...continued from previous post

The wedding day arrived. now this was the D-day for us (and also to the groom). Though we promised the cabbie that we would be all ready by 8:30 or so, each of us followed IST and eventually hopped into the cab at 10:15 or so. Govind & Venu were in traditional outfits, Govind was in the most traditional one that too... A dhoti and a shirt - the Tam Iyengar look.we reached the wedding hall when the Kasi-Yatra was going on. i always wondered what would be the scene like if the groom refuses to give in to the wishes of his would-be brother-in-law.just imagine! if the groom really leaves for Kasi...i was explaining about the ritual to my northie friends,when suddenly i had to interrupt..."There she is...Glittering...wow!"... "god!! how did you make her dude!!"...

we headed for the break-fask (or say, Brunch). The pongal was terriffikkk! infact the food was nothing less than awesome.we guys did nothing as such...basically killed time...(read between the lines) and had lunch too..the food served for lunch was superb too...after some time, we came back to our rooms and had a good nap...half of the pple left..to catch their bus..back to hyderabad.

after much deliberation, we(myself,govind,bala,anisha and venu) zeroed in on this hangout called "Amoeba" in Brigade Road...went there to play Bowling. well! for the information of the visitors of this blog, the first time ever i played(tried) Bowling was here..in Amoeba.. good game..had good fun infact, especially because i could play fairly well with the balls(pun intended)..err!

looking for an inexpensive restaurant in Brigade road isnt such an easy task..that too at 10:00pm. even when we found few, there was no food. Finally, we had to settle for a normal Shanti Sagar-ish restaurant. that was the dinner for that night..good or bad..whatever.

i had my programme for Saturday well chalked. i had to meet two guys i met(and made friends) on orkut. one was a mandolin player. we have already exchanged mails about what music we have and what do we need from each other. so, i reached the meeting point taking along with me, the music-DVDs i had burnt for him. he was kind enough to burn a hell a lot of collection for me. had breakfast with him and after a small tete-chat, we headed for Brigade Road again, this time, to attack the planet-M. browsed a lot, bough some music and then, i had another appointment to keep up. this time, another guy(friend from orkut) whom i have promised to meet. we met up, had lunch. he was another interesting guy and we wanted to spend more time in discussiing lot of other stuff, but time was a constraint. Sanjay said that he wanted to meet us at FORUM, a shopping mall somewhere near kormangla. We rushed to that place and finally found him in Landmark store. Sanjay showed me a DVD- "Concert for BangaDesh", by George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ali Akbar Khan, Bob Dylan, Pt.Ravi Shankar etc.,the price was about 1500 bucks and none of us had the auks(aukaads) to buy that at the moment.

within no time, venu and anisha showed up and we guys just sat there. probably i was lil frustrated over something and my toungue was wagging a lot...i mean..i couldnt keep silent..i was watching all the people passing-by and kept on commenting something or the other.

We took a walk to the Christ college there but alas! we were denied an entry since Sanjay didnt have even his old ID-card.After people dispersed, Sanjay dropped myself and Govind at a restaurant where we said "Cheers!" and had some food.

Sunday lunch was a treat from Govind's cousin, after which we picked up Bala at Forum and came back to the room. Within few mins, we were at Cantonment station to board a train back to hyderabad. The journey was a good one, afterall, gossipping always kills time..especially during journeys with friends.

A nice Holiday! well spent!

I am eager to write about many other things but i guess i should first finish these Bangalore Chronicles.So...

...continued from previous post

I have been to Brigade Road before...few years ago. That time, i didnt browse the street much, except for the two most-important avenues(important for me), Music world and Planet-M. This time, with Govind, it was different. He lead us througha narrow-unassuming bylane, across Brigade Road. "Select Book House"-Where like-minds meet... was our destination. the tagline was quite eye-catching. The shoppe was a very small 2 room warehouse of Old books. The very look of the books reminded of Library-1930 editions-brown pages-scent of old paper-few crumbling pages and some dust...the shoppe housed some thousands of books and what dropped my jaws on to the floor(rolling my tongue out till brigade Road) was that , the entire collection was a personal collection. The old-man, to whom the collection belongs was not in the shoppe, although Govind had some unforgettable childhood experiences with the man and his shoppe. we (partially)browsed the collection for about 1-2 hours, zeroed in on few books (although there were many more to buy...to browse the entire collection needs one full-day) and half-heartedly decided to get back to the room.

Bangalore infamous traffic did delay us a bit, but not much. Back in the room, no one was there and 3 of us killed time with the killers we bought in the book shoppe. everyone dropped in slowly and within just few hours(girls...sarees...now! you know the time required in order to put everything in place...and self-hypnotize with "Oh my God! i am wearing Saree for a Party..and i must look good....good enough to turn few heads") everyone was ready. All of us were very bothered about the usual formality...giving some bouquet to the blessed-couple but then, we couldnt find any enroute. So, there was only one thing which each of us could give...A Shake-Hand and we did that.

Sanjay dressed as impeccably as ever...i was not surprised seeing him, because there was nothing new about it. Sanjay's Mom, exuding what is called as "Grace". She is indeed one of the most beautiful women i have seen in my life, age-no-bar.Everyone was in formals and so were we. They have arranged for a music-programme too and the artists were doing some good job infact. barring a couple of kannada-folk songs, which didnt run down well with me, they were very keeping up the mood with some fantastic Old Hindi songs and classical Krithis. One unforgettable one was a hindi number in Raag Desh. if only i could record that one, it was superb. Songs from "Pallavi Anupallavi" were equally rocking.

