We the Write stuff.

My favourite part of London is how almost everyday is a burst of bibliomaniac joy.

Its the small stuff, like having manic 10 hour classes, and running home to grab a few hours of shut-eye before another class at 8pm, only to be kept awake by doors slamming and loud laughing from the kitchen, only to slam my door open to lose my temper at whomever I see first, to find that a flatmate has wedged a whole pile of packages from Amazon under my door. For me, me, me.

Its the big stuff, like trudging sleepily in the rain in my pajama's to get some coffee, only to find my tattered copy of "Howl" that I'd given up tearfully for lost, placed next to the coffee machine, with a post-it saying, "I dont know which building you're in, but I see you hovering around here all the time, so I thought this would be the best place to return it. I hope you actually find this, and if you're not you, then sod off, this doesn't belong to you"

And then its the truly perfect stuff, like becoming an accidental and active participant of BookCrossing.

I'd heard of BookCrossing in one of my first Publishing classes, where 60-odd book geeks including myself, gathered to talk about how reading is a community - a dying community in some respects, but for those who love to read, an exciting community nonetheless.

BookCrossing, essentially, is the "the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise." I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard of, and it gave me, and the other people sitting around me, goosebumps just thinking about it. We all told our professor, that it sounded almost too good to be true, and it was probably just one of those things, like the Tooth Fairy, who you truly believe is real, just because you want to believe it, when deepdown, you know its a parent who is the real Tooth Fairy. She nodded wisely, and said, "Wait and see, you won't see it coming"

And then, a few days ago, I got onto a bus and sat on a book. I hardly ever do this, since books are my personal God and religion, and well, you don't normally sit on your God. When I got up, it was a much worn copy of "The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop", which is one of those books you've always thought you should read, but it was either out of stock, or too expensive, and along the journey of all the other books you've wanted painfully, you sort of pushed it at the back of your mind. On the book, was a note stapled to the cover, "Read this and pass it on" and on the title page, were the initials of all the people who'd read it and the dates they'd found it.

I forgot I had a tottering pile of textbooks to wade through by the next day, forgot that I had groceries to buy, food to cook, laundry to do, trash to take out. I forgot social commitments and Skype dates. I forgot that it was raining and that my heater wasn't working and I was, to put it mildly, freezing. I forgot about Stoner Sam and his Stonery Sammy ways. I had been crossed with a book and nothing else mattered.

I passed it on last night. I left it on a table at the cafe I usually frequent. Before I left, the proprietor grinned at me and said, "You've picked prime property there, honey. That book knows that table well"

That book, knows more people and places than I do. And Im grateful I got to know it, and that it has KM 4-10-2010 permanently embedded in its pages.

Note: A very Appy Birday to the old man of the blog, Harry from WetheUs and well, everyone who reads us etc.

Ello All

It's Tejas' Birthday. Wooptedoo dah. Wish him or kiss him.

Yesterday was a bad day. A surreal experience for me, since I had one of those moments where Art somewhat saved me. A bit. It was a perfect marriage of the emotions I had, and the emotions I felt after experiencing the art.
I lost my phone yesterday.
This is the second time in 9 months, I think. I have recently lost my kickass iPod that my sister gifted me, which had tremendous sentimental value, my nephew's mp3 player and my mom's flash drive. Yes, I'm an idiot and no this is not for sympathy. This is about the connection of art and how it manages to dig in to you, through all the clutter and crap you may have inside you and still carve a small nichè for itself amongst all the baggage you carry.

Yesterday I re-read a series that I had stopped through halfway a while ago, and had not managed to complete it. It happened like this. I lost my phone in the morning, moped for a while, then went to landmark by 1 pm and sat there reading for a good 7 hours. There is something liberating about being cut-off from the rest of the world. In my state of mind, it almost felt good, that I could escape having to tell people how dumb I felt because I lost my phone, ironically because there was no way to tell them. I did not even have the strength to feel sorry for myself or just plainly ask 'Why?'

Thus I sat and read Y: The Last Man.

