Friday, March 31, 2006

Communism-um athaan!

Its funny how what was supposed to be just another weekend trip to the Marina turned out to be a lot more than that. I was in a friend's car for a few minutes - while on the way to Gangothri. That's when it happened. He played a song. I caught a few words here and there, but it was the music that caught my attention. I got him to replay the song, but we got off the car before I could do that again . I downloaded it after I got home. And then it got stuck in my mind. The music was good, yes. But the words were just mind-blowing.

"Yethanai kodi kanneer manmithu vizhinthirukkum.
Athanai kanda pinnum boomi ingu poo pookum."

"Iruttinile nee nadakayile, un nizhalum unnaivittu vilagi vidum.
Nee mattum thaan intha ulagathile unakku thunai endru vilangi vidum"

"Antha deivaragasiyam purigirathe
Ingu ethuvum nilaiyillai kalaigirathe
Manam vetta veliyile alaigirathe
Antha kadavulai kandaal..."

"Unakkum illai, ithu enakkum illai... padaithavane ingu eduthu kolvaan
Nallavan yaar, ada kettavan yaar... kadaisiyil avane mudivu seyvaan
Palipodum ulagam inge... baliyaana uyirgalenge?"

"Ulagathinoram nindru athanaiyum paathirupom.
Nadappavai naadagamendru naamum sernthu nadithiruppom."

The song beautifully captures the futility of life - and, in fact, of the universe itself. The impact is all the more due to YSR's vocals. That his voice isn't best suited for such a song actually makes the song more realistic and it fits in with the feel of the song. And the interlude on the violin is just divine.

For me, the high point of the song has got to be the last couplet I had quoted above. To repeat,

"Ulagathinoram nindru athanaiyum paathirupom.
Nadappavai naadagamendru naamum sernthu nadithiruppom."

It is the beginning of a stanza that provides closure to the whole song by stating how even if life is futile, it is to be lived. And the final touch of "Maru piravi venduma" is awesome. What a way to end a song that takes a mocking look at life!

I place the song at a completely different level from my other favourite songs for its philosophical depth. While the whole song celebrates the futility of life, it never really talks about death per se. The lyricist does not equate futility of life with any kind of suicidal tendency. And for that, I salute him.

The last thing I would have expected from a song that celebrates universal futility is to clarify my understanding of the concept of love. But that's just one other thing that the song did to me. One of the many times I've heard the song, I felt something at the high-point of the song that I have referred to above. It was a combination of so many contradictory feelings - happiness, frustration, wonder, gloom... And at that very instant, I understood something. Love is not one's feeling towards another. It is not what one feels about another. It is what one feels about himself when he is in the company of the Other. It is one's feeling of oneself induced by the Other. In other words, I like the song not for what it is; but for what it does to my feeling of my own self.

And for all this, a big nanri hai to Amalraj, YSR, Na Muthukumar and DD.

"But Mr. Red, Love is a feeling" means so much more to me now!

7 Value-adds:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice tie with "Communism-um athaan" :)

April 02, 2006 1:46 AM  
Blogger Dependsmaybe said...

"... And at that very instant, I understood something. Love is not one's feeling towards another. It is not what one feels about another. It is what one feels about himself when he is in the company of the Other. It is one's feeling of oneself induced by the Other. "

When you are with other, arent you with yourself???:P

Who is amalraj?

Good post.

April 03, 2006 10:01 AM  
Blogger DD said...

Interesting post..thanks for the thanks
And actually interesting interpretation of love...strong!

April 03, 2006 2:43 PM  
Blogger eV said...

:)
Amalraj is the violinist.

April 03, 2006 8:50 PM  
Blogger madatadam said...

totally unconnected to the post but as this just struck me cannot contain myself :).. eV, this is in reference to your abhorrence of using '@' in replying to a person

i think using the @ is the more proper and correct way to start a reply to a particular person and its roots are in Latin. when u say '@ sudheer' for eg., what u are saying is 'ad sudheer' which is the latin of 'to sudheer' and the @ is one of many short-forms we use like 'Rx' in medical prescriptions for 'Recipe' meaning 'take thus' etc.. couldnt find any reference online to back myself up though :(

April 04, 2006 12:30 PM  
Blogger eV said...

Madatadam, I found an online link which seems to support your argument. Check this out.
:P

April 04, 2006 7:05 PM  
Blogger madatadam said...

Adappaavi!!!! :)

April 05, 2006 11:10 AM  

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