Tyagaraja Aradhana 2012 and travels around Tanjavur
Written by my dearest buddy P6 and the rest as they say is hi/story.
Prologue.
I had been wanting to attend the Tyagaraja Aradhana for a while now, but had been unable to, atleast the last couple of years due to a multitude of causes. A tentative lookup for train tickets in the Mayiladuturai / Mysore Express for the 12th of January was met with REGRETs even a month in advance. As my enthusiasm dwindled, Pai came to it’s rescue announcing his availability in Bangalore and for “any freaking triptm” that I’d be going on during this period.
And so, the plans were quickly refactored. We were to start on the night of 10th with a maximum of 3 days to cover an assortment of mostly temple towns in and around Tanjavur, be present for the Aradhana on friday the 13th at Tiruvayyaru before returning to Bangalore. Just for the lulz, I booked a waitlisted ticket on this sole (heavy demand) train that runs this route.
As expected, my W/L karma would not score as the countdown to confirmation ceased at W/L 40 (from what was 125 before). Although the vain exercise of dutifully looking up PNR status thrice a day for every single of the 10 days before the travel was vain, it has left with me now with an authority of knowledge and data for waitlist-betting, a future online game I intend to conceive and make shitpotloads of money out of. Yes, being an IRCTC bookie is a dream. But I digress.
And finally for less ambitious endeavors (like actually get a ticket), I was forced to undergo the high-entropy concurrency and mindfs*kingly daunting race conditions that IRCTC employs to make you earn your Tatkal ticket. I emerged victorious!
Status table:
08:00HRS – 237
08:05HRS – 171 (but IRCTC payment page hangs)
08:10HRS – 102 (IRCTC is down)
08:15HRS – 45 (WTF?!)
08:20HRS – Payment succeeds, PROFIT!?
In a religious country like ours, especially when we have temples for more deterministic causes like US visas, I daresay it is the need of the hour for a rail ticket deity. I wouldn’t mind paying for a one-time Shashwata Seva for a lifetime of luck with rail tickets.
But I’m digressing, again.
Day[0]: #Mayiladuturai/Mysore (Nammadu) Express
Reached Cantt late, much to the dismay of Pai, who had been informed that I’d be reaching an hour earlier to my actual time of arrival. Well, since it’s Pai, I’ve no regrets putting him through a pleasant little wait.
I’ve always run into interesting people on trains and this was no exception. We ran into a gentleman who now has conceived a startup in Trichy after working in the software industry for years in Bangalore. It’s quite interesting to see the trend of people taking businesses into tier-II hometowns, without the noisy-pomp and expenditures of the bigger ones. He even happened to be a F/OSS enthusiast. Needless to say that a lot of entertaining && geeky talk ensued.
And then, Vasanthi Hariprakash. She seemed familiar for a reason which I didn’t realize until she mentioned. Vasanthi, who too was on the way to Tiruvayyaru would be of infinite help to us in the due course of the next couple of days. Vasanthi, if you’re reading this post, Thanks again!
We arrived in Tanjavur at 6AM in the morning, running close to an hour late and checked into a hotel by the railway station.
Day[1]: Tanjavur -> Mannargudi -> Tiruvarur -> Tanjavur;
Expectedly, the first visit in Tanjavur was to the “big temple” of Brihadishwara. If this temple’s gOpura/vimAna doesn’t fascinate you, probably nothing will. Built by RajaRaja Chola I at the peak of the Chola power in the south almost a millennium ago, this temple is till date alive and in operation.
The Cholas had a thing for size in their monuments and the Brhadishwara temple is one of the best examples of the scales that the their pomp inclined to. The temple complex is massive in size as is the ishwara linga in the garbhagrha. The temple, surrounded with a moat and strong fortifications reflects the glory of another age.
In more recent times, Tanjavur was ruled by Marathas of the Bhonsle clan – the dAyadis of Shivaji, who took over from the dwindling power of the Vijayanagara Nayakas. Shahaji (Shivaji’s father, who, by the way, was stationed in Bangalore for a long time) was a sardar in the Army of the Adil Shah had a son in Venkoji (alias “Ekoji”, Shivaji’s overshadowed half-brother) who setup the Maharatta dominion down south while the more illustrious sibling would go on to setup the foundations of an even more glorious empire from Raigadh.
