Mathematics has always been a favorite subject and yours truly can claim to be an expert in the rudimentary aspects of the subject - ie , counting. Therefore I when I flipped the dates on my calendar today morning , I was surprised to note that my last blog post had been nine days ago - nine whole days , which didn't feel quite long in hindsight. May be it didn't seem long as too many things were happening around me , things which related to the greater good , happenstance stuff and minor irritants caused by my favorite guy in the entire universe , that dude Murphy of the famed Murphy's laws. Therefore when I opened my blog and started typing away , I realized that there were one too many things to write about and the best way to go about it was to make an Aviyal ; a mish-mash of everything. So here goes - an Aviyal of events - good and bad , people crazy and otherwise !!!!
The Big Bust Theory :
It all started on that fateful evening , when tatadocomo went through a huge nation wide outage. The network went Kaput for 12 hours and it took ages for services to be restored. While friends around me felt handicapped without their mobile and claimed to be dying ( a bit overmuch that - like something out Philip Pullman's books where a person dies , if their pet animal/soul mate/whatchamacallit is separated from them) , I stayed calm , waiting it out and accepting that such things do happen. The elders always say that Good karma will be rewarded with good things but in my case it was not to be so. the network came back , but with it came so many issues that there came a stage when the customer care number became the most dialed number on my cellphone and my sleepy murmurs included 'Hi! I'm calling from Coimbatore and have been facing some issues'.
I had dreams of bashing up the poor lady from customer care for hanging up in the middle and gnashed my teeth many a times at the sheer cleverness of the network to create such an issue ( If you are wondering what its all about , its just that my network went bust. if My GPRS works , then telephony will go down and vice-versa). I have finally reached a stage where I've calmed down ,taken deep breaths and have finally decided to get rid of my operator. As I write this blog , I've started the procedure to port my mobile number to another operator.
Hopefully the network I'm porting to will offer better service and the customer care reps will not stalk you to offer packages , call you five times after you've paid the bill to confirm your payment ( They really do that trust me , asking the cheque no , time of payment , size of the drop box et all) and generally act like pests. They say hope is eternal and it is with this hope , that I am moving to what I think is a better network.
The Auditory Explorations :
I've always been a huge music buff , so much so that my Ipod is one of my must have items inside my backpack and on days when I don't have it with me I truly feel bereft. It has much to do with the fact that I cart around 25 GB worth music inside it , which caters to my every single mood and whim. My playlists range from Raja to Rahman , Naushad to Pritam , seamlessly integrating the Burmans with Boney M and Adele with Asha Bhonsle.
That said , I've often shied away from listening to new groups and new music due to my fear of not enjoying the new styles and being labeled as a music retard.But off late , to my surprise , I've found the courage to explore varied genres of music and frankly I've enjoyed every thing I've listened to , starting with Coldplay - who were unknown entities to me , a couple of months ago and whose albums always play on a loop nowadays. My other discoveries from this year and the last include Loreena Mckennit , The Dubliners et al and last but not the least Advaita , whose music can be labeled Carnatic Rock at its best , whose members include a splendid sarangi player and superb classical vocalist. Their albums "Grounded in Space" and "Silent Sea" are must buys and give an indication of how rich our indigenous music is.
How can I ignore Coke Studio , when I talk about indigenous music ? The Pakistan series has completed its fifth season this year and is known for the wide variety of Asian music it showcases - this year being no exception. The Indian edition in comparison had a lukewarm first session ,and has started with a bang in the second session. Having seen the chakwal group in action and the rock star Sawan Khan Manganiyar sing away to glory, I can only wonder at the musical richness our ancestors have bequeathed to our custody and try my level best to spread awareness. Hopefully , One day , I will get over my speechlessness and blog about the musical heritage of our country - till then I'm afraid people have to make do with my outbursts of happiness through Twitter , Face book and what not!
No Country for Young Women :
Off late , the print and the visual media are filled with articles on crimes and offenses committed against women and the recent Assam incident takes a cake in my opinion. A member of the most honorable fourth estate not only had the gall to engineer the whole incident for media publicity , but went ahead to proudly upload the video to youtube , and other media , bringing unwanted publicity and another round of torture on an innocent victim.
