Recent Musical gems

Thanks to my recent acquisition - The MotoRokr, I get to listen to a lot of music while I am travelling to and from work. Arduous times those, I spend more than 20% of my day, and almost 33% of the time I am awake in the bus. Here are some gems that keep my spirits up - and as I pointed out in an earlier post, help me attain that elusive "Bliss of solitude".
1. Kaise Kahen, Shiva, Ilayaraja. - Outstanding song this, I just love the 80's feel in this song. "I love you"!!!! - what a line...
2. Ore Nyabagam, Minnale, Harris Jeyaraj - Brilliant guitars and what depth in the song!
3. Jaane do na, Cheeni Kum, Ilayaraja - Shreya!!!!! what she does to me is unbelievable. The way she says "Jaane do na". The third and fourth lines - Naaaaa etc..Too much.
4. Appudo ippudo, Bommarilu, Devi Sri Prasad - Siddharth is this amazing musical talent. As Ganja, the guy who gave me this lifeline, says, the pa-ni-ni-sa-sa is AMAZING!!! What a peppy song. K to theory. This song is all about enjoying the moment.
5. Dol Dol, Pokiri, Mani Sharma (Telugu!!!!) - Suchi of Mirchi fame's voice is her s** appeal. No doubts. The number of loops this has constituted is too many to remember. What a woman. She just makes me forget the world and my existence.
6. I met Bach in my house, How to Name it, Ilayaraja. God! that's all he is.
7. Style, Sivaji, ARR - Unbelievable energy in the song, for me this is a life altering song.
8. Saroja saaman nikalo, Chennai 600028, Yuvan - Energetic song with out of the world veenai interludes that just kill you.
9. The Reason, Hoobastank - Singing that song aloud in Makki's car the other day was an unforgettable experience. That song has got the best lyrics ever in English I know.
10. Ay Hairathein, Guru, ARR - Hindi song of the year. Period. Innocence personified.

Will keep updating the blog with my musical rants on and off.

Musings

I never gave my blogs such a dour and unimaginative name before. But, such is life.
Some random thoughts -
1. You are remembered by your last result.
2. I always thought I was this process guy n so on. BS. I live and die by results.
3. I never wanted big things. But I never wanted smaller things too.
4. Responsibility crushes me.
5. My life has always been up and down, and I have been hazaar inconsistent in life.

Worst! Even I have started sounding like one of those self help books. K to all that.
And yeah. I love this trait of mine. Where everything is Ked.

//IIMB/Learnings$

I realized that, for the first, second and third time in history since this blog was born there wasnt a post in a calendar month. And its indeed a pity that such rare events occurred in consecutive months. Ok, Life was busy till my IIMB days got over. A couple of draft posts didn't pass my editorial committee. I wasn't feeling like doing anything for a while after that, leave alone posting blog entries.
Let me attempt to list the lasting images of IIMB and the learnings from two years at IIMB - without any more glob.
1. Lingo - How J became K is a story in itself.
2. Sessions with Royal Stag, Ilayaraja and a few great men. No wonder the 'Aap mein aur Bagpiper' was a hit campaign of the 80s and 90s
3. Strong guys - Focus was the name of the biggest lesson learnt there.
4. Pseude Women - Respect to all of them.
5. Living through two years where survival was tough and getting out. With scratches and bruises, but Graduate pannitom la? That kind of attitude to life.
6. A confused mind is a great peril.

Its been two years I will remember for a long time. But I just cant get myself to blog with fluency on this topic. Idea choking somewhere as they travel from the brain to my hands. So lets stop this here and take it on sometime else.
p.s- The naming of this blog should win the best title award

