India trip and the goodies

A re-union with the family after 5 yers cannot be captured merely in words as they are powerless. Two months flew away and all days were busy with some agenda or the other. HAd a great time with parents and sis. Met a few ppl from the blogosphere and had a very nice time.

I stayed at Pradip's home when I went to Guruvayur. He and his family played great hosts and his son was a non-stop entertainer. He dabbled with my blazer and wanted to know why I had bought such a big shirt ! It was fun talking to him in English since I was the first person he had tried to talk in english with. Pradip's daughter - the quiet and organized antonym of Pradip's son - carries a silent reputation of having finsihed 48 Krithis along with dance classes and she is still in 6th grade ! A silent over-achiever. Pradip and I talked through the night and slept around 3:00 am. We discussed some of my compositions and also discussed his great times with Sandeep Chowta. Pradip has probably some of the most advanced gear that one may find in home recording.

Myself, Pradip and Divya

The next day lunch was at Divya's place. Both Pradip and Divya have lovely houses dwarfed only by their hospitality. In the little time that I had, I taught some of the nuancces of "neelaambari" song to Divya. Divya's mom and earlier Pradp's wife had cooked excellent food and needless to say, a desi-food-hungry NRI who was denied desi food for 5 years, pounced on it with glee. My mom, who hails from Kerala had a great time with all relishing conversations in malayalama nd great Kerala cuisine. I had hardly 2 hours to spend at divya's place but every minute of it is still ingering in my mind. Some photos that we took are given here.

Aishwarya and Divya

It was unfortunate that I could meet Jo only in the Trichur Railway Station. Pradip, Jo, my mother and I had some conversations till the late and irritatingly slow Venad Express came to the platform. I met Murali Ramanathan and Anil Kumar BS also, in Trivandrum. However, the photos are not available with me yet. Murali and Anil spent quite some time during the day discussing some of our compositions and also saw me off in the airport. Overall, it was a great experience.

I missed out to mention earlier that I met Ajit Gopalakrishnan - the orchestrator of "aisi bheegi" and "ennaachu". WE both have chemical engineering backgrounds and we ended up talking chem engg than music !! Sorry Ajit, to leave your name out in a jiffy ! I know you are into music as much as you are into Chem Engg !!!

Jo, Pradip and Myself