Pressed into service

Rs.505 for 14.880kg

That’s how expensive sending the parcel to Kolkata has proven. It’s as much as a Sleeper Class ticket to traverse the same distance. Very ridiculous, if you ask me.

Time to go contemporary?

Be it Baroque, Classical or Romantic music, I’ve heard them all. Today I began the exploration of contemporary classical music with possibly the most renowned composer of our time – Philip Glass. While I haven’t enjoyed all that I’ve heard from him, some of his compositions were breathtakingly stunning. I guess I’m more than ready to take on the new genre.

I’ve taken the liberty of leapfrogging 20th century classical music altogether. I hope the chronological gap won’t adversely affect my understanding of the evolution of music over the eras. I’ll begin with 20th century when I’m ready to take on the most intimidating of all composers – Stravinsky. That’ll be my ultimate conquest!

Here’s something interesting. Philip Glass’s father owned a record store and consequently Glass’s record collection as a kid consisted, to a large extent, of unsold records. And which records might that be? Classical, of course!

Round Midnight

This movie teaches us a thing or two about the essence of music captured in jazz. Dexter Gordon is a genius.

Herschel & Haydn

Astronomy and classical music are two of my greatest fascinations. One relies on longitudinal waves and the other, transverse.

Listening to a BBC essay on Haydn immensely surprised me to learn that the discoverer of Uranus, the brilliant astronomer, William Herschel, was also a composer of classical music. It was equally surprising that Haydn even met the celebrated astronomer and one of his renowned religious works, The Creation oratorio, might have been partly influenced by the atheistic view to the birth of our Universe.

The wonder of India Post

How is it possible that a carton could carry my laptop all the way from Malaysia to India, but India Post refuses to parcel it from Bangalore to Kolkata?

I’ve some clothes that need to be shipped to Kolkata. My laptop carton was the ideal container and I managed to stuff it with 14.85 kg of clothes, most of which recently enjoyed being tossed and tumbled in Sam’s washing machine. I pasted the address sheets, sealed the container and took an auto to the local post office.

To my surprise, I was asked to cover the entire carton with a piece of cloth! Now where the hell could I get a piece of cloth big enough to cover the carton? The smiling lady suggested a nearby store. Mantu went in pursuit but returned with only a large envelop. The idea was to get some more and cover the carton on all sides! How on earth does that serve our purpose? When we approached the lady, she said the idea would suffice. Cool! India Post needs some psychiatric therapy.

It was close to 2:30 pm, the blessed moment our post office shuts down to the public. We returned home with a few more envelops. I’ve got to get down to the silly business of ‘enveloping’ the carton with the ripped open envelops in the evening.

I’ll take another trip to the post office tomorrow.

Hum Log

Remember the golden era of Indian television, when DD towered over none (for none existed!) and a certain lady with a fetish for ‘K’ had yet to ruin our evenings with mass-manufactured histrionics? If you do, you’ll probably recall the mother of all mega-serials: Hum Log. Here’s a tribute by Rediff.

A strip show gathers steam

Ever since Sam moved in, our belongings have had to be repositioned in order to make more room to the new entrant. One major casualty has been Mani, whose daily clothes have now been strategically relocated to my room. And since my room affords more privacy than others, Mani makes frequent guest appearances here to strip and don something else. He tries to make his presence doubly felt either with a very annoying and loud Bollywood hum or by verbally engaging me in a totally impertinent issue.

I’ll miss all this fun.

“Kidnapped!”

That would have been Aaj Tak’s punchline had they been on Santosh’s trail. Our docile roommate seems to have disappeared into thin air ever since his wedding talks (the one we were closely monitoring) failed to materialize. We’ve been trying to get in touch with him for the past few days but he’s unreachable on his number. Last time we heard, he was enquiring about rail tickets to Bangalore. He seemed very eager to return.

Kidnapping grooms isn’t uncommon in Bihar. Sometimes, there is such a severe paucity of consenting bachelors (dowry and caste could be major flashpoints) that parents, desperate to get rid of their daughters, kidnap them and forcefully wed them off to their daughters.

Of course, it’s very unlikely that Santosh has met this unfortunate fate. For all we know, he may be merrily wandering the rural terrain without a care in the world!

Ritam calls

Wonderful to hear his voice after all these years. We discussed SEO and other Internet fads.

We last spoke on Monday, when I had to excuse myself from the call as I was visiting a friend. Before that, we had spoken 10 years ago.

