Nadaswaram Genius - K Arunachalam

Recently I was listening to some of classical instruments, that are used especially for the marriage cermonies in South India. I was fascinated by the sound of the "nadaswaram", one of loudest non-brass acoustic instrument.  Nadaswaram is an integral part of most of ceremonies that are part of traditional Tamil culture.

"nadaswaram" is a double reed wind instrument from South India and goes well with another percussion instrument named "mridangam". They are traditional classical instruments in Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. Ancient Tamil text refer to the instrument as "vangiyam", it has seven holes, played with seven fingers and need very good respiratory to blow air through to create all the magical sounds similar to a megnamious version of "the indian flute".

K Arunachalam is considered one of the genius pioneers of "nadaswaram", and is credited for making it popular in Carnatic music performances. Arunachalam hails from my native village "Karukurichi", I followed roots to my native village in Tirunveveli district of Tamilnadu. There are lof of stories about Karukurichi Arunachalam and his generosity that made him popular among his co-artists. Music is universal and has no Boundaries and needs a collaborative efforts to create a masterpiece! 

following my roots to the native village... Karukurichi

I am back in Dallas after a 3 week long vacation to India, and good news is that I got married, her name is Maya Sundararajan. She is back with me here and now are we are leaving on a Honeymoon trip to New York!!

It had been a busy 3 weeks, the marriage was on Dec 4-5th and did you know that my poonal was on Nov 30th. Ouch... so was a "Brahamachari" for only 5 days !! Didn't have to do "Sandhya Vandanam" much, may be I could blame it on my"Aatakaari". Doesn't mean that I didn't perform the "havans" and "mantras" well during the wedding. In fact everyone told me that my Sanskrit pronunciations were very good and had to go to my "Kula-devvam" at Karukurichi to perform pooja, it was a nice trip to Karukurichi and would definitely share some photos from the trip soon.

Karukurichi is a beautiful village surrounded with Mountains and lots of "khet" and yeah so many ripe banana trees that you smell them in fresh air. Visited 3 temples at Karukurichi, Lord Shiva temple, Perumal koil and the Sastha temple... little unhappy with the present state of the temple since most of the "brahmins" have moved out of the village to seek better future and life. Performed "abhishekam" at the Kalakody Sastha temple, this temple is very beautiful on the banks of the Canadian canal. Got an idea, probably create a website as suggested by my big brother Vivek for the betterment of the temple. The priest "RN Sharma" was very nice and was helpful in providing some info about the temple and history. I have put some initial information about the temple and created a website "www.kalakodysastha.org" , the website is under construction, it's not for profit type but should be sustainable, that's my only Hope. Please do visit www.kalakodysastha.org and provide your comments and feedback.

Till the next time, goodbye and here I come NY !!

I started re-learn Walking on a single Crutch

Just wanted to let you know that I am recovering well after my accident where I got my left ankle injured. I was on crutches (2 of them) for more than a month and 3 weeks on a Cast (American version of the Plaster of Paris, Indian way), so my left leg was kinda of numb. I started walking on a single crutch on my right side, and you won't believe that first two steps were the most difficult for me at this age. I couldn't move my right leg to put weight of my body on the crippled left leg. May be it was the confidence factor, after three steps I was able to Walk... Thank you for u'r good wishes.

I have almost re-learned walking at this age, Is it true that it's very tough to learn as you grow older ? When you are 1 year old, you would most likely learn walking after seeing most of the people around you walking.... now I feel like i should start running again..... :)

Ever wondered about our real names

v3mad is for Vivek, Vijay and Vimal. Ever wondered about our real names ? Vivek is Jai at M for Minneapolis Vijay is Krish at A for Atlanta Vimal is KN at D for Dallas :)

About V3MAD....

This about 3V's, the 3 brothers, Vivek, Vijay and Vimal, sons of K.S.Narayanan and Loga Narayanan. I wanted to provide some of their family information and about our dear and caring Appa. He is currently at Chennai all alone and I really wish he joins us here at US soon.

Wondering about why v3mad ?? Checkout the website www.v3mad.com , which is always under Construction. All 3 V's are currently residing at United States of America and appropriately called MAD.....
Eldest -> Vivek at M for Minneapolis
Second -> Vijay at A for Atlanta
Youngest -> Vimal at D for Dallas