A belated Mother's day update

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Yes, quite a belated one at that. While everyone and their neighbour's dog put up their photos on FB with their respective mothers, dedicating lovely poetic lines; even the little and not so little ones contributing their bit and thereby making it to the FB headlines for the day, I completely missed jumping into the bandwagon as I was busy spending the day with my family who are visiting.

It's only when I logged in late into the night and got drowned neck deep with the flood of FB statuses on my timeline did I realize how ungrateful and thoughtless a child I've been. :-p

However, to make amends, I have something lovely to share with all of you- an audio-video that my friend, Charumathy, and her sister, Bhairavi released for Mother's day-as a tribute to all the mothers. The talented sister-duo who go by the name Voice Virus on Facebook, have many albums to their credit. This particular song has been composed by Charumathy herself.

The video depicts the relationship between mothers and daughters. As a part of the video shoot, Charu requested to have a small bit shot in our place and I was more than happy to oblige. Only, I was not quite prepared when the photographer-cum-cinematographer, Ruchir Saraf, suddenly decided to have me play the role of one of the mothers in the video. My sweet little on-screen daughter, to be played by Charu's niece, was equally unprepared to warm up to a stranger in a strange place. However, with some team effort we did manage to put up some genuine looking shots for the camera :-)

Do watch the video on Youtube. The song is so good that you'll automatically like and share it :-)



An enthralling Harikatha

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Those who have heard Vishaka Hari would readily agree when I say that 'Harikatha' and Vishaka Hari are synonymous and the words could be easily interchanged to mean the same. Such is the beauty of the format of story-telling and the way Vishaka handles it so fluently. So, when the opportunity presented itself to hear her in person at a theatre so near by, I grabbed it both hands. What's more, it was a children's special show which meant that I could introduce R too to this wonderful story format!

What a spell-binding, mesmerising 90 minutes it was! I am unsure now whether her music skills enchanted me more or her master story-telling skills or her grasp over the nuances of the scriptures. All in all I was held captive for all those moments; transported temporarily into a ecstatic state. She was ably accompanied by each of those on the Violin-B Ananthakrishnan, Ghatam-Sukanya Ramgopal and Mridangam-H S Sudheendra.

I had had the privilege of hearing Smt. Sukanya Ramgopal earlier at the same venue during a Sthree Thaal Tharang programme-an all woman troupe of percussionists headed by Smt.Sukanya herself. A great artiste herself, she brought in even more joy and momentum in Vishaka's journey. And, so did the Violinist and Mridangist who were equally good with their chosen instruments.

Coming back to Vishaka Hari, she has all the skills that a story-teller should have- a capability to engage all kinds of audience, a very pleasant disposition and a thorough grasp of the subject-matter. She seems such a complete package as she exhibits complete command over every aspect of Kathakalakshepam. The spirituality, passion, devotion and dedication is so evident that there is a charismatic glow on her face and you almost want to fall at her feet for letting you experience-even if for just some fleeting moments-the power of devotion and music.

Kudos to Jagriti for putting together such wonderful programmes.

P.s. do visit the links mentioned here to know more.