Greatness.

I slept at 3 in the night yesterday, struggling to finish some office work that had piled up.
I woke up at 7 in the morning when the maid disturbed my diaper dreams.
I worked my ass off till 9 in the night today at work.
It was my longest day at work yet.
I came back to a lonely apartment, and cooked Maggi for myself.
One delightful conversation with J. We spoke about one very specific marketing funda.
Divya is away in Madurai, it did not even occur to me that I should call.
Watched Abhiyum Naanum.Actually shed a tear when the dad hugs the son-in-law in the climax. The bloody movie kept reminding me of Appa. So wanted to see him. Still want to.
It was midnight when i finished watching the film.
It is now 1:40 AM.
A full 100 minutes of sheer unbounded joy. It is abysmally unfortunate that there is no one at this hour to share this inexplicable happiness with.
Nandalala. Ilayaraja. Ecstasy.
On just the second listening, I sat up. I did not want to sleep.
I played Roadrash (minus the sounds) with the album on a loop for one full hour. Wanted to keep awake with this addiction. I did not mind it one bit that I was getting "busted" time and again in Level 3.
I still do not want to sleep.
Sheer greatness.
The day the man dies, I am flying back to his funeral to get one glimpse of him. I sincerely wish the laws of my life would allow for that. I am sure I will cry buckets, LOL.
Anyone care to join me?

chEARS to the Hero...

Train journeys on Mumbai local trains with an ipod in hand are good. Better when I have good earphones, and best when Ilayaraja is playing. Listening to songs that I have already heard a zillion times automatically draws me in so much that I end up playing those invisible guitars and drums and keyboards all at once, in thin air, wherever I can find some in those insanely crowded compartments.
A million eyes then fall on you, and you have to necessarily tone down, lest someone calls the police suspicious of terror calls on this weird phone-like device. After a raging internal debate on my duty towards Ilayaraja versus not offending the onlookers, I invariably bow to Raja and carry on in my own little space where every shake of my fingers meets an imaginary snare or every tap of my feet meets a fictitious kick pedal :)

In the most recent such journey, I was stuck at one point where I could not change the song coz there was no way I could reach into my pocket and unlock the ipod and so forth. And that was how I ended up listening to Naayagan for that entire journey. And realised for myself what an absolute gem the album is.
I have big time new found respect for Naan sirithaal DeepavaLi. I think it is one of any composer's best creations. How he manages to make the string instruments mischieviously dance to his tunes in the backdrop of a bombay brothel is simply unbelievable.
And if one were to start singing the stanza - as is the trend these days - it is just brilliant.
The orchestral start to Thenpaandi Cheemaiyile. Sensational.
The brisk violin sections in Andhi varum, the holi song. Intriguing.
The banjo (i believe) in Nila adhu vaanathu. Titillating.
Mani Ratnam must have had an orgasm when he heard the tunes first time.
And when the background score was done for the film, god (aka Ilayaraja) knows what he must have done.

That insanely amazing celebration of strings made yet another innocuous train journey blogworthy. Balls to the onlookers. I will play on all the violins you will never see with your naked ears.