NA04B009 ...

... been one full year (officially) since that number identified me ... feels a strangely short year though ...

Coke Studio -- session music at it's best

Sometime back, a friend of mine had shown me a video of Bryan Adams performing at MTV Unplugged. It was a proper concert, and the performance was just amazing . I was so affected by that video (and a couple of other session and live performance videos) that I started dreaming of being a part of such a performance myself -- improvising a song, figuring out what all could be done to the song, performing ... stuff that I still dream to be able to do some day.

A few days ago, when one of my friends here sent a link to a video to Rahat Fateh Ali Khan pairing up with Ali Azmat to sing 'Garaj Baras', I initially thought that it is gonna be yet another of those poor sound quality live concert videos on YouTube. I nevertheless went ahead and played it. My love affair with this phenomenon called 'Coke Studio' started at that very instant -- it was love at first hearing :D

Coke Studio is this Pakistani Music venture by Coke (more so by this one guy named Rohail Hyatt), where in a group of Pakistan's most talented musicians have been brought together to form a House Band -- and famous Pakistani Musicians are then called in for session music performances. The audio is free to download, the video is free to watch and download, there are small (sometimes interesting) video segments of the band gearing up for a performance -- it is a Music lover's 'Nirvana' in every way possible. However, none of these form a stronger case for Coke Studio than the very quality of each of these performances.

I have to say, the music in these sessions transcends the realm of simply 'awesome session music' -- in fact for some of these it is a lot more (just imagine this one song being played on my media player on repeat for three consecutive days -- thats how good they are, you just can't get them out of your mind). There are these moments when I feel like just being there in the studio, and doing something with those guys -- even if it is holding a small acoustic guitar and strumming just that one chord.

There is one more thing that I gotta say ... well actually two. The influence of Coke Studio has been so profound on me -- that I started searching up a lot about everyone involved in it ... bands, artists, musicians, etc etc. In particular, there is this band called Noori that I had never heard of before -- whose music simply shook me up. I went ahead to listen to their albums, check out their videos, and landed on the blog of one of the two brothers who comprise the band -- Ali Hamza. In his description of the Coke Studio experience, he says --

'Much more than that, I saw genuine concern about our present situation, and a drive to do something about it! … And the drive in this case was to work hard towards setting new, higher, quality standards for a Pakistani product! Something that will make us known in a different and positive capacity'

Well said !!! Just goes to show what kind of talent Pakistan has to offer to the world, and how this talent is working hard to give their country something to smile about.

If anyone associated with 'Coke Studio' is reading this by any chance -- you guys have at least one dedicated fan. Hat's off to you for what you have done in two seasons thus far. Makes me wonder deep in my heart why Indian TV does not have such shows aired on any channel -- instead of showing brain-damaging family soaps, and a dumb woman trying to find her right match in a reality show the very existence of which makes you want to climb up Qutab Minar, take a 1 billion watt loudspeaker and shout out 'Okay Seriously Guys ... Can We Stop This !!!!!'

RIP Smooth Criminal ....

When the news poured in I couldn't believe that Michael Jackson was no more ...

The man who taught the world to 'Moonwalk', the man who could confidently call himself 'The King of Pop' and get people to respect this self-bestowed crown, the man who could 'Heal the World', the man who got over two dozen artists to collaborate for the legendary aid album for Africa, the immortal 'Thriller' -- the man behind all of these ... no more

You may not have gone with the sun shining on you, but you have left a legend behind you -- something that has been nothing short of history

RIP Smooth Criminal

G-Talk (read 'Green Talk') ...

I was walking down North Gate here, and I realized that there was this tall guy walking slowly towards me. He was wearing a T-shirt from an environment-support organization, and I immediately had a feeling that I should be walking past without even giving him a minuscule amount of attention -- but, I always do that, and this time around I actually felt slightly bad for walking away. You see, there's so much of environment talk doing the rounds, and I am a concerned denizen -- so...'let's hear him out' I said. This was kind-of the conversation between this guy and me --

Guy -- Hey, wassup man, how's it goin'?

Me -- Hey ... nothing much .. 'sup ?

Guy -- Do you have a minute for our environment, man ?

Me -- Well, let's hear it ... (dude, I stopped despite noticing your T-shirt ... you bet I have a minute indeed!!)

Guy -- Alrite man!! I am XYZ ... (shakes hand)

Me -- Debanjan ... nice to meet you

Guy -- So have you heard about us ?? (doesn't stop for me to say anything) We are a global organization, fighting for our environment. I am not here today to sign you up or make you our member or something. I just want to tell you about some of the work we do ... we are non profit , and we work with donations by our members. We have chapters in Berkeley and also all throughout US (I thought that was what Global meant anyways, but yeah ...) ... and ....

Me -- (fitting in small stretches of 'Nice!', 'That's cool!', 'Interesting!' in between the long speech)

Guy -- ... and, the agenda of our work has been so far well implemented at many locations .. and ... and ... (comes to a sudden awkward pause, and looks at the papers in his hand)

Me -- (looking at him with questioning eyes)

Guy -- (sudden blurt) So, do you believe in People Power??

Me -- (hainh !!!!) Ummm ... well okay ...

Guy -- Then let's get you signed up man !! Every minute we waste, we are throwing 'n' acres of land into disaster. We can't waste any time in getting you signed up ... here's ... (starts taking out a set of forms)

Me -- (really now !!! I thought you were not signing members here ... what happened midway, am I that eligible a candidate for being a member!!) Well, actually, can I have a look at the form, and then let you guys know in a day or two. Do you have online membership forms?

