Maestro Illaiyaraja felicitates Kavignar Vaali

Hi,

I came across this video where the legendary isai gnaani Maestro Illaiyaraja talking about the legendary Kavignar Vaali. Both are my favourite celebrities : great music composer Illaiyaraja and great lyricist Vaali. In fact Illaiyaraja is a wonderful lyricist too and one example is the songs in the Bharathiraja's movie Naadodi Thendral. In this video, you can see Illaiyaraja's great Tamil knowledge and how he used the tamil words... so nice to hear.



Kumaran RN

My Favourite Motivational Songs (Tamil)

Hi,

The following are my favourite motivational songs.. when I listen to them anytime and in any mood, I will feel recharged. Once I am able to find the link to the MGR song Kann Pona Pokile (Film : Panam Padaithavan), I will include it in this list too. Enjoy listening.


1. NIRAINTHU VAAZHGA (Movie : Perumaikkuriyaval, Singers : P.Suseela and S.Janaki, Music : M.S.Visvanathan)



2. NAALAI NAMADHE (Singers : T.M.Soundrarajan and SP Balasubramaniam, Music : M.S.Visvanathan)




3. VAAZHUMATTUM (Film : Kali, Singer : S.P.Balasubramaniam, Music : Illayaraja)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1UpCwAE2M4


4. VETRI KODI KATTU (Film : Padaiyappa, Singer : Sriram, Music : AR Rahman)




5. VAAZHKAIYA YOSINGADA (Film : Chennai 600028, Music : Yuvanshankar Raja)



Best regards
Kumaran RN

National Day Rally 2009 : My Views

Hi,

Every year I watch the National Day Rally that comes the following week (Sunday) after the national day celebration (9 Aug). Last year I had one of my dreams fulfilled which is to attend at least one of the national day rallies. I was selected to attend and I was impressed with the rally and the speech.

This year I did not get the chance but I managed to catch the live telecast on TV. I tried the online webcast but due to heavy online traffic it took very long time to connect to the video streaming, but the website looked simple and informative with sections to air the views and also live blogging.

I am not that impressed with this year's rally and felt it was draggy. this maybe due to the fact that during the past some years, I have been used to seeing new policies and "goodies" announced which was not done this year. Expecting an election at the end of next year, I expected interesting give-aways, but, well.. i was disappointed.

Still the main topics touched were of relevance to the current Singapore situation. The economic is recovering, slowly but steadily. The health sector to be enhanced further to cater to the future growth of the elderly population. One point in the message was clear : keep fit and embrace a healthy lifestyle and that will help in a big way to keep the health cost low or rather at a manageable level.

The racial and religious matters portion was quite well handled. The racial and religious discriminations do exist although the government policies and constitutions clearly condemn such discriminations and meritocracy is promoted. I find the better racial and religious integration among the younger generation is much better than the older generation and especially those who are not exposed to the global village. Internet technology, increased travelling to countries and global-level interaction, and our cosmopolitan society have all contributed to this reduction in the discrimination. That is my observation.

I have experienced racial discriminations since young and also during my former jobs, but it has only made me stronger to strive better, to learn more about in-depth my race, traditions, culture and religion, and also other races, cultures and religions to see the differences and the links especially the common spaces. That knowledge which is still growing helps me to educate (in a pleasant and more civilised way of course)ignorant people when they behave in disciminatory way towards me (actions or words). There have been many instances where such education have made the other party learn and appreciate my culture and sometimes other cultures too. They also get to understand their own cultures better too.

Well.. the discussions are going on as usual among the various groups, but it will take at least another generation or two to have a better understanding.

As for now, I will carry on my learning process and civilised eduction to those discriminators who I may encounter.

These are just my thoughts and views.

Best regards.

Kumaran RN