What a phrase to utter! One side we have open-minded geniuses who stop at nothing to achieve what they wanted to achieve. In the same country we have these narrow-minded weirdos who cannot say if the chauffeur driven super-luxury cars they own are German made or Italian but try to talk down what humans experience in a Formula One car!
The other day I came across this article where some guy claimed 'Formula One is not a sport' and that these races are not a test of the human strength! Damn that guy! We are talking about 300+ speeds and accelarating/decelarating forces of close to 5G! Call a 'highly athletic' runner and ask him to endure an hour of gruelling Formula One racing. In 10 laps he would start puking and would start complaining of all kinds of pains in his neck, back, etc. Drivers sit and race, but the sitting itself gets so tough when you realise you'll come out a few Kilograms lesser than when you started the race! One thing we must learn is not to compare 2 things that are so blatantly different. One more thing is, one must not blabber crap when half the world is all ears.
Humans have always been known to transcend barriers. All these achievements have been possible because of an urge and determination to do it. If we keep aside things just because they are too expensive or they might end up being a form of entertainment rather than sport, then we would still be creating fires out of striking stones and riding bullock carts. Imagine Twenty-20 cricket without its pace and 'entertainment'. Would it have succeeded? Sport is Competition, Competition is Speed (in racing, that is), Speed is Entertainment and Entertainment is Money. It will pull audience whether you like it or not.
For that reason, Formula One is watched all around the world (one of the few 'sports' that actually achieved this) and with much enthusiasm. India with a huge population definitely adds huge numbers in the viewership of F1. And with such huge numbers of fans I am sure a race in India would pull enough crowd even if the ticket to watch it costs a hell lot of money.
But what do I hear around me? Frauds. Scams. False allegations. Crap. Suddenly F1 is being made to look like a villain in front of these so-called 'human-athletic' sports. When were 'athletics' given real importance in India anyway? A country of 1,000,000,000 won it's only first Individual Gold Medal for Shooting in 2008. Where were athletes and athletics then? If our authorities are really supporting and funding those 'real sports' so well, its rather shameful because we don't have an ounce of proof of that. The tiniest countries with entire populations less than a single Indian city have won enough praises in the form of medals. And here we are, talking about 'real sports', like we know about damn thing about 'real sports'.
The recent comments made about F1 really brought my blood to boiling point. Something in me personally wanted to hit back at such wild statements. I atleast hope someone from the F1 world would hit back. As if on cue, the F1 world did hit back. And hit it did, so hard that I feel pretty satisfied right now.
Giancarlo Fisichella's Pole postion on Saturday and his Second Place earning the first ever points for Force India clearly was the moment of the week for me, keeping aside Manchester United's win over Arsenal from 0-1 down. Like the rest of the season, everything about this race was unpredictable. Though Fisi couldn't really hold on to the first place, he held on to the second. With a Red Bull car that showed so much potential this season, it should have definitely been very hard for Fisichella to maintain the gap. Moreover he finished just 0.9 seconds out which isn't bad considering the KERS factor. However, the worst thing about this is I never watched the race, thanks to my sad cable.
But I did notice something strange aftermath of the race. Indian news channels went berserk with this news. Agreed the team is owned by an Indian and stuff, but what's the need for all that frenzy? People jumping about like it all happened because of the Indian element. The only 'Indian' thing I found was the name because the team is owned by an Indian. I feel deja vu with what happened after Slumdog Millionare. (People criticizing the way slums were shown and other people feeling proud like Rahman won all the oscars that day!) Anyway, this is a non-issue for me. I was delighted to see Mallya's team driver come second and Ferrari take the first place. That was all that mattered. On the other hand, I'm pretty excited to see Fisi race for Ferrari, though that would mean Force India might have really had a one-off podium finish.
So one side we have people in India stamping F1 down, cutting it off as a bud, before it even kicked off here, and the other side we have people stretching it beyond breaking point just because of the Indian connection. Both extremes are extremely ironical considering the fan following in India which is oddly concentrated. (Certain people consider it their religion, and yet most don't know such a 'Sport' exists) But stories like these are too common to even talk about so I'd better put a stop here. Such debates can go on for ever without a proper solution, and by then the expensive racing phenomenon might even get extinguished... though I hope not.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Shock of the Lightning
Contd. from prev post again...
Ah! What a great last week. I had a good break in Vizag for the first time in like 3-4 months. Still craving for more, I reluctantly came back home (26th Aug). But once inside home, I truly realised what all I missed for a week. I wanted to catch up on everything. My friends. My e-mails. My social networking accounts. My BLOG. The EPL matches. The Formula One updates. Everything. I was bluntly cut off from all this and I had a lot of catching up to do. All this lightened my mood and I felt good that I came home at last. And then, The Big Shock.
Time and again, certain things have gone horribly wrong when I was away from home. The reasons? Not something connected to my going out. Just a strange twist of fate!
This time, my joy of being back home lasted about 3 minutes. The moment I stepped in, I rushed to my system only to find out the display was in a weird dulled colour. I couldn't understand the problem. There was a dull reddish patch near the centre of the screen which puzzled me even more. When I asked my mom about this, the reply just left me like a person who lost all his life's belongings in a single go.
