Appacha (aka Dr Samuel Krishnamurthy) is my Grandfather. He’s been a role model for me through most of my childhood. I’ve learnt a lot from him over the years. I would go sit with him in his hospital and try and observe as much as I can. He converted to Christianity in his 20s and moved to Kerala (after being shut out from his own household). He decided to settle down in Changanacherry, a small town. He did not even know Malayalam back then, but yet decided to practice medicine there. He faced a lot of hardships all through his life, including four different episodes of cancer. Below is a testimonial he wrote a few months back that I wanted to share with you all.

“Suffering is an unavoidable part of our lives. There is no exception. Even the only Son of God! How and in what way we face it and in that lies the fact – How far we are dedicated to God’s way. We are all weak – weak in mind and body. And often we break down by the heavy burden of sufferings. Especially when they come in such a way as to crush us. Our response is usually one of the following: (i) “Why such a suffering for me God, a follower of thee”. (ii) “Take away these sufferings from me, if not take my life away as I can no more bear this”. (iii) “All say Thou art a loving God – Is this thy love? “ and we curse God. (iv) I leave all to God – Do as you please. Only a weak human body and spirit can understand the depth and acuity of suffering. So God sent his son, in human form to live in every way like a weak human being like us. He did not fall in the trap of sin. But he had all other qualities and weaknesses of an ordinary man, lived as an ordinary man to show us an example of how in such a weak human frame one can conquer suffering and in what way one should face suffering. It is a universal fact that nobody – none in human history suffered as much pain and shame and isolation like Jesus. He showed us how our faith should withstand pain – to leave all in his hands, cure or no cure. To believe God is good in all his ways. In the book of Daniel Chapter 3, we are given an example of true faith. In it , three youngsters face the great emperor Nebuchadnezzar, who threatened them with death by fire if they did not pay homage to the image set up by him. “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands”. He shouted challenging the true God that the youngsters believed. Their answer was the ideal answer for such a threat to their lives. “He will deliver us out of thy hand O King. We will not serve thy God” We all pray to God when we face disastrous circumstances. That is the right thing to do as he is our only refuge. As the youngsters say “But even if not, thou art my God , not depending upon the Good I received from thee, but whatever I received from thee.” Is our faith strong enough to say the same? Knowing fully well what was awaiting him the next day, Jesus prayed at Gethsemane (As human beings, we all would have prayed) “O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou will.” He set an example for us – A living example that explains the true significance of “Let thy will be done” Whatever it be, where do we stand on our faith? Only in shouting praises when the wind blows favorably and groan and complain when all goes wrong? Show we not reach the stage of “But even if not, thou art my God” as declared by the youngsters facing sure death by being burnt alive or as our Saviour facing the cross declared “Nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wills.” Real faith is complete surrender.

Yes, let our faith be so firm, so as to conquer all earthly conditions – happiness or sorrow with the one and only great prayer of our Lord.
LET THY WILL BE DONE
WE CAN CONQUER THE WORLD
AND ALL THE SUFFERING THEREIN
PRAISE THE LORD!”

- Dr Samuel Krishnamurthy

As a christian, I’ve been taught that faith is a firm belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. I learned this all through Sunday school. I became a Christian when I was 17 at a prayer meeting. I had some sort of an unexplainable experience that I attribute to God talking to me. I became a believer that day, but through the years, my commitment to Christ wavered and my faith is tested constantly. I doubted why God gave me a low score in Math during my XII board exams and he answered me by sending me to Birla Institute of Tech, Ranchi. Had I got a few marks more in Math, I would have done my undergrad somewhere in Kerala as opposed to one of the best institutes in India, and not ever met my wife. I questioned why he sent me rejection letters from lower ranked schools in the US and fought with God, only to find out later that he had saved the best for last- admission to Columbia University – IVY LEAGUE. This trend has continued all through my life and no matter how many times God has come to my rescue, I still harbor doubts when I face a trial.

