Trippers Inc

2010-03-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Only the dim-witted say it's evening
when the sun goes down
and the sky reddens,
when misery deepens,
and the mullai begins to bloom
in the dusk.

But even when the tufted cock
calls in the long city
and the long night
breaks into dawn,
it is the evening:
even noon
is evening,
to one who has no one.

Translation by Shri. A.K. Ramanujan, Poems of Love and War
original verse by Milaipperun Kantan, Kuruntokai 234.

Kurunthokai

2010-01-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

yAyum gnAyum yAr AgiyarO
endhaiyum nundhaiyum emmuRik kElir?
yAnum neeyum evvazhi aRidhum?
chembulap peyalneer pOla
anbudai nenjamthAm kalandhanavE

What could my mother be
to yours? What kin is my father
to yours anyway? And how
Did you and I meet ever?
But in love
our hearts have mingled
as red earth and pouring rain

The War within

2009-12-28T09:53:00.000-08:00

After death,
veins open into
concrete roads.

kill the dead

with an army

What a war!

Red and green
Saffron and white
The colours of death.

A tongue slain

twitching on the ground
Crime? - speaking.

A wailing child
hiding in the bosom
of dead mother.

A.J.Leggett

2007-05-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

Tony Leggett won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the year 2003 for his pioneering work in Supefluid theories especially the physics of He 3. He is currently visiting a Quantum Computing Institute about 70km from Hamilton,ON. I had the good fortune of listening to couple of his lectures and also a one on one session with him and my supervisor! This is I guess one of the closest encounters I have had with the special species that occupy my planet!

Any way I found this awesome quote in his autobiography and I guess anyone who ever had to make a choice between Physics and Maths would stand up and applaud him for giving words to express their predicament!!
Here's the quote:::
I did indeed briefly consider the possibility of going into pure mathematics, but rejected it on the grounds that in mathematics, almost by the definition of the subject, to be wrong means you are stupid: I wanted the possibility of being wrong without being stupid - of being wrong, if you like, for interesting and nontrivial reasons. Physics seemed to fill that bill

rambling

2007-04-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

There, in the rustling of the wind, I saw the shapes of love. When the autumn leaf fell on the ground, twirling in the air, its shadow on the ground in the afternoon heat looked like a petrified fish swimming in the waters. Like the petrified fluttering of the insane heart.

Lithograph by M.C Escher - Three Worlds, 1955

2006-08-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

For Hamilton, his science was inseparable not
just from his life but also from his death. He wrote a
moving article entitled "My Intended Burial and Why?",
in which he expresses his desire to have his body
dealt with thus: " I will leave a sum in my last will
for my body to be carried to Brazil and to these
forests. It will be laid out in a manner secure
against the possums and the vultures just as we make
our chickens secure; and this great Coprophanaeus
beetle will bury me. They will enter, will bury, will
live on my flesh; and in the shape of their children
and mine, I will escape death. No worm for me nor
sordid fly, I will buzz by the dusk like a huge bumble
bee".

W.D. Hamilton (1936-2000) - British evolutionary biologist

Karnatakam(1)--DKJ(addendum)

2006-06-28T04:58:00.000-07:00

as promised(thanks to rohit) two kuttikadhai or anecdotes about DKJ
During his younger days, DKJ was in Kancheepuram...he had 3 children and barely managed 2 make ends meet... he also did not get too many opportunities to sing... so he came over to madras... in madras, he stayed in one of the mada streets near kapali kovil in mylaporehere he started earning by taking music classes... he had many many sishyas and used 2 take class full time... it was only in the last 10 yrs of his life that he became famous and earned a lot of money... the irony is that he used 2 like drinking cold water, but but could not do so in his younger days as he had no refrigerator in his houseduring the days he started earning he bought a fridge but could not drink cold water as he had throat problems and he used 2 regret that a lot :)

he was a heart patient... but he was fond of "ver kadalai"(roasted peanuts)... he always used 2 eat it and continued even after doctors advised him against that... on the day he passed away also, he was taking class for his sishyas and was eating "ver kadalai" when he got a sudden fatal heart attack... even 2day, his sons and daughter dread the sight of ver kadalai which they feel caused their father's death... and j.vaidyanathan recollects till date that he was the one who used to go and buy "ver kadalai" for his father who insisted that he wanted it

Karnatakam (1) D.K.Jayaraman

2006-06-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

Starting with this post I plan to write a few words about the people who added lustre to the ocean of Karnatic Music.It would be great if Miss.S could start a simultaneous series in Hindustani Music!!

