The Flintstones !

Opening theme :

"Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyabba-dabba-doooooooo!"

Flintstones... Meet the Flintstones,
They're a modern stoneage family.
From the town of Bedrock,
They're a page right out of history.

Let's ride with the family down the street.
Through the courtesy of Fred's two feet.

When you're with the Flintstones,
have a yabba dabba doo time,
a dabba doo time,
we'll have a gay old time

Closing theme :

Flintstones... Meet the Flintstones,
They're a modern stoneage family.
From the town of Bedrock,
They're a page right out of history.

Someday, maybe Fred will win the fight,
And that cat will stay out for the night.

When you're with the Flintstones,
have a yabba dabba doo time,
a dabba doo time,
we'll have a gay old time

"Wiiilllllmmmmmmaaaaaa!!!" bang bang bang

HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY !!!



One in a thousand !

A very popular phrase this, denoting exclusivity attained by sheer talent or heap loads of luck. But what does it feel like to be THAT one ?

Built in 1010 AD, the Brihadeeswara temple in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu recently celebrated its 1000th year of existence. There are surprises in store even before you enter the temple grounds. The temple has been built like a fort, shielded from all sides. As you pass the main entrance, the grandeur of it ALL hits you in the face! The enormously sized Nandi is what greets you, up front. The giant Lingam in the sannidhi, the lush green fields around the premises are a treat to the eyes. This is the only temple that houses the Lords of the all eight directions. Looking around at the astounding architecture of the temple and its hugeness makes you feel like an ant in a giant's world !

Mechanically moving in with the crowd after having gotten a good glimpse around the entire temple, we had to move to our zone positions. There was a hint of drizzle now and then, which felt as though He was mockingly testing whether we'd get nervous or worked up. Since we had some time to kill, Preethi and me tried to imagine and conjure up flashback. Same temple, same architecture all around, same sannidhi up front, but about a 1000 years back. The era where the similar type of dance (now called "Bharatanatyam") was performed by the dancers, earlier known as "Devadasis". The energy that radiated from the grounds that these devadasis once danced upon, was felt by all. There were positive vibrations all around. A thousand years later, we were about to dance on these same grounds - History was about to repeat itself !

The time had come. The emcee has announced the list of dance items that were to come. The lights went on. Cameras were flashing all around. Video cameras set into place. All of us got into our positions. Ten feet, 2 rows, in front of me, were the senior dancers - the cream of our dance industry - whom we are all in awe of, waiting for the music to begin in the same position. Behind me, 900 odd dancers doing the exact same thing. Once the music had begun, there was no stopping us. All of us danced like there was no tomorrow ! Every time there was a turning movement, we all tried to save and lock up the visuals that our eyes were observing. In one of the lines of the song, my favourite quote was roped in - "Life's a stage, all men and women are mere players". Speaking for all, I can say that at that moment, there were no thoughts about work, city, food, family or anything else. After soaking in every single second spent there, we finished with a bang! History was created !

There were talks about this performance being nominated in the Guinness Book of World Records. But a line my father just mentioned, made me wonder how I hadn't thought about it before :

"Bringing in a 1000 dancers for just one performance can be easily achieved, your record can be broken, it isnt impossible. But bringing in a 1000 dancers for one performance to commemorate the 1000th year of the Big Temple, NOW thats impossible to repeat. Thats a story that'd make your grandchildren proud of you !"

Its was wonderful to be One in a thousand - to be a part of history !

Self-Expression

Observing people is one of my favourite ways to pass time ! Every individual seems like a unique "character" through my scrutinising spectacles ! But one common quality among ALL, is their need to self-express !

Everybody wants to be heard. Everybody wants to be opinionated. They want the world to know what they're thinking or feeling ! Some people have magnetic personalities - crowds of people cluster around them and listen to their life stories.They have no problems in being heard! The other quiet sort try hard to break out of their shells for people to notice them. These days, the presence of the virtual world provides the shy community some much required respite ! They resort to social networking sites : facebook (updating status messages every hour) or blogging !

The advantage with expressing oneself in the virtual world is the self satisfaction that your views are out there, in the open, for all to read. Whether people actually read it or not, is a different issue altogether ! So this way, you needn't demand people's attention or put on airs of having a very (fake) busy life amidst people !

Expressing oneself is impossible without languages, you might say. The speaker and the listeners must know the basics of the language spoken, to understand what the speaker wishes to express, you might say. True, to an extent - but I don't completely agree. Take the Opera or a dance recital, for instance. The songs are sung in an unfamiliar language. So, during the course of the show, you learn to observe the dancer and his/her movements !

Body language expresses a lot.  More than one can even imagine! It's the only 'language' thats understood by EVERYBODY, all around the world! When you're nervous, you're fidgety. When you're happy, you're smiling/laughing. When you're sleepy, you're nodding off. When you're thinking, you subconsciously scratch your head or tap your cheek with a finger. When you're injured, your hands automatically move to the injured area ! Normally you wouldn't pay attention to these gestures. But somewhere in your mind the relation, of what each gesture denotes, is saved. Try watching a movie, in mute. Half an hour into the movie, you can predict the storyline to quite an accurate extent !

Makes you ponder over how films were perceived when they were audio-less ! A fun game of Dumb-Charades among friends, is another example ! As oxymoronic as it may sound, silence truly speaks !

"There are times when Silence has the loudest voice!" - Leroy Brownlow

Alive and Kicking !

After a morning-long depression about losing out on all my previous blog entries, this new blog has come ALIVE ! To everybody who is considering deleting your blog - DON'T ! You'll want to read your entries 4 years later :)

Ah ! Feels good to write a new post, again ! Going by my previous blog entries, I can assure that my posts always reflect my thought process : you'll find a new idea, a new expression every two sentences, so bear with me !

Deja vu, is personally, one of my favourite feelings. It doesn't quite come under an "emotion" category, so i'll just call it a feeling ! People always say "First's a Charm !" . Well, it is ! The first raindrop, first schoolday after months of vacation,  first dance rehearsal after a hiatus, first drive in the rain ! There's always an exciting feeling buzzling around anything "first". Even though you'd witness a thousand rainy seasons in your lifetime, feeling the first raindrop of the day on your shoulder makes you smile ! All you'd want to do is forget work, take the day off and enjoy the rain with a hot cup of coffee! As trivial as it may be, if something becomes part of routine, every time you visit the same place or encounter the same situation, you tend to act like you did earlier - because you know how it ends and you're happy with the ending ! Isn't that what we ALWAYS want - A Happy Ending ?