Sunday, August 1, 2010

Song of the week - Purple Dreams

As I continue to venture in the unknown everyday...
As I come closer to realizing my dreams...
Purple Dreams....

Purple Dreams by shivsu

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Song of the week - Can't help but fall in love with you

I had real fun when composing this (in a lovey-dovey mood at three in the morning :D)...

Folks, do tell me what you think about this scratch!

And watch out for the completed vocal version coming soon!!!


Can't help but fall in love with you by shivsu

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Song of the Week: Divinity

Composed by me over a contemplative weekend, played and mixed in my MO . . .

I dedicate this song to the divinity in me and you . . .

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Muthal Murai - Revisited

Check out Muthal Murai, my first composition, revisited as a soft ballad.

(Personally, I like this version better!)


Muthal Murai by shivsu

CHALLENGE 17:45

I remember watching The Flintstones when I was a kid. I remember how Fred always gets thrilled and cries, “IT'S QUITTIN' TIME!!!!” as he hears the honk signalling the end of the day's work in the quary he works in – how he'd delightfully board his car (with his tongue out), speeds home, parks his car in his garage with a crash, bursts open front the front door of his house, yelling, 'WILMA, I'M HOME!!!”

Sadly, (atleast for me) things have changed much since the stone-ages. . .

What do I do when it's my “quittin' time” at 17:45? Well, I gear up for the several hours' work ahead of me. I'm not alone – almost my entire team continues to remain at their desk heedless of the time. And, lately, staying back till the wee hours of the night does not arouse a “Jee... why do you stay up so late?!?” or a “That must suck!!!” from our friends and family anymore.

I remember a colleague once requesting leave for a Sunday (!). And when her boss asked why she wanted  leave (!!!), she'd plainly replied, “Sir, I really need to wash my clothes – I've none left in my wardrobe!”

...and another colleague who realized that all his undergarments have been soaking in soap for over a week and he had none to wear the following day (He couldn't bring himself to tell me since when he's been wearing the same underwear)!

...and my married team-mates say that whey they eventually return to their dens, they are always welcomed by their beloved wives giving them (just) the finger!

...and the gentleman who announces over the P.A.S., “The 5:45 pm buses and cabs will leave shortly. Thank you!” little knows that he's been cursed more times than an average human being is cursed in a lifetime!

If you can't find a way back to the stone age, here's my set of tips to anyone who wishes to quit office at their regular office quitting time.

Be a sinner - Your superiors would have (almost) convinced you that it's a sin to quit leave office at regular quitting time at 17:45, and you'd even await the jaws of doom for doing so.

Be a slow-worker – The faster you work, the greater the amount of work pushed into your gutts.

Be uninitiated – Your additional hours of work have a direct and almost mathematical correlation to the amount of additional initiatives you make in your project / work.

Be non-communicative – The more you converse and build relationships with your superiors, the more they'd feel entitled to ask you to work for extra-hours (without paying a pittance more, of course).

Be non-courteous – Don't greet your colleagues. Better still, ignore their greetings too!

Keep your health spoiled at all times – Superiors these days demand 'tangible' reasons to “go early” or “take leave”.

Lose your mobile phone – that's when you really want to be uninterrupted from work calls when you're watching that long promised movie with your spouse and kids on a weekend.

Decline on-site work offers – Insomniacs may ignore this point.

If you're a guy, undergo a sex-change operation – “Company policy” has it that female employees are not allowed to stay back late in the office. (Of course there are other benefits!)

Become a manager – Bear the grunt until you become a 'superior'. Leave office before way your sub-ordinates. Give them your mobile number and tell them you're more available than one can ever be.

(and finally...)

Aim for mediocre grades – If you don't and are reaching for those top-grades, close the browser and get back to work!

I welcome further suggestions from my dear readers...

Sunday, June 20, 2010

My First Composition


I was jamming on my synth this weekend and I ended up recording this scratch of my first li'l composition -- played and sequenced in my MO and recorded using Audacity on my laptop. Check it out and tell me what you think!