Y is about Yorick Brown (and his capuchin Ampersand) the only man to survive a plague that strikes all the Y-chromosome carrying mammals(namely all males) around the world simultaneously, killing them instantly. Whats left is broken infrastructres, plane crashes, food shortages, and a whole lot of women. How Yorick survives these conditions plus a bunch of crazy chicks who are either trying to sleep with him or kill him forms the rest of the story. Needless to say a story as epic as this, has to be thought out well and thought out well is exactly what it is. In 60 issues Brian K. Vaughn manages to tell the story at a decent pace, progressing with the plot while still holding the attention of the reader. Obviously it is filled with great allegory, and social commentary but is undoubtedly and ironically going to be viewed as masogynistic and yes, chauvinistic. However Vaughn bypasses all that and continues with his story about the last man trying to reunite with his girlfriend in Australia.

But Yorick- the average everyman, still seeking his true love not knowing whether she's alive or dead, and a huge responsibility on his shoulder is someone I could definitely identify with at that moment. No, I am not the last man on earth, but at that point of shame, I wished I could just be alone, or run away. It probably sounds highly dramatic, but that my friends, is the power of art! In 7 hours I immersed myself in Y and questioned myself as he did, that is reclusiveness what we really want? or is it really the complete opposite? Maybe we just want to be accepted no matter what we do, and while that would be great, it is not fair at all to shy away from the responsibilities that each of us possess. Alas, Poor Yorick, I knew him!

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! - (Hamlet, V.i)

I keep giving this one example of how I always listen to Billy Joel before an audition, or before facing any 'music'. Why? Because for some reason hearing his voice is the equivalent of having someone older or someone I trust saying to me "It's alright Tejas. Just get in there and do your best and know I'm right behind you". Very Uncle Ben.
Sigh.
Uncle Ben, why do I miss him so much?

Comic back to the point. The marriage of art and the person who experiences it, is a very personal moment. It's like family, literally. Because every person has their own experience when they are in contact with the art. I cannot expect anyone to have the same feelings or emotions I did when I read it, it is probably not going to happen. But maybe you will have it with something else, maybe a great album, or a great painting, when you are at another emotional level. And it'll cause you so much pain or joy or emotions you can't even describe. It's truly awesome.

That my friends is the power of art!

I have always found a place in my life, for the music I love most. I have attached a song or an album to sometimes things as simple as a fleeting emotion, an entire book that I'd read or even an entire phase in my life. Let me state for the record that in the past few months I have heard at least 10-12 new albums, some which have been great, some not so much. But this obviously provided me and a population with a host of new material to attach our lives to. In any case I feel that’s what one of music’s most important functions should be. People do not want to listen to happy songs when they’re sad. They want to listen to sad songs when they are sad.
And how strange that this season I have been so lucky to find not hope or love or optimism. I found strength.

Battle studies is definitely one of those albums. John Mayer has surpassed himself and proven to be the best musician-singer-songwriter-guitarist of today, without any doubt whatsoever. He has effectively bridged old-fashioned blues and contemporary pop to produce an epic album, my favourite of last year. He described it as a ‘guidebook to relationships’, which could not be more true. If you are in a relationship, or just got out of one; if you have had your heart physically torn from out of your chest, and you feel helpless, if you feel trapped, or unloved or indifferent, remember not to lament. Don’t give up or give in, just be brave. Fight on.

Music as you may know is a big part of my life. In the past few years especially I have consciously/sub-consciously tried/failed/succeeded many/very few times to create/understand/replicate/modify/manipulate/control/innovate classic/contemporary forms of music. The results of which have been disastrous/astounding/enriching.
I would be inclined to think now, that music is an integral bit of everyone’s lives, whether they know it or not. Whether they try and incorporate some element of it into their lives. I can see an image of a corporate head going for a jam with friends after work. Or perhaps and a woman who finally buys herself the piano that she’s being putting of for so long, just to finally immerse herself into this new world of melody. Or maybe it’s the countless number of people putting their headphones on every time they step out of the house. Whatever it is, people are doing it, and if you’re not, you’ve got to try.

