Music for everyone OR music for ...

There's a little bit of discovery that i seem to be leading up to. This is about questioning what my senses have accepted as inspiration over the years. In the year 2000, Bon Jovi's - It's my life - really appealed to me. I used to take buses to travel to Coochbehar from Alipurduar and picture myself to be the guy - in that video. I used to carry a 'walkman' with a cassette inside. That cassette was  called "Crush" that I had borrowed from Sauvik. So it began, a journey to start listening to the Western bands...I sort of back tracked a bit to the boy bands - BSB, Blue, Westlife etc. Also liked some brit pop in the form of Ronan Keating, Robbie Williams etc.

I went on to listen to a lot of mainstream rock music and always felt the guilt of not having heard a lot of back catalog of artists from the 90s, the hair metal era as few of my friends posed of a huge legacy of music they had heard. Somewhere inside me, the English rock music was proving to be a remedy to the misery i was living in. It always painted the picture of a far better world than the one i was living in. It influenced me so much that I even became a part of a English Rock band. We released about 3 albums before falling apart. Why did we fall apart? Maybe because we didn't achieve as much as we would have wanted to. Maybe we lacked the tenacity - hell, maybe we weren't talented enough. Whatever be the reason, i started loosing the passion with which I listened to music in the past. That Rock music which was like this the remedy, is now sort of forgotten and replaced by a lack of belief.

I think I started listening to Rock music because it painted a vague dream in my world, where I pictured myself as an unrealistic hero with a huge influence on others' life through my words. The dream broke and I woke up to reality only about couple of years back. The reality is very very sad. I know I have even turned into over criticizing some of the beliefs I developed as a kid. I started questioning the very basis of English Rock music in my life. Is it something that I would have ever excelled with? Is there a reason to believe that Rock music has primarily been a thing about the developed and not of a society that still taking strides towards it? I started looking at the demography of nations who actually produced great Rock bands. The bands are great coz their work is appreciated by a majority. So are there any from India who are recognized and respected on a world stage? The answer is NO.

I slowly started realizing that maybe it wasn't about our band's music or our talent as such. It is more about the kind of music we chose to play. Hell, we played quite a few gigs - but barring a few instances - we barely felt special. Carry your own instruments, pay for the cabs, setup your own stuff and then get paid peanuts. Even before we actually played a gig, the process to get a gig was equally tenacious. What happened to that kid, who actually painted a dream on someone else's chalkboard? Dead!

Actually, the self discovery took more twisted turns as I started discovering that we were even very specific with our choice of music. We never liked the R n B or hip hop. So what was it that we were listening to?  I tend to believe that we are plain delusional to use that chalkboard to paint a picture. As the reality soaks in, i start to think - what's the best way to play music without painting any picture?
Till i find that answer, I would probably stay a bit indifferent.

Sambhar with Basanti Pulao part II

This is a continuation of my earlier post. I am in a mood to write so i wouldn't spare a day before i write the second part in the series.

Ever since August 2007 till now, I have spent majority of my time in the city of Bengaluru. Barring a year when i was canada and about 20 odd visits to Bengal for an average of 7 days (that makes it 140 days in 7 years), I have spent all the time in this city. The IT industry sort of shields you from a majority of things. No matter how much we blame it, there's a sense of sanity that still prevails in this industry. I found Bengaluru work culture to be very disciplined and well behaved. It was the perfect cosmopolitan environment that I had found during my schooling. Our lunch group in my first company - Wipro Technologies, consisted of a 3 Oriyas, 2 Mallayali, 2 Kannadigas, 1 Maarwadi and 1 Bengali. Here I am just talking about the close group of people I had lunch with, but the sample space at work was even more diverse. So you know - you will definitely find 'one of your kind' here in Bengaluru. I spent some considerable amount of time to learn the local language and I can verse in bits in pieces now. It's the beauty of embracing the local culture which is so similar from one another yet so distinct that makes India a 'one of a kind' nation.

Bengaluru has a range of restaurants and it wouldn't be wrong to say - that you will find food from any part of India here. I am not joking when I say - that there are several popular Naga kitchens here in Bengaluru. The city is a mix of cultures, here people celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi as their major festivity with Ugadi being the New Years celebration, 1 week before the usual Bengali new year. The local language here is Kannada but you'd get away if you speak Tamil/Telegu/Mallayalam/Hindi/English. The city hosts a majority of the South Indian population from various neighboring states but hold on - for the past 2 years, I have been witnessing about 36 Durga Pooja pandals in the city. 36?? That's as many I had in Alipurduar which is in Bengal. The pandals are not just attended by Bengalies but are attended by people from all of India including the south.

