Passion 2: Music (Contd.)

"Everybody
Rock your body
Everybody
Rock your body right,
Backstreet's back alright!"

-Backstreet Boys, Backstreet’s Back (1997)

Saw this playing one fine evening when I was surfing through channels. I was all of 12 years then. Really liked the video! And no, I din’t have any amount of knowledge about the teeming popularity of the band- Backstreet Boys. I just liked the song and video! Zombies everywhere! Dracula! Mummy! All in one place!! And well, keeping aside the video, the music and the singing appealed to me too! Wanted to hear it again! Made a mental note to revisit Channel V more often.

Then followed more bands and artistes like Westlife, Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Destiny’s Child, Spice Girls, Boyzone, Ronan Keating, Eminem, Dido and many more mainstream pop artistes. I followed the Billboards religiously, and kept tab of every new artiste, album and lyrics.

Name a pop band/artiste and a song, and I’d sing away, in school. ‘Jukebox’ my friends rightly called me. So much so that teachers would reprimand me for interrupting their class with singing, that occasionally got loud enough to fall into their ears..

3 years later, I was catching up with the MTV award nominations, where they played a tiny video clip under the ‘Best Video’ nominations. It was Linkin Park’s ‘Somewhere I Belong’. Now that sounded like nothing I’d heard before and I wanted to hear more! Had never heard of such a band before. The clip din’t last long and I awaited its re-telecast.

Lacking a PC back then, the TV was my only source of new music. I’d buy audio cassettes after I really liked the band. But they weren’t any real source of information on the bands either, for they too, directed us to the respective band websites..

So the tube it was, where I caught what were called ‘Rock’ bands, again. Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Evanescence, Creed, Aerosmith, Avril Lavigne.. liked them all as well! They were Generic misconceptions I know, but there was no way of telling it then. I had not many friends who’d listen to English Pop. Rock was a long way off. And so I was on my own. And the pop and apparent rock craze continued..

Another 3 years later, (I was now loaded with a PC) a friend sent me a file he recommended a listen to. Metallica - Turn the Page.mp3. Now, I’d really happily told some guy friends of mine that metallica sucked, and that it was nothing but noise, and that Linkin Park was way better, quite like every other wannabe alive today. Baseless accusations that.

Nonetheless, gave it a shot and voila! Loved it! A random play one night on the Last.fm Radio yielded the gothic metal band Tristania, a band I came to love almost instantly. It was also the 1st band I’d hunted down and downloaded the entire discography of.. piracy,yes. Dug more Scandinavian bands- Sirenia, Therion, Tiamat, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquility, Ensiferum, Kalmah….Children of Bodom, Cradle of Filth, Rammstein, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Indus Creed, Slipknot were slowly added.

With more friends and resources added, I slowly explored more bands along the way. Stumbled upon Opeth in yet another radio play. ‘The Moor’ was the song that got me stuck onto the band that still tops my charts. Iron Maiden happened on yet another night with ‘Aces High’ and ‘ Dance of Death’. Pink Floyd happened on many nights together. Many more bands ‘happened’ over time, many I love, few I detest, and the experience still flows on, plays on..

Hindustani Classical to metal, quite a journey its been, but I’d admit here, that each artiste and each genre have been a great experience.. none too less, none too ‘derogatory’. Each a pure and distinct element in the musical escapade to sheer joy!


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Now playing: Opeth - Deliverance
via FoxyTunes

Passion 2: Music

“Dil hoom hoom kare, ghabraaye
Ghan dham dham kare, darr jaaye
Ek boond kabhi paani ki mori ankhiyon se barsaaye
Dil hoom hoom kare, ghabraaye

- Rudaali (1993)

7 yr old me asks: That so doesn’t sound like Dimple Kapadia. And where are the musicians??
Mom: That’s called playback singing. Songs are pre-recorded in a studio and later, simply played during the shoot. And no, Dimple Kapadia ain’t singing this one. Playback singers do the singing, in the studio.

