Janfest - The Anticipation

Have been looking forward to this since almost 2 weeks now...Waited over a year for another classical concert...

But learnt so many things and found so many more brilliant little masterpieces on the way here... That probably makes the 2 weeks of anticipation, feel like 2 months now !!!

Kept running around here and there trying to find what was missing...Think this is it...

I hope I have ARRIVED at the starting point of the journey to my ultimate goal!!!

Of Pulaos and Khichadis

Not that we're unhappy with what life's given us... Always had what we needed...!!!

But sumtimes we feel we want something else... Then go our little rounds of khayali pulaos...
Doesn't take much... and they always come in handy... can make them... take them... as and when u please...

Even if its things as small as taking ur frnds who're comin from out of india for dinner... We can never be sure that they'd meet... or have the time... or wud want to come for dinner... no matter how much u'd WANT them too meet up...

But we can always make plans... and that we shall... and if one plan falls apart... we always have a next chance for another one...

So coming back to my original line... life's given us what we needed... like gr8 friends... but maybe not what we wanted... like fun times NOW !!! when we can really independently enjoy !!!

So maybe we dont get the tasty pulaos as often as we WANT them... but nevertheless... life's given us the plain old Khichadi... not all that exciting, but pretty nourishing and fills our NEEDS...

Biker Boys...

Well...a 4 day weekend and I really didnt want to waste it...atleast not completely.... But got stuck up with sum work and cudnt really push off for all 4 days either...

Then it struck me... Mutlax is the only one who's free... He loves riding his black pearl like i love riding my crimson tide... (For the un-initiated into biking... Black Pearl = Mutlax's Unicorn and Crimson Tide = My Red Pulsar) and we were planning a long ride since a long time anyways... So I thought... why not take off... just like that and check out lonavala on our respective bikes... we'll be up there, have some lunch and be back before evening...

Its best to have people who think like you and can adjust on the go... Who focus on the long ride and the bikes... Not too much fuss about anything else...(Which by the way is an essential virtue... in case you go off biking or backpacking... Dont crib about stuff you dont have... Feel and love whats there... in the moment...) We planned last night and we left of today morning...

And... WHAT A DAY... Checked the air in the tires n fuel in the tanks... all systems ready... and we pushed off around 10.00 a.m.... Just for statistics... covered 82.5 kms (one-way to lonavala) in less than an hour and fifteen minutes... Once we cleared panvel... the road was amazing... no traffic... no bad patches... just the greenery around and the infinite road ahead... Did 70 Kph at an average and crisscrossed the little traffic without much effort... on us or the bikes... Lots of high speed curves which u can take easily at 70-80 Kph... The Bor Ghat was another amazing experience and some curves did strain the bikes a bit... but was a gud experience... Reached Lonavala and ordered lunch... we had an hour to kill before the lunch was ready.. so we just went to tungarli dam and refreshed ourselves... Great food too at Joshi Sanitorium... Then again we pushed off on the journey home... back home by 3.00

Coming to one very important aspect of bike rides... never carry a pillion unless absolutely necessary... kills the feel and the agility of the bike... and since ur the one who's doing everything on the bike... the pillion will simply get BORED to death...

I still cant get that feeling out of my head... The snaking road... the tress rushin past... and the sweet humming of the engine.... I havent experienced anything quite like this... ever.... I dont know what it is about bike rides that u simply want to keep doing it again and again... And i'm damn sure that you wont get the same feel in a car...

Maybe its that freedom that you get.... ur not in a hurry to reach anywhere.... no things to do after u there... its just you and the bike... a lot of solace and getting back to urself... no other thoughts about anything at all, at the back of ur mind...

Its not the speed... its not the scenery... its not the destination... Its the freedom of the journey that energises ur mind... Yes... Thats what it is... Hope we go for many more...

No woman no cry..........

Once again i listen to a song..... and i like its rhythm n tune.... n go hunting the net for guitar chords.....Once again its a classic...... a phenomenal piece by an Inspirational Movement called Bob Marley.......Listening to it..... and reading the lyrics........ Im simply speechless..... And highly inspired.....

I got the chords and wanted to sing along..... hence went searching for lyrics........ And did i GET them or what.....

I really believe that the ones with real problems are the ones who never cry..... they know that crying isn't gonna take them anywhere.......... they gotta get up...stand up and FIGHT........ cos thats their only chance.... The ones who do crib......... simply don't have anything better to do.... they have NO REAL PROBLEMS......

The paragraph where Marley says " In this great future, you can't forget your past , So dry your tears, I seh. " and the entire song is an inspiration to those who've suffered and suffered BAD... that c'mon.... don't let circumstances take the best of you.... they might stop u in between..... but the best n only thing u can do is stop crying n keep going....

my fav lines out of this song being the second para.....

Then we would cook cornmeal porridge,
Of which I'll share with you;
My feet is my only carriage,
So I've got to push on through.
But while I'm gone, I mean:
Everything's gonna be all right!
Everything's gonna be all right!

First two lines say a lot in a few words.......

They have very little with them..... even a basic necessity like good food is scarce........ but for goodwill and friendship.... they're willing to share whatever little they have..........

( How many times have we been taught this, that we gotta share,in good times and in bad..... and aren't we becoming more n more selfish by the day as we prosper ? )

In the next 2 lines.........More so...... hes down and out...... has got nuthin to carry him........ no material belongings.... no cars no luxuries........
just that his very feet will carry him through this phase............. and he simply cannot sit there cribbing...hes gotta push on thru.........
( Again the indomitable human spirit..... extremely resilient....... )

And once hes gone........ forever........ hes gotta encourage the women who've helped him survive.... to go on.......... Simply bcos... everything's gonna be alright.......... what else can u say to sum1 who's got nuthin goin right and life's fallin apart......


