Socrates' Triple Filter Test

Here is an interesting conversation between Socrates and an acquaintance:

Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?

Wait a moment. Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test.

Triple Filter?

That's right. Before you talk to me about my student, let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Are you absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true"

No. I just heard about it and...

Alright. So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter - the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?

No, on the contrary...

So. You want to tell me something bad about him, even though you're not certain if it's true?

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?

No, not really...

Well, If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?

Translation of Nenjukulle from Kadal

I have tied you to my bosom,

unaware of the direction my living would wake to.

You bestowed such pristine looks

that my heart is now tarnished,

as a mirror splattered with water.

Colored beads and the watch on your left

are just enough 

to tame the beasts of the forest!

You were gone but your shadow did not.

When they fell between my bosom,

I rose to see you and have never ceased to rest!

Now, my heart is rigid and tensed,

like the umbrella spokes, strained and stretched.

The birds have slept and milk has curdled,

even the leaves on the trees have retreated!

At the time when the ones whooping have slept,

the one smitten with desire cannot respite, 

for even a few minutes...

Not a morsel slid through...

not even did a drop touch the throat!

Neither did the saliva see the tunnel's end.

How could the poor wretched lass utter a word?

Indeed, can the rubbered bangles yearn to jingle?

Well, it is not an exaggeration if I say that Nejukulle from Kadal is the new silence in my life. My ears are filled with just that and nothing else, except when I have to meet the obligations of mankind, you know, like listening to them when they talk.

And I am not too sure what in that song caught my fancy! Perhaps Rehman ruling through his harmony on the accordion. I think, for a fact, the accordion and the violin gains more sound space than the singer. Or maybe,  its because I am seeing this song performance as a first of its kind--the MTV unplugged session. And undoubtedly, Sakthi Shree Gopalan does a very neat job.

Whatever the case maybe, I loving it. 

Every bit of it. 

I may have more to say but no words would fit!

Repentance

The rain poured softly,
very unlike and strange,

perhaps weeping silently,
for its past and future sins
that it could not wash off...

even by itself?

~ a few weeks ago

If we try - Don McLean

When I see you on the street, I lose my concentration.
Just the thought that we might meet, creates anticipation. 

Won’t you look my way once before you go
and my eyes will say what you ought to know?
Well, I've thinking about you day and night
and I don’t know if it'll work out right.
But somehow I think that it just might,
if we try... 

Faces come and faces go, in circular rotation.
But something yearns within to grow beyond infatuation.
Won’t you look my way once before you go,
and my eyes will say what you ought to know?
Well, you've got me standing deaf and blind
'cos I see love is just a state of mind,
and who knows what it is that me might find
if we try... 

You are walking in a different direction
from most people I've met.
You're giving me signs of affection
I don’t usually get.
I don't want you to pledge your future,
the future is not yours to give.
Just stand there a little longer
and let me watch while you live. 

‘Cos when I see you on the street, I lose my concentration.
And just the thought that we might meet, creates anticipation.

This song just caught me off guard when I was concentrating on my work (you know, something like the sour-sweet grapes). 

One of the aspects of a good song is when you realize that it has finished playing too soon. And this one certainly falls in that category. Simple, meaningful, interesting lyrics. And nothing really to talk about the composition. It just flows through! It has been a long time since I had listened to such a song with so much concordance! It is a short song and one can certainly quote this song as an example for 'short and sweet'.

Calories!

Not much, there are just three problems with calories:

• our spend potential: the cost of acquisition is cheaper than the cost of disposition.
• our state of mind: you hardly need any mind control to accumulate it than that you would need to dispose it.
• our time management capabilities: you can access it is quicker than you can expend it.

Of course, the key to disposing the calories lies in the same three factors... like how we do not accumulate calories overnight, disposing it must also be incremental—minute by minute, and with a lots of mind control. And if we are poor enough only to buy incremental calories, and not rich enough to find means to dispose it, I think we must also realize how much we are spending on junk! I guess I must try to deposit an equivalent incremental amount somewhere in a savings which when accumulates large enough would let me buy an equipment of my choice. 

Coming to talk of buying an equipment, with all the search and research that I have done so far, the only conclusion that I could come to was, to get a quality equipment that would give us the satisfaction when we get out of it and the urge to get on to it every day, it would cost nothing less than 50K INR.

Thinking about the realization part, I am sure I would have spent more than 50K INR in eating out in the last 10 years. Hmm... Some food for thought!

The Tinted Glass

Sure that a few seconds from now,
the gods above were to whip and thud.
But then,
don't you think you portray
an exaggerated, inflated, and creepy picture
of nature's present?

