Bheemavaram Cocnert Trip for 2nd Nov'07 concert

It was indeed a long journey by train, which ofcourse I enjoyed, and we reached in Bheemavaram by Circar Express around 8am (2hrs delay) and were met by Sr Vekatamana - Secy of the sabha. On reching the room as i was testing the instruemnt, the secretary was happy to hear carnatic sounds from keyboard (thats what he said) and gave some list which he said to list as were audience choices. Then after few minutes his brother Sri Rangasai came and when i performed the pallavis of the krithis he showed pleasant shock and hugged & kissed me. He blessed and asked me perform few krithis in the concert in the evening.

Mr Rangasi took me to a leading college in AP namely D.N.R. College & introduced me to all the top officials in the College. I understand this college was started in the year 1945 and has classes from KinderGarden to Doctarate level. I was felicitated in the college and in the evening i swa a huge turn out of audience. I prayed god for a good presentation and it turned out to be one, thanks to the Almighty's grace and also the team of Rajeev anna on violin, Suri uncle on Mrudhangam and Sowri uncle on Kanjeera, Ghatam, Morsing and Konnakol. I got some cash as gift and i think god gave me this for celebrating Deepavali.

A concert with mixed theme - 31 Oct'07



Performed a concert in Mylapore again actually the third building from where we performed on 29th Oct'07. Today it was enhanced by Arjun Ganesh anna on mrudhangam, Pradeep uncle on Tabla, Suri uncle on BAss guitar, Sridhar anna on Drums and Ravishankar anna on additional keyboard and vocal support

What a talented person Ravi ann is! Yes he plays Mrudhangam, Keyboard and also sings very well. I understand he is now learning to play drums also. Appa and myself decided to have him as additional keyboard to get a different feel of the concert and really worked.

Nice of Sridhar anna to come and play inspite of the fact that he is the main person in organising his brother's wedding on the 1st Nov'07. Thank you anna.

Concert in Chennai on 29th Oct'07

It was raining all through the day and looked we were in Kodai from Dindigul. The concert was also came out well with Ananthakrishnan anna on violin, Suri uncle on Mrudhangam, Sundar uncle on Tabla & Hari anna on Ghatam. It was also a concert i will remember as i was performing the Hindustani piece learnt from my guru Sri Balaji from Banaras Universtiy (Ananthakrishnan's father) just two days back .

Sri Balaji came for the concert and appa asked if i can attempt playing the Hindustani number. I just tried and it came out to get applause & appreciation from my Guruji. Even though the party had wanted mixed of Devotional & carnatic numbers, this Hindustani number became the main and also the most preferred number of the day.

A trip to Dindigul 28 Oct '07- famous for Pootu (Locks)

I had a pleasant trip to Dindigul for a private reception concert on the 28th Oct'07and we all enjoyed the trip with pleasant climate throughout. More so Hari anna (Ghatam) and myself enjoyed playing cricket in the room and it was the best part of the tour for ourselves apart from the concert. Ananthapadmanabha anna (Violin) & Thillaisthanam Suriyanarayanan uncle were either practising or sleeping when we were involved in playing cricket.

21 Oct '07 at Koothanoour - Concert we will remember for ever.

Yes I am pleased and happy to have got the oppurtunity to perform in Goddess Saraswathi Temple, Koothanoor on the Vijayadhasami day - 21st Oct'07. Playing Keyboard in this temple of Veena Vahini was indeed a great privilege for me and my family. Thanks especially to Jayaram mama (in the Photo above) who had confirmed / arranged this concert as early in April'07 after seeing me perform in a wedding concert in Chennai. Thanks all to all the authorities of teh templ for giving me this great oppurtunity.

We did not believe this until the performance ended and it was also nice of Ananthakrishnan anna (Violin), Ravisankar anna (mrudhangam and Sowrirajan uncle (Kanjeera & Morsing) to have come all the way with us for this presentation. AK anna had also brought his sister and we all had a great time going to Lalithambika temple & Athi Vinayaka Temple in the nearby towns. We all saw people playing inside a pond and a old meter guage train compartment just lying idle

It was also for the first time we took a journey by Private bus with the keyboard for a performance and we really enjoyed the travel by Rathimeena travels onward. The return by Reliance travels was little tedious as we could get only the last row seats. But the thought of the oppurtunity to perform at this Great Temple nullifies all these small discomforts.

The above photos shows the enjoyment we had in the trip.

Link for the two sample tracks of the concert http://tinyurl.com/2382cm

A concert that gave me a Title

It was a wonderful day for me as i received a title "VidwanMani" from Guruji SrilaSri Kamatchi Swamigal for Sri Kamakshi Kaingarya Trust & Sri Swarna Kameswari Seva Sangam - Nanganallur during the concert on the 17th Oct'07. I dedicate this award to all the enhancement artists who were there yesterday as i feel it was this presentation being good, which got me the award. Not to leave out Sri Karthick of karthick Audios who provided an excellent PA system. Thanks to Mr Suresh uncle (Police department) and his father Dindugal mama & Suresh uncle PRO of the math for excellent arrangements.

