The Devil Wears Prada

Guess what! I watched The Devil Wears Prada today !!

So whats the big deal huh? The big deal is I’ve watched the movie over a 100 times now……Among the many qualities that appealed to me, one that stood out the most was the superb choice of songs played at the right moments in the movie. Others were surely the fashion industry – though its depiction in the movie is far from reality – the cast, locations and the like.

For those, who, like me, really liked the songs here is a run down on 4 of my selective sound tracks  – that mattered – in their order of appearance. I’ve also added respective YouTube links if you’d like to listen to them right away

The movie begins with a KT Tunstall song from 2005 - Suddenly I see

About 40 minutes into the movie, once the simple Andy transforms into a gorgeous model like figure, Madonna’s Vogue plays out. This is when Anne Hathaway appears in different couture in every screen.

An absolute awesome Alanis Morissette – yes back from the 90s – number plays out when Andy joins Nigel at an outdoor photo shoot on the theme – The Urban Jungle. The song is titled Crazy originally written by Seal and Guy Signworth. This out of all songs in the movie is my personal favourite 

When Andy and Miranda land in Paris, we hear City of Blinding Lights – 2004 – performed by U2 at the Rose Bowl.

Hope you enjoy them…………..

Parfum craze

I never really used to bother about perfumes up until some time in 2007 when a friend of mine introduced me to the Davidoff Cool Water Deep, in response to my requirement for a good fragrance for corporate use. For that matter, fashion/corporate attire never appealed to me till then either. This friend is very much into suiting, perfumes, leather – all the luxury elements that make up men’s fashion. He has a natural instinct of style, and by nature gets up to date with style trends. In fact, he got my first suit stitched for me. Needless to say, it was amazingly fit, and presented me in a tall sleek outfit which coincidentally suited by taste.

Coming back to perfumes, an uncle who worked with one of the major perfume and luxury goods retailers used to bring us samples and testers since the mid 1990s, during which time, I could never tell a perfume from a bottle of water. The likes of Giovanni, Davidoff, Hugo Boss, etc. had lined up  my bedside dressing table many times. But its when the Davidoff Deep landed in my hands in 2007 that I began making sense of various fragrances. I couldn’t detach myself from the Deep. It had such a wonderful aroma, that it was disastrous when I learnt Davidoff had decided to discontinue the perfume somewhere in 2010.

As you can see, the Silver Shadow that I shifted to, is almost over now. This is a good piece as well, which introduced an orange and  woody element into a corporat-ish mixture. However, it is too light, but definitely long lasting.

I didn’t want to get another Silver Shadow, now that I have used it for over a year. For office, I require a purely corporate scent. Thus it was a back to basics moment when I decided to get the legendary Cool Water. Previously, I’d used DKNY – Be Delicious for Men – on weekends. The Cool Water however, is a 2 in 1 scent. While cedar, oak moss and musk along with ocean gave the the right aqua feel, peppermint and orange brought up a sporty aura – which makes the fragrance perfect for both office and casual use.

When I hinted my disappointment at the loss of Deep to the shopkeeper, who, empathizing with me, recommended I try out an Etienne Aigner X Limited. Wow, that was a moment. He had suggested the Eau De Toilette was long lasting, and it definitely is. Woody and white floral elements accentuate the scent, but it is citrus that takes centrestage in the X Limited. Great perfume! It is on a slight tangent to another famous perfume which I will describe below, but the X Limited stays throughout the day into the evening.

Then theres the blockbuster!!!! My new favorite after the Deep left the scene. Awesome scent – The Acqua Di Gio by Armani. No words. Absolute aqua! A superb masculine fragrance with a tinge of wood, but mainly notes of citrus and ocean breeze. One puff, and it stays all day long oozing an invigorating freshness. Spray it, take a deep breath and blast off for the day…..

Have 4 of them in stock as of now

Happy new year…Lets start off with a programme….

I’m sure most of us agree time is just flying away, to heaven knows where! Anyway, wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year 2012. May all your wishes come true this year.

Moving on, Indian Fine Arts is organizing the Thyagaraja Day on 13th Jan at the Sindhi Ceremonial Hall. Following is the invitation. All rasikas are welcome.

INDIAN FINE ARTS DUBAI

PRESENTS

 THYAGARAJA DAY

on

Friday, the 13^th of January 2012

at 7:15 pm

Pancharathna Krithis and Utsava Sampradhya Krithis shall be

presented by Vidwans and Vidhushis

(Vocal/Instrumental Music)

Venue: Sindhi Ceremonial Hall, Ground Floor, Bur Dubai

Nearest Metro Station: Al Fahidi (Green Line)

All music lovers are invited to attend this auspicious occasion

We take this opportunity to wish all rasikas a very happy New Year.

