The Guru-Shishya parampara in Hindi film songs

A common recurring theme employed  in Indian film music is the Guru (teacher) singing with his Shishya (pupil) and gently urging him/her to follow the lines s/he’s singing and then take wing...

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY

For me the book makes it to my favorites more because of who recommended it rather than the actual story or movie based on it.

Its been nearly over a decade since I read the book for a third time & finally handed over the book to my social circle. The movie was frankly terrible and Clint Eastwood was quite choppy and still getting his grip as a director with most dramatic scenes handled terribly.

The food served at Temple festivals

Each temple in the South Kanara district of Karnataka has its own annual festival that usually involves some festivities and popular customs & rituals.  This usually lasts for a couple of days and sometimes up to a week. What is notable is that meals are served to all devotees attending this festivities usually in the evenings, but in some temples also during afternoons.

What I have found very distinct is the food served at these temple festivals (and I can only talk about the temples thronged by the GSB community).  This food is treated as offerings to the Deity and taken as blessed ‘Prasad’ by the community.

ETV Marathi, ZEE Marathi and Home Minister

The language Marathi is part of my culture and something I am immensely fond of, even though I cant speak it. My mom’s from Aurangabad, and this was the lingua franca at her home, even though Konkani was our mother tongue (Konkani, which is very very very similar to Marathi)

But the influence of Marathi was everywhere. Most of the best Bhajans (IMO) are in Marathi.  I have spent a lot of time in Maharashtra, and the neighbouring Goa has similar cultures to my community of the GSBs

Bhajans – devotional music

Singing Bhajans – devotional songs, have been an integral part of my family.  It was a ritual, a daily practice even, when we were kids.  In my community (the GSB – Gowd Saraswat Brahmans) this used to be a common practice in my father’s generations.  In the evening when the lamps were lit, there would be a short session of Bhajans.

For me, it started off as an unwanted discipline and chore that I couldn’t avoid, to now something I genuinely enjoy and is one of my favourite things to do.

Oprah and Deepak’s Meditation challenge online course

In her book EAT, PRAY AND LOVE, Liz Gilbert talks about how advanced methods of  meditation needs to be done carefully under supervision and with the blessings of an expert – usually the experienced Guru.  This normally would mean going to a retreat or an Ashram and dedicating a month or a few weeks to this.  Seems unlikely most would even consider this.

Which is why the 21 day meditation course by Oprah and Deepak Chopra is such a blessing in disguise.

Krishna by Colonial Cousins

This song is one of the ever green and outstanding compositions that will stand the test of time. Colonial Cousins was a collaboration between Lez a musical wizard mostly making ad jingles, and Hariharan a ghazal singer. 

However when they came together I think they got the combination absolutely bang on and produced some outstanding stuff.

Meditation

This is a humble note of gratitude to a bunch of white folk who visited my primary school for a few days and taught each class by class, each student at a time, the magic of meditation.  It has meant a world of a difference to me.

Elizabeth Gilbert and ‘EAT, PRAY, LOVE’

Imagine you are an editor/ publisher and get a request for a book – where the author asks you for a major advance. An advance to spend a year travelling across the globe. Those travels would include a mix of sun, sand and lagoons, as well as one of the most expensive locations in the heart of Europe, and there would be one of the muckiest places somewhere in between.  And then, there might be a book about all of this somewhere after the end of the year. Would you buy into this pitch, however less or well-known the author was?

Well the world, at least millions of readers like me, shall forever be grateful to this kind soul who approved this request for it produced one of the most brilliant, literally life-changing books ever – EAT, PRAY, LOVE