We headed for Dinner(the most important event of the day) and the food tasted good too. Quite a variety cuisine. It was in the dining hall that i came across a lady who was carrying herself elegantly in a pink saree. the first thought which occurred to me was-"She is Beautiful". well! yes,she was as beautiful as the sentence means...i must have seen many beautiful ladies in my life but very few faces stick in the mind for long and she had something like that. i do not like to use thesaurus here to describe here because she couldnt be described by many adjectives. only one - Beauty. the harder i tried to pull my gaze away from her face( let me be frank with my own self..did i really try??? hmm!!! no comments), the more i was looking at her, past the shoulders and curtains.

Well! without any embrassment, i told about the same to Sanjay, when he told me that she was his cousin. after some "chaudhvin ka chaand ho" kind of imaginary excursions, i was introduced to her by Sanjay...or should i say WE were introduced to her by Sanjay. Yet, a curtain of silence over-rode on those meaningless exchange of glances. Perhaps that imaginary excursion & the song didnt end yet...and the moment slipped.

My dear Keats, i dont know if she is/was a joy forever...But she was indeed a Thing of Beauty...

to be continued...

3rd August 2006

Finally the holiday kick-started. If you are wondering what holiday it was, i better give a preface. My friend Sanjay invited us (the roosters plus 3 more gurlzz) to Bangalore. Occasion was his Brother's wedding. Since all the roosters were desperate to take a break and go somewhere, this invitation came at the right time. We infact waited for this day to arrive. 2nd August, we boarded the Bangalore Express at Kacheguda and the journey was a good one. Though we guys thought of skipping sleep, eventually everyone did take a nap. We reached the Bangalore Cantonment Station in the morning and the holiday actually kick-started.

The Ciggy-Roosters were terribly eager their Ciggs since its been 14 long hours (C'mon 14 hours of break is very long, by all counts, for anyone who smokes) since they had their last cigg. everyone was waiting for Sanjay to arrive since his break was much more longer - 24 hours. Finally, Sanjay arrived in his Scorpio. one of the unforgettable gestures of Sanjay was that he actually arranged a vehicle for all the 8 of us, for this entire 4 day trip. Had that not been there, i wonder how we guys could have managed. That’s really sweet of him.

We went to the apartment in Benson Town, that’s we were to stay for the next 4 days in Bangalore. The gurlz were little disappointed since there was only 1 common Bathroom (that too unattached) for the 2 rooms we have booked. Since everyone had their own plans of going out and meeting people during the day-time, we guys decided to cock up and have our own way (day). ‘We’ = Myself, Govind & Bala (by the way, you can read his version of the same Trip-Chronicles on his Blog, good read). To give way for the ladies and other guys, we 3 decided to have our morning ablutions at Govind’s Attha’s Place. Meanwhile Sanjay left for his place, after another round of ciggs (this time, the break was only 30mins). Having charted out the plan for the day (that there was no plan as such), we started off from Benson Town. Enroute we dropped by Venu’s place (thereby dropping him there) to meet his parents. Spent some time there with each of us dabbling with Guitar, keyboard and thumbas.

Govind’s attha’s place had the typical look of big-old-tamil-iyengar house. The house was 60yr old and the vintage look didn’t wean away a bit, right from the flooring to the old furniture. Barely few minutes after I stepped in, I fell in love with that place. Perfect look. I can as well make a film there. The bathroom was a big one too…which made me love it more.

Finishing out ablutions, we headed for the most important moment of the Day. No, I am not talking about the Reception Party of Sanjay’s Family but the afternoon meal, the lunch. Well, it could be said as breakfast actually. But what we had was actually a Brunch. Govind spotted that one of THE BEST Masala Dosa eat-out joint is very much open. Butter-Masala-Dosa was what we ordered and it was indeed one of THE BEST I had till now. After one round, we went for another. Well, it deserved another actually.

After that, we hit off for the most talked-about place in Bangalore - The Brigade Road.

to be continued...

People take long breaks at times...especially from the work which they like doing. And i hate that a lot, especially when the subject of work is creativity.The break i took wasnt an intended one. It was by sheer accident...as accidental as my existence..as accidental as my choices...I wanted to(as always) write about lot of stuff which had happened during this last 1 month. tried to chronicle some in my note-book but wasnt as successful as i thought i would be. I tried to chronicle few in my mind, but then, i uncaged my mind too.Finally, whats left are few recollections, which i wish to attempt in the forthcoming blogs.

In Nut-Shell: I am reviving this Blog.

To kickstart, here comes a series of posts which chronicle my recent visit to Bangalore. I am yet to heat-up my other blogs too.I will go One-By-One.

I build a fairyland of hopes,
On paper and in my heart,
In my wandering thoughts,
And on the sandy shores of time.
I decorate them with images,
Images of memories & desires,
Hanging with glistening threads of hope.
Each time I build them,
A wave rises and ruins my fairyland.
But I hold unto a single thread,
The glistening thread of hope,
Which I always spread,
Before you, and before things unknown…

Epilogue

Every evening when You come unto me,
with a warm embrace of divine music,
the moon hides itself behind a curtain of clouds,
shying away to watch..
Myself, my fairyland, my hopes,
my desires & glistening threads,
all uniting,
with You & the Unknown...
to become,
One.