Its simply brilliant..... I dunno if anyone who hasn't really suffered that much pain in life could ever write a song like this.....

I wanna dedicate this song to all the women in my life............... who've helped me and inspired me in my bad times.......... and made me keep my feet on the ground in the gud ones............

An Amazing Show of Human Forgiveness

I was just watching DOR the other day when my mom was watching it the 'n'th time.........

And just yesterday I came across an article on yahoo (http://in.news.yahoo.com/indiabroadcast/20080226/r_t_ibn_nl_general/tnl-59902-3a4f8c1.html) which made me feel, like a reel life jumped to real life..........

Just a day before that i was talking to CHOR about life being fair and unfair and how people get hurt due to no fault of theirs..... and this article seemed to be a perfect scenario where her arguments simply FAILED..........

What struck me more was that something as strange as this happened in a far away land......The effects were to be borne by the accused as dictated by the law of the land........ Here it was an eye for an eye, a life for a life....... Its strange that laws like this even exist....... Its even stranger to know that probably they're required.....

But there is something beyond the power of law........ It was the power of forgiveness and pardon....... The survivors wont get their loss back... but maybe they're much more responsible and sensitive to understand that they probably do not want to be the cause of inflicting the same pain and tragic emotions they've gone through, bcos of the loss of a loved one........

Yes, some (=Chor) may argue that they probably did it for the money, or weakness of emotions, or whatever.... Maybe they did it just for the money...... And maybe not everyone is as strong, to accept this unfortunate truth.... Emotions would run wild and revenge and hatred would set in...... Perfectly Normal I'd say.... but just this once, I'd like to believe otherwise....

Just so that I know that there is still some HOPE left, for Goodness and Humanity............

Waah Ustaad Waah...!!!

Saturday the 8th of December..... Amazing Evening....
Been to a Hindustani Classical concert at Nehru Centre - Worli........

It was Ustaad Zaakir Hussain on Tabla, Ustad Shahid Parvez on Sitar and then U Srinivas on Mandolin........ And Boy...was it a Once in a lifetime experience or WHAT?????

We had 5th Row seats and I never wud've imagined it wud've been a visual treat as much as an audible one...... U actually have to be that near to see the stage and to actually not be able to see their hands move...they're that fast....

Srinivas was brilliant on the Mandolin and technically perfect and superb Jugalbandis with the other two maestros........but with all due respect to Srinivas and his mandolin somewhere I felt...(again i cud be wrong... i'm no expert on music, just writing what i felt) it got lost one the brilliance of the sitar and tabla came into the picture.....
there was just no FEEL in the sound of the mandolin that cud match the sitar's tremendous range

Id only seen a few of Ustad Zakir Hussain's performances on TV...but Live is altogether a different feeling.......... Cant explain it..........
When Srinivas played brilliant pieces on mandolin... Ustad Shahid Parvez matched them on his Sitar.... and created sumthin even more brilliant.........

The live sound of Sitar and the brilliance of Ustad was an unbeatable combination that literally created magic......... I dont remember the last time I was this excited or happy about anything in my life..... Hindustani Classical is Divine...thats all I can say for now....elevates you to a different level....

Im now really really looking forward to these concerts cos now I know what I really like.........I hardly go for any movies... But this is definitely not a waste of money...and definitely not a waste of time...... Its amazing..........

My conclusion - I dont know if id be able to play anything like it ever.... but at least I wanna try hard to learn to appreciate and keep this great music alive..............

Simple Kind of Man.....

Well..... Taking a cue from KC abt a song he liked..... I thot well... why not put in a few words of my own abt a song ive really come to love.....

Lots of my frnds went thru my orkut profile and seeing my status.. just maybe 1or 2 might have known what it really meant.... It wasnt me who's the simple kind of man.... Its a brilliant song by Lynyrd Skynyrd... Dunno how many might know the band... but its the same band that made Sweet Home Alabama and Freebird ( Again two of my very highly cherished songs... )

I'd heard abt the song frm another frnd and wanted to chk out the video on youtube and really really loved the tune..... So I hunted down the chords from the net (no big task actually) and started strumming it on my guitar... And it sounds phenomenal.....

Then what made me fall in love with it was the lyrics..... I had'nt really paid much attention to lyrics anyways since it was the rhythm that had me fascinated.........

But this song was different.....My fav stanza out of it wud be...

Ohh take your time... Don't live too fast,
Troubles will come, and they will pass.
Go find a woman and you'll find love,
And don't forget son,
There is someone up above.

(Chorus)
And be a simple kind of man.
And maybe some day you'll love and understand.
Baby be a simple kind of man.
Won't you do this for me son,
If you can?

Forget your lust for the rich man's gold
All that you need is in your soul,
And you can do this if you try.
All that I want for you my son,
Is to be satisfied.

Its basically a mother telling her son a few things about life..... And in this day and age of running aimlessly behind material pleasures.... The song gets you back to remind you that you need a grounding....That you may aim high but gotta keep ur feet firmly planted on the ground..... It kinda reminds me of the story between a rich man and a beggar on the street...where they finally come to a conclusion that all a man needs to be happy is a gud nights peaceful sleep..... What are we running so much for anyways????

I dunno how many would really agree with the lyrics...... But it did appeal a lot to me..... It gives a greater sense of dimension to your life than that is already visible..... And why lynyrd skynyrd are awesome is cos they put in such a powerful message thru such a simple yet beautiful song.....

I did refer the song to KC and he seems to have liked the tune atleast, if not the lyrics.....I thot.......... " Gud going then " atleast sum1 cud appreciate what I really felt was nice...... I wud suggest that you get a hold of its lyrics whilst ur already listening.....

And now im off strumming it again on my guitar.................. Adios..........