Guru - A review

Well, As I have done over the last decade (Since Bombay to be precise) I watched a Mani Ratnam movie in the first weekend. But, Guru was not the mother of all movie watching experiences like say a Nayagan or Iruvar. The movie had strains of Iruvar and Nayagan all along – basically because of a thematic connect with these movies. Now, that is where I have a problem. Mani has templates of scenes which he retrofits to new projects he undertakes. Now, picture this – Hero is working before he takes on his address to glory. Mani uses an item number to cover that part of the hero’s life. Nila adhu vaanathu mele in Nayagan, “Mayya Mayya” in Guru. Hero and heroine get married, “Nee oru kaadhal” comes in Nayagan, “Ay hairathein” in Guru. Hero is in the pits – “Thenpaandi” in Nayagan, “Jaage hain” in Guru. And, images of Iruvar keep coming whenever Guru addresses meetings. The confined spaces scenes of the lead couple remind you of Roja and Inba’s sequences in Ayutha ezhuthu. It raises two possible questions - Has Mani fallen a trap to his old creations that he has to keep going back to his old movies to borrow scenes? Or is it just his style of film making? However much I want to believe the latter argument, as a Maniratnam disciple, I feel let down. Mani has just stopped stretching himself.

The movie has more than its share of moments though.

The kiss Maddy gives Vidya Balan has to be one of the most brilliantly picturised and passionate sequences in Indian movies. The sequence that sets up the rivalry between Mithunda’s camp and Guru is vintage Mani. The 40 minutes after the hero and heroine intro songs are rocking. A lot of Iruvar in it, but excellent pace and depth in the scenes. The party in Guru’s house when his partner decides to part ways is brilliantly done. Amazing characterization. The belly showing sequence and the dialogs that follow it (Guru and Ash rock in this sequence) are again Mani speciale. Rajeev Menon’s transitions in technique as Guru moves on from one stage to another in life are top class. (I just cant help but feel that Barso re was more Rajeev than Mani. Stains of Konjum mainakkale all along. ) The lead pair are good examples of how Mani extracts performances to suit his script. The Vidya Balan – Guru exchanges are delightful. Mithun da is extremely dignified and is a pillar of strength to the movie. Maddy is almost unnecessary, but for that one kiss – Respect!

While on one hand, I gasped in orgasmic pleasure for some of the better moments, I was totally pissed off with the way Mani had to use kids to sing “Jaage hain”. Was he trying a Thevar magan or what? Mani must have been drunk when he conceived this idea. Rahman is just absent in this movie. The overdose of percussion in the re-recording and that irritating “Guru bhai Guru bhai” chants leave you exasperated. ARR can be seen in his elements only in the melodic Barso re charanam inspired BGMs and that amazing bit song for Vidya Balan. But a great bit song is but an essential ingredient in a Mani Movie. “Mayya”, “Barso re” and “Ek lo ek muft” are needless speed breakers to the screenplay. Why does Mani have to make movies that have songs at all? And the climax. Which Mani ratnam hero speaks a 5 min monologue? Maybe I need to watch it in Tamil and get bowled over by the word play. But otherwise, I felt totally let down watching the climax.

Overall, Guru was brilliant in patches, but when Mani Ratnam takes close to 3 years to make a movie, and has such a hardworking cast at his disposal, you expect more.

Adieu Lille

Harish is finally done with his stay in Lille. Whether he enjoyed it as much as he thought he would is a debatable question. There are things he saw that he can boast to his grandchildren over early morning Hindu reading sessions. There are exquisite varieties of booze that he can brag about to his friends with the authority of an inveterate drinker. There are scenes that he believes he should rewind and play in his mind before the final countdown starts in his life. But yet, he largely regrets the decision to land in France. He didn't quite like the idea of spending in Euros. Exchange rate actually played partial spoilsport to his exchange term. While orkutting and cricinfoing found new impetus during his exchange term, Harish exhibited cravings for company on many an occasion. Solitude is blissful for Harish only when he chooses to realize it. Basically he is not a very steady or sane character as readers of the blog will already know. Otherwise, he briefly enjoyed cooking his own food, but soon lost enthu to do it on an everyday basis simply because, he shouldnt enjoy ANYTHING for long periods of time. Strange are the ways of people, stranger are the ways of Harish. One good thing that came out of his wane in enthu for cooking is his weightloss, atleast Harish insists so. It's up to the readers and others who see him in Chennai to verify this statement. Psychoism - a term coined by Harish's cousin - is not yet something Harish has totally lost, and he did exhibit bouts of that during times with and without company. And, stints with some of his hookah wingies in Lille were, in Harish's opinion, delightful. Excellent booze sessions with strong company is something he always liked didn't he. And finally, the fact that some of his best buddies will be in Chennai waiting to welcome him is so exciting for him. For that alone, he wants the last few minutes, that he tried spending by a gen blog entry, to speed past.
Au revoir only.

