Melody, Majaa, Mayhem and Madness - Mehfil - E - Unplugged

When i had met him for the first time after getting kicked out of Infy SuperSinger, he suggested we should jam in Infy Pune, phase 2. In a matter of a few months, this brainchild of our very own Nishant "Nana" Trisal, was flagged off in a most memorable session. Yes, Mehfil-E-Unplugged made its entry into the lives of work-worn Infoscions, to bring back a little zing into our lives.

The idea was to provide a setting for Punfoscions to relax and have a nice time before winding up for the weekend. With Mr. Trisal on the guitar and a few of us talented singers from Abhivyakti and the audience, we managed to pull off some really memorable renditions of songs - old and new, serious, funny and inspiring. We also ended up learning from our very own Sunder Balakrishnan that a bollywood/pop based jamming can be made better when a talented violinist like him is in company...:)

At times, the same old songs and the same patterns repeated, and to break them, Mitesh "Jhabar" Sharma and Rohit "Jageera" Dube brought in precious examples of their peculiar sense of humour, which left all present there in splits. Rahul "Amritas" Jha would usher in the winds of change, by playing some english numbers in his peculiar style. He, with one of his band mates gave us some wonderful guitar accompaniment.

Our colleagues like Ashutosh "Sonu Nigaam" Shukla, Shirish Sir, Farooq "Dancer" Hashmi, Anubhav "Dancing Flautist" Mujumdar, Bhageshri "Bacchi" Gulvady, Akshaya "All Rounder" Subramanian, Nishu "Chabeeli Alka" Dikshit, Mukesh "Mentor" Jadhav, Mitesh "Salsa Champ" Dalvi...our senior folks at Abhivyakti like Ravi Sir, Amit and Girish, were present there whenever possible and contributed in their own unique ways. Some of the Mehfil regulars like Pai Sir, Kumarpal, Nikunj and Nishtha were always a pleasure to jam with. Wow,already a long list, and so many others whom i dont know by name who should be thanked for being there and making those days really worthwhile!!:)

Enough of talks and thanks. Here are a few pics of the journey so far;

Nishant and Rahul

The first Mehfil

(L-R)Aniket, Sunder, Nishu, Mitesh Sharma, Sachin, Rohit 

Rohit, Rinky and others

Our champs, once more...:)

I had recorded a few of our performances. The qualiity is fine, though the final product is raw. But that is where all the appeal lies. When many creative minds come together on a lovely evening, what follows is something, i will leave for you to decide. I am sure the recordings will help you get an answer...:)

First up is a rendition of Sajni (Jal) by all of us. Jus listen to all that's going on in the background. Pure unadulterated joy!!

Recordings - Sajni | Online Karaoke

Now comes  Dil Haare (Jal again). This one rocks big time...:)

Recordings - Dil Haare | Upload Music

Missing the mayhem and madness and pure fun of our beloved Mehfil. Waiting for the good times to be back. I am sure they will be soon...:)

Arigatou Gozaimasu. Sayonara. 

Redesigning the blog and the few other important things

I guess for the first time in my life i feel proud to have made something which can be called as a piece of art - the new layout of my blog. More pleasing to the eyes and going more well with my lone, warrior, ocean deep theme of the samurai.

What days i am going through...my roomie is away to attend his marriage (which is tomorrow) and it feels i have lost all my will to cook food. We used to cook it and eat it together. It seems meals with rice always require company, just like how boozing is usually not practiced solo.

The dreams these days are really graphic, clear, and i have put a habit of recording as much as i remember. The trick is to be a lil sleepy all that while you are readying the pen and paper, so that you dont lose link. Very weird things i see; on some bridge in pune with my project mate watching some film shooting; my cousin, my mother, some people from office, cute gals, porn freaks, bottles of alchohol, burnt corpses, danda gangs(people who want to make the society better by thrashing people with danda's) etc.

Was very disturbed after reading a post on Paulo Coelho's blog on Child abuse. Read a number of stories from the followers, watched a couple of videos and realised that heaven and hell both are here on the terra firma. The absence of God from our lives, materialism, enjoyment etc. makes monsters out of us. In India, we are saved by the punya of millions of our ancestors and saints who are still meditating for our good. But for other unfortunate souls, its veritable pit of fire.

Thoughts float in this mind of mine

From a long long time

My sis has always said, dear bro

Write down the things u say so well

And i, the lazy bloke always procrastinating

Though here is this blog where a rare entry comes

From the confusing mirage, this life of mine

Which is a story as intersting as anyone elses

Wanting to be recorded,

And my thoughts wanting to enlighten me

And help me be better

And then make my World better than now

Ah my thoughts, i shall try my best

To give you justice

Whatever it takes, a few of you

Shall always find the right place.