D.K.Jayaraman(DKJ to his fans and admirers and to readers of this blog from now on :) )
He is by far my favourite vocalist.This combined with the fact that Iam currently listening to lots of his music( Courtesy Rohit a dear friend and a budding vocalist who is in the Shishya Parampara of DKJ's Guru and sister DK Pattamal).
A short biography:
D. K. Jayaraman (1928-1991) D. K. Jayaraman hailed from Kanchipuram. From his teen years to his forties he gave concerts with his sister and guru, Smt. D.K. Pattamal. After his family moved to Madras in the 1940's, young Jayaraman furthered his musical skills by learning from several well known masters like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar *, Madurai Mani Iyer, Muthiah Bhagavatar, Rajaratnam Pillai(Great Nagaswaram Vidwan), Papanasam Sivan, Koteeswara Iyer and others.(Most of these names deserve a post and I hope to oblige :) )
D.K.Jayaraman was able to establish his individuality as a musician when he started giving solo concerts. He demonstrated singular creativity when rendering songs. By constant practice and singing, he acquired a pliable voice which he used to its fullest range. Rather shy by nature, he was a down-to-earth, simple man, not given to fanfare. In fact, he used to feel bashful if a large number of his admirers were around him. He was most comfortable in small gathering. Always accomodative, he was thoughtful of his accompanying artistes. He planned his concert well and it is said, he would rehearse his pallavi very thoroughly.
DKJ had a large stock of Muthuswami Dikshitar's, Shyama Sastri's plus Tyagaraja's kritis. Like Kanchipuram Naina Pillai, DKJ used to sing uncommon kritis in rare ragas. A few examples come to mind:
Parvati ninnu - Kalgada (Syama Sastri) Natimata marachitivo- Devakriya (Tyagaraja), Shanka-chakra-gadha panim -Purnachandrika (Muthuswami Dikshitar) Samayamide- Budhamanohari (Muthiah Bhagavatar) (This aspect of his music is an integral part of all his Sishyas espescially the genial Vijaya Siva among others)
Accolades and honours came to him one after another and the most coveted was the title of Sangita Kalanidhi from the Madras Music Academy. Unfortunately, he did not live long to cherish the recognition he got from the Music Academy. He died within a month after the title was conferred on him. His concert repertoire included many Tamil songs. He was instrumental in popularizing compositions of many modern composers like Papanasam Sivan, Periasami Tooran, Tanjavur Sankara Iyer, Surajananda, Neela Ramamurthy, Srivatsa and others. He had a large number of rasikas and trained several disciples. His daughter and his disciple, Sukanya gave vocal support to him in many of his concerts. Other prominant disciples include Vijay Siva, Balaji Shankar and violinist, R. K. Shriramkumar. His son, J. Vaidyanathan is a leading mrudangist. Rasikas often felt happy listening to DKJ's concert as he could feel the pulse of the audience and modify his presentation. He was willing to render songs requested by rasikas.
A short Anecdote
"The lad of eleven with captivating voice and expression was chosen to play the role of Prahalada. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Ayyangar(*) was Vishnu. N.S.Ramachandran was the producer. Renowned Palghat Mani, Mysore Chowdiah, Parupalli Ramakrishna Pantulu were among the cast. The musically talented lad was not only a brilliant success but had the presence of mind and the alertness to take over singing the piece 'Sri Maha Ganapathi' (Sourashtra *) when by inadvertance Parupalli had begun the song at the pitch of the lad. It should be noted that it was a live broadcast on the AIR long back. There was all-round praise to the lad, who was none other than D.K.Jayaraman, one of the top artistes."
* Sourashtra is a Karnataka Raagam
*Ariyakudi was one of the doyens of Karnataka Music.Among his achievements include a clear plan of presentation of a concert a.k.a Kutcheri Paddathi,(Will correct this if Iam wrong).There will definitely be a post on him.
Coming to anecdotes,I have asked Rohit for some.As and when I get them I will post an addendum to this post.

2006-05-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

From the foreword of 'Biochemistry' by Voet and Voet-

"My own scientific career was a descent from higher to lower dimension, led by a desire to understand life. I went from animals to cells, from cells to bacteria, from bacteria to molecules, from molecules to electrons. The story had its irony, for molecules and electrons have no life at all. On my way, life ran out between my fingers."