Outsourcing bust?

India is known to be the master of the outsourcing business. In fact, it is one of the ways that India has come up the curve to become the hotbed of software development and Business Process Outsourcing. Now, apparently its successful run over the last 10 odd years, has come to an end. Just read a piece of news that Philippines has taken over India as the most preferred outsourcing destination, owing to comparatively lower cost talent, lesser cultural training required to adapt to western culture and India’s low supply of skilled workers. The Philippines government is also upgrading its infrastructure to world class standards to meet the growing demand in this area.

If India needs to come back, its costs need to go down, and its education system overhauled to get students oriented to industry requirements. Remains to be seen how successful, this will be.

An update on the Veena concert and the December mini music season – Dubai

Well here we are with the second edition of the mini December Carnatic music season in Dubai. Glad to know we have so many rasikas here and grace all occasions with their presence. Just yesterday I attended the Sri Anandapadmanabhan Veena concert, featuring his son Sri Anand Kaushik, Sri Sankaran Namboothiri performing vocal, Smt Kalyani sankar on violin, Sri KMS Mani on Mridangam, and Sri Raghunanadan on the Ghatam. Preceded by the grand finale of a Carnatic competition under the auspices of Sruthilaya, the event turned out to be a truly electric, accentuated by a very disciplined and devoted  music loving audience (Later in the programme, Sri Anandapadmanabhan made special mention of this fact as well).

Details on the artistes:

Starting with Sri Sankaran Namboothiri, of course, one of my favourite vocal artistes. Renowned as a child prodigy, he started learning music at the age of ten under the tutelage of Sri C. S. Narayanan Namboothiri. He went on to pursue his training under the able guidance of stalwarts like Sri T. V. Gopalakrishnan, Prof. Mavelikkara R. Prabhakara Varma, and Palakkad K.V. Narayana Swamy. Sri Sankaran Namboodiri began performing at the age of eleven and by the time he was thirteen, he had already taken the famous musical sabhas by storm. His inaugural concert at the Music Academy was packed. When he was eleven years old, he gave a concert for the then Indian president Mr. Zail Singh.

Sri Anandapadmanabhan , son of Sri Ananthakrishna Iyer was born into a family of musicians. A self made musician, he developed a unique style of his own, the Gayaki style, bearing a close resemblance to vocal. The style also blends the purity, perfection and delicacy of instrumental music.

Sri Anand Kaushik is the son of Sri Anandapadmanabhan and has been mentored by his father-Guru. He follows the same style and techniques of his father. Being born in a family of musicians is truly a boon and hence, he as picked up top skills in Veena under the tutelage of Sri Anandapadmanabhan.

Smt Kalyani Shankar is from Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu trained under Sangeethabhushanam Sri T S Krishnaswamy of the Sri Shanmukhananda Fine Arts and Sangeetha Sabha, Mumbai. She is an “A” grade artiste of AIR, and has given many performances on DD and radio.

Last, but not the least Sri KMS Mani, a leading mridangist in the Carnatic scene in UAE and India. Being based in Dubai, he has given performances on every stage in the UAE, and is now settled back in India. An “A” grade artiste with the AIR, he has mastered the percussion instrument to a high degree, and the performance yesterday was also true testament to this fact.

Below are some of the pics from the event.

Started off with the childrens’ competition. This kid named Soumya Lakshmi, was the best of the lot. We were truly amazed by the way she sang. She’s only 9 years old.

Then we had the Veena Concert by Sri Anandapadmanabhan and his son, Sri Anand Kaushik.

Finally, all artistes came on stage featuring the vocal by Sri Sankaran Namboodiri as well.

Moving forward to the successful Dubai music season, following is the schedule.

02-12-2011 – FRIDAY – 07.00 pm

Smt. Rajani Shridhar – Vocal.

Smt. Sita Raghu - Violin

Thirukudandhai Sri. D. Suresh – Mridangam.

Venue: Residence of Mrs. Geetha Raman & Mr. Raman, Flat No. 120, Block “B”, Rawdhat Al Karama Building, Opp. Al Ibrahimi Restaurant, Near Royal Garden Restaurant, Karama.  Tel: 04-3969721 / Mob: 055-9828129.

++

03-12-2011 – SATURDAY – 07.00 pm

Smt. Visalakshi Shankar – Vocal.

Smt. Sangeetha Rajesh – Violin.

Thirukudandhai Sri. D. Suresh – Mridangam.

Sri. M.G. Harikrishnan – Ghatam.

