A trip down the memory lane

As I write this article, I am bogged down by the fact that this is my last article from my current employer’s office. I am having all kinds of mixed feelings and thats when I decided to go down the memory lane and rewind my experience over the period I was in WIT

When I joined WIT straight from school, as with any kid who goes to his first job, I was inundated with a zillion expectations; some unrealistic, some plainly dream-like. I landed in Pune, my first sojourn in North India, and was readily comfortable with the home-like atmosphere at Pune and the amazing group of people I met there. I remember feeling a little lost amidst what was happening around me. It definitely did not help that I knew only one word in Hindi then (‘acha’). When I think about those days, I feel I had not had it any better ever since my sweet days at school. The day usually started with a quick breakfast of vada pav and tea or poha. At about 9am the training sessions start and continue till about 6pm. After a break of about an hour it was back to some intense learning till midnight. It helped that the BPO was in the same campus as our office; spurned on by some strong ‘personalities’ we used to take a walk around the campus in the midnight. After a tiring and a very ‘refreshing’ walk at the same time, it was back to more learning till 3pm. At 3pm, the ever courteous taxi driver used to drop us off at our boarding places. At 8am, the same cycle starts again. In the middle of all this, we managed to spend some real time in having fun and getting to know each other quite well. A group of 40 strangers at the beginning of the training session gelled together into a nice group of friends. Just when we were getting to settle into our work life, after a really strenuous testing sessions that is, the batch was unfortunately split and I had to come to a place that I hated and still hate – Bangalore.

My first memories in Bangalore are the excellent company that I got from my room mates and our experiments in cooking. The potato fries that I learned from one of room mates is my first true lesson in cooking and I have to admit, that guy’s wife has a bright future. About this time, I procured my first property (a cell phone) and ended up buying a huge liability in the first month itself (a huge phone bill). The days were spent floating in the free pool and I was beginning to worry about my career. By a stroke of luck, I was able to enter the internal sales team of my practice and that was the one of the defining moments in my time in WIT. The day I moved into the team, I was overawed by the kind of exposure that it bought. The very idea of talking to all sorts of senior managers who have got on an average 5-8 years of experience was intimidating to start with. This event triggered one of the most productive months for me and I was truly working like a man obsessed.

If I am going to see my time in WIT in various phases, I think the second phase started with the takeover of my team by a new guy. Now, this guy proved to be one the most interesting leaders I have worked with and is a mentor to me in more ways than one and a very good friend indeed. This phase was characterized by my growing association with WIT’s dormitory and late night conference calls. It was fun, more so, because I had this feeling of empowerment, the feeling of really getting into the thick of things and getting things done. This phase was made sweeter by the mundane idiosyncrasies that my mentor exhibited which often had my team roaring in laughter. If I say that I had fun with him, trust me, it’s an understatement.

Then came the defining moment that made me realize that one has to love the job rather than his employer. After about a year in the sales team, I was, under the pretext of illogical arguments forcibly moved into a maintenance project. The day this was formalized, I was spewing venom at one of my manager. I realized over time that he was only doing his job when he had to, well, con me into a project that was earning revenue for WIT. If not for the project team, I would have put in my papers immediately and would have probably risked joblessness for sometime. When I moved into the project, I was a little appalled by the fun-less work environment. Fortunately, I found out that guys around here were only looking for an excuse for having fun and we soon found excuses abound everyday. The highlight of this final phase was our trip to Savandurga, trying to climb rocks and do the impossible.

As I was thus taking a trip down the memory lane I felt myself riding a wave of mixed feelings. One instant, I was elated to go for a role that I thought would be better for me in the long term scheme of things. The next instant, I was worried that I was leaving behind a big brand and a wonderful team. But hey, a man’s got to do what he has got to do. Probably the best compliment I received at the end of this eventful tenure was that I made things happen. With the feeling of having been a change agent, I embark on my next assignment...