Apparently, just the previous day (25th Aug) there was a huge explosion about 4-5 Kilometers from my home and my house people say they heard it like it happened in the next street. They assumed that it was a Lightning Bolt that hit very close by. But the newspapers said there was an acid barrel that leaked and exploded. The moment the blast/lightning occurred, my system that was running got turned off and later refused to show anything on the screen. And at the same time, the set-top-box connected to the TV also weirdly stopped showing any display. Only audio was being heard. And weirdest of all, nothing else happened in any other neighbouring house.
All this left me dazed for sometime. So basically I go out for a week and come back to find that I have no computer or TV to spend time with. Though the monitor was displaying some colour, it was very hard to 'work' on the system for more than half and hour. The dull colours were too cold to handle. And to add salt to the injury, I found out that the LAN card stopped working. I made an attempt to dig in, searching for the hardware on the device manager and was shocked to find no ethernet card there. The whole network connection was just wiped out. Moreover, I found water leaking out of the internet cable. Ah! It was like the whole world tried to act against me. I was stuck in a situation where nothing would fall back into place on its own. I had to do it, I was the only one who could bring things back. I just kept my head to myself for the rest of day with the help of a novel and let the time pass by as quickly as it could.
And so it started the next day. I first got the lan card replaced and had a long wait before the internet guys reset my account so that it could be accessed. By the end of the day I had access to internet, which brought me some relief. We take so many things for granted, for example, being connected to the rest of the world. When that connection is suddenly lost, we are lost. After some thorough checking with another monitor and cable, I found that my graphic card was spoilt. This was sad news because getting this done would take days. And getting the set-top box repaired was another mystery I didn't wanna solve just as yet.
On Saturday I stepped out with the Monitor and CPU in the hope that nothing else turned out to be spoilt. When I got it checked, the graphic card was found faulty and by a strange twist of fate, it was 1 day past it's warranty period. Something like the card was expecting the 11 months to get over soon, and stole the first chance to get spoilt. And the monitor was found to be ok. But I wanted to get rid of the bulky CRT and go for the sleek LCD (something I should have done 2-3 years back). I was just waiting for the CRT to get spoilt so that I could buy an LCD but the CRT just refused to do so. It's been 5 years and the CRT worked properly except for a minor repair.
We gave away the fully functional CRT and took an LCD at last, a 19 inch. The moment I bought it, I repented the fact that I didn't take a larger screen. The 19 inch widescreen looked way too small even in front on the 17 inch CRT. Everyone at home is kinda upset that I made one hurried decision. But what's over is over... no point rueing bygone mistakes. The display card was taken away for repair and I would get it back only a week later. So I had to revert back to my on-board display card temporarily.
Finally it looked like most of my system problems were solved. The Graphic card is also on its way back in a few days. But the problematic thing was the set-top box. I just read that ManU defeated Arsenal 2-1, and Fisichella of FORCE INDIA took POLE!! I would have done anything to watch these on TV, but my sad cable never allows for that without a set-top box. I missed an important match and will now miss an exciting Belgian Grand Prix probably because of some stupid explosion miles away, days ago.
And with that, my week is coming to an end. Something to cry about, something else to cheer about. It's just the way good/bad things go in harmony. Look at the bright side of it and stay happy, stay sane...
Ah! What a great last week. I had a good break in Vizag for the first time in like 3-4 months. Still craving for more, I reluctantly came back home (26th Aug). But once inside home, I truly realised what all I missed for a week. I wanted to catch up on everything. My friends. My e-mails. My social networking accounts. My BLOG. The EPL matches. The Formula One updates. Everything. I was bluntly cut off from all this and I had a lot of catching up to do. All this lightened my mood and I felt good that I came home at last. And then, The Big Shock.
Time and again, certain things have gone horribly wrong when I was away from home. The reasons? Not something connected to my going out. Just a strange twist of fate!
This time, my joy of being back home lasted about 3 minutes. The moment I stepped in, I rushed to my system only to find out the display was in a weird dulled colour. I couldn't understand the problem. There was a dull reddish patch near the centre of the screen which puzzled me even more. When I asked my mom about this, the reply just left me like a person who lost all his life's belongings in a single go.
Apparently, just the previous day (25th Aug) there was a huge explosion about 4-5 Kilometers from my home and my house people say they heard it like it happened in the next street. They assumed that it was a Lightning Bolt that hit very close by. But the newspapers said there was an acid barrel that leaked and exploded. The moment the blast/lightning occurred, my system that was running got turned off and later refused to show anything on the screen. And at the same time, the set-top-box connected to the TV also weirdly stopped showing any display. Only audio was being heard. And weirdest of all, nothing else happened in any other neighbouring house.
All this left me dazed for sometime. So basically I go out for a week and come back to find that I have no computer or TV to spend time with. Though the monitor was displaying some colour, it was very hard to 'work' on the system for more than half and hour. The dull colours were too cold to handle. And to add salt to the injury, I found out that the LAN card stopped working. I made an attempt to dig in, searching for the hardware on the device manager and was shocked to find no ethernet card there. The whole network connection was just wiped out. Moreover, I found water leaking out of the internet cable. Ah! It was like the whole world tried to act against me. I was stuck in a situation where nothing would fall back into place on its own. I had to do it, I was the only one who could bring things back. I just kept my head to myself for the rest of day with the help of a novel and let the time pass by as quickly as it could.
