Joy is…..

………to close your eyes…lie down and listen to the Hosanna……on repeat……with headphones!!!

Yep….I am talking about Rahman’s Newest Album…..Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya!

What an album! Hosanna…..is the track you will instantly fall in love with. As the song picks up initially, the way the chorus goes Hosanna Hosanna…..the way the accompanying music grows louder slowly…..is just awesome….you can almost feel yourself melt away into the beats…..This one has been on repeat on my player umpteen number of times already!

Then there is Omana Penne…..the use of Nadaswaram in this gives you a high….right from the start it stays on low key…..until the end where only the Nadaswaram is played. This is the specialty with Rahman’s music I guess…..it gets you hooked onto a new instrument each time. Now I feel all the more like listening to the Nadaswaram……

The rustic Aaromale…the melodious Mannippaya…which is like wow…Shreya Ghoshal and Rahman himself…..Each track in the album is different and has that Rahman touch in it.

I had been eagerly waiting for this album….worth the wait I must say!

So what are you waiting for…get that CD….or download the app for iPhone or iPod….Close your eyes…put on your headphones…yes the headphones…..switch off the lights and listen to the album…the entire album….I am sure you will love it! Feel every beat…feel every note…feel the music…feel the newest offering from the genius! Happy listening!

Now this is called ‘Joy’

I was at Sony store the other day, busy analyzing/comparing/scrutinizing noise-canceling headphones – no I don’t travel much – headphones with higher bass – Rahman – or simply put – better headphones – I need to listen to every note, every detail – anyway the point is – I was LOST in analyzing which one is better – and these were arranged in a circular enclosure with some area inside for the sales agents – by circular enclosure I mean a shape of a horse shoe magnet – my knowledge of physics is still intact. I think so. Wait, was it Chemistry?, and the sales agents would stand inside – anyway, again the point is – there were no sales agents standing inside, but all of a sudden this little girl, very cute one, wanders away from her parents and runs into this enclosure. It was clear she had just started to walk/run. The moment of joy was when her Mother, accompanied by her sister (Mother’s) – who happened to be single (The sister – Oh c’mon), comes to me and says ‘Wow! She likes you’. Her sister, impressed by this, gives me a smile, and we start talking, and eventually exchange our phone numbers. What a way to start……err…ok….ok….I made up this last part.
The actual moment of joy was the sunshine smile the little girl gave me, when I looked at her. So beautiful, straight from the heart, flawless, unprejudiced, clear. I guess she was the cutest sales agent I ever saw.
And the Mother was of course there. And her husband. No sister, and no new love story.

Added joy is that, at the end of the day, as you lie in your bed, thinking of the day that passed, you smile at yourself thinking of, among all the people you came across during the day, of that little, cute girl, her act of running into the sales area and her wonderful smile.

WWDC 2009 – Apple Keynote – Following it live….

Final Update: So, all of you who were thinking twice about getting your hands on one. Its available for $99. And the new ones for $199 and $299 for 16 and 32 Gigs resply. Need I say more?
Cya.

Update: And all you need to do to align the maps in the direction you are travelling is – TAP the iPhone!
I am afraid to say it cannot get better. They might indeed come up with something better next year!

Update: And yes, the Compass app is here……

Update: Voice controls. ‘You can make your calls with your voice, you can control iTunes by your voice’. This sentence summarizes this new feature. Wow, again!

Update: Well, the video part is true. Not in the sense we expected, but its true. Finally, video comes to the iPhone.

Update: Well, its not really iPhone Video, as some of us thought. Its called iPhone 3g S.

Update: An app for Zipcar. Can you beat this? You can actually unlock you car from within the app, on your phone!

Update: Cannot get better. They actually manufactured an accessory for this. It fits onto the car’s windshield, simultaneously gets charged, and voices the directions for you! Hats off, Tom tom!

Update: And as expected, but very pleasantly surprising – Tom tom GPS navigation is here…a new app for that! Demo on!

Update: Find my iPhone – you lose it, you can locate it on maps on your PC. Can it get any better?

Update: iPhone time…yayyyyyyyyyyy

Update:
Safari 4 is here…..

Update: Follow the keynote here:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/08/phil-schiller-keynote-live-from-wwdc-2009/#continued

and here

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/06/08/live_coverage_from_apples_worldwide_developers_conference.html

Update: A 13-inch Macbook pro with 8GB RAM? Wohoooo!

Update: A Macbook with 8GB of RAM – Wow – like they say, their fastest notebook to date!

Thanks to Engadget and Appleinsider, we can follow the Apple Keynote live.
e:

The next one!

I am loving this category of posts. Its interesting how a different set of lyrics, different set of musicians, probably using different musical instruments also, – end up rendering such wonderful renditions of the same tune. Apart from the tune, the only thing that connected them was MUSIC. Obvious. And now, you and me. Listeners. Also, in this case – Love.

‘I just called to say I love you’ – by Stevie Wonder.

‘Aate jaate’ from the famous ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’.

Both are brilliant, in their own ways. Aate jaate is sort of attached to SPB’s voice on my mind. I cannot imagine this song sung by anyone else. And in a better way.
So is Stevie Wonder’s. I had actually fallen in love with the lyrics when I heard this song first. Simple, the words are – yet so meaningful.