That accounted to the little me, for all the sudden music and singing in Bollywood movies! I’d always wonder how difficult it must be to set up a music troupe in the middle of nowhere! Now I finally knew their cheat. Hmph!

Thus started the growing love for this new and independent (as I now realised) form of art. Being an actor din’t necessarily mean you had to know to sing or play the instruments, after all. There were special artistes to do just that.

Back then, I was exposed primarily to Bollywood songs, with added Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Urdu songs ranging from Classical, Carnatic, Ghazals, Lavnis, movie numbers, Devotional songs (Islamic, Christian, Hindu) and the like, thanks to Dad’s wide and eclectic music collection. That exposure still shines on..

It also happened to be the same year that my dad’s friend gifted me a Casio, my first keyboard. Unable to do create any music more than few pounds on the keys, I’d always end up letting it play the preset tunes and demos. I loved my instrument! With a little practice, I could play some tunes from Hindi movies, if not too well. Six years later, we heard of a tutor/ Guru who’d recently moved into our block. All of us little happy campers ran to her with our keyboards to finally make sense of the keys!

My Guru was a dear Lady who was amused at the first demo of my keyful proficiency that I offered her. Assured me I’d learn fast enough and set to work at once. Hindustani Classical is the medium we learnt in. The Sa Re Ga Ma and the soulful Ragas were a joy to play! She kept our fingers tickin’ with Bollywood numbers as well, those that we’d chose as we liked. Quite a lot of note-writing on her part to put down every key note in Sa Re Ga Ma! It was amazing how 7 notes with variations is all it took to make music, and that so diverse!

As it turned out, I was the best among the lot, for all I ever did those days was ram on at my keys day and night back home. My Guru’s husband, also a Tabla Guru himself would love always stop by and make me play whenever he came around. He’d then prop his tablas up onto the table next to my keyboard and we’d both then jam to the finest of ragas- Raag Yaman!

Their beautiful daughters were friends of mine, and theirs was a happily musical family from Indore. My best memory with them is the Diwali evening I’d spent with them and their extended family, so much of happy singing and playing.. my first performance in front of a highly, musically proficient audience! Their applauds being my highest accolade yet! Those were the days..

(To be Continued..)


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Now playing: Lata Mangeshkar - Dil Hoom Hoom Kare
via FoxyTunes

..And the World laughs louder..

“Whoa! A whole 3 years in this flat and I still point out directions like I was still in our previous flat.”

“What difference does that make? Both flats are in the same building. The colony gate is at the same place whether you’re in the old flat or this one. Directions same.”

“Hey! Gate is at the same place, but the flat’s orientation changes. Both flats are at right angles to each other, so when I point out a particular place sitting home, I point at perpendicularly opposite directions, from that flat and this.”

“Rubbish!”

“I’m into Engineering Drawing since 3 years now, and you’re telling me?”

“Someone rightly said education never really helps a person earn common sense! “

At that, I quit eating the fruits she was slicing for me and leave the room.

This is one of the most common arguments my mom and I have often. She is by all means smarter than me, has seen life the ways I haven’t, has more years to her advantage and is definitely always darned right in judging people, and price-tags. Her stance in this case, I guess is similar to sitting on the North Pole and pointing out the South Pole, same from wherever you point. But this one argument really gets to me. Usually I shrug it off, angered but shrug it off, while mom has her last laugh as usual. She always does. But this time, I know I’m right and could take these accusations of lack of common sense and all-brains-and no-earthly-matter no longer. And so I walk out.

Not my first time, not my first challenger.

I was in the 3^rd grade when we, my friends and I, were playing a game called ‘Check’, a game of spelling out country names, one letter and one player at a time, where the last player finally guesses the name. The first player got the letter ‘S’. Second player said, “E”. My turn next and I said, ”Y”. There stalled the game. Everyone put up a fit saying there isn’t any country that starts with a ‘SEY’. I insisted there was. That round was cancelled and I was asked to name the country. “Seychelles”, I said, happy to be the one knowing more than the rest (most of them were older than me). The result however, was a cackle of laughter. They all agreed unanimously that there existed no such place. “It’s an island in South America!”, I said. Another round of laughter. I let them have their time of glee and kept silent for the rest of the evening.

