A Wednesday

How I wish this whole episode would have turned out more like the movie.

I hope this time the powers that be can't come to the defense of the wicked for the sake of a few votes...

I am ashamed of living in such a pansy country...

Now Playing:

Track: A Nation Crying

666
Yeah!!! \m/

Now Playing:

Track: Some other old Hindi film song...

...before you get me wrong, let me clarify that I had been listening to these songs even when we were... er.. eh.. hmm... whatever...
Even then I felt weird listening to songs that went like how the below two go...
But now it feels even more awkward...

That apart, poor Ishita is never going to know what her Globus Membership no. is...
She'll probably never 'Flash her card & Njoy Xclusive benefits just 4 her!' as the SMS that I received from Globus (along with the membership no.) said she could.
Oh cruel world...!

Now Playing: (in the background)

Track: Ek Hasina se... blah blah
Artist: ???
Album: ???
Vaidu’s classification:Really really old Hindi film music

...and now, The Irony

The Gathering - You Learn About It

Now that we're through
the hell with you
We don't mind
We just give it a sigh

We hardly knew
what you were capable
of doing
But why don't you give it a try

Oh, you learn about it
Oh, you harvest (until you can make no more)
All that's eating inside
All that's eating inside

---

The Gathering - Saturnine

The day you went away
You had to screw me over
I guess you didn't know
all the stuff you left me with
is way too much to handle
But I guess you don't care

You don't need to preach
you don't have to love me, all the time

Whatever on earth possessed you
to make this bold decision
I guess you don't need me
While whispering those words
I cried like a baby
hoping you would care

You don't need to preach
you don't have to love me, all the time

You don't have to preach
all the time

---

Two songs that are wearing out my iRiver lately...
But I swear to God, I don't mean any of it... well, most of it...

Now Playing: (hover over here)

Track: Not Unlike The Waves
Artist: Agalloch
Album: Ashes Against The grain
Vaidu’s classification:Ambient/Folk/Trash/Grey Metal

The Diagnosis, actually...

As the 4-5 of you must already be knowing, Life sucks for a major part of it... for everyone...

I won't be making little hearts out of pieces of red card paper. I'll be grieving in my own ways...

The Cure?

Suddenly Chris is making little hearts out of pieces of red card paper instead of his normal female bashing...

Now, if only Osama, Raj, and a whole lot of other eminent personalities in the world 'scene' fell in love suddenly...

Why die a nut?

Caught myself wondering the above at 2 at night some days back...
Why should anyone?! I ask...

Do something interesting before you die. Base-Jump off the Eiffel Tower, wrestle with Great Whites, shit on a pigeon/crow, form a tr00 Brutal Gridcore Melodic Horror kvlt Progressive Black Death Metal band, do a gig at Razz, get banned for life, watch KANK or for that matter, DDLJ, HAHK, K3G, K2H2, DTPH, TRRP (Ta Ra Rum Pum) and say it out loud, create 1,001 communities on orkut, dig your way through to the US, protest outside KFC for growing those mutant chickens, stop the Iraq war, end world hunger, search for Elvis and a whole lot of other crazy stuff including learning knitting etc...

But do something. Don't just sit on your lazy buttocks all day, every day, watching advertisements on TV, or on your PC. And please don't give that lame-ass excuse for an excuse, 'arre budda ho gaya re iske liye sab' ( A one shoe man, listening? ).

Live a life less mediocre. Give your kids (Vasu - something must have surely found its way through, Anshu - chod) something to talk about during their History period.



I used to work as a production support engineer (call centre for a call centre) and used to get calls at midnight for issues. Why-die-a-nut is what the firang at the other end of the line called me, on the only night that I ever picked up a call. If you bought any of the above psychobabble, you're a nut and you should die...

I joined my new place (id8Labs) just yesterday.
Details about it later.

That means I have to travel to Four Bungalows daily, as follows:

Home	---> Chembur Station	Auto/Walk
Chembur Station	---> Wadala Station	Train
Wadala Station	---> Andheri Station	Train
Andheri Station	---> Office	Bus

I had to get some of my certificates to work on the first day, and on my way back was planning on buying a cell from Alfa 'Air conditioned Shopping Mall', so here's what I decided was the best thing to do:

Home - Office: 2 Hrs.

