Remembering "Remember Shakti"

I had a chance to attend "Remember Shakti" concert last Wednesday evening[Dec 03,2008] in Bangalore (Thanks to Biju,my lead in office who invited me with his
free passes)

I didnt have any expectations as such because I am attending concert of such magnitude only for the very first time.

"Magnitude" because it had the likes of Zakir Hussain,Drums Sivamani, Mandalin Srinivas,Shankar Mahadevan, Selva Ganesh performing on the same stage.
Absolutely unnecessary to describe how great it would have been,,,Should I????

For those who are not aware of the band:
"Remember Sakthi" is a band which performs fusion of Indian classicals with Jazz. Originally was known as "Shakti" in 1970's, but got dissolved in the late 1970s. It was again reestablished in late 1990's and came to be known as "Remember Shakti"
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remember_Shakti]

I was told today's concert was without the legendary John McLaughlin, the guitarist. I didnt know anything about him till the end of the concert. But when I came back and listened to some of his performances in youtube, I realized what I missed in the recital.
Listen to the guitarist in the video
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=wHDO1HN06Fc
...He is just too quick....

The biggest surprise of the package for me was the performance of Selva Ganesh who played "Kanjira". He was simply outstanding. The 5 mins solo from him made everyone speechless. After his performance even Zakir commented that he brings all the tunes in that small piece of drum which Sivamani could produce with all his 200 drums.


Truly these are people with some amazing skills....

Vaaranam Aayirum - my review

Finally the most awaited movie of mine in recent times got rolled out on Nov 14. I got a chance to see the movie on Nov 15 ,the Saturday night not on a great theater though.

In short about the movie, I liked,enjoyed it..could relate to it...It is definitely not the greatest but certainly good.

The story is about the relation between a dad and son in the eyes of the son. This movie is actually an inspiration from the Hollywood's greatest "Forrest Gump". Though not in the same caliber but certainly has not disappointed the fans like me who yearn for non-masala/non-commercial Tamil movies.It is not a usual story which has a start and expected end. The whole movie is about the thoughts of this son who thinks about how much of role his dad plays in different stages of his life like teenage,college,love,success,failures etc....

It is an amazing performance by Surya. He is really maturing as one of the finest actors in Tamil Cinema.Surya plays the role of teenager,early 20's,late 20's,early 30's,60 year old all with enough differences to make you relate to the charactar. The makeup was not so obvious and the strain he has taken to have different physiques for each of the character is very evident and appreciable.

I cant just wait to write about Sameera Reddy. I am sure she herself will admit that she has never been portrayed as beautiful as in this movie before. She is just too good. She does her part very well and again "too good"

The greatest asset of the movie are the songs of the movie. Harris Jeyaraj proves his mettle once again...I have really fallen in love with the songs of this movie. Harris Jeyaraj has really got the so called magic touch rendering songs with one of the finest usage of guitar in Tamil music

The movie does have lots of minuses like the second half being lengthy, unnecessary rescue operation scenes. But those being apart,this is movie worth watching if you are looking for something off from the routine masala Tamil movies

I sign off this post with the best dialogue of the movie "Life has to go on"

General Motors REPLY TO BILL GATES:

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the
computer industry with the auto industry and stated,
"If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we
would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release
Stating:
"If GM had developed technology like microsoft, we would all be driving
cars with the following characteristics (and I just love this part, esp
7th point and 10'th point):


1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to
buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You
would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows,
shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could
continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause
your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would
have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was
reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would !
run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all
be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed an Illegal Operation"
warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out
and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door
handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna. (Read
CTR-ALT-DEL)

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn
how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate
in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off. "

R U DIPLOMATIC

Looking at the current state of s/w industry and being a s/w guy myself, makes me wonder many a times whether we need to be diplomatic to be succesful in this industry. I am sure most of my fellow beings think the same. But is this thought true? The same question was in my mind till I read the following little article. Please read on

Being Diplomatic vs. Harmonizing

Being tactful, slick or sly is based on a selfish agenda or on the need to protect one's interest, such as maintaining a reputation as a polished and diplomatic person, maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship, and avoiding offending people. A slick person will make a conscious effort to praise other people for their achievements in order to show others that they are generous and are not jealous of others' achievements. A diplomatic person makes a conscious effort to flatter others in order to build a mutually beneficial relationship with others. A tactful person strives to build a good rapport with everyone else in order to use his social connection as an asset to upgrade his social standing and reputation.

Harmonizing has a selfless agenda. A harmonious person conducts himself for the sake of others and for the group. A harmonious person is truly altruistic and thinking of others at all times. He remains clear-minded despite of other people's less-than-honest behaviors. He will consider everything thoroughly and will not be subjected to the law of mutual promotion and mutual restriction. A harmonious person will not make decisions to flatter any specific person. He will evaluate things from all aspects and prioritize the group's overall interest. Hence, he is likely to make wiser and fairer decisions. His speech and behaviors are consistently altruistic and harmonizing.


I am sure this article answers the question perfectly. Though both the terms sound quite similar there is still a distinct difference between the two and it is more to do with our attitude. So final take away is whether it is s/w or any other industry, selfless person always taste success.

If you are selfless, the whole world is with you. If you are selfish , you are left alone. Never mind I can quote too.

See you soon!!!!!