As I was aimlessly driving through the internet in my Powerbook G4 (Something I seem to be doing too much of lately* ) I stumbled upon a certain group of unlikely musicians, The Rock-Bottom Remainders; who were doing exactly what I thought people were doing. Random men and women who strum guitar and play music in general at a very basic level, had come together to jam-up and enjoy each others company and just play some simple songs to break away from their regular lives. More and more people like the afore-mentioned are finding music to be that one thing that they can use to colour their lives. The band I’m talking about have taken regular jamming to another level and has sort of an elite membership: Dave Barry, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Maya Angelou, Mitch Albom and Matt Groening to name a few. These very successful and powerful writers put down their pens and meet once a year to jam up for charity and the really cool thing is that they really know that they aren’t good at music so there’s always an endless supply of witty jokes about how bad they are:

"We play music as well as Metallic writes novels." -Dave Barry

"People are throwing panties at you. They certainly never do that at my book-signings." -Matt Groening

The point is that while this rock n’ roll band of published authors aren’t very good, they still go at it and have been at it since 1992. And also they are a hilarious bunch of people, so you should check them out for sure.
Music is for everyone and only you. You should first and foremost, feel the effects of the guitar in your hands while you strum it. You should get the feel of what John Mayer is saying when you buy his CD. Another super example of what I’m talking about is how my friend and I formed a band way back in 2008. We’re not too good, but I can speak for both of us when I say, I think we RULE. I enjoy cause I can experiment with new ideas in this relatively pure acoustic-one-woman-managed band but mostly I enjoy cause I get to watch a not that great singer pull out all stops and just sing his heart out. And I realized that much later until we were too busy to meet up let alone jam up. He may very well be the funniest guy I know and we connect on some kind of supreme level, and for that I miss him, and hope he accepts my heartfelt apology for bumming him out all too recently.
Please do yourself a favour and get out there. Buy a Karaoke machine. Or a violin. You’ve got to try.

*Lately = the last 3 years.

This post was originally going to be about the quantum leap that Hindi music has made over the last 5-10 years or so; but instead I decided I'd focus on one singer who is at the top of the charts and is in much demand by the premier music directors of the Indian Film Industry.

Working in a Hindi radio station WILL get you addicted to Hindi songs and music. Even if you are not a fan of it, you will be whether you like it or not. I always used to dig it. I love AR Rahman and Shankar Ehsaan Loy's music and recently have come to appreciating other musicians work as well. Also I'll agree that popular Hindi music hasn't had the best rep, with hosts of musicians copying tunes from the west (and east as it turns out!) and I can say personally that the 90's worked itself into a rut, with repititive chords and melodic patterns, (a trait in most Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar films, I've noticed) that annoyed the shit out of me many a time.
But as the aughts rolled out, more composers broke away from that norm, favouring a more western style of chord progressions and more musicality and less percussion. And it is also strange that even though we opt for this change, it still cannot be dubbed as anything else but popular hindi music or Bollywood music; mainly because it still retains that distinct touch of Indian, like vocals from Raahat Fateh Ali Khan*, or Kailash Kher. Or perhaps even because of the inclusion of a pakhawaj or tabla to a drum set. Whatever it may be, I know that Mohit Chauhan is also one of those reasons.
Few may remember the erstwhile Silk Route; a 'rock' band at the time when we had few. It was from here we heard of Mohit Chauhan, the lead singer/guitarist at the time singing the popular 'Dooba Dooba' which has actually aged quite well since then. Mohit moved on from then and released a few solo albums before getting signed to sing as playback. It is at this point in his career that I feel he has peaked, by being the proud owner of the vocals that can be heard on this summer's two biggest releases: Love Aaj Kal and Kaminey.
After his short success with AR Rahman's 'Khoon Chala' he recorded for Imtiaz Ali's breakthrough 'Jab We Met', in the slow but beautiful Tum Se Hi. He became recognizable to me from that point and just went on to wow the hell outta me. He came out with the much under-appreciated 'Kuch Khaas' from Fashion as well as the strangely insipid 'Is This Love' from Kismat Konnection. But it was 'Masakali' from Delhi-6 that has showed the range of this singer. I always imagine that it must be a pleasure for the playback to record to excellent music, AR Rahman's to say the least, theres not much to be salvaged by a singer from crap music, but just by listening to the song you can clearly understand how he must have enjoyed recording it.
Two songs I am listening back to back at the moment are both romantic numbers from the movies Love Aaj Kal and Kaminey, with Mohit Chauhan returning to what he does best.