To Savandurga and back

On the fourth of December, 2005 my little team decided to take some time away from work and visit Savandurga. What a day it turned out to be...read on to find out how the day turned out to be.

First, a dose of history to start with. Savandurga - a little hamlet set in an indyllic milieu has etched itself a place in history as a formidable fortress during the times of the Magadi rulers, the Kempegowdas in the 17th century. In fact, Savandurga was the secondry capital of the Kempegowda empire. The topography of the hamlet is such that there are actually two hills that is separated by a deep valley; the one inundated with vegetation is called the Karigudda or the black hill and the other, the balder one, is called the Billigudda, the white hill. We later came to know that, we had climbed the Billigudda hill, a solid rock mountain of approximately 1280 feet. At the base of the Billigudda hill is the Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple - a famous diety in the region.

Our day began with our communion at the Madiwala office of our company. Thats when, I got another affirmation of girl power. Its amazing how a single lady can derail the well laid plans. Along came two of our team members, atleast a half hour late. We said to ourselves that these things are bound to happen (we had to, we had no other alternative) and started our journey to Savandurga about 45kms enroute to Magadi from Bangalore.After exercising our vocal cords (its a debate whether we were singing or screaming...well, it doesnt matter, does it?) playing antakshari, we stopped at an amazing place where we had this first view of the western ghats.

Breakfast consisted of one of the best kesaris that I have ever had along with hot pongal and yummy chutney. During breakfast, we deciphered the way one of our team member walks (one step and then kick the air with the other leg). Egged on by a wonderful breakfast, we renewed our screaming (singing) session and reached ground zero at about 0930. As we alighted from our transport, we were taken in by the wonderful sight that was awaiting us. The subtle layer of dew on the grass lighted up the atmosphere with its purity. We felt as if milky snow has melted and fell on our laps. After the initial instructions from Dev, our instructor, we started our ascent up the 1280 feet Billiguda.

As we ascented up hill, we relished the breathtaking views that the hill provided of Bangalore and its surroundings. We had a feeling that, as we continued on our ascent, the clouds were beckoning us into their fold. Yes, we were right amongst clouds and our insensate minds that were already 'bug'ged gradually opened up to Mother Nature. Slowly, the sensation of soaring consumed us and we forgot all the 'bugs' that awaited us on our return. The terrain was quite slippery and after many a pitstop, we reached the peak and gave company to the desolate yet majestic Nandhi at the summit. The majestic Nandhi was staring at wilderness and I was secretly envious of the Nandhi. But, thats besides the point. The summit offered some interesting snaps for the trigger-happy cameraman (Click on "Picturesque" to view the victims of this shooting)

Having recharged our batteries at the summit, we reached ground level at about 1400 and were all set for a much awaited lunch. Lunch was roti, aloo mutter, veg pulao, peas masala and curd rice along with assorted condiments. We all had quite a heavy lunch and I must tell you, anything vegetarian and edible at the time would have been a feast for us. We all hogged as if we have never seen food in days and were pretty much tired after the lunch session.

Post-lunch is when we realised that we were in for the surprise of the day. Cave exploration sounded so glamorous when we first organized this trip; at the end of it, cave exploration is anything but glamorous. After walking through a thicket of bushes that adorned the windy forest path, we reached the mouth of the cave. At the mouth of the cave we realised that, we had to do anything and everything BUT walking to explore the cave; crawling, jumping, sliding and hanging were the principal modes of transport! There was this point where we almost gave up. There was a huge stone standing in the middle of the path. There was no way around it, except over it. And to climb over the rock, we had no other alternative but cling on to a small bark of a tree that was way out of our reach. As if to make matters worse, if we succeeded in pulling ourselves up the rock, there was no place to rest our feet at the other end of the rock...instead, we had to jump across a gap that was large enough to take a man in vertically. Whew! Boy, did we make it?! After squeezing through narrow crevices the size of a mammoth dictionary, after crawling through a gap where we had to literally move our ass to get to the other end and after jumping across an abyss that was seemlingly endless, we reached the end of the cave and emerged at the other end. We were 'over the moon' and were happy that we made it this far. This was when someone reminded us that we had to return down the same path in the darkening evening. After a a similar strenuous journey, we returned to humanity and heaved a sigh of relief.