And so it started the next day. I first got the lan card replaced and had a long wait before the internet guys reset my account so that it could be accessed. By the end of the day I had access to internet, which brought me some relief. We take so many things for granted, for example, being connected to the rest of the world. When that connection is suddenly lost, we are lost. After some thorough checking with another monitor and cable, I found that my graphic card was spoilt. This was sad news because getting this done would take days. And getting the set-top box repaired was another mystery I didn't wanna solve just as yet.
On Saturday I stepped out with the Monitor and CPU in the hope that nothing else turned out to be spoilt. When I got it checked, the graphic card was found faulty and by a strange twist of fate, it was 1 day past it's warranty period. Something like the card was expecting the 11 months to get over soon, and stole the first chance to get spoilt. And the monitor was found to be ok. But I wanted to get rid of the bulky CRT and go for the sleek LCD (something I should have done 2-3 years back). I was just waiting for the CRT to get spoilt so that I could buy an LCD but the CRT just refused to do so. It's been 5 years and the CRT worked properly except for a minor repair.
We gave away the fully functional CRT and took an LCD at last, a 19 inch. The moment I bought it, I repented the fact that I didn't take a larger screen. The 19 inch widescreen looked way too small even in front on the 17 inch CRT. Everyone at home is kinda upset that I made one hurried decision. But what's over is over... no point rueing bygone mistakes. The display card was taken away for repair and I would get it back only a week later. So I had to revert back to my on-board display card temporarily.
Finally it looked like most of my system problems were solved. The Graphic card is also on its way back in a few days. But the problematic thing was the set-top box. I just read that ManU defeated Arsenal 2-1, and Fisichella of FORCE INDIA took POLE!! I would have done anything to watch these on TV, but my sad cable never allows for that without a set-top box. I missed an important match and will now miss an exciting Belgian Grand Prix probably because of some stupid explosion miles away, days ago.
And with that, my week is coming to an end. Something to cry about, something else to cheer about. It's just the way good/bad things go in harmony. Look at the bright side of it and stay happy, stay sane...
Friday, August 28, 2009
A Week on the Coast
The Plan
This was a break I was desperately waiting for. I booked the train tickets to Vishakapatnam almost 20 days early. My cousin Deepa, my sister and I were the ones planning out the trip for a good break from the daily routine. Most of my previous visits to Vishakapatnam were mildly frustrating because it was just a few hours' visit and an intermediate resting place before going to the real destination, Jagdalpur. And unfortunately they were not always pleasure trips. But this time was different. It was a 4 day fun-promising trip and we were looking forward to it like nothing else in life. 21 August to 25 August was the plan and we already made up our minds about where to go on what day at the mercy of the Rain-Gods.
The Trip
We started our Vizag foray with a good lunch and finished the evening with a stroll around Tenneti park and a nice long drive on the beach road. I volunteered to drive and truly enjoyed the experience. The nearly empty and smooth roads adding to the scenic locations were fun to drive on. The saddest, sickest part was that I didn't have a camera with me. This was the first trip in 4-5 years that I went out without a camera, and I cursed myself for it and the stupid reason why I didn't have it. It was left with my Dad's Friend's Friend at a painting institute and it's not yet back home.
The next day being Ganesh's Festival, we were forced to stay indoors and perform all the pooja and eat all the 'delicacies' prepared. The whole day progressed slowly with a very late lunch and weird music from a nearby pandal. I expected devotional songs and ended up listening to hit tracks from the latest Magadheera that were repeated atleast 500 times in those 4 days (I know them by-heart now though I never watched the movie). On a weirder note, I also happened to catch songs from artists like Blue, BackStreet Boys, etc and the soundtrack from Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Now why these tracks were played on a 'Devotional' occasion is an answer only the Men-of-God, the Priests of the pandal can give. Occasional rain sent our evening plans down the drain but the sight outside the balcony was breathless. A long line of the West-side hills were visible and the rain clouds slowly progressed their way past the tips. One could actually watch the rain advancing towards the city and the rain clouds would eventually cover up so thickly that the hills became temporarily invisible. I cursed myself for not having a camera so many times that it surpassed the number of times Magadheera songs were repeated.
Monday was the longest and the most fun-filled day of the trip. Early in the morning, we rushed to Rushikonda Beach in the hope that the sun wouldn't tan us black. Instead the weather was so pleasant, we stayed there till past 10:30. The swim in the misty beach and a small boat ride directly into waves was beyond thrilling. I grabbed another chance to curse my Camera-less pockets. After a moody breakfast (Moody because my cousin's phone ended up spoilt because of a single wave that crashed onto the boat), we went back home. I took over the wheel on the drive back and enjoyed the drive thoroughly. 80 KMPH and the cool, misty, wet wind slapping my face was the true pleasure I experienced. We went out in the evening again for dinner at RR Grand Bay and later managed to hit a local pub, Chrome (that was totally empty except us). While the rest made their way to the floor, I happily sat sipping a Vodka-based drink and watching Hitman on the flat screen (Who would dance to those weird BPM-altered Bollywood-Tollywood songs that were simply mixed on top of an unchanging non-stop rhythm??). When asked for Rock, the DJ played a song by Pink and I had to shut my ears out for sometime. The poor bartenders were also heavily engrossed in the movie, apparently bored that nobody was willing to have a second drink. My cousins wanted to go to another pub, but 2 others were closed and we returned back home past midnight.