'Dooriyan' from LAK is clearly possesing the more Rom-Com-Comercial feel to it, with Imtiaz Ali trying to recreate the same effect from Tum Se Hi, and trying to force out the emotions, with the string section and music I have decided to dub CRM or Cry-by-Reverb Music (as opposed to HRM). However we can all agree that it is probably Mohit Chauhan's soothing voice that will probably get the girls crying.

'Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai' composed by Vishal Bhardwaj himself for his own film Kaminey, is my personal winner of the two, clearly the more tender song, with interesting vocal moments and moving piano moments. Equally great vocals from Mohit Chauhan makes this all the more intense, and I'm interested how this song will come off on screen.

I hope he goes on to release tracks like these, and hope he has the oppurtunity too, because you know how unreasonably far one can be from the other. Now if Lucky Ali would just get off his lazy ass and accept Rahman's offer to work with him...


* The inspiration and reason why I started writing this post. Unbelievable vocals on 'Ajj Din Chadheya' from Love Aaj Kal.

As you may know by now, the pigs have conquered Pune. That is where I live, and I am most annoyed, obviously because the possibility of it lurks at every turn, or else hidden inadequately behind a 20 rupee surgical mask. My friends have canceled their trip to Pune to visit me due to this reason and while the decision is the responsible one, it is still disappointing. The schools and colleges are closed as are their counterparts; malls and theatres, and people are either staying put at home, or working in their offices with a reasonably high degree of alarm.

A few days ago I was in Landmark buying a gift for one of my friends, and just like all music stores they had a CD playing. I could almost instantly recognize it as an Enrique Iglesias song, and as I continued shopping, I vaguely hummed along with the melody. I got home and realized I couldn't get the song out of my head! It was there all the time, the lyrics moving me, the melody slowly lifting and subsiding in my mind! What was this song? And more importantly, why was it buzzing around in my mind?
Because thats what he does.

As any musically inclined/blogger would do, I researched! First off I went and I got the name of the song. I sat wondering for a long time, though the answer seemed almost simple enough, is that like everyone knows already, I am a major pop-fan. I sing pop, write pop, and I enjoy it. But why was someone like Enrique Iglesias, who I've liked in general but was mostly whatever about, affecting me like something viral?
Enrique's Dad is Julio Iglesias, one of the most successful and best selling artists of all time, selling over 300 albums, and man has he released a lot of albums! Barring that, when you see the man, you can clearly make-out that he has the class of the yesteryear, that seems lacking today or that has been made hybrid by people like Michael Bublè or Alicia Keys. He can definitely sing well; one of my dad's friends who is a huge fan of his once said "Ahh that Julio Iglesias; he could make love to a woman just by his voice". So that settles that.
I asked myself, really, what does Enrique have going for him? He can sing alright I guess, his voice is nothing spectacular. Neither are his performances. He had his father's shadow to crawl out of (to which I might add he has done an admirable job) and well, he had Ricky Martin to deal with. What he does have is that he is goodlooking, and that could very well account for the much adoration from his female fandom. But its still not that.
I went back to the store looking for that one song*, and I realized that they were playing it off his greatest hits album. I was a little wowed. While I knew that he had released a greatest hits album sometime ago, it just struck me that this guy had still been around for so long and has done so much work he could produce a greatest hits collection. The other funny thing was that when I turned the CD around to look at the songs on it, I realized I knew every single one. So this post if not anything else, is to celebrate the achievement of Enrique and his trusty songwriters, cause man if you can produce catchy-song after the next for 10 years, your doing a pretty kickass job.
And let's face it, everyone really digs the songs, right?

