Literacy For A Billion - How Can You Help?

The Trip To Talakadu

Photos from the trip to Jaladhama, on the banks of rivers Kaveri and Kapila at Talakadu, about a couple of hours drive from Bangalore.

Flower Power



Photos taken during the breakfast stop-over at the Kamat Upachahra on Mysore Road.

Scattering of Light?




Barb Wire?



Photos of the fields on the way - the Well Fielded Series

















I am quite pleased with the way these photos of the clouds came out. This is the Cloud Cult Series, dedicated to Cloud Cult, an indie rock band whose song Love You All I really like.













Photos from the resort.

Love As Seen in Bollywood Movies



Drops of Jupiter



Drops of Jupiter (on green leaves?!)



Leafing Through the Past



Contrasting Focuses





Coffee - Bean There Done That



What are these called?!



The Lonely Soldier



What Are You Getting Antsy About?!



And we all went dinning at the end of it!


All these and more pictures of the previous trips on Flickr - here.

Mysore Dasara Trip 2008 Or Why I Can Now Die A Happier Man - I

The Theory of Happening Trips has been proved once again. That the best trips are those which are decided at the spur of the moment with minimum fuss about the planning, stay, travel and the company. And that the ones that are planned and thought over, over and over, never quite happen.

The Mysore Trip for the Dasara celebration started by proving the The Theory of Happening Trips right. Plan Zero was that Ashutosh and I weould leave from Bangalore on his bike either on Wednesday night or on Thursday depending on how fried a day Wednesday would be. Plan Zero never took off as Ashutosh found out that he was the only resource for a project that would save the world from global warming and end poverty. Plan One involved asking Joshi if he could come and turned out that he had to work the next day on a project to bring about world peace. I cannot blame him too, for he'd have only a couple of hours to decide. But then all of us are not like and me, who set out on the Wayanad Trip with just a day's notice. The rest, of course, were too busy with more important things in life. Taking inspiration from them all, I realised even I could not waste more time on trivial things anymore and did a very important thing - start on the trip rightaway. After a quick call to Prasanna (THE man, the selfless friend, philosopher and Mysore guide, gracious and tolerant host, and to be called as SP henceforth ) informing him about my late-night arrival in Mysore, followed by a packing of trip essentials and a quick bath, I found myself jostling for space in the Bangalore City Volvo bus, since 67% of those working in and around Airport Road were heading towards Majestic area to take buses or trains to travel to their homes.





Kempegouda Bus-stand, Bangalore ~ 10:30 P.M














On reaching Majestic, I realised that 73% of Bangalore had arrived there, looking for a bus to travel out of Bangalore. I know 73% is exaggerated as it can get, but looking at the current economic downturn and the threat of massive lay-offs in the IT industry looming large, will there be a day in the near future where we could possibly see such an exodus out of Bangalore? I'm sure the copywriters in the media would be salivating at such a prospect. I can bet my left index finger that at least 38.2% of them would have thought of such a headline - [Insert well-known IT company name] Shuts Down Bangalore Operations, Employees Asked To Log Out. Even that, I think, is a fairly exaggerated scenario. That of a mass exodus of those working in the IT/BPO industry in Bangalore. Definitely not the copy-writers, they have their copies ready I'm sure.

I pushed, shoved, shouted, tripped over, bumped into and apologised my way through an ocean of people and reached the area from which buses depart towards Mysore. Discovered that KSRTC has launched a low-cost version of their popular air-conditioned buses named Sheetal(meaning cold). These buses run at a fairly good frequency and I did not have to wait for too long to find one with a comfortable seat. At Rs. 137 per passenger with comfortable seating and air-conditioning, I'm sure even those at Capitol Hill will have no problems in voting for this deal.

With Radio Indigo giving me good company and a refreshing coffee stop-over at Maddur, the journey was smooth and comfortable.



















Maddur Bus-stand. ~1:30 A.M

On entering Mysore, I called up SP so that he could reach the bus-stand by the time I reached there. And by the time I finished the call, the bus stopped and I realised that we were already at the bus-stand. I was glad that Mysore wasn't like Bangalore that it would take one at least an hour to reach the bus-stand on entering the city, even though it meant that I had to wait for SP for about fifteen minutes to come and pick me up.







Mysore Bus-stand ~1:00 A.M




























The warm and thoughtful man that SP is, he had brought a jacket for me in his room-mate's car that he had come in to pick me up. Now this is non-sense and I'd advise you not to read further as the previous sentence made no sense except that I tried to play on the word warm. But yes, it was really thoughtful of SP to have brought that jacket for me.

