Wednesday, February 23, 2005

The Godforsaken

I am lost in no man's land with no soul around; I am a hapless castaway. This little world seems like an endless universe. Every moment, anxiety cuts open a deeper wound. Hope has estranged me for a while now.


As I look towards the heavens above in utter desperation, I hear a reassuring voice - "Net is up!". Everything reverts to normalcy instantly. I am home.

Monday, February 14, 2005

Love, or is it?

Valentine's day is here. Love is in the air, everywhere. Perfect.

Some Afterthoughts

Love seems to be like those vested stock options that go on a locking period for a year, and you exercise all those options on a single day - Valentine's Day. Love goes on a virtual hibernation for a year, but comes back to life with flying colors on Valentine's day.

Looking at how the expressions of love and feelings are manifested on this day, it appears as if Valentine's is a day of re-assurance more than anything else - "I 'still' love you" or "Nothing's gonna 'change' my love for you", and the like. Or perhaps, leave your valentine totally dumbstruck by proving that your love for that person is much more than the person ever dreamt of - buy a card, a teddy or a balloon whose size approximately equals the 'quantified' version of your love. Love seems to be commoditized, commercialized.

Now, some more tangential thoughts. Love is more than about balloons of white and red or those mammoth-sized cards. I understand that Valentine's day, perhaps, is a day of lovers, but
it could be one of love, the scope of which need not be limited to your heart plus that of a special person of yours. Love could be manifested as goodwill for humanity, or compassion for those who have craved for love for their entire lives. Valentine's day could be a day of total selflessness; a day where a smile on your face translates to thousand others.

Happy Valentine's day!

Friday, February 04, 2005

Enrapturing Music

An atemporal joy wraps you as you listen to it. You feel enslaved by a certain force that takes over you, a force that results in unexplainable bodily manifestations while your mind lies on a different plane altogether dumbfounded, awestruck, flabbergasted, call it what you may.

I just made a desperate, yet futile attempt to really explain the bliss of listening to Drupad, a form of Hindustani classical music. Self was blessed the other day at Dharwad, when I was privileged to listen to Gundecha brothers, live. It is really, really sad though, that this form of music is marching towards extinction. I suppose, this is too traditional an art form, that fails to pervade through the masses, perhaps in commercial ways like other forms of music.

Music, hit my senses again, this time at Bangalore when I attended a Shakti concert, live. This was the first time that I got to listen to Zakir Hussein and U.Srinivas, unrivalled maestros in their own right. I was truly amazed by improvisations that Zakir could do on a Tabla. Equally flummoxing was the way V. Selva Ganesh played the Kanjira, where he made it sound like a
Mrudangam, an African drum of sorts and more.

Probably, this is too obscure a media to express the genii of these artists, or I am just running short of expression here. Experience it yourself, and you would understand exactly what I mean.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Say hello to the Sangam Turtles!


From the left:

SC : Cooks Daal and Jeera Aloo like a dream. Lead Cook. More about SC here.
VH: Coffee specialist, Manager - Public Relations.
MG (Me) : The toaster guy, Lead - Breakfast Services.
SA : Sleeps. Cuts vegetables. Director - Inventory Management.
SM: Reads. Principal Consultant - Photography. Lead - Egg and Tea services
Additional Info & Context:
Sangam - The name of the house we live in!
Turtles - All of us hung out at Amma's, sporting turtle-necks brought by VH from Germany -:)
PS: Posted entry is v1.0 Beta. Post likely to accrue content over time.