And I'd welcome and appreciate if you can write lyrics for this scratch.... :) 



MOst Wanted

They say desire is the root cause of all evil -- I ain't sure what evil is in store for me -- but this definitely is the one thing I've desired most in all my life!

Yamaha MO6 - Studio-class Music Production Synthesizer

I bought this baby recently (I had to shell out every penny from all my savings of all the months I worked at my job!!!), took her home and have been spending all my time with her.

MO's more nifty and advanced for me than I'd thought -- I had to struggle a li'l to get any music out when I first got started with the MO. Slowly, but surely, I'm getting closer and closer to the instrument, and one day I hope to become one with it!

Here's a small scratch of the song Manathil from the movie Poonthalir I recorded and mixed at home.

The number's my mum's favourite and she readily agreed to render her voice!

(P.S. There's MOre to come!!!)


Sunday, May 23, 2010

Wheels of Fortune

nce upon a time, there lived four car wheels. Born and brought up in Bridgestone, they all then lived under the same chassis of a classic Chevy.

All was fun when they first rolled out into the roads – they were young, their spokes gleaming and with the grooves of their tyres sharply intact. Even during times when some of them were punctured flat, they didn’t feel pretty bad, for they enjoyed a good view of the enchanting meadows on either sides of the road as they switched places with the spare-wheel at the back of the car.

All was fun until they began to get weary of the roads - their spokes were no longer gleaming, and the once sharp grooves of their tyres then abrased by time. And one night, inside the dark and lonely walls of a sleazy garage, one of the rear-wheels had a strange and disquieting thought in his bearings – “Why am I bound to this car along with this other rear wheel? Why is it that only the front-wheels get to remain in the front of the car and get all the view and glory of the road? Why should I be forced to turn in whichever way the front-wheels turn and go in whichever way the front-wheels go? And why should I always have to support the weight of the car with the pressure of the air forced inside my tube?”

The perplexed rear-wheel even tried to get some questions answered from the only folks he knew in this world – his fellow wheels, only in vain.

He began to dream of living a life of freedom with no restraints whatsoever – free to release the constrained air of passion and desire from inside his tube – free to tread to places where he wants to – free to tread his own way.

And so, on a fine spring morning, as soon as he was out of the garage, the young rear-wheel opened the tube-valve and let out all of his air himself. Before soon, the rear of the car was jacked, and he was removed and replaced by the spare at the back of the car. As the car began to move, he slowly unfastened the bolts which secured him to where the spare was. He eventually made his leap of freedom to the inviting asphalt below.

He quickly steered himself away from oncoming traffic and headed to the meadows on the sides of the road. It was for the first time he had touched blades of grass – it felt like heaven.

Sadly, no sooner than he began to enjoy his new sense of freedom, he realized that he was powerless without the car he had belonged to. He had once thought that only he and his fellow wheels had the power to move the car forward (silly he had no notion of what an engine was) and was shocked by his own inability to move even an inch by himself. And with all his air let out, even gravity couldn’t help him much to go places.

With the last traces of momentum gone from him, the plane and lush-green meadows became the once-rear-
wheel’s tomb.

Who has control?

The front-wheels which steer the car? The steering-wheel which commands the front-wheels? The driver who is at the steering-wheel? The rich owner of the car seated behind the driver? The owner’s mistress who he’s going to meet with the flowers in his hands? His money that she’s after?

Is there anybody in this world who is truly free?

Given a chance, would you choose to remain free from the shackles of desire, wealth, deed, responsibility, sacrifice, power, pleasure, pain, friendship, love and humanity?

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Self - Service


I was at a restaurant – one of those ‘classy’ ones which, quite proudly, bore the sign “Self Service”. As I was “waiting for my order” at the delivery counter, a strikingly beautiful young woman in a vivacious velvet dress approached the same counter to collect her own order. As I stood there waiting, as she reached out her peachy arms to collect the dishes that were being delivered to her, she made an (innocent) brush over my arms and shoulders; her curly locks soon following suit, whisking her aromas all over me -- like a shaman spreading the spell of incense with the feathers of a peafowl.