After straight and few cover drives through the deserted streets of Mysore, which only a few hours from then, would be teeming with people wanting to catch a piece of the Dasara action, we reached SP's home. Again, there was no reason for me to mention to the straight and the cover drives because we were not on a cricket field, but then I plan to go to watch the third and fourth day's play at India-Australia Test match here in Bangalore. That thought was playing on my mind while we were driving and I was hoping that I'd get to watch Dada's cover drives and Sachin's straight drives, Dravid's defences and Laxman's drives and defence. Hence the drives find themselves tossed up into this post. But then before this post goes on to become a post on Dada's retirement, which is definitely coming soon, I better get back on track than queer the pitch. We reached SP's place with out wickets intact(it would be redundant and cliched to say that there were no maidens on the road to bowl us over and hence our wickets were intact) and danced to Koyal Si Teri Boli from Beta. No, we did not do any dancing and I'm writing all non-sense. I'm really exhausted now and will continue writing this post once I've returned to sanity after a good night's sleep. Now, are you really reading till this point? Then there's one more thing I want to tell you and want you to listen. Listen, not to me, but to Mar Jaava from Fashion. I think Shruti Pathak will go places and I should go to bed. I promise to keep the next post relevant and write about what we saw at Mysore the next day. Till then, Mar Jaaava..

Sri Lanka, Lakshadweep or Kashmir?

It's either the top or the bottom, and nothing in between. Before you start getting any ideas about this tongue in cheek(or tongue in whatever else) remark, a clarification that the remark is an observation about the options for a possible trip towards the end of this year with Pole.

2008 has been a fairly mixed year, and in some cases probably the Blankest. But it has been a good one for travel. Varanasi, Kurseong, Darjeeling, Tiger Hill and Gorkha War Memorial, Gangtok, Chhangu Lake, Siliguri, Nepal, Bhutan, Kolkata, Delhi and the Wayanad Trip. And of course, the trip to Mysore and Srirangapattana with family. There's a feeling that I get, when I look to the west that even the travel that has happened till now isn't quite enough. So while we plan the year end trip to either the top or the bottom, here's looking forward to the Mysore trip for Dasara in a couple of days from now. And also looking forward to finally sitting down and writing about all those trips.

Why I Can't Have Enough of Gujarat

I find it quite strange that during the four years I was at Surat and even during my trips to Gujarat before that, I had not come across Sanedo. I had not even heard or discussed about it with any of my friends from Gujarat. It was only at the Garba here in Bangalore that we went to last night that I actually got a first hand experience of what Sanedo is. First hand experience is very essential, especially when one's talking about Garba!

The garba was great fun. Among other things, the gentleman on the mike ought back umpteen memories of the goof-ups of our teachers and those emceeing on the stage during various events in the college. During the break between Sanedo and Raas, I kept on hearing Pregness over and over again and while I was wondering if it was some unknown power indicating a person's prowess to get someone preganant (Old article. Nevertheless, read on - Condom sales up by 50% during Navarati in Gujarat) and turns out someone was shouting out for one Pragnesh. My jokes on Gujarati names began and ended with Hitess, Jigness, Paress, Naress being brothers of Business, but now I have Pregness as a welcome addition to the list. Jokes apart, I played Raas for the first time and I believe I've begun to understand how such events provide a casual and an informal environment for young men and women to meet and interact Not that I did not know of it earlier, but again, it's like that dialogue in Munnabhai which goes something like Life mein bahut kuch first time hota hai maamu. It was a really enjoyable and a very interesting experience. And Ms. Nimmi, I hope you had a good time too!

And how can any garba be complete without the garba remixes of the latest hits? Hare Krishna Hare Ram from Bhool Bhulaiyya was fine, but I found it quite funny playing raas with small children singing Zara Zara Kiss Me from Race with more energy than the quintessential male garba singer - fully blonde hair, a blazer made out of the material Kajol's blouse was made out of in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai(chiffon?!) and an uncanny ability to catch dancers unawares by shouting praises of the Godess during the music pieces in a song, lest they forget why they are dancing in the first place. It was a pleasant surprise to hear Main Koi Aisa Geet Gaaon and Chaand Taare at a garba event and dance to it. Couldn't have asked for a better end to the day, which though came at 3 a.m the next day, after a very satisfying quiz at BrewHaha with Chirag.

Thank you Gujarat. Thank you Surat. Thank you Arvind Barot and Maniraj Barot. Thank you Kaka for getting us passes to the indoor stadium in Surat. Thank you Fagun. Thank you Viral. Thank you Nilesh for making that phone call and trying to get me closer to Ms. Nimmi. Thank you Mehul.