Guy -- Online forms ?? Er ... yeah, we do have online forms ... they can be filled online ...

Me -- Cool!! Then I will fill it up online. Thanks a lot dude, for introducing me to your organization, was a pleasure ..

Guy -- (now recovered fully ... gets himself back) Thanks for your time man!!

P.S: Though the above post might seem biased, but I have NOTHING against environmental organizations -- in fact, I think they are doing a good job of keeping people aware and getting something done. It's only that sometimes you wish people approached the task of presenting these organizations to the masses in a more serious and proper manner.

Mobile Photuzz :D

I hadn't transferred the files on my phone to my computer ... and after a long day's work, when I was left with nothing much to do, I suddenly decided to transfer the contents from my phone. I actually thought that I did not have any stuff on my phone -- but I was in for quite a surprise as I saw that I had quite a few pics on my card. Some of them are in fact quite interesting, so I thought maybe I can share them here. So, here we go:

(This is the famous Campanile of UC Berkeley. I guess it is the most 'clicked' UCB campus-unit by far)

(Just when we thought our days down in the lab are not eventful by any means -- our building caught a fire !! It was a very small sporadic burst though, lasted about 10 - 15 mins)

(Of course, we do work in our labs ... quite a bit of it. And the white board has seen some looong meetings in front of it ... quite a feat!!)

(Of course, we have gardens on campus, where we specify what the garden is for. This one is in front of the Math & Stats Dept building -- so all specifications have been detailed, no 'uncertainties')

(and just when you thought disposal of stuff was beginning to be a problem -- Berkeley has a new and radical solution for you to be implemented. The pilot plant that you see here works fine so far, and can be launched for other disposed products as well)

Well, what do you know, Mobile-cam Photography can be fun too !! :D

Aik Alif -- Baba Bulle Shah

Jo Na Jaane Haq Ki Taakat

Rab Na Dewe Usko Himmat

Hum Man Ke Dariya Me Doobein

Kaisi Naiya, Kya Majdhaar 

An attempt at translating the above:

When you don't realize the strength of what you are

God will not provide you with much help

You will be drowning in the turmoils of your own mind

Even more than a struggling boat in the midst of a tempest. 

Its been quite a while since I was so overwhelmed by a single piece of musical performance. Coke Studio is by far one of the most brilliant and stupendous initiatives in the world of 'sub-continental Music' that I have ever seen. It does a phenomenal job of portraying the amazing strength and variety that Pakistani Music has to offer to the world -- my heartfelt thanks to all the performers for putting up such absolute gems of performances.  

P.S: The song 'Aik Alif' based on Bulle Shah's kalaam can be heard here

Finally ... My Own Complete Guitar Rig ... yeah !! :D

Yeah ... as the title says ... I finally managed to get my own guitar rig completed. Got the guitar -- an Epiphone SG Special from a senior here. It came with the amp -- a Marshall MG 10CD, and a cable and some other accesories. This was last semester though -- saved up some cash, and finally a few weeks ago, got a multi-effects processor -- DigiTech RP150, and a guitar stand. And there it was ... my own guitar rig -- nothing high quality, or exorbitant, simple stuff ... but stuff that will probably keep my music enthu from fading away. 

Next Objective: Recording and uploading a track here on my page. Let's see how that goes !! 

Photograph courtesy 'apne Ravi Baabu's Canon EOS Rebel XSI DSLR'. 

Random

Random updates about life in general forms a good blogging topic ... one which I hadn't used thus far. This morning, as I was sipping a cup of tea, and listening to a song on YouTube, I suddenly had a whole lot of things whooshing into my mind. So, I thought about finally trying on the random updates idea. 

In the last few days, we worked out our 'moving out' plans, and have kinda finalized stuff. It's gonna save all three of us roommates some money -- and the place looks good too. Though, now that I am in an apartment, I dunno if I can continue with my guitar experiments that freely. Which reminds me, had a get-together yesterday -- and played guitar for a long stretch after a long time. Wanted to go back to insti-days, and perform live on stage -- been quite a while since I sang whole-heartedly too. Yesterday night also was 'Poker Night' -- I realized I friggin have a 'miserably bad luck' -- kept getting the worst of all cards. Though it was all great fun. 

Fun ... hmmm, that reminds me of this conversation I had with a friend of mine -- we were discussing work satisfaction and we spoke about having some fun at your work being more important than bagging a huge salary. My friend is a brave-heart -- he went on to resign from his work in a moment's decision. I think all of us should be doing the same -- don't take shit from your workplace/authorities, they don't know your worth, and you certainly deserve better -- unless you yourself start feeling that you deserve what you are getting ... a total death of self-esteem and confidence I must say. I wish this buddy of mine gets a better workplace pretty soon. I feel fortunate to have such great buddies -- so many back home in India, and so many here in Berkeley. My insti-buddies have sort of been my support system, and I am sure they will continue to be ... eh eh .. too much senti !!

Well, yeah, so my buddies -- about a week ago I remember calling one of them up, in one of those 'weaker moments' with too much 'liquid tension' ... and absolutely opening up my heart on a long distance call. I am really really privileged to be able to do that. Friends ... 

Recently something interesting is happening to me -- I had a dream last night, it's all pretty weird. I think I should be talking about this to someone in particular, but I am not sure -- and the last time this happened, I chose not to do anything -- didn't leave me in a very well off state in the end. I dunno what ... I just hope, I get some direction. 

