Blackfayth's Corner

--> Clever title here <--

2010-11-24T01:29:00.000+05:30

What is our purpose in life? What gives it meaning? I suppose a purpose would give life a meaning...

It's a strangely contemplative mood I find myself in at the witching hour on this Tuesday morning. For the longest time I felt absolutely no compulsion to seek that purpose. Being a lazy ass I thought I'd kick myself a bit of a kick in the pants by leaving this city for a couple of years hoping that a different job and a different place would 'cure' me. It didn't... For the longest time I felt I would end up being a failure because of this lack of purpose. As time went on, the fear of that failure started to expand to a point where at times I'd be... say eating lunch... and then thoughts about what I was going to do with my life would just overwhelm me and the otherwise delicious khicdi would suddenly taste like mud.
I'm now at a point in my life where I'm back in an office kind of setup and I enjoy what I do. If things pan out they way they're supposed to (eventually) I hope to make those big bucks I'd always dreamt of making and do it in a way that would keep me totally satisfied.

The contemplation comes from now being on the other side of the fence so to speak. I have a couple of friends both of whom are in situations which makes my heart go out to them because I was there not too long ago. Friend A is in his mid-20s and is a very savvy young kid who is stir-crazy about poker. He knows the game, he's on top of the jargon and the theoretical concepts not to mention the hundred and hundreds of hours that he's spent grinding away in the casinos of Macau, UK and our very own Goa. Not surprisingly A wants to become a professional poker player. Now turning pro in places like the States or Europe or really most anywhere and playing poker full-time is an occupation that thousands of people engage in. Now in our country, where something like DJ-ing till not too long ago was not looked upon as a viable career choice, the thought of being a 'professional gambler' is bound to bring on the hey Bhagwans and hai Allahs!
I just got off the phone with A and if there ever was a perfect description for the word morose, he was it! The plan was to gently break it to the folks that the weeks spent away from home were actually at the poker tables in Goa and of course the plan of turning pro eventually. Apparently the folks found out sooner than A would have liked and so now he has to quit something he loves dearly. "Senti blackmail stuff" in his words. And he's clearly not happy about what he now believes is his only path - a stable career, wife, 2.3 kids and the mediocrity of a 9-to-5 life.

Then there's X who in her own words has been quite the flitting butterfly. Having tried her hand at a bunch of things including holding down a job which seems glamorous (due to all the globe-trotting she does although snorts of derision accompany that at times), she doesn't know what to do in life because so many things appeal to her. And amongst this myriad, she's not sure if there's any one particular thing which appeals to her just a wee bit more than the others. Herein lies another dharamsankat! Calling me a couple of nights back, I can hear the desperation in her tone and then she voices it by saying, "What the hell am I doing?? I don't even know if this is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life". I hate these situations... It's a singularly annoying feeling when you can do absolutely nothing for someone going through a situation like this especially when it's someone you care about. I've never been able to do anything other than saying comforting Ooohs and Aaahs to the person/s concerned not entirely sure whether what I was doing was helping or making them feel even more pissed off! At least as far as X is concerned, it's probably the latter. In her defence, being the pragmatic soul she is, she quickly takes on the blame for loading a problem on my head for which there is no real answer.

I guess everyone has to travel that path. Some, like me, take years to actually find the damn path. Times like these I am ridiculously grateful for having at least found what I believe to be my path for the next 10-20 years. Make no mistake I'm still a lazy ass and my main motive is still to make a success of this venture, make a boatload of money, travel the world, buy a house by the beach and then l-a-z-e my ass in a hammock drinking cool brews as I watch the sun go down. I don't know if this will all come true but I am at peace with the direction my life has taken and is taking. As I sign off, the best and perhaps only thing I can do is to dash off a silent prayer for people like A and X that they get there soon enough...

Call me Baskin

2010-09-23T01:07:00.000+05:30

And its the birthday month once again and it is final few minutes of the birthday itself so since I am cooped up at home due to Ganpati Visarjan I thought I will dust ye olde blog and finally put some words down to mark my 32nd year on Mother Earth... hmm does that sound vaguely incestuous?!? Aah you know what I mean...

I'd run out of space on my Gmail account and so set about trying to clear up some space before deciding that it really wasn't worth the effort and an annual fee of $5 for 20 GB email storage will save me a lot of grief. Talk about strange coincidences but I discovered during the eventually aborted cleanup that I set up this Gmail account on the the eve of my birthday exactly 5 years ago. In fact down to the exact day. In a way it was like looking into a time capsule of sorts sorting through those mails from way back when. I was just thinking about the time-line. 5 years is the typical period that many of those potential employers ask you about - "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?". I guess the short answer is I haven't changed in some ways but there have been some changes in the way I approach things now and I realize that only now... 5 years down the line.

Speaking of employers and jobs, I quit my last job 2 years too late going by some of the emails I read. I eventually quit in the final months of '08 but the beginning of the end began way back in early '06. There is a slight and quickly fleeting sense of regret about the loss of time. Perhaps I might have been on the road to discovering what I wanted to do a little earlier. Then I start to think about a lot of things which happened to me as a result of those 2 additional years. People I met because of it and what I am doing today might not have transpired at all. Destiny and karma were concepts which I don't/didn't think too much about but it seems like I was destined to be on the creative side of media and not the corporate side of it. There are so many mails from '06 which I'd sent to a bunch of music companies seeking an opening in A&R. For those unfamiliar with it, A&R is short for Artists & Repertoire - the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the recording process itself. A&R execs are the liaison between artists and the record label. I do believe I might have excelled at this job given my interest in music and what not. But I didn't have a clue back then...Things have sorta come a full circle which is a good thing. I am back to where I guess I should have been in the first place albeit in a slightly different way. After putting in my papers and walking out of that office one evening in November '08 I hadn't been a part of corporate culture and swore that I wouldn't be. It's now been a couple of weeks since I've started sitting in an office. The nice thing this time around is that my close buddy sits in the cabin across from mine and it feels more like play than work... well most times anyway...

View down into the valley from the top of the Malshej Ghat

In other news, I did my very first bit part in a film. It started out as a favor for a friend who is part of the crew. "I need a big guy who can pass off as a 15th century Arab emissary" was the brief and so at 4:30 am on a cool and slightly rainy Saturday morning I headed to Malshej Ghat. The drive was a solid 3.5 hours and 2/3rd of it was just utterly breathtaking. The sun just coming up and the fog and mist all in the most wonderfully chaotic mix you could imagine made of the best 90 minutes leading upto the location itself. Once there I was led to the changing van and told to strip down to my bare essentials.
Now I'm a fair bit self conscious about my body but given how casually everyone went about their business made it a touch easier to get into the flow of things. I silently congratulated myself on wearing boxers that morning. Tighty-whities would've been absolutely mortifying! Once I was suited up in my Arab robes I stepped out of the trailer for a smoke and asked one of the passing crew as to who was in the film. Yup I was that well informed. All my friend mentioned was that it was a South Indian film. The only other person I knew on this movie was the director. A very well respected name in the industry, SS as he is called by the senior crew, was a guy I'd met before. He is an amiable chilled out sorta guy and the fact that I knew both these people was enough for me to not know or care about any other details about the film. So regarding my question about cast, the crew member was about to reply when an Innova pulls up and a guy gets down. Said crew member in response to my question points at the dude that just got down from the vehicle. It was Mr. Rubberlegs himself - Prabhudeva. Over the course of the day I got to meet the rest of cast which included a couple of big names from the Malayalam film industry like Jagathy and Prithviraj as well as Amol Gupte (of Taare Zameen Pe & Kaminey fame). Although she is part of the film, Genelia D'Souza wasn't part of the shooting schedule that day so didn't get to meet her. As far as the experience is concerned, it was kinda exciting to actually be a part of a film. It was an interesting opportunity to observe, from such close quarters, the creative process that happens parde ke peechey. In terms of screen time, I will probably be seen for like 20-30 seconds in total (provided I don't get axed in the editing process). To capture those 20 odd seconds, I had to be in full costume from like 9:30 am till 4:00 pm. Whoever called it the glamour industry didn't mention the long periods of time that go by in just waiting around for the next shot to be prepped. But a great first (and perhaps only) experience of being involved in a film and I have much greater levels of respect for the kind of work that film crews put into the entire process.

It's been a pretty hectic month so far. Went to Goa for the IPC. Moved into the office and started work from there. The trip to Malshej and of course the birthday celebrations last night. And finally to round off the month, Madman, one of my closest friends who has been mentioned across these pages is getting hitched on the weekend. The Madman and his lovely soon-to-be wife have asked me to handle MC-ing duties which will be a first for me. 2 drinks for Dutch courage before the event begins is how I've decided to tackle the situation. Also supposed to sing at the wedding but sooo stuck for an appropriate song. Hopefully the next 48 hours will shed some light on the problem...

The birthday has faded into just another regular day as I finish writing this. A midnight chat with a friend has left me with a smile on my face. It's been a good week and month overall. As of this moment I am happy :)
G'nite y'all.

She braaaaaake my hurt, she play with my trust!

2010-08-04T00:19:00.000+05:30

So when I first saw this video a couple of weeks back it had just under 15,000 views. Today it's about to break the 70,000 mark.
This song has captured the essence of every bad breakup guys have ever had.
Thank you Tarun Kumar... you beauty you.

sniff sniff

Dear Red...

2010-07-25T22:35:00.000+05:30

It's been close to a month since you've left my life and while I might lie to the world, I can't lie to myself. I miss you. There... I said it and I don't fuckin' care who reads this. More than once do I think of you everyday. And then there are those days when I long for you so... so desperately at times it's a touch scary.

It's hard to believe sometimes that our relationship went on for as long as it did. 15 years... Who'd have thought?! I've known of some marriages which haven't lasted for even a third of that time. And the funny thing is when I first saw you all those many years ago outside college, I didn't really think about it much. I never thought of you in that way at all. It was your blonde cousin who had caught my eye and I was smitten. That ended within a few short months and for the life of me, I just cannot remember how you and I got together in the first place. But the important thing is we did and I thought we'd go on... forever.
They say all good things come to an end but I never thought that would happen to us. And yeah in this case, that old cliche holds so true. "It's not you... it's me." But then it was always me, wasn't it?! I was the weak one whereas you were the strong one. 15 years... and yet it was always a physical thing for you. And here I was foolishly thinking it was more than that. That we connected at different levels. Despite my foolishness, I will admit to missing that intensity in our physical relationship and it is something I will struggle with for time to come...

Your constant presence doesn't make it any easier to deal with our parting. After all, we roam in many of the same circles and so many of your friends are friends with mine and many of mine are friends with yours. That's probably gonna be the most fucked up part of it all besides writing that previous sentence. Seeing all of y'all hang out together is going to almost physically hurt me. And it's not just with the group either.. I have seen you with other men and while I never saw it personally there were enough stories about you with women too. Funnily enough, these things didn't matter when we were together. As long as I had you, I didn't care about anyone else. But now... now seeing you with others...
You know I've seen you sometimes at the local store too. And when I do, I just quickly get my stuff and slink out of these as quickly as I can hoping to avoid another sight of you. And I know you've seen me just as I've seen you. But pride... stupid stupid stupid pride will not let me turn back.

You know what the sad thing in all of this is... Because of you I am not sure if I can hang with Mary anymore. And if this parting between us proves to be harder than expected, Mary's occasional company is something that I will really miss. Such a shame but then it comes down to ego. In the past so many years, I told you only a few times, that if this thing between us breaks down it will be because of my pride and ego. And well that hand has finally played out...
But hey... who's to say that this is the end?! Shayad abhi bhi, thodi picture baaki hai mere dost...

PC users - Hit Control + A now.
Mac users - ~~I don't know what the command for y'all is... oh wait my friend a Mac user just called...~~ Hit Command + A now.

BF has been (relatively) smoke free for about a month now and he misses it dammit. There's lots of inferences in the above post (spot em if you can). I just realised I like talking about myself in the 3rd person. Bear with BF through these times and allow him the pleasure of these little hide n seek games which distract him from the cravings.

Your dreams are not your own

2010-07-18T13:27:00.000+05:30

Dear Chris,

What the fuck were you thinking?!!

Regards,
BF
P.S. - And can I get some of what you're smokin'? Please...?

Just watched Inception last night and Chris Nolan is one twisted guy. I hate revealing anything about good movies so I'm not gonna say much on the plot and whatever else.
Special word on the fight scene in the hotel corridor - This is one of the most compelling bits of action I've seen in a while. The funny thing is when I saw his first Batman, my one gripe was that the close combat scenes were handled very poorly. Nolan has redeemed himself in this particular aspect and how!

This movie, in Ari Gold's words is, "a skull fuck".

Watch it.

You the man, Dad!

2010-07-16T20:12:00.000+05:30

ok so the last post was rotting away for a while and I just thought I'd dust it up and put it out there. This brand new post is about whats gone down in the past few weeks.

As my 4 regular readers are aware, I was laid low by ye olde Swine flu for a few days. Apparently my sister picked it up from God-knows-where and then was generous enough to share it with the whole family. The biggest irony of this is that my sis is one of those super paranoid new mothers who wanted to ensure that nothing would make the baal baaka of her precious son, my nephew and so during the Swine flu scare many months ago, would take endless precautions in terms of hygiene and remained housebound for a majority of that time. And sure enough Uncle Murphy comes along to screw things up. So four out of the 5 people in the house at the time are down with the Piggy flu - the only one not affected being Dad.

Being that my sis was in the hospital and then subsequently advised to be in isolation, my nephew was staying with us in the interim. The kid is adorable but like all kids there are times when they get annoying and tiresome. Stop booing! You know I'm right. Despite being away from his mum, I'd say the lil tyke held up remarkably well and I only felt like giving him an ulte haath ka twice in that 2 week period. The monster credit for all this goes to my Dad. At 63, the man is almost exactly twice my age but to see him keep my nephew entertained through all these days would make a younger man, who is almost exactly half his age, quite embarrassed about himself. In many ways the last couple of weeks was an eye opener of what he was like when we were kids. At that age, we of course couldn't remember how he took care of us except for some stray memories. But to see him with my nephew brought back memories from more than 2 decades ago.

He'd play with him, feed him, talk to him, sing silly songs and take him for walks around the building everyday. All those silly songs were usually sung when he'd have to put my nephew to sleep and these are the same songs all of us have heard as kids. There is the odd moment when me or one of my siblings would pass by their room and hear those songs and I know secretly inside we are all smiling and remembering those days of our youth when he'd sing for us too. I remember back in the 80's when we used to stay in the government colony in Bandra East (the non-hip sibling of the Westside which it is even today). Power-cuts were quite frequent in those years in Bombay and I remember many a night when my father would fold up the newspaper and keep the temperature bearable for us by waving it over us right through the night all the while singing those songs.

The songs also take me back to another time. This particular colony we stayed in was located quite close to the notorious Behrampada slums which was a sensitive area back then and to some extent even today. I remember the situation had become particularly tense in 1984 when there were communal riots which took place in Bhiwandi (about 40 kms outside Bombay) and these tensions had spread into areas like Behrampada where the riot police was called in and for a couple of nights everyone staying in a 3 km radius was extremely tense about what would happen if things went out of control. Those few nights were interesting coz the entire family was gathered and sitting on the floor of the living room. As a 6 year old it was interesting only because it meant we were hanging about together at a time when I should be in my room sleeping. Of course it was many years later that I came to know that we spent those evenings and nights sitting on the living room floor to avoid any stone throwing by the rioters or worse stray bullets from the cops.

Anyway back to Pitahshree... I think most kids come to a point in their lives when they realize their father is not the superman they thought him to be. I came to this realization many years ago but every so often he'll pull the odd rabbit out of the hat and stun the hell out of me. There have been so many instances over the year where he's done stuff which any other person would chhati thok ke say, "Yes, I am responsible for such-and-such good thing happening...". But not my dad. I've rarely met someone who chooses to fly as under the radar as he does and in many ways I do the same as well. And therein lies the irony now... from a time when I wanted to be something more and better than the old man, I have in some tiny ways become kind of like him.
A long while ago an ex-colleague of mine and I were drinking one night and he was regaling me with some hilarious stories about his jovial and kinda eccentric dad when he stops in the middle and goes, "Shit man... I've also become just like my father man...". It's like he couldn't believe it and wasn't really sure when exactly he'd started mirroring his dad. I still smile when I remember his slightly baffled expression from that night.

And then I think about what he said in my own context and father and... It's not so bad.
You the man, Dad! :)

To those girls who couldn't keep their hands to themselves

2010-07-08T20:14:00.000+05:30

They say I'm not a very emotional kinda guy... (OK so I don't know who 'they' are but I like the fact that they talk about me) and for the longest time they were (are?!?) right. I guess the correct thing to say would be that I am not a very physically demonstrative person when it comes to emotion. Like I know people who dispense hugs like they're going out of fashion but the whole hugging thing took many many years to come to terms with. I think the first time I got properly hugged by a girl who not a relative I was well into my 20's and if you were to ask bystanders what it looked like, they'd say a tiny smidgen of a girl was sorta molesting a big 6 foot plus dude who had both his arms open and wasn't sure what to do with them.

I figured it might not be a bad idea to bring the hands together and so they did over the years, till a point when a girl hugging me would get comforting pats on the back much like my nephew gets to induce those lil post feed burps. That was a tactic which worked well with the ladies till some drunk night when afore- mentioned patting happened a bit south of the border and was accompanied with the slurry whispers of "Daddy's here". The words didn't matter (or maybe they did a wee bit) but its all in the tone folks. I know this being the killa mc that I now am :)
These days of course I am super comfortable in my own skin to atleast hug my close girl buddies without feeling weird or anything. Like a friend mentioned a long while ago, "You are as big as a bear so make like one and hug me properly!" Yeah... I don't argue when that tone is in play.

I like to analyze why I am the way I am about the hugging thing and it probably goes back to the childhood. Don't get me wrong... the folks were very physically demonstrative with the hugs and kisses (and the odd slap too hah!) when I was a wee lad but all of that stopped once we hit a certain age. And through the years I saw it repeated with my siblings as well. Once we passed the age of 8 or 9 years, no more hugs. Then you go through the formative years without those hugs and add to that studying in an all boys convent setup and then most of your college years in a Muslim college where boys and girls had separate timings and what not and it's not really surprising as to why it took me so long to lose my virginity...

I'd just like to clarify that I'm not emotionally scarred or anything. It is the way it is... For a fair while I was considered anti-social almost because I didn't really interact with the women in the group. The reason being I wasn't sure how to. Let's face it - it's kinda tough when you have weird pre-conceived ideas in your ahead about the opposite sex and so interacting with them becomes something of a mental fight. I'd be too stressed about the whole thing and just chose to shut down and be the strong silent type. Fortunately as the years have gone by I have had the opportunity and pleasure of meeting and befriending some women who are so cool and with whom I can have great conversations and yet be comfortable enough to make stupid bawdy jokes as well.

So this post is for those girls... Those who chose to continue being friends with me... those who saw through the 'strong and silent type' facade and persisted... those that call me almost every other day (even if it is to kill time on their way back home)... those that stay far far away and yet one mention of a distant memory and it feels like it was just yesterday when we met last... those who cook delicious chocolatey delights and then ask me to be the tasting guinea pig... those I don't see for weeks and sometimes months on end and when we eventually do, all that time in between doesn't matter...

To all those girls and for all those hugs... many thanks and much love and respect!

The One Where Miss Piggy bitchslaps BF

2010-07-03T16:45:00.000+05:30

It must be all those Swine flu jokes I cracked in the past.... who knew I'd end up paying for it more than a year later. That's right folks I have just been tested positive for the ole H1N1 virus along with most of the family.

Regular services are expected to resume shortly.

See Australis, told ya it was a doozy! :D

Macchis ki Teeli

2010-04-16T02:51:00.003+05:30

1 am and the weekend's around the corner. Not that it matters to people like me who're no longer restrained by the ole corporate leash. Haven't felt like writing in a while and like I was telling someone not too long ago that it kinda surprised me just how long I've been away.
But I'm back... if only for a little while (good lyric this...)

So what can I write about? Perhaps we can do a little rundown on whats been happening in my life recently. Easiest place to tap into for some material. Went for this play on a Friday some weeks ago called Ismat Aapa ke Naam which was 3 one wo/man acts based on the writings of Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai. Funnily enough I was supposed to have gone for an English play on Saturday night but got ~~arm-twisted~~ gently coaxed into attending this one as well. So me who hadn't seen a play in over 15 years finally ended up watching 2 plays on consecutive nights. Sort of...
Patience Gadhadhari Bheem... I shall explain.

Now Ismat Aapa... was enacted entirely in Urdu (and that too the hardcore wtf-did-he-just-say kinda Urdu) as was wished by the director who wanted to stay true to the writings of the author. Well I'd say he succeeded quite admirably coz I understood jack! About 80% of all the dialogue just went flying overhead and I was just about able to get the gist of the overall plot. The first sketch was enacted by Manoj Pahwa whose name you perhaps will not recognise but whose face you certainly will. Now this guy has acted in several Hindi movies off late and falls into what I refer to as the mandatory sidey comic role required in most films these days. The writing is so terrible in today's movies that you automatically vent your ire at actors like Pahwa who're.. well.. just doing what's been written. I was so happy to eat humble pie that night. He is a wonderful performer and, despite obvious personal language barriers, made his act an enjoyable one. And if Pahwa was fun to watch, his wife Seema who followed in the 3rd act was a complete riot. Again someone who is relegated to doing the sidey stuff in Bollywood. These two are truly talents who are wasted on the big screen and walking out into the night I was happy that to have had some preconceived notions shattered that night and also bemused at how much you have to dumb down your craft go to earn your bread and butter...

