MEETING THE BANGALORE RASIKAS OF THE FORUM.

[raghavt]

Ofcourse Arasi , I do remember when you composed this instantly on hearing Aishwarya play the veena (sometime in Jan 2008)

Cineu Sir, could you please translate that into Engllish?

Thanks.

[arasi]

raghavt,
Thanks for asking for the translation. As Cienu said, I wrote down the poem soon after it came to me--without my looking at it once again!
Her'e the edited poem as it appears in the book and its transliteration so that you can pick up a few words you know in tamizh! A translation follows.

Kalai vANiyin vINai

kOyil veLIch chuTRin tUNgaLIl ellAm uLLa
majaLum kungumamum appiya deivangaLin
padangaLai toTTu chuTRuvadai viDa
idu enakku migavum piDittadu

avaL vaLarththa magavin vArisin magavu
adai mITTi rAgamiSaikkaiyil, anda
vINaiyaith thoTTu vaNangath thOnRiyadu

kuyil ena avaL kUviyadaiyum
anda vINaiyin tandigaLai mITTi
rAga dEvataiyai avaL pUsiththadaiyum...
vINai narambin nAdamE avaL idayam niRai
aruLin oliyAgi, adan ediroliyE
avaL kuralAgi nammai SiRai koNDadO?

anda vINaiyaith thoTTu vaNangiyadu
enakku migavum piDiththadu...
------------------------------------



*kalA vANi's vINA
-------------------

This appealed to me more...
Than touching the feet of all those turmeric-smeared feet
Of the divine figures engraved in pillars of the temple's surround--

When the offspring of the issue of her daughter--
Whom she lovingly brought up as her own--
Played on its strings, I was moved to touch
That vINA and offer my prayers...

Ah! 'She' sang like a cuckoo
Played on those strings
invoking rAga dEvatA--
The very nAdA of them
Filling her heart with grace--
Their play echoed in her voice,
Captivating us all...

It appealed to me no end--
Touching that vINA...

* M.S.Subbulakshmi

[cienu]

Arasi,
The translation in English is as moving and poetic as your spontaneous outpouring in tamizh ! Indeed lovely

[vasanthakokilam]

Yes..lovely indeed. It is just amazing that Arasi writes such great poems on the spur of the moment. Great one, Arasi.

[raghavt]

Arasi Ma'm,

Thank you for posting the meaning of your poem. I'm not at all surprised by Kum Ashwarya's capability. The legacy has to continue, and GOD or MS Amma (or whoever...), has chosen her. I missed to add a point about Sri Madhava Rao... he turned out to a 'chupa rustam' .

I would say, we need to organize another meet with Sri Rao and focus on Dasar-Padams only.

~ raghav.

[Nick H]

Beautiful, Arasi.

[Pratyaksham Bala]

arasi:
Lovely poem! Wonderful translation!

[smala]

Arasi, your multi-layered tribute is picturesque.

[Sreeni Rajarao]

Nice poem!

Question for V S Manjunath :
I am surprised that you did not sing during the get together. Wondering why?

[sridevi]

I am one of those fortunate ones. I generally read rasikas.org everyday, do not post regularly. I had to retrieve my username and passsowrd... hence it took time to come back with my thoughts on the saturday evening well spent.
I always followed the threads on our rasikas getting together and knew in my heart that one day I would attend such event. what better way to begin.
Every moment spent amongst you fine folks was magical. Thanks to Nageswaran Sir, Cienu and most importantly Maami for gracing the occasion and patiently sitting through the entire afternoon. Madhava rao sir was amazing.. truly amazing. He remembered every charanam of the little heard gems of purandara dasa. His enthusiasm and fervor was infectious.
Finally coming to Aishwarya and Soundarya, their musical talent has been honed very well and I wish them the very best. I am sure we will be able to listen to them and appreciate their music more in the coming years.
I always felt that I had so much to receive from the immense knowledge that rasikas forumites and it has been proven yet again.

g_g --- yes dreams do come true. Meeting Radha maami ----- my dream too came true on saturday.

And yes.. the food was excellent...the kesari was deserves special mention. thanks to geeta and her mom for taking the efforts to feed us, as well.

[vs_manjunath]

Question for V S Manjunath :
I am surprised that you did not sing during the get together. Wondering why?

Had not practised for quite some time and thought it fit to listen...........that's all nothing else.