Too much randomness in updating ... but what the heck ... this was fun. Random updates is a pretty good blogging theme after all then !!

The Sixth Sense Device ... !!!!!

I just landed up on this site a couple of months ago, and realized it's sheer awesome-ness. However, this one video I saw today has topped it all in terms of every damn thing that I could imagine of. Pattie Maes, a professor at MIT's Media Arts and Sciences programme displays one of her Lab's projects (The Media Lab at MIT) -- a device she calls the 'Sixth Sense Device', engineered by a student of her's, Pranav Mistry. Have a look at this video, and you tell me if you are not bowled over completely too !!!

Obama's New Beginning ...

Just watched the historic speech made by Obama at Cairo University again ... I had liked it the first time when I watched it with a good friend here in my lab. This second time I had the opportunity to actually think about why I had liked it so much -- and about some of the ideas in the speech that made me go 'Okay ... now now ... '.

The speech has already received ample criticism from different countries and also from the Muslim-world to whom the speech was addressed. So, I will not even attempt to set-up something like that -- but would really want to say that it felt great to see the leader of such a powerful nation finally coming up on a public podium and being upfront and direct about so many issues. The speech did a great job of projecting Obama as a man who was willing to look at solutions and not just comment on the problems -- and as someone who is trying to be approachable by the global community, something that I can't say his predecessor succeeded much at. 

There is this YouTube video of one of McCain's campaign sessions, when an elerly woman grabs the mike and says that she really can't trust Obama -- cos she thinks he is an Arab. McCain promptly denies that, and makes it a point that such issues are not even allowed in discussions any more. Good Job McCain !! Much of the political strategy of America in the recent has been in a similar strain (or so I think) -- to get rid of these conceptions that American people, and even people around the world, happened to have grown about the relations between America and the Muslim-world. Obama's speech was a big significant step in that direction. 

I looked at the speech again, and I realized why I liked it that much in the first place though. You see, when you think about global political issues, you sometimes have some very obvious questions creeping up in your mind -- some things that you keep thinking about. As an example, you think about why America is getting involved in Iraq's state of affairs for so long -- are they gonna even help them re-organize, or are they gonna actually stake claims over their reserves and resources? How about them doing stuff in Pakistan ... you can't just pressurize them ... the roots of their issues do lie elsewhere ... how about doing something to address those issues ? 

And he spoke about these candidly (or at least as candid as he could be I guess). He mentioned about adressing Pakistan's development by helping them build their businesses and education. he mentioned about leaving Iraq quite soon, and not claiming any stakes, but help them in their development as well. His admittance of Iraq issue being dealt with in not quite the right manner, and his insistence that Israel's relations with America will be unscathed even in the face of attempts to help resolve the Palestine issue -- these are stuff that you kind of thought wouldn't be addressed that clearly. But ... he did. 

One must admit though that there is no way to be sure that he knows how to go about addressing all of these issues properly. There will still be doubts as to whether all that he said was actually 'too good to be true'. Indeed, for example, how will it work out for America to help garner funds for development of the economies of Iraq, Pakistan, and so on -- the Federal Government is in a debt of such an insane amount !!! 

You know what ... let's not forget that end-results notwithstanding, it is a great start on behalf of America -- on behalf of Obama -- to look deeper into such issues of critical importance in global politics and developmental relations. And that's what the speech was all about wasn't it ? It was all about this new start, about a 'new beginning'. 

Ektaaa ... you have started ruining Indian youth !!!!

Yeah, the title is my new theory ... based on the observation that out of 5 Indian friends here whom I asked to go watch Star Trek/Terminator 4 with me ... only 1 agreed, the others rejecting directly and one of them citing the reason to be " ... I like Drama man, not such tech movies ..." 

How about that for a theory to be based on !!! ... :D :D

P.S: If you are reading this and are one of the 5 ... I must say this post is in good spirits, and I don't blame you either ... refer to the title for the subject :P

If you are, however, the one who agreed .... yo man !! \m/ \m/

It's Summer time ... it's 'blaagging time' :)

Wow, last post is dated Feb 2009 huh ... quite a semester it has been for me ... and it is over now. I have finished my first year of education at Berkeley (I hope ... I really hope this is 1/5th of the entire span that I have in mind :D), and I have had quite a great experience doing it. In fact, these last few days for me have been quite interesting -- our lab group became a well knit bunch of friends over all the night-outs we went through down in our lab (for the record we work in the basement of a building that was once notorious for having maximum number of suicide attempts from it's terrace!!). And now that some of them are about to leave, remnants of all my 'senti-ness' from the final days of IITM started creeping up a bit. 

During most of my conversations that I had with my friends here, we discuss a lot about cultures, politics, and current state of affairs of different countries -- and when it came to India, current state of affairs and politics turned out to be quite a thing because of the elections and the Mumbai attacks before that. I realized that I needed a great turn of things back home to boast about during one of these conversations with some pride --- desperately needed one. And just when I needed it most, Mr. Manmohan Singh got re-elected for a second term and made BJP's virtually pointless election campaign bite the dust. I was overjoyed at the thought of the entire nation uniting, coming together, and singlehandedly eliminating the 'negative politics' of BJP to raise Congress to the throne again. My heart is now filled with much stronger hopes about the changing face of India.