Now the next day I went to see a famous play called Waiting for Godot. And... I walked out during the interval! It's supposed to be this deep thinking play about the harshness of life and existentialism. There are many levels to it relating to religion, philosophy, politics and psychology as explained by a friend who had come along. But all I could think through 45 minutes that was the first half was, "Ayyeeeee bhaaaaaiiiiii.... apne palle kuch nahi pad raha...". I guess my choice of entertainment over the past many years now veers to anything which either amuses and/or enthralls me and certainly at the very least which I am able to understand quickly enough. Sure there are many ways to interpret a play like this one but it failed to capture my interest which means I will not even bother dissecting it like I would have any book/movie/TV show. I probably come across as less evolved by many who hold this play in high regard. Guilty I suppose but if there's one thing at all that I can be sure about, is that I could probably rewrite that play (the dialogues anyway) and make it atleast a tad more entertaining than it was (for me) that night.
On a positive note, it was pretty cool to watch Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani for the first time live. These guys are the big daddys of Indian theatre and yeah while the play itself bored the crap out of me, the performances were pretty darn good. I had no idea till a few days later that Randeep Hooda (he of Monsoon Wedding and D fame) had played the heavily bearded character of Lucky the slave.

In other news, I will doing a little thing on a community radio station with the Madman (he of my other blog fame). We two suave worldly gents will ~~take on the forces of evil and vanquish them resoundingly whilst rescuing dainty maidens and ride off into the sunset~~ talk about civic issues that are hassling the neighbourhood. Of course with our irreverent spin on it :) We've already been warned about (not) dropping the F-Bomb on the air by our Program Director. So if you're in and around Bandra from the 1st of May, tune into Jago Mumbai 107.8 and give us a listen...

Also joined a band in the recent past although it seems like we barely got together before the bassist had to take off to join his new job and our lead player leaves for the States in August. I really must find people my own age to jam with rather than dudes who're either in/barely out of college. But the good thing is we're planning to do a band within a band side project of acoustic and indie covers. 1 guitar 1 voice kinda thing. The first two songs on the setlist are courtesy the lovely and refreshing Nimbupaani (who ought to put up posts more often but then that'd be the pot doing the proverbial thing) which are Blue October's - Calling you (Acoustic) and Winterpills' Cranky.
And this third one is an Elton John classic covered by My Morning Jacket... I'm not married. In fact I don't even have a significant other and of course no kids either but fuck this song gets to me each time I listen to it.

I usually try to end on a positive or funny note but not this time... Probably one of the most moving death scenes in Indian cinema, I choked up at THIS scene of a brother losing his sister and couldn't stop the tears from falling especially at 0:23 - 0:31

Track 1 or Track 2?

2010-02-25T18:36:00.000+05:30

Like most kids back in the late 90's, I too was a big fan of the wrestling action from WWE featured on Prime Sports (anyone remember Prime Sports?!!). Of course back then it was popularly known as the WWF. And that went on for many a year till the World Wildlife Federation stepped and said, "You indescribably monstrous looking hulks are giving the real animals a bad name... The throbbing of those steriod-pumped veins in the sides of your necks are in fact scaring some of them! So give us our acronym back, McMahon and Co.!"

Now I bring up the matter of the WWE because after years of watching 'real' wrestling, I realised what I found completely fascinating, besides the athleticism of the wrestlers, was how the crowd's reaction could be so easily manipulated with a piece of music. I'm talking about the entry music of the participants which used to (and still does) drive the crowd wild!

Anyway back to the matter at hand which involves a decision of sorts to be made. I am at a stage in my life where I can actually make an entry into an arena (ok so it's a casino on a ship... don't scoff at my inner 14 year old!) accompanied by a piece of entry music.
So check out the two tracks below and tell me which one you like best...

Musically humped

2010-02-04T03:23:00.002+05:30

and I don't mean that like when you bump uglies with Boyz II Men playing in the background...

There's a word in eleet known as 'Pwned'. No, eleet or leet or leetspeak isn't a foreign language but it is considered to be an alternative language to English. This 'language' (some might call it a corruption of sorts) was cooked up by the techie community. An example of leet will clear things up adequately (and if it doesn't, forget this long drawn ramble and watch the damn video already... I pity the foo!... (yeah ok just saw the A-Team trailer again today).

Right so back to the example - now the word leet itself would in leetspeak look like 1337 or l33t. Gaming legend has it that 'Pwned' as a word originated from the game Warcraft. When the computer beat a player in the game, the words "Player X has been owned!" were supposed to flash on the screen. But one of the designers screwed up while writing the code and misspelt owned as pwned. Slowly the typo/word took hold in the gamers' lexicon and before you knew pwned meant Perfectly Owned. These days of course while still primarily used by gamers, it has entered mainstream vocabulary case in point, "India totally pwned Bangladesh in the recently concluded test series."

So you might be now asking, BF you blithering twit, what on earth are you going on and on and on about?
Said blithering twit would like to direct your attention to the video below.
Please pay particular attention to 03:12 - 05:55

Moral of the story - Rahat Fateh Ali Khan pwned Ali Azmat's a$$

Rocket Man

2010-01-22T10:39:00.004+05:30

It was late at night. Not surprisingly the stars were not visible at all. What's the point of living on the 11th floor if you can't enjoy the view?! thought Rajeev. But he shouldn't crib... because tonight was New Year's after all and this is what happens on every New Year's eve. The city goes berserk with its crackers and fireworks. He was used to seeing lacs of rupees being set on fire. Damn smog's gonna last for days...

The wind was whistling thru his hair... "It kinda feels nice..." thought Rajeev...
"Hmm... perhaps I fucked up..." and he closed his eyes.

Next day 11am

"Yo man... that was a killer evening last night."
"Yeah dude but I really haven't had much sleep"
"How come?"
"You remember last night before we went to G's house, when we stopped to pick up some munchies and ice, I was talking to a guy outside the shop?! My friend Sanjay's cousin..."
"Haan haan shortish chap with the 'fro like hair... right?!"
"Yeah the weird thing is I had a dream about him the night before and I remembered that while we were talking outside the shop and it felt even more strange...."
"Hmm... that is a pretty strange coincidence."
"And now I am more than a little freaked out coz this morning at 5 am Sanjay calls me to tell me Rajeev's committed suicide. He jumped off the 11th floor of his building..."

Under a blood red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
The newspapers says, says
Say it's true it's true...
And we can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one

I...I will begin again
I...I will begin again

Year of the Tiger (cue in Survivor*)

2010-01-19T00:30:00.001+05:30

I'm not very good with resolutions. The last time I made one was a good 7-8 years ago. I think I quit smoking for about 27 hours... does that even count as quitting?! Anyway this year as with most years I didnt give a hoot about making any resolutions but I did promise myself that I would put up a new year (sorta) post in the first month of the year rather than in Feb as I did last year. (in case you're a first time reader, yes, I like writing long sentences and sometimes I write even longer ones in brackets that follow said original sentence... and yeah it can get even longer than this one sometimes).

Speaking of the New Year it was quite a sober affair... for an hour. But yeah it was devoid of the usual shooshaa associated with NY parties. It was a small group of 7 that gathered on a friend G's terrace. The nippy air was a nice change of pace for this city's usual weather and made me feel glad I had an inner tee on.
No! You're the pussy who can't stand the cold!

The libations were flowng... some fantastic grub courtesy G and the reliable if occassionally nutty company of good friends made for a great night. Despite being nice and buzzed, I was reasonably in control of my senses. Unlike last year, where I am not sure how I got from the party venue into bed. (Well I do and if you're reading this... Grazie!)
The highlight of the night had to be the fireworks. The terrace being as high as it was afforded us a great view of the city all round. It was mad seeing fireworks going off at the same time across the city. Will not forget those few minutes in a hurry. Also two of our lady friends who made the night a trifle more interesting... You know who you are ladies and thanks for the show! Woweee!

What's changed in the last year? Been writing a fair bit more... not so much on the blog (in fact i wrote lesser posts than the previous year) but more on the web content side of things. Good to make some spare change for the beer and peanuts. The year ended with the germ of an idea for a project and it has quickly blown up into something which I didn't think was possible. If you have visited the blog recently you know it has to do with poker which I am quite pleased about. There are many pots bubbling or in mid-bubble on many fires and like I was telling S the other night, I am quite possibly feeling the highest levels of creative satisfaction and contentment at this moment in time, which I didn't think was possible when I had a corporate leash on a year and some months ago (see... told you I wrote long sentences).

For a short while I was a tiny bit bummed at not getting adequate attention from the blog world about my writing . But a level headed friend then reminded that the blogger's world is mostly a mutual admiration society. You like someone, comment on their posts and pretty much expect the same treatment back. That hasn't happened for this blog till I realised that this was supposed to be my own space where I could put down what I felt like and not care so much about what others wanted to read. I now remind myself of that everytime these thoughts come into my head. That said, there are some readers who come along and spend a few minutes out of their day here, generally contributing to this blog's tiny amount of traffic and my enormous sense of well-being. Thanks to all 4 of you!

The year gone by had 3 darn good trips. In the initial part of the year, we did a road trip to Goa (last one was 5 years ago) and had a great time there. That was followed by a trip to Bangkok in the middle of the year where I finally got to see the Grand Palaces and the temples. Bloody humid day and heat mein Wat lag gayi! hehe come on... it was right there. How could I possibly resist?! We also spent a couple of days prior in Pattaya as well but were pretty much confined to the hotel room coz there was torrential rains lashing the area which meant no watersports because of the rain and tides. And wouldn't you know it, the day we are to head to Bangkok, the sun is burning hot and the water has receeded 200 metres out. That sucked. But we caught the final of the Wimbledon at one of the local bars when the rain held up one night and that was awesome fun although the alcohol did me in for a while. Never start drinking before the sun sets btw.
The trips for the year ended with Christmas weekend being spent at G's uncle's home in Alibaug. What a lovely location and an equally nice house too. Loved the hammock and the massive game room next door. The trip was also good because my brother was along and its rare that we travel and hang with the other's friends. But they enjoyed themselves as did we all. Taboo is THE game to play when you are more than few drinks down.

On our last night there I lay in the hammock and gazed at the stars with the music streaming into my ears courtesy the pod. A whole year had gone and I couldn't help reflect on many of the things that were and could have been. As I looked back, it was obvious that the area of concentration for the coming year had to be work. The end of '08 and most of '09 was a time of doing whatever I felt like. It's come to a point now that I will continue to pursue the things I want to do in life and now that the new career is up and kind of running I gotta ride that baby to make me enough money.

So I'm gonna sign off by saying Happy New Year and as we head into 2010, I wish for good things to happen for you.
Wish the same for me too ok?! :)

*I used to be Glen once

Fa La La La La...

2009-12-27T21:39:00.000+05:30

I was supposed to post this before I left town for the Christmas weekened...

Many many months ago, I saw this show by an illusionist called Criss Angel... I'm sure most of y'all have heard of it... it's called Mindfreak. Comes on AXN or some similar channel. Anyway the show closed with an illusion he did at a swimming pool in one of Vegas's fancy hotels. The trick was Walking on Water and yes the man walked on water and cut right through the pool with people who were swimming around him and even underneath him as he walked right on...
I knew it was just an illusion and while Criss had walked on something it sure wasn't water.

Last night I saw another illusion-based show. Only this one dealt with revealing how these tricks and illusions were pulled off by the illusionist. And ironically this show too closed with the reveal of the Walking on Water illusion. I got to see that I was right after all. Yes there was a method to the illusion. And its kinda funny how that made me feel a little sad.

Over the years that little wide eyed kid that's there in all of us grows up a little more. With the passing of time, it seems to even disappear in most of us. But its when I see things like these magic shows with their corny tricks that I remember that younger me. I scoff at these tricks now but there was once a part of me that used to be amazed at them. I miss that guy. It's easy to lose yourself in the ratrace of this city. It can be frustrating and even cruel. I auditioned last week for a major gig and they called back earlier in this week to let me know I didn't get it. So been in this freakin' blue funk for the past couple of days. Doesn't help that I've had an awful sore throat and I miss my smokes... sigh!
Anyway I saw this show and I realise that I can't afford to let go of that little guy in me. In some ways I'm happy to say I haven't. For instance I still tend to believe the best of the people I meet (till they give me a reason not to). Frankly this particular trait hasn't really done me too much good through my life. People who I thought were worth it just fucked that notion into the ground.

And yet I persist... For those few I met and who kept the faith. For the those few who justify their positions as very important people in my life. For family who're like friends and for friends who've become like family.

I'm not quite sure what this ramble is all about right now but it did start out with me wanting to write a Christmassy post. That somehow morphed with the thought of not letting go of that inner child within all of us. Maybe it was just a lil mental tap to myself to give that inner cynic the day or month off...

Speaking of which, a personal pet peeve - It's "Merry Christmas".
Not Happy Christmas... not Merry X'mas... and for the love of Christ not Happy X'Mas ever!

Best of the season folks!

Here's one of those Mindfreek shows which scared the crap out of a former colleague when I showed it to her

Ode to the Nice Guys

2009-11-19T22:17:00.002+05:30

This below mentioned rant written by some 'nice guy' for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal.

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious” between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “oh, but we’re just friends!” And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you’re nice like that.

The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don’t seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date” or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me” or “he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn’t possibly ask him out!” or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.” Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!)*. But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

I'm still smiling and shaking my head at some which hit ridiculously close to home... er.. no not the GTA3 one... OK fine! maybe a little.
*The Madman once paraphrased this quite eloquently, "Agar hum itne hi acche hain, toh ch*do na!"

Sabotage

2009-10-20T20:45:00.002+05:30

Q. What do you want to be when you grow up beta?

Every little kid wants to be something when they grow - Astronaut, Cricketer, Pilot, the guy that gets shot out the cannon...
I was asked the same question too. And I had a bunch of ideas and options in my mind too... one of them being the now repulsive "I want to go to office."
But wanting to be on stage never featured on that list for the first 20 years of my life.

Circa 1989...

A: "I want to be a scientist!" (yeah I don't know what I was thinking either...)

Sabotage was the first Beastie Boys song I'd ever heard. I think I was in school or just out of school. Some late night show on MTV (the 'original' version not the crap that's on today) which played it. I really couldn't understand what the fuck was going on at the time. Too much of an assault on my senses but I knew I wanted to hear it again... That didn't happen for probably another 5 years.
I just think these guys are the epitome of nerdy cool especially in the vid below.

Circa 2009...

A: "I want to be on a stage like this... to sing for a crowd that's a.l.l around me like this... pulsating boom from every amp cranked to the m.a.x like this... lights flashing intermittently like this... and rocking the ever livin' shit outta e.v.e.r.y single body just like this!"

The hunt is on...

3:05

2009-10-15T03:27:00.000+05:30

AM is the time this post is being written on a Thursday morning.
No sleep... don't know why.
But sometimes there are good things that come out of lying awake thru the night.

Bliss Logic is something else. This trio plays music which is a mix of rock and jazz with a bit of electronica. I just chanced upon them a few days ago and knew I wanted to go to Zenzi for their live gig and album release. Heard just the one song coz the tiny room was packed to the gills. But there's some mad freakin' talent here.
Been listening to them for the past couple of hours... I can't get over the blend of this music. So many different elements to the music and each of them more appealing than the other. Can't explain it. Do yourself a favour and listen to them. You can download their track 'New Message' here.

Tiny scrawl on the BL CD jacket says:

Bliss Logic: Advisory
Get Cozy + Switch Off Mobile + Send Fumes + Play Loud + Drift

Currently drifting....

*City of Angels

2009-09-14T19:01:00.191+05:30

2001...
Weeks before the attack on the Twin Towers...

A bar...
Somewhere in East LA...

Jacques Laurent walked into his neighbourhood bar and looked around. There weren't too many people in. Which was good since he just wanted to have a drink in peace, then head to the airport and catch the red-eye to Las Vegas. The weeks upto final submissions had been a huge strain but all that hard work had paid off and he was going to reward himself with a week in Sin City.
His favourite seat at the bar was empty. There were only a couple of people at the bar. A woman who was at the far end and a man sitting on the seat next to him. She was staring vacantly straight ahead. Her face had a worn look. Probably the excessive makeup. Or maybe too much shit in life. I wonder if she's a hooker...
As the bartender got him his whiskey, Jacques took a closer at the man sitting next to him trying to be unobtrusive about it. He had a mop of that dirty blond hair, was wearing a checked flannel shirt and well worn jeans, both of which had seen better days. Dropping his gaze lower, he saw his shoes. This guy had boots on. Tan in colour and well wrinkled. Like it was his favourite pair. Hmm could I actually be looking at an honest-to-goodness cowboy here in Los Angeles?! thought Jacques.

As he was lifting the glass to his lips, the cowboy turns his head and looks directly into his face. Feeling a little caught and not knowing what else to do, Jacques nods his head at him and mutters, 'Santé' and takes a drink of his whiskey. "What's that you said?" asks the cowboy.
"Santé... its a toast... like Cheers. It means 'to your health' in French" says Jacques.
"Aah... health. Well that.. I've got. What I could with is a little luck... or maybe discipline..."
"So are you from these parts? Or just visiting?"
"Just got in from Montana a while back... came in for some work. What about you?"
"I live down the road actually...", replies Jacques. "Just came in to get a drink before I head to the airport."
"Where you off to?" asks the cowboy
"Vacation... Vegas baby!" says a grinning Jacques.
The cowboy laughed, "I love that city... in the old days I partied in places like you wouldn't believe but that city... man that place is something else... you can really party there. I'm sure you're gonna have a great time."

The alcohol had broken the ice and after introductions, the cowbuy continued, "You know a long time ago before I bought my ranch in Montana, I used to live here in LA... not more than a couple of blocks from here actually. Lived here for 3 years with my friend Bob. me and Bob used to have some fun together. I love to party... but Bob... he really really loved to party! We'd done some serious alcohol and drugs back then."
He even talked about the time he was seeing a pretty actress and had even gotten engaged to her before she called off the wedding three days before it was to happen. "Never get caught with a stripper before your wedding... that's my advice" he said chuckling.

Jacques felt a little uncomfortable about this much personal information being shared so he decided to steer the conversation in a different direction, "You mentioned earlier you were in LA for some work?! Don't imagine you're here to buy cattle right?!" he asked cheekily.
"No", said the cowboy, "I'm here for an audition..."
"An audition?! For what?"
"It's for the pilot of a new TV show", said the cowboy
"What? Seriously?! Get outta here... Really?!"
"Why the surprise? Is it that hard to believe?!"
"Well no... its just you don't seem like the type. Right now you'd look like the Marlboro Man if you had a stetson!" said Jacques.
"So you actually don't watch a lot of TV do you?!" smiled the cowboy.
"Not really. I don't even own a TV nor do I watch movies" said Jacques.
"Oh?! So what do you do for entertainment??" asks the cowboy a little puzzled.
"I like to read a lot... Mostly non fiction but in fiction only the classics. In fact I'm currently reading the The Count of Monte Cristo probably the 17th or 18th time, after which I will re-read The Three Musketeers. As you can tell, I'm a huge fan of Alexandre Dumas."
"So...", continued Jacques, "what the show about?"
"Well right now all I know is that its a thriller of sorts... They're gonna do a bunch of episodes now and then see how that goes... Funnily enough the part I'm going to audition for is kinda like your name. I'm gonna take that as an omen." He laughed at that.
Jacques smiled as well and said, "I hope it's a good one..."
"Me too man me too... The funny thing is if anyone'd asked me a couple years ago if I'd do a television show, I'd have laughed at them. It's not something a film actor would 'consider' doing... But I've been away for a while now... and I'm hoping this might turn out to be a good thing for me..."

And so saying he waved over the bartender. Puting a few bills on the bartop, he tells the bartender, "Give my friend here another drink okay" Then turning to Jacques he says, "Good talking to you. Don't get too crazy in Vegas." Gives him a quick wink, shakes hands and walks out into the night.
By the time Jacques had boarded his flight later that night, he'd forgotten all about the shabby cowboy.

5 years later...

He was early for his appointment at the dentist's. To kill time he started leafing through some old magazines. Not surprisingly, most of them atleast 2-4 months old. The 'newest' of the lot was last month's issue of TV Guide. As he was flipping through the pages, he came across a small blurb on one of the pages - According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kiefer Sutherland and 20th Century FOX reached a deal for three additional seasons of 24. Sutherland will make at least $40 million for three more seasons, making him the highest-paid actor in a drama series. The actor who plays the lead role of Counter Terrorism agent Jack Bauer, will also take on the mantle of Executive Producer. Sutherland had taken up retirement from acting to pursue a calf roping rodeo career prior to joining the cast of 24. On being asked about how the show has affected him, Sutherland had this to say, "Twelve years ago, if anyone had suggested I would do TV, I would have laughed at them. Film actors didn't do TV. But when I was finally offered 24 in 2001, it came like a saving grace. I owe it a lot."

Well I'll be damned... thought Jacques.

*Bonus material in the ~~DVD~~ comments section

Happy to you

2009-09-07T20:46:00.001+05:30

The birthday month is here again... Bugger! I mean not that birthdays are bad or anything... feels like the last one just barely went by.

Work sucks... coz there's not much of it coming thru. So to fill up my time (and wallet) I've taken up some small writing assignments. So far I've covered intellecutally gripping topics ranging from the felonious (How to make counterfeit money on your computer) to the healthy (How much should a teenager weigh?) along with some high finance (How to make fast free money online) thrown in there as well. Not a Pulitzer gig thats for dang sure. Atleast I wasn't as fortunate as my other fellow writers who had the pleasure of 'How much do celebrities weigh?' or the even more riveting 'How much do Supermodels weigh?'
But hey it gives me something to kill my time. Some extra money for the beer and peanuts don't hurt neither.