PS. Mental note: Blog more often!

Dear Aniruddha Bahal, It's Not Funny

Dear Aniruddha Bahal,

Not a week passes in my life without I mentioning strongly recommending Bunker 13 to people I come across and who seem even remotely interested in reading among those. If I were deeply religious, one would have observed that I go back to Bunker 13 more often that I go to the religious texts. Of course, one needs the kind of madness that made MM the man he was. When I die, I will be glad that I introduced you and your writing to a lot of people around me. While I most eagerly look forward to another Bunker 13 and another MM from you, I really can't understand the need for you to invent Tony M at this moment. Yes, we Indians are starved for quality humour and what we are being served now does no justice to our discerning intellect, but I will remain skeptical of this attempt of yours till I watch the said show and find out if it really deserves you. Tehelka was excellent work and I admire you not only for what you brought to the rot to light, but also how you withstood all the persecution that followed. I really admire Shankar Sharma and Devina Mehra for the same. Please convey my best wishes to them and to Tarun as well. One need not look beyond you guys for inspiration on how to fight back in the face of all odds and come back and come back doubly strong. You started Cobrapost much before those of us in the web 2.0 infected world starting throwing about terms like RSS feeds and news aggregators. For all we know, Cobrapost might just take off and make a strong comeback if you spend more time on it that trying to humour us by being Tony Bhasand. And what is this? Is this what Aniruddha Bahal has become?

Is your absurd sense of humour your forte?

Humour is not the fort. If the truth in the joking then the peoples laughing and spreading all over out from the Naini fort on the river.

I really hope you and your publisher are working on another Bunker 13 and you won't disappoint your followers and readers. Maybe your following is a billionth of that of Sharukh Khan and you are not Arundhati Roy, reading whose work kids think they become intellectuals overnight and go around telling the entire world about it. We are you fans by choice, not by the lack of it. Hope you know that.



Maybe I'm over-reacting just on the ten questions you answered for the Outlook interview. But I hope you understand that you are at your best when you are either stinging or you are writing. And please don't meet Vipul Shah or Akshay Kumar, otherwise we'll soon be watching a movie titled Stingg is Kinng, with the unnecessary extra alphabets and there is also the threat of them wanting you to write the script.

Hope to see you back to writing soon.

Regards,
Nikhil


PS. I must mention here that I immensely enjoyed reading A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Just a note that you now have some competition in fiction writing about military, politicians, war, spying and espionage in the sub-continent.

Image Credit: Outlook

Welcome (to) Ashok Mishra

Just when we thought no one except Gulzaarsaab, Javedsaab, Kirkireji and to a certain extent Neelesh Mishra could write enjoyable songs for Hindi movies, we have a welcome addition to this honoured club. Let's extend a warm welcome to Ashok Mishra. Ashok Mishra debuts as a lyricist with Welcome to Sajjanpur. Forget all this nonsense about how the songs try and put the cool back in the gaon, or how the songs try and show that it's all happening in the hinterland, or even how the album really tries hard to bring out the latent “gaon-waala / gaon-waali” in all of us. Just sit back and take a good listen to the songs and I'm sure you will come round to appreciate the talent that Ashok Mishra is. And it definitely doesn't harm one's chances if he's in the good company of Swananand Kirkire and Shantanu Moitra and moreover for a Shyam Benegal movie. If I were to start writing songs for Hindi movies, this would be my dream team to start working with.



You can listen to the songs here or better still, buy the CD. Or download the songs and make sure you at least ten people around you listen to each song! My picks are Sita Ram, Aadmi Aazad Hai and Ek Meetha Marz De Ke.

PS. Found out that there was no Wikipedia entry for Ashok Mishra. Here's the page I've created. If you more information about this talented lyricist, please go ahead and add it to the page.

The Real Hero of Rock On !!

None of the following are the real heroes of Rock On!!

Farhan Akhtar

Arjun Rampal

Shahana Goswami

Prachi Desai

Javed Akhtar(Only he can write both - Zehreeley Zehreely Kaale Neele Peele and Jo Tum Ho Toh Hawa Mein Bhi Mohabbaton Ka Rang Hai with equal ease. Yes he wrote Dard-e-Disco.)

Jason West (He's the cinematographer)

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (As Ehsaan mentioned, it was just another jam session for them. Western music comes naturally to Ehsaan and Loy and I'm sure if ever there's a Rock On!! 2, they'l do much much much better.)