Been quite sometime that I have written something here -- and now that I have typed out about two paragraphs, I am slowly starting to realize that maybe from now on, I will only be able to pursue writing during the vacations, given the toughie-semesters that I saw over the year. Makes me feel sad ... my hobbies are things that are very close to me -- music, writing, editing and designing stuff. Over this last year, I have seen a decline in almost all of them -- not making me feel great at all. 

Speaking about hobbies, I think I might as well add a new one to the list -- the 'Culinary Activity' :P :P. Yeah, yeah I know it sounds a bit odd, but I have realised over these last few months that I can actually cook relatively well, and if there's something new that I can try and prepare I usually end up putting in some effort and getting it done. For example, today I ended up baking fudge brownies with almonds, yesterday was pulao night. Maybe I might actually end up challenging my Mom to a 'cooking contest' and see if I should include it in my list of 'interests' after all. 

So much to kick-start the summer on my blog :D. In the next few months, maybe something interesting will happen, maybe nothing interesting will happen, maybe I will end up getting as busy as I was during the sem, maybe I will end up with lots of free time -- whatever it is, I really wish I can keep writing and posting. My creative side (actually whatever tiny proportions I possess of it) is the only thing that has kept me myself from time to time -- getting distant from it with time is not something that has been making me happy. 

Maybe I should try writing a Fake sports event blog or something ... I wonder if attempts at sensationalism will keep bloggers like me super-active ... hmm...

In the meanwhile, enjoy your summer, have fun, have fluids, and have your senses with you all the time :D

Adios. 

I wish I could be there ...

There are some times when I wish I would kill to be there for something ... I saw this, and I felt that I want to be there so bad !!! :D ... don't you ????

On Movies ... (pt 2)

So it seems I am a bit late for my second part to the previous post. If you however see what I have to say, then you will realize that perhaps the delay has landed me up in a perfect timing for today’s ‘few lines of blog-a-doodly’ (yeah … that’s a term I coined and it has been ‘CopyLefted’)

So yet another major entertainment awards have been announced – the BAFTA. And Mickey Rourke went ahead to win the ‘Best Actor’ award for ‘The Wrestler’. I would indeed like to think that the jury did take my word for his performance after my last post – sadly though, not everything that you would like to happen does end up happening.

Take for instance the movie that has been rocking all of the major awards this year – ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. This movie is a perfect example of ‘not everything you want to happen does end up happening’ law of mine (well … not mine actually ... but whatever) stated above.

Now I must say that it was an absolute delight – the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed Danny Boyle’s work – just as much as I enjoyed watching what he did with ‘Trainspotting’. The movie had an enchanting storytelling brought to life by all the performances and the cleverly designed sequences. It is indeed a story about hope and spirit – and these themes do make for some wonderful stories. When I watched it, I did not feel that everyone else would like the movie just as much – and so when the awards juries started showing the movie all their attention, I have been kind of ecstatic in a way. Rehman might just go on to become another Indian to win an Oscar – he has bagged two prestigious awards already. The movie might go on to become an Academy Awards biggie – and it’s a movie that tells a story about India. I got to see Hindi entertainment industry people on screen, and I felt upbeat about Bollywood finally getting that slight attention from the awards juries and the critics. In as much as it is a Hollywood production – the elements of Bollywood in it are so evident, that I have a firm belief that had the movie been in Hindi, it would have been nothing short of a Bollywood blockbuster. There are critics who have already made similar statements about the movie as well. In all fairness, I believe the people behind the movie have done a stellar job in doing so many things together – showing that movies are still meant for absolute entertainment, giving people from the Hindi film industry a chance to work with a quality Hollywood production, allowing Bollywood to get it’s share of attention, and in being able to do whatever they had started out to do in such a brilliant manner.

In as much as it made me happy when I watched the movie in a theater here at Berkeley – I felt a strange reaction within me when a friend of mine, whom I had recommended the movie, asked me ‘Is this what India looks like?’

I didn’t know what to say. The movie has indeed done its job, but in the process has left an oddly constructed image of India in the minds of some of the global audience. Imagine one moment of the movie where you saw something really really upbeat about the country … and you will be left with only about one or two. I don’t see this as a problem. Frankly, our country does have these issues, and we need to deal with them – such depictions can only be all the more effective in pointing this out loud and clear. But at the same time, there have been other movies which have depicted other sides of the Indian Spirit and the ‘India-Story’. What happened to all of those? I choose to be realistic and practical – but for a few moments even I was driven in to believing that the world actually likes the ‘poor India’ depiction better than ‘strong and steady India’. That is however only the minor unhappiness.

The other, and probably the most important issue, that made me slightly unhappy is about the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ being at its core an entertaining narrative – much of which has been styled in a typical Bollywood fashion. However, this is not the first time the Indian entertainment style has been presented to the world. There have been so many quality and classy Indian movies which have been presented in front of the global audience and the award committees – and while the former did accept it with spirit, the latter have never quite found it so appealing. My question is, now that a Hollywood production house decided to package the same entertainment with English dialogues – doesn’t it seem a bit odd that all the awards juries are gaping at awe at it?

If you look at some of the modern day Bollywood productions – the so-called changing face of the industry – movies like Rang De Basanti, Swades, or Taare Zameen Par, you will kind of get what I am trying to hint at. My heart was filled with sadness when Rang De Basanti could not make it to at least the final round – I mean what a movie it was!! The movie, the message, and the performances – they all will affect you and make you feel so angry and disturbed when you watch it. Such a movie was not good enough for the Indian Film Industry to be noticed amongst the juries and critics in world entertainment. And now that you have a differently packaged ‘Bollywood flick’, everyone is amazed at the product. In my opinion movies like RDB and others deserve to get this attention – not because the Indian Industry is hungry for awards from international guilds, but because it is only from this that they will finally get the holistic exposure to the world entertainment spectrum that they need. This will definitely help improve the Industry, and provide for more entertainment for the world – because everyone knows that audiences all around the globe have been receiving the entertainment package we have to offer pretty well so far.

