Vijay TV super singer 3

I am following this programme on Vijay TV right from the beginning(is it last august?).It is an eminently watchable programme.It is a great entertainment to hear film songs by these youngsters. Nowadays they are trying creatively to spice up the programme to be something more than just a music programme.

They are calling in senior playback singers; they do promotion of to be launched movies by inviting actors/directors; the participants come in appropriate period costumes for 'retro music round' ; anchors are rotated to give variety; the family is called in and they are also asked to give their feedback about their children's performance.

Now the programme is entering a crucial phase as the top 10 contestants have been chosen. Yesterday just before the contestant starts singing(performing?), their profile and video clippings were shown. I was quite struck by the family particulars of 3 of the top 10. Two of them dont have a living parent and a third contestant has a very seriously ill parent. All the contestants are quite young, in their twenties is my guess. It must be quite traumatic to lose a parent at such an young age. Is it this loss and its impact which has made them come out to be among the top ten in this programme? Artists draw from a well of emotions/experiences and perhaps it is this profound grief in so early a life which makes them the great singers that they are turning out to be.

Of course, kumar had a different take on the whole thing. He felt the contestants are effectively putting their life on hold (studies/vocation) as this appears to draw on their time and resources, full time. They perhaps have a higher appetite for taking risks than others who have had a more smooth life and hence are quite risk averse.

Be that as it may, my best wishes to them in this programme to shine well and make a name for themselves

longest day and yoga

June 21st just whizzed past. Longest day and all that.But in Bangalore with an overcast sky, longest day does not look too long. It was a theoretical thing, really for me this time.

But next day I saw that New yorkers welcomed the longest day with a unique demonstration. They did yoga in Times Square! Enjoying the sun and doing surya namaskar naturally!

B K S Iyengar was overwhelmed with the kind of response he got in a remote province in China, when he went there recently. He never knew there was such great following of his school of yoga in China. A few of his students, have started yoga schools there and they seem to be getting very good response.One of the students is supposed to have said that to learn yoga is now a 'fashion statement'.

Fashion and healthy living rarely go hand in hand, but then 'all truisms including this one is not valid all the time'!

bell's palsy

I had never heard this name as an ailment till 9 pm on 18th june 2010. I was feeling a tingling sensation throughout the afternoon on my face and was a little anxious about it. Just after dinner I was washing up and as I was spitting out, it hit the washbasin in a different projectile. I was wondering what is the matter and I repeated the process. Ditto results. I immediately called my doctor sister and she asked me if I can close my eyes. I realised no, I cannot close them voluntarily. She said you have 'bell's palsy'. Nothing to worry about, totally reversible.Take these medicines and go to a hospital tomorrow she said.

I immediately packed bags and headed back to Chennai and was there in less than 6 hours flat. Personal consultation confirmed the diagnosis, with my sister saying, ' it is a typical case'.We headed straight to physiotherapist and treatment started immediately.

Now let me explain what this is all about. The facial muscles do their job of eyebrows raising, eyelids opening and closing, nostrils taking in air, lips pronouncing clearly and keeping their shape because of nerves.The nerves originate near the ear and branch out all over one side of the face. The ear got infected (heavy breeze in bangalore that time) and was depressing the bunch of nerves. Hence the condition.

The treatment was to arrest the infection first. Simultaneously sending mild electric impulses to the nerves to get them activated.Also physiotherapy. I felt the physiotherapists who were helping me out for the over two months treatment were really ministering angels. And it was sheer magic that they were able to coax and cajole the nerves to come back to action, and helping the muscles get back their elasticity.

In the meanwhile the eyes had to be protected, as they are more prone to infection now because of not closing naturally. In the night I was asked to plaster my cheeks to keep them from sagging. I was looking quite a sight with eyes closed and plastered and cheeks plastered. It happened that forgetting my present state, one day I opened the door to some friends of my daughter. While she had told them that I am not well, they thought I am really bashed up. I had to tell them over and over again, that I am quite fine, only I look scary now!

I had to relearn vowels and how to pronounce them, I had to blow baloons and chew innumerable chewing gums and raise my eyebrows at nothing in particular.

All this was happening without mommie dearest getting any wind of the whole thing. I thought I was sufficiently recovered to make a quick appearance to their place. But what I did not plan was to give a "BIG' smile. The smile went so crooked and amma's face registed horror. All the best planned visit ended in a fiasco.

