And I am back

My exams are over. The last one, the toughest of them all, happened about a couple of miles from the places were random people were being shot. The couple of hospitals under attack were part of the group of hospitals where the exam was held. Yesterday morning, when I left my apartment at dawn for the exam, I wasn’t aware of any bullshit happening. Ironically Vinokur had sent me a message when I was in a rickshaw saying that there won’t be any exam in Mumbai revealing that the city was under terrorist attack.

I am sorry about all this; more so that some other I suppose. Why? Because of the inane sensationalistic coverage and analysis of this going on on the tube. Reporters, citizens, celebrities, victims ranting about the spirit and resilience of the city which has been finally ‘broken’ through. ‘Enough is Enough – India’s 9/11’ is NDTV’s tag line. Mahesh Bhatt says ‘Sometimes, tragedy helps bring people together.’ One piece of analysis made me sure about who our next prime minister should be – Sourav Ganguly: the analyst wanted ‘proactiv leadership’ and you have to ‘constantly innovate’.

Ironically, all these channels proclaim to want help change the situation – to not create panic. How about not sensationalizing? How about asking people to remain calm and go and do the things that they would do otherwise. Okay, don’t head to the Taj for a seven-star dinner. But you can go out to the Juhu chowpatty to have Pani Puri right? Instead – they have closed schools, asked movie halls to shut down and cancelled cricket matches in other parts of India as well.

Yeah, that’s so encouraging. Show the terrorists that we are soft. That we can be affected. That they can control us. That’s such a strong message.

Change truly is coming

You know, I have been procrastinating about doing something about a gift for Jodi and Sumo’s wedding. I’ve been sitting on some of the wonderful suggestions that you guys had given me. Thanks to all of you. Well, today being the wedding anniversary of my sister, I finally decided to get my ass out of the lazy-chair and do something. I recorded a little audio message from both me and Vinokur and added it along with a cover of a song that I have always meant to sing for her. I hope my sis and BIL like it.

One thing does lead to another even in my world. This time I did something even cooler. A whole package of little jokes, warm wishes, greetings and a song (a Beatles classic sung lamely by yours truly) – by arists from two continents all produced, recorded, mixed and mastered in under 45 minutes. I sent it along to Jodi and Sumo. I hope they like it.

But something was missing – a photo greeting card. And since my relationship truly symbolises the hope which is manifested in the recent victory of senator Obama, we did something on the same theme. Here it is for you analysis and comments.

Would you vote for me?

Look, there are kind people out there. A few of them by the name Nita, Nikhil and a lot of others put up this blog with nominations for the best posts. I am honored to be nominated *twice* for the Best Musical Post. If any of you think that my posts are worth the award, go vote for me. That would definitely cheer me up!

Here’s the link!

http://avantgardebloggies.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/best-musical-post/

David Cook

David Cook won this year’s American Idol. Amazing really – his musical influences include Our Lady Peace, Alice in Chains, Big Wreck, Pearl Jam, Chris Cornell, Switchfoot, Bon Jovi and Collective Soul. Add to that he performed U2’s classic ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’. Check these videos out. It’s not just the singing. This guy’s hot. And he performed the most incredible version of ‘World I Know’, a song that I love originally by the Collective Soul.

‘Day Tripper’ – White Snake version

‘World I Know’ by Collective Soul. He cries so poignantly.

‘I Still Haven’t Found (What I’m Looking for) by U2

‘Billie Jean’ Chris Cornell version

What do you guys think?

Parvathi Omanakkuttan

I was never a fan of beauty contests really. I mean, come on – most of them don’t even have males competing. Well, why am I talking about it? Because a Mallu woman won it this time around at the Miss India paegeant. Yes, I am proud of Ms. Parvathy Omanakkuttan. But I am not proud of her after reading this piece of shit. Apparently she won it because of this answer.

