There is something about melody, music...  It is not something you can grasp, define or confine within a set of rules, bounds and framework.  A specific genre of music can be defined as so and so.  But if you take the full spectrum of melody and music I'd rather say simply experience it rather than going about defining it with terms and attributes.

On August 15th, 2014 a bunch of my friends honored my request, put aside their personal commitments and made the time to come to my house and created a string of melodies and memories.  Thanks for providing me and my family with this experience.

Chandana Murali enthralled the audience with her beautiful voice and choice of Saraswati vandane, bakthi geethe (desh and beyond).  Jnani immediately picked the tempo and backed up the vocals on his tabla.

 As the audience sat in rapt attention,

Arjun Krishnaswamy sang on sharada.

Padmini Shastry sang a kannada number

Vinay Shastry took over and belted number after number across multiple genres and was backed by Chengappa and Srikar. 

Jayalakshmi did a tantalizing Hindi oldie.

Samana and Sammita sang the all time classic "Hotel California" with Vinay playing lead on the Keyboards.

In between, there were quite a few solo melodies by Chengappa on his Mandolin, Srikar on his flute, Anusha Madapura on violin, Gayathri pipping in with a "hello" (sorry don't have the pictures) -  backed by Vinay, Chengappa, Srikar and Jnani on various instruments.

There were many in the audience who supported and encouraged.  Thanks to one and all - both performers and an enthusiastic audience...  

Thanks to late prof. Shastry as well - your spirit lives on....