A Brief Moment...

Technology Executive. Passionate about several good things in life - music, food, movies, wine, blah, blah, blah!

[taramanujam]

Amazing Kamboji swara playing by Karaikurichi Arunachalam

Gamaka is an embellishment done between two musical notes and there are at least 10+ gamakas in carnatic music.  Kamboji raga is a gamaka rich ragam and has quite a few attractive prayogams. One such prayogam is called jaaru-gamaka which means a downward glide gamaka. All vidwans use jaaru gamaka in Kamboji but very few accentuate like the vidwans in the enclosed audio.

Karakurichi Arunachalam plays kamboji swaras and hits the swooping downward glide in 0:20 seconds.  Follows that at 1m:21s; 1m:31s, 2m:22s; 2m:32s and ends with a glide.  Madurai Somu is the only one that I have listened to who delivers a similar downward glide.  In this raga alapana you can hear the first glide from Somu at 4m:33s, follows that at 7m:03s, 11m:17s and then moves on to wrap the alapana.

Like any professional if you are wrapping up something you want to provide the best closure possible - be it an argument, a business presentation, a lecture, a surgery or garnishing (thalikardhu) in cooking. Madurai Somu wraps up the alapana with some excellent and intensive brigas. (Brigas are basically delivering the raga bhava at an accelerated pace)  The end brigas starting at 12m:06s are classic Somu style. Before closing the alapana at 13m:16s he sings the swara phrases of Sri Subramanyaya namaste' setting the stage for the song he's most likely going to sing following the alapana. This is another carnatic music tradition, where the musician can chose to subtly express the notes of the song he's going to sing.  

Sri Subramanyaya namaste is probably one of the greatest assets of carnatic music.  We'll cover this song in greater detail later.

You don't necessarily have to read my notes and look for the downward glide; you can enjoy the music as is.  This is Madurai Somu at his best, this raga alapana is from a 1970 concert in Jamshedpur.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1B4P4x_umio0s6hcbSqU9BAnaGY0zH0Ci

Enjoy.

[taramanujam]

Brilliant Kiravani by MDR

Here's a brilliant raga elaboration by MDR in Kiravani. This has been my go to comfort music during my happy, sad, angry days.

I am happy to share this raga delineation here.  I recommend that you close your eyes and listen to this beauty for ~10  minutes.  Really worth! It has the ability to stop time.  This raga delineation peppers few western scale notes judiciously mixed with briga. At ~8 min you can hear the sounds of the mosque chants for few brief seconds.

I have listened to several Kiravani pieces by MDR but I have never heard anything close to this. I have never heard any Kiravani raga delineation similar to this from any artiste ever.  It's worth the 10 minutes even though you may not understand the classic music.  This piece has the ability to stop time....please listen to this.  Let me know what you think.

Here’s the link https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LKIVAncPvJhbRRDJueSfC2lnmPiUn9kL

[taramanujam]

Amazing wine. #argentina #termanthia #vintage2010 #vino #winewednesday #wine

[taramanujam]

Full bodied and spicy wine #vintage2011 #vino #vintage2011 #carmenere #chile

[taramanujam]

Nice wine. Medium bodied. #winewednesday #grgichhills #zinfandel #vino #vintage2011 (at Fogo de Chão)

[taramanujam]

Montblanc Writer’s Limited Edition Jules Verne Fountain Pen

After the successful staging of Chillu, a sci-fi play, it's appropriate to review the Montblanc Writer’s Edition fountain pen created in honor of the father of the science fiction: Jules Verne.

The pen I own is the 5269th out of the 18500 fountain pens that were made. The pen is dedicated to Jules Verne’s creation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It has a vibrant blue color with platinum coated fixtures on the top, middle, and bottom.

The body of the pen is an amazing vivid blue color indicating the blue expanse of the ocean, with intricate, even-sized guilloche pattern indicating the waves. The guilloche pattern is very similar to the one that’s seen in Omega’s popular James Bond watch ‘Seamaster’ (I have enclosed a picture of my Seamaster.) The guilloche pattern is covered by highly polished lacquer, which is unusual since most of the Montblanc pens are made with resin. Of all the Writer’s Edition pens I own, this has a nice heft and gives a solid feel when you are writing.

The clip has a nice curve and the only association I could make was with the original cover published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel for the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which has the face of an elephant and the trunk. At an angle the clip looks like an elongated elephant trunk. Maybe the clip was an homage to Hetzel who made Jules Verne’s work popular by having the right illustrations. The nib has a delicate engraving of the antique diver’s helmet in a rhodium plated gold nib. This pen was released in 2003.