Barkha Rithu, a Santoor concert by the famous Pt.Shiv kumar Sharma, left me completely entranced, bring me more close to the instrument which had been my favourite.
My experience

Click on the Pic (or on the title). I came across this site recently. All you need to do this Click everyday to donate a meal. It doesnt cost anything, except some space in your Favourites list. I click it everyday. I am sure everyone will, if it is spread around. Please do so.

In the Asia pacific region, two countries which are attracting the Global attention are 'India' & 'China'. Over the last few years, these two countries have been put on the scale of competition to measure their respective performances and economists have always been quick to jump with their comparative analysis. Yes, a comparision is inevitable since we all are happy about India's 7%-8% growth but however, the perennial question, which continues to haunt is : "Can India's growth match China?".

Leading economists are happy to point out that very soon, India is bound to witness many impending changes in the which collectively would give a 180-degree phase-shift to its economy, putting it very much in a place from where it can hold a torch,not just a candle, to china's accomplishments. The percentage of Young population in the Job sector (both Public & Private sectors) is on rise and very soon, this factor, as they opine, is going to be a Midas'Touch for the Indian economy. I agree on that for we have witnessed a new wave of entrepreneurial talent pool which is going great guns putting enterprises in India on the Global map.Also there are many other factors which might contribute to India's growth. Yet, i still have some arguments.

Exports is the one of the most important parameters guaged to study the performance of developing nations like India and China. China has been riding extremely bullish on its export front, and India is lagging far behind particularily in the merchandise exports. Consider this: India's total merchandise exports in the year 2005 were US $ 89.8 billion, up from US $ 80billion, which reflects only a 12.25% growth. A startling fact we must digest here is that China's merchandise exports touched US $ 593.4 billion, in the same year which is much higher than the Total exports of India and its growth rate was almost 36%. another startling piece of data is that in the last decade, India's share in the total Global exports grew from 0.55% to 0.9% while China's share grew from 1.1% to 4.6%. Now, Can india compete with this range of escalation?

It is not only the quantity, but also the quality and export segments where china has been steadily climbing up in the export ladder. There was a time when China's exports predomanantly consisted of textiles, toys and footwear. Today, a range of Technology-driven products have replaced these segments. very recently, i read that Data processing machines, Audio-Visual equipments and electrical/electronic machinery and appliances are the top exported product segments from China. Infact, the exports from these segments alone equals the total merchandise exports from India.

Chinese companies have managed to tap the markets very effectively and have aggressively pushed up their exports with phenomenal rapidity. somehow, i feel that this sort of aggressive attitude is missing among the Indian Counterparts.
Though the exact reasons for this underperformance, as compared to China, remain elusive to the analysts, one can apparently begin to believe that India is still to strike the right balance and equation between skilled labour and unskilled labour structures existing here. Last year, one article in Business standard revealed that China achieved a smooth transition from unskilled labour-intensive stage to semi-skilled-labour intensive stage to Captial-Intensive stage, which is currently evident in the Chinese manufacturing and export sectors. The graph of skill improvement and capital accumulation seem to be showing an upward trend, which also reflects the transition in export segments. Hence, the products which were among the topline a decade ago are now displaced by different stream of products. Such a remarkable transition cannot be possible without a coherence between the government policies and their understanding of Global markets and untapped potential.

From what i understand, China has brought the right reforms which allowed their companies to expand and bring the unskilled-labour intensive products into the capital-intensive segment, thereby creating an export market. India, on the otherhand , has a different scenario. The topline products are from the capital intensive segment only and a huge unskilled labour intensive segment is still left untapped. Why cant Indian manufacturers tap this? Why cant they corporatize this segment, individually or collectively? Very few entrepreneurs from this sector are trying to promote their products on global-platform which can give way for an organised sector over a period of time. But since these entrepreneurs need constant support, from the government policies, nothing can be speculated at this moment. Taking a liberal view, we can only hope that the evolution of an organised skilled-labour-intensive segment might be just a by-product of their efforts to gain a foothold in the national and global markets.

For them to metamorphosize into skill-labour intensive segment,or atleast a semi-skilled one, various other factors like quality of Education, Government's initiatives etc., come into picture.We very well know how well our governments have been/are performing on this front, for if there is anything which India lacks, it is efficiency at grass-root level, even if sufficient initiatives are proposed to develop these unskilled-labour-intensive sectors.But with a galore of oppurtunities lying untapped, why is it that our government failing to study and understand the markets? Why cant the Government bring in some reforms to allow the firms in this segment to tap the potential markets globally? Why cant it learn some lessons(or even blindly imitate) from neighbours instead of indulging in Chest-beating slogans like "India Shining?" why cant it focus on issues like these instead of resorting to blatant travesties of democracy like imposing Reservation Quotas , killing the worth of merit and grooming naxalites out of future entrepreneurs?

And When can India really Compete with China?

After many days, i revived my blog http://musicmavericks.blogspot.com today. Updated it with a post regarding the recent Concert i attended. This blog has been lying idle since long and i had so many posts lined up for that blog. Somehow nothing materialized till now. Hoefully i will be able to post in that blog frequently.

I also need to take out time to compile some trivenis and post them...its been long time i did that...

Actually my schedules require a major turn-around and basic discipline.easier said than done ofcourse.Let me see if something changes in the days to come.