Ritesh Sidhwani (He does remain a hero for me, not only for this movie but also for the way he and Farhan have carried their friendship and passion to this level)

And not Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny or even Chakravyuh!

To me, the hero of Rock On!! is Anu Malik. Why, you ask? Because it takes something to play yourself in a role in which you know you are being ridiculed. Well, almost. Some of us know it as the ability to laugh at oneself. Perhaps that's Anu Malik's idea of laughing at himself. Hats off to you Anubhai!



PS. Hats off definitely, but I don't know about the wig inside the hat/cap!

Image Credit: www.radiosargam.com

Who Cares What Obama Says...

...when he makes an entry for his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention with City of Blinding Lights. Turns out he's been using this song to open his performances since 2007. Yo! Bama, shall we say then?

Koel - Kahaan Gayi Teri Boli?

[Promise to myself - This is the first and last time that a post is entirely about a celebrity]

Maybe this post was supposed to be about Rock On!! Or it was supposed to be about my our music story or about Vajra, our college band comprising of Mrinabh, Joji, Chinsi and Shubam which I briefly managed during our final year. No, it's about none of them. Instead, turns out that it's about Koel Purie. I'm no style or fashion expert for I still don't understand all the brouhaha over Vidya Balan's sense of dressing or even the apparent lack of it and surely will never understand it. But I can definitely see how worn down Keol appears now, compared to her Everybody Says I'm Fine days.

Dear Koel,

Congratulations on your new TV show - On the Couch with Koel. Definitely helps when you have a father like him,, doesn't it?. If you are listening, can you please clarify this for us? Were you drunk or high on drugs while interviewing Salman Khan on your show? And what's with that forlorn look in Rock On!!? For God's, discerning viewers', your followers and my sake, you looked like Purab's mother in the movie! Did Niharika Khan have some evil designs for you?! Please take care of yourself and your appearances in forthcoming TV shows and movies. We are watching you. Hope you are listening to us.

Regards,
Nikhil

PS. Rock On!! is good. And sorry guys, I downloaded the songs. But then I have the lyrics of all songs except Zehreelay by heart and have made at least ten people around me listen to at least two songs each from the movie. Hope that makes it up for downloading the songs. I'd have been really glad if you guys made the album available for free download and recovered the money on the music by touring across the country and performing with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. That perhaps wouldn't be BIG money, but you'd have done more than your bit to promote good music in India and encouraged other musicians to try and work towards a better solution to end piracy.

PPS. Technically, this post still remains about Koel, right? Post scripts aren't considered a part of the main post, are they?

A Mistimed, Rather A Mistyped Shot!

Nice catch, what say? Or is it a great (screen)shot?

Hazaaron Khwahishein Nahin, Bas Ek Khwahish

Dear Kirkireji,

I hope you, like I do, believe that this is your best song till date. I do not say best song ever because I believe, hopefully you also do, that there are many more such gems to come from you, both as a writer and a singer. It hurts me no end when I see such a beautiful composition being trivialised by being used in a television commercial*. I understand that perhaps you did not have as much say as folks at Virgin Records or at PNC, but this is still something we find hard to digest. Not music to our ears, if I may say.

I earnestly request you not to hurt your fans henceforth by letting your songs, either sung or written, be used for purposes other than for reaching musical ecstasy. Yes, there's an odd aberration like this one, but we know you're back in tune after this. Your songs, like this one, are music lovers' secrets, and only those in the know of it really understand how valuable they are. Please let them remain that way.

Please convey my regards to Jhingranji, Shantanuda and Mishraji.

Regards,
Nikhil

* The television commercial in question is the new Airtel+Nokia ad featuring Abhay Deol and Raima Sen. Glad that it's not up on YouTube yet. Glad that I'm not linking to it from my blog.

Happy Independence Day - II

I only have this to say. If it takes a jazzed up version of the National Anthem to market our national anthem to our youths , then God save our country instead of the Queen. Maybe I am a little old-school, finding such an experiment with our National Anthem hard to digest. I'm definitely not against any form of display of patriotism that happens these days, which is nothing but wonderfully disguised marketing campaigns, but this one is taking it a bit too far. There's a sense of aesthetics associated with any National Anthem and this new experiment trivializes that feeling. At 00:43, it has to be Gaahe Tava Jaya Gaatha and not Gaaye Tava Jaya Gaatha. If one's looking for a mistake, there you go. That's one for you. All the best Nokia, may you have more youth, feeling all the more patriotic, thanks to your initiative download more ringtones and buy more phones from you. All the best MTV. And Thank You for reminding our youth that we have a National Anthem. Be glad India, your youth have finally found you, thanks to MTV and Nokia.

