Cherry's World | Roy Cherian Cherukarayil's Philosophical Literature, Visual Arts and Music: Christmas

Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Friday, February 27, 2026

Friday, December 27, 2024

Wishes like these remind us on the larger perspective how technology has made man into a lazy animal. We were in a world where communication was only through telegram or post and trunk phone calls for those who had a telephone and could afford it. But while in that world, we had more emotions and would write and talk more.

Now with all the facility that technology offers, we hardly write or talk.

FOR MY BOOKS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Poetry book 'INDELIBLE ETERNAL ETCHINGS':

https://www.amazon.in/INDELIBLE-ETERNAL-ETCHINGS-emotions-unbridled-ebook/dp/B072J4L656/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=indelible+eternal+etchings&qid=1583428166&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/INDELIBLE-ETERNAL-ETCHINGS-emotions-unbridled-ebook/dp/B072J4L656/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=indelible+eternal+etchings&qid=1583428402&sr=8-1

STORIES

https://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter-ebook/dp/B07948GRVC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1H9GU3Q8JNH29&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster&qid=1583428722&sprefix=a+pearl+from+ev%2Caps%2C363&sr=8-1

For other countries, please visit the respective Amazon sites.

Thursday, December 26, 2024

DOWNTOWN ON CHRISTMAS DAY

The quiet language of a downtown on a Christmas day gives a different feel. Very much contrary to the other busy days when the place is always full with people, days like Christmas gives the place and its systems a time to relax. At the same time the place is decorated too. We can see a different personality of the downtown on a holiday like Christmas. We see it relaxed and in its most presentable and attractive form.

FOR MY BOOKS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

YULETIDE IS HERE

Have a joyous and blessed Yuletide.

FOR MY BOOKS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Sunday, December 22, 2024

ANOTHER DIMENSION TO YULETIDE'S BEAUTY

The barren tree adds another dimension of beauty to Yuletide.

FOR MY BOOKS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Friday, December 20, 2024

CELEBRATION TIME

Size isn’t everything, but it changes the impact you have on the world around.

FOR MY BOOKS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Saturday, December 24, 2022

CRIBBING FROM PATHETIC CRIBS - HAVE A BLESSED CHRISTMAS

I have spent a large part of my life cribbing. Can I be graceful while in the pathetic cribs of life?

Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas.

FOR MY BOOKS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Short Story book 'A PEARL FROM EVERY OYSTER':

https://notionpress.com/read/a-pearl-from-every-oyster

https://www.amazon.in/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter/dp/1948473151/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3GI23X9JIKQGK&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster&qid=1583428674&sprefix=A+Pearl+from%2Caps%2C302&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Every-Oyster-Stories-Shorter-ebook/dp/B07948GRVC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1H9GU3Q8JNH29&keywords=a+pearl+from+every+oyster&qid=1583428722&sprefix=a+pearl+from+ev%2Caps%2C363&sr=8-1

For other countries, please visit the respective Amazon sites.

Saturday, December 25, 2021

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

FOR MY WRITINGS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

CAN I EMBRACE SUFFERING?

FOR MY WRITINGS, PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS BELOW (FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED):

POEMS OF LOST LOVE

Friday, December 25, 2020

WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

This is wishing all my readers a Merry Christmas and a great time looking forward to beginning the New Year with a bang.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

OUR LAST SINGING SESSION THIS YEAR - A SHOW OF FORTITUDE

The month of December, into the future, will always be a period when me and my family will look at nature, keeping our fingers crossed. The encounter with floods last year and with the cyclone Vardah this year has made all of us at home to see December, as a month to expect something nail biting and bizzare to happen, in the years to follow. We came out of these safely, but not before we felt like being pushed to the edges of life. Nature was kinder this year though, in that we did not have to leave our home and stay at a temporary shelter. But still, more grief has filled in me this year seeing our city stand naked and all stripped off its green cover. Two small trees that stood in area within my contours of my home, fell down much before the climax set in. I however managed to replant them the very next day.