So much for opinions. Just as I said – everything that you wish could happen does not happen. I do wish ‘Slumdog’ gets the deserved awards and attention, but I do also wish India and Indian cinema get a lot more, and a lot different, reception from the world. Guess both won’t happen in one go – maybe one step at a time.

Till then … please God help Rehman and Slumdog… shine at the Academy Awards. The former is a genius who deserves nothing less, and the latter is a fine piece of work that deserves all the due accolades too. 

On Movies and All That Jazz ...

This weekend was pretty much a ‘movie-weekend’ for me, much in the lines of IITM days when we used to lap up movies after movies whenever we got time. I got to watch three movies, and I had so many thoughts bubbling within me after the three movies, that I couldn’t stop myself from scribbling them down the moment I got some time.

The first of these was the latest Bollywood release “Luck By Chance”. For a family that has been related to the Hindi Film Industry for such a long time, and in such multifaceted roles, it was only expected that their take on the ‘Inside Story’ of the industry will be very genuine and refreshingly different. To say that the movie did not disappoint me would in fact be an understatement. I was actually in a way very happy that I got to see such a progressive angle from Bollywood in commercial movies. The way the movie ends with Farhan and Konkona’s characters poised at such a critical emotional “see-saw” of a position, and the way the movie starts – with that brilliant song picturizing all the real workforces of the Industry who work so hard and yet are never given the credit for playing an important role in the process of making a blockbuster hit – if you are an avid movie watcher, you could easily identify such moments from the movie which are quite different in essence and presentation than any other run of the mill commercial movie.  The characters were all so vibrant, and all the views of ‘Bollywood from within Bollywood’ were really brilliantly constructed and presented – and it goes to show in reality that show business in India is really that larger than life, and it really can change everything for you completely if you are associated with it, in whatever capacity may it be. The movie appeals to our senses in so many ways and at so many levels -- for example; in the way the huge dance sequence is depicted, in the emotional outbursts from a successful producer and a yesteryear’s successful actress narrating their experiences, in the way a guy can actually forget his friends and his love once the showbiz success gets to him, in the way the so called ‘Stars’ think about their work. There is a scene in the movie when Hrithik Roshan (playing Zafar Khan, the ruling heart-throb) drives into a street in a car and some urchins run towards his car, just to have a glimpse of their hero. That is in a way the summary of what Zoya Akhtar’s attempt succeeds at sending across – the fact that our very own Bollywood superstars are indeed no different from us and they too have their own issues in life, virtues, vice, the good and the bad. These people are just the mix of everything that the common man is – save for the fact that they have been lucky to be able to make it that big. In my opinion this movie is a good and pleasant example that Bollywood is indeed changing, and maybe we can expect much more from it in the days to come.

Even before I had recovered from ‘Luck By Chance’, I went in for another movie – this time a Hollywood release called ‘The Wrestler’. If the former left me happy, the latter left me overwhelmed as I left the theater. All I could be amazed at was that in so many ways ‘The Wrestler’ as a movie transcends into the level of a masterpiece. The acting by the three major characters, especially Mickey Rourke as the wrestling circuit’s very own hero ‘The Ram’, was absolutely brilliant, and as many have said so far – Rourke’s own experiences of being a sportsman helped him achieve that combination that made the movie such an awesome experience. For fans of the WWE, like I was as a kid, the superstars and their high-flying showdowns, those memorable punchlines, the entry music and the roaring crowds – these have always had such a special place. However, we all have sometime or the other wondered what must be the real picture behind all these. ‘The Wrestler’ shows it all – and just like ‘Luck By Chance’, this movie is in some ways about all that goes in to making our superheroes what they are. There are quite a few sequences of wrestling shows where the camera shows how the shows are done, and how all these injuries and high flying actions happen – and trust me, you will be affected so much that you will fail to observe that you have been right on the edge of your seat. There were moments when my friends and me simply couldn’t stop from crying out “Oh &^$^%$$” in the theaters. And then, when you see the fall of the legendary Randy Robinson, your heart goes out for the old man who struggles to cope with the realization that no matter how much of a superstar one is, the real world is always going to treat you a lot differently. He realizes that he might be a superstar, but once out of the ring, he is not quite wanted to be a part of things – things that he wishes to be a part of. You realize why he decides to get back to the ring, and your mind gets heavy as you see Randy ‘The Ram’ high flying for one last time – and then, just when you thought there’s more … the movie ends. There are two scenes in the movie which I think I can never forget. The first one is when Randy gets a meager job at a Deli counter, and has to get into the counter from behind a curtained corridor. As he walks down, from the background you hear the loud roaring of the crowd, his name being announced, his entry theme, and then just as he crosses the curtain – there are the common noises of customers lining up at the Deli. The second, and one of the best moments of cinema I have seen, is when Pam runs to Randy just as he is about to make the comeback-match entry, and Randy says that he needs to return to the ring because the only place he can get hurt is the world outside the ring, not inside it. When you come to this moment in the movie, just try and rewind to all those moments on screen when you see the wrestling matches and the injuries that they inflict – the man says that is not pain enough to topple him, but what the world outside has to offer, that’s just too much for him to take.