Happy Independence Day

So it will be a Happy Independence Day after all. The Box Office is keeping producers of this movie happy and that the lead character's name is Happy is only, well, a happy co-incidence.

Abhinav Bindra's win at Beijing has exhausted all possible phrases with the word gold in it. With so many (more) news channels and newspapers(and some more) around, no wonder everything looks and sounds the same. So this Independence Day, all of India, which, to the news channels consists of everyone in their air-conditioned, glass-walled news studios and those whose who overwhelm them with text messages and emails will celebrate the arrival of India on the world scene (Have you already forgotten the nuclear deal?) and the emergence of a confident, self-assured youth here in India. Thank you Abhinav, if not for you, we'd have had a very gloomy Independence Day celebration or so our newsmen and women would have liked us to believe. Left with nothing but the increasing inflation and rising costs, they would have perhaps shed a tear or two(damn, it's already raining, why add to people's misery?) about the floods down South or would've gone on about how freedom is not all that happy as a certain government is making others dance to its tunes, rather not to dance to any tunes.

Rabbi's second album is out and Bilqis(Jinhe Naaz Hai) perhaps captures my sentiments best. I still remember talking about the short public memory with Sap while the Satyendra Dubey episode was making the headlines and I now wonder if any of us still remembers him. What I did not know was about Navleen Kumar. A social worker fighting for the land rights of tribals in Nallasopara, Thane District, she died on receiving 19 stabs on June 19, 2000. She was fighting against the powerful Thakur family which has built nothing less than an empire in those parts of the Mumbai suburbs. Strange enough that I did not come across this earlier, as Nallasopara is very close to Boisar which I (used to) visit quite often. Rabbi remembers her in Bilqis(Jinhe Naaz Hai) along with Shanmugan Manjunath and Bilqis Bano. Here's the video -




We're still a young country and have a long way to go. And long way in the life time of a country usually means centuries. Neither are we going to rule the world tomorrow nor will we cease to exist as a country the day after. Someone please go tell that to our media persons. Or am I asking for too much from them? What the hell, I'm free to think and wish in this country and that remains my wish for this Independence Day. That we try and nip this obsessive celebrity following and excessive consumerism in the bud or we'll end up as something else. Now, that's for another post. Enjoy the extended weekend. Did someone say Independence Day? What's that? Isn't that on July 4?

IAF Open To Women In Jet Cockpit

Ok, read the, between or beyond the following lines, I'm just reproducing (pun maybe intended) the piece from today's edition of Deccan Herald. I hope it helps in bringing about world peace and reducing poverty and global warming. Thank you.

Italics are my emphasis.


IAF Open To Women In Jet Cockpit

New Delhi, PTI: The long-cherished dream of women entering the male bastion of flying jet fighters may finally come true with IAF Chief F H Major saying the force is open to the idea of allowing the fairer sex donning the frontline combat role.

Women in the Indian Air Force were doing a "good job" and there was no reason why they would not be able to fly combat aircraft in future, Major said on Wednesday.

Replying to a question on whether IAF will have women fighter pilots in future, Major said, "Why not! The women in IAF are doing a good job."

Asked whether IAF was considering any proposal in this regard, he said, "No proposal is under consideration right now. We will have to give a lot of thought on it."

The Indian Air Force has over 700 women officers in non-combatant roles.



Crossposted on Linkosarcoma.

What Is Josh All About?

PS. Have a new TV at home. The fillers on 9XM are good fun - The Betel Nuts, Bheegi Billi and Bakwaas Bandh Kar.

Life Is Driving A Car In Heavy Rain

Wisdom decided to bless me with a rare visit while talking to Sap last evening, and this is what it left me with -

Life is like driving a car in heavy rain. You (mostly) know the destination and (mostly) know the road, but the journey is rough. Due to the rain, you never know what's going to hit you when you take next turn. You want to keep moving fast, but have to be cautious not to skid and be thrown off the road. You can't see what lies far head because of the heavy rain and though there are vipers wipers, they only help you to see to a certain distance. You still keep going - backing your instinct and gut feel, taking calculated risks and making decisions from experience. You stop for breaks in between, but still keep going. Your car breaks down, a stranger comes along and helps you, reminding to help others in need. You meet with an accident, break a few bones, repair your car and resume the journey. Help a stranger on the way since you know how important help is. So that's what it is - set out on a journey, pick up a few bruises, keep your ears and eyes open for the unexpected, hope that the rest of whatever is left of the journey will turn out fine.

