Song in Malkauns Raag

Carrying on with the Bollywood olden-goldies series, I'm now posting a song, sung by Mohammad Rafi in the film 'Baiju Bawra.' The song is in the raag Malkauns - an ancient, and very popular Indian raag.






Found clip on youtube where a young kid sings the song on an Indian singing competition. It's unbelievable how kids this young can sing so well, and have a great control over their voice and pitch. Unfortunatly I think the judge, Sonu Nigam was a bit harsh..



Anyway, an embarrassing attempt to sing shabad in the same raag by, yours truely. hahaha really embarrassing how I went off pitch (and offbeat too once! haha)... Oh well I've had my deal of bad 'performances' (most recently in Norway)

YES WE CAN!

Had to make a post about it! I'm reallly really happy he won!
I was actually really surprised that McCain even had a chance of winning, considering 90-ish % of Europeans prefer him over his Republican rival.

I think he seems to the most sensible man considering the fact that he declares that he's open for a dialogue with countries like Iran and Korea. I think dialogue is extremely important, and when McCain made a big fuss about Obama being ready to SPEAK DIPLOMATICALLY with Iran, I realized that Mccain was a man who shot first and asked later. I think America deserves a president who has some senses and is able to keep his cool instead of erupting as soon as someone around the globe does something that seems 'threatening'.

Also I full heartedly support the fact that he wants to close down places like Guantanamo which have basically locked up a bunch of people without giving them any chance of having a trail or any justice. I don't know who they are, what they've done, but they deserve to get a fair trail. I think democrats generally care a lot more about human rights, climate issues, social insurance policies where everyone gets subsidized (if not free) health care, whereas, I feel, Republicans only care about their money, and that they can keep them, and don't really want to contribute anything to the society...

Another reason I believed he'd do a better job than McCain is the fact that he doesn't advocate decreasing taxes and stuff for people with incomes higher than $250 000 a year. A lot of money; and those who earn more than that and cry over having to pay a bit more tax...well I don't really much to say about them (that won’t be offensive.) I think people who work hard should be rewarded, but at the same time I do think they have a responisibility of making sure that their neighbors have a roof over their head; and that if their kid is run over by a car (God forbid), they don’t need to think about where to get money for the operation, before they take the kid to the hospital. Tax reductions should go to those with lower incomes, because those are the ones who NEED them.


There goes my second blog post with a political twist.

Renderation of Raag Darbari Kanara

Found a really nice song sung originally sung by the great Manna Dey... Actually I've been listening quite a bit to olden goldies from Bollywood movies (despite that I think most of the modern movies are full of crap)... So I've decided to post them here! I think I'll make into an olden-goldies series of bollywood songs. As you'll realise, most of them are in some kind of raag (probably the reason I appreciate it..)
Anyway, here comes the first one:

Link to Jhanak Jhanak Tori Bajhe Payiliya
The link above is to the song, when sung in an indian idol show by a young indian lad... The Song is in Raag Darbari Kanara...

Below, I've posted the original song.

Concerned over the situation in Burma

Haven't posted for a while....

I'm still very concerned about the situation in Burma. Very sad (and frightening) that all media coverage has stopped there (almost completly). No-one is reporting what's going on in the country?

Now the internationall news is about Georgia, and prior to that it was the torture of the tibetians. Everyone forgot the monks in Burma, and the earthquake victems, who have to take LOANS (yes they have to repay them!) to get back to normal life.

That "normalcy" has been restored to the country seems very doubtful. Anyone got any news about the state of the protesters in Burma? Or the state of the people in general, in Burma?

Where are my, Sweet like Jalebi, readers?

Oi! I'm feeling soo lonely here!!!

Ok there are periods where I don't post very frequently, but that doesn't mean you stop commenting!!




Now stop acting like a rotten Jalebi and show me you're present!

Ok, I should really be off! Exams tomorrow! Pray for me!!!

Signature: Brirtains got talent

Quote

"Radiate on soldier! the brave warrior never leaves the battlefield!"

- D

Germany part I

So following the visit of the bhaji from Germany, they were hosting a European Sikh conference in Germany (Cologne), so I thought I'd go.

Of course the older geezers had decided they were going and were the ones representing Sweden, so there was apperantly no place for me (boohoo!) After a lot of ifs and buts, my friends from Denmark who were also going sorted my accommodation and my trip from the airport to the conference. Their flight was to land at Dusseldorf Airport (an hour from Cologne) one hour after mine.

Excited as I was I booked my ticket through ryanair to Dusseldorf, not realising there was a "Weeze" added to the destination name on their website. What do I care? As long as it's Dusseldorf airport! After landing, I ask one of the workers where the Air Berlin flights land (the flight my friends were coming with) and to my great distress he informs me that only ryanair flights landed at that airport, and the other one was 80km away! My Gosh!

My heart beat frequency sped up quite a bit. Ok so I find out there's busses from this airport to Dusseldorf (I thought it must be like the London busses where the buss goes from Standstedh airport to Heathrow.) An hour or so later when the buss stops, I realize I wasn't at an airport - I was at the central railway station!!!!!!!!!!! Bloody Germans! At least they could have been more clear and informed that it doesn't go to the airport!!!