To the question “The rate of divorce in India is on a rise. What is the cause? Is western influence the cause or something else?” Parvathy gave the best reply and it goes “Divorces are not a result of western influence. At the end of the day, it is we who decide whose (sic) worth us. Marriage is not when one completes the other but is when both share their completeness.”

Now, isn’t that corny? I mean you take a word and twist it around in a sentence and suddenly it becomes chic. Even if it makes as much sense as croc-poop.

A bright start

I had a very good morning and nothing could have made it sweeter than this article on the frontpage of Times of India – ‘Gay Israelis get surrogate baby in city‘.

I have already started dreaming about the same day in my life. It seems so distant now. Then again, every dream needs to be distant to be enjoyed when it comes true.

It’s such a pleasant coincidence that the first thing that I saw today morning was the interview with my friend and fellow blogger on NDTV 24X7. He was giving his views about ‘Dostana’ and how it helped him come out to his sister. A few other friends of mine were in the background. One of them was supposed to be closeted and it was so poignant that he and his boyfriend were caught looking into each others eyes in the video.

(Picture courtesy TimesOfIndia.com)

Sound theory

You can’t imagine how boring it is to seclude yourself to studying everyday. My seclusion has extended a few notches further with me minimising the conversations that I have with friends and going out as less as I can. Hell, it’s been four days since I ‘talked’ to Vinokur. I don’t know why I feel like I would do better by staying off contact. Just 10 more days before I can re-calibrate my life.

Anyway, to convert those boring low-productivity afternoons into something meaningful, I’ve taken up a little side-business. I am trying to figure out some songs and trying to figure why they sound so beautiful and interesting. For someone who doesn’t understand music theory, this might sound weird. But this is actually fun.

To make things a little easier to understand, I’m figuring out the little motifs that are found in popular music and trying to figure out why they sound ‘good’. Of course, most of music is not intentionally written to sound this way. But those songs we end up liking usually are weirdly interlinked. What do I get out of this? Some harmless, recreational, educative fun. Weird combination of words I suppose. Finally though, I hope to incorporate some of this knowledge into writing songs.

A cheap wedding gift

Jodi is getting married to Sumo in a little over a week’s time. Considering the kind of fiscal situation that the entire band is in, I don’t think that they are expecing any gifts. But it is a life-changeing event, something that I would love to experience myself. I’m wondering if I could get something rather special and cheap. If anyone of you has any idea, it would prove to be helpful.

Another deadline

The other day, after plenty of drama from their side, we had a one-on-one meeting with the record label chief. This is after a lot of shit; it took about 20 unanswered/unreturned calls and a few unanswered SMSes and three previous meetings when he didn’t turn up before we had the balls to inform his sub-ordinate that we have had enough and we were looking at other options. Our record label makes the Indian sarkari office system look like a state of the art infrastructure streamlined for efficiency and productivity.

A concise report from Rob about this little meeting which was not too dissimilar to that between a husband and wife about infidelity revealed that the little affair between the band and the label will be extended for another week. At the end of the week, if we don’t see them some of the ‘promised’ money, we would officially start looking for newer options.

Honestly, the future of Noise Market looks bleak either way. I don’t see them keeping to this deadline. And if they don’t, it would mean us walking out into the bizarre world of the music industry which seems to be an even more daunting task.

Music & Money

For a change, I’m studying well for my practical exam on the 26th of this month. Somehow, I’m being able to forget the miserable time that I had at the theory part of the exams. Just one more exam and it might be all over; in the good or the bad way.

On the musical front, we have finally talked to our record label and have informed them that we are looking for other options. In the last week, we came to know from different sources about the improbabilities in the future of this record label. We don’t know what we will end up with but again, there is not much chance sitting back.

A few months back, we got an opportunity to make some money playing with a Pakistani artist as a back up band. Something like that might be coming up with a new and up-coming singer/songwriter (who also happens to be a model/actress as well) in the next few weeks. I hope I make some money to repay some debts.