Memories of my First QUIZ win...

On 17th August 2007, I was informed that I was selected to represent my school in the inter school quiz competition with three other 7th graders. The quiz was on 25th August at MLR Convention Center, Bangalore. It was organized by the Woodrose Club.
25th August 2007, I was really excited from the morning. Time passed by and it was soon 7:00 PM. I was ready for the quiz with the other two boys. Unfortunately, the fourth member was not present. We had to substitute the fourth member by taking someone from the audience from our school. Then it was time to pick our seating. I represented our team and choose Nisarga which was the 5th team. Later we realized that this seating was important for getting many passed questions which were crucial for winning.
The others teams were from the following schools: Kumarans, DPS, Royal, Indira Priyadarshini, Capitol.
The quiz began. After the first round we were in second place. After the second round we could answer several “passed” questions and captured the lead. We continued to lead till the last round which was the Rapid Fire round. Kumarans was close on our tail and were just 20 points behind us and the last round had a maximum of 90 points to take.
Lucky for us, we answered 5 correctly and got 50 points. We were anxiously waiting for Kumarans to make at least 2 mistakes. Voila, they made 5 mistakes and could get only 40 points. There were several children from my school in the audience and now they roared loudly. We WON at last. The final points read, Brigade 220, Kumarans 180 and the third school was a distant 100.
This was the first ever Quiz I participated and WE won... Also this was the first ever win by my school in literary and Scientific activities.
I was very happy and proud of myself!

Concert review - Aug 15th 2007

On Independence day, August 15 2007, I attended a beautiful concert organized by “Advaita” at R.V. Dental college Auditorium, J.P.Nagar, Bangalore. My Gurus Shri Shashikiran and Shri. Ganesh Uncles performed. It was well attended and th huge hall was almost full.

They started off with Vathapi Ganapthim Bhaje in Hamsadvani. It was rendered very pleasantly. The next one was the “Jaya Jaya” in Naattai set to Kanda Chapu – the famous Dasar Kriti. Then came the famous Pancha Ratna “Endaro Mahanubavulu” to salute all the freedom fighters on the Independence day. Vasantha was next and the song was “Rama Rama Rama Rama Rama Enniro”. Ganesh uncle had recently taught me this and it was as if he was teaching me!
Next was an interesting piece in “Nattai Kurinchi” – “Budha Mashrayam” in Misra Jathi Jampa taalam which was rendered very melodiously synchronizing with the sun set and clear sky in Bangalore after a long time. “Nagumomu” in Abheri came next and also the happiness in the hall increased with the pace of the song!
It seemed like there were two main pieces. The first one was “Akilandeswari” in Dwijavanthi. Thani-avarthanam was performed for this great Dikshidar Masterpiece.
Next came the highlight of the Day in “Desh”. Desh was chosen to honor our country. This was an RTP and the pallavi was composed by none other than my own guru Shashikiran uncle. The song goes like this:

Sangeetha Sahitya Nritya Kala Prashamsha Neya Desha
Bharatha Desha – Namma Nimma Desha

It was set to 60 counts to honor the 60th independence day. It was really amazing as the thaalam was extremely difficult. I don’t know how they could sing it!

Between the two main pieces was the happy number “Raguvamsa Sudam”. I am hearing vocal rendering of this happy piece for the first time. I have heard it played on instruments several times before though.

After the RTP was the “Thunga Thira Virajam” and followed by “Jayathi Jayathi” in Kamas. I started singing along and so did several in the audience. Next was “Kurai Ondrum Illai” of Rajaji. Then came the “English Notes” in Shankarabaranam with a touch of Harikambodhi. “Mythilim Bhajathe” of UN and MS fame was sung to honor the World Peace. And the final piece was the “Dasa Avathara Mangalam”.

The concert was fantastic. It started off with the two auspicious Ragams – Hamsadvani and Naattai. Many famous and popular songs were rendered and it was like a class for me. Thank you Gurus.