The "Lazy"man on a Euro trip - Volume 4

This post is dedicated to the lazy bum that I have become after about 45 days of relentless Eurailing and a subsequent derailing of enthu to continuously hit the road week after week. A minor crisis on the financial front (I am being a typical company MD here, where you need to read this as Bankruptcy:)) made the decision easier, or rather inevitable.
Thus these last few weeks have been dedicated to minimal movement across and within days. One week spent entirely at 9, Residence St. Louis, Rue de Princess, Lille - a comfortable, small and cosy room that is my abode for the next 18 days - was absolute pleasure. Days of orkutting, evenings of hour long GTalks with parents and Girish, nightouts preparing cricket quizzes and researching cricinfo/ The Hindu. Life was engineering revisited. Only, the "kutti chevaru" gang and some familiar faces were missing. Solitude was blissful, for those seven days. The next week saw the transition from fun to fin! literally. Futures were exciting and I foresee a cliched use of something related to the word future. Which I aptly avoid now. Anyways, even that week saw only a minor expansion of the horizon of the house arrest enforced home maker I had become - with minor sojourns in classes punctuating otherwise monotonously exciting days of confinement. Some of the "new" things I got to do - thanks to these 2 weeks (and a part of this week) were -
- 4 different varieties of subji with the same vegetable.
- 3C2 ways of selecting and having 2 pickles with rice.
- An academic endeavor which surprised even me!
- Time spent creating and moulding one of the dream ventures of the near future.

Nothing earth shattering - and that's precisely why I wrote this entry. It is possible to do nothing in life and enjoy it! So much that even a trip to Bordeaux made over the last 3 days got converted to a "No - enthu - da" trip - which meant I stayed in some friend's house for 2 days sleeping in the day
Travel and rest - rest and travel - rest and rest....
these three quadrants have been given their share of space...Only fair, cus The fourth quadrant was taking too much time in the first 2 months of exchange.


It's again "No enthu time" to continue this piece of brilliant trash.
Pack!

The Layman on a Eurotrip - Volume 3 - "Italia or Ind-alia?"

Sorry for keeping all you guys waiting for this third volume of the travelogue.

And I still am gonna adhere to freewheeling, self-discretionary writing, and will cover things that are not “travelogical” in this one too. But I know that entertainment value ARE important – as I read through ALL of your feedback, rest assured on that aspect. Enough of the first paragraph BS – here is the third volume.

This one is NOT the Italy travelog. Given how much I missed India lately and the festive season that just ended, I thought I had to post something related to our great country soon, but little did I know that I would get such a lovely thematic fit. On that jubilant note – here I present – “Indalia”

Italy for one can be called Ind-aly or “Indalia” and get away with it – because of the HUGE and sometimes disturbing resemblence to India. Why?