25th was the day to leave. I wished to stay on but I reminded myself that the tickets were booked 20 days back and there was no point cancelling them now. We just went out for lunch and did some small shopping with me behind the wheel again. Driving in the peak hours of Vizag was like driving at around the most non-peak, traffic-free hour of Hyderabad.
There was but one problem on the Vizag Roads: The Pedestrians. The sleepiest, laziest and least-alert people I ever saw. Slam the horn 20 times and they turn around in surprise as if they just noticed a car behind them, and the expression on their face, "Just go your way, I'll go mine". 2 wheelers driving like maniacs is a usual sight even in Hyd, so nothing new there. No dividers anywhere and vehicles from the opposite lane coolly drop by on the oncoming lane scaring the wits out of motorists. I actually did 2-3 swerves on the road to keep the new Alto scratch/damage free.
The way back
Finally we got onto the train that would take us back home, and before we even started there was a minor incident. A man was beaten up badly, allegedly for stealing or something and also managed to crash his way into my cousin looking for an escape route. That left us shaken and we took some time to get out of that trauma, when we were left sleepless by another weird man. This guy who was having the lower berth, just didn't sleep or allow us to sleep. He was simply standing in the darkness between the 2 rows of berths and it looked like he was looking at us. It was scary beyond the scariest movies that I ever watched. He was unable to stand straight, was visibly sleepy but was simply refusing to sleep. His head was lolling around under the night-lamp and he was suddenly jerking back to life, shaking his head wildly. He kept massaging his stomach and I guessed this guy might be hungry. My blood began boiling now. He was beyond nuisance now and was getting on my nerves. Yet I managed to ask him politely what the problem was. He said he was hungry. At that exact moment we were stopped at the Vijayawada station. Even a 5 year old kid would have known that we "get food in a station". He didn't realise that silly fact till we actually mentioned it to him. He stepped down, bought some stuff and went into deep sleep never disturbing us again. It was past 2 AM and I was cursing him for ruining 3 hours of valuable sleep.
When I finally reached home I was pleased. Familiar Territory. My place. I had good fun for a whole week, and it was back to business as usual. It was back to being me. Couch Potato. Lazy-Bones. Whatever... Me.
PS: I was in for a shock that I least expected. Coming in the next post...
This was a break I was desperately waiting for. I booked the train tickets to Vishakapatnam almost 20 days early. My cousin Deepa, my sister and I were the ones planning out the trip for a good break from the daily routine. Most of my previous visits to Vishakapatnam were mildly frustrating because it was just a few hours' visit and an intermediate resting place before going to the real destination, Jagdalpur. And unfortunately they were not always pleasure trips. But this time was different. It was a 4 day fun-promising trip and we were looking forward to it like nothing else in life. 21 August to 25 August was the plan and we already made up our minds about where to go on what day at the mercy of the Rain-Gods.
The Trip
We started our Vizag foray with a good lunch and finished the evening with a stroll around Tenneti park and a nice long drive on the beach road. I volunteered to drive and truly enjoyed the experience. The nearly empty and smooth roads adding to the scenic locations were fun to drive on. The saddest, sickest part was that I didn't have a camera with me. This was the first trip in 4-5 years that I went out without a camera, and I cursed myself for it and the stupid reason why I didn't have it. It was left with my Dad's Friend's Friend at a painting institute and it's not yet back home.
The next day being Ganesh's Festival, we were forced to stay indoors and perform all the pooja and eat all the 'delicacies' prepared. The whole day progressed slowly with a very late lunch and weird music from a nearby pandal. I expected devotional songs and ended up listening to hit tracks from the latest Magadheera that were repeated atleast 500 times in those 4 days (I know them by-heart now though I never watched the movie). On a weirder note, I also happened to catch songs from artists like Blue, BackStreet Boys, etc and the soundtrack from Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Now why these tracks were played on a 'Devotional' occasion is an answer only the Men-of-God, the Priests of the pandal can give. Occasional rain sent our evening plans down the drain but the sight outside the balcony was breathless. A long line of the West-side hills were visible and the rain clouds slowly progressed their way past the tips. One could actually watch the rain advancing towards the city and the rain clouds would eventually cover up so thickly that the hills became temporarily invisible. I cursed myself for not having a camera so many times that it surpassed the number of times Magadheera songs were repeated.
Monday was the longest and the most fun-filled day of the trip. Early in the morning, we rushed to Rushikonda Beach in the hope that the sun wouldn't tan us black. Instead the weather was so pleasant, we stayed there till past 10:30. The swim in the misty beach and a small boat ride directly into waves was beyond thrilling. I grabbed another chance to curse my Camera-less pockets. After a moody breakfast (Moody because my cousin's phone ended up spoilt because of a single wave that crashed onto the boat), we went back home. I took over the wheel on the drive back and enjoyed the drive thoroughly. 80 KMPH and the cool, misty, wet wind slapping my face was the true pleasure I experienced. We went out in the evening again for dinner at RR Grand Bay and later managed to hit a local pub, Chrome (that was totally empty except us). While the rest made their way to the floor, I happily sat sipping a Vodka-based drink and watching Hitman on the flat screen (Who would dance to those weird BPM-altered Bollywood-Tollywood songs that were simply mixed on top of an unchanging non-stop rhythm??). When asked for Rock, the DJ played a song by Pink and I had to shut my ears out for sometime. The poor bartenders were also heavily engrossed in the movie, apparently bored that nobody was willing to have a second drink. My cousins wanted to go to another pub, but 2 others were closed and we returned back home past midnight.
