Great writeup !!! thanks for expressing yourself.. & just one thing - u don't really need eyes to meet him :)) Whenever u listen to his music, u r actually in a meeting with him :))
On Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 12:25 PM, Neetika raina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > This posting is my story, my journey with ARR.. > I just wish to tell him once, how much influenced i am by him > and how much impact ARR has in every big decision of my Life... > I want to thank him with this post. > I knw dis post is very lengthy ...sorry for dat!!!! > > http://armozdream.blogspot.com/ > > THANK YOU SO MUCH > > A tiny soul wandering around forests, restless from the remembrance of > previous birth's unpleasant memories. There were a lot of issues which had > to be settled, lots of promises which had to be fulfilled... Saw a beautiful > place surrounded by mountains, fresh air, fresh water, divine ambience and > thought of taking birth to a beautiful and caring couple and that is how I > was born... I was born at the extreme end of country "India" .There is a > beautiful city called as "Jammu". Before I could learn any means of > communication, I developed a sense towards sounds. Sounds which have some > special quality in them, which gave them a pride of being called as > "Music"... U can say that I had some special affinity towards music as the > first words which came out of my mouth were some Punjabi folk song which i > used to hear a lot in my early age. It totally amazed my dad, who nearly > jumped seeing his daughter uttering some words... And after few years, it > was the sound of Aazan (Namaz) in Ptv which caught my ears. Though I too > small to understand the meaning of religion or religious prayers or even to > understand the words of that divine prayer but i was crazy for that. I used > to fight with my parents to switch Ptv at right time every day. That caused > a reason of worry in my Hindu Brahmin family. A doubt occurred to them > fearing if its some last birth effect or some kind of influence of Ptv but > after few years, all the doubts were cleared... > I was nearly 9 years old & watching my favorite show "Surabhi" on > doordarshan. They were talking about a guy "Rahman" who is very young but > has created a rage in music industry and then they played a Tamil song > "Chinna Chinna Aasai" Though the interview with that guy was in English > (that time an alien language for me) but the lines Chinna Chinna aasai > infected my nervous system somehow. Later, after few months the same Tamil > film "Roja" got released in Hindi. I jumped listening to "Dil hi chota sa". > That was the time when a new phase in my life started. My next encounter > with ARR was with the movie "Bombay". The song"Kuchi Kuchi Rakma" was the > pick of my ears. May b it was the simple "Dholak sound" or the innocent > voice of GV Prakash which caught my kiddy ears(but later found out the > complexity of the song, how Persian sound is fused with folk > composition).Those days my ears were not matured enough to understand the > melody of "Tu Hi Re..." or "Bombay Theme".It was few months later, when i > accidently forgot to press the stop button of my cassette player after the > song "Hama Hama" and the sound of "Tu hi re" filled the room. My heart > skipped a beat, all of a sudden i developed a new emotion. There started a > new journey, suddenly as if i understood the meaning of art. I could relate > pain with the sound of "Bombay theme" and den soon i started to ignore other > songs for these 2 tracks. It really sounds funny now. > Then ARR gave his first Hindi album "Rangeela". The songs became like my > morning, afternoon and evening prayers. Within a week i by hearted the > lyrics, tune orchestraization and the mysterious sounds which ARR always > embeds in his songs. The were so many movies which did not make much sound > in bollywood but I was lucky to get a hand over the cassettes like Priyanka > ( Indira), Chor Chor(Thiruda thiruda),Vishwa Vidhata (Pudhiya Mugham), Kabhi > na kabhi. I had no idea how those songs were getting dissolved in my blood. > There was some other music also which caught my ear like Enigma, sound of > Colonial cousins, Shankar Mahadevan's breathless etc but it was ARR who > became an inseparable part of my life. I was a loner from my childhood, lost > in my own world. I had created a world of ARR around me. His pictures at the > 4 sides of the wall of my room. More than 75 pictures. I used to keep an eye > on magazines. Actually one of my cousins used to get cuttings of ARR > interviews for me from various magazines. I used to read about his Tamil > music in interviews. Tried a lot but never got any Tamil album in Jammu. > Then, after my 10th standard exam i got an opportunity to visit Bangalore > "My First Trip to South India". There i bought all the Tamil songs of ARR. > There were about 20 cassettes ..Pudhiya > Mugham,Gentleman,Muthu,Padayappa,Kadhal > Desam,MayMaatham,Kaaruthamma,Kadhalan, Duet, Indira, Iruvar, Kizhaakku > Cheemayile,Uzhavan....etc.They started bringing changes in me.Sitting on the > terrace of my sister's hostel(ie in Chitradurga)...staring at the coconut > trees (We dnt have coconut trees in jammu), listening to the songs like > Thirakatta, enswasa kartrae . It was a memorable time of my life. I have no > idea, when "Chinna Chinna Asai" took the place of "Dil hi chota sa" in my > heart or u can say that i became addicted to "Thiruda Thiruda" or "Indira" > more than "chor chor" or "Priyanka". > I was missing SouthIndia after returning back to my native.Though I had the > cassettes with me but i faced one