God, I am such a sucker for pop.

*The song was 'Maybe' from his 2001 album 'Escape'.

I have a problem. Let me just state for the record that over the past couple of years and since coming to India, I have been converted into a big Hindi movie fan. I am completely loyal to the industry, I believe in them and I know they have the capacity to make excellent films- they have proved it in the past on many occasions. However, they have also proved to be quite unreliable based on the frequency of how often a decent movie is released. Now, my problem is that every time I watch a good Hindi film trailer(and boy are there many) I am faced with a dilemma- do I invest in these movies emotionally by looking forward to it, and hope that it will be the next Dil Chahta Hai or Swades? Or do I cautiously and safely curb my enthusiasm till I see the final product? Hindi films let me down- most of the time. Sometimes there is a pleasant surprise, like the awesome DevD but lets face facts- Ghajini, Chandni Chowk to China and 8x10 Tasveer have all been thoroughly disappointing even though they had the potential to be super kickass. I went for all of these movies first-day-first-show and came back dejected with the Indian Film Industry. But then slowly I forget about their mistakes and get roped right back into the game with the next big release. I have, however seen the error in my ways and been able to see the good ones from the bad, and believe me it is not hard to spot. 'Kambhakkt Ishq' was the single greatest waste of money on film. Like Rajeev Masand said, Rs 60 crores could have gone to so many better causes, and it would have been just one less film for Akshay Kumar* to ruin his career with.
But still got to love that guy!

This season has been filled the most big-budget films from hollywood, and the barrage has not yet ended. So with the IPL and ICC T20 well out of the way, the movies have been streaming in and with Transformers 2 in theatres and HP6 on the way, I really want to see where our Indian mainstream cinema is standing. We had New York (and a fairly healthy discussion about it too!), Khambakkht Ishq and soon to release is Luck pairing Sanjay Dutt and Imran Khan again (You remember how that last one turned out- Kidnap...the scriptwriter).
Ever since I saw the trailer at the Delhi-6 premiere, there is one movie that is grabbing my attention and that I must see on opening day. Vishal Bhardwaj's Kaminey.

This is not a heavily disguised puff-piece but man this shit looks good. I have been thoroughly impressed with his adaptations of Macbeth(Maqbool) and Othello(Omkara), which I still maintain is one of the greatest dramas that the Industry has ever produced. He has openly stated that the lack of good scripts and scriptwriters is the primary reason why he turns to Shakespeare for a decent story. For me personally, that directors can recognise the fact that their are not good scripts being written for screen currently, is an achievement. I don't care, take your time, don't make a movie for like a year or two, but don't produce until you've got the goods, man.
Kaminey comes off as a very Guy Ritchie-esque dramedy, with an array of wonderfully wierd characters, like Shahid Kapur's two characters in the film(Yes, it's a double role) Charlie and Guddu with their speech defects and the completely uncouth don played by Amole Gupte.
The soundtrack is awesome with 'Dhan Te Nan' that blew my mind when I heard it. A kickass track reminding me just enough of the pulp fiction theme, to get me completely psyched for this.
But yes I know, this could be another run-of-the-mill flicks that is produced so often that can get my hopes screwed once again. But really, who knows man? That is the prospect that excites me sometimes even more than the movie itself: What if. What if this is the movie that really steps it up? What if this is the movie I was looking for in Ghajini, or in Tasveer? What if this is the awesome Hindi movie? What if.
Whatever it is, I hope its not regular. That should be the norm; either you completely freak out the audience by wierding it out, or just be shit. Don't give me normal. The cast is capable. The director is more than capable. Please, let this be the one.


*He is seriously the only thing good about that movie.

