Obama seems to be appeasing China on many fronts on his latest visit to Beijing. Apparently, he reiterates that ‘Tibet is a part of China’, China should play an important role in monitoring Indo-Pak relationships, and that US & China ‘ties have never been more important to our collective future.’
Could this possibly have anything to do with the $800 billion dollars that China holds in US treasury bills?
A shift in global power – Enter the not-so hidding dragon, bye bye crouching US tiger.
Second Edition of The Lines of India: The battle between Sachin Tendulkar and Bal Thackeray. Read the article from TOI below.
For those who haven’t read today’s newspaper, here’s the article straight from the Times of India.
MUMBAI/DELHI: Ageing Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray on Monday alienated himself from millions of Indians when he attacked the country’s icon and Maharashtra’s most loved son, Sachin Tendulkar, for saying that “Mumbai belonged to all Indians”. In an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, Thackeray, warned Sachin to “keep off the political pitch” for his own well-being. Or else, he would have “run out” from Marathi minds…. Read the rest at TOI.
Was reading The Times of India today – and came to realise how utterly boring the news is. And how much more interesting RK Laxman is. So here is my RK Laxman inspired first edition of The Lines of India. Can’t decide what to call it. Almost daily editions will be coming up from tomorrow- so watch out for this space!
It’s strange to review a music concert and to say that the only thing missing was silence. But, strangely enough, that’s exactly how I felt after spending two hours listening to Advaita at Kyra, Indiranagar. Probably because I was wayyyy too close to the speakers sitting right in the front :) Anyway, to the music….
Advaita call themselves ‘a psychedelic/eclectic fusion band from New Delhi’. With eight members, the stage is crowded and the potential to go wrong is huge. Someone missing a beat, someone playing a wrong note. But with Advaita – this is impossible. Musically – they are superb. Tight, professional, and skilled.
The gig started with Mukti - something I hadn’t heard before. Quite nice, quite tight – setting high expectations. However, a few songs later, things seemed to get repetitive. Very nice layering, very nice harmonies (Anindo and Chayan), very very nice Sarangi (Suhail Yusuf Khan) and very very very nice Hindustani vocals (Ujwal Nagar). Most of the songs started softly and developed into a feverish pitch with superb drumming by Aman Singh Rathore. However, there was nothing to differentiate one song from another. The tunes weren’t really the kind that would get stuck in my head and I’d be humming them hours later.
But then came Why, one of their more catchy songs in my opinion. Chayan’s sweet, sweet voice completely enthralled me, and the staple diet of good rock music that Abhishek, Aman and Anindo grew up listening to became obvious. After Why, Advaita became an immersive act.
Desert Rain had some excellent solos by all members. Suhail on Sarangi – amazing, Abhishek’s guitaring – the fluidity and the Indian classical touch and the lovely slightly off jazz notes – loved it! But who I loved the most was Gaurav Chintamini on bass. He made playing the bass look easy! Enough that I would go to the next shop, pick up a bass and assume I should be able to play as easily! Crazy riffs – throughout!
Other songs I liked – Gates of Dawn, song Chayan tried to make the audience sing rock style, and Light. Very powerful, very strong.
To some of the low points: Lyrics are weak. Vocals were used more as an instrument – to sound good but not say anything substantial. Thats my other problem with Advaita – the instrument layering is in such depth – that the vocals get completely lost. And no one seems to take the lead (aside from Suhail on Sarangi – on occassion). There is such equality among the instruments – that there is no pivotal focus point – which is quite important in a live performance (in my opinion).
Then the tabla player was doing what? I don’t know. He was dancing/head bopping to the music more often then playing tabla. I think he could have definitely played a more prominent role.
Then the hindustani singer – he has an amazing voice – could definitely be to sing more than nice sounding scales. And what happened to ‘Mere Yaar’?? They ditched it at the last minute!
To Kyra – its an interesting space. A very personal space. Not intended for such a loud act as the one we witnessed. Advaita’s act was suited more for an open air amphitheatre gig. Perhaps they should try an acoustic gig – that would be very, very interesting to watch. Hear the silence between the music that is the music!