At the end of the day, I was reminded that

1. Most of the time, impossibility is what we maketh of our imagination when reality is very much possible
2. Mind - its very presence and strength is what separates the winner from the loser
3. If I can climb a rock hill without any harness and explore a dangerous cave without any eventuality, I can pretty much do anything once I set my mind to it.

Of lunches, bowling and Icecreams

Here are some of the photos that we took on 20th of November, 2005 - A day characterised by all fun and then some more...

1. Yours truly arrives at the screen













2. An uncommon sight - a silent Suds















3. Mrs.Sood - polishing her life skills (hope she doesnt see this)














4. Yours truly...again













5. Chotu, the dude (what is he doing with this car?)










6. The entire team...













7. Hercules land














8. Bowling is proof that 'Life is a game played with a stick, some balls and a playground' (What were you thinking?)










9. Finally...chilling off!

The meaning of solitude

I have a love-hate relationship with 'solitude'. While I agree that solitude has taught me many lessons than anything else, I am also at times wary of it. I am just thinking why solitude is necessary for a person. Can a person be away from 'solitude' by being in a group and still claim that he has bared all to himself? What is the purpose of solitude? What is its meaning in my life?

My next thought is to figure out if there is any difference between 'loneliness', 'solitude' and 'desolation'? And here continues the thought process...I like to think that 'loneliness' is a state of being in a solitary isolation. If that is true, what then is solitude? The inner me says, solitude is the state of being in touch with the 'inner me'. One could be isolated from the world and still have company - the company of himself. Desolation - well, that doesnt sound too positive. I guess one is in a state of desolation when he loses 'his' company.

Returning to the meaning of solitude in my life, I am left thinking of how solitude has shaped me. Since childhood, I have been having this notion that every person is an uncut diamond. To shape the uncut stone to a glistening diamond a good 'sharpener' is required. And they say, to cut a diamond, use another diamond. What better diamond to shape yourself, than 'yourself'? If the innerself is a diamond that is used to shape the 'real' diamond, I think solitude is the channel that makes this cutting process possible. I like solitude because it helps me shape myself. In the darkness of solitude, the varying hues of my true self scintillate vivaciously. Solitude has been the weapon that I have been aiming at myself and in the process has seen myself grow. Growth - ah!...a wonderful concept that is more often than not misunderstood amidst all our misconceptions. And grow I have...from a petulant kid to a still-growing kid.

So, when will I grow up to be a man? Amidst all my hope, prayers, efforts, blunders, illusions, failures and success, there comes a day when I completely I understand myself. And thats when, I enter the tough, but worthwhile legion of men. In the meanwhile, I trust my solitude to teach me all the lessons to get me there.

Rain vs Bangalore

Whenever it rains, it pours! How could anybody form a better meaning sentence in the English language than this? Looks like the rain gods are smiling over Bangalore. Rather, I must say, the rain Gods are guffawing so much so that, Bangalore is in tears now!

One of the newspapers that was covering the rains in Bangalore actually said, 'Bangalore's infrastructure (whats left of it that is) is creaking'. I think the author must have been satisfied that he had hit the raw nerve when commenting on Bangalore's 'creaking' infrastructure. Here are some of the photos that say the story of Bangalore so clearly

Picture #1: I have always wondered how the silk board bridge was built over a river. Did I just say, a river?!!

Picture #2: Time for some brown water rafting baby!!!

Picture #3: If you think this is the traffic condition on a rainy day, you have never been mistaken! As it happens only in Bangalore, the traffic is in the same state as it is everyday - in a state of suspension

Have our public servants, namely the politicians and the PWD, read a lesson from all this avoidable disaster?