PS. Now I know why wisdom decided to bless me. Sap was around!

Don't Blame That Miss Teen South Carolina Contestant

Now this is something we're more than familiar with.



Maybe this video will help us put that into perspective.



On a slightly related note, I'm a little skeptical of Rupert Murdoch's continued domination of the media world over.

Chess Olympiad Teams Will Be Topless

How scandalous? And it's the Indian Chess teams we're talking about.

Are they making the right moves? Will they get pwned? Will they find out what is it to be a knight rider? All puns intended. Read on.

Chess Olympiad Teams Will Be Topless

Thank You DNA and congratulations. You win today's battle for the most absurd news-story/news headline. But you still have a long way to go before you even think of getting close to CNN-IBN. All the best!

Bhagawan Aaye Cycle Se

No wonder it won the Bronze at Cannes.



Crossposted on OrangeGlass.

More CNN-IBNonsense

It's not everyday On IBNlive, it's everyday that one comes across news stories of varying ridiculous proportions, but one of today's headlines is definitely out of the box, the sort that sees a hand with a boxing glove come out of the box(idiot, if TV or a flat box, if it's a laptop screen) and punches you straight in the face. Dear Copy Editor at IBNlive, if you objective was to capture my attention, congratulations, you have succeeded. But if your objective was to make me take seriously what you folks at CNN-IBN/IBNlive say/write , I'm sorry, I won't from now on. Here's the head line and the piece following it. Emphasis mine.

Should the N-deal be seen as anti-Muslim?

A day ahead of the crucial meeting between the Left and the UPA Government, CPM politburo member and trade union leader M K Pandhe claimed Muslims are against the Indo-US nuclear deal. CPM leader Prakash Karat attended Shia rally in Uttar Pradesh to protest against India's vote against Iran at the IAEA as well as George Bush's visit to India. Analysts say the Left must not bring religious sentiments into foreign policy issues.


Thank God for the analysts, we'd otherwise have some serious trouble in our foreign relations with Azerbaijan during Diwali or a sudden thaw in relations with Mongolia during Ganesh Chaturthi. Religious sentiments are high during those times, you see.

More CNN-IBN fun.

Via Darjeeling and The Darjeeling Limited

Two movies I'm looking forward to watch in some time - Via Darjeeling and The Darjeeling Limited.




Via Darjeeling comes from Arindam Nandy and has a very impressive star cast with an interesting story-line. More from Arindam Nandy on Via Darjeeling. Heartening to see NFDC (back to?)backing projects like these.


The Darjeeling Limited sounds a lot like Asiawheeling. Promises to be an interesting ride. I'm not sure which character from the movie would Scott, Woody and I be parallel to during Asiawheeling, but I'm more than sure that we could make a movie, nothing less, out of our experiences from Asiawheeling.

A couple of movies, of course, are waiting to be made out of my own trip to Darjeeling. Not to forget Gangtok, Kurseong, Siliguri, Kolkata, and Bhutan, and Nepal!

Koncerned About Karnataka

No, this is not about an Ekta Kapoor serial on Karnataka, but a really concerning phenomenon which could have a potentially adverse effect on the relatively clean politics environment in Karnataka.

Outlook carries an article by Sugata Srinivasaraju on the rise of the Reddy brothers in such a very short time from being nowhere on the scene till the late 90s to dictating terms in Karnataka politics. The article is rather strangely titled Deep Vein Thrombosis. It mentions that the RSS is said to be "very concerned with the Reddys' growing influence" on the state BJP. Though I don't subscribe to RSS's RSS feeds, meaning don't subscribe to most of their views, I have reasons to agree with them on the Reddy brothers' though. And not just about their growing influence on the state BJP, but of the entire granite lobby over Karnataka politics.

Let's see how this one plays out. In these parts of the world, the granite stone is more valuable than gold and diamond. Sincerely hoping that granite doesn't do what diamond and gold did to Africa.



Image courtesy the Churmuri post on an ad in newspapers by another MLA from another granite-rich area Hospet praising the Reddy brothers and their associate with allegedly criminal records B Sriramulu.

PS. Deep Vein Thrombosis. And I have no clue yet on why the article was given that title.

The 3 Mistakes Of My Life

Reading the book, though, was not one of them. Liked the fact that it is set in Ahmedabad and to a fair extent captures the essence of life in the city. The book is not so much about bringing about the ethos and isolation of an entire generation to the fore as the blurb says. But we know these marketing types, don't we? Read the book if you have nothing better to do for a couple of hours.