[cienu]

Sreeni ,

After the program and during snacks break,did notice vs_manjunath & Aishwarya discussing about & singing Siva Kameswari popularised by GNB

[hariniraghavan]

I was out of Bangalore during that period and feel sorry that I really missed all the fun. May be another meeting at Jlaroet is a good idea. all those who missed both Chennai and Bangalore meet can assemble ther along with others!
Harini.

[smala]

Jlaroet ?

???

[cienu]

Harini must have meant Jolarpet as mentioned in jest by Rajeshnat in post # 24

[arasi]

Yes. Jolarpet Junction!
Thank you for liking my translation of the thamizh poem about your grandmother.
Thanks all!

[cmlover]

Belated greetings to the Rasikas members who assembled at the homely gathering at Banagalore. Though the group was small the hearts were big. The picture with Radha as the centre piece tells us the family ties we have forged among us through the Forum. Many thanks for the videos and photo snaps.
Nageswaran appears to be the most sucessful initiator of Rasikas meets deserving the contemplated 'Rasika Siromani' award!
Congratulations to the efforts of Cienu/GBL/(arasi - in absentia)/... for promoting bonhomie among our membership family....

[maduraimini]

Thanks so much for posting the pictures and info on the Bangalore Rasikas gathering. It is good for people who live far away to see the faces of the names they read. It was wonderful to hear young Soundarya and Aiyswarya sing and play the violin and veena. I am sure they will go a long way and become famous like their great grandmother. Music, as other arts, does run through the generations . Looks like Chienu and his family were very good hosts. Nice to see Radha Viswanathan with a smile and enjoying the program. The other rasikas who sang also did very well. Thanks again for quenching the NRIs thirst for carnatic music.

[Ramasubramanian M.K]

I echo CMLover's sentiments--I wish I were there--Mr.Nageswaran deserves all kudos for the initiative .Cienu deserves no less for hosting--Cienu you have come a long way from the mischievous imp you were when you were a kid-- What a responsibility you have now-- taking care of your mother,preserving/propagating Patti's legacy,fostering Aishwarya's musical talents and last but not least responding to Rasikas thirst for Music and reminiscences.
May God bless you!! Loved your Mom's crisp talk-- a la TS--to the point and dignified.

[advaitam]

I too wish I was present on this wonderful occasion. However, the photos and video recordings gave atleast a close semblance of being present and allowed me to partake of the musical joy and bliss. Smt Radha and young Aishwarya's rendition of Pankaja Lochana was stamped with the MS School Perfection, whether it was sahitya diction or swara-gamaka-briga shuddhi. Young Aishwarya's shaareeram is one that despite a natural resonance and innate musicality, is being assiduously honed through rigorous training and practice...that much was evident to me while listening to her singing. Her Veena recital was steeped in the Karaikkudi traidition replete with all the rich gamakas and finger-splitting that are a hallmark of the Karaikkudi-school fingering (one of the most difficult to master, in my humble opinion). The chords in Kapi Narayani were a treat indeed, a la Sambasiva Aiyar! May she shine through as the next great musician to be celebrated for generations to come. With regard to Smt Radha's message, I couldn't put it better than Ramasubramanian M.K. - to the point and dignified, indeed!

[girish_a]

Beautiful! I wanted to be there but couldn't make it...feeling so sad

[rshankar]

Cienu - thank you for the videos...very wonderful. All our best wishes to Aishwarya and Soundarya in particular. It was very touching to see the look of pride on your mother's face as she watched Aishwarya play the vINa.
I also want to thank you for graciously letting the world in on your family. It was great to see your entire family (I think I saw your sister too), and appreciate their total involvement in music as a way of life.

[S.NAGESWARAN]

Dear Rasikas,

I have returned to Chennai on 01.07.2011.

Sri GARDABHA_GANA, our forumite had taken some photos of the BG Rasika meet held on 25.06.2011 from my camera.

This is the first time I am trying my hand on uploading the photos via Picasso Album.

I hope that you will be able to view the photos from the link given below.

https://picasaweb.google.com/snageswara ... K6DmZ3bjQE#

S.NAGESWARAN.
04.07.2011.

[cmlover]

Dear Nageswaran
There is a problem with the link you provided..
I have now fixed it; now it works fine...
Great pictures! Add some captions...

[Radhika-Rajnarayan]

Just back to normal routines - I saw your posts, photos and links - thank you! It made me feel a little better- I was feeling so bad to have missed the get-together!
Do see the post on the child prodigy Sameer Athreya.
http://www.rasikas.org/forums/viewtopic. ... 10#p201710
See the links and enjoy the lovely music.

[sakthi.balan]

I would have loved to attend this meet. I am living just 3 kms away from the place of the meeting My bad luck I saw this message only today and I got to know about this meeting from Semmu only few days back.

