Motherjane Ahoy

In the February of 2006, my only interaction with rock music was seeing the cover of an Iron Maiden album which I don’t remember now and once listening to the voice of Avril Lavigne which I couldn’t tolerate for more than a few seconds. Now 4 years later in the February of 2010, I can (not with any intentions of praising myself) be easily termed as a veteran having delved a bit into almost all the genres of rocks . The only thing which has been constant through these 4 years has been the awesomeness of a Mother Jane concert.

4 years ago, When the felicity was still not huge and when it used to be in the ‘then’ Felicity ground in front of the library, of which many of the current students wont be too aware. I got ‘high’ for the first time ever in my life, the strangest thing about this high was, it wasn’t brought out by something you could smoke, neither by drinking or eating something. It was a high perceived by the ears, the first of the very rare times when I have got high on music.

I didn’t know what they were playing, what they were saying and what did symbols like \m/ meant. Bass and lead were the terms which would remain alien to me for an even longer time. But that Rock Show in the Felicity of 2006, when Motherjane performed and I got my first taste of rock music, was an experience I haven’t forgotten even to this date.

Felicity 2k10 again boasted of Motherjane performance and the hopes were raised but were quickly covered with a cloud of skepticism. Whether they would be able to recreate the magic, the karizma of the first year.
But as soon as the bass rumbled, the drums roared and the microphones blared the fears and the doubts all vanished in thin air . More than an hour later, a soul was satisfied and a dream was recreated. Was treated to some of the very finest music you will ever hear in the city. The real rock star of the band though would remain the lead Guitarist. The rock rendition of Vande Matram by the guy gave me Goosebumps. Something which every Indian in the crowd wouldn’t forget easily.

Would really like to thank the organizing team of Felicity 2K10 for making this happen and also for the small matter of organizing a batch reunion for the class of 2009! 🙂

Why do you smoke?

Faced with the same question for the millionth time, I thought of that day many long years ago. In that smoky room of OBH, when I was asked the question perhaps the first time. Why do you smoke? I was but a kid then, not so sure about his life and things. Now I am a young man still unsure about my life and things but guess might try to tackle this one.

Smoking must be the addiction pursued in the highest number which would clearly indicate to something being very succesful in this whole scenario.
First and foremost thing is, a smoker is addicted to cigarette and that’s why he does it. There are many cravings in the world people have craving of chocolate, Tiger Woods had it for sex, Sachin has it for centuries, a smoker has it for smoke. Its nothing good or bad for him, its just a thing. Just like food, it’s a necessity of the body. There is a chemical locha inside a smoker’s body which ensures that person needs it after every meal, after every sleep, before every morning dump (in stages of addiction).

The many advantages of smoking in practical life also do generally tend to increase the addiction. Smoke is like a swiss knife doing many thing s at the price of one
There are many reasons which can add to this addiction, cigarette serves as a very good time pass when you are waiting, for anyone or anything doesn’t matter, a neat slice of 5 mins is taken out of the boring time. Instead of cursing those 5 mins, you can have a good smoke. The pie is shifted by 5 mins 😛 A gr8 thing to keep company with your friends. We have always had huge discussions on the topic that may be Sangal Sir should introduce Sutta and Daroo in college if they really want people to gel well. (Controversial statement don’t kill me) . I always loved the smoking part, the feeling of taking in and letting out smoke has always fascinated me and have never been bored of it. The fascination and the power of taking something and controlling it, making rings, blowing out pufffs, smoke out in a spurt or let it go loosely. Its all just a part of the game I like.

Ofcourse you can never discount the high you get smoking a cigarette after a few days, or a hard day’s night. It’s the high which initially gets most of the people addicted to this bitter sweet symphony called cigarette.

There are very many bad things about cigarettes which I fully appreciate, comprehend and understand and never advise anyone to start smoking, but what to do! Still don’t have the will power to leave it. When the day comes I’ll sure publicize it or die trying (of cancer?? )!! I would have loved to write all the harmful, horiffic effects of smoking but would end writing a thesis so will leave this part to the intelligent reader.

Should I even try?

let me lean, let me lag
let me sleep another day
the world is a road hard
i’ve known and read

i dont want to win them prizes all
buckle up is not what I do
let me blow it up in smoke instead
lazy am I and let me be so

let me earn a little less
let me live a little more
don’t take away that bed from me
Its those dreams I live for

A moment, a thought is where I live
minutes and years are not for me to see
Stairs and roads I don’t take
Floating in the clouds is my race

Life, it never was a servant
Should I even try?