The head of the news agency which was responsible for this appalling act claimed that only loose women were molested and continued to tweet links to the video footage of so called incidents where loose women were preyed upon - as if the so called animals in our country are honorable enough to let a woman in a churidhar kurta pass through unharmed.
What disgusts me is the fact that some one can plan a heinous crime against a woman just to get those extra TRPs and get away with it , squeaky clean , having people offer mock resignations and feigned remorse. As I write this , youtube is highlighting several such videos as the most viewed , offering them on the first page .
Organizations that are responsible for women welfare are asking women to dress safely ( dress conservatively I understand - but safely? is there even a definition of what is safe?). Women are asked not to venture out of their homes unnecessarily and very soon , women might as well be asked to stop coming out of their homes to earn a living.It makes me wonder if the crimes are going to stop if these diktats are going to be followed - I would think no.
In my humble opinion it's not a woman's fault , that she lives in a country where Lechers are allowed to run free and victims are penalized. Its not a woman's fault , that few men can't act their human self and think that their gender gives them the right to act the way they do.
I really hope that we as society take stern actions against heinous crimes and treat women as they are supposed to - a citizen of the country who is entitled to all the rights , privileges and freedom that comes along with the citizenship
And the light goes out , Slowly:
As I was boarding the cab yesterday , my cellphone beeped. It was an alert that a friend of mine had posted something on twitter - Rajesh Khanna , the actor had passed away. While I've not watched a great many of his movies (but I have liked the ones I've seen - Aaradhana , Daag , Anand ,Bawarchi to name a few)I can state with absolute conviction that most of his movies were musical hits - so many lovely melodies - who can forget the soulful melodies that became an integral part of our generation : Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye , zindagi ek safar hai suhana , kuch toh log kahenge , mere dil main aaj kya hai , o mere dil ke chain , mere naina sawan badho - to name a few from the top of my head. Death is nothing but the next great journey and something tells me that somewhere up above , Hrishida is planning his next with Rajesh Khanna with Music by RD Burman , Kishore featuring on the vocals.
The end , but not quite :
Whew , another long winded post at 1400 odd words. I wonder if someone is going to be really patient to read through this long rambling of mine , but as they say - one might never know. Hope you've enjoyed my Aviyal and I'll be back with yet another blog post soon or may be not - what with the cricketing action in store and the Olympics on the horizon .
Hasta La Vista until we meet next,
K
The Big Bust Theory :
It all started on that fateful evening , when tatadocomo went through a huge nation wide outage. The network went Kaput for 12 hours and it took ages for services to be restored. While friends around me felt handicapped without their mobile and claimed to be dying ( a bit overmuch that - like something out Philip Pullman's books where a person dies , if their pet animal/soul mate/whatchamacallit is separated from them) , I stayed calm , waiting it out and accepting that such things do happen. The elders always say that Good karma will be rewarded with good things but in my case it was not to be so. the network came back , but with it came so many issues that there came a stage when the customer care number became the most dialed number on my cellphone and my sleepy murmurs included 'Hi! I'm calling from Coimbatore and have been facing some issues'.
I had dreams of bashing up the poor lady from customer care for hanging up in the middle and gnashed my teeth many a times at the sheer cleverness of the network to create such an issue ( If you are wondering what its all about , its just that my network went bust. if My GPRS works , then telephony will go down and vice-versa). I have finally reached a stage where I've calmed down ,taken deep breaths and have finally decided to get rid of my operator. As I write this blog , I've started the procedure to port my mobile number to another operator.
Hopefully the network I'm porting to will offer better service and the customer care reps will not stalk you to offer packages , call you five times after you've paid the bill to confirm your payment ( They really do that trust me , asking the cheque no , time of payment , size of the drop box et all) and generally act like pests. They say hope is eternal and it is with this hope , that I am moving to what I think is a better network.
The Auditory Explorations :
I've always been a huge music buff , so much so that my Ipod is one of my must have items inside my backpack and on days when I don't have it with me I truly feel bereft. It has much to do with the fact that I cart around 25 GB worth music inside it , which caters to my every single mood and whim. My playlists range from Raja to Rahman , Naushad to Pritam , seamlessly integrating the Burmans with Boney M and Adele with Asha Bhonsle.