[smala]

perpahs cienu or someone can create a B-list of rasikas on email ...and send text msgs as well.. just a thought - looks like Keerthi and a lot of others mentioned in an early post as B-rasikas did not know/attend...similarly C-list for...

[vasanthakokilam]

Google Circle is the answer. They recently announced Google+ service includes Google Circle and Google Hangout. Google circle is a circle of friends. Google Hangout is group video, audio and text communication among the people in the circle.

We can have different circles for different cities and different interests... We should give it a try.

It is hard to get an INVITE since Google is inundated with requests, so they have stopped taking new INVITEs. Let us wait for them to open it up again.

[S.NAGESWARAN]

Dear Rasikas,

My desire for having a meeting with the Bangaluru Rasikas is fulfilled.

In addition to the announcement in the “General Discussions topic”, I have spoken to many BG Rasikas over phone.

Sri Munirao had a fracture and hence he could not attend our meet. Semmu86 with fever and Mrs. Radhika Rajnarayan had her hospital duty to attend her father were also not able to attend the meet.
Sri Keerthi informed me that Malleswaram where he lives and Cienu’s home is 40KMS and expressed his inability to attend the meet.
Our BG Rasikas are residing in far flung areas in BG. Even though many other Rasikas of BG were eager to attend our meet, the distance and career commitments prevented a few of the Rasikas to miss the meet.
I was supposed to have given a welcome speech after the invocation song by MRS Radha madam and Miss Iyswarya.

Next I wanted the Rasikas to announce individually their User Name, Real Name and a small brief from each one of them.

Perhaps in the absence of our time keeper Sri VKV, I couldn't keep up the regular schedule.

Somehow the sublime atmosphere in Cienu’s home made us continue more as a musical meet rather than a speech meet.

MR.Cienu had already uploaded some Video clips of the BG meet.

A few Video clips taken in my camera [Courtesy Gardhaba_Gana and Sri Badri]
for which the download links are given below for all the Rasikas to enjoy.
06.07.2011 BG RASIKAS MEET ON 25.06.2011 VIDEOS IN DIVX .

1. http://www.mediafire.com/file/ww4m7on6a ... SIKAS.divx
2. http://www.mediafire.com/file/l6vqxwyqv ... _0309.divx
3. http://www.mediafire.com/file/h3vcsnpuc ... _0312.divx
4. http://www.mediafire.com/file/gj9mdv263 ... _0313.divx
5. http://www.mediafire.com/file/2eilogvhn ... _0316.divx
6. http://www.mediafire.com/file/dw93nfz2x ... _0317.divx
7. http://www.mediafire.com/file/b3trgimx8 ... _0318.divx
8. http://www.mediafire.com/file/qez175111 ... _0319.divx
9. http://www.mediafire.com/file/4x2atf29p ... _0319.divx
10. http://www.mediafire.com/file/1hsrjcb8k ... _0319.divx
11. http://www.mediafire.com/file/9r0odoe6r ... _0319.divx

S.NAGESWARAN.
06.07.2011

[sakthi.balan]

As a first step like smala said we can start a B-list, C-list and so on. May be after sometime we can move to B-circle, C-circle and so on...

[cmlover]

Thanks Nageswaran
Excellent clips; wish there were more. Many thanks to Gardhaba_Gana and Sri Badri...
Compared to the original meet the domestic ambience at BG is strikingly impressive. There should be more such gatherings among our Rasikas wherever there is a critical mass. Your idea and efforts are brilliant indeed!

[Nick H]

Just returned from my internet-free holiday.

Picassa (or Flickr) etc is a great way to share photos like this. Very easy for us to see all and pin points the ones that we want to see big.

I Have not heard of Google Circle. Obviously I'm behind the times! I have no wish to join Facebook, so any other group application that we can use for our community would be very interesting.

[vasanthakokilam]

>Obviously I'm behind the times!

No, just behind in the news. Googleplus was just announced last week as a limited roll out.

[Nick H]

Oh, good. Last week I was internet-free. In fact, completely computer-free for eight days. Very refreshing, once in a while

Maybe, though, I might have missed it altogether if you hadn't mentioned it!

[kssr]

Missed it totally. I only see concert recordings and reviews section and never opened the General discussions. It is a pity.

Yahoo groups has been there for many years for this purpose. Also a set of email addresses can be grouped as a "category" and combined mails sent by just typing the category name. After all we are not talking of hundreds of rasikas when it comes to a place like Bangalore, right?