By now there may be almost a million posts about him, and yet it feels wrong not honour him with a post of our own on this blog. What to talk about? I could once again talk about how he single-handedly changed music or even revolutionised the modern music video. I could say that Michael was the humanitarian, and donated large chunks of profits to charity, or plainly that he is the greatest breakdancer in history. But of course he is more than all that. Michael Jackson was black, white, famous, infamous, bad, lonely, inspiring and a smooth criminal. For me (and I guess a for a lot of people) Michael Jackson is one of the first artists I could properly associate with music as a kid. I remember owning 'Dangerous' on audio casette and later on 'Thriller', and if I can remember clearly I think there's a home video of me dancing madly to 'Jam'; I shake my legs wildly as I sing random words to fit MJ's quick lyrics. Thinking back I realise how MJ came so much earlier than most of my other musical influences like Backstreet Boys and Elvis Presley. Anyway, so I decided I'd write about what my favourite things about the man are.
Here are my Top 5 Favourite Michael Jackson things:

5. Come Together by Michael Jackson - This was my ringtone for a really long time, he took this already kick-ass song and somehow made it his own. I really thought that this was his song and not the other way round. But man, even the King of Pop had to cover the freakin' Beatles!

4. The Red Leather Jacket from Beat it - Out of all MJ's quirky get ups (some supreme, some not so much) this is my favourite. The pushed up sleeves when he does he the pull-grab move in the video looks soooooooooo cool. I have wanted a jacket like this forever and seriously who hasn't?

3. Lyrical/Vocal Ability - Anyone can sing awesome lyrics well. Beat it and Thriller are so cool to sing cause they have fun and catchy lyrics, but what do you do when you want to sing about a cause? How do you do it without making it sound corny or too forced? You do it like Michael Jackson. MJ has plenty of preachy songs that don't even sound so cause he makes the transition so easily. He blurs the line between awesome music and good intent, which so many artists (Sheryl Crow, though I love you, take a damn leaf!) fail to do today. Black or White, They Don't Really Care About Us, Man in the Mirror, We are the World, etc.

2. The Moonwalk - How would this not be here? I know theres all that bullshit surrounding the fact that "He didn't invent it" and " its originally by someone else"; you know what? Balls to that. There is only one person who can incorporate it seamlessly as a deathdefying act into his array of already badass moves and that's Michael. The black shoes and smart white socks catch your eye too easily.
You watch Bille Jean Live. You go 2 and a half minutes in. You wait for the musical break.
1 2 3 4.
And then you wonder why this man ever died.

1. Legacy - You really have to thank your stars for Michael being as big as he was. He really is the last great. I have lived in the life and times of Michael Jackson, I was his contemporary and that is seriously one of the things to tell the kids someday. The Beatles were a group of people, who died individually (well half of them anyway) and it didn't leave that great an impact. Freddie Mercury who is awesome, still isn't in the same league. Elvis is probably the only one, and just like that, Michael Jackson is only one. There is and always will be one Michael Jackson.

Sorry bro, RIP.

Wolverine releases in India today, and I was lucky enough to see a preview show last night. First off let me say that, Empire Magazine posted a blog about how Movie Studios need to ignore the fans, and man, I couldn't agree more. What I saw was a contrived, compressed and overall insipid film. It follows Wolverine's entire journey from Weapon X on Alkali Lake (Remember X2?) right up till a little before X-Men (2000) and involves the strained relationship with his brother Victor Creed (Sabretooth) and Team X.

I was going to blog about something else today, but last night I had dream about my ex-girlfriend. She usually seems to pop inside them now and then. We got back together, and I was the happiest I have ever been in a long time, until I woke up. So for the rest of the morning I sat wallowing in whatever it is I am wallowing in, and in typical fashion I further forced myself into more of that tasteful sorrow, by listening to all the heart-rending songs that I could find. Today I am part a large group of people that seem to have many names some including ‘losers’, ‘the pathetics’ etc.

