Meet the Artist - New concept

Margazhi.org, a site for promoting classical music and dance had organized a new concept - Meet the Artist by inviting the famous duos Ranjani Gayatri who do not need any introduction. I really liked the way the theme was conceptualized, planned and well executed. Paduka, the store (sister arm of Sarangi) shared their space which added further beauty!. The icing of the cake was their blissful rendition in Kannada.

Such kind of innovative concept aims at building a close bond between the rasikas and the artists. It becomes important that artists get to meet rasikas off stage and share good moments filled with joy and humor. It was nice to see many rasikas sitting there and eagerly listening to their favorite artists speak which never happens when they are on stage. They speak musically though;). They take the rasikas to an entirely different world, travel along with them for sometime and come back to the materialistic world!. 

It was nicety all through - invitation, call to remind the rasikas, introduction about the artists, ambience, question to ask sheet, excellently behaved crowd, nicely crafted questions, wonderful hospitality by the team - right from welcoming artists, as well as rasikas. It gives a satisfying feeling when you see such concept evolving to promote the very traditional and prestigious form of music. Wishing the team all the very best for their efforts and may this continue more and more!. 

Signing off,

SPH @Hema

Confidence level at its best

Recently, I stumbled upon a video that is quite interesting. Something that people who watched it might have forgotten. I never got a chance to watch it though... In those times, Youtube comes to our rescue.

This video is about the Miss Universe pageant 1994. Yes, 1994. The year Ms. Sushmita Sen got crowned MU.

Somehow, I liked the video( though I don't generally subscribe to the idea of Miss xxx as every one has a beauty within and outside) for the reason - the way the participants answered. I was totally impressed by 2 answers. One by our own Indian and one by Ms. Phillipines.

Ms. Phillipines (Charlene Gonzalez - one of the top 6 finalists) was being asked  -

Q - Being in pageants is a kind of legacy for you too, right? 

A - Not necessarily, this is my first pageant prior to my first local pageant.

Q - What I mean is it happened in your family before. goes on....

....

Q - The one thing I have learned is you have a bunch of islands here. How many islands are there in the Phillipines? (One of the question that is being asked in quizzes)

We expect an answer in terms of a number right... She questioned back!

A - High tide or low tide?

(Everyone laughs)

Q - In both?

A - In high tide, we have 7107 and in low tide, we have 7108.

This was not a deciding question though...

People who watched the video would have certainly admired her confidence level, smiling face and more than anything her absolute knowledge about the country's geography... 

Confidence level at its best. Sometimes, it does not matter whether you win or not.. What matters most is when you get really satisfied after delivering your best... That is when you emerge a winner to yourself. A brilliant answer, though!.

Our own Sushmita Sen gets her chance to answer the deciding question:

Q - What for you is the essence being a woman?

A - (by SS) - I think being a woman, by itself, the very fact that you are a woman is a gift of god which all of us must appreciate. The origin of a child is the mother and is the woman and a woman is one who shares love, and who shares and shows the man what love, caring and sharing is all about. That is the essence of a woman.

This emerges as the winning answer. There might be such brilliant answers in the past and in the future.

Loving, sharing and caring are three key characteristics of a woman and all the women who read this are already exhibiting and all the men take a bow at your woma/en who make your lives special! :-)

We live a life once.. Only when we love, we care.. We care and hence we share..
Let all lives be happy, cheerful!. God bless!.

Signing off,

SPH

Short story on focus and concentration

Recently, I listened to this story that is about concentration and focus. Just sharing for the message it carries...

Once there was a King who worshipped Lord Shiva everyday two times. Wherever he went, he worshipped Lord Shiva at the near by temple. Once, King and his friends decided to go for hunting. He along with his minister went to a forest. He did not find Lord's idol or temple to do his daily worship. So, he decided to use the sand and made a lingam to worship. At this time, there was a hunter who was in search of a deer that he spotted. The deer ran fast and the hunter chased it.

The deer crossed the King and ran even faster. The hunter who was chasing did not notice the King sitting and on his way, stamped on the lingam and ran faster. The King got offended and ordered his men to search for the hunter and punish the hunter. They searched for the hunter and could not find neither the deer nor the hunter. The minister who was watching this, told the King to wait as he felt the hunter will be coming back in this way(route). The King felt its a good idea to wait for the hunter to return back. 