Dil Chahta Hai?

PS: Personal Opinions
As far as I can remember, there are only two things cricket and movies, which have ruled the hearts and minds of the Indian dispora. Other events and things can come and go but these two have been rooted at the top of popularity charts. Both of them are full of success stories and disappointments likewise. Yet, since its the winners who are talked about the most

Every calendar year in bollywood, comes up with a multitude of flops, a few hits and a super block buster movie which trumps almost any other movie in terms of praises heaped on it,the collections at the box office and the awards at the year end shows. Some lucky years we have more than one such movies which can be termed as the biggest movies of the year but as far as my senses go (which would be Hum Aapke Hain Kaun in 1994) there has been one movie which people associate with that particular year and its just the exceptions which occur sometimes when you’ve got more than a movie.

Looking at a list of the biggest movies of the year from 2000 to now, we notice that there’s always been something entirely different with almost every movie in this list.
If KNPH was the emergence of Hrithik and his style of acting, DCH was the harbinger of a different genre of movies, Lagaan was a combo of Cricket and Patriotism, two things people hold closest to their hearts. If Munnabhai was a comedy of different type, then Dhoom was the first time Indians were fascinated with bikes and so on almost every movie had something new to offer.

2000 – KNPH
2001 – DCH/Lagaan/Gadar
2002 – Devdas
2003 – Munnabhai/KHNH
2004 – Dhoom
2005 – Black
2006 – RDB
2007 – TZP/Chak De/Jab We Met
2008 – Ghajini/Rock On
2009 – 3 Idiots

Yet if you look at the list, DCH could easily be said to be the biggest movie of the decade. Agreed, it may not be the highest grossing by any means. If DDLJ was the movie that changed the style of movie making in the last decade by introducing Indians to the NRI dream. DCH changed it all this decade with the cosmopolitization of the entire movie industry. DCH was the movie which moved Bollywood from cities to Metros. There have been numerous movies located in Bombay/Mumbai before that but somehow the treatment always remained different. You can infact very well say that success of movies like Rock On, Dhoom, 3 Idiots are a direct outcome of the metro environment created by DCH.

Another reason for this is the optimal timing of the movie. Its only after stepping into the 2000s that India has achieved a spot of importance in the world in fields ranging from economy to cricket. 90s was a pretty average time in recent Indian history with unstabiliy and mediocrity being the norm. For no reason is the music of 90s the most dreaded by many people, Indian cricket team of the 90s considered as a benchmark for any poor performance. Breaking out into a new age literally and metaphorically, perhaps it was also a time of change in the bollywood and that fortunately was provided by DCH.

Some of the facts that still point to the never decreasing popularity of the movie is the fort in Goa which is commonly known as DCH Fort or the fact that everyone wants to make a road trip to Goa (but in a car.. The DCH way). DCH could be credited for making Goa more interesting to a whole generation of people.

15 Years Later

Kajol

I cannot proudly proclaim to rememeber all the details of that winter of ’95 when a film called DDLJ was ruling the box office and the hearts of people around India. After all I was a 8 yr old kid back then.Yet I still do remmeber a certain Raj Malhotra who ascended the throne and became King Khan after that movie and I do also remember the pretty, chirpy and vivacious Senorita from the movie. 90s was a time when almost every Indian boy dreamed of and loved Kajol. She was the queen bee at the time.

15 years after DDLJ, that childhood enchantment with the Simran of DDLJ is long but gone but after watching My Name is Khan, this young adult is filled with love, respect and admiration for the lady called Mandira Khan in the movie. Aging is a natural phenomenon and unlike the actors in our bollywood, actresses do seem to be governed by these rules. Yet there can be various types of aging: Preity Zinta types getting ugly, Aishwarya Rai types in your face cleavage, be like Shilpa Shetty and try defying all these rules with your awesomely mantained bod or you can just fade into obscurity like Raveena Tandon all more or less contemporaries who have had their different paths charted in the twilight of their career.

But, there is another way of aging, doing it the graceful way and the styling of MNIK has a lot to do in this. The yesteryear’s hottie has completely gone, tank tops have been replaced by sober sweaters, the mini skirts have been replaced by smart pants. Yet one look into those eyes and you realise you are looking into one of the most gorgeous of the women you’ll see atleast for sometime to come. These are the eyes that sparkle, that charm, that mesemerize and enchant. One look into those eyes and you cant help falling in love with the same woman again even after a gap of 15 years.