When it comes to food habits, I found Kerala dishes to be the most unique amongst all other South Indian cuisines. South Indians typically use a lot of tamarind in their food. I'd be very honest but the very first day, I heard that there are people here who have only eaten veg food in their lives, I was SHOCKED!! In Bengal, there's no one I knew of who ate veg food, other than of course on auspicious days. To see that almost every other South Indian finishes off their meal with curd and rice - was also unique in the eyes of a Bengali. I also didn't know that they could have a meal with just curd/rice and some mixed veg achar. Over the years, I had only known of Idli Sambhar and Masala Dosa in Bengal but now, I know about Akki Roti/Uttapam/Pudi Powder/Avial/Rasam/Curd Rice/Set dosa/Open Dosa/Rawa Dosa and the list just goes on... Sometimes, I wonder if my mom really thinks that she has lost a son to South India when I tell her that i dig the meals we get here. Well that doesn't mean that I don't like the usual Bengali dishes. I do.

People here don't have the ritual of touching elders' feet everytime you meet them. This was one rule that was embedded in my head by my mom and I can't help but do that to elders I meet here. They have their weddings in the day time here. Bengalies do that as late as possible in the night. The weddings don't have any Non-Veg food when following the Hindu rituals, In Bengal - if that happens, then you'd be cursed for the rest of your life for not treating people with atleast 2 varieties of fish alongside mutton and chicken curry. Here, the Brahmins don't eat non vegeterian food, in Bengal - there's no difference in the food habits amongst people. Here they have designated halls to host the weddings called - Kalyan Mandapas, in Bengal - all you'd use a hall for is to treat people. During tea time conversations, Majority of Kannadigas/Telegus can speak Hindi whilst the Tamils/Mallayalis are not so pro/interested in using Hindi, In Bengal - it would not have such a mix of people anyway and if you turn out to be the unlucky one then you'd probably end up learning the language. However, here I found political parties driven by castes but in Bengal there's hardly anything influenced by castes other than some marriages.


The differences probably end there, the rest of the things seemed similar.  People - their basic nature, the things they like and the typical Indian rituals. Friendship is one thing that has got a new meaning here in this city. I made few of my best friends in this city and not just from this city but from various other places in India. It's a city where I can walk into a Bhojohori Manna for a regular Bengali meal or go into a Calfornia Burrito to eat some tex mex food. I'd walk to an Anjappar or Nagarjuna for South meals or go into a Chinese Delicacy to eat some Thukpa and Momos. It's a city where I can learn Kannada and at the same time hear Kannadigas knowing/learning few words of Bangla. It's a city where people will reply to you in Hindi/English but would be delighted if you knew a few letters of their language. This is a city, where you'd learn the first about western Fashion and yet find way around with the culture you'd like to follow. There's a reason why I love Bengaluru...It has that small city feel for me yet growing really big. There's a reason why people have decided to live here despite probably being a misfit to begin with. There are little adjustments that I try every day, by not forgetting who I am...a Bengali at my heart but an Indian to the core...and I feel, it would have only been possible here in this city!

Sambhar with Basanti Pulao.

This is different from my usual posts. I am not going to be writing philosophical things but would like to lay down some dishes on the table. I am a Bengali who's been in Bengaluru for the past 7 and half years. I must start by saying that my perception of this place was nothing like what it turned out to be over the years. While growing up, I had my science and English teacher from Madurai. When they first came to my hometown in Alipurduar, there means of communication had to be either Bengali or a little Bihari dialect inspired Hindi. Let's face it, Bihar is the closest to my home town and we do have a lot of UPites and Biharis there.

