Paulo Coelho Fan!

Thanx for the post Sridhar, a pleasure sparring with u !
I was not implying that Kannadasan lifted the lyrics lock,stock and barrel from some old poet . He had enough talent to last four lifetimes and to spare, thank you, and dint need to pilfer intellectual property. ( MSV has reminisced that the man was so awesome that he could supply 3 or 4 different pallavis to a given note within 15 mins ! ) It is imperative that a lyricist writes apt lines to fit the scene in a film , thats commonsense after all. It would be foolish to lift whole songs from some crumbling palm- leaf and thrust them into celluloid sequences , without sync, just because they sound nice. The idea i was trying to put across in my last post was that songwriters ( according to that interview) were not averse to dipping into the vast treasury of old tamil writings to fish out phrases , lines ( punchline, as they say now ?) imagery and structure that could be woven into their very own imaginative output, as required . So while the rest of the song had the necessary reference to the scene at hand, one line or phrase could be borrowed as an embellishment. And this Irukkum- idathai- blah-blah line was one such borrowed ornament. Satti Suttadhadaaa was another ( according to writer Sujatha), i forget the alleged source. K.Dasan has used "Un Kannil Neervazhindaal" for Prestige Padmanabhan to commiserate with his weeping wife, though Bharatiyar was cuddling his chinnanchiru kili with the same.

There's a nice romantic P.B Srinivas song "Kalangalil Aval Vasantham...." The pallavi part is structured on one of Krishna's revelations in The B.Gita and the songman's genius lies in acknowledging this fact by using the original's exact wording to end it: Madhangalil Margazhi. ( Sridhar, i have to admit here that i am not sure if this particular song is by K.Dasan or Vali or someone else, whoever it was, O podu !)
Sorry if i have degressed too much and tested yr. patience , But thats that !
Bye
Rgds.
Vs

 

Rightoh Sridhar !

I agree it isnt't fair to poach on a Coelho thread to conduct a debate about tamil film songs. Let us peacefully retire with our respective three-legged rabbits and start a new thread which may perhaps attract more contributors.
At the risk of sounding like a saccherine mutual admiration society, let me end this by saying: its been nice knowing and interacting with you too Sridhar.
Rgds
VS

 

Like The Flowing River

Hi all
I finally finished the book- Like The Flowing River.
Halfway through it I realised it could not be read like a storybook, in one go. So I kept it on my bedside and now and then, took in a page or two, giving myself enough time to explore the ideas. One Mysore-Pak at a time from the sweetbox !

While reading, I kept getting the sense of Deja-vu. Coelho has pretty much recycled his ideas and sentiments from other books. Still, like the repetitive insistence of mantras, his insights sink in level by level. He has admitted that each of his books describe a process of answering his own questions, the process excites him as it leads to self discovery. This book revels in such self discovery.
He has selected instances and " processes " that have to do with normal,mundane living and not those dealing with philosophical speculations. So it is not heavy reading or too taxing .

The small stories are simple and elegant. Like the story of the Old Woman's pencil. And of the Rose waiting for the bees. I sort of liked the idea that "when we can do nothing else, we can still love without expecting anything in return."

Quintessential Coelho.

Vidyasarada

 

Dear Sridhar
I was touched that you should have taken the trouble to thank me for suggesting a book.
Your additional verses to the Dhammapada prayer carry the true yearnings of every sensitive humanbeing , fed up of the constant strife fuelled by just a handful of misguided bigots.
Its like John Lennon's iconic "Imagine". Please accept my best wishes on penning a gem.

VS

 

Dear Dierdre
Thank you for posting that info.
Will check it out.
Vs