Remnants of this age too live on in Tanjavur. Infact, it is estimated that an approximately 3% of Tanjavur’s population is comprised of ethno-linguistically, Marathi people (amongst others similar). These people, referred to as “Rayars” locally, speak a dialect of Marathi that might not be very intelligible to the Marathi speaker north of the Krishna. Nonetheless, their language and culture lives on. Lately, they have migrated out of Tanjavur for better opportunities elsewhere, particularly Bangalore. You might be surprised to know that some of Bangalore’s famous landmarks, like “AnandRao Circle” or “Sajjan Rao Circle” circle are all named people hailing from the Tanjavur Maratha community.
Archaeologically, the Maharatta palace in Tanjavur too lives on, but not in great condition. The Darbar Hall’s enclosure now has a generous growth of weed of the kind that doesn’t give you highs and the general state of maintenance is quite abysmal, to the say the least. Infact, the only thing the concerned folks maintaining this monument seem to be doing is the collection of toll to enter.
I visited the Saraswati Mahal library with some fantastic hopes of possibly seeing the original manuscripts of books like the Chaturdandi Prakashika of Venkatamakhi, but I was rather disappointed. The part of the library that is up for public display was quite modest, containing a few sampled manuscripts of mostly unfamiliar Telugu / Tamizh / Marathi / English books, apart from Serfoji’s collection of hardbound volumes that were locked up in a cupboard. I hear there is ongoing work to digitize these works.
There was also a flute seller outside the palace complex who had some fine bargains, but I had to excuse myself for the unintentional initial curiosity. The last of the Tanjavur interests was the palace museum which wasn’t very interesting (and rather badly maintained) and housing mostly, various flavors of Nataraja statues.
We took a bus to the new bus stand and subsequently hopped into a bus to the next destination, Mannargudi – which is roughly a distance of 40 km from Tanjavur and an hour and half’s worth of time in travel. Although not as popular as many other destinations in the vast Tanjavur area, this place was of special interest to me.
Anybody who is into Karnatak music will have heard of the famous bhairavi aTa tALa varNa “Viriboni” composed by Pachmiriyam Adiyappayya on the deity of this very temple. For years now, I’ve almost been romantically enchanted by the line “SarasuDau dakShiNa dwAraka sAmi Sri rAjagOpAla” enough to make a visit here, and I finally managed it this time around.
Disappointment awaited me on reaching Mannargudi however, as the temple was closed for the afternoon and we didn’t have the time to wait till it opened in the evening. A little bit of persuading the temple gatekeeper only got us inside the complex, but not even into the main prAkAra which seemed to be undergoing some renovation. We had to settle for just this much and this gatekeeper would settle for a quick tip of twenty rupees for this (lack of) service. Perhaps I’ll get to see SreeRajagopala some other time.
Elsewhere in Karnataka, I’ve had the temple archakas come open the temples even at closed-times when people visiting from afar have requested so. Perhaps that’s irrelevant here.
Subsequently (after a filling lunch), we took a bus to Tiruvarur, another journey of 30km and an hour in time. The famed Tyagaraja temple, praised generously by the trinity of Karnatak music is a couple of kilometres worth of walk from the bus stand.
This vast temple complex was almost completely deserted except for stray workers who seem to be carrying out some restoration work on a temple that looks like it’s been ravaged by a war. An hour of lazing around later, somebody who seemed like the sole archaka of the temple came in 30 mins later than the scheduled opening time in the evening and let us in. Darshana was successful.
This ancient temple too has a long standing history of patronage from various royal families of Tamil Nadu, most mentionably the Cholas, The Tanjavur Nayaks and more recently the Maharattas. The sthaLapurANa also mentions that it is mentioned as far back as the tEvAram times (of the nAyanmar tamizh shaivaite saints).