1. There is absolutely NO traffic sense. When I first landed in Milano and crossed the road – there were vehicles rushing from all directions when the signal showed a red. People, like India, just didn’t care, as there was no police guy around. I figured out very quickly that signals are mostly to be used at one’s own peril. But what the hell, I have been in Hyderabad, where one can peacefully cross ANY crowded road anywhere, without waiting for a zebra crossing or for the traffic to reduce – so I coped well with this situation I must say;). Nevertheless – I felt at home in Milano immediately.
2. Trenitalia will give Indian Railways and its ill-maintained trains a run for its money. To the last cent. Even with 24 years of experience with Laloo’s fleet of stinking trains, I could just not enter the Venezia- Bologna toilet (which by the way was the first time I tried the train’s loo in Italy), and my survival instinct prevailed over my sense of urgency (tenesmous? Is that the word Rosenblum taught us?). The unfortunate thing is that some of the other European countries that Trenitalia enters have to live with the unmitigated negligence of the people who run this railway company – and endure its package of stinking toilets.
3. Ofcourse – time adherence will NOT be found in Trenitalia’s resume. I missed a connecting train from Milano in the early morning due to a 45 minute delay by the previous train I took (funny, considering the fact that the train journey in itself lasted only 2 hours) – HUGE for Europe. And yeah there went my 10 euros I paid as reservation for this train from Milano to Paris;(. Unfriendly people at the ticket counters add to travelers woes to ensure that the Trenitalia experience is very close to the Indian Railways experience. Laloo rocks. He is atleast trying to improve our own mammoth with the little money he has. Go on Laloo…you are bound to surpass Trenitalia soon.
4. Continuing on Trenitalia – it sure amuses you with its notices on Smoking – there was one particularly hilarious sign which said something to the effect of “No smoking on this train, even if there are other signs which say on the contrary!”. Trenitalia was the only railway line I saw which threatened a 8 euro hefty;) fine for smokers caught on the train, ofcourse I could see people happily break the rule and get away. Need I say more when I compare it with Indian Railway. Trenitalia also had the dubious distinction of changing platforms some minutes before departure and cancellation of trains.
5. As Indians who are used to blind guys singing some old Christian/ film songs in the metro railway and entertaining us on otherwise boring journeys, we were pleasantly surprised to see people with accordions in the train – who, were doing the same thing – this time playing some famous European pieces. The similarity with India would never end I thought.
6. Italy also saw me do a 2 hour trip in the train’s corridor – this was a “Ticketless train”, so at 4 in the morning there were hazaar people thronging the corridors. I must say this was a very Indian experience, and I enjoyed it thoroughly – even though the safety freak in me popped up and checked my wallet every few minutes, a la Janakaraj in some old 1980s movie. Thankfully, my pocket was not torn!
7. Pissing on the roadside was unseen and unheard of in all the countries (Yes – all six of them) I had seen. And guess what – you can get away with it in Italy and especially in beautiful Venice. What else could unsuspecting travelers/ locals do – if there are NO free public toilets in the city and the vending machine in front of the loo gobbles change?
8. The roadside on any Italian city is full of hawkers from the Indian subcontinent though I suspect the number of Bangladeshis is much more than those from India and Pakistan combined. This partially explains why we were checked for passports more in Italy than in all other countries combined. Liability of Origin – surprisingly pinched us most in the country that resembles India the most. Now someone explain this.
9. Pickpocketing and handbag slashing – as many of you would have known are highest in Italy – and one of my institute mates had her handbag slashed by one of those notorious bike-riding thieves.
10. For those of you who wanted something touristy as a similarity – Venice is Italia’s Allapuzha, what if it is 3 times more scenic. Rome is Italy’s New Delhi – and its cultural capital. Vatican irritated me with its 5 hour queues and hence prompted a comparison with our one Tirumala Tirupati;) Pisa and its funny tower is Italy’s wonder of the world – but nowhere is it as beautiful as the Taj! And for all those who have watched Godfather will swear that Bombay is India’s Sicily. Vada Pav in Bombay becomes Masala Dosa in Chennai and Margerita Pizza in Italy. Not exactly – but just for comparison’s sake.
11. The things that are similar to India but absolutely rock are the roadside pizzerias and gelato shops (Ice-cream parlours for the ignorant). Amazing pizzas and cone ice creams for very affordable (read cheap) rates. What else can the poor tourist ask for? I actually put on some (don’t worry – only a couple) of the many kgs I lost thus far on exchange thanks to the very tasty scoops of ice cream in some of the most exotic flavors. And, there were a few VEGETARIAN pizzas around – so I did stay vegetarian – thankfully!

p.s – The Italy – Cannes travelog is next.