25th was the day to leave. I wished to stay on but I reminded myself that the tickets were booked 20 days back and there was no point cancelling them now. We just went out for lunch and did some small shopping with me behind the wheel again. Driving in the peak hours of Vizag was like driving at around the most non-peak, traffic-free hour of Hyderabad.
There was but one problem on the Vizag Roads: The Pedestrians. The sleepiest, laziest and least-alert people I ever saw. Slam the horn 20 times and they turn around in surprise as if they just noticed a car behind them, and the expression on their face, "Just go your way, I'll go mine". 2 wheelers driving like maniacs is a usual sight even in Hyd, so nothing new there. No dividers anywhere and vehicles from the opposite lane coolly drop by on the oncoming lane scaring the wits out of motorists. I actually did 2-3 swerves on the road to keep the new Alto scratch/damage free.
The way back
Finally we got onto the train that would take us back home, and before we even started there was a minor incident. A man was beaten up badly, allegedly for stealing or something and also managed to crash his way into my cousin looking for an escape route. That left us shaken and we took some time to get out of that trauma, when we were left sleepless by another weird man. This guy who was having the lower berth, just didn't sleep or allow us to sleep. He was simply standing in the darkness between the 2 rows of berths and it looked like he was looking at us. It was scary beyond the scariest movies that I ever watched. He was unable to stand straight, was visibly sleepy but was simply refusing to sleep. His head was lolling around under the night-lamp and he was suddenly jerking back to life, shaking his head wildly. He kept massaging his stomach and I guessed this guy might be hungry. My blood began boiling now. He was beyond nuisance now and was getting on my nerves. Yet I managed to ask him politely what the problem was. He said he was hungry. At that exact moment we were stopped at the Vijayawada station. Even a 5 year old kid would have known that we "get food in a station". He didn't realise that silly fact till we actually mentioned it to him. He stepped down, bought some stuff and went into deep sleep never disturbing us again. It was past 2 AM and I was cursing him for ruining 3 hours of valuable sleep.
When I finally reached home I was pleased. Familiar Territory. My place. I had good fun for a whole week, and it was back to business as usual. It was back to being me. Couch Potato. Lazy-Bones. Whatever... Me.
PS: I was in for a shock that I least expected. Coming in the next post...
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Outside the Singer's Studio / Birthday
Contd. from previous post...
And it came. We were standing under a bus shelter and the rain was now properly lashing. The breeze was too cold, but we just stood there. Suddenly Natarajan shouted, "Happy Birthday Johny". I actually almost forgot. I checked my watch, 00:01. "It's my birthday and I am on the road, standing in an unknown bus shelter, watching the rain." It all felt weird. An old man was curiously watching the commotion. I answered a couple of SMSes and now waited for the rain to ebb.
We got back into the car and I realised I left my bike parked somewhere on the other side of the road. There were small streams flowing where I parked and I found it difficult to get it out, but somehow managed to do it. In minutes, we reached home and my house people were surprised to find Natarajan standing at the door. They realised it was past Twelve and wished me. Soon we were on my computer try to match up the vocals and the music. The sampling rate proved to be a huge problem and we had to manually edit the BPM of every track that we loaded. It was nearing One and Natarajan left, and I finally went to sleep. I had only about 7 hours to sleep which was a good 2 hours less than my usual.
The calls started flowing in the morning and I patiently attended them all. Along with a few friends, I planned to go out somewhere and have fun. Natarajan suggested Alex's Kitchen as 'he was told', it was very good. We got there and found out it was a Chinese Restaurant. While I enjoyed the 'smoked' food, the others only pushed their plates away from them. Was a slight disappointment everyone didn't enjoy it and I also felt weird that I couldn't suggest a place myself, being so blatantly unaware of eating places in Hyderabad. Even Srikar who came here only a few years back knows more about the city than I do.
For dessert we had to move out. 'Move out' because it was closing time and we were the last ones to leave the restaurant! We went to Havmor for some Ice Cream and had a better time there. We had a few refreshing moments when Natarajan boldly ordered a 'Love Potion' and it ended up coming with 2 Straws for couples! He attempted drinking from one leaving the other free, but nothing happened. He then closed the mouth of one straw and drank from the other and the moment he let go, all the 'Love Potion' came flowing out onto him and the floor. He finally ended up uncomfortably drinking from both straws together. Oddly enough, our so-called Dessert cost us more than the complete lunch.
We were suddenly missing some of our other friends and made desperate attempts to call them. Sudershan responded and came over to meet us at Eat Street. Apparently everybody was full with dessert and there was no mood to eat and we sat ironically in Eat Street. Looking across the lake, I could see the other side of the city and wondered how a NYC-like skyline would look here. The moment the image came into my mind, it got crumpled after thinking about the Government that would need the vision to do it.
I was playing around with the exposure settings in Raj Kiran's PowerShot after I conveniently forgot mine at home inspite of charging the batteries for the occasion. After long and crazy discussions, we finally decided it was time to get back home. It started to get dark and the roads were mad. A flyover was closed for repair works and the road under it turned into a sea of vehicles. After 2 hours of struggling through various degrees of traffic, I managed to get home and retired for the day.