Deep within, I hope Mickey Rourke’s performance gets awarded at the Oscars, just in the same way that I do for Heath Ledger. The movie deserves to be rewarded for the brilliant storytelling that it has done – something that every movie should be looking to do.

P.S: And for all music lovers like me (on second thoughts, Rock and Metal lovers) – you guys will end up enjoying the movie all the more. Watch out for classic stuff like ‘Bang Your head’, ‘Sweet Child of Mine’, and ‘Balls to the Wall’ …

Speaking about Oscars … I just can’t stop wishing ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ all the best, but there is something more to that as well.

Too long a read eh? Well, then ‘Slumdog …’ comes up on the second part of this post. 

The Indian Obama ???

It was the first day of the semester, and I woke up at 8 in the morning to get ready. It was then that I realized that today was also the Inauguration Day for the 44^th President of the United States of America – a man named Barack Husein Obama, who has left such an indelible impression on me ever since I started following his election campaign to his victorious election to the President's chair. Strangely attracted to see what it would be like, I went to CNN's website and started watching the swearing-in ceremony. Now I am not an American, neither have I been a student or a follower of American history or culture nor have I been into America's modern day social and economic details – but I sat glued to my PC for the full swearing-in ceremony, and even stifled a mild temptation of giving a small clap at the end of Obama's acceptance speech. I spent quite sometime after that to think over all of this, and much to my surprise there were two distinct tracks of thought that kept running through my mind – often criss-crossing each other. It was pretty amazing that it was not only Americans, but people like us too, who were sitting and following the ceremony, who had followed this man's election run, and who have been mesmerized by him thus far in what-so-ever he has done or said.

In my limited capacity as 'just another guy' I wholeheartedly congratulate America and Obama for today. For an African-American man in a country tormented time and again by it's history of racial conflicts, for a man from an un-imaginably humble background to rise to such a position, for a man who chose to go against so called 'big-shots' fearlessly, for a man who even as a Senator and Presidential candidate didn't put upon himself a false or pretentious image, a man who could project himself in the eyes of the people as someone to whom they could relate to – I salute Barack Obama for his unparalleled feat. How he does as a President hereafter is for all of us to see, but how he has done thus far has been a story of success made as a product of hard work, sincerity, intelligence, and courage, and this entire episode has made the Americans look for hope again – something that definitely would have been the Doctor's order for what USA has had to see in recent times. I read and watched all the news, looked at some of my American friends here, and saw how happy they were – and I was happy too. I was happy for Obama's success, I was happy to find that here was another man who was real and yet 'idolisable', I was happy to know that such success stories still keep happening ...

And then I was sad ... and overwhelmed for a moment. Here I was rejoicing the glorious feat of one man, and the belief of an entire nation, but what about the country to which I belong ?

I still remember the day when Obama won. America went nuts !! Berkeley was mad, with people dancing and singing on the streets, cars coming to a total halt in front of the huddled masses and honking their horns in support of 'O-Ba-Ma' chants. The south gate of UC Berkeley was like a sea of people huddled around, and no one was silent! Bars started offering free beer, the city seemed to be almost decked up in 'Obama-Biden' hats and caps and fake-glasses – it was the sight of people having genuine, true fun. They were all just happy. If you are an Indian kindly tell me if you have seen such a sight before. Have you seen an entire city go mad after the general elections at the victory of a certain candidate ? How many of those 'samaroh's have you seen where people who are not necessarily from the political party itself come in and join in the merrymaking ? Have you as an Indian citizen felt truly and purely happy at a 'Prime Minister Elect' ? It is not that Obama has been the only story – although his rise has been accentuated a bit by the current downside of troubles that America has had to see. But there have been other occasions as well when people's emotions have ebbed and swollen with the rise and fall of their presidential candidates. One of my Professors was telling us a story in class one day about another election in the past where (if I remember correctly) the Republicans had won. The town where he was at the time had gone silent for about a couple of days – because they supported the Democrats. This is just another example of how people here feel about their politics, their leaders, their views. They are passionate about what is happening to their country. They might not do or achieve anything with passion alone, they might even be passionate and yet see the troubles continue and end up into troubled times for them – but America as a nation must be feeling so proud to see her sons and daughters caring for something. Much as it hurts me to realize it, I have to say I have never seen such a phenomenon when it comes to Indian political system and the Indian leaders. One might agree, one might disagree – but I am sure if tomorrow, let's say, Manmohan Singh leaves office and let's assume Advani wins, there won't be cities in India rejoicing to their heart's content. For a nation which has in it's system leaders with criminal records, and leaders with lesser education than almost all who are reading this blog – such bright positives about the political system are quite expectedly hard to find. And this is what saddens me the most...

Today as I sit outside India, and actually get to look at what outsiders think of India much more directly – I realize that we are losing out on so many counts. This oddly designed political system, and lack of zeal amongst the Indian citizen has a lot to contribute to the said loss. I don't know what solution could be designed for this, nor do I know the cause for this difference between these two nations. But the very fact that it exists, and was brought out to me in such a manner, saddens me to the core. I would be proud and happy to have looked at all the people chanting 'O-Ba-Ma' and felt content at heart thinking that back home if a leader wins he gets similar chants to his name too. But no ... back home, it seems people have given up and stopped caring all that much ...