I write this today more for myself than for anyone else. I am probably in the middle of the roughest patch of my life so far. My father in law, one of the few REAL Christians I have met, is fighting one of the worst forms of cancer. He dedicated the last 12 years of his life to Christ winning souls for His kingdom. Now he is fighting for his own life. My wife is pregnant and instead of these being her happiest days, tears and sorrow are all I see on her face. My mom in law had to lose her younger daughter at the age of 13 to leukemia and now she is watching her husband slowly drifting away. Needless to say, this has been a real test of my faith. I wondered why God is taking me and my dear family through this. I even quit praying for a while because I was angry with God. But then my father in law opened my eyes. The few times he could talk, all he said was TRUST IN GOD. Even in the middle of all the pain and the knowledge that he has cancer, TRUST IN GOD is what he had to tell us. THAT is true faith – “Firm belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence”, not only during the good days but even when the going gets tough. In spite of his condition he knows that God loves him, is watching over him and only has the best in store for him.

We might not understand why God lets certain things happen in our lives, and in the middle of those trials, its only natural to wonder why God has forsaken us. Perhaps God wants to test our faith or perhaps we love something or someone more than we love Him. Irrespective of what the reason is, we need to have BLIND FAITH and BELIEVE that God has the best in store for us and that our God is a loving God. Tonight as I sit here heavy hearted praying for my father in law and typing this post, I feel reassured more than ever that come what may, God loves my father in law more than any of us loves him and irrespective of what his condition be, God is with him. As much as I want my father in law to be healed and continue to pray fervently to God for the same, I will trust blindly that God has the best in store for him and for all of us, whatever the outcome.

My friends Nithya and Prateek informed me about Ben Larson. He was a seminary student from the US who went to Haiti with his wife and cousin to serve in the Lutheran Church there and died in the earthquake. I really want all of you to check out his music as he was extremely talented. You can find more about Ben Larson here.

I often wonder why people of faith who set out to do good deeds and help always seem to suffer the most. Most of them lead good lives, follow God’s directions and yet suffer. For people who dont share the same religious views, this might seem funny as its only natural to wonder why God would punish his own children. Personally, my family has had to deal with quite a few challenges and have often wondered why God is not listening to our prayers. I still dont have a complete understanding as I dont know the bible nearly as well as I should, but believe that suffering is basically God’s way of testing our faith. When everything is going well, it is easy for us to say that we are Christians and that we believe in God. But when we are tested, how do we react? That is the true test. Do we ridicule God then and forget the countless times he has come to our rescue? We have to keep our faith strong and believe that God always has a purpose for his actions. In my case, I believe that the incidents in my life are merely opportunities for me to witness God’s unfailing love. It really tests me at times, and I dont understand it short term. But when I look back at my life and how things have progressed, I have no doubt that God did everything for a reason. I am sure that there are many right now who are suffering and wondering why God is letting it happen. Dont let your faith be broken. Be strong! In due time, God will reveal to you why he did what he did. BELIEVE that God is in total control of your lfie.

As most other geeks out there, I was eagerly awaiting Steve Job’s announcement yesterday about the iPad. My buddy Adam and I were “Working” and following the live blog feed on engadget. As a person who started off his career being a Microsoft cool aid drinker, but then converted to a Mac user, I feel I am in a position to give an unbiased review of the phenomenon that is the iPad as I havent sold my soul to Steve Jobs (yet). So here goes!

1. The Name – First off, the name iPad leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I would have been much happier with iSlate or iTablet or heck iTab. iPad brings some gross thoughts in my head, especially after my buddy Jay showed me this.

2. Design – Steve Jobs said it best – “Technology meets Liberal Arts”. And just like the Mac, the iPod and the iPhone, the iPad is a beauty in terms of design. I wont go into the details, but it is a sight to behold. I also feel the form factor makes it a great eReader and potentially THE Kindle Killer. The one regret I have though is the lack of a keyboard. A tilt slideout keyboard would have been nice and made it more useful. Granted there is a dock and a keyboard that you can buy (if you are willing to shell out one trillion dollars), but its not quite the same. One of my biggest regrets about the iPhone is the same. I hate to chat/sms or send emails using the iPhone and unfortunately I think the same will be true about the iPad.