Tiring, but oddly fulfilling...
And it came. We were standing under a bus shelter and the rain was now properly lashing. The breeze was too cold, but we just stood there. Suddenly Natarajan shouted, "Happy Birthday Johny". I actually almost forgot. I checked my watch, 00:01. "It's my birthday and I am on the road, standing in an unknown bus shelter, watching the rain." It all felt weird. An old man was curiously watching the commotion. I answered a couple of SMSes and now waited for the rain to ebb.
We got back into the car and I realised I left my bike parked somewhere on the other side of the road. There were small streams flowing where I parked and I found it difficult to get it out, but somehow managed to do it. In minutes, we reached home and my house people were surprised to find Natarajan standing at the door. They realised it was past Twelve and wished me. Soon we were on my computer try to match up the vocals and the music. The sampling rate proved to be a huge problem and we had to manually edit the BPM of every track that we loaded. It was nearing One and Natarajan left, and I finally went to sleep. I had only about 7 hours to sleep which was a good 2 hours less than my usual.
The calls started flowing in the morning and I patiently attended them all. Along with a few friends, I planned to go out somewhere and have fun. Natarajan suggested Alex's Kitchen as 'he was told', it was very good. We got there and found out it was a Chinese Restaurant. While I enjoyed the 'smoked' food, the others only pushed their plates away from them. Was a slight disappointment everyone didn't enjoy it and I also felt weird that I couldn't suggest a place myself, being so blatantly unaware of eating places in Hyderabad. Even Srikar who came here only a few years back knows more about the city than I do.
For dessert we had to move out. 'Move out' because it was closing time and we were the last ones to leave the restaurant! We went to Havmor for some Ice Cream and had a better time there. We had a few refreshing moments when Natarajan boldly ordered a 'Love Potion' and it ended up coming with 2 Straws for couples! He attempted drinking from one leaving the other free, but nothing happened. He then closed the mouth of one straw and drank from the other and the moment he let go, all the 'Love Potion' came flowing out onto him and the floor. He finally ended up uncomfortably drinking from both straws together. Oddly enough, our so-called Dessert cost us more than the complete lunch.
We were suddenly missing some of our other friends and made desperate attempts to call them. Sudershan responded and came over to meet us at Eat Street. Apparently everybody was full with dessert and there was no mood to eat and we sat ironically in Eat Street. Looking across the lake, I could see the other side of the city and wondered how a NYC-like skyline would look here. The moment the image came into my mind, it got crumpled after thinking about the Government that would need the vision to do it.
I was playing around with the exposure settings in Raj Kiran's PowerShot after I conveniently forgot mine at home inspite of charging the batteries for the occasion. After long and crazy discussions, we finally decided it was time to get back home. It started to get dark and the roads were mad. A flyover was closed for repair works and the road under it turned into a sea of vehicles. After 2 hours of struggling through various degrees of traffic, I managed to get home and retired for the day.
Tiring, but oddly fulfilling...
Monday, August 10, 2009
Inside The Singer's Studio
August 8th to 10th are 3 days I'll never forget in my life. For years, Music was always on the #1 spot in my er.. long list of hobbies. But converting a pastime hobby into something more serious was something I never thought of, nor attempted. The events that led to this:
8th August: a call came from Natarajan. I was required to compose the music for a song for the Independence Day. It was something regarding the young generation of India. At first I assumed it was a patriotic song, but soon the lyrics told me something else. It was a message to motivate young people to take charge of the country and to eliminate stuff like corruption, terrorism, etc. I pulled my rusting guitar out and connected it, and Karthik took over the Keyboard. We jammed around with a few chords, and came out with some simple tune. A Rock theme wouldn't harm the song as it was a message to young people. We started off with some drums and keyboards and soon, Natarajan joined in. The 3 heads together made some progress and we had a definite tune for the chorus. It was already past 11PM and we had to clear up. But Natarajan asked me to continue shaping the song at his office. So after some quick thinking and packing, I was off with all the instruments. We sat on his system and worked for a long time. Meanwhile his other employees were into other projects. 2-3 projects were being completed simultaneously and I fully realised how busy this guy has been ever since he started his company. Natarajan soon fell asleep probably due to over work and I continued to work on the song. The chords for the Verses were done, but with no definite tune. At 3AM the next day, I forced myself to sleep.
9th August: I woke up at around 8 and got back to the song. However I couldn't concentrate much and also realised that I left my amp and processor at home. So after a so-called 'Pizza' lunch (Veg hot-dog for breakfast), I went back home and carried the amp to the office. We resumed work and by evening, the song began to take shape. The verse tune was also done, but was almost on the same lines as the chorus. Nonetheless, we went forward with it and wrapped the day.
10th August: I was at home, finishing up the fill-ins and stuff and before I could complete them, I was asked to reach the studio for recording. We were only recording the vocals with the help of a backing track, and the rest was 'Software Magic'. After some confusion, I found the studio. Studio? It was a 2 roomed house in an apartment block. One room was converted into a recording studio. It was the most unexpected place to do such a thing yet, I was pretty impressed. I met the 'Singer' at the studio itself and went on with the process of explaining the tune and the timing. He caught on very very fast. A bit too fast actually. 10 seconds! Within those 10 secs he also managed to write up the whole tune into the 7 musical notes!! 'Shocking' is a huge understatement to what I felt. Natarajan was equally bewildered. We were both staring at each others blank faces while he conjured up the whole paragraph into notes along with improvisations.
