[smile to my face, now that this is public]

lqtm

from here.

Let me write you a letter anyway.

I haven't written on a laptop so long, at first it feels like I can't remember the spelling of some words. And I keep hitting the keys wrong.
But slowly, the old movements come back, almost natural, like I was born with the knowledge of typing.

I mean, coding isn't even proper typing. It's more peering at the screen and writing the same things again and again. Bothersome.

How are you? I'd love to sit with you someday over coffee and generally, y'know, talk.
I'd rather you wrote back to me though. I like what you write.

It rained last evening at about 11-ish. Rained for about an hour. We somewhat got caught in it on the way to Firangi Pani, where everyone sang the same old songs, did the same old things, and generally drank silly.
The usual.
But like a genius, I stood back, didn't drink, put on the ipod, and started playing one song again and again. And this one song, playing loudly and not being able to hear anyone around you, suddenly separates you from the rest of the room. It's incredible, that feeling. It's almost like you're invisible. It then hits you how loud music and dim lighting affect people.

Firstly, nobody's noticing you walking around. They're all either talking in close quarters with someone, or staring at their glasses. And it's so dark, I probably seem blurry to them unless they're anyway looking in my direction. But nobody cares.
Also, the music in my ears meant it seemed like silence, like white noise. Because they obviously can't hear what I'm hearing, we're both inside silence.

I took the earphones off and the feeling of moulding back with the real world flooded me. The way the people were bobbing their head explained itself. Everyone seems to catch the beat and rock their body to it. Fascinating.

I lied, by the way.I did have something to drink. R_ offered me half a beer at the sports bar, but it's true I didn't pay for it.

Anyway. Nobody noticed when I disappeared for a full 10 minutes.

I went back out into the rain.

It was incredible.

I love last.fm

Mostly because it makes me feel so elitist.
Have you discovered last.fm yet> It's awesome. Go, now.

[yes I know I haven't been blogging. screw the excuses. here, random conversation with favorite cousin]

akshata: eureka eureka

akshata nayak: yeh hai basti badmaashon ki

Sunil: ?

akshata: i fit into my pants

i fit into my pants

Sunil: :O congrats!

akshata: i have not eaten yet today dont know if that has anything to do with it

ill starve myself

but oh my god

i fit into my pants!

Sunil: would you like a medal? I think the situation calls for it.

akshata: im not down to the size i wanna be yet

so we will hold on to that medal and wait

for another quarter century to pass by

by then ill be old

Sunil: but thin!

akshata: so ill be on my way to shrinking in size any way

Sunil: awesome.

I'm so proud of you.

I think I'll blog this conversation right now.

akshata: fuck off

:P

Goa, surathkal, manipal

...were all fucking amazing.

OMG 3 day hangover. Nggh.

jam session ahead

Heading home this weekend, which is neatly coinciding with my college culfest Incident. [I hate the muzak OST at their site, makes it sound like doubleX porn]. So, I've decided to take the guitar and unit along, and will walk in the campus till someone recognizes me and shoves me into the band room.

Atleast that's the plan :)

I'll take photos at the fest anyway, and show you all.

PS- Any KRECians who read this and want to meet up for a beer, lemme know. Buzz me on 9989068493

bend

My baby Rubina's on my mind, in my fingers, she's all I can think of.

[after 5 mins on the graphic tablet that I haven't touched in so long]

*sigh*

So funny my folks can be :)

So I'm back from the US, and am 'in between' houses right now. Which is to say, while the new house is getting readied, I'm staying with my favorite women, the trio at Banjara Hills. They stay in the most fabulous penthouse overlooking the city with a clear view of the moon from the bar counter. Quite pretty. And I love them to bits, they've welcomed me completely (as long as I keep playing them tunes on the LP, opening doors for them and protect them from leering guys at the pubs we frequent. Which is a good arrangement I think :) So anyway, I'm speaking to my folks and my Mom's freaking out.
"So you're staying with 3 women?"
Yes ma.
"Mmm ok. Isn't one these women the one you had a thing for a while ago?"
Something like that, yes ma.
"And you're moving into a place by yourself?"
Yes ma.
"Alone?"
Yes ma.
"Are you sure?"
Yes ma.
"Why?"
? Doesn't everybody want to?
"Mmm"
...
"So who're you moving into the new place with?"
Ma, I just told you. Alone.
"Haan, just tell me her name"
Ma!
"No it's ok even if it's one of them. Just tell name no"
Ma!

