Har Jagah Hai JAL

Amidst soaring crowds and roaring loudspeakers, braving the cold and withstanding the cacophony of some RJ-cum-Anchor-cum-Nonsense, stood I, waiting anxiously for the musical journey to begin. The wait was almost killing me, but i knew that it was soon going to happen. Something that i had always waited for, something that turned out far, FAR more mesmerizing than i had thought. Here I was, living my dream, attending my first ever 'JAL' - Live In Concert!

For those who don't know (i hope there are'nt be many), Jal is a Pakistani Soft-Rock Pop Band and the entity behind the two biggest campus anthems in the Indian Subcontinent - Aadat and Woh Lamhey. Apart from these two, they have produced gems like Bikhra Hoon Main, Teri Yaad, Panchi and Dil Haarey. They hit the jackpot when Aadat leaked via the Internet and found fans from around the globe. And when they released their first album Aadat(named after the song Aadat only) in 2004, it became a rage overnight. After a long hiatus, they are back with their new album. the 2nd one, called Boondh - A Drop of Jal. And believe me, they are all set to recreate history.

The concert, held at NSIT New Delhi, began with the immensely melodious and lyrical ballad - Teri Yaad, one of my personal favourites. They then went on to sing Woh Lamhey which got the crowd swinging in flashback mode. All the memories, of old friends and of lost love became reminiscent. Not letting the tranquilizing feeling stay for long, swoosh came the hard-core rock number - Rangon Mein, which all of a sudden transformed the environs into a radioactive chamber oozing out tons of contagious energy which left no one ungripped. Vigourous headbanging and unrelentingly loud vocalizing didnt seem to tax even a wee bit on the seemingly inexhaustible amount of energy that had got infused in the crowd. The roller-coaster never deaccelerated from then on. The crowd went mad and the management, haywire, when Goher (the Lead Guitarist and Co-Vocalist), came into his own and performed Dil Haarey. He bowled the crowd over with his histrionics with the guitar and won hearts with his sugar-coated voice.
The evening assumed boiling point as the band obliged the crowd, incessantly shouting-'Aadat' 'Aadat'! The Lead Vocalist, Farhan, beautifully took over and hypnotized the audience with the depth in his voice as he crooned the haunting track - the last for the evening.
Alas! It all had to come to an end. And even with people disregarding their paining throats and helplessly shouting 'Once More', the band bid adieu to the audience. Ahh! No grudges. That one and a half hour made my day, and week, and month! And if i get to attend one more such event, it'll make my year!

The hangover is still there, two days past the golden night. And i still can be found crooning 'Dil haarey pukaarey tujhe.... Man jaa rey manale mujhe' in the college, during a class, in the loo, on the roads, in the cab, mid-way during sleep, and everywhere elsewhere!

24th February 2008 was surely a night I'll cherish for a long long time!


Watch the video of a part of their performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwhDzMxvOTE

Know more about Jal :
http://www.jaltheband.com
You can download audio and video clips of their songs from the website. Do check out their new song 'Sajni' from the new album, also availible on the site.

P.S : For the unawares, 'Har Jagah Hai Jal' is an awsome track from their first album Aadat.

My Unsatiable Appetite for Gadgets

Before I begin describing the 'agony' i have long been going through, lemme tell you guys something about myself. Coz if i don't, i doubt whether anyone would care to express even slight condolences.

Writing this post, is a tech-freak --not because he's doing a trash-bin worthy Engineering Degree in I.T.-- but because he is simply in love 
with all those geeky and sexy thingies like MP3 players, Mobile Phones, 
Audio/Video Systems and what not!
So its not infrequent for me to fall in love with a gizmo. And then,
begins the ordeal. The toy toys with my brain and disturbs my sleep.
It forces me to spend endless hours on the net, reading reviews after
reviews and helplessly staring at the photographs of it's various poses, silently admiring the beauty of the object of my desire.
I desperately wish I could touch it with my hands, feel its presence around me, and find it it's righteous owner.
The urge to rob a bank gets unresistable at times.

Its not that my wishes have been entirely ignored, but its kinda complex. I'll clarify. I call this 'Provide and Rule'. This is a philisophy which my bread-earners(or gizmo-earners) seem to be following in attempts to distract me off my current gadget-love. And hell! It works.
It works in two steps:
1. Provide Pranay with some-other, and potentially cheaper (still better, free) gadget which he least expects to get, and,
2. Rule out and infact ruin the chances of buying him the gadget 
that he really wants.
Fantastic na! Uff! Anyone experienced at robbing banks?!?!?!

So back in 2005, when i desperately wanted a down-right gorgeous pair of speakers, i actually got an iPod Shuffle. See... u get the trick!
Last year, when i asked them to replace my ancestral computer with a new one having state-of-the-art configuration, they shut me up with my brother's used laptop!
And last month, i asked my brother to get an aphrodisiac mp3 player by Creative (coz i wrecked my iPod), he bribed me with - hold your breath - pen drives!

Here, I'd like to mention that my family takes very good care of me and they have given me everything - things which i have'nt even asked for! May i take this opportunity to request them not to shower so much blessings upon me... I'd be more than happy if they just give me the basic needs of an average youngster like me. A new mobile phone would only go a long way to improve connectivity and closeness with family even when i am away. A camcorder will ensure that our beutiful memories are captured in high definition! 
And, a small, rudimentary mp3 player so that I can pass time during 
the long and tiring commuting hours.
Main zyaada nahin maangta (I don't demand much)! Do I?

The Sound of Sleep

(Did'nt get anything else to write about, so ended up writing this piece of poetry... One of my first few attempts at it. Don't ask what happened to the previous attempts!)

The world so quiet
And a chill in the air,
making ears numb
for even the silence, to hear

The sound of the clock
ticking towards a new day,
hypnotizing me
like a mother's canorous lullaby

Of days gone by,
of times to come
The people i love,
and those i shun
I see everything
and I see myself
They whisper something
so pure, so fair
so blunt, yet so dear

I dream and I gaze
into the life of my own
The feats i achieved
and the skills, still to hone
The nights, so blue,
And days with a happy hue
The afterthoughts of the events
And that feeling of déjà vu
Of love hidden deep
And promises to keep
Always reminding me of myself,
The sound of sleep

The Goan Odyssey : Part 3

Paradise Lost?

Let's get it straight - There's something terribly wrong with Goa and it's people. I know this may have come as a shock to many of you, but sadly, this is what i percieved during the last two days of my Goan Odyssey.

In Goa, most businesses thrive solely upon tourism. And most businessmen realize that its the fairer ones from the other side of the world, who bring in most of the moolah. At a restaurant, Indian customers are compelled to make-do with rickety plastic chairs, and a glass of water for them is dillydallied endlessly; while the foreigners enjoy an enviable view of the beach, seated on cusioned sofas, with waiters faking accents incessantly: "Anything aaelse ma'am?".
In the name of hospitality towards the foreigners, they end up being hostile towards the visitors from their own country. Did i hear anyone say 'Atithi-devo-bhava'!

The goras are entitled to a free entry in all the hippest clubs in Goa. But when we (poor, fellow Indians) asked the entry rate, the already sulking gatekeeper replied surlily, "Eight Hundred per person". A look at the well endowed (all at the wrong places!) bouncers, and we merrily restrained ourselves from arguing over the blatant partiality, else they would have kicked us right into the sea. And after that awful 'banana' experience (refer to Part 1), we were in no mood for anything remotely 'sea-waves'!

Shopping, we thought, would be a relaxing activity after all that excitement. But as we soon realized, 'relaxation' was almost a distant dream in this vacation!
We had to buy some souvenirs for friends back home, so we headed for street shopping in Calangute. "Hmm... these earrings are nice", my friend decided, "I think i'll buy this for my sis. How much?". Pat came the reply: "Only Rs. 550". And our jaws dropped open. We did expect exorbitant prices as the first quotes, but this was ROBBERY! "At a Delhi street shop, such earrings wont cost more than 50-70 bucks", we retaliated. "Jab lena hi nahi hai, to aate kyu ho! (When you won't buy, why do you even come!)", the vendor shut us up. There was no use bargaining, as we kept getting all kinds of derogatory remarks - "Disturb mat karo. Customers(read foreigners) se deal karne do"; "Wapis rakho usse... Rakhna bhi nai ata properly".
All the politeness and respect, was probably reserved for the foreigners only.

Call it attitude problem, or call it patronizing the west. But romanticizing the fair-skinned hominids, at the cost of the not-so fair ones, might drag us back into the imperial era.

The Goan Odyssey : Part 2

Goa in Pictures

The Goan Odyssey : Part 1

Adventures and Misadventures

I somehow always land up on a beach in every travel extravaganza I pursue. The memories of Andaman's spellbinding beaches were still fresh in my mind, when we (me and 3 friends) decided to head for a vacation at Goa. The idea surely excited me as it was the first time i had got a chance to step out of the comforting confines of my family and venture out with pals. "This is your chance Pranay... The exotic beaches, far-off lands, high-octane watersports...You'll have the time of your life!!!", I delightfully dreamt.
We reached the guest house (quite lousy, but who has to stay there? Not me!) and headed straight for Calangute Beach, supposedly the best and the hippest beach of Goa.
"Whoa!", I gasped at the sight, "Can we please get a square foot of space to lay our paining bums on!" The beach was choking with people! I have always believed that nature is at its best when in an undisturbed and uninhabited form. And my likeness quotient for a beach is inversely proportional to the amount of crowd that flocks the beach. Given the prominent position which Goa enjoys on every tourist's map, I gave up on the prospects of finding exotic and preserved beaches in Goa, and looked for other avenues for enjoyment.
In the quest for adventure, we trekked atop a hill at the scenic Anjuna Beach. The mesmerising view from the top was well worth the effort.
Then there were our trysts with watersports. We almost drowned in 10ft deep water while riding on some silly Banana Boat which was deliberately twisted to throw the people riding on it, into the water! They call this a 'sport'... Its MURDER!!! Huh!
And then there was Parasailing. This was an experience which i had always longed for. I was flying! The view from the sky was to die for. The fierce water waves lashing the beach, creating pure white lather, and then the water retreating as if to recollect all of its energy to pounce on the land all over again! Wow!
Adding a pinch of salt to the parasailing experience, was the grand finale. While landing, i was too busy shouting and making victorious poses for the camera, and ultimately ended up crashing on the beach!
It's unbelievable how I inevitably mess things up at the slightest provocation!

Shame

As India dawned into the new year, it's people actually took a step back in time, exhibiting how barbaric and uncivilized humans can be.
In the wee hours of the first morning of 2008, a bunch of almost 70-80 people pounced on two women in Mumbai's posh Juhu disrict, molesting and physically manhandling the two unassuming victims.
The year could'nt have begun with a more tragic note. But the question that disturbs the most is that, did none of those 70 to 80 people feel even a slight sense of guilt at what they were doing? Not one of them had the conscience to be able to judge how horrible and in-human a crime they were committing? And are we, as a society, giving birth to such heinous animals? Are our men so desperate that they even forget the most basic human values and morals, and resort to horrendous acts of mob-molestations in their quest for corporal pleasures?
I think we have a grave problem here. Our economy may be developing at an unparalled rate, but at the same time, 'we' as humans, are degrading at an alarming rate. No punishment, however harsh it may be, can suffice for this monstrous act which has shattered two innocent lives and has brought a nation to disgrace and humiliation. We need to get things right at the root level. It all boils down to the basics - proper education, healthy living environment and proper bringing-up. But do these factors dictate even the fundamental human behaviour? Are'nt we all supposed to be inherently having the values of humanity and human-ness because of which we are actually known as 'Human Beings - The highest form of life'? It's sad that some heartless hooligans end up tarnishing the name of entire humanity.
And add to that, the oh-so concerned and progressive attitude of our respected Police Commissioner of Mumbai, who retorts to the queries put up by the media, in an extremely caring manner, saying : "The media of making a mountain out of a molehill. Keep your wives at home if you want them safe. These kind of small things can happen anywhere.”
Just one thing for you sir - FUCK OFF.

Check out more on the incident :
http://www.hindustantimes.com/FullCoverage/FullCoverage.aspx?Special=Mumbaimolestation