A Free Night

I was there at the venue at 6:15 pm for a concert that was supposed to start at 8. I had my pockets over-populated with the passes given out by a big-hearted (or maybe desperate) person. When I reached there ,there were a couple of my old friends who had agreed to come and we were shortly joined by a third guy which made us 4 people with 6 passes. The others whom I'd invited got busy and couldn't join us.We were among the first few extra punctual people to arrive at the scene and we'd arrived even before the kadlekai wala or the ice-cream boy showed up. 

The next 30-40 minutes were spent outside with each of us munching on fried corn and kallepuri  which were quite tasty but crazy expensive.Not just for our mouths,there were some eye-candies too   ;)  so it was a good time-pass waiting outside the gate, for no one.And one great person even came and offered a VIP pass for 2 grand! Now,i say, there should even be a limit to madness,right?This person seemed to think very far.

And soon enough, a crowd had gathered and started to move inside the grounds; we followed the herd. Our passes were checked. Bags and safe areas(for weapons, I mean ) were as usual, unchecked. One thing I really appreciate, is the amount of confidence the Indian police and security have on us! They never check whenever we go to anyplace that's sensitive. God alone is saving us. Lets all thank god this once.

OK, back in the grounds,we were really excited at the beginning to see a well lit stage with d DJs in their stand, madly smoking and working on their comps. We could also go and stand right opposite the barricade facing the stage; and we considered ourselves very lucky for having reached the venue early. The excitement didn't really seem to last long 'cause it seemed like we could get the 'front-line' spot at any given time during the concert. We could even count the people with our fingers.So we just went arou

nd, grabbed some soft drinks and were just talking crap waiting for the show to begin. I also met a couple of my friends there and spoke with them for a little while and soon the much awaited concert began with the arrival of our 'dude in panche' on the stage.

It was about 8:30 when the program started.It was Raghu Dixit's band (Raghu dixit project) which was performing that evening.Also with them were the Medieval punditz and one very talented ,Karsh kale.

People had gathered in more numbers by then and soon the concert began. Our dude was clearly pissed at the small attendance and was smartly letting it out by lightly cursing the fans, which the poor ones who didn't understand, & they ended up cheering for him.The guy expected the crowd to guess and sing the songs in the right shruti and pallavi and while the people couldn't really do so,he slowly let out his frustration   :P  .That's one advantage being a cult person.No matter what you say to the fans,they cheer for you.You praise them,you scream at them,you call them 'nonsense fellows',it doesn't matter,you are cheered.Same case yesterday.But that's also a way of keeping the mood and the energy alive, no real offence. The music was great! Even better were the speakers and the audio. The ground was literally vibrating with each beat.

The next thing I and another friend of mine did was to go stand very close to the speakers.It was an amazing sensation with every thump.

He sung some very good songs & I liked them all. He also released the Nokia 5800 cell phone,of course it was a concert sponsored by the Nokia itself so they had to be in there somehow. After his performance, it was again the boring look-at-people's-faces session,crack stupid but entertaining jokes time,till the organizers arranged the stage for the next oncoming group,The Medieval Punditz and Karsh Kale.They came on the stage with a few Macs and lots of music editing stuffs. They soon started and let me tell you one thing about electronic music, although they claim so, they do not carry any sort of meaning in them.So it's just left to the person,individually to pick up whatever meaning they want from the music.I just picked up the drums.A modified, robotic voice, flute here and there and some tabla were showcased.It was quite good,for sometime,until i got tired of rocking my head to the drums and was reminded of home. Also I had to desperately take a  urea-break.I dragged my reluctant friend along and went to d parking lot to hop on my bike and ride back home.We somehow went around places in the night,losing the route and eventually reached home, after meandering a lot.It was almost 11:30 by the time we reached.The rats in my tummy were having their own concert in there and i had to quickly re-fuel self. Soon after my dinner,i did what i normally do everyday,catch some Z's   :)

So much for the free concert.

Slumdog millionaire??A white tiger?? Who exactly??

4 Golden globes, 31 awards and 37 more nominations for a movie that shows only about the slums and the negative side of our country.Right from the beginning it shows about the hopeless situation of the slums and violence and kids getting spoilt.Is this the message that the movie wants to spread? I did not find anything striking in the movie that could win an award. Its a good movie,good concept,awesome music and some exceptional acting but not a possible-Oscar winnable stuff if Oscar is meant for the meaningful. But it has never been that way with the Oscars. Rarely the deserving movies win one.( For instance The Shawshank Redemption, The pursuit of happYness and there are many more...)

One thing that I have noticed is that the people who give away the awards (mostly the westerners) is that,they seem to like the idea of a poor,struggling and corrupted India and anything on that would win an award! I recently read the book by Aravind Adiga, 'The white tiger' which won the Man-Booker prize for 2008. At first i was really happy that for the second time in three years, an Indian had won the prize. I was very keen to read the book. I even had plans of buying my own copy but soon a very close friend of mine told me that he'd bought the book. Eventually,I borrowed it from 

him, n i believe i did a wise decision by not buying a copy for myself.