It is not everyday that is your day.Yes, there is a saying - "Every Dog has its day"...and that day doesnt come everyday.For me, last saturday was a Day i cannot forget.

When i came to know that L.Subramaniam was performing in Hyderabad, i couldnt contain my anxiety. i was in college and immediately rushed to library, to scan the newspaper. Luckily, i found the contact-person's phone number and found out the details of the show.

Venue: Shilpa Kalaa Vedhika, Shilparamam.

Time: 6:30pm.

Entry was free but people were asked to carry passes(for some security reasons), which were available at Idea Cellular-showroom near L.B.Stadium. Since work kept me busy, i immediately called up few friends, to know if they can get passes. While Aparna forgot about the passes, Prashanth managed to get them. we thought we wont be able to get them, since the passes are available to Idea Cellular customers only. but fortunately, Prashanth could get the passes by registering with the few idea-cell numbers(of his relatives) he has got. The good news hit me by 4:00pm and i wrapped up my work in the office.

By 6:15pm, we parked ourselves at the auditorium, waiting for Aparna. The real shock came to me when i noticed that hardly 100 people gathered there to attend the concert. L.Subramaniam playing and only 100 people! i wondered what happened to Hyderabad people & pitied them. People who spend a saturday evening watching some stupid movie in a multiplex, paying 100bucks dont realize what they are losing. Anways, i am/was/will not one of them. Prashanth & myself spent some time talking about few previous concerts we attended.I remembered one previous Fusion Concert of L.Subramaniam, at necklace road, which myself, Ravi & Ragz attened. It was another unforgettable concert and probably the first fusion concert i attended in my life. good old memories.

Meanwhile, quite casually, film-maker K.Vishwanath dropped in and sat next to us, when we were waiting outside the hall. Being an admirer of his films, especially the ones made in 80s, i couldnt keep mum and told him how much i have liked his films. with a smile, he autographed in my note-book.

My BP began to rose because it was already 6:45 and Aparna was nowhere to be seen. Finally, she made a cool entry at 7:05pm and fortunately, the show didnt start till then.

The show started with Hindustani Vocalist Sanjeev Abhyankar's rendition of Raag Yaman. he was accompanied by Tabla & Harmoium. Quite coincidentally, i heard him for the 1st time, quite recently, while writing some Cds of hindustani music. his rendition was marvelous & it amazed me, more so, because he could play around with his voice, as if it was not inside his throat but something in his hands. Superb tonal control. After mesmerizing the audience with Yaman, he proceeded with Raag "Madhukauns". This one is a newbie for me, or rather, i am a newbie to this raaga, because i havent heard about this raaga till now. Needless to say, he excelled in this one too. Hindustani singers have their own way of rendering the Gamakas and Sanjeev Abhyankar justified his stature as Pt.Jasraj's disciple. Infact Pt.Jasraj was seated among the VIP audience.

L.Subramaniam was to step in next, along with his son, Ambi Subramaniam, but some technical problems gave way for an irritatingly long break of 45 minutes. somewhere at 10:00pm, L.Subramaniam started off with Raag "Hamsadhwani" - "Vaathapi Ganapathim".but 5mins through the krithi, he could feel that something was going wrong and asked the audience if they were able to hear him. The sound of percussion instruments(thavil,ghatam,kanjira) dominated the violin and people were uneasy about it. he then realized that the D-I-Box was not able to recieve the signal from his violin(electric violin). He tried to work on it but nothing improved. Meanwhile, the percussion players went ahead with a jugalbandi session. Though L.Subramaniam apologized to the audience for not being able to perform, the audience insisted him, which made him try once again. The sound of percusssion instruments was lowered to maintain the violin volume up and fortunately it worked.

L.Subramaniam then took over and held the audience spell-bound with Raag Kaapi. It was one of the wonderful Kaapi Krithis i ever heard.Kaapi has its own "caressing-feel" to it, which is why i like it a lot.for me, it is a parallel to Raag-"Peelu" because Raag peelu renders a similar feel, though it is technically very different from raag Kaapi. The music was nothing short of Divine. i couldnt realize when it ended since it transported me into a different world altogether.An experience which i cannot trap in words.

On request, L.Subramaniam played another carnatic krithi, the raaga of which is unknown to me. somewhere close to 11:00pm, the concert drew to close.

The low audience number came to my advantage here. we met Sanjeev Abhyankar and congratulated him for the wonderful rendition. Then came one of the most unforgettable moments of my life. we walked up to Pt.Jasraj and took his blessings. He spoke about the role of youth in preserving the traditional music of india and expressed his concerns over the issue. For me, it was a moment i cannot forget because it was none other than Pt.Jasraj. We went up to the stage and touched the feet of L.Subramaniam. I told him how much i love his music, while Prashanth took his autograph. Pt.Jasraj too walked up and told L.Subramaniam that the music was very divine, more so, because the volume of percussion instruments was kept down and the sound of his violin was highlighted. It was truly an unbelievable moment since we were there interacting about music, with the legends themselves. The only thing i missed that day was a camera. If only i had carried one. L.Subramaniam and Pt.Jasraj, both floored me with their humility, which was evident with the way they spoke to common people. L.Subramaniam was totally down-to-earth and treated every person/fan approaching him with respect and happily obliged when people took photographs with him. Thats something we missed.

we left the auditorium with a sense of gratification, both, musically and also emotionally...because it is not everyday that we can meet legends, talk with them..everyday is not Our Day..but last Saturday was something special.