I also learned recently that somewhere within this temple complex amongst the “16/Shodasha Ganapatis of Tiruvarur” is also “a vAtApi gaNapati” upon which Mudduswamy Dikshita’s famous composition in hamsadhwani is based on. It’s not clear as to why this Ganapati too was referred to as “Vatapi Ganapati” since the original idol brought from the Chalukyan capital of Badami by the Pallava general Siruthondan is said to have been set up in Tiruchenkaatankudi. Some alternative opinions hold that the Tiruchenkaatankudi Ganapati probably isn’t original instead.
Nonetheless, the visit to Tiruvarur was fruitful and we took the long walk to the railway station and boarded into the unreserved compartments of a train headed to Kerala from Karaikal, to get back to Tanjavur. A total distance of 73km, covered in another hour or so.
Back on arrival, I was surprised by Pai’s familiarity around Tanjavur, a town he had only visited for the first time the same morning. For a new visitor, he certainly had a photographic memory of a certain genre of landmarks. Although there was some disappointment initially, Pai’s spirit of perseverance finally paid off (but only after a good six km of roaming around Tanjavur). All obscurity in this paragraph is intended.
Sleep was sound, obviously.
Day[2]: Tanjavur -> Darasuram -> Kumbakonam -> Gangaikondacholapuram -> Kumbakonam -> Tiruvayyaru
After the ordeal of a cold bath and a “ney-roast” breakfast at a Saravana Bhavan, we set off on a bus to Kumbakonam.
Still sleepy in the head, we only woke up as the bus passed Papanasam and reached Darasuram, where we got off to visit the Airavateshwara temple. This temple has been on my hitlist for quite some time ever since I saw photographs of it’s chariot shaped structure in a friend’s collection.
The first of the many temples we saw along the way was this dilapidated one whose board read “Veerabatra Swamy Temple”. Following that was a visit to the Periya Nayaki Amman temple, which is certainly a treat on the eyes. This ofcourse is in the immediate vicinity of the main temple – that dedicated to Airavateshwara, which lived up to it’s promise in the photographs.
The garbhagrha was lit solely by the oil deepa, a certain divine sight. The archaka came in briefly to perform an Arati and explain the sthaLapurANa of the place. Yet another Chola construction, but from the times of Raja Raja Chola II in the 12th century, this is a must-visit temple if you’re anywhere around Kumbakonam.
The intended plan after this was to go around Kumbakonam, and we accordingly boarded a bus to get there. While we should have disembarked somewhere in the vicinity of the Kumbheshwara temple, we made the mistake of going all the way to the bus stand. The resulting confusion prompted a change in plan to goto Gangaikondacholapuram directly and come back to visit Kumbakonam later. There was a bus to Jayakondam waiting for us.
An hour and a little bit later, we were in Gangaikondacholapuram where the massive temple complex came into view immediately. This great Siva temple seems to be a replica of the one in Tanjavur, albeit not as nice (somehow) although a little grander. Constructed by Rajendra Chola in the 11th century, the city founded around this temple was also the capital of Chola power during it’s times.
It is said that it derives it’s name from the successful conquest of Cholas upto the river Ganga in the north. Personally, I’m not sure if this is a claim that has been validated conclusively in history. It could also perhaps be reasoned that the name is a reference to the Chola victory over the Gangas of Talakadu or Orissa? Or maybe it is an extravagant claim about the outcome of the Chola campaign with the ruling Pala dynasty of the north.
In any case, the temple was closed for the afternoon thus disappointing us again. We set off to return to Kumbakonam after a detailed look around the place.
We were famished by the time we arrived back to Kumbakonam in the afternoon. It was only after a heavy lunch in Kumbakonam was that any enthusiasm rejuvenated. Right by the Meenatchi hotel was the Nageshwara temple, which too was unfortunately closed for the afternoon, as was the Someshwara temple. A lazy walk to the Saarangapani temple only gave us time and space to catch a brief nap inside the temple complex.
In the immediate vicinity of the Sarangapani temple is the house of Srinivasa Ramanujan, the legendary but short-lived mathematician who hailed from Kumbakonam. If you’re in Kumbakonam, walk on the road leading up to the Sarangapani temple and you’ll not miss it. We made the mistake of asking somebody for Srinivasa Ramanujan’s place in our broken Tamizh and we were instead pointed to the house of some Srinivasa Iyer!