Two coconut trees gave us creeps, as they kept hammering on our building, once in every ten or fifteen seconds. The impact could have been much lesser if we had not designed the building such that the coconut trees went through two square openings in the building at two places. This had obviated the need to cut the trees when we had constructed the first floor. I never knew about this hammering going on while on the first floor as we had sealed ourselves inside, locking up all the doors and windows. But it was when I got into my daughter's room that she made me feel the vibration on her table. There was a periodic hammering sound coming up, but until then, I had not realized what that sound was. I had not focussed my attention on it specifically as it was one of the many sounds creating the cacophony that day. When I went down to the ground floor, I could sense the real gravity. With every hammering shot, we could feel the vibration in the furniture on the ground floor. Sitting in our verandah on the ground floor, I could see the entire trunk shake after every shot. The next day, I went up our terrace and did a closer examination. The plaster had been eaten up at two places in each of the box holes as the wind had treated us in two directions. The trunks of both trees had two huge scars as two different areas took the impacts with each wind blowing in two different directions that day.

The day after the cyclone, I took my daughter for a walk on the road that ran parallel to our street. I always loved this road for the canopy it had. But the cyclone had unfortunately ripped down a lot of branches and even uprooted some of them. Two trees broke and lay across the road such that there was a green cover over the road, through which we could walk through. My daughter and me took a walk through these. We believed that such an experience would not come up again in the near future. But with the climate change patterns setting in, we never know what is in store in the coming years.

The cyclone was the third challenge that Chennai faced after demonetisation and the departure of our beloved Chief Minister. Many carol singing sessions that had been lined up were called off as a mark of condolence and sharing of the grief that had engulfed the city. But Candles by Candlelight, the singing session at the St.Christopher’s College was to take place. I was in two minds as to whether I should participate, but I pushed myself and went. It was not a competition, but just a stage performance in front of an esteemed Christian gathering.

Our choir did well. The speciality of this singing session is when they switch of the lights and each person in the crowd participates in the singing with a candle in his or her hand. The serenity and the impact was mind blowing. When I heard the vote of thanks, by Dr.Ravi Santosham of the GATT Qunitet, I was convinced as to why Christmas singing should continue. We believe that the birth of Christ itself was in the middle of so many challenges and suffering for Joseph and Mary and Christ brought hope and peace into a hapless world of sin. Christians should continue singing carols in the midst of challenges so as to spread the word of hope and peace.

I wish all of you a Happy and Prosperous 2017. May good tidings of joy always reach you.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

WE OPENED THIS SEASON WITH A BANG

The Christmas season for this year opened up sometime during October end. Due to some personal exigencies, I could not make it for two practices and thereafter I caught the singing bus over the last two weeks for the next two practices that followed. Sometimes during the first practice that I was into, I felt that the choir was chewing something too big for its calibre. In fact two of the songs were picked from last year's list as last year's Christmas had been literally washed out due to the floods, and we did not get to sing much. And the chewing impression I had, was about the two that we had picked up from last year. During the second practice, that impression changed as I saw many aspects of harmony falling in place. But still, perfection was eluding us somehow. It was somewhere there close by, but somehow we just could not embrace it.

It was with this mindset that I had got on to the podium for our first competition today. We had a stiff battle from a few other teams, but then it just happened today. We saw everything falling in place and it was close to or I should say, a flawless performance. I saw one of the judges stand up and clap for us when we finished the second song. A few other judges did again mention about us and our superb performance while they spoke before the award ceremony. And in the feedback session from the panel, we had no negatives listed on our performance.

So, we could smell victory, much before we were declared as the victors. That was indeed a great feeling. It's something I cannot fully express in words, but it can only be felt while standing right there in the middle of the audience and the judges and listening and watching them while they give their feedback. Today was our first competition for this Christmas season and we, the Celestial Voices, have begun with a real bang. We convincingly beat seven teams and emerged first.

We will prevail right through this season. Let there be no doubts !!!