Kendriya Vidyalaya allows to have teachers from various parts of our country. In my school in particular, we tried speaking in English but i for one was never good with it. I could write but i could never speak. I would say - i was representing the majority mass of my school who were like me. So what did Mr. Ramanath or Miss TS Asha Devi do to survive? They would talk to us in English but then we wouldn't be able to reply back. They would try to speak in Hindi but we wouldn't understand. A great contrast. Over the years though - both Ramanath Sir and Asha Ma'am picked up their Hindi skills. I was a bit surprised about them not knowing Hindi from before, since all of my friends could speak the language. I only realized the portion of the population of Bengalies not well versed to speak Hindi when i went to College but that's for a different time. Along side Asha Ma'am and Ramanathan Sir - I had the company of few pseudo Telegu guys studying in my class. I say pseudo coz, these guys were so well versed with Bengali that even my mom wouldn't know where they were actually form. There's a huge bunch of them in Alipurduar. I was good with GK in my school time and I had read that Kerala is the first state in India that achieved 100 per cent literacy. The other reason was of course the fact that Kerala and Bengal were the only two states with the communist governments. Add to this the "Mile sur mera tumhara" video on doordarshan...and I would know that there are some languages in the south which are distinct and different unlike of course the common perception that exists here in the south that people from "North" (they only know that there are North Indians and South Indians), think that they are all from Madras.  I tell you, that's a BIG FALSE assumption. Or maybe - we are talking about stereotypes here.


So I land up in Chennai for my first job assignment. During my college years, I had heard about Bengalore (then) as the city that hosted a bunch of rock shows. There was a swagger about the place. It was so called the "hep" town to be in. The opportunity to get posted in Bangalore within the first 10 days - did fill me up with a great deal of Joy. So I land up here in Bangalore and honestly, i was blown away by the contrast in climate across these two cities which are  separated by approximately 250 KMs. Bengaluru was cold in August, the nights were chilly, literally cold in 2007. I am a bad traveler w.r.t clothing or accessories. I don't like carrying much. I didn't have anything to wrap myself around other than a bed sheet which my mom had packed in my bag. I had a Sony Ericson phone. I switch it on to listen to the FM radio and Hola! I heard a channel dedicated to English music!! I will never forget that feeling (call it fixation) but i was amazed by that. Kolkata never had it and now i was in this city where I was looking forward to meeting all of my rock gods and was gifted with the chance to headbang in style.

This post turned out to be bigger than what i anticipated, so i am going to write over a continuation on the same about the cultural experiences I have had after coming to the City of Bengaluru in my follow up post.

How long can you avoid Mid-life crisis?

I can't believe that I am already a resident of this planet for the past 30 odd years. The movie Interstellar sort of bent my thinking a bit. Esp about the fact that our senses or the neural system cannot detect the dimension known as time. Even though we know that the position of an object changes in the X, Y or Z directions, we can never sense the change in time. The absence of this sense stops us from moving between two points in time or rather let's say - we just keep moving in one direction without a control.

Nah, i don't want to write another science fiction post here. I am just going to dump by brain on the title of this post - that is the symptoms of a mid-life crisis.
You see, I started my life with the least number of friends and I was a part of a silo life - living with my mom. Slowly, I started making friends, I started moving out to different places. Things got to a point where I would battle time to give time to people.

Things have dramatically changed in the past 2 odd year esp the last one. Here I list down 3 categories where I point out 3 types of varieties for each category.

Facebook.
 
I login to Facebook and I see posts of 3 different nature:

1. People outside India on Onsite. They never talk about the work you do, but it does tell you that the west is a far more cleaner place and we Indians boast of posting photos. We even seem to have more knowledge about such places than of our very own country.

2. People getting married or posting about a birth of a child.

3. People talking about a topic that gives them an easy access to blame the system or the society. These people take a pot shot at social issues by putting in harsh words and pretend to make a change by writing a few words on social media.

Friends

1. People who are married. It solely depends on the stage of their marriage.  But in general they are inter twined in their own little lives so much that they wouldn't care about not making up to some place. They have a way to blame it on their wives.

2. People who are frustrated coz they are not married. These people are not married and they don't want to make any efforts to get married either. The resultant is seclusion and mood swings from time to time.

3. A rare breed of unmarried, free willed, youthful people. These guys are self contained and they mean fun. I have seen this 3rd category shift towards the 2nd one very rapidly with age.

Myself

1. All of a sudden, i want to earn more and more money. I seem to have started acknowledging that 'savings' and earning good money in life are very important. It's important to gather assets and then sit over them till you die.

2. Laptops and Mobile phones are my best buddies. All of my friends have turned electronic and I don't use the phone to call them anymore, I type to them.

3. I have more 'practical' dreams. Dreams are meant to be unrealistic - that's why they are called dreams. What's the use of dreaming - 2 kids and 3 bungalows after 10 years. That seems cliché and something everyone associates themselves with. But i seem to be giving in.


So as you see it, the mid-life crisis is dawning on me, coz slowly but surely - the contagious effect is succumbing me to it.

2014 - the year that wasn't!