Bloody depressing when the truth is exactly like I'm saying. I'm single, and I don't like it.

Dad is tripping, of course. His son is hanging out with women, and his life long fear that his son is a poof is slowly fading away.
"Yay son, female hormones!"
Dad!

I have this story about Dad that I tell everyone to explain the kind of person he is with me. It's set around '95-'96. I'm still a fan of shorts and TMNT. This day's the day when a girl calls my house for the first time. Dad picks up the phone (this is way before the cordless phone days), the girl asks for me politely and sweetly. Dad passes the phone on to me, goes and sits in his corner cane chair. The conversation I have with the girl is mundane, something about classwork or something. I put the phone down and Dad calls me to the corner.

"Sit down"
[sat]
"So, a girl called you?"
Yes dad.
"Hmm. Classwork?"
Yes dad.
"So you like girls?"
Mmm yes dad.
"You don't like boys no?"
No dad.
[patting me on the back and giving me a satisfied smile]"Gooooood boy"

:) I have funny parents.

liquid

[at vijeth's place]

heading back

Packing up, heading back to India in a few hours. Mp3man's filled with loads of new stuff, bag packed, ready to go. Been a great trip professionally, and personally while my life as usual came to a standstill while I was here, managed to score a sweet guitar, so yay.

See you on the other side, woohoo.

#600

"Where you going?"
"Well, I don't have any specific destination in mind, I'm just gonna go till I run out of places to go."

[quote from the new Wong Kar Wai flick, My Blueberry Nights]

To all the women in my life. Mom, aunts, cousins, girlfriends, chicks, buddies, lovers, missed connections, goddesses, bitches, all of you. Thank you for being there when you were, and leaving when you had to. Happy Valentine's Day.

[just repeating what I said last year]

"I hereby disown my unpopular child (loved least, it seems, by those whose careers it gave a massive boost, but that's another bunch of gripes altogether). Oh, I still think it's a good idea in theory--it's just the praxis that's left me cold these last eighteen months. Too much post-rock fails to supply what people get from trad rock (iconicity/iconoclasm, charisma/neurosis, big riffs, catharsis, meaning, something to look at on stage, tunes you can hum in the bath), without ever really rivaling what dance music offers either (kinaesthetic kicks, hedonic science, surrogate drug-sensations). The most adventurous post-rock types --your Techno-Animals, Thomas Koners/Porter Ricks's and Third Eye Foundations--have gone all the way into the studio-bound aesthetics of hip hop/techno/house/jungle, and abandoned the live-performance model altogether. The rest of the post-rock fraternity (and you can count the number of women involved on one hand) have remained stuck in a profitless intermediary zone, a sort of mildly dub-inflected math-rock. (And math-rock really is rock with all its good points removed -- prog rock with the grandeur stunted, punk without the visceral release)."
[Simon Reynolds, "Overrated Records/Artists/Phenomena of 1997."]

Weekend CD Haul

Already had these on MP3, wanted CDs, got.

Kasabian - Kasabian
Limp Bizkit - Significant Other
Soundgarden - Down On The Upside
Linkin Park - Meteora
Temple Of The Dog - Temple Of The Dog
Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
Screaming Trees - Dust
Pearl Jam - Jeremy EP
Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown
Bush - Zen X Four
Staind - Break The Cycle
Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E
Remy Zero - The Golden Hum
Phil Collins - Both Sides
Stabbing Westward - Stabbing Westward

A grand total of 65$ :)