Raju Alluri’s Personal Blog

New audio albums that are added to the commute time listening are

• Komaram Puli
• Don Seenu

and music of Maryada Ramanna continues to be the hummable companion.

Bought audio CD of Jhummandi Naadam last week. This album occupied the commute listening spot (actually, shared the space with Subhapradam) for the last many days. Almost every song in this album brings a smile on my face - smile resulting from the thought of popular local dish, Khichdi. Not really the dictionary meaning of Khichdi, but the pop culture variant of it - a mishmash. This album is a hodge-podge of earlier albums of K. Raghavendra Rao, Keeravani and Mohanbabu. Gets a grain or lentil from albums like Major Chandrakanth, Allari Mogudu, Allari Premikudu, Alludugaru, Pelli Sandadi, etc.

Naturally, the album bloats to 9 songs and offers a wide range: patriotic to mass; folk to rap; decent to masala. As with any Keeravani album, almost all songs are rewindable and hummable. This album is definitely worth buying. After a long time, S. P. Balu feasts the ears. However, his songs in the other album Subhapradam are of higher grade. More on that album later.

Spurthi asked for a new cell phone as her college-going gift. She did some research and finally zeroed in on Samsung Corby Mate. She didn’t want to go for a touch screen one and rather wanted something that is more texting/SMS friendly. Samsung Mate seems to be a good choice for her requirements.

Spurthi’s shopping process made an interesting side effect. Latha took Spurthi around for shopping during the weekend and in that process, she decided to change her phone too. Being married for about 18 years, I know when not to question certain decisions . Latha liked Corby Pop first, but later shifted to Samsung Corby Colors.

So we bought these two phones on Wednesday night and Spurthi and Latha are busy with setting up their new phones. Obviously, the first tasks are to import the contacts and music!

ఈ రోజు సాయంత్రం ఒక తెలుగు న్యూస్ ఛానెల్ లో శోభారాజు గారి ఇంటర్వ్యూ వచ్చింది. (మీరు తికమక పడితే:  శోభారాజు గారు ఒకప్పుడు తి.తి.దే. ఆస్థాన గాయకురాలు. “అదివో అల్లదివో” అన్న అన్నమాచార్య కీర్తన తో మొదలయ్యే ఆల్బం ఆవిడ గొంతులోంచి జాలువారిందే.)  ఆన్నమాచార్య కీర్తనలను స్వరపరచడంపై ప్రత్యేకం గా సాగిన ఈ ఇంటర్వ్యూ చాలా బాగుంది. మనకు సుపరిచితమైన మరియు అపరిచితమైన కొన్ని కీర్తనలు, వాటి వైవిధ్య స్వరాలు చాలా బాగా పాడారు.  ఆ  ఇంటర్వ్యూ అయిన తరువాత “సిరుత నవ్వులవాడు సిన్నెక్క” కీర్తన మళ్ళీ వినాలనిపించింది. విన్నాను.

For the last few months, our car CD player stopped recognizing most of the CDs. In the last few weeks it went to a point where it is used as a radio receiver only. With lot of good audio albums around (LoveAajKal, Magadheera, Josh, …), it is not worth listening to radio during the long drives. So the CD receiver in the car is changed after about 7 years. Given the fact that most audio tracks are being released in MP3 format now, I felt it is worth going with a USB/MP3/CD player than a plain MP3/CD player. The choice is very simple on the lower end: Sonly Xplod series. So I went to the store and got this Sony CDX-GT484US installed in our car. The previous player being a Sony one, installation is nothing but a 5 minute task. Testing and configuring the player took lot more time though.

After coming home, quickly compiled songs on one of the old 2GB pendrives and I am all set to go. The track seek times on the USB drives are a lot better than the seek times on CD (understandably, no disc rotations  involved). It is a lot quieter operation too.

Here are the audio albums purchased in the last few days:

• Josh (Telugu Movie Audio)
• Anjaneyulu (Telugu Movie Audio)

Yet to listen to the songs.

The promos of the movie Love Aaj Kal is one of the best I have seen in recent times. The TV promos are good enough, given the nice music. When I checked out their website, I got a pleasant surprise. Here are the good things I like about the movie website.

• The main page features only a couple of items: A disposable paper cup representing the present (2009) and a traditional Indian tea glass representing the past (1965). Nice thinking, glove in hand with the storyline of the movie.
• The way the photos are swapped (as if you are moving them with your hand) in the stack to show your selection. Reminds me of all those tabletop prototypes.

Very sensible website indeed!

BTW, the topic of discussion between me, my wife and my daughter is the dress style of of Deepika in the Chor Bazaari song from the movie.

సుమారు ఇరవై సంవత్సరాల క్రితం రేడియోలో విన్న తెలుగు పాట ఇది. ఏ సినిమాలోదో తెలియదు.  కేవలం రెండు మూడు సార్లు మాత్రమే విన్నప్పటికీ ఈ పాట బాగా గుర్తు ఉండిపోయింది.  ఈ పాట ఏ సినిమాలోదో మీకు తెలిస్తే దయచేసి నాకు తెలియచేయండి.

“అన్నీ ఉన్నా ఏమీ లేనీ అమాయకుడిని, నేనందరి దేవుడిని.
కోరికలున్నా, తీరే దారులు ఉన్నా, మాటకు బందీని!….
….
నిప్పులాంటి వాడిననీ గొప్ప చెప్పుకున్నానూ, నిప్పులో నిప్పునై కాలిపోతున్నాను.
….”

Apple. DoubleTwist. Funny.

Its official. The 160,000 strong crowd that sang the 7 samkirthanas of Annamacharya has set the world record. Related news here. Glad to see such an event getting positive response in Hyderabad.