Following that, we walked to Soliappan street where there is a Raghavendra Mutt. To those who don’t know, Sri Raghavendra was born in Kumbakonam before he took sannyAsa and later settled in Mantralaya. There is also an Udupi Matha in the vicinity of the Raghavendra Matha.
There are Kannadigas in this area (or around Tanjavur in general, particularly Srimushanam, Kumbakonam, Srirangam, et al) and they speak a highly Tamilized dialect of Kannada. Many of them have perhaps lost the language too, although a handful have preserved their language by marital endogamy. The gentleman at the Raghavendra maTha invited us inside and politely told us to “lAkkEju illi viTTitu kalu tolethu banni”. Unfortunately, we couldn’t hang around for too long. This place has a backyard facing the Kaveri which is very scenic.
By now we were positively getting late. After a hurried auto-ride visit to the Chakrapani temple (along with a family that had come from Raichur), we visited the Kumbheshwara temple and subsequently hurried to the bus stand to get on to a bus to Tiruvayyaru.
A friend of mine recommended a particular “Murari sweets” as a must visit, but we failed to do this. Going by the experiences of somebody else who happened to eat here, it looks like an experience we missed out on.
Tiruvayyaru took a good two hours in the slow and crowded bus ride from Kumbakonam. Thanks to Vasanthi and Mr Sankaran (who is a Mrdanga vidwan) we had accomodation in Tiruvayyaru in the house of a Mr Kumareshan (who is a Bharatanatya exponent and disciple of Mr Sankaran, based out in Tiruvayyaru). Tiruvayyaru was bustling with people as we reached late in the evening.
Music was in the air, thanks to the loudspeakers that were broadcasting the live music performances at the stage by the Tyagaraja Samadhi. We couldn’t find a place to have dinner, so we settled for some Idlis in a nearby shop, followed with a Halwa of some sort (served with “Mixture”) – probably a local specialty. Very tasty!
We reached the Tyagaraja Samadhi where Kadri Gopalnath was performing Tyagaraja’s “mOkShamu gAlada” in Saramati as we arrived, followed up with “marivairE ramaNi” in nAsikabhUShaNi. Unfortunately, we couldn’t hang on for longer since we didn’t want to keep our hosts up from sleeping.
Sleep in Mr Kumareshan’s house was pleasant.
Day[3]: Tiruvayyaru
After an early rise and bath, we made it to Tyagaraja’s samadhi for the Aradhana which was slated to begin at 9AM. Thanks again to Vasanthi, we found ourselves comfortably seated in the pass-holders enclosure by 6AM, along with Hari. Heavy chatter made way for some of the best Nadaswara playing I’ve heard, which preceded the renditions of the pancharatna krtis.
Now, Tiruvayyaru gets it’s name from the five fold fork of Kaveri in it’s vicinity, each of which namely are Kaveri, Kollidam, Kodamurutti, Vennar and Vettar respectively. The name “Tiruvayyaru” itself in Tamizh splits as Tiru (holy) + ai (five) + aaru (water). Although of no special significance other than the ancient Panchanadishwara temple here, Tiruvayyaru today finds an important place on the map every puShya mAsa for the Aradhana of the great musical saint Tyagaraja who lived, sang and died here.
Tyagaraja (or Tyagabrahma as he was named) was the son of Ramabrahma – both in the lineage of Giriraja Kavi an exponent of music and scholar in literature who was attached to the Tanjavur court. They were Telugu Brahmanas of the mulukanadu subcaste who traced their origins to Andhra Pradesh and had probably migrated to the Tanjavur area in the post Vijayanagara times. Tyagaraja was himself born in Tiruvarur and named after the presiding deity of the place. Hundreds of his compositions surive in the multitude of musical lineages that trace back to him, and form the living blood of South Indian classical music as it is today.