But I say no! Mostly because I don’t want to be named those things, but I think it is time we celebrate those people! I want to celebrate Romeo and Juliet, I want to celebrate Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, I want to celebrate the doomed lovers, or all the failures. Today should be the opposite of Valentine’s Day (It only shouldn’t because it’s my friend’s birthday and she would hate that). Why did it go wrong? No one knows. But we tried. We should be together, but we aren’t. That is the sentiment. Sorry guys.

There are so many people out there just looking for something. Yes it sounds cliché, but it just shows that people want it so bad and that it’s repeated so often that it has become a cliché. I write all these things and it’s hard, but I hope someone out there can relate, so I feel a little better.

So once again I find myself aimless in the middle of a post, on what I hope comes off as a professional blog. Why do I do these things?

Might as well make a list! Here are 5 songs I’m listening to right now.

Lovefool – The Cardigans. You know how people say ‘the singer is speaking to me’? Yeah, well how about that?
Hanging By A Moment (Acoustic) – Lifehouse. I love this version way better.
Slow Dancing In A Burning Room - John Mayer.
Colours – Amos Lee. I think this guy is really under-appreciated.
This Never Happened Before – Paul McCartney.

Yup. That’s all.

Theres a lot we can say about AR Rahman. Most of the comments are usually about his wonderful talent of making excellent soulful and melodious music or about how simple and unassuming he appears to be. Yesterday was the first of the 'Jai Ho' world tour, which was in my hometown of Pune which I did attend, but I'll get to that later. I first want to recap what I did this weekend in regard to the maestro, so I can read about the hectic-ism and feel happy.

Working for a radio can be very rewarding and eventful, and when I received news that my colleague Surya and I would be interviewing AR, I couldn't believe it for a second. It was Friday and we were both shaking with delight considering the fact we would be meeting a legend with the awesomeness level of 10^kickass. In the end it was too good to be true, because he cancelled on us and pretty much everyone, but someone did say he would be holding a 'press conference' the next day. In all this excitement, we also kind of swindled the accounts guys into paying for our tickets to the show; that was really sweet. The programming heads also decided to have an AR Rahman Weekend Special which meant playing only his songs for the next two days. So recording, producing and editing the promos seem to take most of the time after that with numerous distractions in the middle. We finished the 'day' at 4:30 in the morning with the radio going live again at 6. Some people would say "Wow, you did it with two hours to spare!" I say "Balls to that."

Tired, sleepy, hungry and altogether mentally screwed, I had to set the alarm for 11 to get to the Rahman conference. Suddenly I found myself on Surya's bike on my way to Baner, which is damn bloody far from home. It was held in a cafe in the lobby of the hotel he was staying at, the Courtyard Marriot, and the place was packed with countless journos all waiting for snaps and soundbytes.

The tension was building. One of the world's greats would soon be in our presence. Suddenly, news arrives that he has entered the lift! He is slowly descending to the level of us poor mortals...and then! He arrives! He is really short! Oh. Everyone is insane. Some suits are introducing him and talking about his exploits and accolades. And thats all. He cuts a piano shaped cake, says precisely "Thank you, thank you very much" and leaves. So much for the 'press conference'.

I was so thoroughly under-whelmed. Then we had free food.

Cut to the next day. The concert itself started on time-ish, with 'Mausam & Escape' kicking off the show in most bad-ass style. The shitty part was that the concert wasn't arranged like a rock show, with the standing tickets in front and seated at the back; in fact it was quite the opposite. As a result when the most jhatak songs were going on Surya kept having the urge to stand and dance much to the frustration of the people seated behind us. The deal was that ARR is not really a performer; he's an amazing musician to say the least but most of the times he was on stage and not playing an instrument, it seemed like he felt of out place. Apart from that the show was really good, with amazing visual backdrops bringing back fond memories of Redial Entertainment. The highlights were the sufi songs (Khwaja and Arziyan), ARR playing grand piano-acoustic versions accompanying the vocals of Hariharan and Roop Kumar Rathod, and finally 'Rehna Tu' from Delhi-6 which was the song I was waiting to hear personally. Lowlights were just the missing numbers from Swades, Lagaan and Taal. Also the song 'Jai Ho' was quite insipid.