3. The User Interface – I think the UI is just a blown up iPod touch on steroids. I love the iPhone/iPod touch OS and hence feel that Apple got it right trying to use the same design for the iPad. Since the infrastructure already exists in the form of the app store with the countless developers hoping to make a buck, I think this was the right move. During his presentation, Steve Jobs showed how a bunch of developers have recoded some of the iPhone apps/games for the iPad and boy was that sweet! Shows the tremendous potential. If you thought 3 billion app downloads was a lot, wait till this puppy is out!

4. Connectivity – The iPad comes with WiFi (802.11 a/b/g/n) connectivity and Bluetooth 2.1. In addition there is the OPTIONAL (yes u heard right … OPTIONAL) 3g connection. Personally, I am very happy that they made 3g optional as it brought down the price of the non 3g iPad to a price I would be willing to pay. Having said that, $130 bucks for 3g connectivity which I bet is some small chip that cost some manufacturer in South East Asia a buck to make seems a little stiff! Not to mention the 30 bucks you have to pay AT&T for unlimited broadband. So in short, am I willing to pay 30 bucks for my iPhone and another 30 bucks for my iPad and the additional $130 for the 3g version of the device?? A BIG NO! Seems stupid to me that someone with an iPhone will actually do it. But the American people might prove me wrong

5. Storage – This is an area that I (along with almost all my geeky buddies) am disappointed. The iPad comes with a 16GB ($499 – non 3g), 32GB ($599 – non 3g) or 64GB flash drive ($699 – non 3g). There is NO REMOVABLE STORAGE!!!!! Why Apple Why??? This is something I did not like about the iPhone and they have disappointed yet again! Because of the lack of removal storage, I would say that if you plan to buy one, it would be a wise move to get the model with the maximum storage you can afford!

6. Battery Time – The iPad comes with an inbuilt 25 Whr rechargeable lithium polymer battery that based on what Steve Jobs claims holds up to 10 hrs of battery time when in use and about a month of standby. That is pretty phenomenal if you ask me. But like most claims about battery life, I will believe it when I see it! Even if it lives up to 80% of the claim, I would say its pretty darn good.

7. Audio/Video Formats – The iPad supports most of the common formats (MP3, AAC,MP3 VBR, Apple lossless, AIFF, WAV, mp4, m4v, mov etc) and I am particularly happy that it supports MP4 AND M4V. I own a few Apple TVs and my entire movie collection is encoded in M4V. Now I can just create a playlist and drag and drop the movies I want on my IPad (please note how I’ve already assumed that I’m getting one.. wifey are you listening???) to a playlist and just sync. No need to worry about re encoding (as is the case with the iPhone).

8. Display and Performance – We have to wait and see here, but I am sure the iPad wont disappoint in terms of Display. As far as performance goes Apple is introducing their own custom designed 1ghz A4 processor. I don’t know if its just me, but I am sure the processor will rock. Look at everything Apple has made to date. However I am a bit disappointed that applications cant still run in the background just like the iPhone. I hope they fix this soon. I would like to listen to music and maybe play a game or browse the net. I cant do that right now in the coming version from what I understood.

With all that said, am I getting one??? HELL YEAH! Can I live without it? Probably.. If I had to choose between the iPhone and iPad what would I choose? The iPhone without a doubt. Which one do I think is a more revolutionary device? Once again the iPhone without a doubt! I dont see the iPad as a replacement to my netbook/laptop or the iPhone, but more as a entertainment device that I will use in conjunction with my other toys. I will probably use it when I travel as an entertainment source to watch movies, play games etc. I hope my insights were of use to those who read this blog. Do post your feedback. I would love to hear from you all!

