I am no scratchy old record playing the same line over and over

"Do you like Johnny Cash?" asked my cousin.

"Of course, I do."

Two cousins, from India, on the other side of the planet in a corner of the Pacific Northwest, talking about Johnny Cash.  A world away from our grandmother's life in Sengottai!

"How about opera?"

Cash and opera?  I didn't verbalize that thought.

"Oh yeah."

And then she brought them--vinyls. One Johnny Cash LP, and a twofer of "one hundred years of great artists at the Met."

"When I saw these, I remembered that you have a record player" she said.

I felt special.

I scanned at the listing of arias.  I recognized quite a few.  Some I have even watched.  I got doubly excited when I read in the content Cavalleria Rusticana ... I was reminded of the opera that I watched in Costa Rica. And, ah, those lovely ladies!

I was so tempted to tell them about the Costa Rica experience. But, I didn't want to bore them with my stories. "Hey, thanks so much" I said.

It felt like a long drive home. I am getting old for road trips anymore. Years ago, I could easily drive for hours and not be tired at the end. Now, I stop in between.  I wonder why other drivers race so maniacally, when only a few years ago, I was no different from them.  When I reach the destination, almost always it feels like I packed up a headache too.  Middle age!

I got the coffeemaker going--nothing like having coffee and a hot shower at my own place. Perhaps another sign that I am getting old. Perhaps am already old.

I placed one of the opera LPs on the turntable and powered it on. The stylus hit the groove.  First that hiss. And then the music flowed out of the machine and flooded the house.

The coffee was ready.

Life was too good to worry about the awful headache.

A flower. A woman. An opera. ... Mallika!

"What can you not write about?????" wrote my friend, Sudha, in an email, after she read this post on non-veg.

Feeling awesome with such feedback, I asked her, "so, what other topic do you want me to blog about?"

"About pretty women."

To quote Barney Stinson from How I met Your Mother, "Challenge accepted."

Thus, this post is about Mallika. 

Of the various flower names that I can think of, Mallika works the best as a name for a pretty woman.   

Mallika is the Sanskrit word for jasmine.  Now, wouldn't you agree that Jasmine is a pretty name for a beautiful woman? 

Perhaps you suggest "Rose."  But, then a rose should remind you that there are thorns too.

A lotus is pretty, but the pond is typically never appealing to look at.  

On the other hand, a pretty flower like hibiscus cannot work as a woman's name--it is quite a mouthful to call her hibiscus!  People might then shorten that and call her "Hibi."  Nah! 

Mallika is apt for a pretty woman. If you prefer the English name, well, Jasmine also works.  

In the Thamizh language, Mallika might be shortened to "Malli," which is also how the flower is often colloquially referred to.

Perhaps that is why the opera, Lakmé, has that second character named, yes, Mallika.  Not hibiscus!

Years ago, when we were new in Bakersfield, and I was beginning to explore the operatic world, a much older friend, David, gifted me with a CD of Lakmé.  And talked about it.  Up until then, the only Lakmé I knew was the cosmetic product line in India; who knew there was an opera by that name!

And then David played the duet from Lakmé--the "flower duet" and I fell in love with Lakmé. The opera that is.



From the old country, where pretty much every movie was always a musical, here is a lovely melody; even if you can't follow along with the lyrics, note the jasmine decorating her hair, on the floor, ...


I wonder whether Sudha will be impressed! ;)

I told a woman "you look so lovely." And lived!

I bought in advance that ticket to the opera even though I knew how busy the day would be with the tour to the volcano and the waterfalls.  If I didn't commit myself by spending the money, then chances were pretty good that I would decide to stay back in the room blaming the exhausted body. I am glad I know myself that well.

Not even thirty minutes to shower and change, and check for emails from stalkers!  I did.

I wore the only pair of trousers and the only shirt that I had brought with me on this trip.

Yes, trousers!  When I bought the ticket the previous afternoon, I asked the guy at the counter, "my shorts ok?"  He immediately responded "no shorts. Pants."

I pointed to my tshirt.  "Tshirt ok" he said.  Yet, I wore my shirt anyway.  I didn't want to be that much out of place.

