വാക്കുകൾക്ക് ശബ്ദം നഷ്ടപ്പെടുമ്പോൾ...

കണ്ണീരിന്റെ നനവിലും

പുഞ്ചിരിയുടെ നൈർമല്യത്തിലും

തലോടലിന്റെ സാന്ത്വനത്തിലും 

മൗനത്തിന്റെ മൂകതയിലും

ഞാൻ എന്നും നിനക്ക് 

വാക്കുകൾക്കപ്പുറം എന്റെ ശബ്ദം നൽകും.

Take Me By Your Arms Once Again

Touched by the colours of the season,

Caressed by the breeze that sang softly,

I watch the fields that flaunt a golden hue,

Remembering the golden times we once had.

Time was not just enough for both of us,

The earth was in haste as if in a race,

Now, the clock has just stopped ticking,

As if the race is over, and there's nothing more to achieve.

Each moment today is a sad remembrance,

Of the times when the world was ours,

Of the days that we seized in love,

Of the moments that were born for us.

Take me by your arms once again,

Let me feel the life in me once more,

For when death comes to me,

I want to leave these arms happy and content.

With Me, By Me

The soft twilight that whispered your name,

Has left me in the hollow dark.

The bustling leaves that smiled at us,

Have ended up a sad crumbled death.

The birds that sang your tune,

Have forgotten how to sing a perfect note.

The days that woke us with their golden touch,

Is just a burning memoir that has lost its shine.

All that remains with me from the day you left,

Is the lingering

fragrance that you spread in my life.

You are missing from me

The world around me seems to be the same,

I can sense smiles, laughter, and happiness,
When nothing around has changed a bit,
All I feel is something hollow within,

For you are missing from me.

The day is bright and there's no sign of a cloud,

Sunlight seeps through the window creak as I stare at nothingness,

When all the lights are on and there's brightness everywhere,

All I feel is something dark within,

For you are missing from me.

There are noises and cheerfulness all around me,

I can hear conversations, and of those typing away sheet after sheet,

When the day is just like any other Monday to them,

All I feel is a silence within,

For you are missing from me.

I see no panicked faces around,

All are occupied in the flow of the day,

When they all seem relaxed and enjoying the moment,

All I feel is a sense of desperation,
For you are missing from me. 

A Journey Through Amritavarshini, The Raga of Rain!

Some names, words, music pieces and faces draw my attention for no obvious reasons. Though I enjoy singing, I have no knowledge regarding ragas or their compositions. However, the name Amritavarshini somehow made me curious to know more about it. Here's all that I could compile:

Amritavarshini is a janya raga (derived raga) of Chitambari, which is the 66th Melakarta raga in Carnatic music. Only five of the seven musical notes are used in this raga. They are Shadja, Antara Gandhara, Prati Madhyama, Panchama and Kakali Nishada. The other two notes (Rishabha and Daivata) are not used in the raga and its compositions. Amritavarshini has its equivalent in Hindustani classical music, which is Megh Malhar.

The Story of Amritavarshini

The famous Carnatic composer Sri Muthuswami Dikshithar once visited the drought-stricken land of Ettayapuram in Thirunelveli of Tamil Nadu. On a visit to a local temple there, he prayed to the goddess in this raga. He sang one of his compositions, Anandamrita, which was based on Amritavarshini. It is said that as he sang the line "Varshaya, varshaya, varshaya", it started raining heavily and the place got flooded soon. Later, the rains stopped only after he sang the raga replacing "varshaya varshaya varshaya" with the line "Sthambaya sthambaya sthambaya".

Here's an interesting blog post on the raga.

Tansen and Megh Malhar

There's an interesting story behind the magical musician Tansen and Megh Malhar. Tansen was once called to Akbar's court to sing and prove the magical powers of the raga Deepak. Tansen knew that the heat emanated from singing the raga would be enough to burn him to ashes. His daughter, who was an exceptional singer herself, suggested that he teach her Megh Malhar, so that she could sing the raga and save him from death by bringing rain.

On the day of the performance, Akbar's court was adorned with countless oil lamps. As the legend started singing, the court heated up, lighting the oil lamps. As the temperature of the hall rose and the surroundings were in flames, his daughter started singing the raga Megh Melhar, and it rained, extinguishing the flames and saving her father. 

Amritavarshini and Megh Malhar are ragas associated with joy and ecstasy. They are also believed to have healing powers to cure diseases related to heat. 

Thanks for reading this blog post, and I welcome you to contribute to the article if I've missed out on any interesting info on the ragas.