Take a bow Kajol. You still rock 🙂

Companions of The Road

The roads are full of travellers and as is the case with any conglomeration of people anywhere, there are different varieties of people travelling, trying to reach their destinations or having the fun of driving. Some of these are safe bets, some would scare you to death, some make you go green with envy, others would make you burst into fits of rage, you have a plethora of people and like the five fingers of your hand, different ways are needed to co-exist peacefully with them. After having many not so pleasant encounters with many types of travellers, I thought of coming up with my list of worst traffic offenders I encounter in my day to day life.

1) Pedestrians – Bikers curse Car Drivers, car drivers curse bikers, Yet pedestrians are the people everyone curses. More than often they are the most unwanted thing on road. The most dangerous breed to have ever roamed those tar covered tracts of land. They are supposedly the weaklings of the road just a human body not supported or protected by any piece of machinery, which makes you responsible in case of any mishap which involves you and them regardless of whether its u or them who are mistaken, making them by default a dangerous prospect.
Yet all this would have amounted to nothing, had people in India did their primary education because that is when you are taught to look both sides of road before crossing (or atleast the side from which vehicles are supposedly coming), to step aside when you hear a horn being blown behind you by a vehicle (which hopefully is trying to find a way to get ahead of the human legs). Since, this is not the case, almost everyday during my drive from home to office and vice-versa, I come across atleast one person who wouldnt be looking while crossing the road or wouldnt even think of buzzing out of the way, no matter how hard you honk the horn.
The biggest problem with pedestrians is, they can never be mended, its not that they dont care or its their mistake that the traffic sense is so bad. From what I have observed their problem is, they are just unable to access the situation and act accordingly, for reasons till date unknown to me.

2) Female Drivers – Could easily have been the top ranked entry given the scale of damage they can do but for the fact that the ratio of female drivers to male ones is quite low, making roads a much safer place to drive. Such an analysis of women is in no way a result of the originaly thinking of my brain, yet almost every time I encounter a female driver, I cant help but marvel at the guy who must have noticed this for the first time. They come in all shapes, sizes, ages and vehicles and yet none is more or less harmful than the other. All of them being equally potent, although the damage done being directly proportional to the vehicle they are driving.
Almost everytime I have cursed a driver of a vehicle which is not an Indica (Taxi) or an Auto its been a women (agreed there are male specimens too, but they are far rarer). I have never really cursed a woman from the depth of my heart but almost every time I cross a woman on road, its a sad moment for me as I would have invariably showered the choicest of expletives in my own mind by the time I overtake the car which is going around randomly on the road and discover that the person driving the car isnt a man who I can give a piece of my mind, instead its a woman which would force me to seal my lips and go ahead hoping not to find another one of her breed on the same day again. You are just too helpless in front of them.

3) Taxi/Auto Drivers – They are not the nanchalant ones like the pedestrians, neither are they incompatible/incapable like women folk. Yet the only time I reduce the speed of my bike on a road which is not in a bottleneck situation is when I have to pass by an Auto wallah or a Indica driver. The pedestrians wont be able to cause any harm, instead they would be the one lying down in case of any mishap. Women on the road are again too few to be the cause of serious concern. These guys are the biggest threat anyone (and specially a biker) ever faces. Autos and Indicas both being bigger vehicles than a bike, you stand being harmed a lot at times while they will go away unscathed. More than often they are the most experienced drivers on the road and most of them would count among the better drivers on the road. Yet their biggest problem remains their Dont Care attitude, more than often the vehicle being a hired one and not one they own, its less of a heartache when something happens to the vehicle. As a result these dwellers of the road get the license to drive as they wish. Needless to say speed always thrills but with greater speed comes greater responsibility which is the part these dumbasses of the road forget to think about. Being the drivers that these guys are, more than often its not mad driving like a common woman driver for them. Instead, they know what they are doing and where they are going, as a result even during the most trickiest of turns they would very rarely get hit.
Its you, a normal driver who is at the recieving end in such situations, when they would just push you, bang you or take a sudden turn making you (if you are going through a period of bad luck) ram into other thingseven stationary ones. While in this whole time, the auto wala of the Indica would have disappeared into thin air even before you could have a look at the number.

PS: No Pedestrians, female or taxi/auto drivers were harmed in writing of the post, although a biker was, we condole for his loss