Home	---> Kurla	Auto
Kurla	---> Santa Cruz	Bus
Santa Cruz	---> Andheri Station	Train
Andheri Station	---> Office	Auto

Office - Home: 3.5 Hrs.

Office	---> Andheri Station	Bus
Andheri Station	---> Vile Parle Station	Train
Vile Parle Station	---> Alfa	Auto
Alfa	---> Santa Cruz	Auto
Santa Cruz	---> Ghatkopar	Bus
Ghatkopar	---> Home	Auto

(I dunno how to remove those empty spaces before the tables)
Ok, those 3.5 Hrs. included about 45 minutes on the phone with her without me covering much ground.
My shoulder still aches from holding the phone.
I had a relapse of my 'Apendicularitis' and my head stared aching too.
Just to add some more injury, the cell was out of stock.

And Anshu says that I can't complain because I don't have a strict dress code.



Everyone in India started traveling in Bombay recently...

Now Playing:

Track: Ornament/The Last Wrongs
Artist: Oceansize
Album: Everyone Into Postion
Vaidu’s classification:Progressive/Post Rock/Metal

:)

brb

Am not in a state to post much these days... But trust me, lotsa things happening...
Will be back soon, and hopefully with a bang.

Now Playing:

Track: Music For A Nurse
Artist: Oceansize
Album: Everyone Into Postion
Vaidu’s classification:Progressive/Post Rock/Metal

Fate's Warning

That's the name of a progressive metal band. I like all my posts to have something to do with music. Well, this post has got nothing to do with music, though.

One night while returning from that hell hole my colleagues call an 'office', passing by the petrol pump with a naked flame in my hand, found myself wondering this:

This 'fate' that people speak of, that last excuse for failures, is really a bad thing, isn't it...? What with it always being used in contexts like "Don't ride without a helmet, you don't wanna tempt fate now" or "Pay your insurance premiums, don't tempt fate".

Ever heard anyone go "Go buy that lottery ticket and tempt fate"?

Don't think too hard, just some random thoughts trying to fill the void left after the 'emancipation'...



Sweet thing, I watch you,
Burn so fast, it scares me.
My games, don't leave me,
(I've) Come so far, don't lose me.

...sang Anneke Von Giersbergen. I can't sing that any longer, and mean it, or can I?

Now Playing:

Track: Reality Dream
Artist: Riverside
Album: Out Of Myself
Vaidu’s classification:Alternative/Progressive Rock/Metal

Some (after?)thoughts

I took that proverbial plunge sometime back.

And am yet to discover how deep the water is...
I am as confused as you about the benevolence of this 'depth', though.

Is a job just something that you do to earn a living? Are hobbies supposed to compensate for those things that you really like doing?
Is a propitious combination of the above two even possible?
So many questions, no answers in sight.

Hell yeah! I am scared...

Nature-Boy strikes again

A One Shoe Man aka Jawaan aka Senior Citizen aka Buzurg aka etc. etc. etc. is a weird human or as he rightly puts it, Un Human.

This is a person with whom normal things happen, not very often. He truly deserves a whole blog, but at the moment this is all I can afford.

Imagine being inside a huge (I mean really huge) mall with a covered atrium, wearing a stupid cap all the time. What is the probability of a bird pooping on your head?
1.0, for you see, A One Shoe Man lives at Singularity where all known laws of Physics just break down.

His day was not over yet. Later while traveling back he was found trying to avoid a tiny (I mean really tiny) lizard on the wind screen of the cab, from falling on him (Keep checking Flickr for pic[s]).

But you must realize that it's all in a day's work for a guy whom a Kite once tried to abduct and who once found a live frog inside his pant pocket.

Now Reading:

Title: Interpreter Of Maladies
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri

Yahoo Yippie Yahoo!!!

Just successfully completed a small project in CGI Perl and Ajax!!!
Am king of the world!