The hunter returned back with the deer on his shoulder and happiness on his face. He succeeded in his attempt to hunt the deer. On his way back, he saw the King and bowed him and enquired him. He also offered help to the King if the King wanted to hunt any particular animal. The King listening to this suspected the hunter if he is lying.

The King raised his voice and said, "Look, you passed by me when you ran. I was sitting here and you also stamped on the lingam on your way.How can you go without seeing me? I am the King, remember!". 

The King was shocked by the reply the hunter gave. The hunter said, "My King, I ran chasing the deer. I stayed focused to hunt the deer. On my way, if I see anyone or anything, my concentration to hunt the deer will slip and I will not be able to achieve my goal. When I went for hunting, if I had seen you are there, you are worshipping etc, I will slip in my task. The deer will go out of my sight. I will not be able to catch the deer. When there is 100 percent concentration on the task that I do only then I will be able to complete it. This is the lesson, I learnt out of experience."

The King realised. If a hunter is so focused and committed in his duty, I as a King should have stayed focused in the worship that I did. Instead, I slipped and looked for who ran crossing me etc. When I noticed these things, my concentration towards worship went down and I did not give my 100 percent.

Whatever we do, it is very important that we stay committed and give our full concentration to it. This holds true to our prayers. It is important to think GOD and only GOD when we offer prayers. 

Signing off,

SPH

Kshetram #4 - Thiruvellarai

Recently, we started on a quick 2 day pilgrimage tour down to Trichy with focus on "The Kovil" aka Srirangam kshetram, the first of 108 divya desams. After a wonderful darshan, my brother decided that we cover nearby divyadesams.. Thus our journey to 2,3,4,5,6 began..

I was completely awed by the temple architecture at the kshetram #4 - Thiruvellarai. The temple must be around a 1000 years old. The temple is a big temple with the praharams being very long.The shrine that gets its name as there are lots of white rocks in that place. The main deity is called Pundarikaakshan and his consort - Pankajavalli. This deity is very different from all other deities in other places. It is said that the 18 steps you climb before getting Lord's darshan is the eighteen chapters from Bhagvad Gita. Lord Vishnu in standing posture with both the sides - Chandran(Moon) and Suryan(Sun),  Periya thiruvadi - Garudan, Markandeyar, Goddess Lakshmi, Sibi chakravarthy(the priest there refered as human form of aadi seshan). The sanctum sanctorum is about 50 feet high. Goddess Lakshmi has the first right in this temple. There are only 3 temples where thaayar has the first right - Srivilliputhur, Naachiyar Kovil and Thiruvellarai. There is a separate sannidhi for thaayar amidst Chakkrathaazhwar, Hanuman.

One must definitely visit the temple at least for its size and the primary deity's beauty. This temple is about 15 kms from Srirangam. Periyaazhwar has sung 11 pasurams on this deity.

Signing off,

SPH

Music - medicine to mind, ears and soul

It has been 2 months since I posted. Been caught with different things.. Sorry for the break...Back with my favorite one - Music... 

Music and emotions are inseparable. We have always connected music to express our feelings.. Be it Saint Thyagaraja or Trinity or their contemporaries.. All of them have used music to express their devotion and total surrender to God.

Music is established as a stress reliever tool. Listening to music has a beneficial effect on us. When we listen to good music, I repeat, good music, it kind of lowers your stress levels, you feel relieved and it also sometimes acts as an energy booster.Some of us do exercising, while some do meditation (again with music on), some read to ease the stress level and some of us play music to relieve from the stress.

When you want to calm down, it is best to listen to classical music as it has an uncanny(can I say that) knack of holding your emotion and soothing your mind to help distracting from unnecessary thoughts what would otherwise be stress increasers or boosters.

It does help me in a greater extent as I am in the listening list. I listen to melodious pieces. I enjoy good music... Sometimes, I resort to listening to instrument (one that is close to my heart - violin, flute). 

One needs to select the type of music you want to listen to.. Sometimes, jarring music can turn the math around.. We can write so much about the benefits of listening to music. I leave to readers to explore..

When music is on, 

stress is gone! ;). 

Am sure when there is good music to ears, eyes, mind and soul, your BMI has a positive impact... BMI is Body, Mind and the Intellect and not Body Mass Index... :)

Signing off,
SPH

Who is a LEADER

I am writing this note after listening to Suki Sivam's speech(spiritual and motivational speaker) on "Who is the Leader". I was so inspired by the story that I thought I should share it. Please read on:

There was a bus in which a lady(Lady A) was traveling along with other passengers. She wakes up very early, prepares breakfast, lunch for the entire family and along side got ready to go to office. By the time, she completed her regular morning household chores, she did not have time to even eat for herself!. She had to get ready to her office.

