Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Tipperary to Thipparalli

I keep remember things in my ‘Life so far’ and that I guess is my biggest inspiration to blog….this time around… … Yes! Yet again I am stuck on the previous subject – Music …. With a dash of humour to it.

The blog was designed this way, I was remembering my granddad talking to me about this person by name T.P. Kailasam, a very well known playright in Kannada, known for his wit and humour……seemed like my granddad loved reading about him, or talking about him as he had mentioned his name to me numerous times at different instances. He was (I guess) called the George Bernard Shaw of Kannada Theatre/Literature, also was tagged to the saying ‘Kannadakobbane Kailasam! Hasyakobbane Beechi’ and what I recollect from my granddad were the short whacky statements from T P Kailasam…..his witty replies when asked about anything – I feel sad that I don’t remember it well enough to pen it down..

Yesterday while shopping at Tesco.. …I happened to see a huge advert of Magners Cider – which read Made in Tipperary – this ignited my thought process about TPK…..and made me think this weird remembrance has to be penned down.

My mind immediately was humming the tunes of ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary, It’s a long way to go’ …which later turned to ‘Namma Thipparalli balu dooraa, nadeyak balu doora’…..though TPK adapted this song from a Irishman’s song from yester years….it’s has it’s own brilliance…..It’s one of a kind in the humour aspect, I find it toungue twisting at times ( still can’t manage all the lyrics)… but is a joy to listen….It’s a story said in the song which you can relate to very easily….a common man’s story, narrated beautifully and in a utterly unusual way. Listen to this piece which gives you a flavour of both the English and the Kannada versions of the song.....for those you are still struggling with the lyrics...ENJOY!

Monday, November 09, 2009

The Little Ben

The main places that come to one’s mind when they hear/read about London are Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge…well…..don’t we all know it as the London Bridge, The houses of parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben amongst a lot of other significant ones.

There are however numerous other sights, locations, places and Monuments…..not so famous, not so significant, and not so known to all…. The nice book called 1000 things to do in London gives a lot of ideas on such small avenues in this magnificent city….

This way I came across the not so big, the not so grand … Little Ben… unlike it’s big brother, this one’s left in the junction of 3 main roads right opposite the busy Victoria station. It can be easily missed by anyone and you can see the many office goers run past it to get to work or home.

For those who get a chance to be here and have the time after having done all the main things…..can just pop out of Victoria Station and take a peek…