What's got me more kicked is my decision to write some material for standup. Hugely inspired by the amateur comedy night I attended at this club a few weeks ago. So much easier trying to write occasionally humourous stuff on the blog and getting a few laughs from people who get/like my kinda humour. Of course translating that into an act for the stage is a whole other ball game. Those amateurs had 2 minutes a piece to showcase their giggle inducing skillz. Doesn't seems like much but Maaaannnn! you can so bomb in 30 seconds let alone 120. There was one chick in particular who was cheered by us coz it was good to finally see a woman up there after like 5 dudes. But all thoughts of supporting women etc were blown ouffa the stage with a pretty poorly written act. I'm all for self depracating humour but you gotta be good at doing it. And never never N-E-V-E-R piss off the audience by saying shit like, "Well atleast one of you got it." You dumb bitch! That one who laughed was probably your friend who did it out of loyalty.

I'm not sure if I'll be ready to get under the bright lights and spout my spiel. But its fun putting down stuff for potential sketches. Material I've put down so far includes - adventures while ordering takeout, Indians travelling on a plane, partying in the 'cool' places...
Boy I can barely clamp down the deliciouso vitriol that's just beggin' to come out ;)

What else what else? I've been on a sick spree of dling music lately. In the past year or so I have been listening to a lot of ambient chillout stuff. Very loungey, lo-fi and sometimes trancey kinda music. Hangover from all those Goa trips I suppose. If y'all need some seriously cool music for your cafe or something, you know who to call. Hell I've even provided some friends with 'get you into the mood' kinda music. Thought about naming that mixed cd as McLovin' but settled for the more sophisticated Aural Pleasure hehe I love me some wordplay ;)

Q. In what 2 ways is pornography associated with this blog?
A. Tori Black & Fayth Deluca (sorry to disappoint but I chose the cleanest pages)

yeaaahhh... So in case you felt the need to egosurf, be prepared for Google to throw up some interesting results once in a while :D
But damn... Miss Black is cute!

And lastly I sign off with a few new songs (apparently I put up cool links so I have a rep to protect lol) which are on the loopy playlist:-

Shkabang - This is an electro rock n roll supergroup featuring the likes of Anushka Manchanda on vocals along with some heavyweights from the Mumbai gig circuit who've played with bands like Pentagram, Zero ,Tough on Tobacco and Hypnotribe. Quite like their sound. Should be a good album when they come through with it eventually.

Vicodin Love Confessions - Just love the name of this band out of Toronto, Canada. Bit of alternative and a dash of indie along with a whole lot of rock. Their new single Jeebus is up for download on the popular torrent sites.

Nikhil D'Souza - Now I came across this dude a few days ago and was plesantly surprised and impressed. I'm a big fan of Jason Mraz and this singer songwriter reminds me a lot of him. Listen to 'Storm without a Sky' and tell me I'm wrong! Nice to see our fair city has its share of such musicians.

And we end with a dash of Bollywood... Amit Trivedi rocks!

Till next time... vaya con dios.

North East West South

2009-08-14T20:46:00.006+05:30

Hello and Greetings to all ye faithful,
It has been a while since my last ~~confession~~ post but then there hasn't been too much to write about really. So this shall be a random selection of thoughts currently circulating within that grey (see how I put that in there) area known as the Mind of Blackfayth.

The Piggy flu (as I'm calling it coz Swine flu sounds kinda derogatory and H1N1 has such a clinical feel to it) has made the city a paranoid place to be in. Of course, it could be a lot worse. For instance, the government could have waited even longer than it did to open additional testing centres besides the lone ranger Kasturba Hospital. Better late than never I suppose.

oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink-oink

A friend's FB status read - 90 people die of Swine Flu and everyone wants to wear a mask. A million people die of AIDS and no one wants to wear a condom?!
Food for thought methinks...

poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke

So the one Hindi movie that I was looking forward to watching, Kaminey, I can't coz the theatres here and in Pune are shut for the weekend coz of the Piggyness sickness. But initial reports from the rest of the country and elsewhere in the world where it has been released, are so far promising which is good as a friend is associated with the film and I'm glad for her.

Dhan-Tan-Nan-Dhan-Tan-Nan-Dhan-Tan-Nan-Dhan-Tan-Nan-Dhan-Tan-Nan-Dhan-Tan-Nan

On a fair constant loop is the self titled hardrock album of American supergroup Chickenfoot, comprising of ex-Van Halen members Sammy Hagar (vox), Michael Anthony (bass), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) on skin duties and the guitar God himself, Joe Satriani. Nice crisp guitar riffs and bass lines, tight drums and Hagar's vocals hark back to his best times when he was with the Van Halen brothers. All in all a pretty strong effort.

Pak-pak-pak-pakaaaw-Pak-pak-pak-pakaaaw-Pak-pak-pak-pakaaaw-Pak-pak-pak-pakaaaw

Being a freelancer has got to be in equal parts the most liberating and frustrating thing in the world. Liberating coz you are your own boss. No one to mindfuck you about anything. Frustrating because your work depends on doosro-ki-meherbaani... well atleast for the time being since I haven't established myself in the field yet. Bah!

hello-mic-testing-1-2-3-hello-mic-testing-1-2-3-hello-mic-testing-1-2-3-hello-mic-testing-1-2-3

Been watching a bunch of new shows. All promising but unfortunately a couple (Trust Me & The Unusuals) have been cancelled after just one season due to low viewership. Man... it almost seems like these Americans cannot digest the intelligent writing on these shows. Note - To my readers who're in advertising agencies, you might identify a lot with Trust Me. Another fun show is Eastbound & Down which is rude and outrageous and pretty frickin' funny.

Neilsen- Nielsen- Neilsen- Nielsen-Neilsen- Nielsen-Neilsen- Nielsen-Neilsen- Nielsen

Y'know it is my serious belief that playing Guitar Hero is like being with a younger woman. It takes a while to get a hang of things but when you do... oh boy!

wahwah-wahwah-wahwah-wahwah-wahwah-wahwah-wahwah-wahwah-wahwah-wahwah

Lastly I have opened up a new blog. While it is primarily for the benefit of me and my friends, well... a little bit of humour never hurt any one :)

Peace Out

Jammin'

2009-07-23T20:04:00.004+05:30

I quite like Dane Cook

I like Chris Daughtry a little more (btw he just kills it at 00:35-00:40)

And when DC & CD get together...

You're listening to...

2009-07-21T01:02:00.005+05:30

Earlier this evening I was discussing the MJ funeral with a friend (bits of which I've written in an earlier post) and she was like, "Dude you should do like a comedy sketch or something...."
Which got me thinking... I'm not ready for the glare of the bright lights of stage but I think I would like to be heard...

So I'm contemplating doing an audio version of this blog.

But also wondering if it'll be an overkill of sorts...

???

JMWG - Take #1

2009-07-18T22:07:00.004+05:30

Been wanting to do this for a while now... This being using Audacity to record my vocals on a karaoke track. The attempt is amateurish but I didn't really expect anything less given that I have to work within the limitations of my home PC.

I've chosen Why Georgia by John Mayer primarily because my throat was a bit off today and I felt I sounded a bit like JM :D
Do have a listen and let me know what you think...
Thanks!

May you find peace

2009-07-09T09:55:00.011+05:30

Introduced first in the mid-1970s, the Synclavier is a cross between a synthesiser and a sampler. It was one of the most expensive pieces of studio equipment that one could (or not) buy at the time. Today's technology is so advanced, that several softwares available out there will provide virtually the same kind of sound and function that the Synclavier did.

So why am I talking about an instrument that most people are unaware of? A machine whose use and indeed name, I myself was unaware of till the advent of the Wikipedia age a few years ago... While you might not have heard its name, you have quite likely heard one of the most famous sounds ever created on this machine.

Gong... Gong... Gong... Gong... Gong... Gong... Gong... 7 times (well count it if you don't believe me) before the guitar riff kicks in...

That's the intro to Track #5 on the biggest selling album of all time - Beat It from Michael Jackson's 1982 album Thriller. My introduction to the music from this album happened a couple of years after its official release. Not surprising considering access to Western music was not as widespread and by extension quick as it is today.
In the past I have mentioned my love for MJ's music and especially the above mentioned song. There was something... a genre-busting element to the track. I saw and heard so many musicians and people in the industry mention at the funeral just how vital MJ's contribution has been to the world of music and indeed the world.

Speaking of the funeral, I managed to catch it live about an hour into it the other day. I cannot believe the amount of overacting some of the family and friends did. Whole hunks of ham would feel inadequate after seeing the villains mentioned below:-

Brooke Shields - WTF was that whole sniffling, stuck for words crap she did when she came on???!! My God this woman is supposed to be an actress... obviously not a good one coz she came across as just plain lame.
The King siblings - OK we get that your father was a great man but was it really necessary to keep preceding every other sentence with "Like my/our father used to say...". And while writing this, I'm also reading up on both Bernice and Martin Luther III. Not very flattering and I now understand why, while watching Bernice King, I felt like I was watching some chest thumping evangelical type on God TV.
Berry Gordy & Marlon Jackson - Gordy, who is the founder of Motown Records, has probably seen in entirety the rise and fall of the Michael Jackson phenomenon but mate that doesn't give you the right to go on and on about the freakin' softball games in which your family got your asses handed to you by them. And Marlon Jackson who started blubbering from when he took the mic and said he had no words and was speechless to a mind numbingly lengthy eulogy. Liar... liar... your brother's dead!
Paris Jackson - To be fair, I really don't think its Paris who's the villain here but the entire Jackson family. You cant put a 12 year old little girl in the public spotlight like that. I think it was an extremely selfish and thoughtless gesture on the family's part.

While the above almost made you feel glad that MJ was dead and not have to listen to their interminably long and boring speeches, some of the others really showed their love, respect and admiration for Michael with stirring performances and eulogies:-

John Mayer - Did a cool rocker thing. Walked on stage with a beat up ole guitar, didn't sing, just played an instrumental version of Human Nature. Very cool! \m/
Usher - Amazing feel and reiterated why he is such a big superstar.
Judith Hill - What a voice! No wonder she was one of the leading voices for the "This Is It" tour
Shaheen Jafargholi - OK if this is what this kid can sing at age 12, what in the name of God is he going to sound like once he's out of his teens
Reverend Al Sharpton - The only other time I have only seen the good Reverend speak was in his guest role in Boston Legal. And oh boy, he's as good off camera as he is on it. Statement of the ceremony, "There was nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with, but he dealt with it."

It's been a sad, unexpectedly short end to what was already a legendary life and held promise to be even bigger had the proposed "This Is It" tour taken place. A life that tomes have been written about and a lot of them for the wrong reasons. While he may have also been a humanitarian raising and contributing millions, he will, for me, always be the very first of many musical influencers who was key in shaping up my likes, taste and approach to music.

I end by echoing that charismatic rabble-rouser, Rev. Al Sharpton, "Some came here to say goodbye to Michael Jackson, I came to say... thank you."

Of Status Updates, B(a)i Love & Bombay Rain

2009-06-21T22:31:00.009+05:30

So the gang was out last night for drinks and dinner at Masala Craft in Bandra. By the way, this place is probably gonna turn out to be a regular haunt for a number of reasons - fairly good ambiance, decent selection of alcohol (they do need to stock up on all the beers mentioned in the menu but they had the basics covered), pretty good food not to mention their healthy portions, all of which were very reasonably priced. And... and... AND the clincher - they allow smoking in the outdoor section!

So we were talking about how people are getting crazy with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and the like who provide the Status Update function. Its getting to be a little more than ridiculous now... People seem to want to divulge every little bit of information about themselves and their lives. I mean get a life dude! No one wants to know about your current dilemma of which toilet paper you want to buy. Buy freakin' sandpaper and well go to town you idiot!

I guess women really have the worst of it when it comes to sites like Facebook. My friend ShutterBug was mentioning how when she had no profile pic, there never used to be any Friend Requests but now that she has put up her pic, she receives at least 10-15 requests a week. And she was certainly in a mood to vent about the same. And thus she presented Exhibit A - a Friend Request with a personal note - "Hello its J___... I wrk 4 international diamond jewelry firm as Marketing Manager, can I b on ur list, I think Angels from heaven never reject invitation from dukes of earth. Hope to have a word soon…"
(Hysterics ensue on the table)
BF (loudly): Hahahaha... This guy is unreal... how do people like this exist... dude's a total nutjob!
BF (mentally): Must find out how to become a Duke of Earth!

Speaking of 'Dukes', this Shiney Ahuja case is just annoying the crap out of me. I guess world & domestic news aren't exciting enough given the coverage that this story has garnered. The funniest thing is the way people have gotten behind the man. His wife and family defending him is understandable. And of course Bollywood usually looks after their own. Although once news of him having admitted to having sex with his bai (that's maid for my international readers) probably had those people distancing themselves from him as well.
Can't really say this is surprising after hearing stories (from friends in the film industry) of the man and his questionable choices of female company (makeup artists, hairdressers etc).
I guess the final word belonged to my brother who after hearing the afore-mentioned stories goes, "So he's a lover of the working class eh?!"

Finally I end this post with a fervent plea to the Rain Gods. Its been a brutal summer and I know once the rains (which we're soooo desperately craving now) truly set in, there'll be a lot of cribbing about the muck and the slush and the travelling in the resultant miserable weather, but it needs to come down right now! And none of that annoying drizzle neither...
For people who've been educated in Bombay and learnt Marathi, here's that ole verse from your and mine school days:-
Ye re Ye re pausa (Come on down, Rain)
Paisa tula deta (You shall be compensated monetarily)
Paisa zhala khota (Oops the cash turned out to be counterfeit)
Paus ala mota (Big mofo Rain came slammin' down on your cheatin' ass)

Or.... maybe you'd prefer Warren's spin on it...

Here's to those rainy afternoons when you didn't mind being cooped in... of wet windy gusts and the prettiness of Nature's greenery in all its wet glory... of adrakwali chai and kaanda bhajiya... Naaah the rains ain't so bad...

You're an insensitive retard!!

2009-06-16T13:55:00.007+05:30

There was this article published in the New York Post a couple of weeks ago. It was about a school in Brooklyn which filled up their auditorium with a whole bunch of kids from kindergarden to fifth grade.

The intent: Show the kids a Disney movie called Camp Rock featuring the Jonas Brothers
The outcome: The kids were treated to Camp Cock featuring Jenna Jameson!!

OK so the last bit isn't true... No its not that the kids didnt not see porn... oh they most certainly did.

I mean details about the video are a fabrication and as mentioned in the NY Post, "The kindergartners, first-graders and fifth-graders were exposed to a topless woman and sex acts in the 45 seconds the obscene clip played on the jumbo screen -- as shocked teachers screamed, "Don't look at it!" and frantically tried to turn it off. "

*Attack of the Giggles*

I was telling the above story to a friend who'd have guffawed her ass off about 7 months ago. She's now pregnant and I've quoted her reply in post title.
Must be the hormones...

TNTD**

2009-06-01T15:43:00.008+05:30

**Things NOT To Do is an idea squarely finding its inspiration from punishments received by various teachers across various grades in school. Case in point - After the deed was done, Mrs. Sundaram deemed that I shall write "I will complete my homework on time" for a grand total of 500 times. Bart Simpson's teachers aint got nothin on Mrs. S!

So anyway I am putting this as a series... of things I've been foolish enough to try but shall never do again... Or maybe I will but after a reallllyyyy long time.

TNTD for June '09 - Do NOT attempt singing karaoke on Jason Mraz songs.

The man is a freak! His easiest popular song, "I'm Yours" which I'll get right eventually (decided to practise this song and only this song) aint as easy as I'd initially thought.
Also if you really really wanna feel bad about your superior (?!) singing skills, like someone we both know, try The Remedy or Wordplay.

I tried to sing Wordplay precisely three times. After my 3rd attempt , I cried.

The AP Chronicles

2009-05-28T01:11:00.009+05:30

I was reading this post earlier today and got to thinking of my own (solitary) experience of living away from home. Sometimes I really can’t believe I spent almost 2 years there...

After just under a year of working with my first company, I got an opportunity to work with a fairly well-established Pharma OTC company, but the posting was in Vijaywada, HQ of Krishna (a district located on the east coast of Andhra Pradesh).
While I quite liked the setup of my first company not to mention the job itself, I wasn't really rolling in the dough, so I took the new job. The thought of moving out of home, living and working in an alien city was quite intimidating and continued up until the time I boarded my train to Vijaywada from VT station.

The folks had come to see me off and I remember feeling distinctly out of sorts as the train started to pull out of the station. As I numbly waved my goodbyes to them, I had half a mind to just jump off and tell Dad that this was a huge mistake and I didn’t really wanna be away from home. As their shapes started to blur with the distance I lit up a smoke and drew deeply. Gave myself a mental pep talk - "Listen... you're almost 24... There’s tons of people who've left their homes at far far younger ages, traveled greater distances than you for education... work.... This is an experience. You're getting to see a different part of the country... Think of this as an Adventure!!"
And that last line, dear reader, kept me going for the 20 or so months that I was there...

My flat was located kinda on the outskirts of the city. It was a 1 BHK affair... some 600 feet or so. HUGE by Bombay standards and I used to pay a rent of Rs. 1000 (!!). OK let me explain coz there was a tradeoff... One, the location as I've mentioned meant lowish rents anyway. Second and most importantly, I was told I could be shifted to any empty flat as and when the current flat I was currently in, got sold off. Since I really didn’t have much junk of my own and was on the road for like 20 days a month, I figured the deal was a good one and took it.
*Course the deal came back to bite me in the a$$ shortly...

Summers were a bitch in AP. Temperatures used to routinely hit 45 degrees. And when on the odd occasion, the mercury would touch 48, then the locals would go, "Oh today it’s really hot." (?!?!) Never have I so craved the humid heat of Bombay more.
Sometime though, it'd get a little scary. I remember touring a place called Bhadrachalam in the peak of summer in '03. The temperature was a skin melting 51 degrees! I was so dehydrated before my meeting with the local distributor, I decided to stand in the shade of a nearby 'Cool Drinks' stand and have a Goli Soda (btw this is one of things I sorely miss about small town India) to cool off. As I'm replenishing my body with the fluids it so desperately needed, I saw this slightly older chap walking by and after a few feet of passing the shop, dude just collapsed! Several bystanders rushed to guy and carried him off the road into the shade. By then my sales guy called me in to meet the distributor. About an hour later, we got done and stoked by my previous Goli soda, I decided to have one more. The crowd that had gathered before had gone by now, but I asked the vendor if Fainting Dude was ok. He muttered something back, which my colleague turned to me and quietly translated, "Saar, he has expired..."
I decided then that two summers were quite enough for me in this place.

*Shortly after this trip I came back into Vijaywada. It had been a tiring train journey. I had been on the road for about 17 days at a stretch and when I got off the station, I'd made up my mind not to haggle with the rick guy about the usual overcharging they'd do. I just wanted to get home. But no motor ricks so I had to get into one of those cycle ricks which I hate coz I'm a big built guy and I can’t stand the thought of someone peddling my fat ass for a good 5 kilometers. But no choice and at that point I didn’t really care so sat in and headed home. Reach my building and find the elevator is out of order, so I trudge up 3 flights of stairs. I tried to open my door but it wouldn’t open. I hear someone coming up the stairs and its my neighbor who says my stuff has been shifted to another flat in a different building of the complex! So I go to the office and collect the keys to my new flat which is located in the 'A' Wing on... wait for it... the 7th futhermucking floor! So yet again its WALK WALK WALK up 7 flights of stairs!
That was NOT a nice day... no sirree.

I wish there was enthralling stuff to write about my time in AP but being located in Vijaywada meant that the only "exciting" things to do was going for weddings in my distributors' or team members' families (immediate or extended), or some puja associated with Diwali or Pongal or somesuch.
But the standout memories of the entire AP experience were:-
- While traveling upcountry in an area with heavy Naxal presence, our bus was pulled over and a thorough search was carried out of every passenger and their luggage for grenades and firearms.
- Visiting the beached submarine, INS Kursura, at Vishakapatnam's Ramakrishna beach. I now have major respect for the (small built) dudes who'd spend weeks under the waves in these metal tubes. Must've bumped my head like 10 times in those cramped confines.

- Being told my "worth" at one of those afore-mentioned weddings. "Saar... you're very young and holding such a good post in a company like ____. You'll get atleast 50 lacs from girl's side!... Should we find a good Andhra girl for you saar??!"

- Got 'picked' up for a one night stand (yup... first time ever!) in Vizag. Hah! Who knew that an evening, which started out with a innocent drink at the bar, would end the way it did! Oh and she was an older woman too. OK so while not a cougar, she still older than me. Aah so many fantasies fulfilled in one night hehe

By the end of Dec '03 though, I'd had it with the place and the job. So one fine day, I packed my bags, mailed off my resignation to the Hyderabad office and headed back to Bombay. I still think of that time in my life as one big adventure. An experience that came squarely under Life Lessons.

I don’t really miss that place - except that sometimes... I do...

57%

2009-05-22T11:25:00.005+05:30

Couple of weeks back, I'm waiting at one of those ridiculously long you'll-be-rotting-here-till-the-end-of-time signals, when I see a woman, by the side of the road chatting away on her mobile, walking towards my general direction.

She walks past my rick and eventually goes out of sight. But I'd stopped watching midway... more interested in seeing my fellow wait-ers at the signal gawking at this woman. Pretty much every dude including the 2 guys on a bike next to me and my own rickshaw-wala had their eyes fixed on her. Couple of reasons for this - A) She was good looking. Not a spectacular, drop dead gorgeous specimen but a decent looker nonetheless. B) She had the kind of clothes and makeup on that suggested she might be a model/actress heading to/from a shoot.

The moment she passed us and was reasonably out of earshot, the pillion rider whispers something to the biker and they both let out a smirky laugh. Just got me thinking of how juvenile Indian men can really be. I mean its kinda pathetic but the majority (and I'm talking strictly about the urban and reasonably well educated category) of these men just don't have it in them to be classy about such matters.
Some weird Pavlovian thing I guess... Woman walks by... Tongues hang out.. and you don't have the ability to do anything nor the willingness to remain quiet, so you pass nasty comments.
I like my women as much as the next guy but I just can't stand just how crude some guys get when it comes to women and describing them.

