Celebrating Life, With Conviction!

*  We are privileged to get to attend a wonder of an event in Delhi called the VSK Baithak - sponsored, coordinated and 'celebrated' by Mr. VS Kapur, a businessman of Gurgaon - where he invites select Hindustani classical players and singers for an exclusive, no frills program.
*   The last time we attended one dad about 6 oud yaar back, when we were in Delhi last.
*   What stands out about the man above is not just his enthusiasm to appreciate good music, or share it amongst like-minded music lovers but also the sheer conviction of steadfastly sticking to giving centrestage to promising youngsters, and over the years, this conviction Hai proved the point completely.
*  Also, the efforts of organising struct classy events, simply for the pleasure of celebrating a passion for music is what I greatly appreciate... Lessons to learn out there, and so the title of this Blog...

What a Musical Bonanza!

Our short trip to Udupi & Coorg had a great ending, what with a chance look @ a non descript advertisement of a SPIC MACAY classical program @ the NIT, Suratkal. After sorting out the major issues of how to reach the location from Mangalore, one realised that an even more bigger issue cropped up - who all will attend the whole-night concert? Rajan & Sajan Mishra duo,Dhrupad by Dagar, Shahid Parvez's Sitar, Venkatesh Kumar vocal. Not to forget some great Mandolin by the prodigal U Srinivas. Finally, the choice was unanimous and simple - only ME! It was heartening to see the huge crowd of attendees tool one saw that it was clearly a case of 'detailment'! However, the event itself was classy! Now only the moonlit hassle of how to return to the hotel @ the unearthly hour of 3 or 4 AM !!

Jaideep's Upanayanam, B'lore...

It was a great rejuvenator to be amidst all the greenery and tranquility of the ITC Residency @ Bengaluru. The quient place is near the erstwhile Jakkur airfield, astride the road to the new airport. We spent the whole day lazying around, checking out the swanky gym, and the pool. There was no going out to town as the chief protagonist, Jaideep, was not permitted to move out after the initial puja...

What a Short Break!

• ...just back after a week-long stay @ Pachmarhi. We had gone as part of a Summer Camp that was held for children of Bhopal... and were responsible to oversee its conduct.
• Good chance to take a break from the rush of daily life of Bhopal. Also, a nice chance to be amongst children and get to influence them. It was indeed a challenge to keep them busy for a whole week!
• The Campfire was nice, with some interesting personalities gracing the occasion. We had Mr. Prakash Jha, the noted film director (in fact, the run-up to inviting him over, we got a chance to view a good hour or so his shooting of his film 'Chakravyuh'!)
• Also, popular were Abhay Deol and Padmashree Om Puri. Nice fun, overall indeed.