Quo Vadis?

It's over. Saddam Hussain has been executed. The news channels inform you that he was tried and executed for the mass murder of 180 odd people of a certain village where he escaped an assassination. I'm no fan of the man, but somehow his death in this manner was most disturbing. Call him a despot, dictator what you will but the people who consigned him to this death are no less. Singularly the American president has become the biggest bully, despot, mass murderer, psychopath and every other vile term that comes to mind. The American presidents of old were men of principles, and they were led by Abraham Lincoln who immortalized the fundamental principle of patriotism in the line “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. Today American presidents have decided that they will determine the destiny of other nations and they will unilaterally decide what “other nations will do in exchange for what they choose to do there”. If history is a teach...

At 11 PM on Christmas Eve, I was bristling with nervousness in the choir room in St. Luke’s. The moment of truth was to dawn in a few minutes and I was nervous. Let me explain. This Christmas I wanted our choir to sing a few numbers in the classical style complete with a four part vocal harmony. And for the first time I was actually conducting my choir for a big occasion. And the day was Christmas 2006. After several hectic practices that were crammed in the last week we scraped together a collection of songs that spanned different genres and styles. From our usual “jing-bang” numbers to the sublime classical they were all there. And to render them was assembled the best people I have seen in a while. Of great concern in the Catholic church is the decline of good classical church music primarily because the old school of musicians passed away without building up a sound second line and secondly because of the lack of good trainers today. So even though it has been a long cherished dre...

I was robbed last night!!!!!!!! This morning when I woke up at 7.30, I could not find my mobile phone. Actually this phone was a gift from my brother. He had upgraded himself to a superior model from the Sony Ericsson stable; I think it’s a K-750i. So I was using a Sagem My SX 6 2 model phone. Now this phone was carefully selected after much research by my brother and it proved itself. With a nifty camera and tiny MP3 player I finally had my first gizmo phone. I had mused myself with sharing files via Bluetooth and really enjoyed the phone. But disaster struck me last night for the 4th time. So we start again from the point where I woke up this morning at 7.30 and discovered my phone missing. A frantic search revealed my deepest fears to be true; I had lost my mobile yet again. A thief had opened my bedroom window and after cutting open the Netlon mosquito mesh had somehow managed to sneak away with the phone which was lying 6 feet away from the window at the head of my bed. A visit to...

Note: This post was started long ago when the mobs ran riot in Maharashtra over a silly statue. However I did not finish it then, so the relevance may be dated. Heard about Alice in Chains? They are a rock / metal grunge band popular in the West in the eighties and nineties. I’m not sure how their name originated but maybe they saw some Alice chained up somewhere. If an Indian band would want to get inspired for a name similar to that they can try “Ambedkar in a cage”. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have deep respect for Baba Saheb Ambedkar and for his contribution to Indian history. What deeply saddens me is the actions of all those who claim to be his fellow countymen today. Now why Ambedkar in a cage you may ask? Drive down the many roads of India and you will find high up on a pedestal a statue erected to honour this great man. But what shocks you about many of these statues is that they are encased by a wire mesh cage. I found out from locals that this was done to protect the statue f...

Seasons greetings!!!!! Merry Christmas everyone and best wishes to a joyous new year!!!!! Hey it’s that time of the year when hope fills the air. It’s Christmas, the biggest birthday party celebration across the globe. It’s the birth of Christ and the dawn of hope yet again. It’s the season of love and giving, of meeting old friends and relatives, of exchanging sweets and gifts, of carol rounds and parties, of heavy lunches & dinners, of Santa Claus and Christmas trees, of stars and cribs, of night masses and carol singing. I’m sure that all of you will have done all or at least many of the above said, but at this time take a brief moment to ponder over these lines of a carol: “Presents glitter on the tree, Gifts for him or her or me, But we find the best of all, Mary’s baby in a cattle stall” Point No 1: When we receive gifts we utter a spontaneous thank you to the giver of the gift, and we have the greatest gift of all………. This is the time to say thank you. Point No 2: We have be...