Earlier posts about Ahmedabad on this blog.

Viva la Vida and Brian Eno

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends sees the coming together of two brilliant brains, Coldplay and Brian Eno. Having briefly worked with Coldplay on their last album X&Y, Brian Eno has gone on to produce Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends for them. And by the looks and the listens of it, and as Guy Berryman mentions in the interview to Rolling Stones, they've gone into exploring newer territories and they've come up trumps. It might take a while for the music to be digested, but once it is, it just gets into the system smoothly.

Coldplay performing Viva la Vida at the MTV Movie Awards 2008



Rolling Stones India



It needs another blog post to do justice to the genius that Brian Eno is, but I was introduced to him through this song from The Son's Room. I can not remember a more perfect use of a song in a movie.

Here's the song -

A for Asiawheeling, B for Banaras, V for Varanasi, K for Kashi

Asiawheeling is currently on and I'm terribly excited to be on its Board of Advisors. Even more terribly excited I am about going to Banaras/Varanasi/Kashi with the wheelers. Though shorter, I'm sure it'll be as much fun and life-changing as Summer of '06.

Good Will Hunting Fucking Short Version

Ok, I'm not able to decide which one is better of the two - the movie Good Will Hunting or the following Fucking Short Version. Can you please help me decide?




The movie is excellent no doubt, and I was pleasantly surprised to know that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote the screenplay and went on to win the Academy and the Golden Globe Awards for the Best Original Screenplay. That's some really good talent, and I'm glad they've gone on to do much better with their movie careers following Good Will Hunting. Have been following movie soundtracks more closely these days and a very poignant Miss Misery by Elliot Smith comes on as the credits roll in the end. Sad to know that it lost to My Heart Will Go Yawn On from Titanic for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Even sadder that like many other gifted musicians, Elliot Smith ended his life at 34 under what else, mysterious circumstances. Hope you're doing well wherever you are Mr. Smith, there will be a lot of listens to songs in your whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery style in the coming days.

While we're on the movie, lucky are those of who have Chuckies, Seans and Prof. Lambeaus in believe in ourselves more that we believe ourselves. Sonofabitch, he stole our line, the producers of the movie would say. No wonder since the tag line of the movie goes - Some people can never believe in themselves, until someone believes in them. That's perhaps the best line of the movie - Sonofabitch, he stole my line. No, wait. There's something that tops it - I gotta go see about a girl!

Mr. Cock-a-lock

Hail buffalax and Benny Lava, aka Prabhudeva in India! Here's more on the geniuses.

The original Benny Lava video by buffalax!




Oh, and I did not know Urvasi could also become this!



Polly's bum for fantasty, ah!

The Truth About India

Now, after traveling some eight thousand miles around the country, I know approximately as little as I did on my first arrival. However I've seen a lot of people and places, and at least somewhat more detailed and precise idea of my ignorance than I did in the beginnning.

Paul Bowles in Their Heads Are Green and Their Hands Are Blue, an excerpt from which is carried in India In Mind, edited by Pankaj Mishra.




Not surprising at all, an opinion like this coming foreign traveler. But it holds equally true for an Indian traveler like me. The more one discovers India, more is the feeling of having known nothing at all about this magnificent place.

PS. The book is put together well. It is a collection of pieces from books by foreign authors and travelers about India. Also, LibraryThing doesn't seem to be working. Anyone fans of the website and missing it as much as I am now?

Polls In Karnataka - A Quick Note

As someone who follows Indian politics very closely, it is a tad disappointing that I haven't been able to follow the build-up to the elections in Karnataka as closely as I'd have liked. But still an opinion or two, or perhaps a couple more. Contrary to what these people have to say, the Congress will not get a majority. In my opinion, no party will. The Congress used the revision of electoral rolls as as an intelligent tactic to delay the elections, and this will definitely not help the BJP ride the sympathy wave. Nevertheless, the sympathy is still there and the BJP will gain from it. According to me, the tally will more or less remain the same as in the previous election. The BJP and the Congress will get a few more seats at the expense of JD(S) and others like JD(U), SP and the BSP will just be making a guest appearance in the analysis of the experts sitting in their air-conditioned studios. Good luck to you guys, hope you get higher TRPs and have more people believe that what you say is actually true. Just a small note, Karnataka is not just Bangalore. There are other regions which are part of Karnataka and people living there are also part of Karnataka.

More as the elections progress.