Speaking of juvenile, back in school, and you know how hormonally raging teens can get, breasts were a matter of serious and utter (udder?!) fascination for all of us. So in typical teen-sian words, one would compare sizes and in descriptives which ranged from, "Arre dekh uske 3 litre ke..." to "Usko AMC bulatey hain... Aarey Milk Colony... hahaha..." to the most inane one (with the requisite hand gestures) I've heard in all my years, "Dekhe kya uske?!! Kya mast ball-beel hai!"
Someone please enlighten me as to what the fuck a Beel is. Also is it only me or do others find it cringe-weird when Indian men refer to breasts as balls???

After doing a quick read thru on the above post, its a little more obvious why this website believes what it does... Bah!

X fest

2009-05-01T02:10:00.004+05:30

Couple of weeks ago I was doing my usual routine of trolling the torrent sites checking out what's new in the music world and randomly scrolled down to the movies section of a particular site and was stunned to see a print of Wolverine available for download.
From a numbers perspective, there were 35,000 seeders and 65,000 leechers!

I'm not averse to the wide wonderful world of Internet piracy but please please P L E A S E save the Wolverine for the theatres. The Adamantium clawed X Man deserves the big screen treatment and if initial reports are true, the wait will be well worth it.
He certainly has, for the longest time, been a fan favorite with the male readers, but the ladies too have taken a real shining to Wolvie. Altho methinks that has a lot to do with Hugh Jackman's portrayal of the character.

While I am excited to see the Logan/Wolverine backstory (this is a prequel to the series), I am also kicked about seeing another personal favorite Remy LeBeau a.k.a Gambit who I think is the coolest X Men character after Wolverine. I hope Taylor Kitsch has done justice to the character.

Today is the official release date for the movie in the US. Can't wait till it hits our shores!

Gambit: You know it's a bad sign when I'm the voice of reason

Badshah Dildo

2009-04-30T14:57:00.003+05:30

I been hooked onto reading this for the past few days. It's a blog that's claimed to be written by a player in the Kolkata Knightriders team.
Some hysterically funny stuff which I believe is being ghostwritten by someone who posesses a far sharper wit than any of the Kolkata Knightriders I should think...

P.S. - The title is the blog writer's reference to KKR owner Shahrukh Khan lol

The Way of Zen

2009-04-29T03:20:00.003+05:30

After seeing a lot of it on Life, I am slowly trying to sift thru the enigma that is Zen.

Here's a good place to start if you're interested...

#28. Time an Egg

2009-04-16T11:35:00.005+05:30

Came across these while I was trolling... Barney's reasons to have sex (and its pretty obvious which ones he has contributed) just kill me :D
For those unenlightened souls, I'm referring to the show How I Met Your Mother or as i like to call it the slightly dirtier version of F.R.I.E.N.D.S
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/community/50_reasons/index.php

And what's happening with you?

2009-04-11T20:44:00.006+05:30

The need to post finally awoke in me but at the same time I didn't feel like putting any effort into the process of it all so due apologies for the scattered nature of the post...

So yes yes... I am well and truly alive. Just underground not dead. Not that I've been busy with work or anything... just haven't been in a mood to write. I guess nothing too interesting has really happened which warranted a post. While this sort of break has happened in the past, this time around I even quit reading the other blogs I usually follow.
I've caught up on all of them in the past couple of days and there are some major upheavals which have happened in my fellow bloggers' personal and professional lives. To them I say chin up and you'll ride out the wave soon enough. There's an almost karmic way to these things.

Speaking of profession, being jobless is a freakin' task! It was fun to begin with... vacationed a lot and then bummed (and still bumming) once back home. But that vile corporate slave side of me is now beginning to twitch just that wee bit. Shouldn't be too hard to stamp that out but having nothing to do will keep this twitch festering for a while I guess.

For those curious, my new path of choosing is the creative world - I am training to get into voice-overs, dubbing... possibly radio jockeying if that opportunity presents itself.
Any tips/suggestions/heads-up with regard to this field would be greatly appreciated.

Went to Goa couple of weeks ago and had a trip that was in equal parts enjoyable and a trifle bit annoying. Enjoyable for obvious reasons (its Goa after all... sun... sand... sea... ice cold beer) and not-so-obvious ones (it was a road trip so really had fun driving K's big ole Ford Endeavor). Annoying because I was off meat (Lent was on) so as you can well imagine, I was sitting in places like Britto's and Martin's eating bloody vegetarian sadness while my glutton friends stuffed their faces with all that nice beef chilly and lamb and fish and crab.
So I've been indulging since midnight last night in what can only be termed as a food and drink orgy at various places. 'Course my poor tummy is paying for it now but maaaann its been worth it :D oh and Happy Easter to y'all.

Then there's that sorta colourful yet mildly grey area of "the relationship". Don't quite know what to make of that particular situation. I guess we both have been mature about how we should tackle it, given our respective circumstances. Still it would've been nice to have had a lesser number of obstacles than we currently do.
I know you'll read this eventually and just want to say I'm hoping for good things if and when they happen :)

What else?! Oh right... there was a pretty amusing incident which happened when we were hanging in Zenzi a couple of nights back. The 'we' were the Madman, the Miner, the Banker, Shutterbug, Alex and me. There were a few drinks going down and general conversation and banter were flying around. Now the boys (which is everyone except Shutterbug) were goofing around while Shutterbug excused herself and headed to the little girls room.
She comes out a while later and tells us she met this girl who was quite distraught. The young lady had been setup on a blind date with a guy she referred to as "someone who is old enough to be my uncle if not father". Shutterbug being a kindhearted soul comforted the poor thing and then headed back out to our table. She mentions the incident that transpired in the loo to the boys. We of course decided that the maiden needed rescuing.
So after much cajoling from us, SBug heads to the outer area and does the whole fake "Oh my God!! Fancy meeting you here! Its been ages... where have you been??" After an understandable minute of confusion, the bulb goes on over that girl's head and she plays along.

She then comes in and joins us where lots of bitching happens about her date and how she's having such a terrible evening and that even a rescue from rank strangers was totally welcomed by her.
Anyway one thing led to another and since the fellas were in a mood, even the date was invited to our table where all sorts of stories were fed to him about our origins ("Oh three of us are college mates who havent met in 4-5 years... he's a business acquaintance... She's his cousin" blah etc yada). Post which the gang (Alex in particular) proceeded to take the ever livin' mickey outta the guy. Safe to say that dude was in as much misery as we were in mirth.
But a fun night with more laughs than originally intended!

Who is reading this blog?
OK so I'll admit that after almost a year and a half of blogging, the curiosity has got to me. I want to know the number of people who actually read this blog. Being geographically inclined, I would like to know where you're at but only if you feel comfortable about sharing that info. So drop a comment if you read my blog of infrequentness (aah i know its not a word but hey its my blog)

Lastly, here's a really nice tune thats been playing on loop for the past few weeks. I have made most of my friends listen to it and I think you, like them, will quite enjoy this song. It's called Do Dil and its by a Paki band called Noori. This is their first ever song (never got recorded tho) and they've retained the original composition as it was, when created some 13 years ago! Some nice guitar work and the two man vocals complement each other and contrast in just the right amounts. Enjoy!

Peace out.

Recipe for a fine evening

2009-02-07T21:58:00.008+05:30

a.k.a Good Idea # 517

Ingredients:-
Maryjane - the good kind
Candles - a whole bunch of 'em
Matches
*Woman (optional)

Method:-
Shut off your lights...
light them candles around the room...
spark up the spliffs...
and listen to this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxhRnQffeRQ over... and over... and over...

*And if you're with your woman, then do as Satch does it in the above link \m/

Year of the Ox

2009-02-06T21:45:00.010+05:30

A month into the new year and I figure at least a cursory attempt must be made on a "New Year" post. It seems to be the done thing in Blogosphere and since I was (almost) never one to buck the bandwagon, let's get the ball rolling on this one...

Said bandwagon usually stops first in Nostalgia-ville and thus we must take a look back into the past. The 12 months that have gone by are kinda blurry. But that's more to do with me poor memory more than anything else. So I'm just gonna put down those events which were more significant than most. And since I've written about those things across these pages, I suppose this is more like a quick summary of this blog as well for the year gone by.

Speaking of the blog, I started writing a lot more this year. OK I suppose a single post in '07 doesn't really constitute as less writing for that year but let's not get into semantics... After being re-introduced to the world of blogging via this gent's other blog, I started to explore my own writing skills. While I don't think I'm gonna win the Weblog Awards in a hurry, I'd say that this has grown to become a place where I seek comfort by venting about things important to me. Clearly some of them are topics that not many others really give a fuck about :) That said, it is quite gratifying and humbling to have the (small) number of readers I do. Their readership says a lot about their loyalty, bias and dare I say good taste (oh come on... if I don't throw it in here, who will?!!) For the statistically inclined, that's an average of 0.08 posts per month in '07 to about 2.58 in '08. A fair jump considering I only started writing halfway thru last year.

Most of '08 was dominated by work related issues. In previous posts, I've mentioned how I'd been struggling to carry on with what I'd been doing the past 4 odd years. Finally as they say, paani sar ke upar chad gaya... A lot of that had more to do with frustration at myself than anything else. Should have upped and quit a lot earlier. But finally towards the end of the year, the deed was done. Without a clue of what to do next... The answer to that question would present itself (somewhat) as the year ended.

A few posts were dedicated to writing about crushes. There were times when I thought the resulting depression of these unfulfilled infatuations would take me under. Fortunately they didn't and I have come to discover over the course of these that I am more susceptible to these things than I'd initially thought. On the flip side, I think all my suspicions of having a rhino-like hide are quite on the money as far as me getting over these crushes is concerned. Or perhaps that damn cliché about time healing all wounds might just be true...

2008 is also the year I hit 30. I expected to feel a lot more but it gave me a case of the blues for maybe half a day just prior to the "event". I figured that I could either continue to mope or look back (and forward) to better things. By then my intention to quit my job and travel at the end of the year had pretty much been firmed up. So better things were definitely on the way...

There's something to be said about the calm before the storm. A week prior to my departure to Thailand, political trouble, which was brewing for some time, escalates into this major conflict involving the current ruling party and the army. From what was a relatively peaceful protest against the PM, suddenly there were thousands of PAD supporters marching the streets, shutting down the airport and in several instances unleashing violence in different parts of Bangkok. Quite obviously I was mighty pissed off against this bunch of idiots 2000 miles away ruining my travel plans. And then four days later, 26/11 happened... I wrote two posts on it (here & here) and won't write any more since this is my way of dealing with it. I can only give thanks to the fact that no one dear to me lost their life in that tragedy.

November though also had some good news in the form of my nephew. He is quite the noisy lil bugger keeping his mum up late into the nights these days. But there's nothing to beat that cheeky lil grin he will bestow on you if he is feeling particularly magnanimous. And of course a little more than a week later, I boarded a plane to start off on my vacation. The idea was to tour a decent bit of South East Asia, take in the local sights, sounds, cuisine and culture. My base was Singapore from where I travelled to KL, Cambodia, Bali and Melaka. The list would have been longer with Bangkok and Koh Samui but well that's how that cookie crumbled...

Did a lot of soul searching about the job situation on my travels. It finally came down to doing something in the creative arena. But what exactly... I was unsure about. For probably the last three weeks of the trip, serious consideration was given to make a move into copywriting. And its funny how sometimes things just come together as quickly as they do. Next thing I know I have more than a sure idea of what I wanna do. The best part is that it didn't fill me with any kind of dread like copywriting did. There are big freakin' butterflies in my stomach but they're more of the anticipatory kind of butterflies. I am actually excited about this and I hope it will get me somewhere... A lot of this is due my friends in Singapore - Pipsqueak and her hubby, 100 Pipers. Despite the fact that they don't read this blog, I just want to say thanks in a public-ish forum and promise I will mention y'all in my thank-you speech when I collect some award :)

It's safe to say that 2009 will be a turning point in my life in more ways than one....

P.S - Just want to say a BIG thank you to all my readers. I'll be first to admit that there are only a few random flashes of inspired writing amongst a lot of personal mediocrity. Despite that, y'all keep dropping by and share this part of my life with your own. And for that I am very very appreciative.

P.P.S - To Those-We-Have-Not-Spoken-About -- It's been a very interesting ride thus far and let's see what '09 brings...

Travel Travails - ५

2009-01-24T21:47:00.016+05:30

The end of my S E Asian sojourn was fast approaching. Where had all the time gone?? About 2 weeks before I was to leave Singapore, a few friends suggested we take a trip together. They'd been hankering to get out of the city/country for a while but weren't able to follow thru on their plans.
But this time, things came together and we decided to head to Melaka, located on the west cost of Malaysia. The plan was to cross the border (hah! first time ever I crossed the border between 2 countries - by road anyway) into the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru and then hire a car and drive about 225 kms to Melaka.

First things first, the roads in Malaysia are fan-freakin-tastic! I love to drive but Bombay as a city doesn't let you truly soak in the pleasure of the experience. No such thang on the drive from JB to Melaka. We took turns driving the 2.5 hour journey. The lush greenery of the Malaysian countryside was soothing and pleasant company all thru the ride.

Once in Melaka, I was hit by the same feeling I got when I visited Simla the first time. A quaint almost village-like atmosphere prevailed in many parts of the town. The roads were barely big enough to allow two-way traffic but everyone seemed to manage just fine. In Melaka there is a canal with a bridge going over it. It splits Melaka into the new part of the city and the older historical section of town. We were staying in this older side in an area called Jonker Walk.
Jonker Walk is this one road that closes off after 5 pm every weekend for the evening/night street market. There are plenty of lively food stalls, bars and cafes. This particular time of the year was even more festive as the 70th birthday of the head of the ruling Royal family had just rolled by. So every evening there was this carnival like atmosphere that prevailed starting from early evening till the wee hours of the morning.
As you can see, the colour red was in abundance in the streets. Lanterns and pretty lights gave a warm red orange glow which added to the celebratory feeling of it all. There were mini parades that went up and down the street. School kids who looked like they were some sort of marching band, dancing lions and various rituals were being conducted at what looked to be temple like structures.

We even saw some Bollywood-style dance classes being held in a few of the buildings along Jonker. Probably has something to do with Shahrukh Khan being recently conferred the title of Datuk (similar to the British knighthood). Apparently they love Hindi films out there - with Shahrukh, Salman and Saif being the hot favourites amongst the Malays.

The following day we decided to take in the sights of the city. Melaka is primarily known for its museums. There's like a dozen of them within a one square KM distance. We saw a couple which was nice enough but after a while (for me anyway), its case of "seen one seen all". But it was quite lovely walking around the town. It was slightly misty in early half of the day. Weather was nice and cool. Quite a pleasant walk along the canal watching the occasional tour boat passing by with kids laughing and waving frenetically and you just can't help smiling and waving back yourself. Walked some more thru the town visiting the famous Christ Church, the replica of the Sultan's palace, and seeing so many of the afore-mentioned museums (from only the outside of course).
We stayed in Twenty Guesthouse (an unusual and abstract name, I initially thought - turns out that's the plot no. on which the building is located). When we'd booked our rooms, I was slightly apprehensive becoz 20 seemed a tad too backpackerish for my liking, what with common shared bathrooms but heck I was on vacation and we wanted to stay in the middle of the hustle and bustle. Turns out the place was actually pretty cool.
It was basically a home whose various rooms were converted into guestrooms. Very basic rooms - an almost big enough bed (I'm 6' 1" so most beds for me are almost big enough), A/C, and no TV. But it suited us just fine. The majority of the house was made of wood so every so often those wooden floors would creak loudly when someone climb the stairs which were located near our rooms or if people were walking on the floor above. One night, I think the group living above us probably decided to play catch or something, coz the floorboard were creaking like a mofo! Fortunately that lasted for only 15-20 mins.
Someone in their review on one of the travel websites had mentioned about staying in 20 which they liked a lot. Their only gripe was the loud sounds of Chinese karaoke being belted out from a nearby building. I laughed heartily when I read that article. Sometimes these things have a karmic way of getting back at you.

So of course both nights we heard some dude who obviously thought he was the Chinese Richard Marx singing with truckloads of passion and sorrow (or maybe that was just me). Which I wouldn't have minded as such other than the fact that he was a bit tone deaf! Fortunately we walked into our rooms at about 2am and the singing got done in some 30 odd minutes. But it bloody well woke me from my sleep at like 10 am the following.
I mean I'm a karaoke fan but maaaaan this guy took the cake!

And so this glorious journey comes to end. I will leave for Bombay in less than a week. Saw so many new places, met so many new people, took in the sights, sounds and culture of different countries.
I feel weary from all my travels. But it's a good kind of weary...

While I am certainly not an expert on these places I've written about, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Travel Travails - Quattro

2009-01-17T20:12:00.013+05:30

So our early morn flight from Siem Reap to KL, was then followed by a late afternoon flight from KL to Bali. Stupid bitch at the Air Asia counter in KL refused to make allowance for one… repeat ONE measly extra kilo on our bags. As the Madman would quite eloquently put it, “Saali ****, AIDS ho jaye tujhe!!”
Denpasar airport was quite chaotic when we got in. It seemed like there was several flights that came in at the same time and there was a long ass line for Immigration.

Ahead of us, was this newly-married Gujju couple from Baroda that were on their honeymoon.
Kaycee had whispered to me when we were in the line that we Indians almost refuse to acknowledge the presence of our country-men when we’re abroad and this was not cool.
So she initiated some small talk and I think our sheltered Gujju couple were mildly perturbed to see K and I traveling together. I believe certain assumptions were made in their mind about our “relationship” despite the fact that we told them we were just friends who were traveling together. We were giggling about it as we headed to collect our bags.

The giggling abruptly stopped as we got outside and realized there was no pickup from the hotel waiting for us. A few phone calls later, we were told that there was a miscommunication from their end and after profuse apologies, the lady said she would have a car there in 15 minutes.
We headed shortly to Febri’s which is where we were to spend the following three days.
Unfortunately we were so knackered with our journey, we eventually decided to spend the evening in the hotel itself having a few drinks and a peaceful dinner.

We were staying in Kuta which is the party area of Bali with lots of restaurants and clubs. Kuta is in fact where the bombings of ’02 took place. While the ’02 and the subsequent ’05 blasts have taken their toll on the tourist influx to the island, people are still coming in to soak in the stunning beauty of this island paradise. The largest number of victims in the ’02 bombings were Aussie tourists specifically a whole lot of surfers. But it hasn’t really stopped them any. We saw tons of the typical blond surfer types carrying their boards while we were in the airport as well as in the city.

We lost the following day to the weather. It had started raining late the previous night and kept up right thru the next day. So our final day in Bali was going to be a jam packed affair with us trying to squeeze in as many of the sites as we could.
The day started with us catching the famous Barong dance depicting scenes from the Ramayana at one of the local cultural centres. We followed that with a visit to the local Batik shop.
Our next stop was a place called Ubud. If Kuta is where you wanna go to party, the Ubud is the area where you can stay for the peace and quiet.
On the way to Ubud, we passed through several villages which were famous for different types of artifacts. So there were stone carving shops, wood carving shops, gold and silver jewellery shops as well as shops selling paintings and crafts.
We stopped at one of the wood carving shops. Man these people are obsessed with phalluses. We saw everything from tables to ashtrays to chairs to key-chains which had phallic attachments to them. I mean there was just so much dick in that shop that even neutral me got a wee bit homophobic.
We finally reach Ubud and the must-visit place there is the Sacred Monkey Forest. Since these monkeys are so used to human contact, they pretty much do as they please. So you are duly warned about keeping your sunglasses, cameras etc on a tight leash coz given a chance these lil buggers will even start rummaging your bags for something to nibble on.
As you can see in the pic, one of the simians got extra friendly and rode with me for a bit. Kaycee of course who’s not a big fan of the Vanars, kept freaking right thru the time my long tailed friend hitching a ride on me lol

We then grabbed some lunch before we headed to the Uluwatu temple. I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of this place. I’m putting up pictures of the views from the cliff top and the sunset that we went to catch. If you think the pictures look good, trust me, the real thing is a 1000 times better.

We stayed at Uluwatu for about an hour and just took it all in as much as we could. I don’t think I could ever get tired of that splendid view, the blue water, the waves crashing on the rocks below and the wonderful orange-pink glow that came with the sunset.

We ended our trip with dinner at one of the many seafood restaurants on Jimbaran beach. The sea breeze blowing, the soft sand between our toes, a few drinks, fresh catch cooked for you and of course music on request by the band that went from table to table. Those guys would ask you where you were from and then play a song in your local language. We of course didn’t encourage any Hindi songs but they did do some GnR and Beatles for us. All in all a satisfactory end to the trip.
Bali was a wonderful experience in more ways than one. I will definitely visit this place again and stay there longer. You need atleast a week here to truly enjoy and have a chilled out time.