Now Playing:

Track: Death Is The Road To Awe
Artist: Clint Mansell
Album: The Fountain - OST
Vaidu’s classification:Too Awesome to classify!!!

Resurrected!

First it was Independence Rock 2008, then this.
OK, I'll elaborate...

We 20 somethings develop this outlandish theory that we are 'old'; as in, 'I am too old for all this', 'That far!?... nah, am too old for all that now', 'arre forget it, we're too old now, you shouldn't either' etc.
Their reason for retiring to a life of mediocrity is varied. Some go out only with their better (or worse) halves, some are 'bored' to do something fun, then there's A-One-Shoe-Man (of the 'I do not have a good enough reason to not come' fame).

I am old too, what with being 24 and single in Mumbai. This was not much of a problem earlier. Until Aphrodite suddenly started being generous to Chhedanagar-ites(ees/ians?).
So there I was all alone on a Saturday afternoon contemplating traveling to Borivali for Resurrection 8, one in a series of extreme metal gigs. Borivali!
I am one that strongly believes that anything north of Goregaon should be declared not part of Bombay. But Borivali, I could settle for it being declared a different country altogether.
But then this had to be done. What was started by Mood-I a few years ago (me deciding to venture out alone even if no one agreed to join me in my insipid quests) had to be continued. I had attended all other Resurrection gigs and I-Rock hadn't quite quenched my 'thirst' for metal.
And also I had to go to Andheri to check out my new workplace (Don't get me started on Andheri!).

Being an Eastern suburban-ite (ian? Damn! What is it?!) the Western suburbs was always a place of awe - the sea-front, the chics, the cool places to hangout at, the chics. Not to mention the transport.
I am not sure what I was tripping on, or if at all I was tripping, during the next few moments, when I decide that the best way to reach my place is taking the bus.
So I turn to the Information Super Highway (pun intended) to help me reach my destinations. After a bit of Wikimapia-ing, BEST shows me the way. And I set off to uncharted territory.

So I leave at about 5 for the gig at 7:30. At about 6:30 I am still on the second bus (out of a potential 637 I would have to change) when this Burkha clad lady sitting in front of me turns around and starts staring at me. At first I pacified myself thinking she was probably just looking at someone (thing) out of the window, behind me. But after her repeatedly trying to ogle (or whatever) at me for about 15 minutes, I wasn't so sure about that hypothesis. I just sat still, trying to talk away on the phone with someone or the other. By this time Andheri is out of the itinerary, it's just too late to make it and then go for the gig. So I decide to continue on the same bus upto Borivali. The 20 Rupee ticket is a godsend.

Suddenly the female turns around again and asks me if I work at Andheri, I say no.
She continues 'Aapki aawaz jaani pehechani hai'. I smile.
Ek bandha tha koi call centre me, jo mujhe call karta tha. Aapki aawaz ussi ki tarah hai. I just about start to freak out.
Turns out some guy who works in a call centre in Andheri (and sounds just like me, you should have guessed by now) keeps calling her up and tells her that he wants to talk to her cos he likes her voice. Now it's time to panic.
Add to that the fact that I kept mentioning 'Andheri', 'office', etc. on the phone earlier. I try best to convince her that I don't work in Andheri nor a call centre (mine is a call centre FOR a call centre, so it doesn't count). After discussing about the perils of entertaining such calls, she's finally relieved that it's not me.
After that I couldn't help being conscious every time the phone rang.

So my journey continues, fortunately uneventfully. And I reach Borivali at about 8:30, a total of about 3 and a half hours of travel, and 1 hour late for the gig. Am I bad at time management or what!? All this wearing an Emperor hoodie that chotu got from the UK, and that too not on the coolest day of the season. It's about as thick as er... um.. ..hmmm a sweater (Am not particularly good with metaphors, eh?).

Shanbag who had left after I had, reached well in advance, for he was smart enough to get out of his bus and get a rick.

In between all this happened the 'Reconciliation' with her. But little did I know about Monday then.