Deep thoughts!

Here are some interesting thoughts that I picked up on the net

• Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
• Insanity is my only means of relaxation.
• Forget the health food; I need all the preservatives I can get.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, for they are sticking to their diets.
• You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
• Perhaps you know why women over 50 don't have babies: They would put them down somewhere and forget where they left them.
• My mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely.
• Every time I think about exercise, I lie down till the thought goes away.
• God put me on Earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind, I will live forever.
• It's frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
• If you can remain calm, you just don't have all the facts.
• Stress reducer: Put a bag on your head. Mark it "Closed for remodeling." Caution: Leave air holes.
• I finally got my head together and my body fell apart.
• There cannot be a crisis this week; my schedule is already full.
• The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

Meenkolathikkavu, Pallasena

This article by Sri T K Ganapathy was first published in The Hindu of Jan 12, 2002

A drive skirting Palakkad and towards Kollengode on a chill December afternoon, along paddy fields and lush green vegetation, is a memorable experimorable experience for more than one reason. The emerging sleepy village of Pallasena fills the mind of the visitor with a celestial aura exuded by Meenkulathikkavu Amman, its presiding deity.

Halasya Mahatmyam eulogized the significance and greatness of Devi worship. Small Bhagavathi temples in several parts of Kerala have acquired importance over the years. Meenkolathikkavu is the oldest temple of Pallasena with a mysterious origin.

Tradition has it that centuries ago three families belonging to the Veerasaiva Vellala Mannadiar clan worshipped goddess Meenakshi as their deity. Acute draught conditions in Chidambaram (Tamil Nadu) drove them to seek greener pastures. Soon after their worship of their destiny in Madurai one of them took a stone from there along with their other possessions. Worshipping their stone as their friend, philosopher and guide, they trekked several places before reaching Pallasena. Enchanted by the sylvan surroundings of the villages they settled there and prospered in diamond trade. Whenever they went on business, they offered their customary prayers to the family deity.

An aged member of their clan as was his wont, went for a dip in the tank, before leaving for Madurai. He left his saleable goods and palm leaf umbrella in the care of two youths. When he came back, he was shocked when he could not lift the things he had left with the youths. An astrologer said that goddess Meenakshi had manifested herself under the umbrella and that was why this umbrella could not be moved. The place came to be known as Kudamandhu. Huge crowds came to the place to witness the miracle.

Reports claim that only after four centuries, the present Meenakshi temple and the adjacent temple tank came into being on a four-acre plot. A Thirumandiram stands in testimony of the event.

The Mannadiar clan has grown into 85 manais (veedus) and they conduct Navarathri, Pongal and Bhairava festivals with fervor. A majestic structure in the Kerala style of architecture at the entrance greets the visitor. There are two entrances to the, one in the north and the other in the west. The temple tank is next to the western entrance. It is unique in that the shadow of the wall never falls on the ground. Crossing the imposing dhwajasthambha made of teakwood and covered with copper, the devotee enters the sanctum sanctorum to stand before the divine beauty and the indestructible sublimity radiating from the face of Meenakshi Amman.
Devotees are not allowed to ago around the Garbhagriha. Around the main idol, the Saptha maathas or several female deities - Brahmi, Maheswari, Kaumari, Vaishnavai, Indrani, Chamundi and Varahi are installed. There are separate shrines for Ganapathi, Veerabhadra, Durga, Shiva, Bhairava, Brahma Rakshas and Ayyappa. In the adjacent hill called Vamala there are shrines for Muruga, Ganapathi, Siva, and Shasta. Navarathri, Karthigai, Mandala Vilakku, Maasi Thiruvizha, Pallivettai and Bhairava Pooja are the most celebrated events in the temple. The eight-day maasi festival includes Ottamthullal and Kathakali programs depicting scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharatha.

