And Thank you Srkris for your Welcome. Will do my best to live up to your expectations.
Anybody else I have not thanked personally ? Please take this as a blanket Thank you.
You can call me Thimma.It is a very endearing name too.

[mahakavi]

Mahesh,
The man from COzha nADu has just indicated--in good humor the answer to your question in his post just now.

arasi:
If you are referrring to VK, it should be mentioned as sOzha nADu. In ThanjAvUr country we pronounce it as "sOzha" and not "cOzha"

[mahakavi]

You can call me Thimma.It is a very endearing name too.

That is nice! I don't like "manku" prefix anyway. When I was in India (NIlagiri--for a brief period) I had a colleague by name Thimma Gouda. He sold me ( a "manku") an insurance policy (which I let lapse when I left India after paying premiums for 8 years) for which he got a hefty commission. So I guess I couldn't call him "manku" Thimma. Can I?

[arasi]

MK,
It's kAntimati ammait tamizh!
I meant you, not VK--with your wondering if the verse could be sung in rEvati!
Well, as Thimma says, no more looking back in this thread. Back to business now, I think!
Have a nice weekend, all!

[vasanthakokilam]

Wrapping up on the shloka...
The shloka is by my close friend of several decades who lives in southern U.S., a gem of a man.

The theme I gave him to have some fun using the tool of hyperbole as is normally done by sanskrit poets.
What I gave him was a take off of MK's: "Write the name 1000 times you will attain moksha". He filled in the rest.

His translation, pretty close to CML's.

Oh Makuthimma! We don't understand your greatness!
Writing your name a 1,000 times is great indeed!
By writing it 1,000 times, one attains the God given heaven!
What is that so great written on your forehead?

I asked him for clarification for the last line. The idea behind that line is
"There is a Hindu belief that our entire life is written already by Brahma on our forehead.
It is a rhetorical question: what makes him so special that writing his name 1000 times gives mukti."
Another reading is "Is what's written on your forehead really special?"

[ragam-talam]

Why all this hullabulla? Personally, I am not much for this level of hero-worshipping.
But that's just me.

[cmlover]

R-T
This is not hero-worshipping!
This is home-coming!
Thimma is a 'new arrival' who is the reincarnation of our
beloved Grand Old Man (GOM) coolkarni!
So we sing
"ghar aayaa mErI pardESI..
yaad aayaa mErI bachpan kaa.."

[cmlover]

VK
To resolve the puzzle perhaps we can change as follows...

bhoH mankuthimma, na jaaneemaH vayam bhavataH mahimaa!
bhavataH naamam sahasra vaaram lekhanam tu bahu shreShTham
naamasahasrENa labdhaM eeshwara prasaada gatimokSham
bhavataH eka naamam api paryAptam na kim?

With the last line translating as
"is it not enough to take your name once? " (to attain salvation)
From fatalism let us move to positive optimism!

[cmlover]

Love for your own mother tongue is great . Use that Love to enrich others . But don't fill yourself up to an extent that you cannot take in more ,, from outside.

Isn't that an advice that should be sculpted into every Indian heart?
That would have made Bharat the greatest country in the world ( :sigh ) !

[shripathi_g]

Why all this hullabulla? Personally, I am not much for this level of hero-worshipping.
But that's just me.

It's not so much hero worshipping as it's a repayment of debt, at least for some. I have personally benefitted a lot from Coolji but haven't found a good way to repay him. Most of the music I listen to has been influenced to a large extent by him. TRS, SK, etc. All those tireless uploads. I read this whole thread with MMI's Intha Sowkhya running in the background. Felt like the perfect raga for this thread.

[Sam Swaminathan]

Sripathi has put it aptly. While I cannot speak for others, as for as I am concerned, I have only "taken" from Coolji and could never ever return any thing back to him in turn. What he has given me is so invaluable and can never be evaluated in terms of money. When I am sad or when I am happy, Coolji's uploads come in to make that day, that moment, and that makes it much more memorable. In more ways than one, I am grateful to Coolji. Regards

[arasi]

Exactly. We do not easily forget our benefactors, more so if they are good friends! That's why questioning any forumite for a lapse, forgetting the whole picture of what one is all about is somewhat inconsiderate. Manku Thimma's father wouldn't approve of it either! It's all about music and the way it keeps us company, soothes us, elevates us --something which makes us appreciate all that's around us to be thankful for--in particular the friends who share our love for it at the forum.