Another selfie ... can you tell this was the bathroom mirror? ;)

I reached the theatre with only a few minutes to grab something to eat.  America to my rescue.  There was a McDonald's across from the plaza.  I ordered to go and ate sitting at the open plaza with all the other Ticos and tourists.  It was the best McDonald's experience I have ever had!

A police escort on a bike drove up to the theatre, followed by a SUV.  The high-powered couple, whoever that was, walked on the red carpet, while I, with the cheap ticket, was asked to take a side entrance to the gallery upstairs.

The theatre was fantastic. An old building.  The audience in the gallery had so many beautiful young and older women, and without male company.  If only more men at least pretended to like opera so that they can then get to know such attractive women :)

A woman walked into the row that was immediately in front of me.  About my age.  Followed by a young woman, about eighteen or nineteen.  The facial resemblance suggested she was the older one's daughter. They both looked absolutely beautiful.  Simple outfits. Not much of a made-up face or hair.  A casual elegance in their demeanor.  They took their seats two spaces to my right.

After a couple of minutes, I leaned over near the mother's seat.  "Do you speak English?" I asked her.

"Yes" she smiled.

I am convinced that when baby girls are born in Costa Rica, they don't cry after birth but they only smile.  And then they keep perfecting their smiles as they grow up.  If only I had been taught to smile when I was a kid; maybe that's what they did teach during the year of kindergarten that I skipped in order to be with grandmother!

"It looks like you are a mother/daughter" I told her.  "You two look so lovely."

The mother's smile became even wider.  The daughter also smiled a charmer. Had the lights not dimmed, I might have just about spent three hours watching nothing but their radiant and smiling faces.

"Oh, thank you" the mother said.

I retracted to my seat.

I could do what I did only because I am older and a tad experienced.  As a young boy, like most young boys, I showed my appreciation for girls by teasing them.  I wonder if young girls knew that when we boys teased them, we were really saying, "you are cool. I like you."  Later, as a teenager and into my youth, it was flirtation.  Now, finally, I can tell a middle-aged woman that she looks lovely, in a simple matter of fact manner.  Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts!

When I shared this with a friend--thank heavens for the internet--she noted that I know how to touch people's lives.  Another friend asked me how I knew it was ok to make that comment.  "I was sure the mother wouldn't misunderstand me" I wrote back to her."  Which is also why I did not tell two young women, who were by themselves, how gorgeous they looked.

To all those lovely ladies!

A night at the opera: toon and real

I guess I am not unusual in admitting that my introduction to Western classical music and operas were through cartoon characters.  It was only later that I got to hear/watch the real thing.  "The Barber of Seville" is one of those ...

First up, Woody Woodpecker



An even more impressive performance by Bugs Bunny:



Those fearless fighting foes, Tom and Jerry:



And a real opera performance:



Yes, of course I borrowed the title from Groucho Marx's crazy movie :)

Nixon back in China. Again? Yes!

Video/Song of the day: Offenbach's Barcarolle

Years ago, when I was just about getting to know what operas were all about (editor: ahem, so, you think that now you know something about operas?) I think Offenbach's "The tales of Hoffman"  and Barcarolle, in particular, was perhaps the first ever piece I listened to.  Even if my memory is clouded, and even if Barcarolle was not my first, well, it does not diminish my appreciation for this wonderful music.
The video clip here is from Andre Rieu's, whose concerts are always theatrical and entertaining, which probably the purists don't care for much .... I did go watch Rieu and his group perform, when they came to Portland a year ago; there were not many people younger than me among the audience :)

Beverly Sills sings with the Muppets

Yes, live from the Muppetopolitan Opera, with Kermit serving as the emcee :)
So, it is past 1030 on Sunday night, and I deserved a break from grading.  The Classic Arts channel on cable had a clip of Beverly Sills singing Habanera.  I thought I would track down more from Sills on Youtube, and then came across this fantastically funny and clever (as always) Muppets piece.  Awesome!!!

And, BTW, here is Habanera according to the Muppets: be warned that this is way too hysterically funny :)