The book is in the form of a letter written by a poor village boy from North India,now a self proclaimed 'entrepreneur', sitting confidently in Bangalore, to a Chinese premiere who will be visiting India and telling him how bad and messed up India is and at the same time glorifying China. Now why would anyone do that? 

The guy grows up in a bad family, goes to a bad school, witnesses bad politics,  works for a good owner with bad brothers and a bad wife, with bad co-workers, makes bad friends, does all the bad jobs, gets into bad problems, and finally for no accurate reason does the worst job by murdering his master and running away so smartly that the bad police of India cannot catch him at any cost. Then he comes to Bangalore and even becomes the owner of a taxi service company! Is this remotely plausible? I cannot believe this book, which doesn't tell one good thing about our country won a prestigious prize and people cheer about it!

There have been movies like Rang De Basanti,A Wednesday which carry far more meaning and sense of pride in them. These may not be by a Shah rukh khan or a western director but don't these movies make us all proud? Don't they ignite us? Don't the send out a stern message to all of us? How beautiful are the books by R.K.Narayan(which i might be writing about in my future blogs)! What is so wrong with them as to not have deserved a Booker prize? There are so many books that speak high about our country. Why don't they deserve a prize?It's very apparent that such movies are totally ignored in the larger arena. Sensible movies and books do not have any place where as the ones which are demeaning are celebrated.

There could even be a slumdog billionaire but in reality it's only the director and the concerned people who ultimately promote themselves to being billionaires and a slumdog remains a slumdog.

A lovely poem

A poem by an African kid:

When I born, I black

When I grow up, I black

When I go in sun, I black

When I scared, I black

When I sick, I black

And when I die, I still black

And you white fellow

When you born, you pink

When you grow up, you white

When you go in sun, you red

When you cold, you blue

When you scared, you yellow

When you sick, you green

And when you die, you grey

And you’re calling me coloured???

Photography

Ah! how it pleases me to take snaps! Its an unmatched delight for me.Leave me and a camera in a place and I'm lost in it.I never had any formal training in photography,which i regret,but when people look at some of my photos and say I'm no less than a pro it makes me so happy. I thank those people who are a catalyst for my passion.

It all began 4 years ago with the arrival of the first digital camera into my home,the Canon Powershot A400. A basic digital camera with pretty impressive features and quality.The transition from the old Yashica to a brand new,then latest in the market,Canon was an absolute excitement to me.I'd also got a handycam, a Galileo binoculars and an astronomical Telescope. But nothing kept me more busy and interested than the camera.I ate slept and dreamt with it. Photography had got into my blood. 

I used to photograph everything that I saw. Trees,crows,everything on road, were my subject.  :P   I learnt something new from every shot I took. I used to experiment a lot with the camera and it helped me learn so much on my own. It all really helped when we went on vacations. Some of the sceneries were captured so well by the A400,they almost looked like the pics from an SLR. People praised me a lot which further pushed me into it. I made sure to carry my camera wherever I went. I went on a few trips to N.India,Kerala and few more places with family and friends and captured some great stills. That's how i developed my passion in photography.

Although quite handy and satisfying, the A400 wasn't as capable at all the times. Low magnification power,reduced 

photogrphic quality during night and a low battery back-up with two AA batteries and their charger which I had to carry everywhere was quite a bulky and wearing affair. I somehow felt the need for a better equipment. A more powerful and a versatile camera is what i needed.

I began explaining this to my parents and started bugging them to buy me a new camera and finally after months, all the begging and crying came of use  :)   Recently my father bought me a new camera. Princess Cybyl i call her   ;)   . A Sony Cybershot DSC H50 'super-zoom' camera which is far superior to the existing Canon in terms of Mega pixels, Magnification capabilities ,features and everything possible. It has got an efficacious 9.1 mega pixels and an intimidating 15x optical zoom which makes it look like an SLR. Although not exactly, it even works close to one. It's got a wide range of features including an high ISO sensitivity,High definition photos and videos, smile-shutter ( the camera recognizes your smile and shoots when you smile), and even an Infra-red shoot feature to take snaps in total darkness.It can even edit the photos and one feature which really amused me is the one which can literally make non-smiling people smile (editing the photo i mean).

I really feel the power in my hands with this camera.Its one of the best things to happen in my life and i hope my passion in photography develops to far greater heights with this one.   :)

Blog # 1

Ok,here I go. My first Blog entry.I'd like to thank Lord Ganesha for giving me the ability to communicate,without which i could never have done anything,by a wonderful song. This song was alos once our school prayer,and so, its a little more closer to me. I also would like to thank a few of my close friends and people who,although i was into blogging,made me show interest in it.

And so it begins.....

P.S: here's the link for the song i mentioned about.Please download and listen to it.

http://rapidshare.com/files/185740540/01_Ganapathy_Stavaha.mp3.html