- Albert Szent Gyorgi, The Living State, Academic Press, 1972

A Remarkable Man

2006-05-07T01:04:00.000-07:00

For a southie Pattabhirama Reddy was a remarkable man.For starters he went to Shantiniketan(that it seems was normal for rich men of his time) and then he did his masters in film making from U - Colombia and so on and so forth.Read an article,actually an eulogy in todays Hindu.
Iam ripping off an earlier Hindu article for Trippers Inc.It is hoped that this would be of interest to the Ignorant(read non-Hindu reading public) pardon the arrogance!

Now the article

IT IS difficult to connect this serene, tall, old man speaking in soft, low tones with Pattabhi, who burst on the Telugu literary scene 63 years ago with a slender volume of 12 strange poems that seemed to have broken every rule and convention of "proper" poetic expression.
Its youthful mockery and unbounded defiance perplexed everyone. Buffoonery, egoism and sex were all part of his arsenal. And the twenty-year-old who delivered this decisive punch at a time when the predominantly syrupy, sentimental neo-romantic poetry (bhava kavitvam) was prevalent, was not even aware of the storm he had created.
He pursued a girl (on the pretext of business and studies) all the way to the U.S. He did not get her and was stranded for a long time due to the war. And then he gradually moved away from the Telugu literary field.
Today few people in Andhra know about Fidelu Raagala Dozen (1939). Fewer still know that the man lives in Bangalore and is as creative now at 83 as he was at 20. Or that Tikkavarapu Pattabhirama Reddy and his family have contributed enormously to the intellectual and cultural scene in Karnataka, including Kannada parallel cinema. Their house on St. Marks Road in Bangalore continues to be a hub for intellectuals and artistes.
It was a dream come true to see and meet Pattabhi when he was in town for the release of a book of poems titled Let Me Confess! written by a long time admirer, P. Purnachandra Rao, theatre-man turned photographer and writer.
WINTER'S TALE: Pattabhirama Reddy
Fidelu Raagala Dozen - the title means a dozen ragas played on the fiddle (violin), or, as you will see, a dozen of those noisy ones born to the guy Raga and the gal Fiddle - makes an ambitious claim for a new world of east-west synthesis (the violin, a western musical instrument, has been adopted so well for Indian music).
The city that is described memorably in Fidelu is Madras, the only real Metro in South India then. But the seeds for the work were sown in distant Shantiniketan. Like many rich young men of his time, Pattabhi too went to Tagore's university, but soon quit rebelling against its "high romantic atmosphere."
He joined Calcutta University and stayed in one of the seedy localities of the city. Recounting that experience 34 years later, he wrote in the preface to the second edition of the book "The din, the squalor and the human misery shocked me to the core. The mad commercial activity of the city and the loathsome brothels of Chitpur road where innocence was exploited by avarice disturbed me greatly." He returned to his native Nellore involving himself half-heartedly in the family mica export business. The discovery of mica had made the already well-to-do Nellore Reddys in Gudur area wealthy overnight.
Pattabhi met with like-minded young writers like Sri Sri in Madras and drew upon what he observed in Madras and Nellore to give a form to his disillusioning experience of Calcutta.
I have strange thoughts in my mind, Telescopes and microscopes in my eyes, With these stout clubs, poems of mine, I'll break the backs of padyams (poetry in the traditional mould) .......... Beware, I am no mere poet romantic, But a poet-egotist!
While a few revolutionary spirits like Chalam and Sri Sri warmly welcomed these disturbing poems, they were mostly dismissed as the puerile rantings of a clever, immature young man. The aggressive clownish stance misled critics from noting the angst beneath and a new kind of sensibility. A proper assessment of Fidelu Raagala Dozen as also his two other volumes: Kavita Naa Dayita (1978) (Poetry is My Beloved), a remarkable experiment in extending the prosodic possibilities of Telugu language through end-rhymes to suit new kinds of expression, and Punchangam (1980), a book of pun-poems, is probably still due.
Pattabhi met Snehalata, a remarkably beautiful, artistic, intelligent and idealistic young woman in Madras in 1947 and within six months they were married. Predictably this marriage with a Tamil-Bengali Christian created quite a stir in the community and his father, a Gandhian and advocate of women's education, never reconciled with him.
Luckily, Pattabhi had received his share of the family wealth prior to the marriage. The couple threw themselves with great passion into theatre, cinema and socialist politics. Pattabhi and Snehalata were among the founders of The Madras Players, the leading theatre group of Chennai known for quality productions of Indian English plays.
On the invitation of his friend K. V. Reddy, the most successful film director of South India at that time, he entered into film production. The first two films, Pelli Naati Pramaanalu (1958) (it won the President's certificate for the best Telugu film) and Sri Krishnaarjuna Yuddham (1963) were runaway successes.
INSPIRATION & MUSE: Snehalata