However captivating this moment may seem, I was surprised, or rather perturbed by how I reacted.

I uneasily moved aside with a shudder and a look of disdain lighting up all over my face.

I realized that at that very moment, I had learned something more about myself; ventured a little deeper into the depths of me; understood a little more of the inner mechanisms of me.

I unraveled the mystery why I was oblivious to the (innocent) pleasure the moment had to offer which was obvious to any other young man (with his balls intact).

Why?

The feel of a young woman, her touch, her smell, her sound or even her sight fills me with contempt.

Like a bare-footed old tramp disdaining any footwear …

Like a hut-dwelling flower-girl displeased to sleep inside a duchess’s plush bedroom …

Like an old habit scoffing at a new one in the making …

Like a man in darkness cussing at a gush of light …


I am too young, my friends say, to even vaguely worry about "issues like these". Nevertheless, I’m sure that as years pass, I shall make it increasingly harder for any woman to enter into my life (or vice versa). Nevertheless, I may one day wake up and realize I’m too old for anything, or still worse, roll over and see the wrong woman – a wrong wife – sleeping across my bed – either blithely ignorant or fully aware of the mistake I made in choosing a life partner – both for me and for her.


They say focus is the ability to, out of 100 things, see just one and not see the 99 other. I must say that I have conditioned myself to have acquired a strong sense of focus. And I attribute all my success, however significant or insignificant it may be, in my professional life to this unwavering focus I have hitherto developed.

But all the things I have focused on, from time to time, were missions that well bore both the clarities of objective and deadline.

No wonder my constant and heedfully logical act of self-conditioning has left me unable to handle any romantic relationship hitherto.

For a romantic relationship can possess neither an objective nor a deadline.

But there shall be one thing I’m fortunate about...

I shall know with utmost certainty when love flutters its first wings inside my world purely built on rules, logic, purpose and reason.

For that love shall be in its purest form – devoid of any rules, logic, purpose or reason. And I shall then travel to a world beyond my own.

...

Meanwhile, as I “wait for that order”, I shall try to learn and appreciate the pleasures of all the brushes and whisks made by all vivacious velvet clad beauties…

May be this is (also) what they call “Self Service”.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Why Deny?

 

Why deny thy touch?
Why wean me from thy breasts of love?
Why evade my clutch?
And smile down like a cherub from above?
I fought to steal a win from pain
Sans hands to grope your winsome mane
I fought I fought 'til a morbid fear
Has plagued my world both far and near
No mortal's hand I dare now hold...
You've left my world so bare and cold.


Why deny thy sight?
Why make me shut my eyes in dispair?
Why remove all light
From life which now just hangs by a hair?
I fought to steal a win from pain
Sans eyes to see your curves on flame
I fought I fought 'til I fell down blind
As I gouged my eyes - have no axe to grind.
No beaut of beauties I care now see...
You've sucked my world off charm and glee.


Why deny thy presence?
Why make me lose myself in me?
Why remove all essence
Of reason why I feed and breathe?
I fought to steal a win from pain
Sans need to live a life of feign.
I fought I fought 'til pain engulfed
My body - I drew my sword to myself;
My sinews tore - no pain beset
You've made me part before we met.

Monday, January 18, 2010

THE'I'SM

    Recently, I was asked by my good friend, Viji, if I believe in God.

    ...
    ...

    Albert Einstein was once asked the same question. And here was his reply:

    “I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a [personal] God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings.”

    Courtesy: SJG Archives

    ...
    ...

    My reply was way too snappy! But first,

A Primer on God-belief:





    Atheists disbelieve in the existence of God.
       
    Deists believe that God is the architect of the universe. And like all [human] architects, God only built the         universe and does not control its inhabitants.

    Theists on the other hand believe in a Personal God - He who watches over everything and He who has         complete control over every happening in this world. A theist may be:

    Monotheistic - believing there is and worshipping only one God (and hence one deity).
    Polytheistic - believing there are and worshipping many Gods (and hence many deities).
    Henotheistic - believing there is one God but worshipping many deities.
    Monoaltristic - believing there are many Gods but worshipping only one deity
    Pantheistic - believing that God is the whole [universe]
    Panetheistic - believing that the whole [universe] is in God.