Thursday, October 8, 2015

I BELIEVE IN MY MAD PURSUITS

Last Sunday, me and my family, were driving back from church, after the release of "Yeldho", the CD containing songs sung over the last 20 years plus by our church choir, the Celestial Voices. Several thoughts on this drifted through my mind and what dominated more were those about the singing madness that still persists within me. We had slogged through several weeks of practice sessions and recording sessions at the studios, that had run into late hours in the night to get this done. And now, it was a great feeling to see it getting released. Listening to the song from the CD with all the music and harmony is one thing. But when I was sitting under a tree shade for practice in our church premises, along with the bass singers of which am a part, I could hear the plain raw melody of the supranos who were practicing inside the church. Their song slowly and softly spread all around the church, as though going up the church steeple, when the group hit the high notes. There was no music accompaniment, but still, that was a unique feel.

These days if I love a song, I keep humming or singing that, right through the day, especially on weekends. My family often would ask me whether I had got hooked on to it so much that I cannot sing something else. My father in particular, would sometimes tells me, that I am old and that people around are going to think why I am singing all intense romantic songs describing women and their features:) Now this clearly meant that all of them were yet to see a real worth in those singing attempts. Of course, they would love to hear Christian songs being sung during prayer time, but they would not believe that anything beyond it, was worth trying now.

In the early eighties, I was approaching high school and that is when I got too passionate about songs and started singing them, sometimes right through the day. My father seeing me in this state would ask me whether my focus was in the right direction. But I was clearly mad about singing and I think he was very circumspect about acknowledging it, lest I lose focus on my academic pursuits. But singing in me, never died and I often went full blow when my father was not there at home. And in case he was there, I would get into the singing mode, while in the restroom.

But as we all know, madness and passions stay forever at least in some dormant form, how much ever these are ignored by the world around. And what lay dormant for about four to five years from then, started slowly but diffidently showing its face while I was into college. For me to realize that I was good at anything and to be confident about it, I had to always look up to my father to acknowledge. And so, if he had not acknowledged my calibre in an area, to me it was like I was really wanting in something in those areas. So, this meant that I was always a person who wanted to sing, but who was at the same time, not free and confident on stage to sing. My college mates had to keep pushing me to sing and my first stage performance was a classic royal fiasco, where I stood breathless on stage with the song all stalled. But still, my friends found me good and took me along wherever they had a get together and so I had a chance to belt out Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil songs in these small encounters. And this continued even after I got into organizations for work and is happening even now. I have sung for small groups and on stages,in these places, all without music accompaniment. Now, this for me is like being in a radio mode, to sing when friends demand. We could also term this as Music as a Service, if we align it with the latest trends in Cloud Computing:) It's only that instead of paying me money, they very liberally praise me. But then, this never fetches one an identity.

In the late eighties, while I was yet in the last year in college, mp3 players, cd players and mobile phones were still technological marvels yet to sweep India, though am not sure where else in our world they had taken off. The radio was still a big thing. My journey to college was through the public road transport and I would get to hear film songs being played at shops and marriage halls while travelling. I must confess that many times on my journey back to home, I have left the company of my friends in the bus and got down, hearing melodious songs being played at these places. Such was the madness in me and am sure I would have driven my father into a rage if he had got to know this. There have been several instances, when my wife and daughter have nudged me, because I was loudly humming or singing some song that I was mad about, in public.

It was just the day before that I had spotted an article on the Hollywood stunt director Lee Whittaker. He was the brain behind the stunts that we got to see in films like Viswaroopam, Linga and Bahubali. He grew up on a farm near a lake in Kentucky and was always jumping off the barn, riding horses and motorcycles, driving boats and swinging across creeks on a vine. He was wild and adventurous. No one back home believed he was doing action, because in his small town, Hollywood was never a real entity. Well, when madness takes a direction and brings in an identity or a monetary angle to it, that's when acceptability sets in. And until then, every person with several items of madness of this type that he or she pursues, will be looked upon as truly mad or crazy beings. It is ironical that until we build an identity or strike a monetary return, the many things that we pursue with our heart and soul into it, will remain many times as pieces of madness on the outside.