2014 has been a very mixed year. I got promoted earlier in the year at work without much benefits. I bought a house in the 2nd half of the year but had to toil the heck out for the home loan. Now I almost know why things move so slow in Kolkata. It's in the grass roots of things. Anyway - this year would be remembered more coz I lost my dream of becoming a musician. I lost the power to put forward a case where I could find a viable reason to ask others to stay in Bangalore and pursue this so called delusional dream of ours. However at the same time, we released our 3rd studio album this year and also for the first time ever in my life - we came on National TV coz MTV aired our music video over and over again.

Ugh, with the band - we touched some great highs this year - but by the time we made the jump - we had already lost the battle. I became a little insensitive about music. I can feel it every single day. I'd not be able to live a single day without  listening to the songs I loved, but now - I open youtube and I don't know what to type in there. I have probably spent the most amount of time with my laptop and on my phone that any other year. I spoke on whatsapp more than I spoke in person or over phone. I tried to get back in shape towards the latter part of the year but it's a hard job given the amount of junk i consumed during the first half.
3 of my patents got filed this year and I got some capital to invest in the house I bought.

Mom is going to go for a BIG transition next year coz of her retirement and I'd probably be tying the knot for a new beginning. On one hand, 2014 has been a year of broken dreams. On the other hand, this year gives me a hope for the future. A future that probably awaits me in 2015. I expect things to change for the better. Whilst my 20s have been about building a tomorrow for myself and my mom, my 30s would be about exploring the beauty of life.

So now - coming to the part of what I would want 2015 to be. Well, I have a set of goals and the seeds of rebirth are planted this year itself. So here it goes:

1. I'd like to return to music. I'd like to return music in a conscious way. Doing things like never before. I want to learn the Piano and by mid/end next year I should be good with the keys. I'd like to write more of poetry and music.

2. I'd like to be with my mom for a longer period than any of the last 7 years. She misses me a lot but now that she'd be retired - I'd try to get her to Bangalore to spend some good time.

3. I'd like to make at least one foreign trip. My post 30 years should be about exploring the world like I said. I'd like to go on trips, trips and trips with my buds.

4. I'd like to kill the boredom of being alone, precisely would like to get married. They say - life, death and marriage are 3 things in a man's life where one has no control. But you see, life and death are inevitable...

5. I'd like to excel at work. Something I have managed to do over the years. But the difference this year would be to create an impact where I am recognized outside my company's recognition.

2015 shall be the year to return to things. To love people more, to stay connected with friends, to bring happiness in our world and to kick some butt for god sake!

'Coz I am happy!

I have always been obsessed with the sky. I remember my childhood, during powercuts - Maa would ask me to sit down on "uthoon" - under the open skies and i would pretend to study. I was more keen on looking up literally than looking down. Looking up was full of mysteries - unanswered questions that seemingly would never end like the universe and looking down would mean - looking at things that would always hold me down to a limited space - a limited set of thoughts. How true is that about life?

Today i was talking to my Mashi. My young cousin sister Gudiya is going through her days of finding the right career path. She is filled with a bunch of premonitions and apprehensions. She relies on a lot of conceived beliefs from his brother and then there are thoughts that concur it. I would advice her to be courageous. Never have a feeling that she can't do something coz she is not meant to do something. There's nothing like that in this world. It's a ecosystem problem, more subjective to your first degree of contact - people in your innermost circle of friends/family. I think if i can instill that confidence in her that she can do something - just by proper planning - there will be no turning back. So i told Mashi that she shouldn't give up JEE. The pure sciences and BSc is a good thing to do - but engineering is always this inverted funnel - it's tough to get in - but very easy to get out. They fear the engineering market shrinking in the future. If you ask me - it never can and never will.

So i came up with this classic case using which i tried to defend my case. Today in Indian Railways - we have still a lot of paper handwritten work that's being done. However, my mom tells me that it's becoming mandatory for people to know computers and basic working with it - going forward. What does that show? It shows evolution - even though all that Railways needs to do is follow a well discovered path - which has been tried and tested already by others in the world. But evolution none the less. It gets to show now - that those things which took 2 days to complete, will take barely 2 hours. The internet has transformed the way we live our lives. I think it's the most precious discovery post the stone age era. But there's a hazard - and obvious hazard and mind you - the unions wouldn't like it. If you start doing work faster - you will loose out on employment. Everything will start taking care of things of it's own and there would be reduced human intervention. Hence those who can't adapt - in this case - acquire the necessary skills - will perish. Those who will adapt are the ones who will survive and by the way - they will survive in the most coveted way - imagine the first person in a village who learned to send e-mails.

