Tag: blogchatter half marathon

  • Abhangwani – Vibrant Corner of Every Marathi Heart

    Abhangwani – Vibrant Corner of Every Marathi Heart

    There’s a very vibrant and long tradition of Vaari (वारी) in Maharashtra dating back for more than 800 years.  Every year palanquins carrying ‘paduka’ (sandals) of saints are taken with this pilgrimage to reach Pandharpur on occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi (Eleventh lunar day of the bright fortnight the month of Ashadh). It’s a great procession which goes on for 15 days on foot from Dehu, Alandi and other places to Pandharpur. Lakhs and lakhs of Vasrkaris take part in this procession singing various abhangs, devotional songs of Lord Viththal written by Saints.

    This tradition of singing abhang in procession is taken to a next level and widened its reach to the general public of Maharashtra and other places in the country by various singers and composers. However, one name comes on top of this list. Bharatratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi composed a number of abhangs and created a full length program with them. Pandit Kumar Gandharva’s program on Sant Tukaram, Kishoritai Amonkar, Chota Gandharva, Master Krishnarao and many other musicians also composed many Abhangs and performed regularly on stage. Many marathi movies featured some of them as film songs.

    Abhangs which are very close to my heart

    Every composition by these legends is phenomenal and worth listening to again and again. Words written by these saints appear to be so simple and easy to understand, however, if you keep listening to them again and again, someday, you may feel some eureka moments. Today, I am listing some of my favorite Abhangs here for you to enjoy the eternal bliss.

    Laxmi Vallabha – Pandit Kumar Gandharva

    Pandit Kumar Gandharva composed a bunch of abhangs written by Sant Tukaram to the new tunes. Sadly the program flopped as people didn’t accept the new tunes. However, this one particular tune stuck behind and is sung by many of his disciples and musicians influenced by Kumarji’s style and music.

    Avgha Rang Ek Zala – Kishoritai Amonkar

    Gaanasaraswati Koshori Amonkar is a legendary classical vocalist of Jaipur Gharana. She has composed a few abhangs, some Meerabai’s bhajans and performed them in her concerts. This particular abhang is written by Sant Soyarabai who was a disciple of her husband Sant Chokhamela.

    Haribhajanaveen Kaal – Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki

    Every Goan music enthusiast is proud of Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki who was accomplished classical vocalist and composer. During his time, he composed many bhajans, abhang, thumari, natyasangeet etc. Haribhajanaveed kaal is abhang written by Sant Sohirobanath of Goa in which he describes importance of self realization

    Dnyaniyancha Raja – Pt. Bhimsen Joshi

    Bharatratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi created a flagship musical program and took these wisdom gems written by our saints to every nook and corner around the country. I am choosing this next one form his compositions. Dnyaniyancha Raja is written by Sant Tukaram in honor of Sant Dnyandev.

    Carnatic classical vocalists also sing these abhangs with equal devotion and mastery. Padma Shri Aruna Sairam, vocalist duo Ranjani – Gayatrhi are just a couple of names who frequently sing these masterpieces. Hope you will enjoy these renditions full with devotion and dedication.

    This post is a part of the Blogchatter Half Marathon. Read my earlier story here.

  • 5 Marathi films that you shouldn’t miss

    5 Marathi films that you shouldn’t miss

    Just like music, taste for films is different for everyone. Some people find  relief in comedy, some of them love romcoms. Crime thrillers catch the fancy of a few while some gravitate towards films with social cause or message. That’s why the single list of “Best Movies” will always be contested. Even this list will be challenged by my fellow film enthusiasts or film lovers. However, If you want to know what I think about Modern Marathi Films, these 5 are the best bets to pick. 

    My top picks for Marathi Films that you shouldn’t miss

    Every Marathi movie fan will pick 1988 classic Ashi Hi Banawa Banawi in the top movie lists. There are few modern entries which are obvious to the list like Sairat, Dhurala, Farjand etc. However, they are not in the list. One point in not picking them is that they already have their fame and fans. These are a few movies which I think should also get their fair share of fame out of Marathi hearts. This list is not the ranking like most to least favorite. आप इनकी क्रोनॉलॉजी समझीये!

    Checkmate (2008)

    2008 Marathi crime thriller directed by Sanjay Jadhav which follows a bunch of young guys who lose millions in a gamble to make easy money in a ponzi scheme. Film tells us the story of their attempts to recover the lost money by tracking and manipulating the mastermind behind the scheme with their intelligence. For me, this film actually marked the change in Marathi films by bringing them out from the run of a mill commercial comedy film-making trend. Go to Zee5 to watch this pathbreaking film.

    Harishchandrachi Factory (2009)

    Paresh Mokashi, a wonderful director, decided to make a film about the father of Indian Cinema and created this amazing film. Later it became the official entry of India for the Academy Awards of that year. Film narrates a story of a journey of Dadasaheb Phalke from him discovering the cinema tent to producing India’s first feature film. Knowing about the new industry, getting knowledge of techniques and equipment to make a film, struggles to put together a team of actors and technicians are portrayed in the film so beautifully in a humorous way. I simply love this film. You can watch it on Netflix now.