About the venue, it's bang at the Gorai jetty, the place you take a ferry to go to EsselWorld. It was a small place with about 2-3 A/Cs. Was once again reminded about my wrong choice of clothing. The whole place WAS the mosh-pit.

The show more than compensated for my harrowing day. One of those days when you just let your hair loose. There's not enough hair anymore, though.
Missed Demonic Resurrection with their new 17 year old Lead Guitarist. Caught the end of their last song.
Devoid was good. A couple of Slayer covers did it for me.
Have always liked Exhumation. Was good to see the crowd ask for more as they were about to leave.
Myndsnare, I don't need to comment on. Got a free CD of their new album, Conditioned: Human
Worth all the trouble after all.
Headbanging away at the speed of sound, a can of 'ale' in my hand.
The pain in my neck is still there as I type this out. But know what? I just don't mind.
Feels good. Feels younger!
So as my 'old' peers are relaxing at their old age homes, playing Bridge or whatever, I can't help thinking about their self-imposed bondage and smile.

Truely, Resurrected!!!

A day of losses

Last 2 days I have had to lose so much. Makes me sad.

My iRiver earphones have begun to crack like hell.
All the songs from my office PC were magically wiped out. All folders and album art intact. Just the songs gone.
Then her. (But did I ever have her in the first place?) (All probably because of some dick-head I have never met and never will)

Rock Off

That's all the effort I will put in to come up with a title, for, the movie is worth just that.

Sex Drugs and Rock n Roll, goes the adage on rock music and rock-stars.

I'll be dissecting the movie on the basis of these, then proceed to brutally massacre it.

Let me begin by saying that I started off with 35 Kgs of prejudice (I used Chaos Theory and a whole lot of other such mathematical Mumbo Jumbo to come up with that figure, so you better not ask how I got it). Must say though that, at the end, it did live up to at least 30 Kgs of it.

I could smell a blog cooking, 15 minutes into the movie.

It all starts of with A (Farhan Akthar - vox), B (Arjun Rampal - guitars), E (Luke Kenny - keys) and L (Purab Kohli - drums) (Will explain the peculiar choice of letters later) having a band called Magik (Notice the clever play with letters. Makes me wonder, whether Abhishek Kapoor is related to Ekta Kapoor).
I'll forgive them for not having a bassist, for you see, the aam junta watching this movie would have gotten confused with another guy holding a weird looking guitar, and also because, the back ground score and some other random songs in between do have bass in them. At least they are aware of it. That's good enough for me.

Only that, now A is a filthy rich Retail Banker who has no time for his wife (There goes the sex part of it), B is a jobless musician, playing at weddings et al. There's something 'fishy' about his wife's job, that's all I got. E plays the keys for Anu Malik (the nerves of this guy, says something like, 'Wow that tune is so original') and L, now a full-blooded partying gujju looks after his dad's business (I think), anyways, he's inconsequential (hence L).

As legend flashback has it, A is the bard (Why does the vocalist necessarily have to write the songs?!?!?), B plays the guitar (maaf kiya), E, the keys and L, the drums (Whoa! How did you guess it?!). The music, I won't be judging, mainly because it is not my type.
The songs are somewhat of a cross between hindi Punk and Retro. (You be the judge...)

"na-na... na..na..na.. Meri laundry ka ek bill, Ek aadhi padi novel...
na-na... na..na..na.. Ek ladki ka phone number, mere kaam ka ek paper...
na-na... na..na..na.. Mere taash se heart ka king, mera ek chaandi ka ring...
Pichle saath dinom me maine khoya...
Kabhi khud pe hasaa... kabhi khud pe roya..."

(Yes, I had to watch the song again to put it all down here. That's the least I could do for my faithful audience)
Now, don't they seem like they are there just to rhyme? Or is it just me...?

I didn't like A's voice a bit. The songs are hummable, though (XSanXdyX, I am not borrowing it from you. I thought the same too, at least after watching the movie).

