Comedy ya tragedy?

[sankark]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democrac ... 1/what-art

[smala]

Read this in the papers. Custom officials' paranoia. Your header is apt, though.

[rshankar]

I for one fail to see the comedy in here...

[smala]

I for one fail to see the comedy in here...

Its a (tragi-)comedy of error, over-zealous inspection. Non-recognition of and mistaking dry processed bamboo reed for raw agricultural potential hazard. -D

On another funny recall, parents of a friend were visiting the U.S for the first time. Before leaving Singara Chennai, his Appa bought a lot of Madras vetthillai, washed, lovingly patted them dry one by one, wrapped stacked sets in a column in several layers of newspaper, rolling them carefully into a cylindrical log somewhat like a baton, rubber-banded it and put it in his baggage. Which got inspected. The official went for the log with an Ahaa! what's this? and gleefully opened the cylinder. My friend's Appa told him with a smile, it is good for digestion and that is popular in India. The official, of course, didn't buy the explanation, and much to Mama's dismay trashed the entire contents into an agri-hazard bin. Mama was so bent out of shape, his long face didn't quite recover from the episode in his two month long stay even with all the meticulously planned visits to Niagara and similar spots. Thereafter, the onus was on the son to visit his father living a happy retired life in Chennai.

[cacm]

THIS CUSTOMS STUFF IS "OLD HAT" in that this problem has been there REG, USA since 1960'S that I know of & EVERYDAY SOME ONE is landing with Bamboo flutes, VARIOUS WOOD BASED INSTRUMENTS ETC. & are allowed & give concerts. It is true for apples even betel leaves, Karuveppilai, any vegetable stuff-Actuaully even when u enter CA from AZ citrus products etc- in u r car.
The whole problem STARTED with some of Ravi Shankar's students hid Hasish or some allied things in the Sitar they were bringing, importing etc. The U.S.Customs were SMASHING all the wood based Instruments. But it was SUCCESSFULLY RESOLVED by X-RAY INSPECTIONS ETC.
The fact is there are SEVERAL Flute type concerts of artists EVERY DAY IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS with instruments originating from OUTSIDE USA. ETC....
I would say like the HINDU ECONOMIST MAY HAVE GREAT REPUTATION BUT IN THIS CASE LIKE THE HINDU MUSIC REVIEWS THIS PARTICULAR article is in the category in Cricket Parlance "Off Spinner out of touch" when 4 out if six balls were hit outside the grounds....Shows one has to be CAREFUL & NOT JUST ACCEPT THINGS BECAUSE IT APPEARS IN PRINT! VKV ) :-@ L-)

[cacm]

[quote="smala"][quote="rshankar"]I for one fail to see the comedy in here...
Its a (tragi-)comedy of error, over-zealous inspection. Non-recognition of and mistaking dry processed bamboo reed for raw agricultural potential hazard.
On another funny recall, parents of a friend were visiting the U.S for the first time. Before leaving Singara Chennai, his Appa bought a lot of Madras vetthillai washed, lovingly patted them dry one by one, wrapped stacked sets in a column in several layers of newspaper, rolling them carefully into a cylindrical log somewhat like a baton, rubber-banded it and put it in his baggage. Which got inspected. The official went for the log with an Ahaa! what's this? and gleefully opened the cylinder. My friend's Appa told him with a smile, it is good for digestion and that is popular in India. The official, of course, didn't buy the explanation, and much to Mama's dismay trashed the entire contents into a agri-hazard bin. Mama was so bent out of shape, his long face didn't quite recover from the episode in his two month long stay even with all the meticulously planned visits to Niagara and similar spots. Thereafter, the onus was on the son to visit his father living a happy retired life in Chennai.

I wish to recall the statement of Late Ramnad Krishnan (WITH DUE RESPECTS TO VARSHAJI WHO REPRIMANDED ME FOR WRITING THINGS THAT R INTERESTING BUT IRRELEVENT) that life without VETHALAI is not almost worth it & PODI (Which ARI, SEM etc used) was relegated in later times to not looking as artistic etc & he actually left Weslyan& USA prematurely as the underground network thru' Canada etc was not able to produce the stuff regularly & also it was not fresh!(very similar to P.R. who said Instant cream of wheat was not good as regular cream of wheat). I CAN UNDERSTAND their statements. MMI used to say that PERFECT RASAM making was simliar to making perfect music WORTH striving for but unattainable!.The Focault Pendulam swings back& forth when one enters the U.N. may be just shows that things just go back& forth......OR may be its a clash of civilizations or centuries etc.VKV :-@ ) :-ss

[rshankar]

Smala, all I see is the tragedy of ignorance, stupidity and hard-headednes....all that man should have done is asked what it was before he destroyed anything. In fact, I thought it was not possible to destroy anything before letting the owner know that it would be.