Venue: Residence of Mrs. Geetha Raman & Mr. Raman, Flat No. 120, Block “B”, Rawdhat Al Karama Building, Opp. Al Ibrahimi Restaurant, Near Royal Garden Restaurant, Karama.  Tel: 04-3969721 / Mob: 055-9828129.

++

09-12-2011 – FRIDAY – 5.00 pm – 4 hour concert on special theme.

Smt. Yamini Ramesh – Vocal.

Sri. G.V. Rajan – Violin

Sri. D. Govindarajan – Mridangam.

Sri. Mahadeva Somayaji – Kanjira.

Venue: Residence of Mrs. Vidya & Mr. Suri, 114 Reem residency, Near fish market, Karama, Dubai.  Tel: 04-3379326 / Mob: 050-3562876.

++

10-12-2011 – SATURDAY – 7.00 pm

Smt. Ashwini Satish – Vocal.

Smt. Sangeetha Rajesh – Violin.

Melattur Sri. Skandakumar – Mridangam.

Sri. M.G. Harikrishnan – Ghatam.

Venue: Residence of Mrs. Vidya & Mr. Suri, 114 Reem residency, Near fish market, Karama, Dubai.  Tel: 04-3379326 / Mob: 050-3562876.

++

16-12-2011 – FRIDAY – 7.00 pm

Smt. Hamsagayathri Sivakumar – Vocal.

Sri. G.K. Venkateshwaran – Violin.

Payyanoor Sri. Rajesh – Mridangam.

Sri. Mahadeva Somayaji – Kanjira.

                                                                                                                               

Venue: Residence of Mrs. Geetha Raman & Mr. Raman, Flat No. 120, Block “B”, Rawdhat Al Karama Building, Opp. Al Ibrahimi Restaurant, Near Royal Garden Restaurant, Karama.  Tel: 04-3969721 / Mob: 055-9828129.

++

17-12-2011 – SATURDAY – 7.00 pm

Smt. Sangeetha Rajesh & Smt. Madhura Vishwanath – Vocal Duet.

Sri. G.K. Venkateshwaran – Violin.

Palghat Sri. S. Krishnarajan – Mridangam.

Sri. Raghunandan Rao – Ghatam.

Venue: Residence of Mrs. Geetha Raman & Mr. Raman, Flat No. 120, Block “B”, Rawdhat Al Karama Building, Opp. Al Ibrahimi Restaurant, Near Royal Garden Restaurant, Karama.  Tel: 04-3969721 / Mob: 055-9828129.

++

23-12-2011 – FRIDAY –

7.00 pm – Miss. Aarthi Srinivasan (disciple of Smt. Visalakshi Shankar) – Vocal.

8.00 pm – Students of Smt. Rhenuka (disciple of Neyveli Sri. Santhanagopalan) – Vocal.

Sri. G.V. Rajan – Violin.

Payyanoor Sri. Rajesh – Mridangam.

Venue: Residence of Mrs. Vidya & Mr. Suri, 114 Reem residency, Near fish market, Karama, Dubai.  Tel: 04-3379326 / Mob: 050-3562876.

++

24-12-2011 – SATURDAY – 7.00 pm

Sri. Balaji Krishnamurthy – Vocal.

Sri. G.K. Venkateshwaran – Violin.

Melattur Sri. Skandakumar – Mridangam.

Sri. M.G. Harikrishnan – Ghatam.

Venue: Residence of Mrs. Vidya & Mr. Suri, 114 Reem residency, Near fish market, Karama, Dubai.  Tel: 04-3379326 / Mob: 050-3562876.

All rasikas, as always, welcome.

Finally!

I’ve been waiting for quite some time now, to meet Sankaran namboothiry, one of my favourite Carnatic musicians of all time. And heres the opportunity finally !

Veena by Sri Anantha Padmanabhan along with his son Sri Anand Kaushik
accompanied by Smt Kalyani Shankar on Violin and Sri K M S Mani on Mridangam.
The programme also features Sri Sankaran Namboothiri on vocal.

Venue: Westminster School Auditorium, Ghusais

All rasikas are welcome…..Enjoy the evening….

Where are we heading?

Yes, its been some time. Been crazy busy over the past so many weeks. Work is interesting, and very engaging. Attended a couple of concerts, lot of writing, and moving around. There have been interesting pastimes – creative stuff – that I had put away for quite some time now. Quite a few, that I don’t really remember many of them. So, I’ve been spending some time to ponder over, how I can incorporate them into my daily life, by setting down a clear schedule. Have been successful with a few items, but a the remaining have to be included as well.