Indeed, the heart thumps louder and faster
with the dark being shown darker
and to see
top of the trees swaying in horror
and to hear
the aggregated swishing sound of its fear!

~ Sep 26, 2012

The cool and the calm

When you are around,
the world, even on a sunny and a busy day,
looks calm and cool,
as felt when viewing from the other side of
a tint-glassed, air-conditioned building.

P.S.: This is dedicated to the six-year stint in my current organization.

Coming of age

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.
~ Alden Nowlan

What a beautiful quote from A Word A Day (AWAD). Great find Mr. Anu Garg!

Translation of Idhu Varai from Goa

The Mellifluous Love Song


Woman:
This is a never-before feeling.
It is the dream that shaped in my heart.
Do you hear the song about the splendid day?

A thing masked unintentionally
is now seen blooming all by itself,
exposing what was never explored ever before.

As I see happiness brimming over,
I wonder when I would realise my true state of affairs?
Days snail by with a heaving heart and sleepless nights...

The unceasing dream torments me without pain,
and teaches me about the teasing pleasures.

Come on! O dear! You must come along,
'Cos the journey of mine is far too long!

Man:
There... I see the cloud and moon waltzing.
Oh! Who would empathize my feelings?

My heart isn't as yours... I perceive a change,
and a parade of an esoteric portrayal of itself.

Woman:
My dear... calm down! I assure this will pass by.

Man:
My bosom abounds with a spirited feel.
I see dearer relationships blooming aplenty,
and the doors opening up to a roomful of hope!

My skin wakes up to myriad feelings,
the breeze blankets itself on me,
and the raging desire rushes ahead!

Idhu Varai from Goa

What a beautiful composition Yuvan has conceived and how wonderfully Andrea and Ajeesh have delivered! This is more of a what you see is a what you get song, the song featuring just the stage instruments that the video shows--the simple live drums arrangement, the guitar, something that sounds like a cross between harmonium and mouth organ. The flute rendition of the motif although short is nonpareil.

Otherwise, it is Andrea all the way—the initial opera-styled singing, the stylish overtones at some places and the soft and whispering overtones at some. And at times, an abated voice sung in short of breath. Ajeesh joins the party late and performs what was expected—giving a lover's intonation of being in dilemma. And at later stages, the growing strength in his voice expressing the realization of love and gives a feeling of flying.

The climbing ensemble of piano, cello, violin, and the voice gives a befitting finale for the climax of the song.

Coming soon, a translation / rendition of this song...

Rain

The sky poured its heart out...
To clear the cloud in its head.

Translation of Kaatril Enthan Geetham from Johnny

The Pensive Song

My song in the wind searches for the invisible,
with my memories alike the swaying waves,
and the evening wind as chilly as never!

There is this teasing merriment all around,
and the words inside me searches for its music.
Won't it not find the loving heart?
Won't it not sing the song of joy?

The forlorn eyes escalate the heart's yearning.

It is just fine if my heart listens, 
if I ask it to stop, and just enough 
if the tormenting waves in it cease to arise...
Won't it hear the melody in stillness?
Won't it stitch up a rhythm from silence?

My soul would seek yours until its time of life.

Translation of Sota Sota from Engeyum Eppothum

Hail L O V E, the conqueror...!


You...
Soak me up beyond reason, 
Enrage me even without a word,
Make me fly far from reach.
You almost melted me, and 
Teased me with your elusion.
And
had to chide me to realize your love.


My heart always shudders
like the rail that runs the train.


One fine day, you fell into my eyes 
like a fertile seed,
And when I flicked my eyes,
there you were,
grown as a huge tree in my heart.


I wonder what would happen next?
The heart would sure 
fake what just happened.


Like a curious kitten, love peeks out,
And checks up on the limits of impulse.
Yes it does, it does, and defeats.


The God made the man's heart
out of cold wax and made it melt,
every second that it saw the beloved.


A menacing silence prevails.
And I am just loving it.


Your words and breath struck me, 
and left me helpless.
The memories that you left behind
sparked, and conquered me.


Yes it did, it did, and won me over.

Therapy

Even the hardest to swallow as well as the most bitter of conversations did not deter the enthusiasm that a circumstantially withdrawn set of songs created, when it was rediscovered after about six years. 


I think this delight is called music therapy.


P.S.: This post takes the honor of receiving the most number of predefined tags!

Joy Edges

The slope-edges started dripping pearls of joy,
and the sideways were filled with the elixir.
The earth heaved a sigh of relief!


Sounds of buzz, splash, and plops permeated the air.
Trespassers off the slope were dispersing,
as if out of a cinema,
or perhaps out of a school gate?


A few were thoughtful, and a few gloomy.
The stoic were clueless of these moments of joy.
The prosaic few, happy--of getting to their destination,
and a very few upset, 
as it was the end of j - o - y.


~ June 20, 2012

The love for lists and a beautiful life

The smell of water vapours on hot cemented floor, the sleeping child on your shoulder, the surprises thrown by a random music playlist, the crispness in the setting sun seen through tinted glass, the blazing full moon, the compact body of a one-year old, the wandering mind, the yearning for yesteryears, the full bloom of a flower-bearing tree, the soft-colored tones of a frangipani, the flower-bedded street, the warmth of a loving friend, the sleepless nights, the thoughts that make you sleepless, elation after producing a work of art, words that you get right the first time, the mischief of a two-year old, the endearing smile indicating a mischief, shout of disapproval of a yet-to-verbalize kid, the day of a realization, the rhythm that lets makes you move your shoulder.


and the list will go on...

· · · — — — · · ·

I felt like


I had a high temperature.


Or, was it like
sitting next to a heat furnace
with fuming rods of red?


Or may be
I was seeing molten fluid
flowing on and through my skin...


You say: Naah! 
You were facing the 2 o clock heat.


But the truth was...


It was 6 'o clock in the evening
and I was facing a 40 kmph
w a v e  o f  H e a t.


~ May 24, 2012

Translation of Thendral Vandhu from Avatharam

Colour of Music

I wonder...
What's the colour in your heart,
when the breeze brushes your skin?
What's the colour in your thoughts,
when you see the shine of sky's akin?

As I see the resurgence of colours' splendor
In my mind, it occurs...
Indeed each thought has a different color.
Isn't it the truth, my sweet love?
(In truth, what is it that exists,
and what about its colour?)

Flowers spread fragrance, but without revelation.
Hearts speak consensus, devoid of a lawful union.
Cuckoos sing the melody, not for one man's whimsy.
My heart feels a mystic bliss, but nothing do I fancy.

This world is alike a stream
and time runs afloat
like the planks that afloat.

Inconstantly crosses my mind,
a thousand colours!

A sprinkle sweeps the earth, and lives spring alive.
Love leaps in my mind, and skin's million gets a high.
Wishes swing along, like the pendent banyan roots.
Beauty bestows magic, like the swaying tuft of waves.

The cuckoo's clan sings aloud
in music's own voice,
and a flock of parrots recount this story.

Neither does love fade like a forgotten story,
nor is it forgotten like an unworthy puzzle's mystery.

If I say Ilayaraja is the alchemist who brought alchemy between the verse and the music, I am certain that I am not overstating. And with that I do not have any other credits to give to the composer of this beautiful song. 'Thendral vandhu...' from the movie Avatharam has got beautiful lyrics. It is a perfect example of symmetry, and both music and the verses manage to display both grandeur and simplicity all at once. The song very beautifully captures the philosophy of life, vividness of colors, and the characters' love for each other. Ilayaraja's voice creates another dimension and the coherent chorus is certainly the forte of the song.

This work started on May 10, 2009 as an impromptu and brief attempt at translating the pallavi of the song and three years later, I remembered to work on the translation of this song to extinguish some anguish. Personally, this work is a success of the mind over mindlessness.

As an afterthought, I seem far more satisfied with the words written three years ago than of those written today. Not sure if it really is so...


P.S.: One important link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=563qJOreBqI

Mist and Overcast

Then in a picturesque hilltop...

It was the day of my life when I saw you on the earth.

You were running hurriedly like the secret lover,

trying to hide from the early risers.

But you did not realize

that the sun had shown you flee, hastily past me.

Forgive me please, if I had embarrassed you.

But, I really did not mean to.

You were out of the world and I could not help

staring at you, stealthily, and breathing every bit of you.

When you looked back and caressed me,

the million on my skin went on a high.

When you passed through me,

you took apart a piece that I am still in search of.

And now in the maddening city...

When I look back, you are seen nowhere.

Won't you play an encore and honor my yearnings?

My senses are ever filled with your bubbly cheer,

even though there is always blue all around you.

The other day, I was roaming on the streets,

And you were drifting around, in bunches.

My eye, or was it my mind, saw a panoramic view.

It perceived you to be a spectator,

gathered around an arena,

watching a mad rushing herd

returning home, after running their rat races.

 

Started on: Apr 27, 2009
Closed on: Apr 26, 2012

Mistake

Many a man who falls in love with a dimple make the mistake of marrying the whole girl.
~ Evan Esar