[varsha]

WITH DUE RESPECTS TO VARSHAJI WHO REPRIMANDED ME FOR WRITING THINGS THAT R INTERESTING BUT IRRELEVENT)

Oh Boy ! You have not taken into account that I am maturing fast . And irrevocably.I now am a votary of the maxim
Lifes wisdom may be built on necessities , but its charms are definitely dependent on the non essentials O:-)
Life is too brief for me to repeat those mistakes . Dont hold yourself back anymore . :-BD

[cacm]

Dear Varsha,
I feel with you I can make a fool of myself! What a Quotable Quote! Can I quote it elsewhere? regs, VKV

[vasanthakokilam]

yeah, that is a good quote, Varsha. Quite a useful advice.

[vasanthakokilam]

Talking of making a fool of myself, it may be the rhyme of that 'ya' but the title of the thread made me hum a silly RTP line "Comedy ya.. Tragedy ya.. enru theriyAmal iruppadu EnayyA..... " with the arudhi on the last 'ya', in misra jathi triputa . It sounded like Dhanyasi to me

[sankark]

vk -

I, however much I try, am not able to recall why I had the initial "to laugh" reaction when I read it

[rajeshnat]

Talking of making a fool of myself, it may be the rhyme of that 'ya' but the title of the thread made me hum a silly RTP line "Comedy ya.. Tragedy ya.. enru theriyAmal iruppadu EnayyA..... " with the arudhi on the last 'ya', in misra jathi triputa . It sounded like Dhanyasi to me

VK
Possibly deep down you had this song in mind "silar sirippAr silar azhuvar Naan siritthu koNdE azhuginRen"
You forgot to add a last phrase murugayyA to denote the pallavi is about some god , let me do it for you
Comedy ya.. Tragedy ya.. enru theriyAmal iruppadu EnayyA MurugayyA

[vgovindan]

rajesh,
instead of 'murugayyA' change it to 'obAmayyA' - let us be secular and also be relevant.

[vasanthakokilam]

Rajesh

If your 'murugayya' is in the pUrvAngam then I have to switch to sankIrna jAthi triputa!

Let me make it Ata thala. Actually I have been looking for an RTP in that thala. I hear that RTPs in Ata are sung with two arudhis one each after the end of the two 5-beat laghus. We conveniently have two 'ya's for them in 'tragedy ya' and 'EnayyA', then for the remaining four beats we can emote on 'Murugayya'. Given such a long line and three segments in the thala, let us make it a three-raga RTP in Ata thalam. My picks are thodi, dhanyasi and as a tribute to Sri. Somu the Murugayya in Darbari Kanada!

[rshankar]

Interesting that I interpreted the 'ya' to mean 'or' as in the Hindi 'yA'!

[vgovindan]

rs,
In Tamil also, 'yA' almost translates to Hindi 'yA'

[rshankar]

In tamizh I think this will be '(idu) comedy-ya, (alladu) tragedy-ya?' So, in this context, I'm not sure I understand how ya will mean or....

[vgovindan]

"idu comedy-yA tragedy-yA" itself would mean 'is it comedy or tragedy". 'alladu' is implied and not very essential.

[arasi]

A hyphen after comedy and a hyphen and a yA after tragedy would perhaps have made it clear. As in: idA adA?

[vasanthakokilam]

Well, well what I did not tell you is, after Murgugayya.. there is an 'idu' in atIta iDam. So when wrapped around, everything is cool and kosher!

[vgovindan]

arasi,
Indeed. I should have done it. I have since corrected it.
Thanks.

[arasi]

Thanks, Govindan--and now Sankark's turn to edit the topic heading, perhaps??

Rajesh,
Say I'm in an editing mode!
The old film song goes like this: Silar azhuvAr, Silar SirippAr, nAn azhudukoNDE SirikkinREn.

[rajeshnat]

Say I'm in an editing mode!
The old film song goes like this: Silar azhuvAr, Silar SirippAr, nAn azhudukoNDE SirikkinREn.

The first line of pallavi is how i stated , you can hear this youtube link. The second line is how you stated
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q4V0baIp4k.

I like this song so much arasi , lovely viruththam lines kAlam kadandu and three stanzas and with an overall 3rd stanza ending more optimistically like kAlam oru naal mArum. WOW WOW kannadhasan.

Lovely lines , have you composed on any of these dichotomy themes (cry and laughter), if yes put it in arasi thread .

[kvchellappa]

The correct lyric:
Silar Sirippaar Silar Azhuvaar..
Naan Sirithukkondae Azhukindren..
Silar Sirippaar Silar Azhuvaar..
Naan Sirithukkondae Azhukindren..
Silar Azhuvaar Silar Sirippaar..
Naan Azhuthukondae Sirikkindren..

[vgovindan]

There is one more -
kalviyA selvamA?