Blessed!

1 Santoor.
1 Bass-Guitar.
1 Flute.
1 Sitar
1 Saxophone.
1 Indian Violin.
1 Piano
4 Tablas.
1 Jazz-trap kit.
2 Keyboards.
1 Viola
1 Electric Mandolin.
1 Mohana Veena.
1 Electric Violin.
2 Cellos.
80 piece violin orchestra.
20 member Female choir.

Let the ensemble play Raag Bhageeswari.
Let me drown in the musical waves of Ecstasy...

khalbali hai khalbali..khalbali hai khalbali..
khalbali hai khalbali.. hai khalbali..

shola shola balkhaye...dariya dariya lehraye..
zarra zarra tharraye..hai khalbali...

khalbali hai khalbali..khalbali hai khalbali..
khalbali hai khalbali.. hai khalbali..

Ziddi...ziddi ziddi..hai toofaan...
Ziddi..Hum bhi yahaan!

hone hone de nasha.. khone khone ko hai kya..
ek saans mein pee jaa.. zara zindagi chadaa..
hai yeh toh ek jashan.. tu thirakne de kadam..
abhi saanson mein hai dum.. abhi chalne de sitam..

aankhon mein hai khalbali..dhadkanon mein khalbali..
mausamo mein khalbali..hai khalbali..
kaisi yeh tabdili hai..sheeshi botal pee li hai..
raat neeli neeli hai..hai khalbali..

hum lapatke saaye hai..hum sulagne aaye hai..
ghar bataa ke aaye hai..hai khalbali..

khalbali hai khalbali..khalbali hai khalbali..
khalbali hai khalbali.. hai khalbali..

Ziddi..Hum bhi yahaan!

- Lyrics by Prasoon Joshi (from Rang De Basanti)

When we two first met, my heart sang out in music,
“ She who is eternally afar is beside you for ever”.
That music is silent, for I believed,
that love is always near, and never far
and have forgotten that she is far, far away.
But being far, she came near,
and sang my unsung thoughts.
Music fills the infinite between two souls,
And this has been muffled by a mist unknown.

On shy summer nights, alone in my room,
When the breeze brings a vast murmur out of the silence,
I sit up in my bed and long for her who is beside me.
I ask myself,” when shall I have another chance to whisper,
To her words with the rhythm of eternity in them?”
Wake up my dear song, put on the wings of my thoughts,
And fly to my beloved there,
In the endless surprise of our first meeting…

As i turn over the pages,
your face shows up,
somewhere on the other side.
Why?

A lot of our story still exists here, unfinished.
smiles & joys, woven along,
with seething silences sometimes.
all etched here and there,
carrying the burden of remembrances.
these blank pages,
fragranced by each of them,
like those from an old book.
Yet, these black doodles become dry,
and at times, seem to invoke fire.
Why?

Strange!that it is only in my dream-I have seen you
and i still wake up with moist eyes.
Why?

No matter how hard we try to make some things happen, something just snaps in the end. so does our patience. Owing to some career obligations, i was too preoccupied on my mind which kept me away from blogging all the while.To be brutally honest with my ownself, i can blog everyday and i would like it...Afterall tis is my own page which i wuld love/hate to look after 'n' (n=1-30 days/months/years) years. But now that something has really snapped, i feel very relieved to come back to my ownself. Now i think-" do i blog only when life hits on two extremes?". I think i must reorganise my time so that i can encapsulate my thoughts when i am swinging between these two extremes.Must give up this habit of writing only when my position becomes static at extremes.

As i typed along, just now, i received an SMS on my mobile. "Fall in Love-Service", by Airtel. One of those dating fundas, but i am amazed at that statement, "Fall in love service". Great, Kudos to those moronic brains who are making a business out of it. so, it is not just sex, even Love sells. and probably we all are running after the bigbucks only to buy these pseudo-feelings so that we can curl around in the compromise-zone and enjoy the life to bliss. Just read yesterday that the Mobile music market in valued at Rs.500 crores while the legal Music Industry in india itself is valued at Rs.700 crores. With lakhs of people switching over to mobile every month, the aue of Mobile music industry is expected to increase atleast by 30% in the coming year , which means it would be overtaking the actual Source. Now, if you are wondering what this mobile music industry means- Ring tones and caller back tones where the caller will get to listen to a song when he rings up someone.The Piracy thing has greatly impacted the legal music industry and now, with mobile music industry ready to overtake it, i guess it is going to hit the rocks.

We already have dating agencies, real and virtual, which facilitate/induce this so called "Love" (utter hogwash) and they are already minting great bucks, to the tune of billions.just imagine how would it be, if these "Fall-in-Love" services on mobile emerge as key-verticals in the Value added services in Mobile Market. How big the market could be? how many people would fall for it? and how would their mental-makeups change, once they flow/drown in this madness?How would they be, to talk with, if we meet them, sometime in future? how would the relationships be?the chemistry? the growth in them?More so, what would be the real Value of this Value-added-service called "Love", in our lives?

Time is 7:00am. Very unsual that i am awake at this hour. No, the sun hasnt come up from the west. It is just that i havent slept at all. From the past 7 hrs, my eyes are glued to this computer. After many days, myself & ravi worked together, online, to come up with something productive, atleast on the creative front. We just finished giving the finishing touches to a new blog "Triveni".

