I am free falling...

I always thought that Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker's "Pack up the plantation" was one of the best live albums ever. I think that now needs to be replaced with the concert that took place last night at the Tweeter center in Camden, NJ. It can be released under the title, "Unpack the plantation".

The band played to a packed record breaking crowd. Never before have so many people been fit into the center and never before has so much noise been made. You could hardly hear Tom sing in many of the songs because the crowd took over.

The opening band was the Allman Brothers and they did a brilliant job too. They belted out "Layla" which in my opinion sounded better than Clapton's version :-) They also played "Highway 61" with the Heartbreakers and the jam with Mike Campbell sure did take my breath away.

Tom Petty finally showed up around 9pm. It was quite eerie that they opened the concert with "Listen to your heart", which has been my shower song for the last few days. It got even stranger. I usually go to a concert hoping that the band will play one of their obscure numbers which happen to be a favorite of mine. It usually never happens. So when Tom said he was going to play a number from his "Echos" album, I still did not think they would play "Good to be king". But low and behold they did and sweetened it with an extended lead in the end.

Tom also played "Not Alone Anymore" from his Traveling Wilbury days followed by "Learning to Fly". It sure made me think of wenerd who introduced me to Petty. So thank you, my dear friend, it is indeed good to be king even if only for a couple of hours... I just wished I had met those two gunslingers too on King's Highway.

Am afraid she is not the best actoress around

nevertheless, ..

Poorilum budhi undo?

I woke up and shook the dreams from my hair and then jumped out of my skin. There was something moving underneath my blanket and it was not my hand. Soon a head with red hair emerged out and then it all came flooding back. Last night at a bar called OCD, I had drunk myself to death and hooked up with this red haired woman. Her name I know not. I have no idea why she decided to drive me back to my apartment and then proceed to sleep with me. But the universe should not be asked such questions or else God will strike down upon one's good fortune.

She looked at me bleary eyed, smiled and asked, "So is there a change in perception"? I had no idea what she was talking about. "Of course", I replied. She magically had a cigarette in her mouth now. I never allowed anyone to smoke in my house. "Could you put that out please?” I requested. "You did not have such issues last night.", she countered. I shrugged, smiled and watched her walk out of the apartment.

She soon returned and crept under the sheets and started to jabber, "How was it in prison? You said you would tell me the story in the morning last night while we were... you know." Prison!!! WTF was she talking about. Listening to some of her chatter, I realised that I had given her some story about spending six months in jail last year. I hoped to see some more action so I raked my brains about Aromal's day in prison. All I could recollect in my hung-over state was something about a masturbating black giant. I figured that would not make for a macho story so I then spun a story about how I was stabbed three times when the Paki gang came for me. "So where are the scars?", she asked. "Plastic surgery", I replied. She went silent for while by which time I was already dozing off again. ""KK" she said, "but isn’t that expensive? You told me that you were poor and were about to be kicked out of your apartment." "I became a software engineer while I was in prison.", I replied. She again went silent for a while during which time I tried to clear the cobwebs from my mind. I could see that if I said the right lies I would get more action. So I tried to remember all the lies I had told her last night.

By this point she had leapt out of bed and was walking up and down my bedroom like a lawyer. "I think you are a liar", she declared. "I did not go out for a smoke. I was checking out your apartment. Last night you told me that you had a propensity to pick up fights in bar, was in prison for robbing a bank, was living on dole and dealing kaya to rich kids..." I felt like telling her one of Chandu's famous dialogues...Koodudhal samsarichal vaanam viite vaaye theykum. But shit, I had already done that.

She continued yelling. My head had started to throb and I had had enough by this point. So I came clean with my whole not-so-sob story. She stopped screaming. "I hate liars", she said in a calm and collected tone and proceeded to walk out of my apartment. I followed her to ensure that no property was destroyed on the way out. As she was grabbing her stuff, I asked, "So you decided to sleep with me last night thinking that I was some low life scum who had a jail record and a weakness for beating up people. But now that you know that I am decent bloke, I have become persona non-grata?" "I don't care about minor character flaws", she replied, "but lying is one flaw I cannot deal with!!!"

As I watched her get into her car and drive away, I wondered where my car was and how it would feel to smoke some kaya before breakfast...

Author's note: The following story is based on a dream. Any resembelence to people, living or dead is purely coincidental.