Samapt! Jai Hind. Hari Om.

Aloo Poshto

Theres a famous Calcutta Roll joint close to my place in Pimple Saudagar, Pune, named CPlus Calcutta. You get some real great chicken roll and also some cheap and delicious food out there.

The LPG in my room being empty, these days i have my dinner at this place. Yesterday, thought of trying the veg thali after a long time (usually i have fish thalis here). The waiter guy is a cordial and familiar face to me. He suggested i try aloo poshto, and so did i. It was simply amazing; very simple looking but wholesome texture and taste. Potatoes cooked in khus khus (poppy seeds known as poshto in Bengali), turmeric, greenchilles and salt. There were other components i know, but this is what i could make out.

Wanted to run a google search on the same and found some real nice recipes online. Gonna surely try them soon...:)

But one site gave a very interesting piece of information - in the Gulf countries, if you are caught posessing khus khus, which you may have carried for cooking or as part of some food item (khus khus laddoos for eg.), you will face imprisonment and even death. This comes into rule since poppy seeds are used to make narcotics.
What is worth pondering on is the seriousness with which the cases are handled. For eg, there was this foreign national, who had a poppy bun at Heathrow, before reaching the Gulf. He was arrested when the official found 3 poppy seeds(yeah 3) on his shirt, and he was imprisoned. And guess what, the minimum term is 2 years!!

I think that the people in Gulf need to tone down their stance on this; i dont mean lift the ban from khus khus, but be more culturally open and acceptable. But i am sure they will never change till the end of their race, for their culture makes them so strong headed. But what is admirable in some ways is their adherence to the laws of the land. 2 years in jail for 3 poppy seeds which fell accidentally on your shirt, thousands of miles away, only coz poppy seeds are banned in your nation! And look at us, we dont even hang the people who are responsible for so many deaths of so many hardworking individuals who could have enjoyed deliciously made aloo poshto in some Bengali restaurant.

Instead, we keep them alive and spend lakhs of rupees on their welfare. Our media considers the possibility of having them on shows like Big Boss. Our Humanitarian NHRC goes mad when one of their brethren immolates himself. We are such a bunch of hypocrites; no wonder we had the biggest one being called as the Father of the Nation. For that matter our Chacha was a bigger hypocrite (I think the biggest Desh Drohi we had here).

In hindsight, one good thing is coz of our laxness, i can write this blog and get away with it. So that I can prepare poshto and enjoy it too...:)

Short videos - New thingy

New things keep coming on my plate when the days are boring. And then life takes a turn for the good. Expressions opened up a new chapter in my life..new people, new perspectives, new passions, new insights. And a realisation that one should expect everything life throws - be it failure, disappointment or big futures enclosed in insignificant looking opportunities.

Now the thing is we have to make a video on campus courtesies, we ourselves dont follow. Sitting down with my fellows from Abhivyakti, Infy Pune, the brain works in a straight line, as usual. The thought of my creativelessness always lurks (although in ILI i had 'written' and directed 2 good short plays...hehe..lemme be proud of them...:P), i need a constant reminder that creativity is there though dormant. We should not focus on negatives.

Lemme come to the point for which i am writing this in the first place. I need an idea for the bus courtesy scenario. The issues are queue, seat reservation and loud speaker fones. How to make an interesting thing out of these is a problem. The memory searches for something insane, but only the cliche stuff drops out, for thats how i have always been trained. Though, when a number of people sit, some creativity does seep in from nowhere but in this case, i guess we were just done.

Ok, lets think now. List the scenes that come in mind

1. A guy has a bad day ride. No seat in bus due to reservation. He has an argument but to no avail. People play songs loudly, and no one complains. People are just passively listening to mp3s on their fone.

2. End of day scene, a tiring day at work, and people bugging you at the end.

3. One friend reserves seat for other. A guy not able to sit coz of this. The two friends are having a nice time. Behind them people play music loudly, disturbing these two. The standing guy gives his earphones to the ones behind and tells them its wrong. The two friends realise what they did earlier was wrong and give him the seat, as reservation is also wrong.

Good. Seems me got a nice idea now...Sugoi!

So jaa... E Haraami

Sooraj din khatam par dhal

Kahe, chal be...khaana khaake sone ko chal

So jaa...E Haraami

Raat bahut hui hai ab

Kahe hai tu ke jaldi so ooonga

Yeh baat sach hogi kab?

Din bhar office mein dekh sapne

TL ke saamne image ki waat lagaae apne

Raat ko FB ke chakkar mein

kya kar raha hai tu kameene ab?