That I thought pretty much ended the great SEA trip but there was one last destination in store…

Travel Travails - III

2009-01-16T11:11:00.022+05:30

I reached the hotel near the KLCCT where I was to spend the night and fly out early the next morning to Siem Reap. My companion for the Cambodia and Bali leg of the trip was the very delectable Miss Kaycee who I know from back home. We were staying at Molly Malone's, located in the heart of the Old Market area of Siem Reap. Run by a couple that's one half Irish (the wife) and the other French (with some Cameroonian thrown in there), MM's USP was its location. It was within walking distance to all the happening and not so happening food and drink joints of the area. Me and Kaycee had done some research prior to each leg of our trip courtesy our travel Bible - Wikitravel. Considering it was a first for both of us visiting these places, we'd decided that we were gonna do mostly typical touristy things in terms of visiting the known places, monuments et al rather than do the whole off-the-beaten-track type of traveling

So our first visit on the day we reached there was the Chong Khneas Floating Village located on the Tonle Sap Lake. We were warned by our research that this was a well known tourist trap but we decided to go visit it anyway. For us terra firma type, Chong Khneas was quite an eye opener. It was life as you'd see in any small town - people going about their lives, working to earn their bread, kids studying in school or playing basketball on the nearby court, places of worship like churches, grocery shops, the police station and the legal courts but the key difference being that ALL of them were afloat. Hah! We even saw a karaoke boat which had a bunch of men sitting and guzzling their wine and beer with the local music blaring out of the stereo and lyrics scrolling up the TV screen.
That evening the plan was to roam around the old market area where we’d have a few drinks and try the local Khmer cuisine. So to begin the evening right, we headed to the bar downstairs in Malone’s for a drink or two before heading out. Almost as soon as we were done with our first drink, the lights went out! Apparently the whole of Siem Reap was blacked out. So the initial plan got converted just like that to an evening at the bar itself.
It turned out to be one of the most fun evenings I’ve had in a long while. The French-Cameroon owner Thierry kept us company and even gave us a free round of drinks while talking about life in Siem Reap. I tell you these Frenchies can charm the birds out of the trees with their accent alone. “Aai travel the world and ‘av ‘ad some wundearful experiences but now I come ‘ere and settle down in Siem Reap where I meet my beautiful wife and we open zis place… Ees a good life no?!”
Hell yeah! I mean all three evenings we saw the man come in around 7pm, have a quick chat with his manager and then sit down with some of his customers and drink and smoke at the bar till about 10pm after which he’d head home. C’est la vie indeed! Also met a Brit Italian gentleman called Count Paolo Grazini along with his Cambodian fiancée who was called (and I kid you not!) Pumpkin. The Count regaled us with stories about his life in the army, travels around the world, working with the Mafia in their drug trade(!!) and how he finally landed in Siem Reap and was now a journo with a Phnom Penh newspaper writing mostly lifestyle articles and stories about Siem Reap. All in all a most (unexpectedly) entertaining evening.

The following day was temple visiting day. We decided to wake up early and catch the sunrise at the main temple complex of Angkor Wat and follow that with visits to the other temples. So off in the early morning cold which we experienced even more coz Kaycee decided we must do as the locals do and travel all of that day by motorised tuk tuk. Now as you can see in the picture, the weather was kinda muggy so we really didn’t get to see Angkor bathed in early morn sunshine. The funny thing is (and Kaycee later echoed similar sentiments) that I didn’t really see what the fuss was all about with regard to Angkor. I mean it was a huge temple complex alright but I didn’t really feel that sense of awe that I expected to feel when I came to see this place. Perhaps the weather had something to with it as well but honestly I have visited some smaller temple complexes in India which were much more impressive and awe-inspiring than Angkor was. By the way, there’s tons of references to the Ramayana and Mahabharata in these temples. We saw so many walls depicting scenes like Ravana kidnapping Sita, the battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas, the churning of the ocean by the Gods and Demons and lots of others.
So after Angkor we caught some breakfast before heading to visit the remaining two famous temples of Bayon and Ta Phrom.
Bayon was a temple we both enjoyed visiting because there was so much character to the place. There was a sense of gloom and doom to the whole place and had it not been for the many tourists who were around, I think it would felt a whole lot more spooky. There were so many faces cut into the various walls in and around the temple that I couldn’t quite shake the feeling of being watched. Almost creepy in some ways…
The last temple on the list was Ta Phrom. Again a temple with much character to it. If Bayon felt a tiny bit spooky, then Ta Phrom positively reinforced the feeling. This temple has gained fame primarily due to the fact that the Angelina Jolie movie Tomb Raider was shot here.
We even later visited the Red Piano bar, which was located pretty close to our hotel, where AJ and the Tomb Raider crew would hangout after their shoot. They even have a cocktail that she apparently concocted, the name of which is of course The Tomb Raider.
After getting all templed-out, once we came back into town, Kaycee decided we should get a massage to get some (bas?!) relief. So we snuck into the very aptly named Dr. Feet Massage parlour where we surrendered our feet to the capable ministrations of the massage girls. After they spent a fair of time giggling about the size of my feet, they got into action. I don’t know about y’all but a foot massage always makes me feel a little awkward, atleast initially. It feels a little too servile having a woman wash and press my feet. But damn! these women were good. I mean 30 mins into the hour-long massage I literally slipped into a coma. To the point that Kaycee had to actually nudge me hard (more than once I might add) coz I had started to snore… loudly! The massage girls of course loved it. It is a matter of pride for most masseuses if their massage has induced their client to fall asleep.
Aah Kaycee... you should’ve listened to the girls and let me snooze away.

Our final day in Siem Reap was gonna be something we’d discovered as a must do on several websites. It was Quad Biking and maaaan I gotta tell you this was the funnest thing I’ve done in a long while. We found this place owned by a Frenchman (Ze French are taking over ze world, I tell you!) called Hervé who ran these Quad Bike tours. Since we weren’t sure about how much we’d be able to handle, we choose the Easy Ride option – a 17 km ride which would take us thru the surrounding villages of Siem Reap.
These machines pack some serious power and were a blast to ride around on. Hervé was on lead with Kaycee following him and me rounding off the rear. Every so often whenever there was a long stretch of empty road, I’d let the other two go on ahead and then gun the ATV across the terrain. Wheeeeee!!

That last evening we went out to eat some more of the local Khmer food. And something interesting happened… I’d been cribbing for the past couple of days that we didn’t get to hear any live music. So we’re walking back to our hotel after dinner, and I hear loud rock music coming out a joint nearby. So of course I get this big grin on my face and before Kaycee could finish returning it, I dragged her ass in the direction of the spanking new Café Central. When we got there, there wasn’t any place available to sit. Suddenly this huge, barrel-chested bald guy with a bunch of tattoos running up and down his heavily muscled arms and thick neck comes up to us and asks if there’s just the two of us. He obviously seemed to be the owner or atleast top management. After confirming that we would be OK with sitting anywhere, he quickly arranges for a table and a couple of comfy cane chairs that we plonk ourselves on. We order our drinks and settle down to enjoy the Filipino cover band that was belting out the latest pop and rock tracks. Soon after the big guy comes over and asks in his booming voice if we’re having a good time. I couldn’t quite place his accent but we do answer in an enthusiastic affirmative. He then asks us where we’re from and I say India. He then asks where in? and I reply Bombay. He asks where in? again which kinda confused me into thinking he hadn’t heard me the first time around. So I again reply, “India”. And then to both mine and Kaycee’s astonishment, this guy goes, “Arre haan haan, lekin Bombay mein kahaan??” This dude was from our neck of the woods!!! We got talking and I came to know that Charlie (that's his name) was from Mazgaon and that he used to play football for the same college in Mazgaon that I used to go to. Talk about a freakishly small world. So now that we established the Indian and Mumbai connect, Charlie made more small talk with us, introduced us to his blonde girlfriend who looks after the other famous nightspot in Siem Reap called the Angkor What? Between the two of them, they were running this pub and after 4 years decided to open up another spot which was of course the week old Café Central.
Once again we were sent a round of drinks by the proprietor of a joint. If I was cribbing about the live music, Kaycee had been cribbing about the fact that she wanted to indulge in some Sambuca shots since she’s not a big fan of tequila. Not 15 mins later, Charlie and his friends get a bottle of it at their table and he comes over and plonks down a couple of healthy shots of Sambuca on our table. Now Kaycee’s the one who has the goofy grin all over her face.
We then stayed on till the band got done with its remaining sets and then in super high spirits we headed to our hotel. It was a fantastic night to end this leg.
So that was Siem Reap. The next morning we were to catch a flight back to KL from where we’d fly to our next destination.

Next stop – Bali, Indonesia

Travel Travails - Part Deux

2008-12-26T12:56:00.015+05:30

The LCCT (thats Low Cost Carrier Terminal) in KL has to be called inspiring. It will "inspire" you to skip travelling by low cost airlines only so you avoid coming into the country thru this airport. Almost felt like being back in Bombay's airport. Pretty sad altho they tell me the other airport (KLIA) is much bigger, better and cooler. Gotta make more money for next time so I can fly regular instead of low cost.

And of course I took forever to clear Immigration. Man I dont have luck when it comes to these things especially picking lines in an airport. Took almost an hour to clear Immigration and baggage claim.

Got picked up by my aunt and cousins at the airport and off we went to their home located in a quiet town about 40 minutes outside of KL. It was quite nice seeing all the houses in that town. After the typical apartment and buildings you see most of in my city, its nice to come across actual houses. This pic --> on the right is a shot taken from the KL Tower (or the Menara).
The pictures down below (from L to R) Sky Bar at The Trader's Hotel, Petronas Towers at night, Overhead view of Putrajaya.

The Sky Bar is a must visit for a really cool view at night of the Towers since Trader's is located right opposite the Towers. The view from the 42 floor is quite stunning.

Spent a couple of days at my aunt's before heading off to spend 3 days in KL city. I stayed with Sher who's a close friend of my cousins. Sher lives in a dorm thats attached to their church. Being the heathen that I am, when my mum came to know that I spent 3 continuous days in close proximity to a church, she almost dropped the fone. lol

<-- This is the view from the 42nd floor of the Petronas Twin Towers

Sher was kind enough to take me around the city on a whirlwind tour over the weekend. And a whirlwind tour it was. I pretty much visited all the major tourist attractions like the Petronas Twin Towers, The Menara (KL Tower), Putrajaya (which is various administrative offices of the country are located), The Batu Caves and a couple of the major shopping malls. Unfortunately due to time constraints I was unable to visit Aquaria and the F1 circuit at Sepang. But I figure there should be some places left to visit whenever I come here next.

Put up a few pictures of the places mentioned. Below is the view of the Batu Caves from up front and from the top of the steps. As you can see, there's 272 steps that lead you to the top. Bloody exhausting climb up not to mention it was a particularly humid day too.

Next stop - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Travel Travails - Part I

2008-12-14T17:10:00.019+05:30

Greetings Faithful Readers, all three of you.
Been a while since the last post and thought I'd get a quick one in before I take off on my travels in a day or two. Hah! I love how world traveller-like that makes me sound...

As mentioned in my previous post, the initial Thailand leg of the trip got scrapped. And so onto the next destination - Slingin' Singapore. Flew in on an Air India flight. Y'know every time I fly, I always get a sense of awe while approaching & boarding a plane. The thing looks so damned big and the fact that I feel so tiny in front of it just adds to the feeling. But this plane seemed more like one of those kiddie toys. For the very first time in my life, I did not get that inner sense of Woah!!... in fact it was more like... Huh?!! Is this supposed to be it??

After a fairly uneventful flight (btw the lack of in-flight entertainment on these Air India flights sucks bigtime!) landed in the early AM at Changi airport. I was 3rd in line at Immigration. 3rd!! So of course, as per the laws laid down by Uncle Murphy, I got pulled up when I finally get to the the Immigration desk. The rather severe looking Sgt. Something-Devi duly stamps my passport but after doing so calls over her colleague and I am escorted to the waiting area of their office. Wonderful...
So as I cool my heels in the waiting area, while they confirm I'm not a threat to national security or God-knows-what, I call my hosts in Singapore cribbing about my luck in these matters and telling them I'll meet them only in the evening since they were leaving for work shortly.

I finally get the all-clear and head out into the bright Singapore sunshine. The air smelt good... almost a sense of familiarity in there. Got into the cab and headed to the condo.
I stow all my bags and decide to take a shower. Step out 20 minutes later and... its raining! No wait... Its freakin' pouring cats-dogs-and-other-land-based-creatures!! The way its coming down you'd have thought that God decided Man's sins had warranted another 40 day 40 night deluge. Hmm... I wonder if Ikea sells arks. ("Yes, I'd like this in Red Mahogany please... ")
The downpour continued for another 4 hours. Rain tends to depress me at times but in this instance, it helped that I was on vacation and also as you can see the view from the apartment was quite pretty and green.

The next few days pass off in a blur. Revisited some places from my last trip here. Hung out with my hosts and their friends. Watched Lucky Oye (pretty good) and Bolt (alright types). Walked along Orchard street checking out the Christmas decorations that were just starting to be put up. It's gonna look quite festive in a few days. Also learning how to cook some basic khaana coz I figure its high time. I also think I have the knack for it (my hosts will provide testimony to the Spanish Omelette I cooked for them).

Last but not the least I met up with The Mighty Gong Liu. We'd been in touch for a while now and I was looking forward to our meet. GL pretty much turned out the way I'd pictured her to be. Full of chat, laughs and enthu. Our first meet was lunch at a foodcourt near her office. Of course the way these places get so crowded during lunch, she ended up giving company to a couple of firangs while I was off getting my food. Due apologies about that, GL. We really should've picked a restaurant huh?!

Couple of days later, GL very kindly invited me over for some lunch. How can I say no to ghar ka khaana especially parathas! Spent a very pleasant afternoon stuffing my face and talking about this and that. I think my behaviour as a lunch guest was exemplary enough to score another meal soon (nudge nudge wink wink) :D

Next stop - Kuala Lumpur.

Can lah can

2008-12-02T21:58:00.010+05:30

23:36 - Right now at this very minute I am supposed to be sitting here and looking at this view. Sniff...

Yeah so if you've been following the news closely, besides the Bombay situation and its aftermath, there is also the news of political unrest in Bangkok. It seems this was going on for the past many months now. But in true Murphy's Law style, three days before my scheduled departure to the Land of Smiles, the P.A.D protesters decide to march up in thousands and camp outside the airport - their intention to prevent the Thai Prime Minister, who was coming into Bkk after some international summit, from entering the country as well as demanding that he step down as PM.

So therefore in this situation**, we've had to can the Bangkok and Koh Samui plan coz the director of Swarnabhumi International Airport has grounded all flights in and out till 5th Dec. Apparently at last count, there were more that 250,000 passengers stuck there.
What I'm feeling awful about is the fact that this plan was cooked up almost 6 months ago and my friends were all coming together (they live in Dubai) and meeting up after a long time.

I now head directly to Singapore which was supposed to be the second leg of my trip. The excitement is growing again. Can't wait to meet the friends who I'm staying with (who actually were in India last month on a really swift visit) and spend the holidays with them. It will be almost exactly five months to the day when I was last there. In fact this post about my last trip to Singapore pretty much kickstarted this blog.
Also looking forward to meeting some of my fellow residents of Blogosphere who live in that neck of the woods. Should be fun...
Besides Singapore, there is also KL, Angkor Wat and Bali on the agenda. I should be back from these places by Christmas eve coz I'm hearing good things about Singapore during Christmas and New Year time.

So if you live in that neck of the woods, suggestions are more than welcome regarding fun places and/or activites that I could do.

**I was gonna crack a joke about the unsanitary situation caused by the PAD. You're looking up and saying, "Thank heavens he resisted..." aren't you?!!

A Wednesday

2008-11-27T04:14:00.002+05:30

I started writing this at 1:00 am.

By the time you read this, I’m sure you will have seen/read about the absolute insanity of the last many hours that this city has been witness and victim too. It’s going on as I write this post…

Mumbai and indeed India’s worst ever terror attack they’re calling it. A series of shootouts and blasts at several locations in the city, a hostage situation currently on within the confines of the Trident (Oberoi) hotel, thick smoke billowing out of both hotels due to grenade blasts.

I’ve turned off the television because a) I couldn’t keep watching the same thing over and over again and b) I felt just a little bit disgusted at myself.

Disgust primarily at what is now (in)famously referred to as the Mumbaikar’s Resilient Spirit. Tomorrow this “incident” will come to an end and most people will go on with the lives. There will be solemn talk and appropriate tch-tching about the whole thing but then we’ll be done with it. Perhaps the only ones who will be traumatized about it, would be people who’ve lost a loved one in this entire affair.

I hate the fact that we just have to be resilient. Once in a way is understandable. But all the damn time?!? We’ve seen some terrible times – The riots, the ’93 blasts, the train blasts, the flooding that almost drowned the city. Special love it seems is being bestowed by the Gods** that dwell in our city.

Its 3 am now and its still on…

A not-so-recent resident of our city buzzes me on chat all upset. While I try to say comforting words and make all the right soothing noises, I realize just how incapable I am of understanding her (rightly justified) fears. Hoping honesty is the right way to go about it, I tell her I can’t help too much only because “Ab toh jaise aadat si ho gayi hai…”
As I said it I felt all of 2 feet tall. It’s pathetic that things like this have to become a habit. Bomb blasts, riots, shootouts, death arent't things one should get used to.

Since I am a gambling man, I bet someone will make a (hopefully good) movie on the events that have transpired tonight within 16 months. See, resilience...

Main bhi Scienticity hoon...

2008-11-27T03:34:00.005+05:30

This was actually part of the above post but it didn’t quite fit so I thought I’d just make another post for this alone.

** Speaking of the Gods that dwell in the city, I suddenly remembered this one comedy & mimicry tape we used to listen to over and over again. Back in my college days, S had purchased some comedy cassette tapes by Johnny Lever. They were basically a recording of his stage shows.
I remember in particular this one sketch he did. It related to an incident which happened sometime in the late 70’s. There was a global fear about the impending crash of Skylab (a US space station).

Now the central character of this sketch essayed by Lever was a man called Gafoorbhai. As the name suggests, Gafoorbhai was a Bhai. Not only that, he was a psychic of sorts (no doubt helped by that fact that he was a charsi – that’s a dopehead for those of y’all stumped by the slang) whose visions were taken pretty seriously by people around him.
So around the time when the Skylab scare was running wild with fresh rumours everyday about where it would crash, it came to pass that Bombay could/would be its point of impact.

So when asked by one of his so-called followers whether Skylab would indeed crash in Bombay, Gafoorbhai without hesitation says a firm and resounding No.

GB says it might fall anywhere in the world but it will not fall in Bumbey (yup that is how he called it). “Meri baat sun na… main bhi Scienticity hoon… Eskeelab ho... kiski bhi lab ho... woh kahin pe bhi gir jaye, Bumbay mein nahi girega.”

Follower: “but O Wise One, how can you be so sure??”

Gafoorbhai confidently replies, “kyun ki Bumbey mein pehra hai” (because Bombay is under constant vigil)
And he goes onto explain, “See, on the southern side, in the middle of the sea, there is Haji Ali, towards the centre you have the divinity of Siddhivinayak and as you head towards the north there is the benevolent protection of Mother Mary. So with guardians like that, there is no way anything could ever happen to this city.”

To Gafoorbhai’s Divine Trinity – Some help right now would be nice. Seriously.

Perception is Reality

2008-11-25T22:46:00.006+05:30

WARNING!!! – This is a kinda poker centric post. Only meant to be read if you are a fan of the game or fully faltu.

For those of you who know me, you know of my great love for the game of poker. There are days (and nights) when I am positively obsessed with the game. I am constantly devouring bits of information and news about the game. In my head, I visualize the day when they legalize it here and that I will then become the face of the game here.
Let’s be clear – I don’t consider myself to be a great player. I would realistically put me in the decent-to-good bracket. A learning player if you will (although I think for anyone serious enough about the game, the learning never stops)

So this past weekend, I was sitting at S’s weekend getaway house situated on the outskirts of Pune. By the way, S is as or probably even more obsessed about the game than I am. And so over our glasses of Old Monk (with half water-half coke please, Bartender) we were discussing the game as we usually do on these trips. His insights on the game are something I look forward to listening to. Many areas of my game which I felt were weak have improved because of these discussions we’ve had. I look forward to the day when we’re doddering ole gents sitting on our rocking chairs and still tossing about those hands dealt… those flops hit… the bad beats taken and handed out… those invariable suckouts which just HAVE to happen on the river… while bad mouthing the younger punks who we played against...

Talk also drifted towards some personal stuff… some mine and some to do with people he’s close to. It’s not often that S will bring up topics of a personal nature coz he firmly believes in the Do-what-the-fuck-you-feel-like policy most days of the week.
But this was one of those evenings... The weather was just right. The drinks went down smooth and slow. And as we talked of these things that were directly or indirectly affecting our respective lives, I thought of just how much of the poker talk and its relevance was intertwined with life. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that one’s approach to a lot of the situations that life throws at you, mirror those one comes across on the green felt. Equally too, one's decisions and their outcomes in life, could be mirrored by the decisions you took while playing a hand in poker. Maybe I’m reading more into it than there actually is… perhaps seeing and making connections because I’m into the game so much.

But I have noticed this game has made me a little more aware of people. I am more receptive to the vibe that a person might exude. I put it down to the ability to “read”, that one must develop on the table – reading whether your opponent has got you beat or is trying to pull off an audacious bluff.
I have used a quote by Immanuel Kant in the title. It holds incredibly true at the poker table and so it seems in life as well. So one tries to be more emotionless on the poker table. They don’t call it poker face for nothing. This too has creeped somewhat into my general psyche. I now try and approach a situation with my head more than my heart – something, which in the past, I have been (and continue to be) guilty of with respect to a lot of things in my life be it work or personal stuff.

Like I said before, the learning never really stops. Just like poker is a series of hands, life ends up being a series of lessons. But like S says, there nothing quite like that feeling when you made the right call. It’s the biggest thrill in the world.

S – bhai I didn’t realize you were reading this blog so regularly. This post is as much for you as it is for me - For all those Dynamic Duo :) trips we've done to Pune... the sheer blessedness of getting away from manic Bombay even if for a couple of days... the weather... those teen patti sessions then... the p0ker marathons now... the great food in the past... the GF food these days lol... the Old Monk... the bitchin'... those glorious singing sessions... the New Year's parties... that house has a lot of wonderful memories.

Rendono fermata...

2008-11-17T23:56:00.005+05:30

Sometime in early September... Atrium Lounge, Land's End...

The Madman and I are drinking our beers and he's making oral love to his cigar...

M (looking up, blowing a dense cloud of smoke): "Man its gonna suck not being able to come here as often from October onwards..."

B: "Why do you say that?"

M: "Oh you know... the smoking ban kicks in from Bapu's birthday..."

B (mentally miles away): "Hmmm... true..."