small problem. I wanted to know who the > singers are and the cover details were usually written in Tamil. I could > easily recognise singers like SPB,Hariharan,Chitra,Sujatha etc who had sung > hindi songs also but there were many singers who were not known to there in > north India. I loved unni Krishnan,Bombay Jayshree's voice in Iruvar but > that time always wished if someone could read the names for me... And then i > got the solution for that.The movie names were written in both the > languages, Tamil and English. So, I started picking up the alphabets from > there and learnt them and that was the way i started reading and writing > tamil ... yeah, i learnt to read and write tamil words but noone was there > to explain the word's meanings to me . The first word i learnt to write in > tamil was ofcource , the name, ARRahman... > Then after my 12th, i got admission in a college in Bangalore. So the > problem to the access to tamil music got solved but there i came accross > people who like barring music in terms of langauge , regions. They scolded > me for listening to Tamil music while staying in Karnataka. Politians were > playing games with the hearts of people but as the distance between north > and south couldnt keep me away from worshing ARR's music , how could these > small talks stop me? "ARR never stopped creating gems, and i never stopped > decorating my life with those gems. " He always gave me reasons to > smile,dance,cry even gave me inspiration and support. I remember how much > inspired i had been with the song of film Meenakshi "Do Kadam Aur Sahi". ARR > gave me all the emotions and expressions of my life. > Then , the day came which i was like a dream for me. ARR was going to > perform live in Bangalore. It was like a dream come true. But then came the > worst part, Tickets were very costly. The decent crowd ticket was for > minimum 3k and i was supposed to buy two tickets as i had to sponsor the > ticket for my friend also. Otherwise it was impossible for me to attend the > concert alone, at night. To arrange 6k was a big issue for a student...but > then my sister helped me like an angel. She bought the tickets for me and my > friend. I reached the venue 2 hrs before. My heartbeat was impossible to > control I was just dying to see ARR but as God was testing my patience. It > started raining like anything. Even a part of stage broke down. I and my > friend got fully drenched in rain. She asked me if we could return back but > how could i return without seeing ARR??? Then after sometime the whole crowd > roared, and someone shouted, SEE ARR ON STAGE!!! YEAH!!!!GOSH THE MAN > HIMSELF.....he was there with usual smile and asking us to calm down and > whatever is the condition, he will play music for us and he kept his > promise. The concert for reduced for 2 and half hrs almost and in the ending > again it started raining badly. When ARR was signing vandematram the whole > crowd went mad. I too was not on earth dat time, somewhere in air singing > (shouting, screaming) with ARR and den he said thanks for listening and a > final goodbye to crowd. After saying all he stood on the stage staring back > at the crowd. He must be wondering that what's making people standing there > in that heavy downpour. I remember him standing there with a smile and then > my friend pulled me to go back. I didn't want to go back. I wanted to be > there but as the rain was getting angry on us, i was pulled back somehow. > But my eyes never left him till we reached the point from where stage wasn't > visible... Wonderful experience... > It was the end of my Engg days when I came across a group called Yahoo ARR > Fan Group and there I met fellow Rahmaniacs and found out that my craziness > for ARR is not only a single example in this world. There are lakhs of > people . I met wonderful people there. I got my second family there. I was > never this much happy before, Now i can express my views on ARR and people > are there to understand and enjoy them. Finally i feel as a river which > started from a small place and finally met the Sea. I got a job in > Chandigarh (near my hometown) but it was impossible for me to stay away from > South India. ARR has injected something in my blood. So I came back.. Well, > now the time has come in my life, where I am not only supposed to admire > South Indian culture but also to accept it . Am little scared but actually > happy about it ... Recently I got an opportunity to be a part of ARR fan's > Independence day celebrations with the kids of an orphanage. I never felt so > content in my life before. Spending time with those kids was an > unforgettable day of my life. Now just one wish is left in my heart. If i > could see and meet ARR personally. I want to see the man who has dominated > my life for such a long time, who is actually a part of every big decision i > take in my life. I want to see how different does he look from how i see him > in my dreams. I want to thank him for all the colors he has brought in my > life. He doesn't even know how he has changed the destiny of my life. I wish > i could thank him personally and could tell him, my life wouldn't have been > so beautiful without your music. > THANK YOU SO MUCH > > Neetika > > -- > Hyundai to launch the i20 in India. Catch the exclusive preview on > ZigWheels.com > > http://www.zigwheels.com/b2cam/newsDetails.action?name=Emb11_20080731&path=/INDT/News/Emb11_20080731&page=1&pagecount=2&utm_source=indmail&utm_medium=footer&utm_content=tracking&utm_campaign=Nletter_07oct2008_ZW > > -- Cheers, Pradeepan. "All you need to do is, decide what to do with the time that is given to you !"