He wasn't very good with Hindi, so I had to manually write the words down in English. Some time was lost in translation and a few technical glitches. But soon, all the equipment was alive. The 'Singer' suddenly announced he'll start recording. I wasn't so sure if he had all the words and tune in mind, but I just gave in looking at his confidence. He first started off with some humming so as to let the scale register properly, and Karthik was actually fighting off tears. The humming was so touching that we would have gladly passed it off as the final song without any lyrics at all. A long sequence of his hum was recorded so that we could use it for the fills. I suddenly didn't wanna use any of the available instruments. His voice surpassed everything.
Soon he started singing, and we were only left gaping by the speed at which he picked up the tunes. He also sang the lines a second time in Harmony with the original tune. He was basically giving us all he could so we could use it in any way we wanted. He ended a few lines in different styles to let us have a choice. And as time passed by, we were done. I really didn't want it to end. We had like 50-55 samples of his voice and thought it was a job well done. And by 11:15PM we were at dinner in Paradise. It was closing time and we had to rush up. It was there that I learnt what he really was.
He was not just a 'Singer', he was a Professional who worked with some big names in the Telugu film industry. His name was Krishna Chaitanya and he lent his voice for some big movies like 'Happy Days' etc. I was stunned to hear all this as he maintained quite a low profile all this time. It was beginning to near midnight (my birthday was getting closer) and he had no vehicle with him. We had to drop him at his house and I thought it was a good way to use up the last half hour. When we were nearing his house, it started raining. I was surprised. It didn't rain for 2 months, and suddenly at this odd hour, it began to rain. I really wanted to enjoy it for once. I let myself get wet a little too.
The great day of 10th August finally came to an end after we dropped the 'Singer' at his home. The rain just made everything look more 10 times beautiful. The empty roads, street lamps refracting light in the drops, a light breeze, everything was a sight to watch. Natarajan and I waited for the last seconds to tick away as my Birthday approached...
8th August: a call came from Natarajan. I was required to compose the music for a song for the Independence Day. It was something regarding the young generation of India. At first I assumed it was a patriotic song, but soon the lyrics told me something else. It was a message to motivate young people to take charge of the country and to eliminate stuff like corruption, terrorism, etc. I pulled my rusting guitar out and connected it, and Karthik took over the Keyboard. We jammed around with a few chords, and came out with some simple tune. A Rock theme wouldn't harm the song as it was a message to young people. We started off with some drums and keyboards and soon, Natarajan joined in. The 3 heads together made some progress and we had a definite tune for the chorus. It was already past 11PM and we had to clear up. But Natarajan asked me to continue shaping the song at his office. So after some quick thinking and packing, I was off with all the instruments. We sat on his system and worked for a long time. Meanwhile his other employees were into other projects. 2-3 projects were being completed simultaneously and I fully realised how busy this guy has been ever since he started his company. Natarajan soon fell asleep probably due to over work and I continued to work on the song. The chords for the Verses were done, but with no definite tune. At 3AM the next day, I forced myself to sleep.
9th August: I woke up at around 8 and got back to the song. However I couldn't concentrate much and also realised that I left my amp and processor at home. So after a so-called 'Pizza' lunch (Veg hot-dog for breakfast), I went back home and carried the amp to the office. We resumed work and by evening, the song began to take shape. The verse tune was also done, but was almost on the same lines as the chorus. Nonetheless, we went forward with it and wrapped the day.
10th August: I was at home, finishing up the fill-ins and stuff and before I could complete them, I was asked to reach the studio for recording. We were only recording the vocals with the help of a backing track, and the rest was 'Software Magic'. After some confusion, I found the studio. Studio? It was a 2 roomed house in an apartment block. One room was converted into a recording studio. It was the most unexpected place to do such a thing yet, I was pretty impressed. I met the 'Singer' at the studio itself and went on with the process of explaining the tune and the timing. He caught on very very fast. A bit too fast actually. 10 seconds! Within those 10 secs he also managed to write up the whole tune into the 7 musical notes!! 'Shocking' is a huge understatement to what I felt. Natarajan was equally bewildered. We were both staring at each others blank faces while he conjured up the whole paragraph into notes along with improvisations.
He wasn't very good with Hindi, so I had to manually write the words down in English. Some time was lost in translation and a few technical glitches. But soon, all the equipment was alive. The 'Singer' suddenly announced he'll start recording. I wasn't so sure if he had all the words and tune in mind, but I just gave in looking at his confidence. He first started off with some humming so as to let the scale register properly, and Karthik was actually fighting off tears. The humming was so touching that we would have gladly passed it off as the final song without any lyrics at all. A long sequence of his hum was recorded so that we could use it for the fills. I suddenly didn't wanna use any of the available instruments. His voice surpassed everything.
Soon he started singing, and we were only left gaping by the speed at which he picked up the tunes. He also sang the lines a second time in Harmony with the original tune. He was basically giving us all he could so we could use it in any way we wanted. He ended a few lines in different styles to let us have a choice. And as time passed by, we were done. I really didn't want it to end. We had like 50-55 samples of his voice and thought it was a job well done. And by 11:15PM we were at dinner in Paradise. It was closing time and we had to rush up. It was there that I learnt what he really was.