[mahakavi]

Can we have a separate "coolji" thread please? Besides, coolji lived in the past. For the present and the"... future of rasikas.org" let us set aside coolji and have mankuthimma or simply thimma instead.
I will write thimma thimma thimma thimma thimma imposition if needed.

[mankuthimma]

Yes Way Forward Please !!!
Please narrate your most unforgettable threads.
I go with mine .
When Musicians speak - clips of snippets from concerts when Musicians take a break from singing and talk .
Jayachamaraja Wodeyars krithis - the complete analysis
Viruttams in Concerts
A thorough review of MDRs renderings.
Compositions on Contemporary themes by Sangeethrasik.
I am trying to remember one of VKs threads but it is just escaping me.
They are all coming back....

[kssr]

There has been a call by Dr.Radha Bhaskar of Mudhra in another thread to information that would lead to a decision to choose the right candidate for the title of Rasika Siromani during their annual festival in December. I post this as this History string on rasikas.org contains information of contributions of some good rasikas to the cause of CM. Among others, the decades long single minded dedication and devotion toCM to one of the forumites Sri.Mankuthimma alias Coolji is noteworthy. I do not personally know much about this gentleman but I deduce from various threads and leaks (!) by other forumites that his name is Sri. Kulkarni who belongs to some place in Karnataka but settled for a long time in Chennai.

[sivapriya]

Dear Thimma,

I was touched by the poignancy of your biography. I have always flip-flopped with this site and written but far and few in between compared to staunch writers. The passion with which members like you have maintained this site, speaks volume of your patience , integrity and commitment to this task. Wish I could take a leaf or two from you!

Also, the one about integrating with Chennaiites, the advise given by your father, the cataloguing with same ink and same pen, the advise on the institution of marriage, all these brought back flashes of memory in my mind of my maternal grandfather , who had a similar profile. So typical of the old style discipline and involvement.

The stupendous work that you have done in helping Shanmukhananda, Mumbai on their digital archiving has etched your name for posterity. Most of us may have not met each other, but then this forum has provided a platform to interact and I always have fun in conjuring up my imagination as to how so and so would look like !! With all its ups and downs, war of words, this forum is still a fun place in the virtual world !

[mankuthimma]

Thanks Sivapriya ..
I will settle down with saveri for the evening

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

My vote is for Mankuthiamma--have never seen him--hope to meet him in Chennai in Dec--I think that is where he resides.
Have enjoyed every post of his and look forward to more!!!

[music_is_life]

Enjoyed reading all the posts in this thread. I may be one of those 'flies on the wall' for a very long time almost since the sangeetham days until Arasi and rajesh encouraged me to to start making some posts.
I hope to meet Thimma and all others in my trip to Chennai in December. I think we should discuss all the ideas put forward by Thimma to take this forum to the next level. I am back and shall start making my contributions on what's happening here in Detroit as far as CM is concerned.

[bala747]

This is my first post here in a long time as I have been really busy since getting married. I am now going to be a father to a girl, who we have decided to name as 'Sahana Rukmani' (Sahana as in the raga, not the Sivaji song! and Rukmani which was my late mother's name). Sahana was chosen because my wife's family is muslim and the name sounds a bit middle eastern so they won't yell too much. As I said, everyone should marry someone outside their religion. It teaches you a lot of things .
Anyway, these are just random musings of a once frequent poster and occasional concert reviewer here.

Anyway after about a year of absence, and no concerts in Singapore worth attending (although I did attend a couple which I didn't bother reviewing as it was the same stuff), I dropped out of the music scene to listen to one of the huge stash of recordings I had acquired thanks to the generosity of the rasikas of the old Sangeetham.com website, and I couldn't help reminiscing some of the old discussions I had.