Here's to President Obama and America and the 'Winds of Change' ...

Here's also to the day when the Indian leaders realize that it is actions and leading by example that will get the Indian citizen to chant their names, and not starting one's own blog in example of some other succesful leader and riddling it with disclaimers ... to the day when India goes nuts over their next Prime Minister.

Photograph ...

Disclaimer: This has nothing to do with the Nickelback song. For the song please go to Amazon and buy it, and thereby make your first statement against piracy. 

So I finally got the new Canon A590 that I had ordered for about a few weeks ago. As much as the festive spirit had caught me in it's web and made me end up spending a lot more than I had planned for, I felt really really glad and contented when I finally got both my camera and my handy-camera at my service. I have really always wanted having both of these, and I think that was what made me leap at the two deals the moment I set my eyes upon them this winter. 

Anyways, after I got my camera, I decided to try it out, and I took 4 test snaps, and uploaded them on my PC, and thereafter I thought I would upload these here as well. Thus ... this post. 

To begin with, I tried two shots. The first one being an aimless shot of our living room space here, and the second one was to try and take a pic of the camera itself. Lemme place the latter first.

 

Taken in our very own bathroom, using the mirror (as is pretty obvious).

For the other one, it will be better to actually have a look at what the living room looked like when we moved in. My roommate Aditya was busy clicking all around the place the day he came in, and I got a few nice snaps of our house here from his album. I took two of these to create the "BEFORE" pic if you may chose to call it so ...

And then, in probably one of the highest entropy states ever witnessed by our living room, came yesterday's pic, my first shot using the new camera -- the corresponding "AFTER" pic.

It was the natural 'Grad-student's place' look right there for you :D

Thereafter, today morning, I thought of taking some more shots, and uploading the images and verifying that all was okay with the cam and the accessories. Thus I went out to our small patio here, and took two snaps. The first one is a view of our locality here, as seen from our patio when you look towards the street-entrance. The second one was a more or less failed attempt at trying some stud-crack try on catching the sun rays from over the edge of the patio boundary. 

The cars you see in the first one belong to our neighbours (obviously!!), and failed as I indeed did at my attempt, you can still kinda see that I was trying to capture the 'sunrays-over-the-boundary' thingy in my experiment with the camera in the second pic. 

I guess I should be making a small trip along the streets of Berkeley and just take some aimless snaps sometime -- will be a good way to beat boredom. I also surely now have reason enough to start learning details of photo-editing and image-processing softwares ... something I have been planning for quite sometime now. 

Do You Tube ???

My month long winter break here at Berkeley has often seen me ending up with nothing to do but sit and spend time with man's best friend in modern times -- his PC (yes ... PC !! ... not a dog, but maybe a Mac).  On such occasions, more often than not, I have indulged myself in some serious investigation of the content uploaded on YouTube. Now the very brilliance of this service has often left me completely awestruck, and at times speechless -- some geeky friend of mine once said "If it's not there on Wiki or YouTube, it's not there". I have come to pay more attention to his statements thereafter ...

So, back to the main issue -- month long break, bored of going around, sitting in front of computer ... nay ... PC, and 'doing YouTube'. In the process, I have come across some really brilliant stuff, and I just couldn't stop myself from mentioning some of them here. So, here you go ... I call it a "List-of-Things-to-Watch-on-a-rainy-weekend-when-all-the-bars-have-decided-to-go-dry-for-a-day-due-to-liquor-price-regulations-and-a-single-guy-like-you-has-not-much-on-the-plate-to-chose-from" :)

• Jeff Dunham --This dude is a friggin genius. Period. Just search for his name on YouTube, and you will find this ventriloquist with a set of puppets – Peanut, Walter, Achmed, and Jose the Jalapeno on a 'steek'. These are the more popular ones, there are three more puppets – Bubba J, Sweet Daddy D, and Melvyn. Check out his site www.jeffdunham.com too. His shows are so brilliant that I wish I could attend one of his shows.Apart from his shows, there are a couple of special videos that he had included in his dvd, like “Jingle Bombs”, and Walter's run for President of United States. There are also videos of show-bloopers, and the way he recovers from such mistakes in a live show is just stunning. If I say a word more I will probably ruin it ... hence, just search and watch.

• “Happy and u know clap ur hands” -- type in exactly this, no alternate spellings, and watch the first video. You never know how a Punjabi version of this very famous piece could have been conjured up.

• “Single girls” -- I had no idea how someone could come up with this though ... again search and watch.

• “Animator vs Animation” -- some good old stick figure animation, but this is of a much superior quality than the usual ones (like, say, the stick figure matrix fight sequence). Searching for this will give you a series of animation videos, and some of them are really entertaining (check out for the one in which Avast Antivirus takes the rebel-stick-figure in prison, and then uses it's rebellious streak to block pop-ups :D) 

• “Shoes” -- I have no words to describe what this is ... you need to watch it to realize. Liam Kyle Sullivan, an American comedian, won a People's Choice Award for this. There are other similar shows of his available on YouTube too.

• “Where the Hell is Matt?” -- The fact that the background score is in Bengali is not the reason I became a fan of this video. Just watch video game designer Matt Harding dance his way to internet-fame, and you will start liking that one dance move repeated at places around the world. It has become a craze like 'Numa Numa' had become, and there are many related videos that have spawned up – including “Where on Google Earth is Matt?”, “Where the Hell are Matt's Outtakes?”, “Where the Hell is matt's Girlfriend?”, and “How the Hell did Matt get People to Dance with him ?”. Just to finish it off, I actually saw someone dancing the Matt-step in Berkeley streets, though I was not quite able to relate it to this video immediately.