Yet another jewel from Zoya Zayler

East Meets West: A Canadian in India

What can I say about this gorgeous blonde except that she’s every bit as gifted in the writing department as she is in looks! And that’s just a fraction of what makes her such an incredibly wonderful person I had the good fortune of befriending during her stay in India. She’s indeed of stellar magnitude.

Keep shining, babe!

Islamic Super Heroes

Was Spiderman a Christian? Or Batman a Buddhist? Barring the ‘real’ men behind the masks, I’m not really sure - their religious identities were never enforced or projected while fighting crime. Tarzan may actually be an atheist since he was reared mostly away from civilization. The animals that raised him hopefully didn’t corrupt him with religious propaganda.

Why then does Islam need an ad-hoc team of 99 super heroes to teach the world of its tolerant and peaceful nature? Why did the gorgeous Queen Rania of Jordan have to launch her own YouTube channel towards the same end? Why do pacifists have to constantly plead with the world to believe that Islam indeed teaches love and respect for all human beings?

Because reality starkly points to the contrary. Islamic militancy is a global menace today and much of the civilized world is reeling under its tyranny. Sharia law is deeply regressive and curbs all forms of personal liberty. Women are treated like dirt and flogged for venturing out without being accompanied by a close male relative. People accused of adultery are stoned to death. Public executions are commonplace. Minor offenders could be sentenced to their limbs being amputated. Homosexuality is a crime punishable by death. The Quran instigates its followers to wage a war against those who do not believe in Allah. It asks the fight to last until the only religion is that of Allah. It champions jihad to the point of self-annihilation. Those who attain ‘martyrdom’ in the name of Allah are promised unending sexual gratification in heaven while the non-believers are condemned to burn in eternal hell.

The verdict is clear. Islam preaches hate, intolerance and subjugation. There is no room in the modern world for such hate mongering. As long as Islam lasts, feeble but desperate attempts to justify its ‘teachings’ will continue, but all in vain.

Won a USB Mains Charger on ebay UK!

The price was a rock-bottom £0.49.
Free shipping. No additional costs.

That’s a lot cheaper than what it sells for on ebay India. Shipping adds Rs.50 and VAT is extra.

Happy 30th Birthday, Walkman!

My first was a red, locally assembled ‘Sanyo.’ It was bulkier, heavier and more expensive than most Walkmans. I chose it because it had a 3-band graphic equalizer, a rarity. I was in Kolkata, just after my 12th board exam. Boredom was hitting a peak and I needed something to focus on.

My Walkman served me faithfully, though the audio left a lot to be desired. I was happy that the equalizer worked well, the only quirk was the 10KHz band that became too hissy when upped. I bought cassettes from the famous Symphony outlet in Esplanade at an alarming rate. Can’t help it, I reasoned, since Kolkata had so much more albums to offer than Jamshedpur.

My second was an imported Aiwa with a built-in tuner and, yet again, a 3-band graphic equalizer. This one was a prized possession. It was much smaller, lighter but equally expensive. Bought it in Pune during graduation.

A day of deeds

Visited my bank and consolidated multiple accounts into one. I’ll need to change the billing address for my credit card as well, this’ll be done tomorrow.

Bought half a cabbage from Monday to Sunday for Rs.9. Mantu was late in returning from SBI, leaving me stranded at the door for about half-an-hour. Power cuts have become chronic and the news is very disheartening. We are already used to prolonged cuts, now we must brace for the worse.

Asha wanted to chat with me from the library, but I was powerless and helpless. After sometime, she visited multiple cybercafes in hopes of voice-chatting with me. Strangely enough, though she could hear me, not once could I hear from her side. Text chat was all that we could manage. My laptop table was delivered to her address today, she informs me.

Managed to chat with Ujwal, Subhasish and Veera as well. Ujwal dropped a bomb when he said that he got married on the 17th of this month! And this hero-turned-villain had the cheek to say that it just happened!!! I let loose a volley of abuses…but only friendly ones. I wish him a happily married life. Chatting with Veera happened for the first time ever and she was every bit as adorable as I thought she would be. Subhasish is busy dealing with calls from UK universities. I hope he successfully clears all the minor hurdles.

An irresponsible and anonymous comment compelled me to delete a post from yesterday. It would have been easier to erase just the comment, but I decided the issue needed to be uprooted from its very foundation. I already axed a record 73 posts just a few days back. Prior to that, I’ve been systematically deleting posts due to one issue or the other. At this rate, I’ll be removing posts faster than I can add! Maybe 20 years from now (or sooner), my troublesome blog will be reduced to nothing! Blog liposuction anyone?!