Here is the audio link of the award presentation & few tracks from the concert

http://tinyurl.com/ysgl87

A great trip to Shimoga! 10th October, 2007

I loved this trip with four long train journeys to and fro and that itself was quiet interesting. The time we left Chennai by Lalbaugh on the 9th Oct'07, i was very lucky to have got the seat position - window and a aisle for my appa, and a good ac chair car travel. Being on train after a long time during day time, i enjoyed it to my heart's content. Appa was busy reading Gandhiji's biography while in Labaug Express both ways.

We reached Bangalore by 930 and went crossing all the tracks from Platform 1 - 10 to take Shimoga Express which left at 1140pm. The worst every train with lots of cockroaches was this leg of travel both ways with coaches looking neat but with full of 100s of insects. It took almost 1 hr for appa to try and clear all these after which only i could guarantee myself with some sleep.

As we were approaching Shimoga, appa woke me and was pleasantly surprised and thrilled to see the mist when i opened my eyes. Here is a small video clipping which will give you an idea. http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Gn0qLTara4 On reaching we straight went to the hotel we were booked to stay namely Madhura Paradaise. This was located just infront of the Gandhi Park.

After check-in appa & myself went round the park and enjoyed the morning walk. After breakfast we went to the Vinayagar Temple located in the area called Ramana Shetty Park and also to Hanuman Alaya. On way the auto driver showed us one of the oldest churches of India. We enquired about JOG falls and on hearing that water level was little less and also that the travel time of 6 hrs both ways (around 220 kms), i decided to reserve it for our next Holiday trip!

The concert in the evening was also great with good ambience. All the artists appreciated me after the concert and so was the audience and the sabha officials. We left Shimoga immediately after the concert with fond hopes of coming back again very soon on a holiday trip. i am sure we will make it!

I also enjoyed the comments of my class teacher to my mom about me being a nice student, when i attended the parents day meet at the school after reaching Chennai.

Ps. for audio tracks of the concert log on to http://tinyurl.com/2552q9 and for update on the concert log on to http://carnaticonkeyboard.blogspot.com/

My Holiday this time has been more pilgrimage oriented that too with visit to Hill Temples! Starting with Sholingar (hills) then Appur, today it was Tirumala!! Yes we got tickets thanks to my Thatha and Chithappa who had co-ordinated for the dharsahan tickets. As bundh was called off Thatha decided to stay back and so appa, amma, Chithappa, Chitthi, thier sons Surya & Sowmya, ammamma (even though she is my father's mother i call her only that way as i was used to see my athai's sons calleing her that way!) and myself left in two cars - Maruthi esteem driven by Chithappa and Zen Estillo by appa.

We started around 630am in the morning and after having a great dharshan returned home at around 8pm. We did not claim the hills. The ddive both ways was really great thanks to Lord Balaji for making this trip a great one! My October 1st day has started off very well with the dharshan of Lord Balaji and hope everything will happen good in the future.

Another Hill temple visit - 29th Sep'07 Appur hills near Sriperumbudur

It was a wonderful experience going to Aapur Hills for a dharshan of Lord Venkatesa. Infact it is on the Singaperumal koil to Sriperumbudur road just 20 kms before Sriperumbudur. You need to claim around 500 steps to see this temple. What a greenary you see in this hill!! un beleivable indeed. I understand it is full of herbs. There is a forest officer on duty for 24 hrs in a tin shed with all communication gatgets.

I saw many monkeys (around 30) and i beleive there are around 100 monkeys living here. I think all of you seeing this blog should pay a visit irrespective of releigion, with lots of eatable for these monkeys. It will be a good experience for all and children of my age would really love. Youth will be happy to have satisfaction of claiming hills and oldies the satisfaction of going to a hill temple.

Here are two video clippings which i hope you will enjoy.

a) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPqtfCLtokQ

b) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n683xDM5vlQ

A great trip to the temple town of Sholingur

Appa asked me if we can go to Sholingur on 28 Sep'07 and take dharshan of Lord Narasimha and Anjaneya. I just bounced on the chance to take this trip. We tried to call many people to come with us but we only got –ve answers from many as late as 1130pm on the 27th sep. We all thought if we need to post pond the trip but I and amma were clear that we will take this trip with just three of us in our car – Maruthi Zen Estillo. It was the first long trip of over 100km distance I enjoyed the drive thoroughly. We also had the dharshan of our Acharyan there.

We left at 530am and returned back at 245pm having had great dharshan at both the temple. I had great time seeing so many monkeys at one place and the looti they do can not be compared to any of ours anyway! We are planning to go with my patti, thatha & athai today to another hill temple and if I go will update details later.

Happy to share few photos of my visit and also look at my new car!