There are some really cheesy dialogues like ' guys... Ek contest hone walla hai guys... and jeetne wale band ko guys... album banane ka mouka milega guys... and a music video guys...!!! guys..................guys...' all done in 5th-std.-Annual -Day-drama quality acting. Followed by all of them discussing basic requirements for having a decent band, woh distortion pedal... do mike... etc. etc. etc. (Am being over critical here, I know, but after so many years of film making, why can't this have been done in a more mature way? Basically, what I am trying to say is, that, I wouldn't have done it this way).

Just like every 'Forgotten Horizon', 'Dark Dreams' and 'imaginary-wannabe-band-name-implying-a-lame-ass-struggling-band-just-starting-out', they are cash strapped too. A's father won't give them any cos A didn't agree to do his MBA.
So guess what they decide to do...

They play Saason ko ki zaroorat hai jaise... and Yeh din toh aata hai ek din jawani me (Yes I had to refer to the scene again) at a Dandiya show... and seem to enjoy it too.

So off they go to Channel V Launch Pad (Luke was a judge there, maaan... Does that disqualify his ratings, or something like that...?). They perform after another Hindi-Metal band 'Chakravyu' (Why degrade the legends? Why oh why?) who's vocalist looks like Mr. Vishal Spit-on-the-audience Dadlani.
Arjun Rampal looks like a body builder, not a guitarist at all. Probably he could have been the drummer(?). Though I very much appreciate the fact that he learned to play the guitar, and does a good job with the strumming and the chord changes (At last, some professionalism in Indian cinema!). He does some very gay gestures as Farhan (looking like Brian May) sings that nursery rhyme (Meri laundry...). Farhan Akthar isn't exactly the best of actors, just that he does a little bit of everything, like a jack of many trades. Some more cheesy crap here, like asking the crowd to wave their hands and sing with him. Somehow just doesn't feel good, all fake...

Ofcoursely(sic), MagiK wins...
And yeah, the Vishal look-alike gives B a tashan and all that...

Back to the present.
There's a chance meeting between A's wife and J L (aaargh! It's so easy to forget this guy!). She invites him and the rest to A's birthday party.
By the way A's wife is totally unaware of her beau's 'rocking' past, until she finds some old pics and videos of MagiK (complete with A coochi-cooing with his then girl friend), neither does he like talking about it.
The photos are picture perfect as if shot by a professional! That gave me a 'why the fcuk' moment, which was later on snatched away by the realization that A's girl is a photographer. (Now you know where part of the 5 Kgs. of prejudice got spent)

B doesn't make it to the party (Any guesses why A doesn't want to remember the past?).

OK, it's getting too long now. In short here's what happens:
B writes a song for his girl.
Record producer says chuck that one song for one of his own (some shaadi ke gaane crap).
B gets pissed.
A hogs limelight during shooting of music video (Sets from a Bollywood Item Number, and in Back Street Boys(?) costumes).
B gets even more mad. Hits producer/director. Hits A. Dashes off fuming, with his girl, determined never to get back with MagicK ever.
A leaves his girl (simply... aise hi...) and goes back to Dilli to become the filthy rich Investment Banker.

Back to the present... ...again.
B, E and G L (damn!) decide to jam once again.
Surprisingly A joins in too.
They start jamming regularly again.
Then Channel V launchpad happens again.

But wait... where's the catch, the twist in the story...?
B's wife wants him to go for a job as a musician on a cruise ship. She still despises A for being so lucky.

There are 3 girls (B's wife, A's wife and Koel Purie) and 3 men 4 men (yeah... you guessed it right, forgot about L). Someone has to die (For some weird reason, not L. He could have been bumped him off so easily, without affecting the outcome of the movie in any way).
So...
E, who's lost his long locks over the years develops a headache (still meaning the same thing after all these years of Hindi cinema... that he has a deadly illness). Hence the proximity to A and B in terms of lettering.

Now... now... There's more.
Mr. Dadlani 'sore-loser' Lookalike is the Channel V something (creative head/manager/etc) and is (now listen to this...) married to A's girl. (Har hardy har har - kuch bhi kya?!?!?)

But against all odds MagiK decides to play their last gig. For E's sake at least.
But B has to leave for the job on the same day.