The practice of his Aradhane itself as a tradition in Tiruvayyaru is less than a century old, constituted by the efforts of Bengalooru Nagaratnamma – who found the place of Tyagaraja’s burial and built the structure where his samAdhi stands today. The practice of choral singing the pancharatna krtis – arguably Tyagaraja’s magnum opera, was probably conceived originally by Harikeshanallur Mutthayya Bhagavata and since then has become the most familiar part of the Aradhana, now organized formally by the Tyagabrahma trust.
Promptly by 9AM, familiar musicians had gathered by the samAdhi as had thousands of music lovers from all over South India. Some familiar faces sighted included – Srimushnam V Raja Rao (Mrdanga Vidwan and also the secretary of the organizing trust), Ramani (flute), Umayalapuram Sivaraman (Mrdanga), Sudha Raghunathan (vocal), OS Arun (vocal), A Kanyakumari (violin), RK Shriram Kumar (violin), Kadri Gopalnath (saxophone) amongst others.
The pancharatna krtis were promptly rendered in the space of the next one hour, in the order of “jagadAnandakAraka” (nATa), “duDukugala” (gowLa), “sAdhinchane” (Arabhi), “kanakana ruchira” (varALi) and finally “endarO mahAnubhAvulu” (Sri). Many in the audience sang, others lipsynced and many just listened. Definitely a worthy experience for anybody who has grown up with some tradition of Karnatak classical music.
A visit inside the Tyagaraja samaadhi was followed with a short walk down to the Kaveri flowing by the side. Truly a beautiful setting that Tyagaraja must have lived in 165 years ago.
The other place of interest in Tiruvayyaru is ofcourse, Tyagaraja’s (now renovated) house. I hate to go in for adjectives that could explain the mindset of people who tore down the historic walls that Tyagaraja lived in, to build the showroom that it seems to be now. Grossly tasteless, but maybe I shouldn’t speak more.
Lunch was served nextdoor to Tyagaraja’s house. Hunger was sufficiently satiated till the tummy made pleasant noises.
By evening, I also paid a visit to the ancient panchanadishwara temple, which seems to have renovation work going on to it’s gopura. A short walk to the Kaveri bridge showed up a multi-lingual board that pointed to a Pattabhirama temple in “Pudu Agraharam where Tyagaraja and Dikshitar worshipped”.
By evening, we had packed bags to get back to Tanjavur where we had a train waiting for us. It was yet another self-overcoming story of heroism on how I managed to get ourselves Tatkal tickets in the same Mysore/Mayiladuturai express the previous day (and that too on a phone GPRS connection), but I shall not boast.
Thanks again to Vasanti, we got a lift all the way to Tanjavur, arriving just 20 mins ahead of the scheduled time of departure. We also ran into Kadri Gopalnath and A Kanyakumari at the station, with whom we had a bit of a conversation. There seemed to be a lot of people of music in the coach (a few Thavil/Dolu vidwans in the immediate vicinity of our berth as well as a another couple from Bangalore).
Nikhil Pai gave the haath for the planned CTR breakfast, but I’ll forgive him for that. Without him, I might have been left home and alone instead of making the eventful trip. More gratefullness dedicated to Vasanti (as acknowledged already) without whose help a lot of things might not have gone right and most of all to Mr Kumaresan and parents at Tiruvayyaru who treated us like family.
The First month of the year
The first month of the year is kinda unnaturally hard on me with couple of ailments and disasters striking me in rapid succession but have been off by a multitude of good events thanks to my buddy P6 for the Thanjavur trip and my parents for the Goa trip 
. so in case u r wondering why i am missing in action from the blog scene, here is a small recap of the various things i have been doing or things r doing to me 
Jan 1: Rain
Jan2: Ankle sprain
Jan3: Limp
Jan4: Peace
Jan5: Rest
Jan6: Friend dearest
Jan7:Yo Goa
Jan8: Ho Ho Goa
Jan9: Yii boredom
Jan10: Yo Thanjavur
Jan11: Heya Thanjavur, Mannargudi and Thiruvallur
Jan12: Heya Kumbakonam, Darasuram and Thiruvaiyur
Jan13: Thyagaraj Samaradhane
Jan14: Illayaraja Aradhane
Jan15: Sankey Tank
Jan16: Yo SAP
Jan17: Heya Delhi: Achchoo
Jan18: Throat infection
Jan19: Diet of Azithromycin, Crocin and Saridon
Jan20: Classes and Tiredness
An actual and truly complete log of what I have been doing the whole time
Till next post
Nik
31-Dec-2011 and 1-Jan-2012–> Unbelievable
ok so how does 2 days take precedence over a blog titl…thats cos i think the dates are important and there is no title for this post. This is just some recollections i have of the 2 days
31-Dec-2012.
