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..........

Back to the good ol' days with JFL!!!

" Kinda reminds me of the good ol' days.....Wat gud ol' days..." and hence goes one of my favourite dialogues from Ice -Age 2......

But really...last 2-3 days have been fun...like they were in college....or better still...school...(trust me...my school was much more fun than my college ever cud've been)
Ive really been in love with football since i have started playing back in .... God knows when...

Hence i thought...what the heck...why not find a group of guys from office who live nearby and wanna have sum fun and play football......I did find a few ones who if not more.... were almost as enthusiastic as i was about playing football (and not cricket...Thank God)

And for ONCE....just for Once in my life...things actually went according to plan..... (I had almost firmly started believing otherwise...that my plans were made with the sole destiny of not being fulfilled)

People jumped in...we played with a few people the first day.... and there was enuf publicity that more people hopped onto this so called JFL ( Jacobs...where i work , Football League)..... atleast thats what i like to call it....

But it was FUN... absolute fun that made me forget that i was out of college...or no longer in a playing situation.......
and i played again...today...... it was even more fun.... scored a hat trick....

Ive played before....so what if my game was a little unpolished..... need practice man.... and so have 2-3 other guys too...... But most of them were not used to playin football on a field actually....And it seemed they cud use a few basic tips as well.....

But i realised 2 things then.......

1. - I was'nt born Beckham..... Im not even anywhere near him......Im not even an moderately gud player
2. - We were'nt playin professionally..... my basic idea was to have fun.....

and thats what these guys...and me 2 ... were havin.... so what the heck.... we went on and on with 'last 5 mintues' calls, 4-5 times, till the light was no longer bright enuf to see either the ball or the goal posts.....or any of us even.....

But there was a flip side...... and im a little bit ashamed of it too.....

I cud feel each and every muscle in my leg....and torso..... like never before.....
Boy...had I become rusty or what...... it hurt like hell for 2 days.....
And I was exhausted after 2-3 sprints with the ball...... immediately falling back to the posts..... and playin a slower game......
Have I become Old and Unfit? at the age of 24??????

Nevertheless.... but it hurts much lesser today... and my stamina felt better..... and as always...it all just improves with practice......

So im looking forward to my next game from the JFL..... All in all.. a brilliant idea.... under execution.... Never felt better..........!!!