    Narbachi Wadi (2013)

    Adapted from a Bengali short story, Manoj Mitra’s “Chajjano Bagan”, Aditya Sarpotdar directed Narbachi Wadi. This funny story is all about generations of landlords trying to grab a piece of land from Narba. Landlord has gifted this land to Narba’s father for saving a landlord’s life. It takes you to the beautiful coastal land of Konkan. Dilip Prabhavalkar’s Narba and Manoj Joshi’s portrayal of landlor Story is full of the quirks of the land.

    Happy Journey (2014)

    Happy journey is a story of Niranjan and Janaki, a brother and sister duo. Niranjan is a very dry person, practical, detached from a family who is working in gulf. However he meets a spirit of his sister who has hardly seen him when she was alive. Both of them take this journey to rekindle their bond in a very unique way. I simply love the movie because of it’s cinematography in Goa, choice of colour pallets for different characters and songs from the film. One thing which always remains with you is “Happy Journey” the van which they revive for the journey from its scrappy slumber. Amazon Prime is streaming this one.

    Faster Fene (2017)

    Faster Fene is a legendary character created by B. R. Bhagwat who is always wandering around to solve the mysteries and do adventures around. Aditya Sarpotdar brought this character to today’s world through this 2017 film. The publicity campaign was unique in itself just like a film. In this film he tries to solve the muder mystery. He gets involved in this scene when he comes to Pune for a medical entrance exam. Amey Wagh has built the character of Faster Fene superbly. It stands strongly against the powerful villain portrayed by Girish Kulkarni. You guys can watch this murder mystery on Zee5.

    Have you watched any of these films? What would be your list of 5 movies one shouldn’t miss.

    This post is a part of the Blogchatter Half Marathon. Read my earlier story here.

  • Indian Classical – tunes which I love

    Indian Classical – tunes which I love

    Music, a thing which captures the mood of the human mind and comes out as a tune which one hums. It doesn’t matter what language you speak, soulful music plucks the right strings in your heart and makes it resonate with the tune. As everyone has a unique taste, the choices of music also differ. Some souls are attached to rock music, where others choose country. Some of my fellow Indians can’t live without Bollywood music and films songs and EDM and trance music is key to some souls. However, My personal choice is Indian Classical music.

    One when it resonates for the first

    Like many foods and drinks, classical music is an acquired taste. One has to develop the likings towards it with a repeated exposure. I was getting that exposure at my home itself. Back then, it was an era of tape recorders. We had a nice one at our place. I remember, one day my granddad got a couple of cassettes. They had pictures of some old men in front of a microphone with closed eyes, wide open mouth and hands with some odd gestures on covers. Enthusiastically, I put one in and started to listen. The singer just droned elongated sounds for almost 15 minutes. I got bored by it and just left the room.

    When I remember this incident today, I find it very funny. I wasn’t even aware that those covers were pictures of the legends. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Kumar Gandharva and Pandit Jasraj. I hadn’t even heard these names before that point. Grandpa kept listening to those cassettes and I kept moving out of that room for quite a few months. However, It all changed suddenly one day.

    I put one cassette in the tape recorder and played. It was a misplaced cassette of Pandit Kumarji’s finest renditions in the cover of movie songs. I was about to turn it off and change when it happened. Something in his voice booming out of those speakers touched the chords deep inside. My hand stopped on buttons and I continued to listen. Since then, I have grown my likings towards Indian classical music. Now I am at the point where my first choice of music is something from the huge ocean of Indian Classical music archives available on the internet.

    My favorites from Indian Classical

    Voice of Kumarji still continues to fascinate me even after hundreds and hundreds of revisits to the same tracks. However, other maestros join in the stage of my personal conference with their renditions of amazing Bandishes, semi classical formats. It would be unfair to name one or two artists as my favorite. Vasantrao Deshpande, Bhimsen Ji, Vidushi Malini Rajurkar, Ustad Rashid Khan Kishori tai, Arti Ankalikar and the list goes on. Their voices always fascinate me. Recently, I have been listening to Pt. Vyankatesh Kumar, Rahul Deshpande, Anand Bhate and a young maestro Nagesh Adgaonkar. Classical instrumental artists like Anoushka Shankar, Shujat Khan, Saumik Dutta, Ustad Amjad Khan, have their special place in my heart. Sarod, Sitar and Violin make me happy. 

    There are so many tracks which are dear to my heart. I am going to list a few tracks of vocal and instrumental music which are on top of my head right now for you all to enjoy. Hope they touch the chords of your heart and resonate with you too.

    Raag – “Nanda” by Nagesh Adgaonkar
    Raag Durga by Pt. Vyaknatesh Kumar
    Lasya by Anoushka Shankar
    Rain Ragas by Ustad AMjad Ali Khan

    This post is a part of the Blogchatter Half Marathon. Read my earlier story here.