The Best Band Name Ever

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

Yes, that's the name of the band. Well guys, you love Boris Yeltsin and we love your naming abilities. Though SSLYBY comes very close to beating !Xobile as the most ingenious name, !Xobile still takes the cake, or the click rather.



From Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin's Wikipedia page -

Will Knauer and Philip Dickey were mutual high school friends, growing up in Springfield. Phil and Will were in different bands that both "tried to sound like Nirvana."[1] After Will and Phil's high school bands broke up (Wharf and Thinking Vision, respectively), the two started playing together on Weller Street and Phil came up with the new name.[2]

The new songs needed a new band name, so we chose something really dumb, because we were only practicing in Will's attic. There were 2 girls who would watch us practice and I wanted to make them laugh...and I wanted the guys in Wharf to laugh...so that's when I came up with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Boris Yeltsin recently resigned and I was 17.

Check out SSLYBY on

MySpace
Last.fm


Won't it be fun to have band names on Indian politicians? Here are a few -

I have a crush on you Mayawati. [NO, not me]
We're are in awe of your pause Atalji. [Yawn, rather]
More as they come.

Earth Day Barkings

And one was under the impression that today is Tuesday. With each day being gobbled up for such causes, one wonders if 365 days are enough. So while Google does very dull logo change, the message is gotten across by our good friend Hutch. Such a gentleman he is. Tough, and very hard for him to resist it must be in a place like Bangkok. Every possible pun intended, in a very earthly way. His status message on GTalk -

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.
~Cree Indian Proverb
Happy Earth Day!!!

Well done, my boy. But that's not enough. One needs a more powerful message from an even more powerful messenger, our Boss. No wonder he has the veto power, the power to say yes while everyone else is in opposition and the result is still in his favour. Such is his power and that of his veto. Power, by the way happens to be another creature who doesn't have anything to say on this. Here's Boss's message on World Earth Day through his GTalk addressing system-

♫

today is earth day lets piss on the plants and shit in the fields...give back to mother earth

Short, actionable and powerful. Your words are our orders, Boss. Come, let's hit the fields right away.

Bliss - Dil Indeed Dance Maare Re

It has always been my dream to make a song like this. Write it, get someone to put the song to music and shoot it. But I'm glad one among Piyush Mishra, Vishal Dadlani, Anvita Dutt Guptan or Kausar Munir(from what I gather, Vishal it is) wrote a masterpiece like this and Vishal-Shekhar gave such wonderful desi music. And Uditji, your rendition of even the word sasura is amazing indeed. Thank you Yashji and Adi for letting Vijay Krishna Acharya do this.

My favourite lines -

Rose Ke Jaisan Pink Pink Hamare Gaal Gulaabi
Sky Ke Jaisan Blue Blue Yeh Tohra Nain Saraabi
Bhola Chehra Jaise Moon, Kaali Julfe Jaise Cloud
Abb Na Aur Chhupaaya Jaaye, dhadkan Ho Gayi bhery loud

Now to the masterpiece -



PS. What if someone achieved my dream? I can always do better!

Learning For The Day - Rukmini Devi Arundale

Till today, in fact a few hours before this post, I was unaware of the existence of Rukmini Devi Arundale.

Funny earlier and it's a life fact now that, as one discovers and comes across more things unknown, it appears one knows a lot lesser than what was thought earlier. That's the joy of discovery and learning.

Came across her profile in the India Today's special issue of 60 Greatest Indians. An interesting fact - she was offered the Presidency by Morarji Desai which she declined. Would've been good to have a danseuse as our President. Unlike the present one, who doesn't quite do justice to her more illustrious lineage . Hope there's no dent to the President's honourable chair during this term. So far so good, Smt. Patil-Shekhawat has been. No action is also good action. And as the elections draw close, I feel India is terribly missing Mr. Pramod Mahajan. That will be another post, but Mr. Mahajan, India needed you and one moment of insanity took us away from you. You were the best Prime Minister our nation never had. Rest In Peace, Pramodji.

Photos From The North East Trip

As Partha correctly points out here, it was not exactly the North East that we know as. Nevertheless, it was originally planned as a North East trip and hence the name shall remain. A picture is worth a thousand words they say and all the photos from the put together would be close to a million words. You can find all the photos from the trip here, but the traveler suggests that you wait for the blog posts about the trip coming up over the weekend. That's the plan at least.

Meanwhile, have a look at the albums. Sets rather, as flickr calls it. It is a really neat service and totally worth the $25 I paid for a yearly paid account.

Bhutan	Nepal	Gangtok
Changu Lake	Kolkata	Siliguri
Tiger Hill	Darjeeling	Kurseong