That said , I've often shied away from listening to new groups and new music due to my fear of not enjoying the new styles and being labeled as a music retard.But off late , to my surprise , I've found the courage to explore varied genres of music and frankly I've enjoyed every thing I've listened to , starting with Coldplay - who were unknown entities to me , a couple of months ago and whose albums always play on a loop nowadays. My other discoveries from this year and the last include Loreena Mckennit , The Dubliners et al and last but not the least Advaita , whose music can be labeled Carnatic Rock at its best , whose members include a splendid sarangi player and superb classical vocalist. Their albums "Grounded in Space" and "Silent Sea" are must buys and give an indication of how rich our indigenous music is.
How can I ignore Coke Studio , when I talk about indigenous music ? The Pakistan series has completed its fifth season this year and is known for the wide variety of Asian music it showcases - this year being no exception. The Indian edition in comparison had a lukewarm first session ,and has started with a bang in the second session. Having seen the chakwal group in action and the rock star Sawan Khan Manganiyar sing away to glory, I can only wonder at the musical richness our ancestors have bequeathed to our custody and try my level best to spread awareness. Hopefully , One day , I will get over my speechlessness and blog about the musical heritage of our country - till then I'm afraid people have to make do with my outbursts of happiness through Twitter , Face book and what not!
No Country for Young Women :
Off late , the print and the visual media are filled with articles on crimes and offenses committed against women and the recent Assam incident takes a cake in my opinion. A member of the most honorable fourth estate not only had the gall to engineer the whole incident for media publicity , but went ahead to proudly upload the video to youtube , and other media , bringing unwanted publicity and another round of torture on an innocent victim.
The head of the news agency which was responsible for this appalling act claimed that only loose women were molested and continued to tweet links to the video footage of so called incidents where loose women were preyed upon - as if the so called animals in our country are honorable enough to let a woman in a churidhar kurta pass through unharmed.
What disgusts me is the fact that some one can plan a heinous crime against a woman just to get those extra TRPs and get away with it , squeaky clean , having people offer mock resignations and feigned remorse. As I write this , youtube is highlighting several such videos as the most viewed , offering them on the first page .
Organizations that are responsible for women welfare are asking women to dress safely ( dress conservatively I understand - but safely? is there even a definition of what is safe?). Women are asked not to venture out of their homes unnecessarily and very soon , women might as well be asked to stop coming out of their homes to earn a living.It makes me wonder if the crimes are going to stop if these diktats are going to be followed - I would think no.
In my humble opinion it's not a woman's fault , that she lives in a country where Lechers are allowed to run free and victims are penalized. Its not a woman's fault , that few men can't act their human self and think that their gender gives them the right to act the way they do.
I really hope that we as society take stern actions against heinous crimes and treat women as they are supposed to - a citizen of the country who is entitled to all the rights , privileges and freedom that comes along with the citizenship
And the light goes out , Slowly:
As I was boarding the cab yesterday , my cellphone beeped. It was an alert that a friend of mine had posted something on twitter - Rajesh Khanna , the actor had passed away. While I've not watched a great many of his movies (but I have liked the ones I've seen - Aaradhana , Daag , Anand ,Bawarchi to name a few)I can state with absolute conviction that most of his movies were musical hits - so many lovely melodies - who can forget the soulful melodies that became an integral part of our generation : Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye , zindagi ek safar hai suhana , kuch toh log kahenge , mere dil main aaj kya hai , o mere dil ke chain , mere naina sawan badho - to name a few from the top of my head. Death is nothing but the next great journey and something tells me that somewhere up above , Hrishida is planning his next with Rajesh Khanna with Music by RD Burman , Kishore featuring on the vocals.
The end , but not quite :
Whew , another long winded post at 1400 odd words. I wonder if someone is going to be really patient to read through this long rambling of mine , but as they say - one might never know. Hope you've enjoyed my Aviyal and I'll be back with yet another blog post soon or may be not - what with the cricketing action in store and the Olympics on the horizon .
Hasta La Vista until we meet next,
K
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