The great annual St. Luke’s M U L J B E A S E L ! Now don’t look so confused, in case you still did not get it and are very bad at solving jumbles, read the title again as The great annual St. Luke’s JUMBLE SALE! This is the annual social action effort of the youth fellowship of my church. I’m going to retire in the space of a few weeks but I look back at all the activities I was privileged to be a part of by virtue of being a member of WS4G. WS4G or We Stand For God is the youth fellowship of St. Luke’s and over the years has done its bit for the underprivileged. During the season of advent we endeavour to turn waste to wealth by the jumble sale. The jumble sale to the uninitiated is the collection of articles that have outlived the utility value of their current owners and are sold to raise money for charity. Over the years we have built up remarkable competencies in procuring and selling material as varied as used clothes to consumer durables. Clothes, furniture, books, footwear...

Nothing in Particular!!!! I just can’t believe it, but it is actually more than 15 days since my last post. This has nothing to do with my creative juices drying up or the usual writer’s block, it’s just that I was too preoccupied with lot of other things. What with Christmas and my wedding on the anvil, I somehow contrive to clutter up my day with N number of things that stop me from blogging. So life is going on at a break neck speed as this is also our year end at the bank and everyone wants to end the year on a high. (High, only in terms of business numbers!). So work is actually keeping me busy. And not to mention the fact that choir practice for the night mass kept me totally busy. How repetitive and redundant do I sound???? Also I must confess I had a sudden attack of sloth so I simply did not blog, but now I’m back and back with a vengeance as you will see.

Miracles happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A miracle happened last evening and I am a testimony to it. The 9th annual Christmas carol night started yesterday in MCC school at 6.30 pm. To those who are fond of Christmas carols in Chennai, this is a regular much awaited event. Organized by the alumni of the Madras Christian College the event spanning two evenings invites leading choirs and song groups of Chennai and other places to perform for a discerning audience. The program is held in the grounds of the school and is always under the threat of the elements. The north east monsoon is still active during the earlier part of December and organizing events like this in the open calls for a lot of faith. Chennai was treated to a few unexpected showers on Sunday so the venue was already soggy and the event seemed on the verge of a washout. However the rain held off and the programme went on schedule. I enjoyed the show, savouring the fare dished out by the performers. The repertoire included weste...

I   I saw this hoarding on Nungambakkam High road (Uttamar Gandhi Road if you please) and I just couldn’t resist taking a picture. If you can read it with a little more effort it says how 3 letters can cause us to discriminate. It was a beautiful message against AIDS on AIDS awareness day. Kudos to the creative team of the responsible ad agency for such a superb effort. (Apart from Sharad Haskar's work this is one hoarding I don’t mind seeing again and again) But when I think about the hoarding and the message it has a lesson for all. Often seemingly insignificant things make us all discriminate among our brethren. I have done and so I do feel a little guilt. Forget caste, colour, creed, social status, sex etc, sometimes ability and egos can cause us to discriminate and often look down on others. My ability to do something better than others has caused me to look down and discriminate against those who cannot do likewise. Age has mellowed me and now I think twice before I do anythi...

Hi!!!! It’s been sooo long since my last post. I was busy with a Christmas carol concert! Christmas is here, well actually its advent time. So the great season of hope begins. Anyway coming back to the topic of this post, I was fortunate to sing with the John Milns Chorale, a Christian choir led by Mr. Jabez Janagaraj. If you have followed the classical music scene in Chennai over the years and the choir music in particular, then these two above mentioned names would stand out. The John Milns chorale (JMC in future) named after a protestant priest who was an outstanding tenor in his time is led by Mr. Jabez, a die hard fan of the old school of classical music and choir singing. Since inception the choir has performed in various churches and other public shows,recently the choir found itself at a crossroad. The increasing age and the acute failing health of the leader had made the very existence of the choir a big question mark. However like a true champion Mr. Jabez rose from his sick ...