I was always a passionate listener of music and probably one of the most vitriolic critics of 'bad' music here. I am sure the old timers here would remember the way I used to lash out at artistes, regardless of how famous they were for what I perceived as a bad or lacklustre performance. I still remember every one of those concerts, and now looking back I can't help but smile upon reading those reviews (those that are still online that is. I didn't bother saving any of them). The strange thing is, when I go back to listen to those same concerts, I feel the same way even today. I was expecting time to change the way I perceived music but no. When I listen to Sanjay's concert in the early 2000's, with Anandabhairavi (Thyagaraja Yogavaibhavam), Thodi (Jesinadella) and a Kambhoji RTP I still feel it was a bad concert. The Anandabhairavi lacked life and it was just passable, same with the Thodi and Kambhoji, which gave the concert a 'going through the motions' feeling. Today if I had reviewed the same concert, I may have been a little less harsh, considering the quality of present day musicians, but I cannot, in all fairness see this concert aging as well as say, a K V Narayanaswamy concert where he sang a spellbinding Kambhoji with Evvari Maata. I could listen to that concert time and again, but Sanjay's, not so much. Also, I have heard Thyagaraja's magnificent Swara Raga Sudha sung on three occasions here by Sudha, Santhanagopalan and Sanjay (3S's for Swararaga in Sankarabharanam!) but none of them made me want to go out of my way to hear again, but I would always listen to Manakkal Rangarajan's rendition as the definitive version of this krithi. No, it's not because I prefer yesteryear musicians. I can barely stand Ariyakudi's concerts which feature 10 different alapanas of barely any length in a 2 1/2 concert. Of all the SSI's concerts I have, only two or three are worth listening to again and again, the rest are just passable, and the less I say about TR Mahalingam the better. But on the whole I guess current artistes' (with few exceptions) music just doesn't age well. Give me Madurai Somu's Thodi any day over any version of the same by TNS, Sanjay, TMK, Srinivas, Sudha, Sowmya of the current crowd.

I always took my reviewing seriously, and wrote my mind, with minimal censorship. I was asked a couple of times to submit reviews to newspapers in India but I knew they would never publish it because it was too objective and too harsh. Besides, I was never a big fan of newspaper reviews of anything. Of course my reviews here had mixed responses. A few liked them, most felt I was too harsh, and a couple even started questioning my bona fides. Overall, I am glad that at least someone got to read them and agree or disagree with them. I enjoyed all the discussions, including the ones which ended with the moderator closing the thread. I have probably hurled some personal insults at some of those posters and they likewise, at me. I hope no one still bears grudges.

I don't know how much I would be contributing to this forum in the future. Since my mother's passing, I haven't had the same drive to engage in music discussions, and in a sense it has made me a bit more reflective of my tastes and my likes and dislikes. I know that taste is personal, and I hope no one took offence at my views. When I said I couldn't stand TNS's horrible control of sruthi which resulted in ragamalikas where there is not supposed to be one, I was reflecting the views of exactly one person: me. People were free to agree or disagree, and they did. I never attempted to change my tone because I was only airing my views, not trying to 'convert' anyone to my taste (I don't think that is even possible). But today while I still believe the same about those musicians I have realised that not everyone can see my point of view, just as I consider anyone who tells me MDR's music is boring as an utter musical ignoramus not even worth speaking to. I am grateful however to the people behind rasikas.org for setting up a place where I could talk about music and discuss music with other rasikas. I also thank them for their patience and understanding in allowing me to speak my mind.

So in closing, thanks for reading my input here, sporadic as it was. I hope I made some people think about music, appreciate music a little more, and even engage in discussion of music. I don't know how frequent my visits here will be, but we'll see. If some really outstanding concert turns up in this part of the world, I'll be glad to review it, but for now I am going back to listen to Manakkal Rangarajan's spellbinding Sankarabharanam. I hope my reviews will be as welcome as they were in the past!

Thank you
Balaji Narasimhan

[mankuthimma]

Welcome Back .747 .
Talking of Manakkal , it gives me great pleasure to announce that work has been launched on making a documentary on Manakkal Rangarajan . Funded purely by individuals , This is going to be yet another rasika-initiative . I talked about this long long ago at the carnatica debate and we are now acting on it .
While the announcements will be made by the real people behind this first attempt , My brief has been to tap into the thoughts of various Vidwans and Rasikas to help us leave a definitive document on these Masters .
And help continue this process , for a series of masters (still with us ) to whom we owe so much.
I spent a couple of hours with the Director of this project yesterday ( who has 21 documentaries to his credit - his most challenging one being on Subrahmanya Bharathi , by his own admission) who has also written a book of film appreciation .That book is a text book for several Universities, too.
This is a quick update .
Any written analyses of Manakkals Music , photographs , and anecdotes about the Man himself , would be welcome and used in this project . Being a rasika-initiative , the lines of developing the story is not expected to be on standard formats.