However, it was overall a really good standard of performances from a man you can't help but admire. He is one of the few seemingly incorruptible figures of India, whom people can look up to and feel proud of. I realized how versatile he was, creating beautiful music in such a variety of genres, that I felt satisfied. I felt that the whole weekend seemed worth it.

P.S. Sorry about the lame photo, I was compelled! Its me buying the tickets to show. For those who care.

I am buzzed out of my mind after having several shots of green apple smirnoff, and boy am I happy! I know this is completely unrelated to the purpose of this website but man I just want to pay tribute to who should have been the Aussie captain much before and instead of that fuckin Ricky Ponting.

Deccan Chargers are in the finals thanks to the greatest of all bloody captains: Adam Retitred from first class cricked-not played for an entire year-Fuckin' Gilchrist. 85 in 35 balls, nuff said, against all bloody odds. Delhi has beaten Hyderabad in every previous match. Chargers lost on 4 out 5 times we chased targets. Delhi was on the top of the table and we were fourth. Outclassed in every single way thanks to the most low-key, under-appreciated team of all time. And how fitting if IPL 2009 is won by the very team that was at the bottom of the barrel in 2008. Props to everyone else too.

Adam, you are the Man. You lead by example. I salute you, through shit colour uniform and through sexy blue. And this green apple shit is awesome.

It was time for this post.
I spent the bulk of my summer in Jaipur, and though I had a gazillion things I wanted to accomplish, in the end Harry, Kyra and I pretty much sat and watched TV for the most part, and really who can deny that pleasure? I watched a whole lot of Jay Leno, Diff’rent Strokes (Awesome, awesome show!), Yo Mamma, Friends, English Premier League and even had my dose of IPL (Deccan fan here). We also watched a lot of Vh1 and all the ‘latest’ songs that were. There was one song however that from the first time we heard it, caught on to us by storm. Note this song wasn’t very good, in fact it really wasn’t good, but the sheer hilarity of the song just hit us and now we love it so much I sure it’s one of those thing we’ll laugh about for a while.

“Now if she does it like this will you do it like that? Now if she touches like this, will you touch her right back? Now if she moves like this, will you move like that (come on) Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake It “

- Shake It by Metro Station

It’s just the genius of the marketing that has made this song so successful. Shamelessly targeted at all the teenyboppers out there, who pass through adolescence listening to a band that maybe taking themselves very seriously! But who am I in this, anyway? I’m just a lowly critic, albeit with a point to make. Now this song however bad and lame it is, will stay with me. I like this song I admit it, though wholly for different reasons.

Have you ever had that feeling?
You keep listening to a song over and over again, at a certain time or place in your life, and then it gets old and you reshuffle your playlist. Then years later you hear the song again, and you get that weird feeling that kind of reminds of you of that previous time. It shoves those feelings back into you, even years later because your mind conditioned itself to combine to unrelated things: The song and the emotion you felt at that point of time.
Anyway it’s nice.

Completely swinging around, I love Joss Stone. I love the way she sings, her voice, her presence, her music; everything. I heard her for the first time a month before the Desert Rhythm Festival 2007 where Mika was performing. She was too, so I decided to check her out. Well basically I was wowed, and enough to say that in the end I decided I wanted to see her more than Mika. I’ll also admit that it’s because of listening to one of her songs that sparked this post.
‘Tell Me What We’re Gonna Do Now’ by Joss Stone feat. Common.

The song in itself may be average, but god I love it, again for different reasons. The way she screams so melodic-ally right at the end, just gives me the good feeling that people give a shit about what their doing. Whether the world ends in 2012 or not, at least we gonna go out swinging and singing.

Anyway, right about now this post seems aimless, but sometimes music is like that. We need to float. And there are songs out there that speak directly to you even if the lyrics don’t fit. Also I felt I needed to do this, and I’m gonna be doing music for a while now. I hope you guys can relate.

More posts like this! Woo!