A musical journey that ended abruptly...

"If music be the food of life, play on." I make this little alteration of Orsino's famous line from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night; music is indeed the food of life.

I grew up in an atmosphere of music and it was but natural for me to take interest in it. My father always said that I started listening to music while I was in my mother's womb. I guess that was true as my life revolved around music. My family still recounts the times when I could go on singing nonstop. I started singing at the age of 2 and a half, I give the credit to the school I went to!

While growing up I participated in numerous inter-school and inter-college music competitions. Later started singing professionally with various Rock bands. I have had the wonderful experience of performing with the best musicians in Kolkata.

Along with singing with the bands I was also actively involved in the marketing of the bands which included getting sponsors, organizing the venue, and managing logistics such as sound and so on.

Apart from singing I also play the Piano and the Electronic Keyboard and am qualified in Classical Music under Trinity College, London, and Royal School of Music, London. I started playing the piano when I was 8. I taught about 200 students how to play the piano and the electronic keyboard, and what was very exciting was that the age group of my students was 4 to 58!

Singing in a choir was always a dream, and that dream came to life in 1996 when I started singing with Funtastiques, a Jazz/Pop Choral Group in Calcutta. Later when I moved to Hyderabad in 2001, I joined Hyderabad Choral Society.

Besides singing and playing I have been on the panel of judges for numerous music competitions. I have been a part of All India Radio, Kolkata as a singer. Worked with All India Radio, Hyderabad as a Casual Compere. Work involved compering programmes live on AIR, scripting, recording and dubbing, and also making features.

Till 5 years ago I firmly believed that if there was no music in my life I wouldn't earn a living. I say till 5 years ago as life took a funny twist and I surprised myself immensely. I was forced to try out another source to survive. Incidentally, the latter option of becoming a communications trainer turned out to be rather lucrative and I guess I lost the ability to struggle to live for what I believed in.

Today, I am a forgotten musician or the piano teacher who I used to be. I was seen at choir concerts, rock concerts, piano recitals, club gigs. But today, all that is history and it hurts. A musical journey that was so thrilling, so fulfilling has ended abruptly and I have nowhere to go...

Who has the answer?

I have been humming Bob Dylan's 'Blowing In The Wind' since this morning, rather unconsciously till it hit me and hit me rather hard. A thought crossed my mind, am I happy that I'm alive? I don't know...

The following lines are circling in my mind while I'm writing this...

How many times must the bombs and grenades fly before they're forever banned?

How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?

How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?

Who has the answer, does anyone know?

Know about Children's Day...

Children's day was first celebrated worldwide in October, 1953, under the sponsorship of International Union for Child Welfare, Geneva. The idea of Universal Children's Day was mooted by late Shri V.K. Krishna Menon and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1954. 20 November is Universal Children's Day. First proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1954, it was established to encourage all countries to institute a day, firstly to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children and secondly to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world's children. 20 November is the anniversary of the day when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was then signed on the same day in 1989, which has since been ratified by 191 states.

However, while 20th November is universally celebrated as Children’s Day, in India this day has been preponed to 14th November, the date the marks the birth anniversary of independent India’s first Prime Minister – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Source: Wikipedia

GOONJ - A mission I feel strongly for

I'm a tiny part of this huge organisation... yet I am happy to be there!

Visit the following link if you care. http://www.goonj.org/

Random pics of Malaysia

If only...

While I was growing up my teachers always said that I was poor in English grammar. Actually no, it was not just me but almost all of us, with the exception of a few good students. With my best effort I could not figure out what was wrong and none of the teachers said anything beyond that. Therefore, I grew up with a feeling of rejection as I was poor in English grammar! Strange though, I was fairly good in Spoken English. I never participated in any form of public speaking, never cared to write anything with the fear of making mistakes. My confidence level was definitely much below average standards.

Life went on, and at one stage in life I realized that no one ever pointed out any mistake while I spoke. In fact, some people felt I spoke well. Honestly, when I heard that for the first time I was shocked!

Today, I am a communications trainer by profession. Over the years I have learnt, it’s not always about being a brilliant student with a very good knowledge of language that one can become a good speaker or a writer. Nor does it ensure one's confidence level. I have read many books, including grammar books, to fine tune my English grammar skills. I am a confident person today as I wanted to be one. It was not easy as there are many people in this world who are born to criticize.

I find many youngsters who are extremely diffident to speak, especially in public. I get reminded of my school days when I so wanted to say something, but I wouldn’t with the fear of making mistakes and feeling humiliated in public. In all my training sessions I make sure that every participant gets a chance to speak. They are encouraged to speak their mind and they are assured that they would not be mocked at if a mistake occurs. It works, and it works well. Those introverted withdrawn participants start to talk with no reservation!

If only people were a little less biased, a little less critical, and a little more encouraging…

Belgium

After Germany we went to Antwerp in Belgium. We reached there late in the evening, so we checked into the hotel and did not go out.

The next morning we went to Brussels. We got off the coach and went to The Grand Palace or Grote Markt Square. It is a vibrant part of the city where one can find people from all over the world. At the square one cannot miss the Godiva shop and the beer cafés and pubs! The narrow medieval streets around are lined with shops selling diamonds, crystals, souvenirs, and not to forget the awesome waffles.

Just a short walk from the Grand Place-Grote Markt is the Manneken Pis, a small bronze statue thought to represent the ‘irreverent spirit’ of Brussels. On the way to Manneken Pis one can see Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock painted on the wall of a building; a statue of Van Gogh and a man dressed like him.

Having been playing western classical music on the piano for 25 years I could not miss the statue of Béla Bartók near the central train station in a public square. He was a Hungarian composer and pianist, and was considered one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.

The Atomium adds splendor to the colourful city of Brussels.

Also visit http://chandrimawrites.blogspot.com/2009/04/chocolate-for-thought.html

Paris!

Abhinav Bindra The Golden Boy!

It is the moment of truth for India... the first ever individual Olympic gold medal! Yes, someone has finally done it! Abhinav Bindra is the face for the new sporting India.

I was lazing around when Joy sent a text saying that "Abhinav Bindra wins gold medal in 10 m air rifle event. this is the first individual gold for India." The next moment I was up and turned on the television. I am still 'listening' to the television while I'm writing this! I am ecstatic! I'm no sports person, I have never played any sport in my life, yet I'm just thrilled. And that's how I feel every Indian should feel.

It was just yesterday, I was cribbing about the Indian players' not-winning attitude and the Indian government's lack of support to the participants. And, just a day after, what a twist of fate, a gold medal! To rephrase what Boria Majumdar said that from now on we should start to think big, get disappointed, and that disappointment will turn into victory. I am congratulating myself for being an Indian, and I am congratulating every Indian for this glorious moment.