Woke up at 4 pm after deciding a lot of plans and quashing most if not all of them for that extra sleep time and then got up in time for some timepass and Uzumaki Naruto episodes. Had some tea and samosas and spent some more time. Dinner was decent as we were served Sarson ka saag and Makke ki roti. The highlight of the dinner was the desserts which was supposedly chocolate shots which unfortunately were not as gr8 as we were promised but nonetheless.
The real fun started post 10pm when the dance floor opened in the most loved place in IMT: the amphitheater. From then on it was a gr8 time with superb music and friends coming together and making merry on the occasion. Lots of snacks and beverages ( non alcoholic) later, we started the count down to the new year and we were treated to some superb fireworks show by SAC and wishes went round and finally I decided it was time to get back to my room and more often than not it turns out I am mistaken and as usual, I met up with friends i started chatting with and ended up in my room by 4am and finally sleep ensued.
1-Jan-2012
Got up royally at 2 30pm and after wasting a lot of time, i did something useful. Took out the trash but it accumulated again as i cleaned my cupboard…arghhhh..Me and Nimesh decided to GIP mall for some timepass and also dine at Vaango which seems like one of the places in North India which serves decent South Indian food…a haven in rough weather…when we left college at 6pm, it was just drizzing ever so lightly and since the weather was cloudy we didnt think too much as it had stayed the same almost the whole day…5 kms into the trip, it drizzled a bit and we took a break for some Shikanji as also to seek refuge from the drizzle…we reach GIP by 7pm and after a couple of trips around the mall and buying some arbit business card holders, decided to hog at Vaango…the moment we stepped out, we saw it was drizzling like crazy and we headed into the mall and straight to Mad over donuts where we hogged a couple of donuts and a cappucino…We then crossed the street to get to Vaango where we had Idli Vada Sambhar ..yum and some Neer Dosa with Gunpowder and Oil..(Gunpowder = Chutney Powder) …And this is when we got into major trouble…it was raining cats and dogs outside..We had to wait a little…it was 9 30pm by the time we started back and 3 kms into the drive back we were soaked completely…we took couple of breaks, once near a factory and second time near a housing scoiety where we warmed our hands with the fire and finally drove back in nearly 50m visibility condition…a hot bath and amazing food at DLP to satisfactorily end the day…just cant express enough…
Till next post
Nik
Once in a while, along comes a day
When there are lot of things to keep you engaged throughout the day and somehow make u feel satisfied at the end of the day and one such day at IMT was 24th Dec 2011.
The day began with 2 exams being scheduled, Marketing of Services and Business process Reengineering. Though the names sound big and difficult study material, it was fairly simpler and wasn’t all that of a botheration as both papers were global in nature and nothign specifically touchy about them to warrant anxieties and do serious study…
The main attraction lied in what followed these exams, namely Don 2- The movie and Pizza Hut. The tickets were booked and we, Me, Mukul, Karan and kaustuk, were raring to go post exams. i was a little too subdued and tired after the exam ordeal but nonetheless excited to go to the movies. we were at the theater at 4 and the movie was not supposed to start off until 4 30 and the security guard wouldnt allow us inside until 4 20pm. the logic beats me however the standoff stood. At 4 20 we made into the hall armed with 2 large pepsi glasses and 1 tub of popcorn out of which the popcorn and 1 pepsi was meant for me and 1 pepsi for karan.
The movie began with a nice action sequence and a started off pretty well. then came the bulging middle of the movie which started creating boredom and was not the typical don style movie as expected. the action sequences were enjoyable and so was the dialogues but the storyline was weak despite having many twists and turns but the end was superb. And credit Kaustuk to sleep through this movie even though the 2 hrs 15m movie did indeed feel like it was 2 yrs 3 months sort in stretches but stilll.