It is customary that the deity's sword and lamp are taken in procession by the descendants of the youths who stood guard for the articles and the palm leaf umbrella. Though the Mannadiar clan is given a privileged place in the activities of the temple, members of all communities stand by one another in the conduct of the temple festivals. The unique structure of the temple and its mode of worship have gained immense popularity among the natives of the village. Devotees firmly believe that the bath in the tank (known for its abundant fish) rids one of all chronic ailments.

There are rest houses near the temple complex under the control of the Mannadiar Samudaya Trust, which is in charge of the temple administration. On prior intimation the temple authorities arrange accommodation for the devotees. They can be contacted on phone (0492-368278). The tariff ranges from Rs.80 to Rs.100/-. Buses from Palakkad, Shoranur, Calicut, Kollengode, Nemmara and Vadakkancheri ply through Pallasena. The following are the times the temple is kept open for devotees:

Sundays, Tuesdays, Fridays5-30a.m. to 12-30 a.m.

Mondays, Wednesdays,Thursdays, Saturdays5-30a.m. to 10.30 a.m.

Evening all days 5-30 p.m. to 8-00 pm.

Note by P K Ramakrishnan, the contributor of this article: It should have been meen-kolathu kavu. The abundance of fish in this tank gave it this name as meen-kulam. Kavu means a Bhagavathi temple. Meenkolathu kavu changed to Meenkolathikkavu.

Conflict...

Conflict. Dilemma. Quandry. Confusion. Uncertainity. Perplexity. I am sure all of us would relate with those words, or rather, the above state of minds. Why are we confused? Why do we sometimes find ourselves in a conflict? Why do we experience a raging war within us?

The reason is friction. Sounds elementary? Almost all the conflict and dilemmas that we face almost incessantly is due to the friction between individual desire and societal norms. We constantly oscillate between two choices - Individualism versus Collectivism. Does this sound like one of the many plebeian conflicts that afflict us?

I believe that the future is not what happens to us, but what we make happen. When one digs deeper, one is to wonder who is it that shapes our future. Is it really the individual or the society in which he/she belongs to? At this moment, I would like to clarify what 'society' means here. I am going to assume that society points to our close circle of relationships; parents, friends and significant others, because, I believe that these relationships have the power of chiselling one's future to a greater extent. Mind you-when I say these relationships have the power of influencing once's destiny, take it at face value.

Take a look around you, you can draw abundant examples of how one's destiny is not an absolute function of his/her own needs and/or wants. I am reminded of a case where a person applied for his medical studies. This person did amazingly well in all the preliminary rounds and was excellent in the interview board too. However, the interview board was perplexed that there was a gap of four years in his profile which was just not logical. When queried on the same, the applicant replied 'Sir, I did my engineering in that period of four years. My Father wanted me to be an engineer and I satisfied his wish. Now that my Father has passed away, here I am, to pursue my dream'.

Each one of us have dreams. When some of our loved ones do not understand the emotion that we attach to our dreams, how do we feel? Why are we automatically obliged to satisfy our loved ones wish and not pursue what we really wanted to do? Its easy to say resist all external temptations, sometimes yield to trivial things and continue working towards your dream. So many questions cloud my mind now. What am I to do? How will I handle this conflict between my wants and my society's wants?

Sitting thus, I am reminded of what Benjamin Disraeli said about life and everything seems to fall in place like a completed puzzle. This is what Disraeli has to say about success - 'The secret of success is the constancy of purpose'. Yes, once I realised that instead of pursuing my dreams, which is littered with all sorts of friction, I would rather begin my journey to fathom the purpose of my existence. Perhaps, I have made a good start in understanding my purpose! Stay tuned and watch me in my journey of self-discovery...

How stupider can I get??!!

Incase you were wondering what a stupid oaf can “accomplish”, read along to find out.