The coolest Manager in the World

_____________________________________________
From: Kogi Kaishakunin
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 6:48 PM
To: Manager
Subject: Status meeting

I won’t be there for the status meeting tomorrow. I am staying home to watch Brazil vs Ghana quarter-final (11am – 1pm) :-) I will of course be in for the rest of the day/night.

Kogi Kaishakunin

_____________________________________________
From: Manager
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 8:54 AM
To: Kogi Kaishakunin
Subject: RE: Status meeting

Glad to see that you have your priorities straight. :-)

_____________________________________________
From: Manager
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 9:40 AM
To: Kogi Kaishakunin
Cc: Sambar
Subject: Meeting

I'm toying with rescheduling the meeting to tomorrow -- so we can all have a discussion about we need to do with stuff. Any critical games tomorrow that I need to schedule around?

Down to the Knopfler stageline

I always wondered when I was sitting at Knopfler's 2005 concert about those guys near the stage and how did they get those tickets. This year, the future President of America, Zen and I were one of those guys. I don't have any words to describe this concert. The picture says it all. We had 5th row seats and towards the end, Zen and I went right up to the stage. Technically his 2005 concert blew this one out of the water but seeing the sensei of the chill so close that we could observe his unique guitar technique and hear off the mike conversations was faboulous. I only wished I had a real camera, like this guy and that Wenerd was there.

Vot am I doing?

Sitting in the cool,
conditioned booksellers cafe,
when I hear, "I'm really offended
you suggested that. Sir,"
cross little rosy-cheeked white waitress,
rosier,
flustered at not-so-white accusation,


While I searched for my voice,
words which
may well be vords,
vich vell may, BE words.
I am a hindi-spiced English
speaker you see,


Distracted by the dispute
and rosy cheeks, pretending
aspiring to be rosy, rhythmic
poetic
like the girl in the bookseller's cafe
caught-up writing,
by the vindow
contemplating her voice.

Twisted Democracy

This is one of the scariest videos I have seen in a long time. It is scary to see how something like democracy can be twisted into a system resembling fascism. Lee Kuan Yew radiates evil across the screen. You can see that he has a personality and aura which instills fear in people around him. So hats off to my dear friend KK, the man in blue, who stood his ground and exchanged barbs with Yew without backing down. Go forth and watch this video...

Overheard on the Tube

I told you olredi..

awbon see iyn hya loee wang seea

kekekekek....

Are, tek a teksi laah

i told him olredi dat i huv pain in stomach oso

Mee tho chan ee aaw

to chan, to chan

kekekeke.....

ennada, elam soukiyama?

why dont u buy sos oso?

kekekeke.....

vatta, ommale yechu kudhi

i told him oredi that i am feeling nauseous. he flew away nxt day oredi

if not teksi, tek a donkey laah

teri ma ki

tell MM laah, he will get him

kekekeke....

i will i will fuck him...

aala me miy sept tre soo ee aa

waat? you found donkey but no teksi.. aaaaa

aaa mee lum tep se

no no no, you beeen fucked olredi.. and you have more problems..

kekekeke.... i want chicken rice

vatta, kaiy adikarai da.. konju vannama?

{i experience visual problems in the T, so i listen}

Brothers in Arms

I recently saw the video of Dire Straits's "Brothers in Arms" on TV after eons. It brought back memories... I first saw it when I was in high school thanks to Wenerd who would record MTV videos on VHS and pass them on to me since I did not have cable :-)

It remains one of the coolest videos ever made...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeh6hSzlVRk

Aslan and Gandalf are dead

They were my fish. Cichlids. I need someone or something to constantly look after- Aslan died first - I decided he was greedy. Then I guess Gandalf got lonely.

Or maybe its just me.

Hyderabad- Hyderabetter-Hyderabest

So that's the slogan for 'Citizens for a better Hyderabad'- but what to do- this city has no patience- Traffic is a beatch. As is everything else here... NOTHING changes- just faces and the buildings. It's a lot more trendy and hip and all that- but you can't go from A to B (even if its just 2 km) without wanting to kill atleast two people.
So that was what I was thinking about. Tolerance. What wenerd said was right- tolerance of yesterday becomes intolerance today. We just aren't. But the haleem and biriyani is still the best here...