Uthna toh hai na tujhe kal

Kabhi toh mera dost bane chal

Saath mein nikal zindagi ki sair par

Poore hosh aur josh se har pal mehnat kar

Taake yeh zindagi teri ho jaaye savar

Yehi karne tu janma hai, issliye issiko pehle kar

Warna tu bann jaega loafer

Yeh sab jo maine suna, toh suraj se kahaa

Chal hataa savan ki ghata

Bahut ho gaya natak, ab bakwaas band kar...:P

I was a pianist in my last incarnation

The sight of a piano always used to send me to raptures. Black and white keys making such dulcet sounds, and when in the hands of a maestro then Gosh!, what a melody to hear.

I was born for music - this thing is pretty clear to me. Be it the "ta.. ta ..ta ta... ta ta.. ta.." i used to do on the notes of "Saare jahaan se accha" which used to come on Doordarshan, or my legendary name as a singer (its my blog, lemme be a lil more liberal...:P), its music that has defined me from a real long time. My mum used to say that i behaved as a symphony conductor when i used to sing the "ta ta"...obviously emulating the conductor on the screen, but i am sure that it did indicate i should pursue music.

In ancient India, there used to be a samskaara, after the baby was 1 year old. Books, a weapon, grains and something else were kept in front of it. As is very true that the element of the Divine is still very visible in babes (the amazing smile that they give which makes one feel that the Lord Almighty Himself smiled at him!!), the custom was that whatever object the baby touched, it indicated the future profession or rather the aptitude the baby would have in the future. Although we never had such a samskaaric babyhood (i pierced my ears when i was 22, i wish atleast the karna bheda had been done when i was a baby..), this piece of "conductor" story of mine definitely confirms my inclinations.

Anyways, the topic is about Pianos. The inspiration behind this blogpost has got something to do with my sinusitis. I was trying to search for posts on Blood and Snot, when i came across this blog by a 40 year old divorcee. There, she had a post on "Passions", her passion being piano. Its here that i came across something called "Ragtime" music, pioneered by one Scott Joplin, in the early 20th century.

There was a youtube link to the piece "Wallstreet Rag" by Joshua Rifkin...a Joplin Composition...and listening to it sent me in a strange world. I like the sound of Rag...donno why it seems so familiar. It sounds like old America, but i am sure i was an Indian in my previous incarnation.

On suggestion from a roomie, with whom i shared this piece of info, i came across another brilliant piece (Joplin's best known work, i guess) named "The Entertainer". Any music person can instantly say that the song is used in all Funny Videos shows, where you see people tumbling and monkey's dancing.

On a contemplative note, the sound of this piece does go well with such things...:)

Hey Bhagwaan! Kya kya dikhaaya tune mujhe...:)

Such a weird time me having rite now. Sinusitis making living difficult. Blood and snot being ejected out of my nostrils. ECS Dept. organisers requesting me to sing songs for their event less than 24 hours before the show. Goodness gracious...the sinus pain is killing me. And so is the boredom me is having at office.

You shall see some irregularities in the grammar me uses. It doesnt suit the former editor of one college magazine edition. But remember, that till now, you had no pain understanding what i said. So let it be...:)

I visited orkut and realised how beautiful those days were. Simple kiddy days. The thrill at someone posting a comment on a picture. Someones testimonial arriving. Being happy on seeing some unknown girl in your visitors list. Thinking of adding someone to your crush list, but backing off thinking...if she has added me too, then how shall i handle the outcome? Thrills and pleasures of a cowardly, innocent and far less connected life. Orkut was always a one hour thing for me at the most...although i had got hooked on to yahoo in late 2008. Even that wasnt a big part of life. TV was always worth watching...and now the opposite is true about it.

FB is definitely a pain in the ass...too much of data...too much of goodness about it and an equal amount of badness...Goodness!! we have become so fast! We just open the fridge door titled Facebook, look inside and close it. What do we really want. Adding friends is easier. Contacts with the opposite gender in real life is easier. We all earn, we spend...we can do what we want to...get as many GFs, screw anyone you want. But we definitely wont for we are morally upright...(let me say so...thats my morality...:))

Dont know what we want...we arent able to set things in place...the rooms always a mess, the cabinet overflows...the cockroaches screw and grow by millions...and we have Operation Cockroach almost every week, which makes silly boys like me go down with Sinusitis, after inhaling the fumes. The hotel food is no longer tasty...the cheeks are no longer red. A genuine, body shaking laugh is a rarity...and a relief when it descends on you. Superb relief for people who have stopped using their bodies, and who use more brains and fingers to do work.

The shop guys have no chuttas...we all do dealings with cards...such a fast fucking life we have...Gosh!!