    Fedeists believe that [religious] faiths are independent of reason.

    Agnostics believe that the truth about the existence of God is unknown or unknowable. An agnostic may be:

   
    Strongly Agnostic - "I can't know if God exists or otherwise... So can't you... Ever!"
    Weakly Agnostic - "I don't know whether God exists or not... But one day [in the future] we will find evidence!"
    Agnostically Atheistic - "I don't claim the existence of God... And [hence] I certainly don't believe in any!"
    Agnostically Theistic - "I don't claim the existence of God... Still, I certainly believe God exists!"
    Apothetically Agnostic - "Only you and I are arguing about God... But God doesn't seem to be concerned about     the fate of the humans! If He really cares, why isn't He proving His existence [to us]?"

    And finally, Apatheists aren't interested in claiming or denying the existence of God.

    (Clearly, Einstein was more of an agnostic deist.)



Look ma! I've a theory too:

    [After my first introspection about God in all my life,] I see the the word 'God' as the letter 'i' used in algebra which denotes the square root of -1. Just like the Italian mathematician Gerolamo Cardano, while trying his hands on solving cubic equations, had helped in the conception of the idea of complex numbers, I believe that the ancient philosophers, while trying to answer fundamental questions like "How life and the worlds originated?", had helped in the conception of the idea of 'God'. Just like the idea of 'i' solved many polynomial equations which were never before 'solvable', the idea of 'God' had helped answer many a question which could never be 'answerable'.

    I also believe that it is very likely that humans may lack the intellectual capability to see / understand the answers which explains their very existence. Just like, say, a canine when crossing the road shall be unable to answer questions like "Why are there alternating white lines in the middle of the road?", "What are these beings [on wheels] moving at insane speeds and where are they heading to?" let alone - "By what degree is a V-twin engine more efficient than a V-3 engine?"

    Although these road-crossing-canines, [possibly] have theories of their own as to what cars and buses are (or even have no theories at all), they don't argue with fellow canines to press their theory - don't form herds based on their theories - don't  indulge in"dog-fights" with other herds having different theories - don't kill each other for the sake of their own theories.

...
...

    "For God's sake Viji, I give a damn about God!" I snapped.

    (Non-empathetic apatheism maybe?)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Happy Pongal Everyone!


The sun is the soul
      Of the planets as a whole
Our Earth is a son
      Of you, the mighty sun.

                                                            Compared to you fire is cool!
                                                                  If I ever dream to touch you, I'm a fool!
                                                            We disregard people as untouchable
                                                                  But for sure, you're the real 'un-touchable".

God is the greatest mathematician,
      Who in a universal campus
Drew the most perfect sphere - The Sun
      Even without a compass.

                                                            Oh sun! You hide yourself between the mountains,
                                                                  Make the rain flow as a fountain.
                                                            You are the real reason of life we maintain,
                                                                  So. we're nothing about you to complaint.

In the sky,
      You are nature's top rank painter!
But in the afternoon,
      You make us feel much fainter!

                                                            In punctuality, you are an excellent teacher,
                                                                  Even to the tiniest of the tiny creature.
                                                            You take bath twice a day in sea
                                                                  And so you are as active as a bee.

In the afternoon you 'fire' a gun
      For nothin but just for fun!
You refresh us with a cool breeze,
      But sometimes with anger blow us with ease.

                                                            You are so powerful to make people blind,
                                                                 But yet good and calm and kind.
                                                            You were the olden clock,
                                                                  But now you are put into a knock.

You appointed a night guard,
      Who keeps guard of the night.
But he takes leave for a day without a word
      And with darkness vanquishing the night!

                                                            We circle around for our well-being the Navagrahas,
                                                                  But the Navagrahas themselves circle around you for Anugraha!
                                                            You make people to mingle,
                                                                  Through a festival named 'Pongal'!