Mostly we all give up our dreams, and our talent once we enter the working world. Then life takes up so many responsibilities that consume us to an extent that we have no time for anything else. Things we love to do. Things we feel natural in. City life has taken its toll on millions around the world. Is it the right way? I don’t think so. I mean where is everyone going? What is this race for? The so called busy-ness has created new worthless paradigms that everyone is today after. The competition is intense. But one must realize the basic necessity for which all these efforts are put in. My point: Take time out from however busy your schedule is to connect with your roots, everyday. That is the only way the body and mind will heal. Else you’re just invited ailments one after the other – which of course the proud clam that its “normal”. For example, high blood pressure is normal today. Taking medication for the same is also normal. Is this how we should live life?

The body and mind have to connect to nature. Tune into it. That is what brings about harmony. And that is when they remain healthy. The body isn’t to be medicated. Of course, it has to be when ailments strike, but a healthy body would have sufficient resistance against most ailments. I do agree that we cannot take too much of care of ourselves in that respect as many factors are beyond our control. Water, noise and air pollution, electromagnetic waves, etc cannot be completely eliminated. Hence, the only way is to stay away or minimize their influence to the maximum and practice meditation, yoga, etc, that would detoxify and rejuvenate our body and mind. Such healing should be made part of daily life, if you ask me. This will ensure that one lives longer, and healthier.

Eye opener or mind opener?

There are times in life when we get so engrossed in our busy daily routines that, dreams, plans and other personal activities of preference automatically take a back seat, and more importantly, we don’t even notice it. The hectic schedules overshadow our real priorities, throwing us into the swirling arena of work and related stress, especially during these tough economic times. During such times, some events arrive at our doorstep unannounced, that wakes us up abruptly. An occasion that strikes deep inside, the core of our being, and syncs with our natural vibes. So much so that, the aforementioned reality dawns in our minds. The event transports us automatically into a great sense of peace, with our inner being having found its place beside nature. Attending the Rama Varma Carnatic concert at the Indian Association Hall in Sharjah was one such event for me.

Not that attending a Carnatic concert is unique to me. But I am personally very fond of Carnatic music which is very much divine as much as it is scientific – a characteristic that pervades the whole of Hinduism. After many months of hectic schedules at work, and its issues preoccupying my mind throughout, this one concert blasted away the busy world, and hit deep into my being. Immediately, my awareness opened to the real place I want to be in; the real thing I want to be doing; the real people I want to be surrounded by; etc.

Prince Rama Varma, ofcourse needs no introduction. Coming from the now famous Trivandrum Royal Family (of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple fame), he is an expert in Carnatic music. His control over the swaras is exquisite. With his similarly royal voice, pure raw carnatic tunes play along to create a solid natural musical aura around the audience.

This was the first time I was attending his concert. Having inadvertently come across a few videos of his on youtube, I was mesmerized by his capability of rendering complex ragas with unnerving ease. One video I find very special is his elaboration of the Kalyani raaga, consisting of 2 videos. You can find it here. Thats when I fell in love with his voice with its inherent clarity and the majestic brigas. The voice is just amazing. Subsequently, I had gotten in touch with him on youtube messages, and would communicate every once in a while. Now, its great that I could finally meet this wonderful humble personality.

The prince started off the concert with a Dikshitar krithi, Vathapi in Raga Hamsadhwani. From then on, it was a rage of characteristic manodharmams that flowed so well, that the audience easily tuned themselves in. However, the concert was a bit off course, in terms of sticking to tradition. He used faster ragas, that kept the energy high so that the audience could connect.

Anyways, don’t want to dwell on the concert a lot, but this is the fact I realized. While I’m aware that everyone one ought to take some time off and meditate to get back to the roots, and avoid getting carried away by the constant vagaries of daily life and the resulting stress, it seldom happens. Before I know, its bed time, when the choice is between self contemplation and sleep. What I would choose is obvious here. And when the weekend arrives before the week begins, I find myself lost.

So as with hundreds of previous occasions, I decide to remind myself, my aim everyday. It happened today. Whether it will happen tomorrow, and the days to come, I can’t tell. But even if it didn’t I’m sure another concert, or Pujas or something that I treat as my natural liking, will come across…..

Its bad to hope for this, as one is supposed to be able to take a pledge and stand by it. But, we all know ourselves, don’t we?

Lol

The finger to Air India

Day after day the feeling that the world is becoming shameless, gets reinforced in my mind. So much to the extent that shamelessness has become the new normal! Take for instance, one news piece that caught my attention, albeit irritatingly this morning, headlined “Auditor: cut Emirates flights, save Air India”. Like at school, suspend the first ranker of the class so that the laggards can take his place! How shameless is that? And if there’s a term more scathing, and cocky than “laggard”, thats what I would call Air India.