Next evening, I promptly returned with an Atlas in hand. Pointed out Seychelles on the World Map, much to the amusement of my friends, who, were now laughing at my concern of proving myself over a silly game of Check. I was disappointed. It wasn’t all just about the game, was it?

There have been many more such instances, fellow students laughing at my right answers without knowing that fact themselves, friends calling my past reminiscences gibberish saying, ”What! Did you dream of all that? We don’t think all that ever happened for real!” I can forget things, but how can I make up incidences that never happened? And why would I anyway, when there was no need to make stuff up?

Altogether a silly concern, but it still hurts the egoist in me. And it gets worse when they shrug me off when I offer to prove myself right. No matter how tiny the cross ridicule, I cannot take one for something I know I’m right in, or know more about.

Explains why people close to me call me arrogant.

Blog Post

Wazzzzee dear friendzee who've been forced to read my blogzzee and zoo by default forzzed to leave the commentzzzee tooz! Al Rescate Amigos! Teddy Hugzee >:D<

1:32am.2nd Jan, 2008. (Rajasthan Royals win! Oh so close :( Me respects Yem Yes Dhoni from Chennaaay,Mind It! >:D< to him too! psst..this was also the 1st n last IPL match i saw all season :D All for Che/Chinnaay!)

..and here i take a SMS break...

yeah back! (each sms I type ends up being 4 messages long, darn! Brevity is the soul i quit)

So um, what was i saying? Er yeah, nothing. Um, so.. 1:46am..heh.. whoopie! 4 days to go for 3rd paper of sem6 B.E. T.E. Prod..Welding Technology, so like, alll that techonology needs to be weld to my brains in like, 4 days? Like, Whoa?!

..psst, this Californian chick lingo like so totally rawks?? Like WOW?! Like, yeah. 'er um heh'..

So, the point here is, placed above all the 'i's in this sentence. Roftlmao! (..gee, a friend just rated my sense of humour thus: 1.5/10 :( ..now he'd have a whole bunch of you supporting his view,see?)
Andd so what i purport from this blog post is that, it is just that.
Anddd soo it means i'm so lost that I'm writing gibberish..
Andddd sooo it implies that it should now be already time for me to quit right here and oblige to the better to be thought a fool than to speak/write and remove al doubt theory.

Gracias! For reading.
Gracias de nuevo! For putting up with me, outside blog i meant.

Goody nightzee!

:P

Flash Blacks and Exam Blues

Its 3am and i'm notepadding away in my cell-phone. For sleep just doesn't seem to come to me these nights. Daytime is another name for drugged existance. Books (read: textbooks), a pretty sight, neatly stacked in my rack. Neat, for their only worldly contact is the rag used to dust them. Me? Touch,pick and read them?No no!

All semester, it has been a whacko ride rushing with assignments, seminars and submissions. A perfect schedule with perfect deadline meets and a prim know-all demeanour. Such a pride of a long awaited Renaissance! Come viva-voce, and its all smiles. Another ride with a heady start! With the same confidence that streamed all semester.

And then the post intermission blues enter the movie. Dwindling efforts in last few vivas, with a steady hattrick of them respected Profs shooing me off with a 'you-know-nothing' remark! Sigh!
Left all that to the grace of my beaming Attendance Record (Renaissance,see?) and braced the almost-much awaited PL! (Prep Leave for the uninformed.Study leave for noobs.) Awaited,yes. For the countless hours of slumber it always promises.

A week and a chapter later, i meet few classmates and proudly relate to them the 'big-chapter' i did. Swift comes the reply - "That is it??" Here shatters all that jazz.
Another week down and i groped few notes here and there. The magic 'Dwindle!' spell shoots. I decelerate and halt.

Its another week gone by and i'm still at halt. Exams a week away. My WMP plays more tracks than before. My VLC plays more SouthPark. The TV plays more cartoons et shows. All senses fixed. Books? Er, sorry?

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Now playing: Opeth - Heir Apparent