Post this movie came the dinner part and we headed to Pizza hut after debating whether we should have food at KFC or at Pizza hut and then we decided to head for the obvious. At Pizza Hut, we were actually greeted with warmth and since the usual hustle bustle was missing, we also enjoyed some gr8 service not to mention the gr8 food which is a given when it comes to PH. Since there were some 15 new flavors on account of PH completing 15 years in India, we decided to go for the full scale menu and not skimp out as usual on weekday specials. We ordered Mushroom Corn Masala and Chicken Achari and Both of them tasted superb. We finished our dinner at around 8 45pm and we were back in the coop by 9pm.
Having spent a gr8 day amidst good things and friends, I can say that it has by far been one of the best days i have lived not spent in IMT.
Till next post
Nik
As the Chill sets in
As the december month progresses and the cold winds blow harder chilling one to the bone, I am reminded of many things that i want to do, should have done or can do. But this blog post is just a muse on what all is going through my mind.
On a typical day back home in Bangalore, i would have cuddled up on my bed with a novel with music streaming from creative + Hauppauge wireless streaming + creative speakers combo. Along side would be a cup of piping hot tea and mom made onion pakodas or on the swing with the book and tea or in front of the TV on the carpet watching some show. The most favorite pastime would have been chatting with parents and sipping tea. But now as I sit in the hostel in a single room cuddled up in side my sleeping bag(u read that right) in front of the laptop with music still blaring from creative speakers, I miss the pakodas and tea. Also missing are my parents and i cant just recount enough the rides just for fun sake or probably hanging out with my friends in Madhavan park or Cool joint in jayanagar. The food in the mess does not offset the reminiscence of hot idli vada sambhar or bonda soup and supreme filter coffees in the bangalore kaapi bars . Missing a lot of things that i would have had or done in the month of december.Hopefully cheer should set in post christmas and new years eve as i ll be in Bangalore. till next post.
Nik
Pichle Kayi Dinon Main
Pichle kayi dinon main bahut kuch hua aur inme bahut kuch achcha hua aur bura bhi. Aage padhiye ki kya kya hua
1. Mera Placement hogaya eClerx Services main. isme mera kaam Web Analytics aur Systems Architecting pe hoga…bahut excited hoon isko leke.
2. Meri neend ki MBA hogayi hai kyunki theek se na khaane ka time tha na sone ka aur is beech main thodi bahut gaand bhi lagi hui thi
3. Ladies vs Ricky Bahl dekhke aaya…Anushka Sharma kya lag rahi hai iss movie main…
4. Murthal jaa ke Sukhdev dhabe main Nimesh ke saath 5 C ki sardi main Aloo pyaaz parantha aur dal makhani khaake aaya. 160 km ka bike ride bhi hua.
5. Bakchodi kaatna
Bas itna hi..iss post main…Hope u liked my Anglification of Hindi..though not in the true sense of the word.
Nik
Lost in Time
Its been a while since i posted or precisely 11 days and a few hours, give or take another few. But the indomitable fact remains that i am missing from the blog scene. Most of that can be attributed to the facts below:
1. My sleep-awake has gone for a toss given that there are so many activities happening all at once.
2. Fretting for the Interview call and a black box mechanism wherein u get to know only when the info is available.
3. Too many classes and projects as it is the last stage of the term and there is considerable pressure to wind up academic stuff.
4. Modular courses which screw u beyond your regular schedule.
5. Trying to blog while in class leading to broken thoughts and wasted effort.
6. Researching stuff but deriving no insight leading to frustration.
Reasons many, one outcome of no blog post. Hence this on to make up for lost time and effort. Till next post.
Nik
Is it time Google did an Apple???
