Anuradha Sridharan

I've been listening to Rahman-Unnikrishnan combo since morning. I haven't heard Unnikrishnan singing any new songs off late. He has such a soft voice, perfectly suited for melodious music. The classical background from which he hails from is a huge plus point. Also,the crystal clear pronounciation of Tamil words makes his rendition all the more worthy to listen. "Roja roja" from Kaadhalar Dhinam is one of my favorites. A very nice melody with good beats and a unique background score (birds chirping between the first and second stanza). The picturization could have been better. Everyone would agree with me that his best song is indeed "Ennavale" from Kaadhalan. A less popular but a superb romantic number is "Sonnalum" from Kaadhal Virus. Apart from Rahman fans, no one else might have heard of this song as it's never played in Sun Music. Another classical song of Unni Krishnan is "Narumugaiye" from Iruvar. A poetic number with such not-...

The saga which began 10 years ago (it's 4 years back when it all began for me) has finally ended. I finished reading the Deathly Hallows in a span of three days last week and was completely enthralled in the quick narration of events that kept me glued to the book for long hours.It was a fitting end and all the loose plots were tied together beautifully by Rowling. Not even once did I feel that the pace was slow or slacking. It was action and magic right from the first page. Potter fans who haven't finished the book yet, please don't read further. There might be some spoilers that I might talk about. As always, the story begins at the Privet Drive but Harry, Ron and Hermione are not to board the Hogwarts Express this time. Many people die in this book, first ones being Mad Eye Moody and Hedwig. Hagrid escapes by a whisker. The story unfolds with Death Eaters disrupting Bill and Fleur's wedding party. The trio escapes to Grimmauld Palace, seeking shelter and Kreacher bec...

Yay....I'm going to grab my copy of the seventh book tomorrow (prebooked it in advance 3 weeks ago). Unfortunately, I cannot go to the bookstore at 6.30 AM and collect my copy as I have my MBA classes and on top of it, my midterm accounting exam. More than the anxiety of exams, I'm excited about the Deathly Hallows :-) That's what a Harry Potter book can do! The way I got hold of the "Half Blood Prince" was a complete surprise. To read it in detail, check out my hubby's blog link below. He has given a beautiful narration of how events unfolded on that day. http://chells.blogspot.com/2005/07/art-of-living.html I'm also thrilled about the movie "Order of the phoenix" that I will be watching tomorrow. The promos look superb. Looking forward to Dumbledore's army, the crucial attack at the ministry of magic and most importantly, the duelling between Dumbledore and Voldemort. It's sad that the series is coming to an end. Let's just hope tha...

Being an ardent fan of RK Narayan, I wanted to visit Malgudi (I wish I could visit the fictional town but all I could do was to visit the restaurant in Bangalore) ever since I heard of this restaurant. Saturday was the day. My friends and I decided to go for dinner to this place. The ambience portrayed a typical Chettinad house with the pillars and paintings. To catch a glimpse of such a house, watch the first half of the movie "Kandukondein Kandukondein". The menu had varieties from the four South Indian states. Being a vegetarian, I just had two choices for soups - tomato and drumstick lentil soup. I opted for the second and to my shock, it was horribly spicy. Though I knew it's going to taste like sambhar, I still ordered it and spoilt my taste buds. At a normal situation, I would have added salt/pepper to soup but I was forced to add sugar if at all I need to taste a few more spoonfuls of the spicy sambhar-so-called-soup. Even after adding 2 tsp of sugar, it tasted ba...

It's not just my blog that didn't get my attention but my health as well. The past one month has been exciting and busy that finally had it's toll on my health. I was down with migraine in the past three days. Let's not talk about the bad migraine but the good and exciting events happening around. First and foremost, I've got an admission into PGSEM programme of IIM, Bangalore. Exciting would be a simple word to explain the feeling. I'm thrilled. Classes are going great and keeps me quite busy. I'm getting used to balance sheets, strategic case studies, supply and demand curves etc etc. The best part is that back-to-school feeling after 5 long years of work. Ok, that's an indirect way of saying that I've completed 5 years of professional work life on July 1st. I watched the most hyped film of the century, Shivaji. I'm a very big fan of Rajni and have watched most of his movies umpteen number of times. Shivaji had many typical Rajni scenes and di...

I neither have a credit card nor do I need one at this point of time. Last week, I got a call from a private bank. This is how the conversation went. The lady on the phone : Madam, I’m calling from xxx bank. Me : Is this regarding credit cards? The lady on the phone : Yes, madam Me : No, I’m not interested The lady on the phone : Since you are working for company, we are offering you a free credit card Me : I don’t need it The lady on the phone : It’s absolutely free, for lifetime Me : Still, I don’t need one The lady on the phone : We have already allocated the card for you and we will be dispatching it soon Me : (In an angry tone) Who asked you to allocate it? Did I ever apply for a credit card? Just because I’m from company, you just send a credit card to me? You are not sending the card to me. Why do I have to face the hassles unnecessarily? After a year, you will charge me with some useless charges. Why do you guys cause so much trouble to people? The lady on the phone : No char...

What do you do when your cousins visit Bangalore on their summer vacation? Take them to Mysore, of course! Though I had visited Mysore last October, I didn’t mind going again. We hired a Tavera and started very early, around 7.30 AM (What do you expect on a Saturday morning?). Once we hit the Mysore Road, it was a smooth, no-traffic ride. We stopped at a restaurant Indra Dhanush, around 80 kms from Bangalore for breakfast. It’s a good enough place to have a sumptuous South Indian breakfast. We then visited Ranganatha Swamy temple in Srirangapatna. It’s a beautiful, ancient temple and had lots of visitors as well. The only negative part is the parking charge of 30 rupees which I feel could be reduced. The heritage city Mysore greeted us warmly and our first pitstop was the famous zoo. The kids had a good time, admiring the different species. It was two and half hours of excitement and fun. Our stomachs growled so much that we rushed for lunch to a restaurant Hotel Saptagiri. The food wa...