So i told her - to not for see things 4 years in advance and be the future predictor, instead learn the skill to adapt. Studying engineering/history/geography or spirituality - will all yield you what you want - if you know how you want it and if you know how to 'adapt'. Talking of adaptation - I am sick of what I am adapting to - a life without music - mundane thoughts and Pharell. Till the next time i comeback - i am going to stay happy, listen to a lot of music, sing my lungs out and eat hell lot of momos!

The Hong Kong tour diary!

I recently had a chance to go visit Hong Kong for the Openstack Summit 2013. Well to be honest, i recognize the name Hong Kong from a very long time. We always heard of HK as a city that produces quite a few gadgets infact, in Silliguri, West Bengal - we even have a market called "Hong Kong Market". They sale all sorts of electronics/gadgets/watches/shoes etc over there for cheaper prices of supposedly famous brands. So when i heard about the summit, i went to youtube and played some videos about HK. To be honest, i had this perception that i would come back from HK with a lot of gadgets and possibly a few watches - coz i like fancy watches. Still, i wasn't too excited about it and the feeling sort of aggravated coz my flight tickets were booked on the night of Diwali. I mean i know Diwali is not as BIG in BLR for me than compared to at home but over the years i have made friends and frenzy to come to terms with it and i would always want to be in some part of India during that time.

I was convincing myself over ONLY a 6 day trip. With a heavy heart, i reached the Bangalore Intl Aiport on 3rd Novemeber 00:00 hours. It's a pain to keep reciepts of all the travels you make esp for a guy who's as messy as me but i kept reminding myself to not loose anything. My flight was booked in Cathay Pacific. I had heard good reviews of it and thought as much till i reached the airport and found out that it's actually operated by Dragon Air. I met one of my colleagues at the airport. He was travelling to Beijing. Beijing is in Mainland China and HK falls under the chinese administration. Regrets about leaving on Diwali night clubbed with a cramped leg space plus the timing of the flight - all made into a clear counting hours back to return.

I had heard about the HK airport being beautiful, so i woke up just before landing. It was a 5:30 hours flight from BLR. The airport was indeed beautiful. The aircraft actually gives you a feeling that you are landing on water with mountains surrounding a scenic view. At the immigration, they asked me fewer questions than they asked me before leaving India and O yes - no where in the HK airport they stamp your passport. I didn't quite  understand why. Anyway, i had another colleague coming from hyderabad whom i had never seen in India but finding Indians in HK airport shouldn't have been a hard problem - only if i knew it would be.  I got the US dollars converted into Hong Kong dollars and headed for the hotel. I had booked Holiday Inn. We took a cab from the airport and hence began the journey through the mountains and sea shores to our hotel which was at Tim Tsha Tsui in the Kowloon district.

I was surprised by real estate i could see from the taxi window. They have built bridges on the ocean (i know most of them have) but the infrastructure gave you a feeling that land is not easy to come by in HK and hence they made use of every inch of land they have there. They have ressidential complexes that go beyond 40 stories easily. As we stepped into the city, the traffic took over. It felt like India for a while but then i realized that the traffic actually moves in the city and people follow lane disciplines. Around 40kms from the airport and we reached the hotel. The hotel itself was a 18 storyed one. Now given that i come from India - i am not used to sky scrappers. We reached around 12:30 HK time, and i was still feeling very sleepy and hungry at the same time. I looked up the menu in my room and they had Indian dishes listed in the menu - but skipping through them i ordered for a veg fried rice. I had tasted chinese food in Canada and i knew i wasn't a big fan of the authentic chinese food (mind you, i love the tibetian /chinese food we get here in India - the so called "Indian Chinese" food). The fried rice was indeed - a bit exotic but it was good to satisfy my need for a brunch. In the evening we took a stroll out on the roads around the hotel and i saw only watch stores. Watches that definitely were out of range for me. Rado, Rolex, Omega and what not. We took a walk towards the hardbor. It was beautiful.

We came back to the hotel early - with no signs of "having fun" in HK but we decided that we would hop around the city on the next day. My colleague told me about this huge building called the ICC tower - which offered a 260 degree view of the city.  It has 118 floors and is the third tallest building (wrt number of floors) in the world. We kept speculating - coz we saw another one which looked very similar to that...In my next post i shall try to portray my experiences in HK in the next few days before i came back. For now it's a wrap!