Month: January 2010

Mizhi Thammil (cover)

It has been a long break from singing. Not from music, because my Zune keeps singing loudly for me almost everyday. But singing has suffered ever since the series of sickness started at home 3 months ago. Now that an eventful year has passed and an even more exciting year lying ahead, I thought I would post a song before my big day. 🙂

This song is one of my favorites from the Malayalam movie “Minnaaminni koottam”, a beautiful composition by Bijibal, a promising music director in the Malayalam music industry.

Song: Mizhi Thammil
Movie: Minnaaminni koottam
Music: Bijibal
Original singers: Ranjith, Swetha
Lyrics: Anil Panachooran
Cover version by: Joseph Thomas (Jo)

Download the mp3 of Mizhi Thammil Punarunna (Size: 7.15 MB, Bitrate: 256 kbps)

128 KBPS Streaming:

256 KBPS Streaming:

Engaged!

So the reason for my week-long hiatus from blogging is that I got engaged on last Saturday. Yeah! I got engaged. 🙂 It did not happen overnight, but I didn’t want to announce the news publicly because I messed it up last time. I did not even tell my friends until I was sure about it. And this time, am so sure about what I got.

But it is not a fairy tale love. Though she stays just 2 KMs away from my place, in Thrissur, it is an arranged marriage and we learn many things about each other as we talk every day. It is an interesting process. We have so many opposites on many fronts. And there are so many doubts in both of us about each other. When I crack a joke, am conscious to see if she takes it in the right spirit. When she talks, she seems to be wanting to give me the right impression too. But as we get to speak more, it’s becoming like, “okay, you don’t need to explain it“, and I see it as a positive sign.

I never have believed in an ‘ideal match’. I still don’t believe in it. I think it depends on the couple to understand each other and make compromises and that is what makes an ideal match. Compromises – individually, intellectually, materially and so on… We both are trying to do that. And in that process, we expect hard waters and hope to cruise through them together and understand each other better. So each day we have something new to learn.

Her name is Sony (shortened form of Soniya), and according to a friend “a singer and music fan couldn’t have found a match with a better name” and another friend said, “this is called Poetic Justice! You love music and you get a woman named SONY.” 🙂 She loves music, yes, and she also likes to sing though she has not sung for me yet. She has promised she will, soon.

Am I excited? Yes, but also tensed a lot. In fact, I could not even sleep through the night before the engagement day as there were so many things haunting me personally. Not related to marriage, but on the personal/family front. I hope that all will be over soon. And I am teaching myself not to worry about things that I have no control over. I hope I can sail through the troubled waters and make things work for us. And make more music (I know it has been a long time since I posted a song here, but I promise more songs will flow after the marriage).

As for now, we need your prayers and blessings…

Haiti needs our support

After all the terrible things that happened in Haiti, it is time for us to extend a helping hand to the people of Haiti. I just received an email from International Medical Corps who are working on ground in Haiti and I request all your support for the work they do. Please go through the request below:

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization, founded by volunteer doctors and nurses and dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through relief and development programs. Our emergency response team is in Haiti responding in force. There are still thousands of patients seeking treatment of which approximately 80% are in need of surgery and are running out of time – especially with the tremendous aftershocks still devastating this country. The team is treating crush injuries, trauma, substantial wound care, shock and other critical cases with the few available supplies – And they’re in it for the long haul.

Also go here for more details: http://www.imcworldwide.org/haiti

Donating $10 to help the people of Haiti is as simple as sending a text message of the word “haiti” to 85944.

Hey You!

Do you know how much it means to me when you talk?

When you talk with your sweet, stupid, nothings?

And how much that makes me smile?

And how much I want to be right beside you?

How much I am longing for a kiss, a hug, or just to keep looking into your eyes?

Do you?

My favorite blogs

With Twitter and Facebook, some bloggers seem to be losing interest in blogging. Though I don’t understand how blogging can be replaced by FB and Twitter, I see that some bloggers are shutting down their blogs and moving to other web 2.0 platforms or discarding the social media itself. I don’t understand how blogs can be replaced by Twitter or Facebook. Facebook has become too crowded and it’s getting so tough to keep track of the friends’ updates. Twitter has turned out to be a big chat room and it’s only the link/news sharing aspect that I like about it. You can’t use Twitter to blog your thoughts in 140 characters. And micro-blogging has become a farce term, as people use too many 140-character-messages to post their thoughts and it isn’t micro-blogging in the word’s sense (watch this funny video on Twitter too).

But blogging is here to stay, because we all love a bit of individual space, a unique identity of our own in the virtual space. And now the whole noise about micro-blogging overtaking regular blogging is losing base. As one of the blog post title in Tech Crunch says – “Blogging Vs. Microblogging: Twitter’s Global Growth Flattens, While WordPress’ Picks Up“.

Why am I cribbing about blogging now? Because I wanted to take a moment to write about my favorite writers from the blogosphere and why I admire them so much. And they make me want to improve the way I express through a language which was alien to me about 7 years back. Here are those people:

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Dilip D’souza @ Death Ends Fun

A writer par excellence, Dilip uses very simple language to strike a chord in our thoughts. There is no juggling of words that you would need to refer to the dictionary to understand. He also pauses striking questions before us and brings in fresh and original perspectives.

Recent favorite – Ranjodh, Nitin, Jaspreet, Raju

Pritz @ Life is Beautiful

I met Pritz through the blogosphere and she has become a good friend since then. She writes about simple things in life that we mere souls do not usually look at or think about. Simple thoughts about simple things in a simple life. That’s what makes her writing so beautiful.

Recent favorite – A Fairytale

Kuffir @ Kufr

Standing firm and tall for something that you believe in is an admirable quality, which is why I read this blog. Kuffir writes largely about caste, politics, social injustice and issues concerning Andhra and beyond. His points and responses are so sharp yet never vulgar or insulting anyone. You may agree or disagree with him, but you can’t ignore the questions he ask.

Recent favorite – kancha ilaiah on telangana

Joshua Newton @ Josh Cafe

I’m not much in favor of his Malayalam screenplay writing as you must have seen in this blog earlier, but I’ve been a fan of his English blog from a long time. Actually it is through Pritz’ blog that I came to know about Josh’s blog “Reportage”. His blog posts sometimes has a story to tell and sometimes its about human emotions. Whichever it is, his writing will strike an emotional chord in the reader.

Recent favorite – Such a long journey

Vinod Joseph @ Winnowed

Author of Hitchhiker, a much discussed novel, and a regular blogger. Vinod is not the type who shies away from commenting on social and political issues like many of our celebrity writers (humor is many of them rely on for popularity).

Recent favorite – Religious Fundamentalists Stick Together Irrespective of their Faith

Amit Varma @ India Uncut

For the short, simple and witty posts. He has a sarcastic take on almost everything that goes around.

Recent favorite – Dear Shah Rukh Khan

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And it’s not just the text blogs that I like in the blogosphere. More to come in the next day.