[taramanujam]

Going out for dinner with Chronoswiss Grand Opus on NATO. #chronoswisswatch #skeleton #watchporn #wristporn #watchesofinstagram #natostrap #nato

[taramanujam]

New acquisition - Chronoswiss Grand Opus #grandopus #chronoswiss #chronoswisswatch #skeleton #watchporn #wristporn #watchesofinstagram

[taramanujam]

One of the best wines in the recent past #fratellirevello #barolo #vintage2004 #wine #vino #winesofinstagram #wineandwatchblog

[taramanujam]

Bold and nice. #brunellodimontalcino #camigliano #vintage2010 #vino #wineandwatchblog #winesofinstagram (at Prezza)

[taramanujam]

The next bottle. #wine #wineandwatchblog #cornas #pierregallard #syrah #vintage2008 #vino #winesofinstagram #winetasting #rhone (at Cafe ArtScience)

[taramanujam]

Nice wine #vino #vintage2012 #saintemilion #baronsderothschild #winesofinstagram #wineandwatchblog #wine (at Cafe ArtScience)

[taramanujam]

Casual Friday with Rolex Milgauss on NATO strap and John Lobb Turvey in Cashew Suede #wristporn #watchporn #watchesofinstagram #rolex #milgauss #mens #shoes #socks #style #suede #johnlobb #turvey #cashew #shoeporn #shoesofinstagram #menwithstyle #menwithclass #mensfashion

[taramanujam]

Montblanc Franz Kafka Limited Writer’s Edition Fountain Pen

The word Kafkaesque entered the dictionary to mean anything bizarre or of illogical nightmarish quality.   Franz Kafka created a world in his work that was bizarre and one of his most popular work is ‘The Metamorphosis’, where a salesman turns into an insect – yes, you read it right, an insect.  

When Montblanc decided to create a pen honoring this great writer under their Writer’s Edition pens, they combined both metamorphosis and the Kafkaesque-ness in a minimalistic design that highlights the author, his work and his legacy.  

The outside of the pen embodies, the metamorphosis.  If you notice you see square at the bottom and as we slowly move to the top, we see a circle with the Montblanc logo on the top – reflecting his work.   The subtle, ‘square peg in a round hole’ characterizes the author.    The eerie translucent red on some areas in the body of the pen clearly stands apart.

Top, clip, rings are made of 925 sterling silver.  The nib is a rhodium plated gold nib which has the image of a cockroach further solidifying the connection to The Metamorphosis.  The clip to me looks like an insects leg.    

[taramanujam]

Silver Oak meet Royal Oak. #royaloak #audemarspiguet #silveroak #vino #wine #watchesofinstagram #watchporn #wristporn (at The Grill on the Alley)

[taramanujam]

Montblanc Herbert von Karajan Donation Pen

Montblanc has a pen series called Donation pens, where a portion of the proceeds are donated to the celebrity’s favorite cause.  We’ll cover one such pen today.

Growing up in India I was fortunate enough to have cousins who had great taste in books, music and movies. I was introduced to Herbert von Karajan’s music in one such weekend where I listened to one of his recordings of Mozart Horn Concerto for the Berliner Philharmoniker.   Even today, my Spotify Western Classical Music playlist is full of Karajan’s time at Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic.

Herbert von Karajan was a brilliant concert pianist but he attained super stardom as a conductor – a prolific conductor he was.  Montblanc pays a tribute to this accomplished artiste by designing a pen that stands out as a true symbol for western classical music.  The pen in my mind is a very ‘dressy’ pen – all black barrel with two outstanding classical music icons on the cap.  As I had mentioned earlier, the pen clip is what’s seen by the public and the artisans at Montblanc have etched a nice conductor’s ‘baton’ in ivory color on the platinum plated clip.  It’s so well designed that if you don’t pay careful attention, you’ll probably miss it, very similar to a fleeting moment in music. Once you remove the pen from the pocket you can see the ivory colored piano keys nicely laid around the cap.   The world sees the baton first and beneath the baton is the piano motif connecting both his world.

Sometimes when I look at this pen it’s so dressy that you feel the baton as a tie and the encircling piano keys as a cummerbund.  Only of course, the bow-tie goes with cummerbund.  

The nib is rhodium-plated 18K gold with an image of dove, symbol of peace.  

The Herbert von Karajan Donation pen comes in a nice elongated box and because Karajan was a big fan of scarves, the box includes an autographed pure silk scarf. 

The pen was introduced in 2003.

This pen was introduced in 2003.  

[taramanujam]

Accessorizing your Pen

You can treat a pen as just an accessory or integrate that into your personal style.  For men, there a nice ways to accessorize a pen with few other things – watches & shoes.  Men’s grooming etiquette suggests that you pair the leather color of the belt with the shoes and the watch strap.  Pair the watch bezel color (stainless steel, silver, gold) with the belt buckle and of course the clip of the pen with the watch bezel at the least.  Obviously these are #firstworldproblems