Photos coming soon! (And bootleg recordings :D )
Rough cut of the my first song created on FL Studio (fruity loops). Background is inspired from Dev-D’s emotional attyachar – the voice overs are a mash up from various YouTube videos of political leaders. Inspiration for this happened after a trip to Vidarbha, Maharashtra, where we met Vijay, a TISS grad, who was working with farmers at a grassroot level. Vijay helped explain the governmental hypocrisy and corruption that eventually forces farmers go to extremes.
Song is incomplete – but whatever – listen to it – Political Attyachar by Tanvi Srivastava (click to listen).
(Mixing was done on Sony Acid pro. After many, many attempts on Audition failed. Adobe n Vista are somehow realllly uncompatible. Mixing is to be refined. I got too sick of it.)
Then, today I felt very inspired to make a Dev D inspired poster for Political Attyachar. Made on photoshop, messed around overlays/levels/colour filters – results above n below! BJP don’t be angry – freedom of expression!
Do Do Co Mo Do Co Mo Co Do…
One day I decided to do the new. I decided to go the Docomo way.
As a person who loves to make spontaneous/stupid decisions (and regret them later), it wasn’t a hard decision. I immediately fell in love with the Docomo ads. I first saw them on HUGE billboards on my way home from the airport on the last day of July, returning to Bangalore after a summer of 3 months.
The typeface was young, bold, unusual and simple. Simplicity Japanese style (actually more Swiss style when it comes to the sole use of type). And playful, of course! The C and the O of the DOCO even look like Pacman eating the O! The colours were refreshing – young and complimentary. The fact that the colour combinations kept changing – from oranges and yellows to blues and greens – and still managed to look sooo good while keeping the brand identity intact was a testament to Docomo’s tagline – do the new!
The san serifs, the web 2.0 feel, the sheer audicity of the huge ‘O’ with the brilliant copy written within it! “Why do the old when you can do the new?” Oh, why, oh, why??? I may not know much, but I sure as hell know that when I see these ads, I really want to do the new!
Lol, Docomo dares you to another level. Move over, staid and sentimental Airtel, here comes the competition! Gone are the days of soppy relationships between Vidya Balan n Rang de Basanti guy! No more AR Rahman music and parent-child connecting the stars. We’re young and we know it! We’re not in for the relationship, we’re in it for the results. And Vodafone – the Zoozoos and the Pug were cute n funny – but you HAVE to get over them at some point.
So I did the new. I got the sim. With much difficulty I may add. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one enticed by the brilliant advertising and the wonderful scheme of 1 paise per second. Apparently all sims within Karnataka were over in a week. Tata promised that sims would be available the week after, but that didn’t happen. It was only a week later that I actually managed to get my sim.
And I’m LOVING every minute of it. From opening the pretty little boxlet which had the sim – with the cute and simple intros to Docomo! To the brilliant brilliant scheme.
About the scheme – initially, I was like what the hell – nothing that great! 1 paise per second = 60 paise per minute = more than my reliance scheme of 50 paise per min local calls. But then I realised most of my local calls last not more than 15 seconds = 15 paise = 35 paise saving! AND THEN I learnt all national calls were all 1 paise/second. Then I was like WoAhhhh. 60p/min = way cheaper than my reliance 1rs/min!
On the negative side – the customer service is pretty bad. You can tell they’re just starting up. The CSRs don’t know anything. And the wait to speak to one of them is realllllly reallllly long.
On the positive – you get to hear a brilliant accapella singing ‘Do co mo’ while waiting! :)\
Do the new! Me re(do)comend!
UPDATE on Oct 3, 09: Couple of months into buying the sim – how has my experience been so far? Well, quite honestly the network sucks! My friend’s find it impossible to get thru to me – they complain of hearing a beep beep beep sound.. n then nothing happens. I can’t get thru to them at all. Docomo has the audacity of saying on occassion that ‘the number you’re trying to call doesn’t exist!’ And the most frustrating bit is that the signal pretty much always shows full range – when it clearly isn’t true.