I'm reading Shantaram finally and so here goes->It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realized, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in the shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free, free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn’t sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when its all you’ve go, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choice you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.

Like an 87 year old grand aunt of mine said(what an amazing woman she is)- this too will be forgotten- so is it all really worth it? ... cos in the long run we're all dead!

Dreams

With dreams come responsibilities

What if you have no dreams?
Then you are left with your past and future.
The past eating away into the future with every breath you take.

The past is just your memories.
And memories can lie...

My booby obsession

still revolves around this woman. for a long time now.. sigh

trendy

One of the greatest fuckups in this evolving civilization is the belief that "trendiness is good".

Trendy - Of or in accord with the latest fad or fashion..

To jump on the latest bandwagon. To be proud of the fact that I have a 'flavour of the week', which I will denounce next week when it is replaced by something new. If I'm not the one creating the trends, I'm only the one following the trend. Which is pretty much saying "I have very little of my own convictions and will be informed of what I shall like or admire this week".

And that.. is really really pathetic.

And of course, the way to tap into everyone's insecurities is to find new ways that people would be 'untrendy'. Do this or become a social paraiah!!

I saw an article in a magazine a little while ago which was about "what drinks are trendy this year".. what drinks!! Are people such cows that not only do they have to dress the same way when they go to clubs but also have to be told what they should be drinking in order to appear cool?

Who comes up with this crap? And more importantly, who follows this and finds comfort in it?

Tough

Always: one set of people troubled at the rest of the world – its got the ‘anti’s and the ‘anti-anti’s - covering a range of topics – islam, white supremacy, criminal blacks, terrorism, abuse, homosexuality, caste, religion, passports, intelligence, wealth, profession, existence, race. Everything. its all about rights and freedom and wars and protection. all division. Tolerance of yesterday becomes intolerance today. man needs intolerance to survive. Volatility. Balance.

Something to think about (no. 1): My booby obssession

BOOBIES are large birds with long pointed wings and long bills.
Boobies hunt fish by diving from a height into the sea and pursuing their prey underwater. They have facial air sacs under their skin which cushion the impact with the water. Boobies normally lay one or more chalky blue eggs on the ground or sometimes in a tree nest. Their name is based on the Spanish slang term bubi, meaning "dunce".

retro and around

At the Bandra-Kurla complex grounds. more details at www.onetreefestival.com

I now set off metal detectors

All roads lead to the NJTP

Zeminky was driving and as usual he was lost. He had missed his exit long ago because he could not change lanes in time (in Zeminky's world "in time" meant around 7 miles). But it did not worry him at all. He knew that if he stayed on any road long he would end up in the beautiful New Jersey Turnpike. He could not understand why people like Zen and KK refused to believe that.

He was tired of being lost, trying to get to some suburb. He had decided to move to NYC and live right off an exit. He hoped he could convince his bastardly friends to do the same. That way he would never get lost. He knew that KK would never leave the bastardisation of Phoenix and Zen was too lazy to do anything. The salamander lived in a maze deep within Alston, MA. He shuddered to think of going there again. And Khemcho...

He suddenly saw a sign saying Khemcho 385 miles. Wow, the US is indeed a strange place, he thought. They even have a town called Khemcho. He was thinking of driving there on general principles.

Zeminky was now happy driving towards Khemcho. He was listening to "Hung up" by Madonna and all of a sudden it struck him that the words could be twisted to say...

All roads lead to the NJTP, the NJTP
Time passes slowly on the NJTP, the NJTP

Zeminky was now sure that he would one day emulate his idol, the great Bappi Lahiri.

His mind drifted back to Khemcho again. The girl was really confusing him. She all of a sudden started referring to herself as burningyellowcandle and blogging on two sites. He wanted to leave loving comments on her blog but due to her control issues she screened all the comments. Why do all this other that to muddle Zeminky's poor brain. He wondered if he was obsessed with her. He suddenly saw another sign which said Khemcho 350 miles. But he realized that his obsessed mind was seeing things. The sign really said Canada 350 miles.

Zeminky decided to make a u-turn...

Goodbye Chennai (for now)

This is my last day in the land where the koovam flows...

My heart is telling me, I love you still.

I change SIM cards, I change continents.

Where in hell can you go
Far from the things that you know

I don't want to leave but I don't want to stay either...