A new blog on which we plan to put up some Three line verses (Triplets) called Trivenis, took the entire night. i had to compile few verses while Ravi , impressed by their form and style, started off with his own Trivenis. i couldnt resist more and posted them too. Meanwhile,our discussions steered towards the look for the blog and within no time, we were on the job of template-hunting. Ravi came with couple of templates, of which i choose the one depicting Full-Moon on a Night.Can't help, as you can observe my fixation for Night is evident in most of my writings.well! I hold the copyrights you see.

Ravi had some tough time meddling with the template so that the look gets it right.We then had to make lot of adjustments, like links, fonts, getting the header-names right etc.,. Finally, the result is cool.it has to be, for it is me and ravi who worked on it.Alter-Egoz you see.

Somehow, the feeling we experience when we collaborate on something, big or small or minute, is really different. It reminded me of those days when we used to spend hours and hours with each other...either with tapes or keyboards or even utensils and bottles,partially-filled with water...so that we can use them as percussions. Then, there were days when we used to go for a drive, talking about everything under the sky. Either it had to be destinationless-aimless drive or a drive which ended at a bench on the footpath of Osmania university or Landscape Garden or just any place.

I know i am getting nostalgic, but it happens right! since both myself and ravi, took out time , after so many days, to have a endless-chat with each other, free from other worldly-mundane pressures, while working in tandem, on/for something we both greatly adore...Writing.

Anyways, Coming back to that blog, i am currently fascinated with these Triplets, so you will see me more active there.Yet, i cant let this blog lie idle...After all, thoughts dont stop flying.

The Night is Breathing its last.
Stranded streets, desolated clouds,
soundless skies and my own room...
Blotches of silence have descended everywhere.
The poisonous silence of this night,
has drunk the remains of the chaotic day,
and the night is breathing its last.
Amidst all the longing, in these last moments,
Bequeath it with your husky whisper,
and relieve it from the suffering for tonight.

Epilogue:

The night flamed a cold breath in her soul...
Before going away, the night took me closer,
and placed her cold lips on mine,
to kiss out the breath of her soul...
bequeathing it unto my warm lips,
she retreated away.
its an addiction i have got these days...
- to taste the life of every day.
- to drink the poison of every night.

Its good to be Free...

Like an endless thought... i fly,

into the lap of every sky,

which beckons me...

aah! its so good to be free...

In 1998, the renowned Indian Institute of Technology sent 30 percent of all of its graduates to the U.S., including 80 percent of its computer science graduates. Indian Govt. spends over Rs.10Lakhs on each IIT graduate, during his IIT stint.

Much of the R&D in India goes to service research projects of only Imperialistic Countries.

The number of students flying to USA have increased double-fold in 1990s, compared to 1980s. A meaty chunk of this population have secured H1-B visas (working visas) and later on "GREEN CARDS" and are serving USA.

As on March 2001, more than a million Indian-born individuals were residing in the United States — more than double since 1990.

According to UNDP 2001, of the 81,000 U.S. visas approved between October 1999 and 2000, 40 percent were for Indians, of whom more than half were computer-related professionals, a sixth for sciences and engineering.

In 2001, the net fiscal loss associated with the U.S. Indian-born resident population ranges from 0.24% to 0.58% of its GDP.

The United Nations reports that India loses $ 2 billion a year in resources through the brain-drain of 100,000 skilled computer professionals to US alone.

When will this end?How?

For a change, i wish to post a write-up which is not mine. In today's TOI, eminent comunmnist Jug Suriaya wrote the following, since George Bush is visiting India. Good Spoof.

Here's Condy, come to give me a last-minute briefin' before I set off on my tour to Indiana beginnin' March 1. Hiya, Condy. I'm all set to go off to Indiana. What's that? I goin' not to Indiana — which is part of the good ole US of A — but to India which is a different place altogether? Well, well, you live an' learn every day. I always thought India was in Indiana, which is why they called it Indiana. Maybe when I'm there I should see if I could organise that somehow.
Condy says that the most important thing on my agenda in India is the nuclear deal. After all these years of sayin' 'no' to the Indian nuclear program, the US now wants to help India nuclearise like all get out. I ask Condy why. An' she tells me that if we don't give India nuclear energy, India and China will burn up all the world's oil. An' that would never do. 'Cos as a Texas oil man I know that it's only the US in general — an' Texas in particular — which has the God-given right to burn up all the world's oil. Condy says I'm not to ask too many questions about India's fast breeder projects. An' I tell Condy, Gee, I'd never ask anyone any questions about their breeder projects. I mean, with a population of a billion-plus, India must sure have one lulu of a fast breeder project, an' then some. But that's their business. We folk from Texas believe in the missionary position an' we don't talk in public about how people breed.

Condy asks me what will I say if the Indians ask me if I intend to launch a strike against Iran. An' I say, Heck, Condy, you know I don't believe in strikes an' all that labour union stuff. Nah, I'll just tell the Indians that I'll invite the Iranians over for a nice friendly bird shoot with my pardner, Dick Cheney. That'll take care of the Iranians, once and for all. Condy warns me that the Indians are likely to ask for a larger quota of H1B visas from the US. This surprises me. I know all foreigners are weirdos. Come to think of it, all those outside of Texas are weirdos. But why would these Indian weirdos, or anyone else, want a larger quota of HIV from the US? Don't they have enough AIDS of their own? Condy says, H1B not HIV. An' I say, H1B, huh? What do you know. There's a new disease every day. I'd say it was a result of global warmin'. Except of course I don't believe in global warmin' an' the Coyote Protocol an' all that environmental horseshit. Condy tells me I've gotta watch out for tricky questions on Iraq an' what I'm plannin' to do about gettin' out of Iraq an' settin' up a democratic rule there.