I thought this was because I was living in sub-urban Bangalore (Yelahanka) – but the same thing happens to me when I’m in the heart of the city. In front of Koshy’s on Church Street! And its not only me – a friend I encouraged to ‘do the new’ has the same problem.
Sucks! Too good to be true. Regretting hasty decisions :/
Docomo please please please fix your network!
A post a day, keeps the writing depression away! Here begins my daily write of passage, in order to get something substantial by November. A review of the teen-lit Twilight. The craze of all sixth class kids from Singapore to Singapura (home of Sanjay Singh Sir, ‘traditional’ artist, near Yelahanka :D)
Book: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Purchased: Pirated Rs 100 from Thippasandra Market road (DESPITE being available for 70 bucks on MG road) Despite real version being available for Rs 350~. No way spending that much on low lit.
Beginning with the cover.
Oh, who hasn’t been tempted by a luscious red apple? A luscious red apple held out in offerance by a set of pale white hands. Set to a dark/mysterious background. If temptation could ever be a book cover – it would be this! Move over Satan! Lol. Aside, the twilight typeface is very nice. I love the slight curve to the letters – especially the ‘l’ and the overlay in the ‘w’. And who would have thought blue would go with red, black n white (my favourite combination ever!!)
The story
The Genesis. Paradise Lost. Jekyll & Hyde. Dracula! The power of knowledge. The eternal battle between the id and the super ego continiously rages in man (or is it only in women??) – ever since Eve fell ( yeah right!).
If Milton, RL Stevenson and Bram Stoker (!!) can do it, why can’t Stephanie Meyer? Don’t ask my why she can’t do it, but I know for a fact that she can’t! Despite beginning with a prologue from the Bible. Yes, vampires are hot (physically cold, but in human teen terms – hot!) And when a human teen with raging hormones (17 year olds, i tell u!) wants a vampire but can’t have him (vice-versa) – you don’t have a great piece of fiction – you have teen semi-porn. Thats it.
The story is weak. The setting – Forks – is boring. Very very uninteresting visual description of locations, events and people.
The Characters
The characters are very sparsely built. The 17 year old Bella’s character completely confuses me. Sometimes she acts like she’s 12 years old – sometimes 19! And the Adonis of vampires – Edward Cullen – is nothing more than hot and mysterious. No depth at all! The parental figures – Charlie and mother (whatever her name is) – are fleeting and weak. The friends – Mike, Tyler, Jess, Lauren – all prototypes of American small-town teens. No individuality. Made from a lump of clay (lol, cf. ). The Cullen family. White, cold, beautiful. Made from a lump of marble.
The Effect on Society
Haha. What a fancy sub-heading. Well, someone told me if Harry Potter changed the world of wizardry, Twilight does the same to Vampires. And I was hopeful. But, no. It’s just more crap to the never ending pile of crap. And to think there are sequels.
Sigh. We need to save the sixth graders. Whatever happened to good old Agatha Christie’s???
Brief description of what I remember, before I forget.
Image from wikipedia
Night of the Fireflies
We reached only when Shabnam Virmani was saying her thanks, and telling people to come for the Kabir festival organized by Srishti (perfect timing). Following her was Prakash Sontakke and Group. The fireflies poster slates them as Hawaiian folk fusion. Now Prakash Sontakke was playing an electric slide guitar. His sounds were very Jeff Beck Space Blues (Angel and Deccan from Jeff Beck, Who Else?) Obviously, there was a nice Hindustani classical touch that affected his sitar sound hawaiian guitar, especially in the song like Himalayan Spring. But the defining and most enjoyable moment while watching Prakash Sontakke and group, was watching the group jugalbandi. All four percussionists were astounding. Rating: 1. Guy on little drum 2. Guy on mrindagam 3/4. Table/Drums. Prakash was cool.. but more like a father figure/mentor. Guy on the keys was also cool accompaniest.
Followed by Jazz dude. Came in a breeze…like a summer breeze.. left like a summer breeze. guy was good, played tight. only bass was inaudible, and dint add that spunk it shud hv. the drums were good, but the snare had a harsh metallic sound. i’m not a huge fan of fast jazz, so didn’t care too much for the first two songs. the last song, how insensitive (and how beautiful you are???) was cool. slower pace, the drums did their thing, much better.