M: "Kya hua? Still thinking about her...?! How is that coming along?"

B: "Ehh... I'm thinking there's no point in moping about something you never even had an honest shot at right...?!"

M: "Hmmm... true..."

Fast forward to sometime last week. I came across something...

I really never had a shot...

So why do I still feel a twinge of something...?

Something that feels suspiciously like pain... Rendono fermata...

A child gives birth to a mother

2008-11-15T17:41:00.006+05:30

Been a crazy 12 hours. I was supposed to be in Pune right now at S's place enjoying my dark rum with half water half Coke. Things have a way of getting seriously tossed up. What's that saying - Man proposes and God... gives him a swift kick in the nuts saying "Na uh!"

Was up late watching season 3 of 24 till about 3am. Couple of hours later, I get woken up and we her rush to the hospital. Formalities are completed and me and Mum with her sister keep watch. Hours pass... She is in pain... its increasing by the hour. The pains are racking her body at regular intervals... increasing in their frequency and intensity. I sit in the room for as long as I can. She's breathing heavily, raggedly... sometimes deep breaths... sometimes shallow ones. She wants some medication to ease her suffering... Mum and Aunt hold her hand telling her it'll all be over soon.

I can't take it anymore. I leave the room and walk to the area near the elevators. Never have I felt this helpless... this impotent as a man. I can wish all I want to help her out but this is her thing. There's nothing anyone else can do in this situation. There are no tears flowing but I can hear them in her voice.

They wheel her off an hour later...

12:40pm

Doctor - "It was all very smooth... barely took any time at all... Congratulations! It's a boy. 3.45 kilos. Completely normal delivery."

Yup I became an uncle today. And not just in that annoying-kid-on-the-road-yelling-out-Uncle kinda way but a real honest-to-goodness uncle Uncle!

Dozens of calls made and lots of sms-es were sent off in minutes. And a few minutes later we see the lil tyke being paraded for the family for just a few seconds before he's whisked off to get cleaned up. Man newborn babies look ugl...er... weird.

They wheel my sis back into the room. She looks totally bombed. But besides the obvious exhaustion she's holding up fine. Been an absolute trooper thru almost the whole thing.

And now I must gear up to play the part of the cool (but slightly naughty) uncle. Yeah the one that his Mum will tell him to stay away from when he's old enough :D

Welcome to the family, kid.

००७

2008-11-11T12:14:00.012+05:30

Saw Quantum of Solace over the weekend.

There have been pretty mixed reviews to the movie. A lot of it, I think, stems from the hangover of the Bond played by Pierce Brosnan. The cool, classy, wise-cracking, martini-swigging character that Brosnan epitomised thru the last decade or so might make this newer raw Bond seem almost Neanderthal-ish in comparison. I disagree with the negative reviews only because I think Craig’s Bond has been a breath of fresh air for a character, whose portrayal by Pierce Brosnan, had almost outlived its time.
Just to clear any doubts - I loved Pierce Brosnan’s 007. But by the last installment, Brosnan was looking his age. Not to mention some of the casting left a lot to be desired. Case in point – Halle Berry. I never really liked her and in Die Another Day I liked her even less. And Jonathan Pryce as the evil media baron… I mean… come on!

So what did I think of QoS? I liked it. Not loved it but liked it. Immediate reason for this is probably because I am a fan of the franchise. Reason #2 – Daniel Craig. Before Casino Royale had released, there was a lot of apprehension that Craig wouldn’t be able to live up to the character. I was one of the few amongst my mates who felt that this guy was gonna be the one to give the edge back to the Bond character.
He proved me right with Casino and again with Quantum. I think DC will definitely end up doing more movies than Brosnan (4) atleast. (FYI Sean Connery did 7 and Roger Moore 8)

You know QoS could have done a lot better had they Bolly-fied it a bit. Y'know maybe include a few song and dance sequences. Like its Indian counterpart - Guru. No no… not that “I-love-Dhirubhai” tribute by Mani Ratnam. Altho both movies had one common factor – the ever lovin’ Mithun “Look-at-my-Hips” Chakraborty.

I’m talking about that Goldfinger inspired 1989 masterpiece, which had Mithunda in & as "Guru" and Sridevi in all her gory costumed glory as the good girl gone bad. See the Bad Girl in action here. Rihanna, you ain’t got nothin’ on the Freedevi.
Additionally, for great costume ideas, see here.

I’ve littered this post with pictures of some of the cool stuff in the film. Except for Olga Kurylenko…. She’s smokin’ hot! What a body! What a face!!! *sigh*

Liked her in Hitman (not an Oscar winning performance to be sure) and I'm glad she got a chance to show off her acting chops a little bit in this one.

"I don’t think the dead care about vengeance..." - Commander James Bond, MI6

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana

2008-11-02T02:04:00.007+05:30

I have a confession - I'm a TV junkie.

Well perhaps not junkie in the traditional sense.... hmm I'm seeing serious contradictions in this here line.
No, when I say junkie, i mean being absolutely addicted to a few select shows. I don't just watch any crap that's played on the idiot box and we know there's a LOT of that on. I especially don't like those reality shows. You know the ones I'm talking about... Where you, the viewer (voyeur) is intimately privy to the goings on within a household etc. I don't mind the American Idol types so much coz that's more about the talent than the "emotion" aspect. Plus you get to see some seriously good performances.
But I completely detest shows like Big Boss, Survivor and such like. Kinda creeps me out coz I feel acutely uncomfortable after a few minutes. I guess the general public at large does possess some streak of peeping Tom-ism, given the success and ratings of these shows.

Actually most of the shows I watch are courtesy the Internet and several accommodating pirate friends. I been watching some seriously good shows over the past couple of days and just HAD to write about them. I am a big fan of strong character driven shows. If there's a few laughs in there, then all the better.
Here's a few shows that are an absolute must watch if you like (seriously) good entertainment:-

Boston Legal - Just got done watching 4 episodes back-to-back of this show before starting to write this post. The leads played by James Spader and William Shatner are effin' brilliant. Plots which range from dead serious to bust a rib laughing funny to mind boggling bizarre. Dialogues which are witty, crackling and sometimes so fast that its blink-and-a-miss. I haven't written too much about the show here but safe to say that it's some of the finest television you will ever get to watch - Guaranteed!

House M.D. - This show had run for a fairly long time on Indian television before I started to watch it. Hugh Laurie is magnificent as the cynical, arrogant know-it-all (which he almost always is), Dr. Gregory House in this medical drama. The USP for me is the sparkling dialogue not to mention the absolute sarcasm projected by House. You will also get to see occasionally Laurie's musical multi-instrumentality. He plays the piano, drums, guitar and the clarinet (He's also part of a group of TV stars who have formed a group called Band from TV who play a lot of gigs for charity)

Studio 60 from the Sunset Strip - Here's a show which not a lot of people were familiar with primarily because it got cancelled after just one season. It stars two of my favorite actors - Brad Whitford and Mathew Perry. Perry of course everyone knows (and loves) from F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Whitford had a primary role in the West Wing. Fantastic chemistry between these two and it only reconfirms my belief in Americans not knowing good entertainment even if it were to hit 'em between the eyes.

The Wire - I've briefly mentioned this show in an earlier post. I just got done with it yesterday and all I can say is Wow! I am not all that into cop dramas but this is probably the most grittiest show I have ever seen. Shot entirely in the city of Baltimore, the Wire looks at life in this city from the eyes of the cops, drug dealers, addicts and the media. One of the things while watching this show was the need for subtitles. The language and street language spoken in the first 2 seasons is virtually incomprehensible without some help. One of the things about the show is its virtually unknown cast. They almost all seem like regular people you might run into on a street in the US. Another unusual fact is the producers using real life cops and former convicts and felons to play characters on the show.

There are a lot of other shows which are favorites like Entourage, Californication, Weeds, Family Guy, Grey's Anatomy, Prison Break, 24, Heroes, How I met your Mother, Niptuck etc. And there are shows which I haven't had the opportunity to watch like Oz and The Sopranos.

If you have any inclination towards watching good television, do yourself a favour and watch some these.

Post title courtesy Groucho Marx

Getting away from it all

2008-11-01T18:31:00.005+05:30

A lazy Saturday in progress... Woke up late, had a bit of breakfast. Then later headed with the Madman and the Banker to Hard Rock for lunch. I'm sitting now at the Madman's house writing this post on his Mac (bloody annoying to get used to, being a PC user my entire life) which I think I could get to like given enough time and well.... my own Mac.

I'm sitting on the steps of the entry to his house in front of this tiny lil garden posting while the Madman snores away contentedly inside his room.

The past few days have been an equal mix of dread and anticipation. Dread stemming from the fact that there is now only 2 weeks to go before I leave my company. The anticipation is a result of a trip I will be taking towards the end of the month. What started out as a week long trip to Koh Samui has blown up and become a South East Asia jaunt of sorts. I will be travelling for about 6 weeks and will back in Bombay only in the new year. Places on the list are Bangkok, Koh Samui, Singapore and KL. Trying to squeeze in either Vietnam or Cambodia as well although it doesn't look too promising.

The aim besides travelling is to catch up with family and friends (old and new) living in these places. Also to try and visit places of interest located near to the above cities mentioned. Last, but definitely not the least, on the agenda is to play a serious amount of poker. The Hold 'Em scene is thriving in Singapore and KL and it would be good to meet up and play with different players. I think my game's been stagnating off late and this might be a good way to refresh it.

It's the coming back after which is bringing back those anxiety attacks. The thought of job hunting (successfully) given the current bleak market scenario is a daunting one. But I'm not thinking too much about now coz that'll just succeed in ruining the upcoming vacation.

Where the hell is that Fairy Godmother when you need her?!?!

Will sing for my drinks

2008-10-27T16:34:00.006+05:30

Pre-Diwali day in the office. Slow since morning... slower post a pretty heavy Diwali lunch with the team. I'm only writing this post coz i'm in serious danger of snoozing at my desk... zzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzz

Most of the agencies & clients' offices are shut today and in some cases till this coming Thursday. We're out till Wednesday. This being the last set of chuttis till December, its causing a feeling of blah amongst a lot of my colleagues. ("yaar no public holidays till Dec.... how will we survive??")
And that is of course promptly followed by "you lucky bastard, you toh dont need to worry since you're quitting in a couple of weeks."
I am.... weeeeeeee!

Definitely in the mood for a few drinks and some karaoke tonight. So I'm thinking of going to Soul Fry this evening and might end up going alone. Alone because most of my friends are either out at their Diwali teen patti sessions or at the Russell Peters show tonight.
Haven't done the whole going-drinking-alone-at-bars bit since my last job when I was posted out of Bombay. Perhaps this is the night to relive old habits...

If you hear someone singing some Billy Joel (Piano Man/We didn't start the fire) or U2 (Without or without you), or Elvis (Jailhouse Rock) it could be me. Or not.
I haven't copyrighted those songs on karaoke as my own... yet!

So why don't you drop by,

say me a hello or even a hi,

I'll sing you a song or tell you a joke

if buy me a brew or two,

coz I'm flat broke.

Note - The Author was formerly a vocalist in a band. However he has limited lyrical ability as can be seen from the above post. Additional testimonials towards the same will be provided by his former bandmates who used to giggle and snicker when he'd come to their garage jams with lyrics he claimed were masterful. He does not speak to these former bandmates anymore.

The Chicken or the Egg?

2008-10-27T12:23:00.004+05:30

I was reading the Oct issue of this music mag called Blender. It was an article about a Damn Yankees album.
I quote below the writer's Asif Khan's opening paragraph:-
"Throughout the history of music, there have been eras, which as a thumb rule have occupied the timeline in units of decades, and have had the birth, emergence, establishment and decay of genres, which held their mainstay and defined those lengths of time."

I kept wondering why it looked so familiar when it hit me suddenly...

The closing paragraph of my post dated 24.09.08:-
"Special mention also about that musically confused/chaotic decade - the 80’s. With most other decades, there is an association of a genre with a particular decade - like blues and jazz for the 40's and 50's, rock for the 70's, grunge/alternative for the 90's, hiphop for the (early) 2000's. But the music from the 80's has always been referred to as that. 80's music. No particular genre ever made that decade its own."

Tell me its not just me...

It's 5 o'clock somewhere...

2008-10-09T21:59:00.032+05:30

So I went to Goa on the weekend of Bapu's birthday and I'd promised myself I'd write about it. I'd started this post a lot earlier but didn't get around till today (20.10.08) to posting it. As with so many of my trips to Goa, I'm not sure what to write about at the end of them. I mean it was a great trip but I'm not sure I am up to describing it in its entirety. Goa's like that for me. Just an extended experience which turns into one big, alcohol-induced hazy and kinda secret memory. So I'm just gonna put down some of the highlights...

The Journey - So the traveling circus was J, Ed, MK, DKS and moi. Now J and Ed are married as are MK and DKS. Fortunately I'm very close to these folks that I don't feel like the "single" fifth wheel sort. Also helps that I have a fairly thick skin about these things :D

We decided to save a few bux by going one way by train and returning by flight. I'm not sure it was worth it the following morning when I'm totally exhausted from sleep deprivation (I rarely am able to sleep in a train and not at all on a bus) to the point of wanting to strangle the cabbie who was so obviously overcharging us to get us to our hotel. Anyway we reach our hotel and what followed was 4 days and 3 nights of drinking and eating a LOT of (esp. sea) food.

I think I'd grown gills by the end of it and could probably have swum back to Bombay in case I'd missed my flight.

Blackjack - I got the boys (that's J & DKS in case you're still wondering) hooked onto Blackjack on the train trip. And it continued right thru the trip and even on our return flight back to Bombay. I was the house for most part and they were playing against me for 10 bux a hand. Which reminds me - they frickin' owe me money. The house always wins baby!!

In DKS's case I also started tutoring him on the basic of poker. My young protégé displayed a decent grasp of the game and might be good if he decides to pursue it further.

Whiskey Sour - Another highlight of the trip was the discovery of my new favorite cocktail.

A lovely... lovely... "oh-my-God-hit-me-with-the-nearest-blunt-object-to-stop-the-hangover" lovely drink. J called for this drink our first evening at the bar opposite where we were put up. After that every night before going to sleep we'd indulge in one or two or ten of these. Be warned tho - this mofo will sneak up on you and maaaaaan the hangover's a b*tch to deal with in the morning.

But hell we was in Goa after all...
I generally avoid drinking whiskey or whiskey based drinks coz I tend to become a lil nasty when I drink too much of this poison. But I think I will make an exception for this drink :)

Zeebops - This is a shack that's located on Utorda beach in South Goa. It took us just under 90 minutes to get there from our base in Baga but it is so damn worth it. The food is fine, the beers are chilled but what you come here for is the view.

One of the best beaches I've ever been to in Goa. There's not a lot of people here, the water is cleaner and clearer, the sand too seems softer. Even with my limited foto-taking abilities, here's a pretty picture I took of the beach...

"No Smoking Unless You're on Fire" - The ban on smoking in public places went into effect the day we landed in Goa. Despite being a smoker, I'm all for this law. I mean sure, it's an inconvenience if you gotta go a long way off to get your fix but it wasn't as bad as I originally thought it'd be, having already had a taste of it when I was in Singapore a few months ago.

And sure that don’t stop us from bitchin' about it but this is a good thing. My only gripe remains with people who can't ask me simply to put out my cig. Instead they give you dirty looks and make rude under-the-breath comments. That used to just succeed in goading me to continue blowing smoke rings in their faces. A lot of "us" are regular civilised folks who will immediately stub it (or take it) out if we're told to. There's something to be said for common courtesy. Give it a shot sometime...

The Lighthouse - That first night with our "softdrink" bottles in hand we ventured out in our vehicle which was a Gypsy. Everyone was kicked about roaming about Goa in an open-top. Very Dil Chahta Hai types (wait... didn’t those guys ride a Merc?!)

So our Goa expert J (he's probably made more trips here than all the other places he's ever visited put together), decided to take us to the Lighthouse out beyond Candolim. It was probably 10 at night and barely any street lights. And then suddenly it almost seems like we've left civilisation behind. Only the forest-like woods on either side of the road keep us company as we reach the end of land and see the lighthouse. It's big white beam of light going round and round with reassuring certainty.

J was gung-ho to take us right out to the adjoining cliffs to see the light beam play out over the surrounding Arabian Sea. But in our slightly tipsy state, we chickened out but I could the disappointment in his voice at us missing out on a superlative view.

On our drive back, we went by a helipad type area located pretty close to the lighthouse.
Dr. Mallaya's aerial steeds use this area to land and take off. Aah to be rich... We came to a standstill in the centre of the LZ. Switched off the engine and indulged in some stargazing. One of the simple pleasures denied to us city dwellers. A diamond studded velvet blanket which gazes benevolently down, mysteriously twinkling here and there. Its a humbling feeling when you look up and realize just what a tiny tiny speck you are in this grand ole universe. The alcohol, I think, went down the smoothest in those 30 minutes.

That about covers the so called highlights. There was a lot more alcohol, tons of fingerlickin' food (btw crumb-fried Anything tastes good), loads of laughter, stories old and new, reminiscings of trips past and memories to last me a lifetime. The last time i had gone to Goa with these guys was about a year and a half ago.

Hopefully it won't be another 18 months before we do this again.

Without music, life would be a mistake...

2008-09-24T21:21:00.006+05:30

Well… just re-read my last post and after some serious cringing I have come to the conclusion that it was just a badly written thank you note to mah peeps (there’s that black thing again…). So in my present stone cold sober state, I’ll just say thank you and I’m very grateful for your presence in my life.

I was also going thru some of eM’s old posts last week. She’s like a celebrity of sorts now. From a famous blogger to a published author. Quite the feat. She writes pretty good. See… that’s my writing style. But if I were an author I’d jazz that up just a bit – “Her, often vivid, descriptive style of prose is quite becoming… especially her accounts of love and life in the urbane landscape of the towering metropolis… quite enthralling indeed.”

Nice eh?! Felt downright British there... by Jove!... ole Blighty… Tally ho… Spotted dick! (what the...??)

While I haven’t read it yet, I do intend to get me a copy and who knows maybe get it signed by her since she lives in this city now. Damn! That would be a first. I don’t have a signed book by a real live author... err... or a dead one either. So all of y'all need to go out there and buy a copy too. Help a fellow resident of Blogosphere make a few bux and all that.

So coming back to that post of hers – it was about certain songs from different times in her life. Which got me to thinking about some songs/artistes which are so ingrained in my mind that I swear there are times when I just need to think about them and I can literally hear the music in my head. Goosebumpy sh*t that…

So onto the list of 4:-

1. Beat It by Michael Jackson – I distinctly remember seeing the video of Beat It way back when on television. Now I might have been just a 5 year ole chile but my memory is absolutely crystal clear on this. And I remember it was shown in connection with some award ceremony. There was a blurry memory of a picture which looked something like a big tuba like thing in the bacground of the stage. It was only years later that I managed to connect the dots. That's right... I was watching the Grammys that night in '84 on Doordarshan. Till date, everytime I listen to this song, it never fails to gee me up. I think this song really started off my on-going love affair with rock. Killer guitar riffs along with that super fantastic solo by Eddie Van Halen (with that speed shredding and his signature tapping) really make this a standout track. Aural delights aside, this solo is a visual treat too. Take a gander at this.

2. Let's get rocked by Def Leppard – My first e-v-e-r rock song. In them days, mix tapes were the rage and pretty expensive to make as well. So when my buddy Z got one made by a local dj, he was kind enough to give me a copy. (btw said local dj went by the name of Aqueel – yup the same dj Aqueel of Yeh Vaada, Disco '82 etc fame) I remember Joe Elliot’s raspy voice in the intro demanding if I wanted to get rocked. And no sooner did the first few bars blast through my Panasonic cassette stereo, I surrendered. Def Lep holds a special place in my heart. British pop-rock at its best and their heavy use of vocal harmonies influenced us when we did our own songs. Hysteria and Adrenalize are two albums I will never grow tired of listening.

3. Billy Joel – I can’t really pinpoint any one song by Billy Joel because I pretty love 'em all. Again an artiste whose tape I must have run ragged on that trusty ole Panasonic a million times. If I had to pick, it would have to be Allentown, Its still Rock n Roll to me, Tell her about it, Movin’ out (Anthony’s song), The Longest Time, New York State of Mind, Just the way you are, This is the time… aah forget it... just waayyyy too many. Billy’s song writing is unfussy and uncomplicated. I've thought of him as a storyteller more than songwriter. His stories are mostly simple ones… but whether they are or not, they'll get to you coz thats the way he writes them. If there was one thing I could have just for a while, it would be to have the talent to write a love song the way Billy does and sing it for my woman.

4. Nothing else matters by Metallica – My first “metal” song or so I thought going by the band’s name. I’d been given a free copy of their self titled album (also referred to as the Black album) by a school buddy whose dad was a biggie with Universal Music (back then it was Music India Ltd). That cassette lay in one corner of my bookshelf for all of like six months gathering dust. I can’t quite remember why one day I tore off the plastic wrap and slid it into… you guessed it – the Panasonic. It definitely had to do with someone at school telling me I just HAD to listen to this particular song. Of course I was hooked after listening to the song the first time. Played it for another 4-5 times in a row which was a task considering all the rewinding I had to do. For the younger readers of this blog, Rewinding (and Fast Forwarding for that matter) was this process one had do with tapes in order to get to any song you wanted to listen to which was situated anywhere after the first song in a tape. Quite like shampooing - RWD/FFD --> Stop --> Play to check --> Repeat if necessary.

Special mention also about that musically confused/chaotic decade - the 80’s. With most other decades, there is an association of a genre with a particular decade - like blues and jazz for the 40's and 50's, rock for the 70's, grunge/alternative for the 90's, hiphop for the (early) 2000's. But the music from the 80's has always been referred to as that. 80's music. No particular genre ever made that decade its own. There was rock and pop and metal and rap... just one big mish-mash. Musically I am pretty much an 80's child. My sense of rhythm and melody developed from listening to the artistes and music of that era. The harder, harsher edge to my music probably stems from the grunge and alternative influences of the 90’s.

Of course there are a lot more songs… tons more in fact but I think I’d have to start another blog for that. Since lazy me has no intentions of doing so, I'll just settle for listening to some Def Lep and MJ and Billy and reliving some memories past.

Man I miss that Panasonic…

P.S - In connection with my 15.09.08 post, I came across a supercool video of Incubus at their concert in the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver. If you like the original song, then i think you will love this trippy bass heavy version of Drive.

The Big Three Oh

2008-09-23T00:27:00.005+05:30

12:17

Another day… another year.

I hit 30. And thus goes a conversation with me and this foo called Life.

B - yo Life! I need to settle some scores with you dawg. About where you and me is at this point. I thought I oughta feel different but I don’t. I thought there be something more by now but there ain't. I thought I would be in another place, but I’m not. Just a feeling of unfinished business y’know.
Why did I think more would come of this day? Of this time?
My life seems the same it was not too many years ago. Why is that? Did I not warrant something special to happen to me by now? Did I not want that enough… whatever that might be or was I not enough of a man to get out there and seize my opportunities?
Am I content with what I am and where I am today? Don’t seem like it, if I’m here questioning you like this…

L – mah man… I am a mystery. Sometimes even to myself. I’ve seen a lotta bodies come and go. Some of them be commonplace… some not so. Some of them be punks… some not so. But some… some… they be the extra-ordinary. They be the unusual… the remarkable… sometimes even the curious. You’ve come across all of these in your short time here on this earth.
What did you do when you came across this myriad of specimens?

B - Some I ignored coz they weren’t worth it. Others I didn’t care for because they weren’t of much use in my life. But that some you mention…. Some…
I call some of those my family… yet a few others my friends… In so many cases I wasn’t sure if I would ever be tight with these people. Yet not a day goes by that I’m not thankful enough for whatever reasons there might be, for these people wanting to be part of my life.

L – There are reasons… eventually you will come across them for what they are. They are in your life because they mirror you in so many ways. Its what brought you close in the first place.
Yet there are still life lessons to learn. What lacks in you is completed by them and in so many ways it goes around the other way too. So you turned 30 today… a lesson in itself. You got yourself this far didn’t you?! There are still some more miles to travel… some more lessons to learn… some you will learn from these you call family and friends. Still more from the people who are yet to come into your life…
It’s a waiting game son… when you reach that light shining at the end of the tunnel, I’ll be waiting there for you. And as you end this journey we shall both look back and then you can ponder on what I was all about.
You might just end up marveling at all the wonders you’ve seen…

Warning – The Author was ~~completely fucked up, drunk out of his damn mind~~ in a seriously inebriated state post his consumption of several vodkas and loud singing. This post shall be treated as a Rambling. No references of the same shall be made in future meetings with said Author. The Author would also like to assign culpability of the occasional use of 'black' language in the above post to the episodes of The Wire that he be watching recently, aight?!

Present State of Mind

2008-09-15T23:12:00.009+05:30

11:27 pm

Incubus - Drive
Brandon Boyd: "The lyric is basically about fear, about being driven all your life by it and making decisions from fear. It's about imagining what life would be like if you didn't live it that way."

Incubus - An evil spirit supposed to descend upon and have sexual intercourse with women as they sleep
Drive - To impel or urge onward by force in a direction away from one

Casablanca

2008-09-14T04:30:00.007+05:30

It's raining lightly as our young hero steps out of the fossil-fuel powered automobile. He looks towards the heavens and they look back down silently watching him as he sparks up his smoke. Tis be a quiet movie weekend unlike the tomfoolery that the hero and his comrades indulged in the previous Saturday night.

As they head inside the theatre, our hero looks forward to observing two stalwarts, from the land of Hollywood, sparring with each other, their cinematic skills and thespian fortitude tested on a righteous mission. As they enter the waiting area, he heads off in search of something to eat. Walking away, he hears one of his mates say “Isn’t that…?” And the rest of it trails away out of earshot…

While deciding what fare to indulge in, Sir Madman walks to him and says, “Did you see the Damsel? Or did you purposely ignore her?” Puzzled he asks, “Damsel is here?!” and looks over the Madman’s shoulder and immediately spots her. He’d recognize that head of hair anywhere. Suddenly a variety of emotions – happiness followed by panic, followed by Be-Cool-Idiot followed by more panic, and he does the only thing his slightly dazed brain can do. A smile and a wave.
Damsel comes over, arms opens and a 7.5 second embrace follows. Awkward silence, as our hero pulls back pondering what he could/should possibly say to her…

Damsel: hi, how are you? You look like you’ve lost some weight…
(Translation – Greetings & Salutations! The black shirt and dark jeans possibly makes you look thinner but then it’s also been almost 3 months since we saw each other)

Hero (casually shrugging): Ehhh…
(Translation – hi yourself, its great to see you too. You still look ~~fine... very fine!~~ the same. In all this time, I kept wondering if we’d run into each other sometime… somewhere. It felt almost right that we did… here… a place we’ve come to many a time before. Perhaps you feel the same. How are you? Work keeping you busy these days…?! Glad to know that you have healed enough to put on your dancing shoes. Keep at it with your musical endeavors coz I know you have a wonderful sense of/for the music. Which reminds me, weren’t you planning to go abroad sometime now…)

The Miner walks in and greets the Damsel. Feels like old times. Everyone dressed in regulation Saturday night denim-and-black garb. For a few seconds we were the same group from not long ago who were going in together to watch a movie. After some more conversation and laughs, she heads off to her mates and we follow shortly after.

Once the movie ends, our hero wonders if he’ll see her once more as they leave. His mind is miles away as he stares blankly at the gate guard, ticket extended waiting to collect his flamethrower. He takes it, mentally now galaxies away, and ambles towards the escalator. As he half turns a hand sticks out, waving at him and he weaves around it and moves down, thinking, “Oops I almost bumped into someone there…”
Escalator moves down and he steps off.

*10000 Watt light bulb flashes overhead*
Trring trring… “Hi, sorry was that you who just waved out to me?” With indulgent (hopes our friend) humor in her voice, due confirmation of the same is conferred.

Stepping out, he sees its still drizzling about the same way it was while coming in. Some nicotine is desperately needed. Deep drag. Followed by a deeper drag... And he starts to follow his group back to their vehicle. He sees her walking ahead of him and catches up trying clumsily to explain himself. Realizing what transpired at the escalator could be mistaken for a frigid ignore, some apologetic words are mumbled by him. She smiles… he smiles. All is forgiven.
They walk separately but in the same direction. As he is about to board his transportation, some final words are spoken. Goodbyes are exchanged.

As the scenes from the evening play out in his mind, our protagonist feels something akin to calm settle over him. A seemingly scary situation settled itself fairly quietly in the end. Positive thoughts course through him for the rest of the ride home.

As someone once said, “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine…”

Dont know about you Bogey, but I'm glad she did.

For those about to Rock...

2008-09-06T21:19:00.007+05:30

I've been goaded into making a post (you know who you are!)

Nothing major happened this week. Had a holiday on Wednesday coz of Ganpati. Mid week chuttis are so nice no?!
I was at V's house for Ganpati lunch something which I’ve been going for the past few years now. Her Mom makes the most awesome modaks... yummmm...

Of course the whole post-lunch discussion of "soooo-when-are-you-going-to-get-hitched?" was brought up. What’s with all Matashrees anyway?? I thought girls usually have the whole pressure thing exerted on them but even us guys too?!? Aaaahhh... So what if I’m turning 30 in a couple of weeks... Do I have to get married (or even consider it) just coz I’m turning the BIG THREE O. Nah I think not.
So as V's mom was going on about me getting her a bahu, V was rolling her eyes and giving me pitying looks probably thinking, "Oh you poor boy... I have soooo gone thru this not too long ago".

Lunch got done and I then headed to catch the early evening show of Rock On with the siblings and my pals J & A. I got tickets for this theatre in Mahim called Starcity (the artiste formerly known as Badal of the old Badal-Bijli twin theatres). Went there to try getting tickets before lunch. House Full on the board and as I turn away disappointed, I get psstt-ed at. "Boss, Rock On mangta hai kya?!" Aah what an idiot I was! Of course there is gonna be a tout at these places. So I asked him for 5 tickets and he said it'll cost me 750 (that’s a 150 bux a pop – yeah OK I needed a calculator for that). I’m used to paying no less than 200-300 for a single ticket whenever I go to a PVR or Cinemax or some such. Even for my math-challenged brain the cost of the tickets seemed far too less. It then clicked that I was in Badal of Badal-Bijli in Mahim fame and not a PVR Juhu or Fame Andheri. The original price of the ticket was Rs.100 wonly. I actually asked the blacker very sceptically, "Aap black mein hi bech rahen ho na??” Dude must have thought I'd smoked up some bad sh*t or something :)

Rock On wasn't as bad as I’d thought it would be. I remember telling the Miner that I fully expected this movie to be a complete dud. Regardless of its eventual reviews, I’d have watched this one anyway because I feel a connect with the movie. Having been part of a band myself long ago, I was always hoping someone would make a cool movie about bands, the lifestyle and the gig scene from an Indian context so this was nice to see.
My biggest disappointment with the movie was the soundtrack. Farhan might be a pretty good actor but he can’t sing. One song (the title track) for promotional purposes could have been done by him but not almost 60% of the tracks. I mean it’s a movie about a band for God’s sake. The music HAS to be good. Disappointing clichéd stuff by Shanker-Ehsaan-Loy and the sheets on which most of the lyrics were written were only good enough to be used as toilet paper. (What the fuck is - “Mere taash se heart ka king, mera ek chandi ka ring”) Javed saab apne bete ke vaaste, you could have written waaayyy better lyrics than that.
On a positive note, I loved Zehereelay sung by one of the true rockers of the Mumbai gig circuit in the 90’s – Suraj Jaggan (of Dream Out Loud). It’s a completely wannabe hard rock song where the movie makers I’m sure have tried to poke some fun at the stereotypical Black Tee and bandana clad bands you see on the Mumbai (or Indian) gig/club circuit. But the outstanding track for me is the wonderfully serene Phir Dekhiye sung by Caralisa Monteiro. Sweetly sung with a hint of coaxing and mischief in her voice, this is one lovely song. (Caralisa - Marry me!).

The ride back home after the movie brought back old memories of the band days…
- hanging with the guys while they were auditioning for vocalists…
- them finally picking me coz I was there (“yaar tu hi gaa le since you know everything”)
- our first ever gig which had more than 3000 people…
- getting the “shakes” so badly at the time that I nearly dropped the mic…
- playing in front of the totally biased (for us :) college crowd…
- the cute girls at the Sophiya’s college fest…
- our first television show/competition…
- getting hassled by the judges during said competition and in turn pissing them off…
- roaming the streets of Noida at 10pm trying to find booze so we drown our sorrows…
- Not finding any booze anywhere!...
- deciding we wanted to get into the Indi-pop scene…
- doing the rounds of record labels…
- getting shot down by all of them…
- all the support and affection of our family and friends who remain our biggest fans till date… (Man that last one almost sounds like a shout out on our never-released CD)

Funny thing is I look back now and believe we were a band ahead of its time. OK that might sound a wee bit like I’m full of it but its not… honest.
I’ll tell you what I mean… we started covering alternative rock bands and had a pretty mixed playlist. Of course we played the usual Bryan Adams, Queen, pop-rock stuff. But in them days there weren’t too many bands who were also playing Stone Temple Pilots or Goo Dolls or Green Day in the same set. A few years after we passed out, it seemed that every other band was playing stuff similar to ours. I don’t wanna say we were as good as Zero but when I first saw/heard them, it felt exactly like the kind of sound and material we would have done.
Then again when we tried to get into the Indi-pop scene. Our brand was straight up soft rock with Hindi lyrics (nice ones too unlike taashes and kings and sunglasses).
But no – “you guys sound too western… only guitar and drums and synth… you need to have more Indian instrumentation…”
Of course a few years down the line, one of the most popular bands on the scene is Strings. Soft rock with Hindi/Urdu lyrics. Just a case of (bad) timing I guess…

As I stared out of the window, I'm thinking perhaps we hadn't wanted it badly enough for it to happen. So many musicians have struggled for years before finally making or quitting it. In the end, there are no regrets. I stumbled into it almost accidentally and its influenced my life profoundly and probably made me a better person today.
I used to be a very introverted person back in college not to mention shy and quiet. Today I’m a lot more outgoing than I was then - I guess being the front man for a band will do that to you.

P.S – I still get the damn shakes

Chuckles n Giggles

2008-08-21T13:32:00.005+05:30

The Madman's cracked me up recently with these three...

Q. How do you know an auto-mechanic's just had sex?
A. One of his fingers is clean.

Q. How do you piss off a female archeologist?
A. Hand her a used tampon and ask her which period it came from.

and my personal favourite...

Q. What is common between spaghetti and girls?
A. They both wiggle and squirm when you eat 'em.

Binomial Expansion... or some such crap

2008-08-21T13:06:00.009+05:30

Well I never claimed to be a Math genius. In fact I'd failed a year in college becoz of it.

(*Gasp* nahhiiiiiiiiiii... humne socha ladka acha hai... padha-likha hai....)

While this isn't mine, the important thing is it could have been... we're the same this lad and I... and its not just because we share the same moniker.

Chain kuli ki Mail kuli

2008-08-21T11:51:00.012+05:30

Didn't go to the office today coz eating seekh kababs, butter chicken and guzzling beer till 2 am just might leave a feeling of utter Gaaaaaaarrrrhhhhh (this is the medical term for it) when you look at yourself in the mirror in the morning. One of those f*ck-it-I'm-staying-home days...

So I was going thru some of my olde mails in my inbox and came across a couple that made me grin thru my State of GAAAAAARRRRRRHHHH. Here being posted for your (and mine) reading pleasure...

Backstory - This chain mail began with The Editor (henceforth to be referred to as Ed) sending a link to a Poem which i really couldn't understand too much of since it was kinda shudh Hindi. So I fire the first of the chain (of emails... are you paying any attention?!?)

**********

BLACKFAYTH- yo Ed, I think I speak for quite a few people marked on this mail who are quite Hindi-challenged. Pls to provide Eeeengleess translation (I know I know… the “flavour” will be lost etc etc but I only understood Pushp = flower… pls tell me that’s right :o)

**********

ED - It’s about the wishes of flowers… They are telling us not use them for any sort of decorative or commemorative purposes. Their only wish ever is to be scattered on to the paths on which will/are march/marching those fearless soldiers who guard the borders of our country, lay down their lives for us and hence keep us safe.
Another meaning is that the flowers want to be on paths that are tread by those who are the true fearless guardians of all that is truly good. Not all that is true or good for convenience.
(yeah Ed's quite the patriotic softy)

**********

SING SING STAR - Why are we translating ? Hindi is our mother tongue and we should all be able to read/write/comprehend it!
MIND IT!

**********

BLACKFAYTH - Er… Hindi isnt my Mother tongue… its Mallu. Not that I know too much of that anyway… all Bombay-ites know a hybrid form of the national language… its like the Toyota Prius of Hindi – a suitable tongue for the melting pot that is this city. Only we understand it…

Pls to see what I mean from below example:-

Giving directions:-
“A” standing at Pot Pourri wants to know from “X” how to get to Carter road…

A: oh Bhaisaab, yeh Carter road kidhar aaya?
Oh Brother Sir (or the Jamaican variant - Oh Brother maaan) this Carter road where it comes?

X: Yeh saamne wala road pakdo… seedha seedha nikalo… pehla left mein bada garden padega… usko chhod ke seedha jao… aagey jaake doosra garden right pe girta hai… uske Just baad right maaro… bas Carter road saamne… yahan se 222 mein ghuso toh pahunch jaoge tapad tope.
Catch this front-side road… straight straight come out… inside first left big garden will be put…. Leaving that (alt. – f*ck that) go straight… going ahead second garden falls on the right… Just (this is important coz even this dude needs you to know he’s cosmo enough use just that wee bit of the Queen’s language) after that hit right… there’s Carter road in front… from here get inside (Bus no:) 222, then you will be reaching pronto.

Alright so I’m fully faltu and just waiting for 6pm…

**********

Warning!!! *shameless plug via fan-mail ahead*

SING SING STAR - Pete, if you made that whole thing up on your own… it’s a crime to keep such talent hidden! You are born to be a stand up comedian!

**********

Warning!!! *more shameless plugging*

MK - Dude you’re recognizing his talent today??? I have been telling him this since forever!!!!
But he’d rather do adsales.

**********

BLACKFAYTH - *blushing* oh stop now…

Dazed and Confused

2008-08-19T21:28:00.009+05:30

Heading home from work today, I felt a lightness that I haven’t felt in a long time now. I had a slight grin on my face through out the ride, which left my cab-sharing colleague a little concerned about my mental state.

Couple of issues in my life have been creating havoc and mentally I am tired... just soooo damn tired. One of them being work... rather my lack of interest in what I have been doing for the past 4 years now in my present company.
S'funny that after 8 years of working in sales in different industries I come to a realization - I really don’t wanna be doing what I do. OK so maybe it isn’t all that funny. Ironic probably would be a better word I suppose. Actually I came to this particular conclusion sometime ago – 4 years ago to be exact (... wait a minute!).

So of course, like any sane individual who has no clue where his career is going, I clamped it down and promptly joined sales in a media company thinking probably the change of industry would be what would cure my ails. 52 months later and I get the distinct feeling that God who’s probably lying sprawled on his Divine Couch (that’s right! It IS called that!) smoking his spliff, slowly wagging his finger going, “Toldja ya maaaaann…”.
Yes I do need to work out my religious issues but c’mon you gotta admit God as a spliff smokin’, dreadlock bearing Rasta would look waaayyy cool.

So why am I grinning like a fool? Coz I told them I’m gonna quit. Its incredible once I did it, the feeling I got. Its all doom and gloom in the work-place these days anyhow what with team changes, new bosses, insufficient hikes and below par incentives. All I could think about was the fact that I was free. That feeling was quickly followed by, “You #*%$ing idiot!! What are you going to do now???”

Still I feel liberated. Maybe it was time to move from this place anyhow. I’ve never been one for making close friends from work but I did make a couple here. Ever since they left, this place hasn’t been the same again. Time to move on… into the unknown once again.

Which reminds me - I haven’t given an interview in four years. Damn! I wonder if they still ask those same bullshit questions – “Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?” “Sitting in my million dollar apartment overlooking Waikiki and sucking down Mai Tais, thinking about when I wanna take my private jet to the Bellagio to play some high stakes with Daniel, Gus, Phil and the rest of the boys”. Idiota!

And so the hunt begins…

Communication Breakdown

2008-08-12T11:37:00.003+05:30

Hey you,

I'm hoping you will read this and understand…

Agonised over speaking to you before you went to Singapore. Been agonizing since you came back. I get the feeling you've been avoiding me as much as I've been avoiding you.
I just wanna say I'm sorry. I tried to be only a friend... I really did. I thought I was strong enough to do it on my own and still be in touch with you, meet you on a regular basis, exchanges sms-es, chat online... But despite everything, everytime we'd meet or speak to each other, there's that irrational side of me that wants something more.
A hope… a wish … that something more will come out of this... something more than friendship. But you'd made things clear and I wish it was as easy as switching it off. But its not. For the time being atleast, I can't be "just friends" with you.

Don't think I don't value what we have. I do… you are a friend. one who has grown very close and far faster than anyone else I've met in the recent past. To such a degree that when I used to initially think about it, it almost made me feel uneasy but then I'd picture that sweet smile, and that totally cute way your chin would quirk when you'd think about something or pester me about stuff, and everything would be OK. So believe me when I say I feel like a complete a**hole telling you that I need to cut myself off. Some weird kinda cold turkey for the drug that is you :) I told you then it was my problem and I will get over you but it wasn't easy doing that while still being in touch. I guess I will get around my feelings for you eventually. But I know, as of right now, I don't want to….

I'm not sure how long it will take... you told me once you'd stop speaking to me if that's what I wanted. And when I asked how you'd feel if I did ask you to, you said cry for a bit and then try and get on with it. I laughed it off then and was all like "are you nuts?? I wouldn't ask something like that of you." I wasn't lying then… but then I didn't think it would be this hard. But now I'm asking it of you… and don't be sad or anything and PLEASE don't cry. I couldn't bear the thought of that…

Wanna know something funny?! You keep bringing back that introverted, tongue-twistedup side of me that I used to be many many years ago… I couldn't bring myself to say all of this to you if you were standing right now in front of me… I don't think I could even bring myself to look into your eyes. You'd keep asking me once in a while why I was looking at you and smiling a secret smile. This is the reason – I just couldn't say anything in those moments. Tongue-tied by the presence of you...

There will come a time when I will get past this. I only ask that you give me a chance to be your friend again then….

xOx

PS - David Gray says it so much better.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EYribhLoPA&feature=related

Dream Police

2008-08-04T17:46:00.004+05:30

I haven't been sleeping well over the past two weeks… on most of these nights I have had some weird dreams. Two which stand out are the hoverboard dream and the unknown woman dream.

Hoverboard
It’s a city scene. Feels like Bombay coz I could see/feel the same kind of crowd. I think I’m near a railway station (Churchgate or maybe its V.T) just looking towards the street watching people go up and down heading to work. The thing is they aren’t walking. All of them are on hoverboards… for those who haven’t seen Back to the Future, hoverboards look exactly like skateboards but no wheels, they hover hence err… hoverboards.
Suddenly the view changes. Now I’m seeing things from ground level. Its like as if there’s a tiny camera attached to the board and I’m seeing life thru the eyes of the hoverboard. The view wobbles a bit, I see a foot move over me and I realise we (me the hoverboard and the owner of me) are going somewhere…. Zipping around I see people’s feet… hubcaps… exhaust fumes from cars… potholes…

Woman
There’s a woman on the bed. She is lying on her side… naked… I can see she is asleep. She seems to be at peace as I see the swell of her breast rise and fall with her gentle rhythmic breathing. I can't see her face but she has wonderful hair. There is a fragrance which emanates from her hair (or is it her?!) arousing and serene at the same time. There is someone lying next to her, I think it's me. I keep stroking her arm from her shoulder to her elbow. I move closer to her and spoon with her. My hand slides over from her hip to her belly. Its got just that tiny tiny hint of chubbiness I love. I know I’m smiling in the dream (and in the conscious part of my brain) as I spread my fingers over her belly and draw her ever so close. Experience a feeling of utmost security in that moment. I look over her shoulder and instead of seeing the bedroom walls I see scenes from my life… past… present… future (?!)

I used to have dreamless sleep but in the past couple of years I’ve begun having more and more of them. When I get up in the morning I don’t remember what I’d dreamt about but I know I have had a dream. Strangely enough there have hardly been any nightmares (which I’m thankful for). It's been more like watching random reels of different movies… I’m left with an almost empty feeling the next morning because they invariably leave me hanging… I never seem to get closure.

I’m rarely able to remember my dreams but I did remember these two. Don't know what it was that made them stand out. Maybe someone can interpret them… I read somewhere that while one is conscious if something affects them it usually plays out in their dreams. I’ve had dreams in the past which I try to relate with something I’ve seen or done in the recent past. But the only connect for the hoverboards is Back to the Future which I havent seen in the past few years. I really can’t understand the second dream… can’t think of a connect… even some of the porn I’ve seen recently doesn’t contain any “tender” moments :D

I think I’ll go and renew my friendship with my good buddy Ben A Dryl. Sleep I crave thee desperately… even if it is drug-induced :)

Post title courtesy Cheap Trick - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWt-zxKqK3U
To my mystery dreamgirl - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY-lMhbvhlI

F.R.I.E.N.D.S & Fakers

2008-08-01T17:02:00.004+05:30

A couple o nights back I was sitting with a few friends at Land’s End. These would be The Banker, the Miner, the Fund Manager (a.k.a. Madman) and me. Hmmm not quite unlike… “the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker” but we ARE all knaves lol)
The Atrium Lounge is a regular haunt for the Madman and I, but we hadn’t been frequenting it as much as we used to in the past. By the time we were half way thru the evening, we’d decided that this situation must be rectified for the future.

So I’m swigging away at my pint when these guys start off on the stock market and how wild a roller coaster ride its been on lately. Now I’ll be the first to admit that the world of high finance is one that, on good days, confounds the heck out of me. My only interest in it is getting some dope from these well-informed guys and putting away some of my money hoping to strike it rich a few years down the line. As the conversation goes on, I feel like one of the spectators at Wimbledon. Back and forth, financial jargon is being slapped around and I’m just about struggling to keep up with these guys… kind of. Risk-reward scenarios, arbitrage opportunities, P/E ratios, Beta levels, Commodities markets, Hedge funds, Libor…
Game and Set to M/s Financial Wizards.

You might remember an episode from Friends where Penn Jillette guest stars as an encyclopedia salesman from whom Joey buys just the one volume (“V”) coz he had only that much money on him. I really felt that scene where Joey flashes back to the times when his friends are having discussions on various topics and he plays along even though he has absolutely no clue on what they’re going on about. Well I was Joseph Tribiani that evening.
On the one hand I felt like 6 different kinds of dumb, on the other I was quite proud to be friends with these incredibly smart guys. The best part about all of them is they’d never rub this into someone’s face. The Banker very kindly explained to me some of the jargon whenever I looked lost (which was a lot that evening).
As I went home that evening, it struck me that while I will never be a Gordon Gecko, I have become just that little bit smarter by just being a fringe participant to these conversations. I’ve always thought of myself as a Jack-of-all-trades conversation-wise. I know a little bit about many things. Although these things needn't be all that relevant on a day-to-day perspective.
My head’s filled with the most obscure info about the most arbid of things. Like if you listen to Michael Jackson’s Beat It, just before Eddie Van Halen begins that fantastic guitar solo, you’ll hear 6 fairly rapid beats like as if the drummer played the toms. But its actually a studiohand who mistakenly knocked on the door when Eddie was in session. Quincy Jones the producer thought it worked and included it in the final cut of the song. See… obscure like I said… but it makes for a cool story at a party.

I can usually hold my own in a conversation whether I contribute to it or not and I think a large part of that comes from having friends like these.

Quote of the Night:-
After an intense and animated low-down by the Banker to the rest of us regarding certain financial houses and the way they make their money, the Madman lets out a big sigh and goes, “Man, I think I got a chubby.”

Fun Fact:-
Las Vegas is the brightest city when seen from space. (for those of you who know me, me knowing this particular fact shouldn't surprise you lol)

The Dark Knight Cometh…

2008-07-24T17:36:00.015+05:30

Lots been on my mind past couple of days so haven't had the time to put down a few lines. But I felt I had to write something about the movie that is for me is THE blockbuster of the first half of ’08. I’d seen the movie on release day (18th July) itself and actually wanted to write about it right after I got home but held off keeping in mind there were many more fans of The Detective (yeah baby old school – if you’re a DC comics fan you’ll understand why I’m calling him that). And aside from my 2 readers, I didn’t want to upset anyone who hadn't caught the movie yet and possibly stumbled onto my cyber scribble page. I think almost everyone who is a fan has seen the movie within the week of release.

As a kid, my favorite superhero was Spidey – probably a lot to do with those cartoons that they used to show on Doordarshan. It was only much later when I started reading DC and Marvel comics, that I gained a deeper appreciation for the wise-cracking superhero that he is. Yeah wise-cracking! I really liked the first installment but by the third, the character had turned into a pussy. In that lag period of my childhood between superheroes I came across Batman. I don’t know why but I almost immediately liked (and for some reason) identified with the character. No! My parents weren't killed while we were returning from the theatre one evening.
Often movies tend to gloss over Superheroes especially those with a darker element to them. But not Chris Nolan. He knew exactly the way this character needed to be portrayed and boy, was this film ever so dark. Heath Ledger was outstanding in his role as The Joker. He truly captured the essence of the character – a psychotic madman who’s only motive was carnage and chaos. I’d read somewhere that he’d locked himself up in a hotel room for a month to get into the skin of the character.

Perhaps that’s why the villains in Batman were scarier than most. Base motivations like money aside, all the devastation they’d plot was only to create and instill that horrific sense of fear amongst the public at large. In some cases, the motive was almost noble – like Ra’s Al Ghul, an Eco-terrorist wanting to obliterate everyone on earth so he could create an environmentally perfect world.

Few things in this world are more painful than enduring the loss of your child but perhaps when the Ledger family sees Heath in all his glory playing one of the ultimate villains of comic-lore, they may feel heartened just a little that while their son has gone, he will never be forgotten. A memorable legacy befitting a fine performance.

I’ve put down some of my fave quotes from the movie:-

I use a knife because guns are too quick. Otherwise, you can't savor all the emotions. You know who people are in their last moments…
This town deserves a better class of criminal... and I'm gonna give it to them. Tell your men they work for me now. This is MY city.
Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen, We're tonight's entertainment!!!
You remind me of my father, I hated my father.
Some men are not trying to be logical. They can't be bought, bullied or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
Either you die a Hero.... or u live long enough to see yourself turn into a Villain...
See, to them you're just a freak....like me....
Whatever that doesn't kill you will only make you stranger. (one of my faves too. Thanx for the reminder Shutterbug)
Why so serious...??!!

R.I.P

Heath “The Joker” Ledger

Of Pune... the rains and good singers

2008-07-19T03:26:00.006+05:30

Got back after spending the weekend at S's place on the outskirts of Pune. Its been a while since we'd gone there in the rains. You keep reading about how sweet the earth smells after it rains. This is one of two places (the other being Kerala) where I have experienced this. As I stepped out of the car, that fresh delightful mixture of gorgeous scents - the rain, the earth and the grass just assailed my senses. Heady. if I could bottle the damn thing, I'd be so rolling in the green!

Rant section - Finally!! The guys in charge of the Bombay-Pune expressway have done something right. They've got the pricing rounded off on the expressway toll. On the various trips I've taken to Pune via the expressway, the one thing that always got my goat were some of the signs put up at the toll nakas. I mean, why do you charge an absurd figure like Rs.118 or Rs.127 and then put up signs like "Coin Problem - Please tender exact change". Make it 120 or 130... any even number and then keep the relevant amount of change with you. A few bucks is hardly going to matter to people. Just save them the headache of having to rummage around in their bags, purses or dashboards. (Fyi the toll's 140/- but the annoying sign is there!)

My second rant has to do with the sheer dearth of good (maybe the word I'm looking for is honest) programming we have on Indian television. There we were chilling out and the plan was to imbibe a few glasses of white spirit and take in some entertainment on the idjit box. Specifically SaReGaMaPa on Zee TV. We were also switching between commercials to STAR Plus where the finale of Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar was going on. SaReGaMa is an eye-opener to the singing talent we have in this country. Wow! What fantastic singers. There was this Surd kid no more than 18 (looked like he was 15 tho) who had such a superb and mature singing voice. Again Wow! And the episode we were watching was the one where someone would be eliminated from the leftovers who didn't make it to the 2nd round in their first attempt the previous week. After hearing some of these voices it was hard to believe they didn't make it through the first time around.

On the other hand, Jo Jeeta... was a huge disappointment. Not in terms of the singing quality (they had Abhijeet Sawant & Rahul Vaidya in the final three), not in the matter of Mandira "look-into-my-cleavage" Bedi shouting herself hoarse while calling out the title sponsor of the show every 17.3 seconds. My main gripe - it wasn't live!!! I thought this was supposed to be a singing contest. How the hell can you lip-sync in a competition?!?!? I'm 99.99% certain that the singers did the original takes in a studio and this was what's played during the television airing of the event. They may or may not have sung live during the show but after which it was definitely overlayed with the studio takes. Now I fancy myself to have a voice and so I like to sing every so often (The beast often manifests itself during drunken karaoke). What I like just as much is to hear good singers sing live. Which is provided in spades by SaReGaMa (could do with a little less of the melodrama by the judges but thats forgivable. TRPs and all that - trust me I'm in the business) but I feel duped when I see shows like JJWS. At the end of it all, Rahul Vaidya won it. But did he actually?? I'm not denying his talent. I mean this is the guy of whom Sonu Nigam said during Indian Idol Part Un, "It's a good thing you didn't start playback earlier else I would be hard up for work". But there has to be a shadow of a doubt (at least for me) on whether his performance was the better one of the two. how can anyone prove that it was he who actually deserved it?

The pressure of singing live, the audience around you, the necessity to hit every single note the way it should be and to add "feel" to it all CANNOT be done while prancing around with the other contestants/judges/hosts/guests etc. As they hit those magical goose bumpy notes in their songs, a couple of the SaReGaMa singers looked like they were about sh*t their pants. That's the kind of intensity you need to possess while delivering one of those standing ovation type of performances. It sucks that a regular singing show has been turned into a soap of sorts.

Jaan gaye...

2008-07-09T17:12:00.008+05:30

So I watched Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na over the weekend and all I can say is Imraan Khan is a very lucky young man. To have Aamir Khan as the guy who’s in charge of Mission Launch must be heartening at the very least.
It also helps that Imraan has decent acting chops. A great launch pad is worth squat if you have no skill/talent to back it up. He’s here to stay and if he’s smart about his projects, like his uncle, he will do extremely well in the industry. Genelia (for some reason I keep imagining her name to be genitalia and giggle… I’m a sick man) is a bright spark amongst the newer crop of actresses I’ve seen thus far. There is something quite fresh about her. I can’t quite put my finger on it but girl’s got spunk. She does however need to improve her diction if she intends to do mature roles in the future.

Ratna Pathak Shah – Just one word, Classy. The two brothers in the movie were pretty good in their parts which begs the question – why the f*%# don’t they act just as well in their solo projects?!?! Another thing that I really liked were the fresh faces and talents which made up the friends circle of the leads. Prateik Babbar was good in his role as the girl’s angst-ridden lonely artist brother. One of the best lines in the movie (the chooha wala – “No, we’re just friends”) comes from him. It took me a whole second to register the quip because I’m just not used to hearing that kind of dialogue in a Hindi movie. Good stuff.
There were a few clichéd moments in the film which I’m not sure were necessary. But like my friend Sam says, its all about establishing the character/s.
Overall a pretty good directorial debut but Abbas Tyrewala’s problem will be his next few movies. His writing talent was pretty obvious after watching Munnabhai, Main Hoon Na etc. Now he’s kinda raised the bar with this film and will need to come through bigger and better in his next effort.

On a side note – while I haven’t seen it (and have no intention to), Lovestory 2050 has been ripped to shreds by all critics. Having become friends with an upcoming actor in the recent past, I feel for the newer lot because that one Friday pretty much determines your fate in this industry. Apparently two years of work have gone into Lovestory 2050. All of it to be flushed down the toilet come release day. Of course there is no excuse if the final product is just plain bad but there is still hope for the individual actor. Case (or rather two cases) in point – Ajay Devgan and Saif Ali Khan. I can still remember that awful day when I sat there watching Veeru Devgan’s lil boy in the opening shot of the movie, zooming into the college doing a full-split astride two motorbikes. I believe I’d busted a rib that day laughing as hard as I did. And Saif Ali Khan who I thought was the gayest dude back in the day (the day being a Saturday sometime in 1993… damn! Was that 15 years ago?! Ugh I’m old). I mean not only was this guy effeminate but he sounded like someone yanked his voicebox back as he was about to hit puberty. Both these gentlemen did some fairly ordinary and some downright dreadful “films” but persistance and hard work have made them into two of the most saleable stars of today. RGV ki Aag and Race fall into the Those-we-shall-not-speak-of bracket.

Finally, AR Rahman is a freak! How does one guy keep doing this film after film?!?!! I’m a big fan of his music but over the years, there’s this perverse side of me that wants to hear him make something baaaad (I know I know… my brain is circuited in a weird way). But the genius of the man is that he continues to disappoint that side of me every time. He’s got this ability to capture the right moods and pick the right voices for any song (including his own).

To quote Wayne & Garth, “We’re not worthy!!”

Can also can, cannot also can lah!

2008-07-03T18:18:00.005+05:30

Got back from Singapore a few days back. An impromptu trip courtesy of a friend who for some reason keeps getting tip offs on great flight fares. MK – you da man!!
First off, let me say that I wish I was born with a big blingy silver spoon. I always get struck by the need to feel the Bill-Gates-type-of-super-rich whenever I’m flying. One of my biggest peeves is walking thru Business/First Class to get to my seat. Why Pete why, you ask good reader? Coz I see the absolute comfort that these passengers are going to spend the next 5-6 hours in versus my own sad sad seat in Economy, and then I just feel like hitting someone.
See, this is a bit extreme for me, I normally wouldn’t feel like such violence. However things changed a few weeks back. I’d gone for a friend’s wedding to Dubai earlier last month. On my return trip, I was upgraded to Business Class. *sigh* Now I know what people are talking about… The seats have so much more room. My quite substantial ass was actually comfortable. The food comes in courses!! Not to mention the stewardesses (the nice looking non-Air India-aunty types) who are at your beck and call (“Extra pillow? Sure sir… More champagne, Mr. Fayth?! Comin’ right up… Blowjob? Would that be with or without the humming sir?”).

Anyway back to Singapore – its only when you go to cities (or countries in this case) like this, that you realize what a sh*thole of a city Bombay has become. Don’t get me wrong, I like my city but over the years I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve just become used to it. If I could move to another city, and along with my clothes, pack my family and friends too, I’d be out of here in a heartbeat. In the words of the poet Atif, “Ab toh aadat si hain mujhko aise jeeney mein…"
Loved the infrastructure in Singapore. The public transportation system alone would tempt me into moving there. Imagine the same card S$15 card that enables travel in their buses and the MRT, will also feed you in case you’re hungry. That’s right! You can use the card to buy burgers at McDonalds.

The no-smoking-in-public-places thing takes some getting used to though… I especially can’t understand how you can enforce a blanket rule like that in bars and clubs. I mean come on! These are places where people come to unwind, have a drink or two or ten, be social, sing/dance a bit and generally have a good time. For smokers, its all of that along with some nicotine thrown into the mix. Now I’m quite aware that the non-smoking reader would get a bit ticked off by this. After all aren’t we messing with their health not to mention our own?? First off let me say smokers are pretty accommodating people. We know that we’re this niche, vile, will-rot-in-hell type crowd that will never find acceptance with the rest of the non-smoking world. We don’t want acceptance… just tolerance. And it doesn’t have to be at the cost of YOUR health. Just keep an area aside from the main club/bar area where we can sneak off to, have our fix and be back to enjoy the fun. Its ridiculous that we were partying at this bar located on the 71st floor of the hotel and if I wanted to catch a few drags, I’d have to go all the way to the 68th floor. Reverse discriminators!!
And before anyone can say it, we KNOW its bad for us but we do it anyway. Get a frickin’ hint – it’s a matter of choice. Its kinda similar to the whole veg vs. non-veg thing. I mean do I discriminate against my vegetarian friends?!? Sure I make fun of these people whose unfortunate taste buds will never know the joy of biting into that nice juicy piece of steak. And while they might not know what they’re missing out on but its not like I’m throwing raw animal carcasses into their faces or anything right?!

When I heard it was a "smoking room", my mind conjured up images of those chic Auschwitz-style gas chambers that you find at most movie theatres in Bombay. It was a pleasant surprise to discover that it was not. Met a few interesting people with whom some more bitching happened about the whole “Clubs & Bars are not fair to smokers” topic. Sitting across to my right was this Asian woman with a Nordic looking chap. She was smoker, he was not. He was just there to give her company AND was sympathetic to our nicotine related issues too. The cynic in me thought he’s just doing that to score with her. On the other hand, some of these firangs are a bit nutty so I gave him the benefit of doubt. Of course, the fact that he was at least 4 inches taller than me and built like a tank didn’t in any way influence me.
Also met this sweet lookin’ lass from Glasgow. We got talking and in the tradition of its-a-small-world-after-all, I came to know that she stayed in Bombay (and that too Bandra) for a while a few years ago. We had a pleasant chat about her time in Bombay, living near Shahrukh Khan’s house and rickshaw drivers shouting Mere Bhagwan (although it sounded more like Merry Bagvan from her lips :). She was kind enough to wait for me till I was done and as we walked upstairs, half my mind was caught up in how these firangs are so comfortable striking up a conversation with rank strangers. We parted ways close to where my party was sitting. We said our goodbyes as she hugged me and lightly pecked me on the cheek. Now I turn towards my table as she walks away, and in that dim light of the club I can see the shoulders shaking and hear giggles and snickers coming through from my mates.
Oh well... some people just have no class :D

After the party broke up an hour or so later, I headed off to catch a game of poker; degenerate addict that I am. I’d hooked up with this group on the internet some days before I left Bombay. Bought into the game for S$100 and away we went. Tried to stick to my regular tight aggressive style and although I took a hit in first few hands (lost about 40% of my chips) I managed to recover and make some money as well (cashed out with S$185 after tips). These guys were pretty hardcore gamblers. Prop bets and side bets were happening all over the place. They were running flops twice and thrice just like you see on High Stakes Poker. We also played a variant called Crazy Pineapple which I’ve never played before in all my poker playing years. Was a lot of fun playing a cash game even though I’m primarily a tournament player. I am hoping to go back to Singapore at the end of the year and I will definitely trying meeting up with these guys again. They were so different from my regular group which was something I found very refreshing. More degenerates like myself :D
Staggered home at 6am after having played for a little over four hours and my hosts had very kindly laid out my bed onto which I gratefully sank.

The final day of any vacation for me is always filled with mixed feelings. I had a great time in this place and I wished I could have stayed for more. On the other hand, I get back to home and various comforts, family and friends. MK was telling me she sometimes gets homesick on vacations. I never do coz I know I’m going back in whatever number of days soon enough.
We reached Changi airport around 5:30pm for our 7:10pm departure. Here’s just another reason why I LOVE Changi. Also probably why its been voted World’s Best Airport two years running. In Bombay, from entering the airport till reaching the departure lounge/duty free area took about 2 hours. In Changi – 25 minutes!!! Doesn’t get any better than that.

Did the usual booze, smokes and chocolate shopping for the folks back home. Had a decent flight back and then we landed at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport for the nightmare to begin all over again. Baggage claim took over an hour… rude cabbie wants to go the destination his way and if we want to take a detour its going to cost us another 100 bux. It starts to rain…
Aaah Mumbai, I missed thee.
Can't wait till the end of the year.

Dāi Huǐ Er Jiàn.

Right on schedule...

2008-06-25T10:26:00.007+05:30

So I was hanging with a friend last evening and reading a blog she recommended when I realize that I have a blog of my own but haven’t really gotten around to putting anything in it yet. Just the one sad solitary entry...

As you can see, my first blog entry dates to almost exactly a year ago. And I’d been thinking about creating a blog for about a year or so before that. Some might call it being lazy, I call it being consistent. Besides, like I was telling this same friend, its a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, I love my privacy so I’m a little wary about random strangers reading things about my life and what matter to me. On the other, there’s a part of me that wants people to read what I’ve put down and show their appreciation or criticisms. (This is probably the same part that, after a few drinks, will sing boisterously in karaoke bars while my groupies will sigh and swoon at my complete vocal mastery – No! its not all in my head!!)

Therefore as with most things in my life I’m gonna say a big ole F**K it and start blogging some. Hopefully it wont be another year before my next entry.

Blog virgin no more?!

2007-06-13T20:15:00.002+05:30

well... it's done.

i've finally caved in and setup a blog of my own. i've been thinking about this for a while now (a while being about 14 or so months) and following the kind of timelines i'm usually used, here it is finally.