Google and Apple maybe a classic case of Allies turned Foes in the Tech world but look beyond, they are the biggest rivals and threats to each other and are now competing in myriad environments hitherto unknown to play host to such behemoths with vast financial muscle to pull out all the stops to go for an all out war in a fight to finish whereby culmination is signified by the wipe out of one of the 2 fighters. They seem like straight out of the movie “Gladiator” where in Maximus and the Roman Emperor are in a battle of the wits but only that the role of who’s who in this battle is not as distinctly clear as the movie portrays. So why this blog if nothing is crystal clear. Read on to see my muse run on in a play of words.
Google came into the fight with Apple with the introduction of Android which ran on a plethora of devices against the latter’s iDevices. Apple has lost market share but still maintained profitability even in the most dynamic of environments such as the mobile phone. The success is attributed in parts to the iDevices but mostly to the ecosystem that Apple has built mainly centered on iTunes and the tight linkage with iDevices coupled with its philosophy of one lineup, one product at a time philosophy.
In stark contrast, Android which eventually started in a clunky manner with its Chocolate flavor and then moving on to Donut, Eclair till its latest Ice cream Sandwich by way of which it has managed to catch up to most of its counterpart’s features but the offerings by OEM partners have been lambasted for a lot of reasons from quality of build to customization and bloatware. Of course, i love my Nexus One to bits but then again HTC has done a fantastic job with the build and with the pure Google experience, have cut much of the crap that my friends experience with other Droid devices.
Now that Google has Motorola Mobility in its wings and all the patents that could have been acquired, its time they step up the game to the next level and take on Apple with all its might. To begin with, Google should build a iTunes of its own and allow for easy sync with PC than the clumsy way of custom jukeboxes from OEM. Also an Android mobile is usually stuck with the flavor of Android it gets shipped in and hence this should be rectified at the earliest with at least support being provided for 3-4 versions by which time, they will get outdated and users will no longer use instead of being a generation behind by the time they are shipped out of the door. Building reverse compatible is something key that Apple does and time that Google aped the same instead of always quoting that the devices were too slow to run the latest versions and hence denying them the latest Android version.
Currently updates to Android devices are delivered Over-The-Air and is mostly at the discretion of the wireless carrier to push the update to device which makes it a pain in the ass for many, not to mention the hefty data consumption forming a good chunk of the 3G data plan instead it should allow for a download and sync option than rooting and updating currently being done. Google can also come up with more Pure Google experience phones by leveraging all the resources that Motorola currently has to offer in terms of Manufacturing, Dealership and Patents to get the best possible devices out to the market. Maybe instead of one lineup one device philosophy, it can adopt a price segmentation based one lineup one device which ll give it access to all strata of the consumers in the market looking for a mobile phone.
Maybe this is wishing a bit too much but i just wish Google would do something right all the way to the end instead of starting in a grand manner and resorting to mediocrity midway like its many products and experiments in the past. Till next post.
Nik
11K in ’11–> 20-11-2011
Yay. Finally a landmark milestone on a numerically exciting and also marks my first blog from the class. A Big Thank You for all my blog viewers for the support. Till next post.
Nik
Of Lazy Days and Utopian Dreams
Lazy days are here again and so is the impending busy days owing to the flurry if placement activities that are due in a month. But until then, we have some peace and quiet. Basketball tournament is currently underway in college and is a distraction from the monotony of everyday life.
Mostly importantly is the way days pass nowadays. I am not a very active person, depending on how Active is defined as but then i am not too lazy too. But the weather has become so pleasant and the chill in the air forces one to spend that 5 mins longer in bed before getting out of it. My days blend in and out with the ease of an expert weaver weaving one’s charm on the fabric of time. An excellent way to weave dreams and hopes in my sleep.
The way my days pass by nowadays is quite extra ordinary i must say. I sleep a lot mostly cos of the weather, watch a few movies and tv shows, follow a lot of twitter activity which gives me my daily quota of news and gossip around the world, follow up of mails on Nexus One and an occasional post now and then on my blog. Now that the competition season has ended and i have scored a decent CGPA to satisfy the academic rigor at IMT, I look back to recollect the journey so far and i find myself a major optimist unwilling to give up my fabric of comfort and hopes and trade it for reality but then again i have not lost touch with reality except that my outlook has become a little rosier. Hoping it stays like this forever, Till next post.
Nik
