The roof of the house is leaking...

You call 9491489824, you would hear two lines of a high pitched Kannada song. The lines repeat but you wouldn't understand the lyrics. If you are a Kannadiga or know Kannada, you would catch the lyrics but I bet 95 out of 100 wouldn't understand what those two lines mean.

My brother-like-friend, poet, Nandi Award Winner, Producer, teacher, a 'lover of life' and a 'lover for life' Sri. Prasada Murthy of "30 Minutes" [on TV - 9] fame asked me what the song meant. So did many of my friends and students. I had to explain to each of them what those two lines meant, about the poet, the singer and the composer. I also told many curious listeners that the song continues to live though none among these [poet, singer, comopser] is alive.


The poem is originally a folk song sung [notwritten] by Saint Shishunala Sherif, a 19 th century saint poet, philosopher, social reformer from Karnataka whose preachings can be compared to Sant Kabir Das of North India. Sherif was a staunch believer of humanity and religious harmony and his songs [poems] had in them the descriptions of human misery, sorrow, ignorance that he found in abundance in the society he lived in.

To be precise, let me tell you what the two lines of my ring back tone mean:

The roof of the house is leaking
The roof of the house is leaking
because of ignorance.

First lines of the song:

sOrutihudu maniya maaLigi
sOrutihudu maniya maaLigi
ajnaanadinda...

Original Song: Santa Shishunala Sherif

Composed and re sung: C. Ashwath.

Sung in Rock style: Raghu Dixit.

Film on Sherif: T.S. Nagabharana' s "Santa Shishunala Sherif" [1990]

Click the link and listen to the song and check whether the house is leaking or not.