She came rushing to the bus-stop and got in to the regular bus. By then, she was very tired(and very hungry as well). She was shivering and felt very uncomfortable. She had packed rice for her lunch. She decided, she will eat what was packed for lunch. She opened the lunch box and was about to eat. That is when the driver applied a sudden brake and all the food spilled on the bus floor. It accidentally fell on a lady (Lady B) sitting beside her. Lady B got upset, annoyed and was furious. Lady A felt very guilty(she did not have food, tired and the food is water) of having spilled and caused inconvenience to fellow passengers. 

Everyone looked at her in a nasty way. No one seemed to understand the ordeal she underwent that day. She cried and apologized to each and everyone who she felt might have got disturbed. She cleaned the entire place and collected the spilled food in a bag to throw. She almost wiped the entire place. The lady sitting next to her, said"What big sorry are you saying after all these things? My saree is already spoiled.. Your sorry can't give me back my saree. Lady A felt bad and put her head down.

There was a six year old boy watching this entire episode. He slowly approached the Lady A. He opened his lunch box and said, "Aunty, my mother has packed 3 idlies for lunch. Would you like to eat? Will this be enough?. Adding,"Since you were very hungry, you opened the lunch box. Else, you would not have opened the box, right?". Listening to what this boy said, all the fellow passengers were moved and started crying and felt bad about themselves. the boy was the only person who understood the lady's feeling and what she was going through while the adults did not even bother to talk to her. The boy's action changed the entire passenger's attitude. This little boy emerged as the Real Leader... Born Leader.

A Leader is a person who understands other's feelings and changes the situation so as to make the other person and others happy!.

Signing off,

SPH

Controlling your Anger

Every one of us, sometime or the other get annoyed or angry. Some of us throw tantrums like children whilst some raise our voice and show our anger. If we notice, it is all momentary. It take so much of practice to control anger. I do not take an exception to my anger. I must admit, I am not a good candidate to Best Anger Management Practice. ;).

Having said that, I was browsing the Internet and found this short story which conveys so much of meaning. I will make conscious effort not to nail my fence.... ;).

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who was very talented and creative and very bright. Let's say a natural leader. The kind of a person everyone would normally want to have on their team or project. He was also self-centered and had a very bad temper. When he got angry, he usually said, and often did, some very hurtful things. In fact, he seemed to have little regard for people around him including friends. So, his friends list shrunk. He told to himself, "May be this just shows how stupid people are!"

As he grew, his parents were concerned about this personality flaw, and pondered long and hard about what they should do. Finally, the father had an idea. And he struck a deal with his son. He gave him a bag of nails, and a BIG hammer. "Whenever you lose your temper", he told the boy, "I want you to really let it out. Just take a nail and rive it into the oak boards of that old fence out back. Hit that nail as hard as you can!"

Of course, those weathered boards in that old fence were as tough as iron and the hammer was very heavy, so it was not nearly as easy as it initially sounded. Nevertheless, by the end of first day, the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.

Gradually over a period of weeks, the number dwindled down. He started holding his temper. That proved to be easier than driving nails into the fence. Finally, the day came when the boy did not lose his temper at all and felt very proud. He told his parents about that accomplishment.

"As a sign of your success,"his father responded, "you get to PULL OUT one nail. In fact, you can do that each day that you don't lose your temper even once."

Many weeks passed. Finally one day, the young boy was able to report proudly that all the nails were gone. At that point, the father asked his son to walk out back with him and take one more good look at the fence. "You have done well, my son", he said. But, I want you to notice the holes that are left. 

No matter, what happens from now on, this fence will never be the same. Saying or doing hurtful things in anger produces the same kind of result. There will always be a scar. It won't matter how many times you say you're sorry, or how many years pass, the scar will still be there.And a verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. People are much more valuable than an old fence. They make us smile. They help us succeed. Some will even become friends who share our joys, and support us through bad times. And, if they trust us, they will also open their hearts to us. That means we need to treat everyone with love and respect. We need to prevent as many of those scars as we can.

Let us try to build bridges rather than barriers in Relationships!

Signing off,
SPH