Well, for want of a better title I chose this !
Gajabhuja in Sanskrit means the trunk of an elephant !
So, in short, the title means big/huge fundas !! :-)
29 June 2010
Madras Eye (conjunctivitis) - A simple cure
Madras, that wonderful city, aka heaven on earth, is famous for quite many a thing. It is also famous for Madras eye, which typically occurs around June/July, when the first rains come in after summer.
While many a quacks make money, and quite many stupid people pay money to get themselves cured of Madras eye, there is a simple cure for it; a cure that I have personally used and recommended to quite many people with great success.
The basic symptom of Madras eye is bloodshot redness, followed by swelling in the eye, and a little bit of pain.
Like many other viruses, there is no specific cure for this.
The easiest way to get rid of Madras eye is this -- take two pieces of cotton, sufficient enough to cover your closed eyes completely. Wet it with water, common tap water would do. No need to use mineral water. Place the wet cotton pieces onto your eyes and lie down. As and when the cotton gets dry, keep wetting them. Do this for one full day, approximately 24 hours. After that, you would see that the redness disappears, and you are left with just swollen eyes, that would go away in a few hours or so.
The advantage of this method is two fold; you save on a visit to the doctor, and you get one full day of rest. Try beating that ;-)
I do not have any high hopes, but I think I should be able to finish the whole thing in under two hours.
The last time I did competitive cycling was a BSA event, where I came second in a 20km bicycling race. I think I hunted down that trail in under 40 minutes. But that was quite a few years ago.
Much thanks go out to my friend Anand, who has graciously agreed to loan me his bicycle.
எப்படி எப்படி, asks S.P.Balasubramaniam in this amazing song. Can you even believe that this was released as far back as 1983 ? Almost 30 years ago. And yet, check out the lilting flute, those amazing violins, those stunning and strumming guitars, and yes, that golden voice that just caresses each and every word. Seems so very fresh.
Bliss. I think the fact that the radio plays these songs, is a good enough reason for me to get to work with my player on and headphones glued to my ears.
I have always believed that if you order bottled water in a restaurant, you are a dumb ass, as you do not know that the restaurant folks just fill it up with tap water, and glue out the lids. If you do not know this, see the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
And no, this practice is not restricted to India alone, and it is quite prevalent in many parts of the world.
I remember reading a statistic that for a population of 300 million United States consumes 900 million bottles of water a year. Total and outright madness.
Anyway, here are some interesting articles. 1 and 2
Grow up people. Stop having lily flowers as your livers.
This is one of those songs that you do not come across quite often, for there are other songs in this movie which somehow became popular.
There are some wise men, who say that the opening notes of this song bear an uncanny resemblance to four seasons, though, as always, I vehemently disagree with them.
Check out the strumming, the bass guitars, and yes, that whistle.
Excerpts from the song aritharatha poosikolla aasa from the movie avatharam (sung by Illayarja and Janaki)
Illayaraja: ஏன் பாட்ட எடுத்து வுட்ட ஒரு சனம் எல்லாம் மெய் மறக்கும் அது உசுரோட பொய் கலக்கும் (If I create a song, it mesmerizes the people and gels with their soul)
How very true of all Illayaraja's songs !!
Female voice: பாடுன்னு நண்பது எல்லாம் இங்கு பாட்டாக இருப்பது இல்ல அது லேசான விஷயம் இல்ல (What you think as song is not a song and it is not an easy task)
Illayaraja: அதுக்காக தான் இசை அவதாரமா நான் பொறந்தேன்னு பூலோகம் பாரடுமே !! (Which is why, the people of this world think that I am music incarnate)
As he approaches yet another birthday on 2nd June, Illayaraja moves one more step closer to immortality.
If you live in Chennai, Big FM (92.7) is playing his songs for the entire month. There cannot be any other way to beat the traffic, get into the groove and what not.
Since I was unable to get the video of the song, here are some gems:
With some amazing string and drum arrangement far ahead of its times. Of course, one can forget the shoddy work done with the video.
And here is one that is outright rhythmic (Just look at the drums and cymbals that create that foot tapping rhythm)