  • एकच प्रश्न

    एकच प्रश्न

    आहे सभोवताली
    शब्दांत खंड नाही
    हृदयात भावनांना
    जागा पुरेशी नाही

    प्रेमास ना तुटवडा
    जगण्यास बंदी नाही
    आहेच प्रश्न हा की
    तू सोबतीस नाही…
    ~~~
    आदित्य साठे
    ०५-०८-२०२१

    This post is a part of the Blogchatter Half Marathon. Read my earlier story here.

  • eBooks and a joy of traveling lite

    eBooks and a joy of traveling lite

    You can take it from me, that the struggle of urban gypsy is real. If you are not sure what I am talking about, you must have missed ‘Urban Gypsy vs Paperback Loyalist’. Let me tell you one thing, shifting to new rental houses almost every year is hectic especially if you are a bibliophile having a large book collection. And when you love your books and reading so much, traveling to outstation with at least three novels in your luggage makes it very tiresome. This is the reason why I had shifted my focus from physical books to digital ones. Very unique experiences opened up in the form of ebooks.

    When you flip pages of eBooks on screen

    eBooks have evolved from stiff rigid PDFs to swanky, lively eBooks. There are a number of platforms where you can enjoy your books like Google books, Wattpad. I have tried all of them, however my favourite remains the Kindle by Amazon. Thing which sealed a deal for me is not just the huge book library / catalogue they have, but the experience of reading books on Kindle is amazing. 

    The only thing about which I have a complaint is, the Kindle device, that sophisticated eBook reader is damn costly. That’s why owning a Kindle Paperwhite still remains my dream today. But, their free Kindle mobile application comes to my rescue. The app is fluid and reader-friendly with choices of choosing background colour and text size for a comfortable reading on screen. Animations in the app give you the feel of turning an actual page. A bibliophile in me feels good because of such small things. As a result, I started buying more of the eBooks than paperbacks. 

    kindle Unlimited – New avatar of good old library

    Hunger and ambition to have my own collection of books and to display them proudly on a beautiful bookshelf turned me away from actively looking out for a library when I moved to Pune back in 2010. It all changed when I stumbled upon something called Kindle Unlimited. It’s a subscription model where you can borrow upto 10 books at a time from their wide ever changing collection. They even have some collections of literature from indian languages added up in kindle unlimited package.

    Initially, It was a struggle for me to adjust to the new not owning the book I am reading. I took my time to adapt to these new changes and enjoy the library system again. Now I have eased into this system and my membership gets renewed all the time. Probably, I am turning myself into a Digital Dragon. Digital Dragon who’s Paperback Loyalist deep down in his heart.

    This post is a part of the Blogchatter Half Marathon. Read my earlier story here.

  • From Subscriber to Paperback Loyalist

    From Subscriber to Paperback Loyalist

    Let me tell you my story of my reading habits. It’s a journey which started in my school days and continues till today. I wrote about my love for books and how it all started in a blog post “B for Books” in the 2017 edition of A to Z Challenge. As I recollect it now, my reading habits have changed over the years. The way I read now is completely different than the way it started. As you might have read, it all started with that one big chunky book, bound in a yellow leather jacket. It was a novel by Ranjeet Desai titled ‘श्रीमान योगी’. Even today, it remains the book closest to my heart. From this book, journey started to become paperback loyalist

    A treasure trove called सा. वा. ना.

    My hometown is Nashik where I lived with my family till my graduation. Back in those days, I don’t think I had more than 10 books which were mine. At first, I was dependent on the books owned by my grandma. And later, I used to get my supply of books from our local public library, “सार्वजनिक वाचनालय, नाशिक (सा. वा. ना.)” which housed thousands of books from all genres of Marathi Literature. The first ever English book which I read was ‘Wise and Otherwise’ by Sudha Murthy. One of my cousins gifted it to me. And before I knew it, I was sucked into the world of English literature. Back then I had no clue that all those “English classics” do exist. For me, Sudha Murthy, Shashi Tharoor, Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Dutta were the English writers. 

    How I became paperback loyalist

    As I shifted to Pune, my connection with the library got severed. I started collecting my own copies of books. Crossword stores became my hangout place where I picked all the English books. Akshardhara’s annual exhibition turned out to be my annual pilgrimage to gather gems of Marathi literature. Emergence of e-commerce sites like Flikart and Amazon has been a boon for bibliophiles like me. I am a proud member of Amazon Prime from the times when they only used to sell a few products other than books. 

    Hardbound books attracted me for some time. I even bought some copies of those fancy hardbounds. Awww, they look so pretty on the shelf. But, I read anywhere and in any posture which you can imagine. That’s when you understand how bulky and heavy these hardbound books are. I soon got over my fascination with hardbounds and embraced lovely colourful paperbacks. In this journey of my love for books today, I have my personal collection of around 300 books with almost three-fourth of them being paperbacks. Does this mean, Am I eligible for the title of “Paperback Loyalist”? Or have I changed into something else now? I will talk about my latest habits in the next one. Until then, happy reading…

    This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon