Musical Masterpieces # 2: Ennulle Ennulle

Song: Ennulle Enulle (Raagam: Keeravani)
Movie: Valli (Tamil)
Singer: Swarnalatha & Chorus
Composer: Ilaiyaraaja

Soulcore: If a song had to be romantic, it couldnt be better. I wanted to spit out my guts after listening to this song, they just wouldnt stay there. The calmness in the voice, the serenity in the interludes, the peaks and subdues, of romance and of passion; every second creates a magical feel within youself.

P.S.: I suggest you ignore the video, if you do not want a sense of sexuality to creep into the song.

Thank You, Lord, for giving the World this man.

1. For a better reading experience, please wait until this video loads fully and then start reading with it playing in the background.

2. Must-read for Ilaiyaraaja fans. Other ordinary music lovers need not necessarily share my passionate discourse.

I begin with apprehension; this could be one of the most confusing writing rigours I have ever given myself, and could be an equally confusing read for you. But I see clarity in one thought / objective - I am not writing about music, I am not writing about Ilaiyaraaja; I am writing about my love for a man. Or about my devotion to a man.

This man. Ilaiyaraaja.

Just like God, Ilaiyaraaja has been one of the most significant constants in my life.

If I was in love with a girl, He was there teaching my heart to love. If I was fantasising about someone, He was there telling my mind to rove and indulge. If I was gloomy, and my every breath depressed; He broke into my mind and silenced my negativities. If I was feeling miserable, He clogged my throat, flushed my eyes, and helped me break down only to emerge like a pregnant woman after having delievered a still born, realising that she cant do anything about it, and she has to move on in life, with life. If I felt victorious, He helped me celebrate, if I felt dejected, He helped me see reason, fueled me to recover and inspired me to redeem; and if I was plain freaking bored, He helped me chill out!

*****

As I write this, Ilaiyaraaja could be making music in his studio (Prasad Studios, Vadapalani), located 15 minutes from my house. That place could definitely be the Mecca of Music for millions of Music lovers around the Globe - majority of them Tamil speakers and all of them, South Indians.

In reality, that place is not just the Mecca for music lovers. It is a womb. A sacred womb, where love was born for many people; and the most sepulchral of graveyards, where miseries ended for many. This is where I think we can define God. God is, the phenomenon, that makes us realise ourselves when any of World's forces, that swells our heart to unproportional sizes, crushes our senses mindlessly, also descends our conscience into thinking - "Waah! What pure Ecstasy." This force could be love, success, or just any random euphoria. The force is common for all, its more a cyclic force. But God differs. I love Ilaiyaraaja as much as I love my God - That God who whispered into my ears the secret of realising myself.

*****

And just like God, Ilaiyaraaja has been one of the most significant constants in my life.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me this man.

Its all about being true blue

A sudden ear-block and a rude jerk woke me up from my snooze. Almost immediately I could hear at least a dozen mobiles being switched on around me. That signaled that the runway had arrived. I fished my phone from my pant pocket and punched it on the head. The familiar Nokia tune greeted me, and a message from Airtel, warmly welcomed me to Delhi, as though assuring themselves, a sadistic pleasure out of my roaming gullibility.
My sim-card had accumulated seven text messages over the flight. Three were missed call alerts from friends and family. The four others read as follows:-
“Three cheers to ARR!”
“Wow…! Rahman has won the Oscar! I am so excited!”
“Ela pugazhum iraivan oruvanukke, Rahman is THE BEST!”
“Amidst all those in our nation who claim they are fit for Oscar, only ARR has made the performance to win it and make India proud. Jai Ho!”

Call it instinctive; I raised my hands in tumult, and announced to a colleague sitting next to me that Rahman had made it! Call it instinctive again; the next moment I yanked my iPod from a tough corner of the hand baggage and tuned to the “Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu” song from Thalapathy. It was not the song, it was not the movie, it was not the actor, and it was not the singer. All I knew I wanted to do at that moment was listen to an Ilaiyaraaja composition. I followed it up with “Janani Janani”, then the Mouna Ragam tracks, then Bharathi, Alaigal Oyvathillai, Payanangal Mudivathillai and all the way up to Gurgaon, my thoughts lounged on one single man – he was clad in white, a mien of salt and pepper, with a pair of mystic eyes deeply studded in what I used to think, was the face, of the man who invented music.

En-route, I pulled up the taxi driver in a sudden conversation; sung him a phrase from “Ilaya Nila” and announced to him that it was composed by a genius called Ilaiyaraaja, who sat back in the South. I swear the driver thought I was an incurable jerk. Or at least, he eyed me like I was one. I looked back at him stoutly.

“Udhar…DLF Square, Jacaranda Marg, Phase II…Off the service lane.”

He veered off the service lane dangerously and that was when I figured out that these Bihari drivers driving cabs registered in Delhi did not fancy Ilaiyaraaja, or did not know him at all, and for all they knew, he could be a taxi driver back in Madras, or just another Pani Poori vendor in Chandi Chowk.

I knew I was behaving strangely. I was not averse to AR Rahman. My conscience hailed him as the musician of the minute, and the single uniting factor that our Nation long wanted. But why, why was I trying to be so indifferent to him and his achievement? I still don’t know if it was the bad Nescafe Coffee I had just then, or if it was the true spirit of realization dawning upon me, I understood it was not indifference towards Rahman, but it was a demonstration of my loyalty to Ilaiyaraaja.
I told myself, Rahman is definitely a genius, but Ilaiyaraaja is no less a genius. In this moment, when the world comes together to celebrate Rahman, I told myself, I want to remember Raaja.