I will be starting a separate thread on this a bit later , but since you mentioned Manakkal , I thought I should tell something here.

[arasi]

Bala747,
First of all, congratulations on your promotions (in becoming a husband and soon to-be father!). Sahana is a lovely rAgam and a name for a girl. I have a feeling your mother would have approved of that name. The best to you and to your family! We do remember your wife as the then 'friend' who went with you to a concert...
Tastes differ (an oft-repeated but necessary statement) but I looked forward to your reviews because of all your forceful statements (!) coming from a deep love for CM, being nurtured in a highly evolved rasikAs household.
Hope you make it to a music season (perhaps not this year, with the baby coming), and write reviews about the concerts you attend.
Hope you find a few performers who are promising enough that they reach the heights of the jAmbavAns of yesteryears.
If you occasionally visit the Forum, you may find that another young Singaporean (Bilahari) writes excellent reviews. I think Singapore produces good critics among other things!
Don't forget to write once in a while and do let us know when Sahana arrives. All the best to you!

[cienu]

Nice to hear from you Bala747

[rajeshnat]

Boeing747
Nice to see you back , are you now at singapore , you said you have gone to US sometime to do higher studies or something. I agree about manakkAl's rendition of shankarabharanam. Just one advice , you listen to very few concerts if you attend post your reviews . Best wishes to the forthcoming sahana, enjoy till then with Giri pai of MDR.

p.s I hope you read this within a week and not take another 6 months to year to respond.

[uday_shankar]

Bale 747 ! Keep it up.

[mankuthimma]

BTW Rasikas.org like the CITIBANK , never sleeps.

The average time that elapses before a track is downloaded is
Within 300 seconds of upload and posting here.
I will never feel lonely here

[mankuthimma]

An old post from a member - For the benefit of newcomers -In the Thread , Re: How do You appreciate CM?
Not sure if it still exists somewhere here .

Vasu

Though I am not a regular participant of this forum, my wife is, and she directed me to this thread. My own love affair with carnatic music began in rather unusual circumstances.

Two years ago I was diagnosed with testicular cancer and then began long periods of treatment, chemotherapy and what not, along with lengthy bouts of weakness, deppression,etc. The support of my family notwithstanding, I yearned for something more, something which would bring me solace. It was then that I plunged headlong into carnatic music. My wife would bring cassettes, which I would play on my bedside recorder. Altough my knowledge of musical theory was pretty primitive (I dont like getting into the nuances of bhairavi-mukari-manji), somehow I began soaking in the melody, the words, the voices. The relief and the hope it brought me is indescribable. It was as though I was reaching out to the immortality of music in an attempt to mask my own mortality. I began listening as though there was no tommorrow (which seemeed a distinct possibilty then).

When the going got tough, I would seek refuge in 'Devi brova- Chintamani' (OST) , 'Brova vamma- MAnji' (DKP), O Jagadamba -Ananda Bhairavi (TMKrishna) . When I was upbeat, it would be 'Sri Subramanyaya Namaste', (Sanjay) O Ranga sayee (MSS) Swara Raga Sudha, etc . I listened to just about everyone- Sanjay, Sowmya, Unnikrishnan, TM Krishna. Some how, I am more attracted to the current generation (probably because I am a recent convert) and also because they are about my own age and are able to produce such divine music. To my mind, dedicating oneself to such a great art form seemed far superior than earning degree after degree and finally landing as an obscure s/w pro.

Since then there has been no looking back. Both my wife and I will be eternally grateful to many here for bringing the voices of the great masters of the past alive.

[kunthalavarali]

Bala 747
Hearty welcome and congratulations.
I think you are an excellent sport. Repeatedly describing your own music review as harsh and very harsh, I wonder if it could be substituted by the word crude. This thought occurred to me as you weigh down SSI and Sanjay while raising Manakkal sky high! All the same do keep coming.