I find a travel mate (a black lady who also flew from Sweden) who was also going to meet someone at the airport. So we share a taxi to the REAL Dusseldorf airport where I was meeting the Danes (who's flight was delayed one hour.) After paying 50% of the fare, (yes yes I'm a cheap Indian bastard! ) and saying greeting the black lady farewell, I go into the airport and ask about the airberlin flights, and am directed to the gate where it's landing.

After walking around for a few minutes (realising they weren't coming before half an hour or so), I take a seat, pick out a magazine from my bag and start chewing on a toast my mum had packed for me. Out of nowhere this young lad suddenly bends down and looks at my face (and scares the sh*t out of me...) and goes: "Denmark?" I jumped up in chock and quickly packed the messy toast into my bag. It was a turban wearing young lad, I realized. Our lift from the airport had arrived. To be continued...

How I (almost) lost my license

Ok, I almost lose my driving license the other day.

I went to the Gurdwara (sikh temple) to meet this gyani jee (religious person) who has come from Germany to teach us Kirtan. Although the classes were to start the following day, we were there early to plan the week.

But I insisted that he teach me something NOW (eager as I was.) Sooooo what happened was he listened to me (he thought I was crap and need to practise more…boohoo!) But then I sang a shabad /hymn) I had practised on a few times. My mind kind of “got stuck” into the shabad, the tune, the words etc.

While driving home I was still stuck in the shabad and kept singing (yes out loud while driving!! ) I just looked forward and kept on driving. After a while I realized there’s a “copcar” behind me. I got a bit distressed and focused on the driving and tried to keep to the speedlimit.

After a while he turns on his front sirens, so I drive the car into the bus stop hoping that he’d pass by. But no, he stopped behind me and came forward.

“Is this your car?”

-Yes,

“Are you in a hurry?”

-Yes I’m pregnant (No I’m joking – I was well frightened so I squealed a barely "hearable" ‘no’ - I was in no position to joke around then.)

“We’ve been following you for a while. Why were you driving 100km/h where there was a speedlimit of 50km/h?”

- (I’m SHOCKED – was I ?? I wasn't thinking about my speed while driving, I was still stuck in the shabad haha) “I was?"

“We want you to blow into this machine” (I blow into the "alcometer." No I wasn’t drunk, they could conclude. (I actually do acknowledge wasn’t driving normally. A bit like druk people drive..)

(He looks at my license)

- “Getting a license isn’t easy, nor cheap”

- No. I’m really sorry, my mind was somewhere else. I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again. Actually I’m going to be honest with you, I came from a music class, and I was just stuck with the song, and I’m REALLY REALLY sorry, it won’t happen again

(He looks at the photo of the handsome man on the license he was holding)

Again, I squeal - “It won’t happen again, I’m really sorry”

- Don’t let it happen again!

I was scared as HELL. If they would fine me, the find would be HEAVY – and they could’ve taken the license as well. But that’s not the worse bit. The worse bit would be the chitter (beating) I’d get from mum! She would LITERALLY KILL me. Literally. Did I tell mum? Yes I did – I told her there was a alcotest, and they checked my license. Nothing about the speed. I don’t want jutiya (beaten) for nothing.

But I’m alive, and happy and still have my license!

Woohoo!

*drives of at 150 km/h at a 30km/h road…*

Lesson to be learnt: If you wanna drive bloody quickly - do LOOK AROUND if there's any cops around! and look properly.

Coming up: my germany trip!

Hilarious!

This guys is hilarious! I must admit he does dance quite well- but what up with the high waist pants!!

Good dancing though.
I'm in the process of writing something that happened just a few weeks ago- but I've got an exam tomorrow, so I should be spending too much time here... haha

Enjoy his dancing skills!

Tribute to a hero

Oh Lord, If I worship you...

While skimming through a muslim site I found something interesting attributed to a prominent muslim leader-


O Lord,
If I worship You
From fear of Hell, burn me in Hell.

O Lord,
If I worship You
From hope of Paradise, bar me from its gates.

But if I worship You for Yourself alone
Then grace me forever the splendour of Your Face.

Unconditional Love

Just had to post it again; and remind all of my readers how important their "mums are."
For God's sake - just go and give her a hug!

Fruits that smell (and taste) like garbage

Oh my!

I do not mind eating fruits. But some fruits (*cough* *cough* - The official Malaysian fruit, the Durian.) literally smell and taste like garbage....Not any garbage ....garbage that's been lying around for weeks.

Worth trying though, because it's said that, it's a thing that some people actually like. Some LOVE it, some HATE it, it's said.



It is UNBELIEVABLE how smelly they are! The odour actually spreads like some kind of bacteria! Leave a piece (or the seed with a small piece of the fruit) open, the odour will be detected in the entire house!

I have, absolutely, no intention of being offensive to any Malaysian reading this blog; as a matter of fact I've enjoyed your hairy leaches (rambotans?? - sounds like some ig mighty animal!), and mango-thingies (those were the best; the ones that you break with your hands!).



No Durians signs...


But Durians are horrible. I cannot believe how people can eat that kind of stuff.
I was, however, intending on giving it another chance, since it's said that it's a thing that you eventually "learn liking", however my sister loved it - so she ate it all up.

It is said that the smell of the durian can also be detected out of the eater's burps and farts.

I can confirm that the latter is true.

Happy new year!

Just thought I'd wish all my readers a (belated)...
Happy New Year!