The Beginning

Yesterday was a great day in Bangalore. The climate was, to borrow the term, 'awesome'. Cool winds galore, the sun was probably taking a short nap. I woke up at 7 (wanted to wake up at 5 and get ready for a meeting) and managed to press my clothes and descended down the steps rapidly only to find that one small slip of the leg is a huge hole in the trousers. Started pressing another trouser and at the end, forgot my mobile at home and came to the office.

At the office

I reached office at a shade closer to 9.30 and scrambled to some meeting that had no purpose (Perhaps, the word meeting translates into good-for-nothing) After the meeting, had some great time at the office. Before I knew it, it was 6pm. After frustrating people who were staying back I packed my li'le 'luggage', forgetting a little thing that would prove (or is it re-prove?) that I am indeed a stupid oaf!

Climax (anti-climax is more apt)

I reached home at 7, happy in the knowledge that some were still at the office bending over backward to get some work done. Dug into my 'luggage' and much to my chagrin, found that I had left my house key at the office! Next, I did an even more brilliant thing; put my 'luggage' in my neighbors care and started my journey back to the office to retrieve the keys. Reached office, took the key and walked all the way to the main road (Fact: It is about 1.2 kms from the office to the bus stop). There, I dug into my pockets and found that I had left my wallet with the 'luggage' at my neighbors place. How I wished I wasn’t born! I again came to the office hoping that I would be able to get some notes from friends. When I came back, all my office mates, who are used to staying till 9.30pm at least, had left quite early. The office was deserted at 9!! Had to borrow from the security guard - who was in the meantime, giving me some ugly looks - and with some more obstacles thrown in by the evil enemy reached home! Like some anonymous pal said – “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”.

Theory of multiple intelligences

Intelligence - How does one define intelligence? Since ages, many researchers have tried to define intelligence and have put forth one theory after another. Four main paradigms have been extensively used in the course of this research.

1. Psychometric Theories - Researchers employing this paradigm have tried to define intelligence by comprehending how it is structured. Accordingly, they wanted to find out what are the various abilities that constitute intelligence and resorted to testing psychologic experiments to evaluate that minds' abilities
2. Cognitive Paradigm - Cognition/noesis is the result of the perception, learning and reasoning. Likewise, cognitive theories of intelligence attempted to unfathom what were that processes underlying intelligence. Simply put, cognitive theories stated that a person's intelligence is his ability to organize information in its various representations and to process them
3. Cognitive_Contextual Theories - These theories explain the manner in which the congnitive process works
4. Biological Theories - I somehow have the feeling that this paradigm is wierd. Biological theorists of intelligence are trying to study intelligence in terms of is biological basis. Maybe someone would come up with a gene for intelligence sometime in the future!!

Of all these theories, I found an interesting one in a book called 'Frames of Mind' by Howard Gardner a Harvard professor . Howard has outlined the constituents of intelligence into seven basic sets. The seven intelligences are

• Linguistic Intelligence - This is the ability to read, write and communicate with words
• Logical_Mathematical Intelligence - Ability to think logically and be proficient in numbers
• Visual_Spatial Intelligence - Ability to imagine, to think in pictures
• Musical Intelligence - Ability to compose music
• Bodily Kinesthetic Intelligence - Athletic ability and manual dexterity
• Inter-personal Intelligence - Ability to work well with others, and relate with them
• Intra-personal Intelligence - Ability to comprehend self and plan ahead

All said and done, how do I define intelligence? Well, quite simple - common sense. Probably I must try to make some sense out of all this intelligence no(n)sense

The Concert

Those of you, who know me, would be pleasantly surprised to know that I actually danced during the A R Rahman concert on October 8, 2005. To say that the concert was a mind-boggling experience is an understatement. The golden threads of music that caressed us all on that night, seemed to dim the refulgence of the sun himself!

The day began with the sweet strain of Saxophone music coming out of an antiquated Phillips tape in my bedroom. After palavering myself to wash my dirty linen, I fixed up 4.30pm to meet up with my group for a concert that was to start at seven. When I recall that moment now, I remember trying to fathom the phonetics of a lizard. Little was I to know that the kind little lizard was telling me that there was no point fixing up a time when my friend happened to be a girl!

