Sunday, August 29, 2010

A night at the NCPA

Today was a concert by the Bombay Chamber Orchestra (BCO) at the Tata Theatre at NCPA conducted by Dr Ernest Hoetzl to commemorate the 200th birth anniversary of Frederic Chopin. there were two polish pianists, Pavel Sobowiec and Krzysztof Trzaskowski ,students of the Frederic Chopin University of Music (formerly the Warsaw Conservatory). as luck would have there was a faulty allotment of tickets and we were forced to shift seats. with lady luck by our side, we moved over to the front row!!

Chopin was a genius of the piano and his compositions till date are technically very demanding on anyone who plays them. for most of the latter part his life, he was settled in Paris after the Russian invasion of Poland in the 1830s where he died at the age of 39 but not before leaving a treasure trove of compositions. three of his compositions, polonaise in a major, andante spianato and grande polonaise in e flat for the piano and finally the concerto for piano and orchestra in e minor were played flawlessly by the two gentlemen just 23 years of age ably supported by the equally brilliant BCO. there was a tribute to the Late Mr Burjor Shroff a former cellist with the BCO and an encore in the form of the one minute waltz to close curtains. in a concert that lasted a little about an hour and a half, there wasnt a dull moment with the magic of chopin enthralling us philharmonics. just goes on to show good music can never cease to amaze. but i guess i know myself better than most, so the irritating part was the fat lady who sat next to us jabbering in a fake accent during the intermission till our ears nearly steamed and eyes sprouted full grown six feet tall and heavy daggers...luckily she didnt sing..or it would have been a requiem. the other part was that of the concert brochures. the length and breadth of seven pages on either side would have made it a classic. it really doesnt require ugly aishwarya rai and the rest of the sponsors to overshadow the essence of chopin's genius.

Monday, August 23, 2010

HAPPY RAKSHA BANDHAN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf2VZQhv7VU&feature=search


Crying sis: waaah boo hooo booo hooo....18 year old only i saw you but after birth my father mother i no see; my brother only i seeing and seeing....in my heart only your love is there but my life and body running every every drop of blood my brother only there; my brother’s love and affection only there...waaah boo hooo booo hooo....

Ugly monkey looking brother: also nodding head from left to right and crying as he is caught in the cross fire between the barbers union and PETA and cant stand the stink of the guy behind him

Constipated Hero with cheap tomato soup for blood: boo hooo booo hooo (and keeps nodding his head from left to right unable to bear the high decibel lecture of the heroine)

Crying sis: look here, one i will tell, understand u...i might have fallen in love beyond me...but without crossing my brother this marriage will take place, you dont even dream

Constipated Hero with cheap tomato soup for blood: Tamil...... (Wow..this guy can speak!!)

(crowd disperses...all the women going to their kitchens for preparing dinner without knowing there wont be any banana leaf feast as Ugly monkey looking brother drops the macho scythe)

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Thank You, S&Prithvi; for the numbers

Yesterday was the first time i saw a play, thanx to my great friend. i stepped into NCPA without any preconceived notions or agenda for what i thought to be two hours by the clock on some firang's take on my fellow indian, srinivasan ramanujan and his math. two hours without a break seemed far, actually distant even by yesteryear bollywood musicals as i mulled about switching off my phone. two hours without a break for coffee or a leak!! yet, by the time lead actors took to the stage, i sat transfixed with the hustle bustle of madras ringing in my ears. am not going to narrate the play by the scene for it wouldnt do an ounce of justice, so i wont; but it would suffice to say that the play 'revolves' around life as such in past, present,future and the numbers of ramanujan.

the stage setting and production, if thats the right term were par excellence and near authentic for every scene and every period in time that the play traversed so often. the use of the props and looped back recordings very very innovative, the performance by every actor flawless right down to the rendition of some well researched carnatic songs and a script that was true to GH Hardy and the philosophy of mathematics must have taken gargantuan effort.

i had no clue about the name simon mcburney till i saw the play. i now hold him in jaw wide open awe for what he achieved on stage which guy ritchie, christopher nolan and their ilk might be doing in movies. a week later my only grouse is that the play is not scheduled in madras...ok, chennai!!! ironic isnt it?

Monday, August 02, 2010

Old Salman khan had a farm......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njjMAVEgQsg

Old Salman khan had a farm
aiyo aiyayayo....
and in that farm
he had some cows....
aiyo aiyayayo....
they had two horns and a waffle cone
aiyo aiyayayo....
the cows chewed chlormint
and attracted a busfull PYTs
aiyo aiyayayo....
they gave ice cream and screamed
when creamed
aiyo aiyayayo....
the ad makers forgot macdonald
not salman the rajasthani cow-boyed
who farmed and milked
eeeya eeeya wohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Cashing a cream cow

India as a country is home to a variety of cows. one can find cows that are worshipped; are whipped, cows of many colours; of multiple colours, cows that can be milched; and those that just chew cud, cows that aimlessly shit on the road, cows that shamelessly dont obey traffic rules, cows that moo, cows that simply dont move, cows with no horns; with small horns; with monstrous horns....but not a cow that has a detachable waffle cone as a third horn so that it can be i-screamed or be addressed as 'theen sing wala gai,why?'


so, ladieeej, genteelmens
and owners of amul, dinshaw,baskin robbins (and other ice cream manufacturers)......this is what is known as cashing on a cream cow!!!