These days, an identity in solo singing comes when you penetrate into the last three or last two rounds of some reality singing show. Most of them prefer a Carnatic base. Otherwise it is the pure Carnatic singing road that is there which is a much tougher turf. But for Christian folks, carol singing and choir singing are great opportunities, though these belong to a different genre. Once we are able to fit into a group's harmony, we are in. For me, this has given me an identity. I began singing for carols when I was just 8 years old. The expectations in carol singing are not that demanding. But choir singing demands more accuracy and therefore more focus. For me, choir singing remains to be a very humbling experience because, whenever I think that am a great singer and that my voice should be heard more, the choir reminds me that I have to listen to the others and sing in harmony. That's because choir singing is not about one person singing but it is about a huge group striking a super level harmony.

Looking back, I believe, that it is important to believe in these pieces of passion or madness that each of us have in different forms and to slowly breed them, even if the whole world around thinks otherwise. After seeing the CD released and listening to the songs, my family sees value in my pursuits. But then, to polish my singing, I had to hold on to my restroom singing for decades. We never know when our pursuits will gather force and give us an identity or monetary returns. There is no doubt that when life drives us to mad corners, with its several vague twists and turns, these pursuits of madness, will come in handy and save us from really going mad.

Saturday, February 14, 2015

ONE IMPACT OF MODERNIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY

I still like the simple green Christmas tree with all the trinkets and lights. Too much technology and the modern touch wipes out the basic traditional aspects out of anything :)

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

JOY AND PEACE SHALL PREVAIL

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. May joy and peace surround you in the days to come.

This year the Christmas was different. We had the tree setup, there was lot of food that was made, and lots of friends and relatives called up and we exchanged greetings. But what was more significant for me and my wife was to join our senile and extremely sick parents to the church and to break bread with them.

We had to exhibit a lot of patience as they are heading into an age where we need that patience that is required to take care of a child. Old age has lots in common with the very young age that we have come through. And to find joy in this patience is where my focus was in this year's Christmas.

When our children see this patience in us being exhibited, I believe they too will learn and exhibit the same in the long run.

Friday, December 11, 2009

THE SEASON OF MELODIES

This was the first Choir singing this Christmas and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There is joy in singing as part of a big group in front of such a big audience. There is also a bigger joy in going through those small and careful steps of preparation to get our singing to a good level.

I got my second singing opportunity, and this was an inter-church competition. We got the first place, thanks to the excellent leadership and ideas of our conductor ,the presence of a few confident singers in the group, the excellent co-ordination of the organizers, the humour generated by a few that combined very well with our serious preparations, and made the atmosphere all that even on the whole, and the hard work of each member in the group. We also had a lot of fun during the preparation sessions. I found that these small things were those, that give so much life and fun, to this whole season of Christmas.

Cherry's World | Roy Cherian Cherukarayil's Philosophical Literature, Visual Arts and Music

Friday, February 27, 2026

FESTIVE

Friday, December 27, 2024

A UNIQUE CHRISTMAS WISH

Thursday, December 26, 2024

DOWNTOWN ON CHRISTMAS DAY

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

YULETIDE IS HERE

Sunday, December 22, 2024

ANOTHER DIMENSION TO YULETIDE'S BEAUTY

Friday, December 20, 2024

CELEBRATION TIME

Saturday, December 24, 2022

CRIBBING FROM PATHETIC CRIBS - HAVE A BLESSED CHRISTMAS

Saturday, December 25, 2021

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

CAN I EMBRACE SUFFERING?

Friday, December 25, 2020

WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

Saturday, December 31, 2016

OUR LAST SINGING SESSION THIS YEAR - A SHOW OF FORTITUDE

Sunday, November 20, 2016

WE OPENED THIS SEASON WITH A BANG

Thursday, October 8, 2015

I BELIEVE IN MY MAD PURSUITS

Saturday, February 14, 2015

ONE IMPACT OF MODERNIZATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

JOY AND PEACE SHALL PREVAIL

Friday, December 11, 2009

THE SEASON OF MELODIES