But then everything went back to pre 18th June days soon enough. God, sister, sampy and physio made the magic happen.

bell's palsy

Father's day

In Bangalore father's day is a time for single fathers to protest about child custody.The point they are making is to change the mindset of the society and judiciary.They want to be seen as not just human ATM machines but also one with feelings and responsibility to take care of their child.

I am not here judging their cause or what is the situation which makes them protest and in this fashion. This headline in newspapers only made me wonder about the new role father's are taking in the family. It has undergone drastic changes to be sure. Let me explain.

Atleast two generations back fathers have been the quintessential marginal players in a typical middle class family as far as a child is concerned.The father is usually absent.; he is ostentibly earning the daily bread. Usually he comes back well after the child has gone to sleep. Even if he is home early, he moves in a different circuit and is hobnobbing with other men in the house. He could also be in the 'thinnai' (pyol) and more interested in the goings on in the neighbourhood. The father hardly plays any role in the daily life of a child.The typical situation usually is like this. Mother manages everything except when the school progress card has necessarily to be signed by the father.Perhaps mothers were not well educated and even if they could make sense of the progress card, the father retained the authority to question the child on such occasions.

The father was the person to be afraid of, around whom the child was on its best behaviour. When the child is tiny, mothers used to take the father's name to scare the child into submission, be it for eating or not making a nuisance of itself.

But now things have changed a great deal. I see this generation of new fathers, going to the other extreme.They are the ones having fun with the child and it is the mother who is the disciplinarian. The mother has the responsibility of school work also. You see, unlike earlier times, the schools expect the parents to be involved day to day in the activities of the school and also to guide the child in homework. Fathers wriggle out of this responsibility, even when mothers are also pursuing careers equal to their husbands.

Fathers pamper the child with icecream, toffees and what not. They also buy them innumerable stationery and other trinkets that children seem to want nowadays. Now disciplining is mother's domain. Fathers want to have all the fun.

So the pendulum has swung the other extreme. Is it that father's have no idea of responsible child rearing?From an 'absent' father to an 'indulgent' father, when is it going to be a responsible father?

Coming back to the father's day issue, perhaps one cannot fault the society and judiciary, as they faithfully reflect the situation on the ground.

Perhaps fathers have to do hardcore parenting, than wield placards.

kid brothers are handy

We have a new sabji wallah coming to our complex. He sets up shop thrice a week for 3 hours in the mornings. There is quite good patronage for his wares. They are fresh and I am told reasonably priced.

It is also a good time to exchange colony gossip while we wait for our turn. Today I greeted a friend who had just come back from her mother's place after her second delivery. I enquired after her, promising to come and see the baby the next day. Her first child was frisking about and I asked her if she is comfortable having a new sibling. The mother told me she is okay with it most of the times. But she takes a particular liking for the young fellow, whenver the mother calls out to her to do her school work. She immediately tells mom, 'brother is very cute no, can I play with him for sometime?"

Are all kids this smart? Obviously she perceives the mother to be spending lots of time with the infant and she also has found a sure fire 'attention diverting technique'.

She should have tried the trick once too often and the mother has become wiser.

But my amazement at the wits of a 4 year old kid remains.

spider web

I had to fish out my pullover from the cupboard today. Yes, it is that chilly in Bangalore today; well more windy than chilly to be politically correct. It is quite a contrast to life in Chennai metro.I used to literally crawl from one ac room to another. I would get out of the ac, quickly have coffee and call up my mother to keep the ac on in their bedroom and make a 10 minute dash to their place. I will be all huffing and puffing once I reach there walking from my place. I dive into the ac room and order ice cold water and wet towels please. Only then sanity returns.

Now to get back to my story. I was opening the sliding window in the dining hall yesterday evening and was awestruck by a beautiful spider web. I had last seen one in picture in my primary school days. I also remember drawing one painstakingly with a larger than life spider right at the centre. But this one was quite tiny;its web was truly larger than life. I kept staring and wondering at the beautiful craftwork. I was watching quietly to see if I can spot the master at work. But I kept staring for quite a while and the spider appeared to weave its web by sheer magic without as much as moving its little finger.

I went to fetch my camera to record on tape what I had recorded in my mind's eye. No, it was not easy as the light was against us and I could only spot the clothes line in the neighbours balcony and not our master weaver. I tried some more and some more and then told myself I will be back here tomorrow morning when I catch the spider's web in the morning sunlight.

I was not lucky. The whole web had disappeared today morning when I opened the window. I told you it is terribly windy here in Bangalore. The beautifully cast web perhaps had no chance. I only wish the spider crawled itself into a corner and will be back again in a different window in a short while from now. I will keep my eyes peeled till then.