The devastating failure of their third film Bhagyachakram (1968) however, forced Pattabhi's exit from mainstream cinema. It was sheer coincidence that he took up the production of Samskara based on U.R.Anantamurthy's Kannada novel. At a dinner at their home, he heard Gopal Gowda narrating the story of the novel to the great socialist leader, Ram Manohar Lohia. He immediately decided to make a film on it. And since the cost of production of a Kannada film (just about two lakhs) was much less than a Telugu or Tamil film, he opted to do it in Kannada. Girish Karnad and Snehalata played the leads.
The film was a commercial as well as a critical success. Considered now a milestone in Indian cinema, it triggered the New Wave cinema movement in Karnataka. The Emergency was a traumatic period for the Reddys who had shifted to Bangalore in the early 70's. They were arrested and hounded by the police for being friends of George Fernandez. Snehalata took the incarceration and questioning upon herself on the condition that Pattabhi and her two children, were released. The terrible conditions in the prison and lack of proper treatment took its toll and she died soon after her release in 1977. Her untimely death drew great anger and vehement reactions from all over the country.
How did he recover from the loss of someone who was so inspiring and so inalienably associated with everything he did? Pattabhi smiles wryly, "Just time!" But the family has held on to her ideals and the same atmosphere of creative excitement continues at their residence. Pattabhi completed Chandamaruta, a searing critique of politics and corruption, after Emergency. The films after that have been more or less family productions with the active participation of his daughter Nandana. Films like Sringaramasa and Ritusamhara, dealing mainly with interpersonal issues and Devarakadu which won the National award for the best film on environment are powerful statements of the time.
Pattabhi is going to launch his long time dream, a film based on the myth of Savitri and her argument with Yama to bring back her husband Satyavan from the land of death. Tabu, Rahul Dev and Vijay Raaz are tipped to perform the main roles. The story had intrigued Pattabhi from his childhood.
"Somehow even at that age, I felt cheated by the way Savitri wins through trickery. My maternal and paternal uncles were both great devotees of Sri Aurobindo and they used to live in Pondicherry. I had heard that he was writing a mammoth work based on the myth. But I read it much later when it suddenly occurred to me that this could be a good subject for a film. I liked the way Sri Aurobindo's Savitri wins over Yama through intellectual argument."
For someone who despite so many hard knocks in life remains an idealist and would like to believe that the world is progressing in the right direction ("hasn't globalisation for all its ills resulted in greater interaction between people and a great synthesis in the arts, like what we are seeing in music?"), taking up this project in the twilight of his life is probably logical. The legend of Savitri is an epitome of all idealistic aspirations as death or failure cannot mark the end of life. Life continues in other ways and forms and human effort in some sense always leads to a qualitative movement forward.
Does he remember, that hilariously tongue-in-cheek prophecy at the end of Fidelu?
And then Ragam clasped Fiddle in a tight Embrace. And their bodies conjoined on a cosy bed To them were born countless progeny. So beautiful never seen on earth.
And would they all surround Pattabhi calling "grandpa, grandpa?.." Pattabhi smiles sweetly and adds, "I don't know all the details. But I think Telugu literature is going the right way. I basically feel that poetry is not just lines on paper, it is the poetic feeling in people that's important. We have had Feminist poetry, Dalit poetry. And this kind of poetry allows, ensures that kind of a thing to happen.

Road to Ithaka

2006-05-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

This poem is my all-time favourite and it perfectly describes the aspirations of this blog. Yes, I know, I have repeatedly forced this piece down people's throats. Now, it would be just perfect if I learnt this poem by rote and recited it to every passerby! Without much delay, here's Constantine P. Cavafy's (Greek poet 1863-1933) Ithaka-

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that once on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon - you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbours you're seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfumes of every kind -
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean

The Concept

2006-04-29T23:05:00.000-07:00

The concept of this blog is simple.I found that me and some of my friends have multiple interests ranging from Physics,Biology,Literature,Music and what not!Basically the name trippers inc was inspired from the conversation with Soundarya(She is the only fellow tripper for now). A tripper, as I understand, is a person who manages to cultivate interest and learn about a variety of topics.This blog has brought together two such people.And the contents of this blog will be whatever the tripper wants to say about his interests.I hope to see more trippers in the future.
This blog will not be updated often since trippers are intensely busy people ( :) ) ,but the aim is that a couple of years down the lane if one of them wants to know what they had been doing all this while I hope the tripper can look at his posts on the blog.
Any prospective trippers plz mail me at prasanna.phys@gmail.com