Omana Penne!

Note: Written as I listened to the song, hence you are advised to read likewise!

I've always been fascinated by music review blogs...ever since I got hooked onto them about a year back...and wanted to try one myself. So all I was on the lookout for was a song for so long, when along came....'Omana Penne' from the Tamil Movie 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya'

Listening to the song without any background information, its easy to classify 'Omana Penne' as a Harris Jayaraj number (atleast it was to me) thanks to its western sounding beats but the nadaswaram which drifts in and out revals the characteristic west meets east, Rahman signature style.

This is one song which catches your attention right from the begninning - I guess its the expectation created by the tinkling bells that accompany you through the song along with the rhythmic percussion as "Ahh Ha....Ada daaaa...penne" in Benny Dayal's silken smooth voice starts it off.

The tempo of the song picks up around the "Hey" interspersed during the next few lines. Another faux attempt at speeding up the song occurs at "Yen aayiram iravu" which is revealed as false with the "Nee thaan.." and subsequent lines which bring down the tempo again. Incidentally its just before this that the nadaswaram bit makes it appearance for the first time, ever - so - slightly in the background only to slink away just as softly again.

As the unmistakable "Ohhhhh omana penne" comes around, you're hooked. This guy Benny can make any "Oooh" end at Omana Penne, you begin to think when he raises the bar even further. Deftly taking you through what can only be called as vocal acrobatics next, is Benny again with "Oooooh" for the most part before "Nee pogum vazhiyil nizhalagi.." followed by more "oooh" again!

Lending a beautiful touch to the whole song of course is Kalyani Menon with the lovely "Maragatha thotilizh malayaligal..." part. How exquisitely malayali the tune is, and yet how beautifully it blends in with the western beats in the background! And without missing a beat(or maybe just one) Benny is back with "Thalli ponaaaal...thei pirai"

As the next chorus of the title sets in, the nadaswaram gets its fair share of ear space amidst the heavy percussion as the song fades out... rest asured its only from your ears, it lingers on in the mind.

There has been much criticism I can see on the net on the use of the autotune to synthesise both Benny's voice, which I could not point out otherwise and Kalyani's bit which I thought, lent a childlike beauty to verses of a lulaby sung to a baby girl.

On the whole, how impressed am I with the song? Well, am usually a stickler for lyrics and in this area Omana Penne might just make the grade, but the lingering music scores high enough for me!

Is it worth it?

Finally decided to blog after more than five months...obviously there is no dearth of topics I have been thinking of, but this post is more of an impromptu one. Again, cant resist beginning with one of my favourite quotes:


The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.

-Helen Keller

I recently went through and saw certain family members go through a harrowing experience following a sudden tragic incident. As I stood among everyone else, plunged in grief, for a moment the thought crossed my mind...is it all worth it finally? Think about it. The most important things in life are those that we have no control over. Birth, family, death. Why then,all the intricate planning, the constant pressure and the mad rush? Sometimes, we get so caught up in the motions of daily life or even in our pursuit of carefully planned goals that we forget to ask this all important question - is it all worth it?

Am not suggesting an its-all-just-an-illusion-so-why-bother attitude to life. I'm just saying that its common to get too comfortable with our own daily life and its details read problems. So comfortable that we lose sight of its place in the larger canvas of life. I guess if one learns to preserve this realisation of the larger canvas, most decisions in life would be made more peacefully and less time would be frittered away in meaningless outbursts and heartburn.

As for the question that remains: is it worth it all...the answer came to me as follows. A couple of days after the sad moments mentioned above, I got a call from a friend who had just had a baby boy less than 3 weeks ago. Qucikly, my mind changed gears, and as I got talking to her eagerly, I realised it. That while our conversation seemed ordinary ; centred around the little one's activities, it occured to me that it would stand out in her memory and mine, for a long time to come. This was a new beginning of another beautiful stage in life. Another couple of days later , I found myself with friends at a classmate's wedding reception, laughing and posing for photographs with newlyweds who had just begun another new phase in their life. Another day, as i walk on my terrace during the evening, an old song which I had reluctantly added among other new ones, pops into my playlist and although I have listened to it before, these lines stand out to me for the first time : "Sukh ki hai chaah to...dukh bhi sehna hai" (classic song 'Phoolon ka Taaron ka', from the cult movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna)


In only a span of days, life allows us to witness endings and beginnings. I would not have agreed to this a few years ago, but life proves the existence of this concept in its own unique way each day. Maybe it always has, and it has just taken us time to see it. The necessary contrarian forces that are at work. The yin and the yang. Black and White.Hilltop and valley.

And the sooner we comprehend it, the better we understand why it's all worth it, in the end.