I allow anonymous comments because I feel people have a right to privacy, but that doesn’t imply I don’t have the right or means to sniff along the trail. Technology has made deception and detection easy, and doing a 1-up is sometimes just a matter of being more tech-savvy. It’s easy to confront with evidence, but it’s more fun to let the culprit play the guessing game! I’m settling for the latter.

I’ll keep more thoughts to myself, they’ll come out only years later through my blog.

Oops! Chatting took away too much of my time and I had to skip dinner tonight.

Endless hours of bliss

These artists have kept me entertained over the years via my cassette player, radio, CD player, walkman, laptop and iPod.

The representation doesn’t seem to be very accurate but it’s close enough.

"Music - The one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend."
Beethoven

Some folks I’ve listened to in the past 1 year

IRFCA

I thought I was crazy about Indian Railways…until I came across IRFCA. This site is maintained by hardcore fanatics who upload tons of stunning photos each day to keep me as happy as a baby!

PSIPHON: A Revolution in Freedom of Choice

It’s fun to see authoritarian regimes cringe under the growing power of technology to circumvent online censorship. The latest darling of Iranians wanting to access news and freely express themselves in the face of disputed presidential elections is Psiphon. The software has already been downloaded by 18,000 Iranians in the last 10 days.

Iranian authorities are so petrified of dissidents stoking protests over the rigged elections using Psiphon that they have accused Canada of supporting the software maker’s “efforts to spread insurrection in Iran."

Freedom can only be delayed, not defeated. Religious fanatics and authoritarians will learn it the hard way. So be it.

Disconnected

British Telecom has suspended Internet access to Ambedkar Center because one of the occupants has made too many international calls amounting to an exorbitant telephone bill that needs to be cleared on the 23rd of next month before access can be restored.

No more VoIP chats with Asha in the near future!

Much ado about something

I had my eyes set on a USB mains charger on Ebay for the past 2 weeks. I was all set to up the killer bid in the dying moments of the auction this afternoon. But as ill-luck would have it, there was yet another short-circuit in our vicinity just 15 minutes prior to the end of the auction and I was left in the dark at 0 hour, literally.

By the time power was restored, the damage was already done. Anyway, I was glad to learn that I didn’t really lose anything. Bids went so high that I would have pulled off anyway.

Phantom Wife Never Realized

She wasn’t really his wife, though the prospect loomed large over him for some time. Since Santosh is away and we didn’t have the heart to grill the poor guy over phone and incur roaming charges, we let him off with a quick quiz. The details are rather murky but here’s what we learnt.

The girl’s parents had shown the photo to Santosh, which, it seems, was edited via Photoshop! We don’t know how Santosh came to know of the retouching. Anyway, they were not willing to let our guy actually see the girl in person. However, they were willing to it directly at the engagement, when he couldn’t possibly back out! How ridiculous!

Santosh, rightly enough, refused the alliance. I’ll get more details on his return to Bangalore.

Dangerous & BAD

Yahoo! stunned me this morning with the breaking news of Michael Jackson’s death at the age of 50. This was certainly a devastating development for his many fans all over the world.

Flashback. I was a kid and lived in Jamshedpur. Mom had run into serious trouble for losing a key. Months later, when I accidentally rediscovered it, she was ecstatic and promised to reward me with a music cassette. Since my taste was already inching towards the esoteric, a realm mom had no inkling of, she innocently bought an album by Michael Jackson called Thriller. I was less than thrilled and made no bones of my disappointment. I realized a lot later how rude I was to her.

That’s how Michael Jackson joined my tiny assortment of cassettes. It was an embarrassment, a complete misfit. I never added another of his albums. His hoots, shouts and screams never really impressed me. It was largely to his credit that music had become more of a video experience than audio, oddly enough. To me, the flamboyant MJ was a dancer, a performer, an entertainer, a superstar, but certainly not a singer nor a genuine artist. His onstage performances made crowds go wild with hysteria, he had built an empire worth millions and he even managed a cult following rivaling Elvis. His signature costumes gave rise to a whole crop of talentless impersonators. Money made him go wild and he did some pretty silly things.

However, it’s undeniably true that Michael Jackson will go down in history as the King of Pop. That title, in today’s culture, can’t have a more rightful claimant.