I reached the venue a quarter of an hour before the agreed time and was greeted with vast emptiness. (The venue for the concert was the Palace Grounds). This is when God decided to play with me (better still 'play with us'). I got a sad affirmation of the magnitude of my ignorance when I realized that there were N number of entrances to the palace grounds and I happened to be at the wrong entrance. I remember Sun Tzu saying in The Art of War that 'any time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted'. Well, I got to agree with him! I would have lost at least a kilogram walking around the grounds and came across all the entrances to the concert without deciding on one.

Now, onto the second trick. If you remember, I was supposed to meet my friend at 4.30. Probably I must have added 'Indian Standard Time and not Indian Stretchable Time'. Along came our great friend almost an hour late and not a trifle apologetic. Well, I shouldnt have expected anything, should I? As if to compound matters, my good friend conveniently 'forgot to bring along the glasses that are necessary for watching a 3-D show! We entered the venue at around six and despite our surprises on getting a strategic place to sit; we scrambled to our chairs (a small group of nine stupid little oafs). Apart from the small confusion between IST and IST, I was overwhelmed by how things were running smoothly.

About 10 minutes after we settled into our chairs, it started to drizzle. We had one umbrella amongst us and being generous, I gave my jerkin, which I happen to dislike, to another friend, who as always is the case with such scenarios happened to be a girl! If I would have known before hand that it would be raining bollocks, I would have thought otherwise and probably, just probably, I wouldnt have made it to the concert too. What started as a pleasant drizzle turned out to be down pour. Here we were a crowd of about 10000+ braving the rain-god to listen to a different kind of sermon. We were literally shaking a leg or two even before the music started. All said and done, God was really sympathetic and he conked off the 3-D hi-tech instruments, lest we suffer the ignominy of watching a 3-D show without the 'special devices. I heard my friend heaving a sigh of relief when we learnt that the 3-D instruments have conked off.

The man himself came on stage at about nine. If someone would have asked me what I exactly felt at that moment, I would have quoted the following lines that the British author Sir Henry Rider Haggard used to describe the moon in King Solomon's Mines - "The full bow of the crescent moon peeps above the plain and shoots its gleaming arrows far and wide, filling the earth with a faint refulgence, as the glow of a good man's deeds shines for a while upon his little world after his sun has set, lighting the fainthearted travelers who follow on towards a fuller dawn". We were exactly like a group of men possessed by spirits, grooving to every beat, every rhythm, every word and every raga. Apart from the all-time favorites like 'Vennilave vennilave' the song that stole my heart was ARR's soulful rendition of his theme music for the fight against poverty, spearheaded by the UN. Some of the groovy tunes like 'Chaiya chaiya' and 'Mangal mangal' kept the crowd on its feet and when 'Mustafa Mustafa' was on air it was like the nostalgic bug has bit everybody...I saw everybody reveling in their own thoughts, those sweet memories that sometimes are the only things that keeps us going. The insensate hands before the beginning of the concert were clapping almost involuntarily during the concert. Sivamani playing the drums was arts in motion. When the show was coming to an end, an end that we never wanted, nature was resplendent in its second installment. It was as if, nature itself was in a state of euphoria when it remembered that such a genius came from its bosom.

When I woke up the next day at another friend's place who had agreed to give me lodgings for the night, I took stock of the things that were hopelessly drenched. Both of my mobiles were not working. As if that's not enough, two of the books that I purchased just a day before were completely drenched. Luckily my watch was working. I was asking myself - was it all worth this trouble? Hell YES! After all, who gets the opportunity to listen to a maestro in full flight on a lovely evening with a lovely group? My only suggestion to you when you go for an open-air concert would be - do not take any umbrellas and lest it must rain, enjoy the rain!