I belong to the the second school of thought. I have always believed that an artist should let his/her imagination run wild when doing covers and try to bring in as much of their own individuality as possible. I dont want my cover to be known for being just like the original. I would be much happier if people remember my version of the song for its originality. The next time they hear the original, I want them to think of my version. Today I was listening to Kris Allen’s version of Aint No Sunshine, which is what prompted me to write this artice. When he sang this song on America Idol last year, I was lost for words. It was that authentic and creative.. So much so that a lot of people now remember his version first. I am posting the original by Bill Withers and also the cover version by Kris Allen. I think this is one of the best examples of an excellent cover – Keeps the essence of the original and yet stand out on its own!

Bill Withers Version of aint no Sunshine:

Kris Allen’s Cover of Aint No Sunshine:

Have you ever thought about how your life was 3 years back. I for one see a lot of difference. I used to call and talk to people on the phone as opposed to texting/emailing/tweeting and messaging over facebook, my life was much more private and I was happy like that, I used a phone as a PHONE, I used to meet people in person more often, spend more time with family and look outwards for entertainment (movies/shows etc).

In the past couple of yrs, that has all changed. Social networking has redefined our lives and most of us dont even realize it. Now I wake up and the first thing I do is check my iphone for facebook/twitter/orkut updates. I am perpetually connected – right from when I wake up to when I go to bed. Sometimes I am even woken up from sleep I am even connected while I take the train to work, while I am at work, on my way back home, when I go to shop.. You get the idea. My life is much more open now. Everyone knows what I am upto and I know what everyone else is upto. I dont like talking on the phone anymore as I’d much rather message them on facebook/orkut, tweet them or email them. This way the conversation is much more controlled I dont really like hanging out much (I was never a very social person, but now I am worse ), I am constantly entertained by my friends posts (whether it be some funny status message, pictures, videos, youtube links etc) and no longer find the need to watch tv or other things.

Social networking has redefined everything. It has helped some of us rekindle old friendships and build new friends, made us more aware (sometimes too aware) about the latest news and what everyone is upto, it has given some of us a platform to showcase our talent and get a wider audience, find jobs,find solutions to problems, share our happiness and sorrows with others, help and be helped. Overall I think its fair to say that it has improved our quality of life for the most part and keeps us engaged in an endless conversation.

Social networking is here to stay and the sooner we jump on the bandwagon, the better. However like everything else we need to learn to draw the limits. While being so involved in the virtual world, we should be careful not to forget the real world and the people that make us who we are. We should not forget the old fashioned gestures like calling and talking to people over the phone or meeting them in person. Let us all make the most of this phenomenon and try to strike a balance between reality and the virtual world

For a few years now, its been a dream of mine to make a Gospel CD of sorts with all my favorite gospel songs. This dream has finally come true and I wanted to share my joy with you all. I hope this is a new beginning in my musical life and pray that God guides me in the right path and gives me opportunities to sing and use my talent to glorify his name.

You can play the tracks below and also download the individual tracks or the entire set. I have also included the lyrics.

Download the whole album here

Track Listing
1. Blessed Be Your Name –
Download
Lyrics

2. Another Day In Paradise –
Download
Lyrics

3. In Christ Alone –
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Lyrics

4. Who Am I –
Download
Lyrics

5. Jesus King of Angels –
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Lyrics

6. Here I Am To Worship –
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Lyrics

7. I Believe –
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Lyrics

8. I Surrender All –
Download
Lyrics

9. You Never Let Go –
Download
Lyrics

10. Give Me Jesus –
Download
Lyrics

A Merry Christmas to all of you in advance!

Audio Mixing Tutorial for Beginners – Part 2 from George Kuruvilla on Vimeo.

I decided to cover a hindi song for a change. Tara Balakrishnan bought me this track for my birthday and I’ve been procrastinating for a while. I love this song for its edgy vocals and lovely bass line. As always I’ve added some harmonies here n there. Hope this cover was worth your time.

Thanks for the track Tara!