He was not just a 'Singer', he was a Professional who worked with some big names in the Telugu film industry. His name was Krishna Chaitanya and he lent his voice for some big movies like 'Happy Days' etc. I was stunned to hear all this as he maintained quite a low profile all this time. It was beginning to near midnight (my birthday was getting closer) and he had no vehicle with him. We had to drop him at his house and I thought it was a good way to use up the last half hour. When we were nearing his house, it started raining. I was surprised. It didn't rain for 2 months, and suddenly at this odd hour, it began to rain. I really wanted to enjoy it for once. I let myself get wet a little too.
The great day of 10th August finally came to an end after we dropped the 'Singer' at his home. The rain just made everything look more 10 times beautiful. The empty roads, street lamps refracting light in the drops, a light breeze, everything was a sight to watch. Natarajan and I waited for the last seconds to tick away as my Birthday approached...
Saturday, August 01, 2009
The Rogue Spring
I was busy watching the Qualfiying session of the recent Hungarian Grand Prix and suddenly I see Felipe Massa slamming into the wall. It didn't look serious to me until I saw the slow motion replays that showed a spring from Barrichello's car slamming into Massa's helmet. And the noise of the engine after that? Scary! The way he drove straight into the wall was plain terrible. When the stretchers and helicopter came, I knew the race was over before it even started for him. I continued to watch the replays recounting how much worse it could have been if those safety measures weren't in existence. Inspite of attempts to make the sport safe, Massa was badly injured. The news that came the next few days was quite disturbing, especially when they speculated that his career might be in jeopardy.
One week into the accident, 'The Rogue Spring' that started it all, springs in a huge surprise! Michael Schumacher replacing Massa! I couldn't believe my eyes, my ears, nothing.. Never did I dream of Schumi coming back after a freak incident like this. The most unpredictable thing just happened and I was confused whether to be delighted or depressed. While on one hand it meant Schumi would be back on the track (something that people would kill to watch after he retired), on the other hand it meant that Massa was still not in a position to race.
And at the same time, news of BMW's exit also started flying around. Over the last 2-3 years so much has changed in F1 that it gets a little difficult to accept more change. Things are just happening lighting fast. Massa injured, Schumi in, BMW going out, all within a week. What more are we expecting? Schumi winning in Valencia? Woo. That would be a treat to watch, won't it? Though I would call it a miracle if it happens. Surely even for a legendary racer it will be tough to come back so suddenly, especially after just recovering from a biking accident. Though it's true he's been hanging around the team all the time, the race track is something else. It's mad, and aggressive and real and merciless...
Yet, nobody is expecting Schumacher to pull of miracle come backs. Everybody just wants to watch him race, watch him doing his thing. At a time when F1's future is in doubt, he came in like a 11th Hour Samaritan. The viewership was steadily decreasing after Schumacher left. I myself missed almost 2 entire seasons though the problem was with the cable operator and nothing to do with my declining interest in Formula One. Yet I did notice a certain fall in general interest around me. And now, Schumi's comeback has been pretty well publicised. Most of the world that watches News on a daily basis would have known that he's racing again, even if it is only a few races. What more does F1 need now? They might as well win back most of the viewers and the coming European Grand Prix might end up getting maximum viewership.
Here I am eagerly waiting for the next race, not to expect Schumi perform miracles, but just to see him race again. It's all one would ask for as of now. The rest would be history...
One week into the accident, 'The Rogue Spring' that started it all, springs in a huge surprise! Michael Schumacher replacing Massa! I couldn't believe my eyes, my ears, nothing.. Never did I dream of Schumi coming back after a freak incident like this. The most unpredictable thing just happened and I was confused whether to be delighted or depressed. While on one hand it meant Schumi would be back on the track (something that people would kill to watch after he retired), on the other hand it meant that Massa was still not in a position to race.
And at the same time, news of BMW's exit also started flying around. Over the last 2-3 years so much has changed in F1 that it gets a little difficult to accept more change. Things are just happening lighting fast. Massa injured, Schumi in, BMW going out, all within a week. What more are we expecting? Schumi winning in Valencia? Woo. That would be a treat to watch, won't it? Though I would call it a miracle if it happens. Surely even for a legendary racer it will be tough to come back so suddenly, especially after just recovering from a biking accident. Though it's true he's been hanging around the team all the time, the race track is something else. It's mad, and aggressive and real and merciless...
Yet, nobody is expecting Schumacher to pull of miracle come backs. Everybody just wants to watch him race, watch him doing his thing. At a time when F1's future is in doubt, he came in like a 11th Hour Samaritan. The viewership was steadily decreasing after Schumacher left. I myself missed almost 2 entire seasons though the problem was with the cable operator and nothing to do with my declining interest in Formula One. Yet I did notice a certain fall in general interest around me. And now, Schumi's comeback has been pretty well publicised. Most of the world that watches News on a daily basis would have known that he's racing again, even if it is only a few races. What more does F1 need now? They might as well win back most of the viewers and the coming European Grand Prix might end up getting maximum viewership.
Here I am eagerly waiting for the next race, not to expect Schumi perform miracles, but just to see him race again. It's all one would ask for as of now. The rest would be history...
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