We salute you
      For your majesticity!
And appreciate you
      For your simplicity and generosity!

N.Sivasundar        
IX - std             
Sri Sankara Vidyalaya

Monday, January 4, 2010

I Wish I Had An Erection


It's a beautiful Sunday evening, and I am waiting for a bus (to take me just two stops from the Perambur railway station), standing 'under' a heavy backpack and carrying a package which I am to deliver to my uncle's colleague who in turn is to deliver the same to my sister overseas. The package is a jute bag weighing a little over 10 kilos and I am late by a little more than 2 hours. A bus arrived - reminding me of the overly-stuffed-and-about-to-pop bag I am carrying myself. As I (barely) place one of my feet on the foot-board, the other dangling mere inches above the asphalt - one of my hands tightly clasping a window-sill and also holding the package at the same time, with the other hand free to buy a ticket - I can feel the pride in my own dexterity as the bus picks up momentum.

And then the unthinkable happens...

As I reach for the coins inside my pocket, as though by the Devil's intervention, the only straps that hold my trousers unfasten themselves completely in a snap! All that now prevents them from falling straight down to the moving ground below (leaving me butt-naked in a moving bus) is my hand inside the pocket. I know I am in serious trouble.

As I try to "hold my trousers from inside my pocket" while I pretend to reach for coins (and evade dirty looks from the bus-conductor), I learn that the next stop has already 'arrived' and that I, along with the other fellow dexterous foot-board passengers, ought to first get down from the foot-board, in turn allowing the not-so-dexterous 'inside' passengers to get down. With my hands still "searching for coins", I alight from the bus.

With just seconds to spare before the bus would start off, I now re-position myself on the foot-board, only this time with the package I have been carrying to remain a few inches below my own 'package' with the former now holding the trousers from falling down with the aide of my vice-like legs. Alas! My hand can 'finally' take out the coins and buy myself a ticket. I come to the realization that I am now a human laundry-clip!

 And then more unthinkable things happen in split-second processions (best concieved in slow-mo):

1. The conductor hands over the ticket as I reach my hand towards him.

2. A man who has been witnessing my ordeal decides to 'help' by yanking my jute-bag free from the clutches of my legs to place it in a safer place inside the bus.

3. A stray-dog instantly fallen irresistibly in love with a... well... 'bitch', decides not to waste time but to run towards her, risking being crushed to pulp by a moving 50 tonne bus.

4. My bus-driver slams the brakes forcing people to fall 'gracefully' towards the exit upon the souls standing on the foot-board, forcing me to brace myself with my hand that reached for the ticket or fear falling head-first on the asphalt below. I wisely choose option 'A'!

5. My trousers begin their glorious free-fall.

With both my hands 'occupied' - and being someone who does not give up easily, I decide to use my wiener to brake the fall of my trousers.

I WISH I HAVE AN ERECTION!!!

(Ever heard of Masters and Johnson's Light-bulb and Iron Theory?)

Quickly, I scan for a female who is (anything close to) sexy who I can 'use' to "turn-on my light-bulb". Aha! I spot one... Time to focus hard... hard... hard....

And that was the time I made a shocking discovery.

MEN DON'T FIND WOMEN TO TURN THEM ON WHEN FACING A LIFE-OR-DEATH SITUATION!!!

(...although research has shown that the reverse is true for women!)

...

Saddened by my inability to perform under pressure - Performance Anxiety as experts elegantly call it - I somehow manage to alight from the bus once and for all "in full piece", with my trousers now poised precariously in an ultra-low-waist (or rather low-bottom) fashion. My "trendy outfit" only provokes a contemptuous look by the hot 60 year old 'auntie' who I had previously "laid my eyes on"...

"Kids!!!!", she scoffs, as she adjusts her pink spaghetti-top......

Friday, January 1, 2010

It's a New Year... It's a new post...

It's a new year... It''s a new post in my new blog.... It's a new venture inspired by a new friend who, since the day we met, makes me feel that I knew her for ages...

Viji, I dedicate this blog to thee!