Millions of travelers would unanimously vote against the stinking airline. It is never on time, its interiors stink, inviting nausea to anyone who gets onboard, the air-hostesses are grannies, the food served is sick, the service pathetic ….. I could go on endlessly. Worst of all, its quite normal for the crap airline to be late by even 12 hours! Compare and contrast that with Emirates Airlines. I’m so sorry, I can’t. You can’t even think of comparing the 2. Emirates is far beyond, is a five star airline. And if Air India wants to come up the curve, then improve your services, throw out the a**holes/morons/…… who run the company, change strategy, recruit fresh and dynamic people to run itself. Myself, personally, I will never fly that airline ever, by choice. Compared to Emirates, its one of the sickest every experience one can have.

And why the hell are they jealous that Emirates is expanding? Thats the sign of an organization par excellence. Air India needs to admit it, instead of crying to Papa to not let its competitor wean away market share!  Why, even the other private airlines like Jet Airways, Kingfisher and the like are highly preferred over the national airline by the majority. So pull up your socks, buck up and get going. Else buzz off Air India! To hell with you!

Reduced vacation time :-(

 

Yes I know! Its been a while since I posted anything, especially not ignoring the fact that I had 5 straight wonderful holidays for Eid last week, and not a word put up. I don’t know what to call it. There was a tad bit of laziness, yes. And now, just got the mood to write something. Nothing in particular.

The week before last, I was asked to reduce my vacation from the two weeks I had applied for, to one week (irritating!). This was the first time I was rescheduling booked flight tickets on Emirates online. Well to cut things short, you cannot do it online! But then honestly, it wasn’t much of a hassle -  apart from the fact that I had to part with an extra AED 140!! What I eventually did was call up their call center, and the lady at the other end asked me for the optional dates of return. On glancing through at 4 of which I could choose from, I settled for the cheapest. Obviously, the payment was pending. I was given two options. I could either read out my credit card number and its expiry date over the phone, or go to the Emirates booking office at Deira near the Clock Tower. I chose the latter, not wanting to disclose personal financial credentials on the phone. The relieving part was that even during Ramadan, they were working till 9PM Made my day.

That very day after work – shorter duration during the fasting season – I drove down to the Emirates Center, and parked at the entrance of the area I assumed to be the booking counters. Man, was I wrong! I was guided along a long winding hallway up to another end of the building where I finally entered a hall, with pallid walls and thankfully,  just a handful of people waiting for their turn to be served at the counters.

On my token being called out, I approached counter number 4 and was seated across a taciturn lady who took in my booking details and got my rescheduling done in no time. However, for making the additional payment, I had to get out of the hall, and go into an adjacent room separated by an entrance to the elevator area of the building. Now why the heck did they do that ?!?! Didn’t make any sense. They should’ve had the payments being processed at the counters itself. Anyways, since I had the right amount of change, it was a piece of cake. I came back and took my seat opposite of the lady serving me, and while she punched away at her keyboard inputting my new return dates, my eyes happened to fall on the Emirates Travel Guide labelled – A World of Choice. That was it! The book was full of myriad beautiful places around the world, with separate sections for business destinations, nature, adventure, and what not.

This threw me into a floating dreamland of naturally beautiful places (I’m a nature lover). And since the building in itself had an overall feel of international travel, I was so disappointed in taking up the wrong kind of job. I love to travel. May be it is immature as many frequent fliers detest traveling regularly. But, I was truly wishful that I could travel at least more than I do now – which is at the most twice a year. And where??? To my home country alone. Leave that, the simple pictures of hotels, malls, airports, etc, keeps me wishing for more of the glittering ambience. I like the posh nature of these places, especially hotels and resorts with their residence options and layouts. Landscapes are the best in the world. So are interiors. Right, lets stop it there. Enough of dreaming.

Anyway, I just was thinking of the prospects of keeping a book for myself, when to my delight the lady told me I can keep the copy I was holding in my hand!! From that day onwards, I have been browsing the travel guide each and every morning. Does it inspire me? Nope! What it does, is makes me want to travel more. I would like to travel to various countries, places of scenic beauty and live in classy hotels, meet people from various cultures, and travel around with them. Thats another atmosphere I simply adore. A tourist bus or train or van or whatever! A buzz emanating from the printer on the counter I was seated at woke me out of my reverie, and my consciousness came back to the face of the smiling lady handing over the rebooked ticket to me.

Carrying the book, I walked back to my car, and drove back home………………

Truly life’s previleges….