I mean, after a while, how many times do you call him/her just to say those three words. Sigh.
If you are reading this, try it someday. And do let me know if it made a difference. I am sure it will.

And for now, for some weird reason, my weird mind wants to imagine, one of our former railway ministers calling his wifey to say – “I just called to say I love you!”.
(Frankly, I admire this couple. In their own way, they are made for each other. )

Purab aur Paschim :)

The idea is to…..well…you’ll understand!

First one in the series is this song that makes you jump off that couch and start dancing….err…twisting!

Aao twist karein featuring Mehmood, sung by Manna Dey!

And here is the version by Chubby Checker!

Comments welcome!

Susan Boyle!!!

Now this is called talent! She appeared, as this and this article says, on the British show – Britain’s got talent. One of the best I have heard in recent times! Enjoy – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Cut-Copy-Paste is finally here!!!!

Am following the iPhone 3.0 preview event and it cannot get more exciting than this. Copy-Paste and across all applications? Woah!

Update: We have SEARCH, and across mail headers and other apps? OMG!  We would also get the much awaited MMS functionality! Interesting!!!

Dear Mr.Jagjit Singh,

Thank you, very much, for clarifying your stand on your recent comments!

For every other person who thinks or is daring to think on the lines of Jagjit Singh’s initial comments – Yes, you are right! Rahman does not deserve an Oscar. He is a class of his own. And nominating him for any award would mean comparing his work with someone else’s. No way!
And if you are thinking why did he get a nomination at all, and that his music is too jazzy or western or whatever you are thinking – please do one of the following for us:
1. Compose a better background score for the scene in Slumdog Millionaire, where a young Salim pours acid over the goon’s face and the brothers flee thru the forest. Even a blind person would feel the essence of the scene – just by the background score! You were not thinking of putting a ghazal here, were you?
2. Compose a background score, and try to atleast match that composed by Rahman, for the initial scene where the kids are chased by the police constables.
If you cannot do this, please sit back and hope that we get our first Oscar, a well-deserved one, through Rahman.

As for Mr.Jagjit Singh’s comments - he has given us masterpieces like ‘Tumko dekha to ye khaayal aaya’  or ‘Hoshwalon ko khabar kya’. These have sort of become synonymous with his name. And I bet no one can better the way he has put life into these words. I guess the man should stick to using his voice to give us more like these!

As I sign off, I’ll leave you guys with these two wonderful songs:
Arziyan
Jab Saamne Tum Aa Jaate Ho

Rahman’s newest…..

As I was putting thoughts together for this post, I wondered what life would have been without this man’s music! Give it a thought.

Yeah, I know.
I guess God creates such mortals only once in umpteen generations!

It was a long wait for Delhi 6, as it is for all of Rahman’s works. I heard it and fell in love with the album. Yes, the whole album. Now with Rahman’s compositions, there are some which grow on you and some you instantly fall for. Delhi 6 falls in the latter category.
If you really want to enjoy this album, stop everything else you are doing. Put on your headphones. Close your eyes. Listen to all of the songs. Continuously.
If Genda phool makes you tap your hand on the desk, Maula maula brings tears in your eyes! If Masakali makes you jump out of that bed, and start dancing, Rehna tu adds joy to that breeze embracing you as you sip coffee on your balcony!
Each track captivates you in its own way.

As this professional reviewer puts it, “Its raining Rahman all over the world, and I absolutely love it! “. Well, me too!

As I sign off, I must admit, my wait for Eight by ten and Asokavanam has already started!

Looking back in retrospection, at 40!

Conversations….

“I have the toughest part when this guy touches me, after all his adventures with his nose.”
“Sheesh. That is awful. Well, guess what! I am having all the fun. Thanks to wireless technology, I sometimes rest on her lap.”
“The other day this jerk dragged me around like hell. Doesn’t understand that unless I have a good platform I cannot perform well!”
“I pity the old lady as she shivers to hold me. Man! it is ages before she can actually position the cursor and actually click me!”
“Well, different people, different experiences. Guess none of you can beat this. This woman left her cute baby with her husband, as he sat staring at the sales report on his laptop. The moment came when the baby brought her little hand towards me, and brushed my face. Then she tapped my nose. Woah, I wished I was wireless, like our friend here, and became a toy in her hands!”
Everyone else: “Aaaaaawwwwwww!!!!!!!”

….overheard these in this unique celebration by the beloved members of our Computer Mouse Community.
Celebration to commemorate 40 years of their existence, 40 years of being among us, 40 years of tolerating our clicks and drags, sometimes bearing that accidental coffee spill, at other times – witnesses to the many love stories, fights?

This article tells me, the first mouse was demonstrated in public on December 9^th, 1968.

I still remember the first time I was led into the Computer room of my school, as one of the few privileged ones on the computer hobby club. That night I slept wondering why did they ever call it a mouse. And thanks to my weird imagination, it gave me goosebumps to actually imagine holding a mouse under my palm. Ew! As I write this, I guess it does, even now.

Join me as I take this as a chance to thank all the mice I have ever used. As you read this article, look at that mouse you have been using all these years. Yes, go ahead. Look at it. Look at it in reflection.
Maybe you might have a reason or two to thank it too!