An' I tell her, Hey, that's simple. Democratic rule is what they want, right? I'll give 'em Democratic rule. Pack Al Gore and all them other Democrats to Iraq an' let them rule the place. That'll take care of everythin'. Includin' Al Gore. Condy tells me that Indians have this funny thing about hyphens. Like they'll invite you to a party-sharty, an' offer you a drink-shrink, an' some dinner-winner. But they don't like us Americans to use hyphens at all, particularly where Pakistan is concerned. Got it, I said. No Bush-Mush cracks, right? Condy says she hopes Bill won't upstage me by visitin' India the same time as I do. And I say, Clinton's visitin' India again? An' she says, Not that Bill, the other Bill, who's an even bigger hit in India than Clinton is. I don't know which Bill she's talkin' about. Bill Cosby? The Bill of Rights? Whatever. Condy says I must learn to say 'Hi' in Indian. An' I tell her, Don't worry, I know all about these ethnic greetings. When in India, you fold your hands together, an' smile, an' say: Sayonara. Or is it Gesundheit?

Was it a long Hiatus? Not really! The exile stretched, but not for one month atleast. "But why", some might ask. Well, i was in a mood to practise the culture of Silence.

Many things happened over the last 25 days. I should have written about a couple of them on the blog, like Rang De Basanti movie review or my Trip to Coorg..but i couldnt write, which itself is another notable thing.

The run in Life has paced up to great extent these days."Days are moving fast"-said somone recently. Well, how come the days speed up or slow up! do they? they are afterall man-made creations...to measure time. They dont have life right! we pour life or lifelessness into days & nights...so, when we feel that time is moving slow, it is we who lie in the dungeons of lifelessness. So, when we fill our days with lively endeavours or even hectic work, we feel that days are moving fast.

My days intermittently move from swift-pace to slow-pace.infact, if the day runs fast, the night crawls.But many times, the day itself stretches into night..or rather..the things which i do (or hope to do in the day) stretch into the night thus blurring the line between day and night. No! i am not sweating out to make a career. Its just that i am trying to make something and i dont know whether anything worth will come out of it. As always, i cling to only one thing at the end of the day--HOPE.

To describe HOPE, we generally use two metaphors...Ray of Light...as in Ray of Hope..or a Thread..to which we cling..swing or whatever. And people like me embrace Hope, even in the worst situations...i call it "Being Hopelessly Hopeful"...thats what i am. because it is really difficult to dismiss one's hope and surrender to reality even though we practically know what the outcome of a certain crisis would be. Ok, if you think that i have made a stupid attempt to steer the thought towards another topic, then you are close to predicting me right. but not always.

The reason why i am wandering aimlessly in this post is that i have too many thoughts..inundated in my mind...waiting to breakfree and flow out...Forget it, let me come back to that word "Crisis". i dont have the patience to look into oxford dictionary to give the exact meaning, but yes, i can very well say that the definition would be a relative one. it has to be so. What seems like a crisis in my life ceases to appear so after a week..or 10days.So, is it again a Time-bound Perception.

today, in a class, i just tried to write down something which have created a havoc(over-statement) in my life recently.

Not many months ago, i lost my shoes. Then, i lost my spectacles. i got new ones. but then, they didnt last long. i lost them in no time. this time, Managing Finances was a tough task..but i managed to manage some and got new ones made. Next, i lost my Helmet. After that, my Parker pen, which had been my close-associate since 3-4 yrs. Now, i lost my spectacles again. i dont know when this cycle will break.

In Managerial Techniques, Time management holds a great significance. And while trying to become a good manager(ie.,.a financial manager...but the above paragraph aptly describes the paradox when it comes to me..isnt it a kind of oxymoron), i am a hopeless manager of time. thanks to that, many things are going for a toss. Social commitments, Family commitments, Blogging, Rapport with buddies, music, writing everything...and the tragedy is that i dont know where i am heading to..and what do i want in life. its such a haphazard journey that it pricks me everyday..The sense of direction seem to be totally hazy. If life is all about finding a job and making quick bucks, then that can be called as having a clear-cut agenda about career. But what about Life?isnt it different from career? everything is as confused as you are right now, reading this post, trying to figure out what this is all about.but thats exactly is the essential question haunting me.

And all bundled together is the crisis of my life currently. yet, i am still clinging to that glistening thread called Hope...a hope to find out what i want actually... there again you end up at my previous post.

When will the cycle break?

From looking at the 8:00am-showing clock to groping for towel with thoughts of "Am i late?" to hurrying up to bathroom songs to what to wear now to checking the number of downloads(by morning, through nite) to rushing out without breakfast to rearranging the scattered thoughts( & recollecting the dreams) while driving to a couple of Hellos to interest rate parities to exchange rate mechanisms to spot-rate future rates to financial risk management to problems to solutions to mistakes to frustrations to retrospections to regrets to a cup to tea to dollar-rupee markets to lunch to chitteratti to checking e-mails to income tax to deductions to depreciation to commercial banking to bach's"running from safety" to downloading r.d.burman songs to pondering over Emptiness & Nothingness to e-mails to Company analysis to net profits to GDP to industry sectors to downloading a song to P/E ratios to financial indicators to performances to jokes to Bye-Byes to struggling to get into Bus to "how was the day" kind of thoughts to introspections to room for other thoughts to "oh my God its 10:00pm" to hogging dinner to copying downloaded songs to enqueueing more downloads to Times of India to fone calls to Business Standard to security analysis to "lets call it a day" to inexplicable solitude-filled thoughts to music of zakhm to sleep.