• “Matrix on Windows” -- You might find a couple of videos, but the best one is the one from 'Collegehumor'. Watch out for the final statement about Neo wanting to learn Ubuntu to run the Matrix. :P

• “Jizz in my Pants” -- aired as a 'Digital Short' (videos made using digital video-cams and then edited and processed on a normal personal computer) on 'Saturday Night Live', this video is supposedly the first single from the debut album of this band called 'The Lonely Island' which includes SNL's actors Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone. Aagin, one of those videos which are difficlut to describe in words. (As a separate issue altogether ... Saturday Night Live simply rocks !!)

• “Minesweeper: The Movie” -- Another 'Collegehumor' video, and it is indeed quite something. Check out for the tagline for the movie “This Summer What is Yours is Mine”. And the brilliant 'link-to-the-movie-site' parody.

• “4'33”: John Cage” -- All I can say is, it's unique, and the rest is silence ... :D. Do check out Wikipedia's entry on John Cage, and on this specific composition of his.
  

That completes my list. There are now a couple of points to be addressed. Firstly, I just gave the search terms and not the links or the videos for each entry. The reason is, the whole fun in this exercise is to explore YouTube's vast reserve. You search, and then maybe you check out some other video that might have come up on the list, and discover something different. After all, you are mostly jobless to be doing this anyways. 

Second, many people have actually told me that these stuff have no point at all, save for some senseless escapades which are just a waste of time. I would like to take this opportunity to make my stand on this, and say that some of the videos/pieces on YouTube are indeed brilliant examples of creative genius, parodies, witty-mockeries, and most importantly, of skills that would have otherwise gone completely unnoticed. Such a unique platform for such seemingly out-of-ordinary or unusual talent can only do good to fostering the true spirit of creativity. That's a huge huge 'plus', whether people accept it or not. There are pro's and con's to everything.

So much for one blog entry. Enjoy, and if you come across something nice, share them so that others can enjoy too.

P.S: Not all of these are self discoveries, some of them have (obviously) been recommendations, and it would be unfair not to mention them. So let me take a moment to thank Brinda and Abhishek for entry no. 2 and 10, George for introducing me to “Shoes” (and some others, not on the list though), and apun ka Irshaad Miyaan for 'Single Girls'.

Kya Baat Hai v3.0

Was chatting with my wingmate Fasil today morning ... and while we were at it ... man came up with a brilliant piece of quote -- 

"abbe ... desperate times call for desperate pleasures..." 

I leave everything up to the interpretation of the reader :)

New Year Times :)

It's a new year ... 2009. And like every new year, this one too comes with expectations and apprehensions, and leaves us with another year of memories and experiences. In many ways 2008 was unique for me and for many others, and it came with it's share of fantastic and horrifying moments. However, there are a couple of remarkable feats that make the previous year stand-out in itself -- we all cheered that historic moment when a man named Barack Husein Obama rose to the position of the most powerful person in the world indeed, we all shed our tears for the courage and the spirit shown by the Indian police and Army in fighting the terror strike on Mumbai, we all went hysteric as India soared high on Dhoni-ism, we all spent troubled times figuring out our money and our job as the most devastating recession hit the global economy, we all stood ashamed of ourselves when we saw scandals by our world leaders revealed ... one could go on and I am certain I missed probably many more crucial happenings. 

And all the while, we all have had our own, personal experiences -- the moments of brilliance and the moments of agony. I for one had probably a few of the biggest moments of my life -- my graduation, my first flight abroad, California, a new country, a new life, Saarang, getting far away from the 4 years of college life and its absolute brilliance, my first paychecque, my last day at college, my first day at another, hostel nights back at college and the discovery of the real strength of the bond we formed in the 4 years ... absolutely splendid !!

Months ago, I was back to my school for my school's Alumni re-union. I met up with my friends at school ... people whom I used to go to school with, people whom I used to meet 5 times a week for the full day for close to 14 years. And seeing them after a full 4 years was indeed great fun. It was then that I got a chance to realize that these people had changed a bit. The change was nothing major, but little things about them that was different. This new year's eve as I sat back and started wishing people, I had a strange feeling that the next time I meet my friends I probably might realize that they had changed a little bit more. Nothing remains as it was before ... but it is probably more difficult for us to accept in reality. Thus, this new year's eve I prayed for 'no changes' ... which I know will not quite be fulfilled. However, in as much as it comes, we all can at least hope for 'good change'.

On a personal front ... last few months I have had a strange feeling of lethargy creeping up inside me. It was because of a multitude of reasons, some of which I am pretty sure of. But what it has done is that it has kind of kept me away from actively engagin in all my interests -- music, writing, books, and I have also not been able to visit my blog. Thereby, I also made a small resolution this time -- to cut away from this lethargy and start following my interests again. I hope to be able to make good of it. 

The new semester is about two weeks away. I have been sharpening my culinary skills (like all grad students with insufficient payments to dine out every night), I have been watching a lot of stuff, have been paying bills and managing finances, I have been thinking about Credit History, have been getting accustomed to online shopping and Wal-Mart, have been doing a lot other things that I had never even dreamt of doing in my life, have not been doing some things I had indeed dreamt of -- oh ... and yeah ... have been studying the rest of the hours :D

Here's a Happy 2009 to all who are reading this, and to all who are not.