This is the theme song for the World Classical Tamil Conference that will be held this month. Written by M. Karunanidhi (chief minister of Tamil Nadu, and one of the greatest men of words that the nation has produced), the music score is composed by our very own A.R. Rahman (saying his name gives me goosebumps!). The song is sung by the best singers of Tamil Nadu and neighboring states, and is a feast for your ears!
I am feeling all patriotic right now, and so I will add this video to go with it:
Vande Mataram...I am moved to tears every time, and I mean Every.Time, I hear this song...
This is the Hindi version of the song...
I hope these songs make you feel the same way they do for me...Enjoy!
I love me some real good music through out the day... There are around a gazillion music CDs lining the shelves of our humble abode, and not one of them belongs to me!! You can see who's the minority here! So, we got HillSong - the whole series they EVER released. Then we've got some Tamil Spiritual Lyrics, some weird classical western music CDs that I can never enjoy, no matter how hard I try...(on such days I'm sure my husband is asking himself, "Ok, someone remind me again, why did I marry her?" But really, I just cannot feel anything when I hear a million violins scratching it out, cymbals clashing, and drums acting like they are the voice of God!!! Nope. It does nothing for me.
Anyway, what I like is The Corrs, Enrique Iglesias, ABBA, BoyZone (even tho' they are so 'yesterday'...), BackStreetBoys (don't laugh, I love their music), and nice melodies like that. No hard rock (GOD, NO!) and no heavy metal (Over my dead body...no, not even then!).But hey, I love country music! Of course, nothing beats A.R. Rahman's music (a little patriotism, and lots of love for his talent, I guess!).
So, downloading these songs from YouTube is a pain..blame it on slow Internet connections. And here I am, one day, craving music, with YouTube downloading a song for so long that I grew an entirely new gray hair! So, I go on an Google for websites for music, easy to download and all that.
Now, I love, love, love this website. Why? Firstly, it has all the music you can ever want to listen...although it is only western music...but hey! at least that is easily available, right? Second, the songs download so quickly!!! I cannot believe how efficient the download is! Thirdly, it has a lot of other cool features...now, I really haven't checked out this website completely, but added features are your thing, you should certainly go check it out.
And so, days go by, and I'm like really enjoying my music at home..I play my favorite play list, set the speakers on full blast, and listen to music while I work...and I am in pure music heaven.
And then, I feel, "Okay, maybe I can share this information with my husband..I mean, after all, I am married to him, to love and to hold, and share cool stuff that we find on the internet! So, I tell him one day, "You know what? There's this really cool music website which plays all kinds of music, and downloads really quickly...I mean this is better than YouTube!" And he's all like "Uhuh! Whatever..."
Next day he casually asks me, "Jane, what is that website you were talking about?" and I tell him.
Next minute, my blood curdles...because what do I hear???
THIS!!!!!
WHAAA.... are you KIDDING ME?!!!
Note: Okay, this is from YouTube because Grooveshark is occupied by my husband!
So, I came across this fantastic story about this married couple whose paths crossed in DisneyLand, and they didn't even know it. The story goes like this:
Alex and Donna Voutsinas are about to get married and they are looking through old photo albums. Donna shows Alex a picture taken in DisneyLand, with she and her brother and some Disney character. Imagine his surprise when he spots his own father pushing him in a stroller in the background of that picture!! Cool, right?!?! Stuff that fairytales are made of...but then again, Art imitates Life.
[caption id="attachment_355" align="aligncenter" width="392" caption="Guy in the black shirt is Alex's dad!"][/caption]
Guatemala has been going through terrible times recently...If you've been watching the news you will know that they have had volcanic eruptions, tropical storms and what not.
Looking at scenes of the devastation and suffering in that place, is heart-wrenching...
Did you even know that was possible? I thought we had solid ground under our feet, and, the Earth, along with the gravity and everything, has got us totally covered! But LOOK at this!
It's a really deep hole formed because of the ground water eroding the weak limestone that is found underground. This phenomenon is called a 'karst'. The place is called 'karst topography'. Direct quote from an article about Karst Topography and Sinkholes in About.com - "About 10% of the earth's land (and 15% of the United States') surface consists of soluble limestone, which can be easily dissolved by the weak solution of carbonic acid found in underground water."
Basically, what they're saying is that the earth can cave in at any moment, without prior warning - no smoke signals, no hot water spurting out...nothing, absolutely nothing!
I took one look at that picture, and shivered in horror...Imagine looking down into one of those holes just outside of your backyard...Or worse, falling down one of those holes...losing everything to a giant hole in the ground...sounds surreal...I still can't believe such things can actually happen in this world. I guess they can...
Disclaimer: Okay, now I don't know if this is photo-shopped. And I kind of hope it is...for the sake of the people who live there. But if it isn't, then I pray that the people of Guatemala will have the strength to face their trials...
And I hope we can all do something, however small, to help these people.
Note: I am so blessed to live in one of the most boring little towns in India! I used to complain that nothing ever happens in Nagercoil...well, right now...I am not complaining at all!