MagiK minus B goes on stage and A starts singing B's song, the one he had written for his girl (hmm... Have to give it to them for this. Some of that prejudice shed here.)
B who's in a taxi with his family hears the song live on radio (Which channel, you ask? I'm trying to find out too) and decides MagiK is bigger than career. Dashes off again, without wife to the concert. Some solos later wife reaches the venue too.

She's happy and they all live happily ever after. Except for poor L, who dies of cancer.

Outro - Seen 'Lords of Dog Town'? Try to visualize a poor version of it.

Oh yeah, about the drug part of it... XAnXshuX said something about a mention of 'Mary Jane' in one of the songs.

To put it in a somewhat abstract way, the whole story is a carefully calculated affair, all adding up to a big zero. Everything cancels everything else out and you're left with a fairy tale ending of sorts. Life is not that straight forward. Why not make something that people can relate to? Nothing you could rave about, nothing that gets you thinking - 'maaan that hit you right at the spot!', nothing in particular you'd remember 2 days hours after watching the movie.

Over all, I wasn't too dejected, mainly because I have stopped expecting anything good from mainstream Hindi Cinema. I wouldn't have cared enough to write a review at all if it hadn't been for this 'sensitive/controversial' topic ( :P ).
My crib is why compromise on a movie on such an awesome topic and try to please everyone. Why not make something like 'Paanch'. (Of course, I haven't seen it, but see how many times it got banned! That's what Rock music is all about, isn't it?! :P ).
Why still that crappy direction. Why the lame-ass acting?!

I could keep on going, but then it's too long already.

I couldn't help myself from keeping on comparing it with the last few good movies I had seen and sorry to say, I didn't like it a wee bit. You might say, 'At least they tried'. So what, RGV does that too.

Now Playing:

(Playing in the background)
Track: The day that never comes
Artist: Metallica
Album: Death Magnetic
Vaidu’s classification:Alternative/Thrash Metal (Reload-esque)

The week that was...

> Time to forge some new alliances and relinquish some old ones...

> Chhedanagar now has a proper outline on Wikimapia, thanks to my 8 hrs. of free time in office.



> Worked on Grease Monkey, a Firefox extension that allows you to run your own Javascript on pages to customize the way the page looks. Here's a sample:



> Became a 'Believer' after the Lehman fiasco. Just 2 months back I had attended an interview there for a profile that I really found interesting. The fact that I didn't get through, didn't go too well with me... to the extent of me contemplating turning an atheist.
Obviously I think otherwise now.
But the fact remains, whatever you do, there are so many other factors deciding our fate. And it really scares me realizing how little is really in our control. If things had to go wrong, I would have been out of TechM and out of Lehman too within the span of 2 months. Thank 'God'.

> Have been quite a jerk this week, to her, I feel. Am really confused as to what is happening or what should be happening. Need to do some Damage Control. But what?!?

> Add to this the resurfacing of the on-site phantom. This dog never had his day...
Hope this is a lesson I'll remember...

Surely not the easiest of days, these last seven.

Could it be...?

Just found it at a forum while searching for something on Javascript (Yes I am a nerd)

angelbiatch Guest n/a Posts

July 20th, 2005 11:34 AM #9

Re: Directory listing on localhost

---

On Tue, 04 Nov 2003 13:00:06 -0800, Lee wrote:
[color=blue]
> I miss the days when all of my users were on Unix.[/color]

You mean you miss yer previous job? :D You could get it back ya know...
Move to India. ;)

Now Playing:

Track: Unfamiliar
Artist: Oceansize
Album: Frames
Vaidu’s classification:Progressive/Post Rock/Metal

Adverse-tisement

Not many of you would be fortunate enough to get to watch all the Tamil soaps on Sun TV. Luckily I am.

That is why while having/just after having my lunch I get to watch the Bref Toilet cleaner ad.
Surely it has been devised by the grotesquely twisted mind of a person with a scat fetish. That should say enough I guess. I too am not particularly interested in getting into the intricacies of the ad.

...and those bastards pull the Axe Dark Temptation ad off the air...