All through this journey of one-day...What am i missing? what do i want?

Narcissism too has certain limits.But some people cross such limits too. I was more-than-shocked to read the Tribute to R.D.Burman by Anu Malik, on the occasion of 11th death anniversary of one of the foremost pioneers of modern music,R.D.Burman. Anu Malik showers more of insult than tribute on the legend, by comparing himself with R.D.Burman. I dont know where from he had gathered the audacity to do that, but it really reflects the heights of arrogance he has touched, all by dishing out the crappiest music ever. Absolutely ridiculous were statements like :

I could see that suddenly, at the last moment, he changed whatever music he had composed and whatever his musicians were playing.
Today, I find the same trait in myself -- I change my music at the last moment if I find it is not gelling.

He was a complete and versatile composer. He could give you an Amar Prem and a Teesri Manzil at the same breath --which, if you notice, I have done when I did while I composed Judwaa and Refugee and Virasat and Border. They are two different genres of music.

You fall in love with those tunes a million times because he made music from his heart -- the way I make it now. That was the USP of his music, which I have tried in my music -- by making melodic tunes.

So,Anu Malik thinks that his JUDWAA, which has songs like Oonchi hai building...lift bhi bandh hai..is in the same breadth as Teesri Manzil. Or his Refugee (which has a mish-mash of all old songs) could be this day's Amar Prem. Good for him, for i now stongly believe that Anu Malik was completely drunk when he gave this interview. Either he is drunk, or on coke, or the only final possibility is that he has lost his sanity and requires immediate medical treatment. He definitely doesnt know what he is talking or atleast doesnt understand the gravity of his statements.

I am quite sure that Anu Malik has dished out atleast 100 soundtracks(err! sorry..i doubt if this bastard can understand the real meaning of the word Soundtrack.) ..i mean..he must have scored for over 100films. Not even a Single score has a completely ORIGINAL work and yet he dares to put up such a conceit without any shame.

Well, this is the age of self-appreciation, which is prevalent more in the Hindi Film Industry based in Bombay. A couple of days ago, i read an intervew of composer Ismail Darbar in the same rediff.com, in which, he claimed that his work was always better than A.R.Rahman. Darbar, who had not yet composed for 10 films till now, making such a statement about A.R.Rahman who has been around since 10years, with some phenomemal scores in his kitty. that was the most callous comparision, i felt, when i read that.

But now, Anu Malik has put Ismail Darbar's arrogance to shame. Being among the most filthiest composers list, he doesnt even hesitate for a moment, to boast about his work. And even when he does, he has only Border & Refugee to talk about. Border is one of the most stale & Pale scores ever and Refugee can be credited to yester-year composers Ravi+Roshan etc.,., with ample sound arrangements from Ranjit Barot, who later on designed the sound for Aks. with all that, can they atleast hold a SMALL-candle to R.D.Burman's compositions? How could he even Dream about such a comparision? And what next, would he compare himself to S.D.Burman? or Salil Chaudhary? Or Madan Mohan?(i would definitely stab him to death if he does that) No, just wait and Watch, the next comparision would be with Khaiyyam, for Anu Malik is composing the music for a new remake of Umrao Jaan.

And dont be surprised if other composers take inspiration from this Bastard.after this, we can now see Nadeem Shravan comparing themselves with Shankar-JaiKishan or to hit the abyss, R.P.Patnaik comparing himself with Master Venu or S.Rajeswara Rao or for that matter even Ilaiyaraaja.

But yes, for the first time, on R.D's Death anniversary, i felt glad that he is not around. If he were, he would have surely suffered a Heart-stroke, reading Anu Malik's mega-narcissistic statements.Who knows! he must have tossed in his Grave. If only i could dig a Grave for Anu Malik, that too thousands of Kilometers away from R.D's...coz thats where he is & deserves to be, even in music.

( i couldnt stain by mavericks blog with 'bastard'anu malik's content, hence i discharged my anger here)

I love myself immersed in my own world,
Trying to Solve the enigmatic mysteries…
of life…out of arrogance…
& Of my life…out of ignorance…
I understand myself and my world, sometimes,
And yet how little I know,
The songs of my thoughts, their poetry,
Their images…hues & their patterns,
Rhymeless Rhythms…
Few relationships…
like threads...
tied....and untied…
tried and untried…
The voice of my body…
my smiles…& few Silent Passages…
Trenches of Emptiness…
And skies of fullness…
All these known to me...
--- yet unknown…

I love you too because,
You are nearest to me,
like my own self.
I understand you too, your world,
The songs of silences, unwritten poems,
Woven in the rustic interludes,
Of the winter melodies…
Broken & unbroken…
Spoken & Unspoken…
Those hidden images of your life,
Hanging in the worlds unexplored,
All your nameless thoughts…
Known and yet some seemingly unknown.
Isn’t it strange that,
You are myself’s self,
And still, As obscure to me…
--- As my own self…