Fraudulent Calls from Shine.com

This is just to make all of you aware of what's happening in job portals in the name of a better job opportunity. When you're unemployed and desperately looking for a suitable job, you may fall for such frauds out there. Never! 

Here's one of my experiences with Shine.com, which you may have faced already, or may face in future. I had received several phone calls from this job portal asking me to pay an amount for better services. Since I generally ignore such crap unless it gets on my nerves, I kept ignoring. Today one so-called Shine employee got a royal treat from me when I lost my temper and decided not to neglect it anymore.

This "gentleman" called me saying he's from Shine.com and started asking me my previous job position, the reason for leaving the last job, what kinda offers I'm looking for, etc.. I got impatient and here's the rest..
I: Why do you need all this? What is this call regarding? 
He: This is regarding better job opportunities. 
I: Thanks a lot. I'm not interested. 
He: Why not? You don't need internal references? 
I: No, thanks. 
He: Why so, madam?
I: See, when you keep talking, you're wasting my time as well as yours. Please understand. 
He: But you have been searching for a job for a few months now.
I: That should be my concern, not yours.
He: I'm here to help you.
I: I know to help myself, thanks. I've read about such fraudulent calls from Shine, so don't waste your time.
He: How do you know whether I'm a fraud or a genuine employee? How can you say that?
I: Oh. I'm sorry. Now please.. (I can feel my blood boiling)
He: It's not just your time that's precious.
I: Yeah that's what I said too! (disconnected the call as he kept on talking)

So this is what a "genuine employee" of Shine does to you if you tell him you're not interested in paid services. I am now left with the regret if wasting my words and time on some fraud who wanted to prove that he's genuine. Please don't fall for such calls/SMS/mails from any official job portal. Thanks! :) 

Tracing The History of Nanthuni

I’ve always been curious about various things around me, and I generally take time and do my study on them as well. Nanthuni, a musical instrument, is something that caught my attention recently. I heard it in a Malayalam song, though I’m not able to recollect the song. The word Nanthuni has a resemblance to the Malayalam word thuni which means cloth. This is what made me curious. I wanted to find out the roots of this instrument, and here is what I gathered from all the online and offline sources available.

Nanthuni is believed to be having a history dated back to the times of the Puranas and other Indian texts. It is said that sage Narad or Narada, also known as Narad Muni, had played this stringed instrument called Nanthuni during the time of Shiva Tandava. History has it that several Hindu communities used to play Nanthuni during various traditional festivals and religious occasions. The name Nanthuni, as per some online sources, is derived from the Sanskrit term ‘Namdhwani’. It used to be called by several names like Nanduni, Naldhuni and Nanthurni. This wooden instrument has strings made of ‘pinjaavalli’ or ‘eerachulli’, though today most use metal strings to play it. A thin stick made of splinters is used to play the strings. Nanthuni is 4 feet long and a foot wide. The upper part of the instrument is divided into seven parts, depicting the seven notes of classical music. The wood used to make Nanthuni include Kumizhu, Koovalam and Chiitamruthu.

Nanthuni is used for Hindu rituals and related music like Kalamezhuthu paattu, Bhadrakali paattu, Ayyappan paattu and Vettaykkorumakan paattu. It is generally played by the Kurup community, who are believed to be the descendants of Narad. However, other communities like Ganiya and Pulluvan also use the instrument for some of their rituals. For instance, the Mannaan community of Central Kerala uses Nanthuni as a part of a ritual, Bhagavathy Thottam. The Ganiya community of the southern part of Kerala uses this instrument for ‘oottum paattum’ as a part of their custom. The songs in which Nanthuni is used, are collectively known as ‘Nanthuni paattukal’. There is a mention of the instrument in Unnuneeli Sandesham, one of the oldest Malayalam literary works, which was written in 14^th century.

As per Natya Shastra, there are four types of musical instruments – stringed, percussion, hollow and solid. Nanthuni belongs to the category of stringed instruments. Saraswathi Veena, one of the variants of Veena, is said to have been inspired by Nanthuni. Interestingly, Nanthuni is also a female Hindu name, though I’ve not heard anyone with that name! ;)

Please leave your valuable feedback on the same, and I also would appreciate if you could add details to this article. Thanks for reading! 

Info Courtesy:

http://puzha-archives.s3.amazonaws.com/channels/nattariv/html/kaivela_july2.html

https://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B4%A8%E0%B4%A8%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%A4%E0%B5%81%E0%B4%A3%E0%B4%BF

http://keralaculture.org/malayalam/nanthuni/109