A wonderful darshan

Recently I visited the holy shrine of Lord Balaji at Tirumala. I was so stunned and was extremely apprehensive in climbing 16 kilometers and around 4500 steps. I saw so many hundreds of visitors climbing steps (Guess they might have been used to).. Although I was doubtful if I could climb steps because of my health, I still decided to make an attempt. This was the first time. The climate was too good (in the early morning).. So many shops and resting places on the way. The TTD has constructed so many resting spots for the benefit of people who climb seven hills - Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri,Anjanadri, Vrushabadri,Narayanadri, Venkatadri.

It took little less than 4 hours and about half of total steps were steep. But what was surprising is that I never felt the tiredness, nor experienced any pain in my leg post darshan. There are many petty shops where they sell Soda, Lemonade, Tetrapacks, Aerated drinks and drinking water in addition to peanuts, etc... Salute to the TTD administration for making this easy experience. More than that I had the wondeful darshan of lord balaji. What is also interesting is that beyond a certain point, you can see Vishnu Sahasranamam engraved that helps the visitors recite and climb.

One must (at least once) climb the sacred hills to enjoy the darshan and get the blessings of Lord Venkateswara.

Aazhwar Paasurams

On a fine Sunday morning, there was a request from my mother to play some songs she wanted to listen to and as usual my question back to her was 'What song do you want me to play?'. Her natural choice of musicians are real stalwarts (jambhavaans). Even before she could answer the stupid(!) question, I played in Windows Media Player.. Along with my amma, I listened to MS singing in a Ramanavami festival in AIR (guess it was in 1971). I was deeply attracted to 2 songs she sang - Periazhwar Paasuram and Bhavayami Raghuramam (both Raagamaligai).

All Paasurams are amazing to listen to. This paasuram she sang was from Nineth Thirumozhi. This thirumozhi (of 10 hymns) narrates the greatness of Rama and Krishna in the form of 2 thozhi(girls) conversation. I am sure it would take janmas to understand the beauty of the hymns...

My rumblings on Airtel Jr Super Singer 2

Recently I ve picked this habit of watching Airtel SS aired on vijay tv. The kids singing is just amazing.. (might use this word often). As weeks progress by, the competition is getting tougher and tougher. The 3 (star) judges are just doing their job very effectively and are pointing out the mistakes. The mistakes - yes some in an unbiased way some not.

I am sure the kids who are singing are not that matured enough to understand deeply the meaning of "throw", "output", "husky" so on and so forth.As a break from regular competition, they conduct some small 1 lakh rupees, and event specials. They are just wonderful to watch.. Alls fine till now.

However, sometime back episodes where Suchitra and Naresh Iyer were the judges... No -ve feelings about the judges..

They are just amazing singers. But they could have been a little professional. I felt Suchitra lacked that in toto. The dressing should have been formal. C'mon.. you are judging kids but in a reality show. Please do not forget that.

The Airtel stage has seen great judges. They can bring variation in the way they sing. They can change the Thalam or ask them to sing based on what appears in the screen, remember the lyrics etc. these are some ways the kids can be judged so that they get an overall perspective of the playback singing..Many newer ways of making the kids sing.

Coming to the lyrics - Roshan has been often under the scanner of not getting the lyrics properly. The point the honorable judges also need to understand is that he is a 12 year old kid and will get the lyrics properly in due course of time. Even Divya ( the anchor) has pronunciation problems. Mam, you also need to pronounce the words properly..... Please do not have a Mallu tinge in your Tamizh. Eg. Randu (irandu)...

The end of the day... Sorry end of the episode - someone is going to go away with Rs 25 L worth Villa... May the real best singer win.