Followed by Swaratma. Wat can i say? Afro’s with pajamas, purple shirt, bald head, yellow army pajamas wiht a violin, guitarist iwth leather pants, bassist in a blue dhoti purple kurta, mrindagist in nehru topi lookin like ambedkar with his chashma. any band that gives in so much for the show-sharaaba is one thing. an entertainer. entertain they did. crowds loved them. singer comes in as a horse! .. shaank in their songs. fire throwers come on stage. its all about show.
the music wasn’t spectacular. it was tight. the guitarist had flow (but looked completley out of place from the rest of the band in his attire n behavoiur). the bassist played the comic fool while the singer sang out kabir. that was one song that worked. reggae version of sant kabir. wah. and bringing in lines like ‘sant kabir, agar abhi aaya, to 500 varsh mein koi fark nahi dikha. 500 saal pehle duryodhan drupadhi ke vastra nikalta tha. aaj hamari rama sena mangalore mein ladki ko chedh rahi hain hindustani sanskriti ke naam pe.’ .. wah . crowds loved it.
the songs .. khol sim sim re.. flat . starts of with a tribal instrument. which is cool. put just cos you have it doesn’t mean you have to play it.. or you realy know how to play it. it needs a little mroe skill before you start diong jugalbandi.
what really fell flat was their jugalbandi between mridanga, singer with tribal instrument and drums. perhaps because it followed prakash solanktee’s group which kicked ass.
music didn’t have much depth to it. pretty much stuck to one riff pattern. not much layering. singer started off weak, grew as the performance went by. struggled slightly on the higher notes, but their stage presence and enthusiasm – hats off! wonderful!
Follwed by what the MC said ‘lets bring it down a notch” .. kannada folk music. they kicked ass too.
then came
order
shabnam virmani
prakash sontankee
jazz – rex rossario n quintet??
swaratma
kannada folk – veeraghese
gustav marin
accapella – solviteur canedo
kerela – vayali
qawaali – shahid parvez of nagpur
geeta navale n the esperanto project
missed… bhumi thayi balaga, anasuya kulkarni n ranjankumar group
A man offers anarchy for sale. He appears to be wading in space, searching for something with his long arms. He eats nothing but the giant lemon found in the lakes of blood in the hearts of the young. That too, only once a day.
A man spends time singing Raga Khamboji. It is not unnecessary to remind you that he has a flute with him. He has fingers only to legislate the ragas sung at appropriate times. At their touch stars catch fire. Lakes on the moon come to a boil. Winter begins to bud and my heart begins to offer marriage to the butterfly.
A man puts camphor in his eyes and red lead on his cheeks. He is a poet. He interprets the messages he receives in secret code and works for the air force. He is the one big reason for the fall of prices in the market.
A man meditates with a string of rudraksha beads around his neck. What’s the use of your knowing that there’s no use in my pleading with people not to break coconuts in front of him?
A man loves only one woman. She dies. Follow the rest of the story on the silver screen.
A man gets hanged. Society buys peace with his death. The law sighs with relief. Every evening a blind dog visits the spot where his blood was spilled and barks piteously. This man was so proud he refused to say he was unjustly hanged.
A man becomes great by making speeches. Another becomes poor by drinking too much. One takes a copper from his maternal aunt and buys a kite. Another grabs it from him.
A man runs away. Another screws up his life. Another gets married. One man sleeps. Another dozes. Another talks and talks away time. One man’s crying makes you laugh; another’s laugh makes you cry. I can prove this with examples
And on and on and on and on and on and on and on.
Sir, when will this end?
Son, this is endless.
Simply Pink is a simple, minimalistic WordPress theme intended to look more like a small personal website than a blog. It is center-aligned, fixed-width and has two columns. It has been tested for compatibility in Firefox and Internet Explorer (7 so far, 5 and 6 tomorrow). It has not been validated so far In fact, it has failed the XHTML validator terribly so far. Some 9 errors.
The aim is to make it a nice, simple portfolio style site somewhere down the line.
Things to do for next version:
