Arambikalaama?

Warning: Heavily South-Indian-Carnatic-Music post ahead



Immerse yourself in Nattai with Semmangudi, Maharajapuram Santhanam, MS Subbulakshmi and don't miss Kunnakudi flaunting his management skills. Notice the gentle competition between the male and female voices albeit trying to sound as one. The euphoria of singing as one of such a big group is apparent on each face. Sadly, I've never had the fortune of attending the Thiruvaiyaru Thyagaraja Aradhanai in person. Did they ever practice beforehand?

Memories about my grandfather relishing the mood as much as the music, our rexine sofa, how we were forced to sit down and listen to ALL the five Pancharatna Krithis come flooding back.

Credit for locating the video, pointing out the subleties (and the vertically played veena!) and awakening the memories go to my sister, PS.

May I please place you on hold, O noble one?

Many have written about customer service and sundry. What annoys me the most is how ingratiating the customer service folks are trained to be. I find them to be excruciatingly polite. Yes, I do appreciate that you pronounce my oh-my-gosh-it-has-3-syllables name correctly. But do you have to recite "May I please put you on hold while I look up your information?" in the same slow singsong voice each of the 173 times you put me on hold? I mean, do I really have a choice in the matter? Can I actually not be put on hold? The whole experience would be more pleasant if the conversation was close to normal (as opposed to a simulated master-slave conversation, where the supposed master rarely gets the slave to do what he wants). There is no need for the person on the other end to be almost-servile, as long as they understand why I am calling. I say, let's all be human!

Here's where the frustration stems from: I had called this customer service department for the 5th time in 3 days and after being on the line for about 20 minutes, I get "I have checked your account and indeed, it does show -insert original problem statement here-". You think I didn't know that? Why do you think I called in the fifth place? Argh.