Flying in a blue dream...

Future's above, but in the past he's slow and sinking...

Something happened recently, which hasn't happened in a long long time. Since i left Bangalore actually. Or maybe even before that. I dont know. But it was something that brought back a host of memories.
I went to a rock show after a loooong time. And no I am not talking about a Roger Waters/Joe Satriani/Mark Knopfler kinda professional concert. What i am talking about is one of the regular college band kinda concerts where you are witness to the regular antics. Man, it was sooo good to be back at a show after aeons. And the best part was that not much has changed. See, if you go to a such a show, then there are few things that you would expect to see. These are things that "complete" the experience and make you feel really at home. Without these sights and sounds, no show is complete. Let me elaborate:

1. Ok, 80% of the people at such a show have to wear Slayer/Nirvana/Cannibal Corpse t-shirts. It doesn't matter if they cant differentiate between "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or "Reign in Blood" but they have to armed with their T-shirts which they pretend have been part of their skin since their birth. Come to think most of the time it smells like that too. These are the bunch, who would much rather be sitting at home and watching India beat the shit out of Zimbabwe at the cricket, but what the hell, there is a concert happening in the city and they "have" to be there.

2. Then there are those who land at a concert right out of a Gujarati wedding. Miniscule in their numbers, they are easily recognized by their tight pants, orange shirts, big leather shoes and pepsi bandanas. They came to the show hoping to hear some "Bryans Adam" or "Michael Learning to Rock" or "to check out some babes" but when the bands start playing the Sepultura covers, these guys are generally seen heading for some cover wondering what hit them. The initial wincing at the loud noise is generally followed by a quick glance around to see what the crowd around them is doing. This is then followed by quick short bursts of head banging, but one look at the mosh pit, leaves them scurrying back to their mummies or worse still to the neighbourhood clothing store for the Slayer/Nirvana/Cannibal Corpse t-shirt.

3. Another category of people seen at a concert are the next higher grade in the rock fandom heirarchy. These are the people who have by now figured out their Metallica from their Korn. These people are easily recognized by their loud cheers when some lousy wankers on stage want to play covers of Creed's "With Arms wide open". They have realised that Slayer/Nirvana/Cannibal Corpse t-shirts are generally looked down on upon by the high priests of the metal fandom and have graduated to a Dimmu Borgir/Burzum/Dream Theater or Slipknot t-shirts. But come the time when some band actually plays a DT or Slipknot cover, these guys are generally seen asking the high priests of the metal fandom, "This one sounds really familiar. Which song is this?"

4. The guys who have come with their fragile damsels to the concert, obviously because they have to be seen at all the happening dos in the city. Irrespective of which category they individually belong to, these guys are more often than not seen
a. Getting pepsi for their girls
b. Making space for their girls so that the girl can get a better view of the stage
c. Lighting a fag and then proceeding to show the girl how to take her first few drags.
d. Accompanying the girl back out during the middle of the show, when she gets a headache because of all the smoke,dust,loud music or when she's plain bored.

These guys are generally looked upon with great envy by the other categories of the concert goers because they have the women with them. However, they are also the most obvious choice to be the butt of all jokes because they have the women with them.

5. Next are the high priests of the metal fandom. These are the guys who are generally seen helping the big bands carry their gear or adjusting the bass pedals for the big band's drummer. Their are more often not the best source for weed in a concert, but you have to be in their clique to source it from them. Long hair are an absolute must to join this entourage as is the ability to be able to know some, if not all, of the following guys:
a. Count Grishnack
b. Abaddon
c. Mortiis
d. Lord Ahriman
e. Satyr

What will really get you there is if you can get a wicked grin every time you here these names, get your devil's horns finger salute up and go "yeeaaaaahhh" ever so slowly.
These guys are more often seen scowling cuz they dont like one inch of the commercial shit they are hearing on stage at the moment. However, they are also known to indulge in moments of extreme physical activity the moment they hear one of their fav songs and indulge in a variant of the good old game called "Dodgeball" wherein one of the Guju wedding newbie mentioned in point 2 becomes the ball.

6. Rarely seen are the ex-high priests of metal fandom who have now had their fair share of the use/abuse by the big bands and grace only the big shows in their city where there are people who still remember them. They talk to most of the lead singers on a first name basis but come to listen to only a particular band and disappear the moment the band has finished playing only to be found at the closest watering hole gulping down their day's dosage of alcohol.

7. Obviously you also see a lot of band members at such concerts. But there are 2 types of bands at such concerts. One are the big bands and the other are bigger bands cuz none of the bands are obviously small time. Now the bigger bands are easily recognized by the fact that they are generally the last bands to play at any concert and more often than not their soundcheck outlasts their actually setlist. These guys are the masters of the sudden appearance act. Right from the beginning of the concert you will be hearing rumours of how so-and-so band's gonna be playing at the concert and how they are already here. But nobody, and i mean nobody will ever see them, till right before their timeslot when they will calmly step up on stage and do their thing. The big bands on the other hands are generally seen headbanging their ass off when one of the bigger bands comes on stage, typically on the side of the stage and never among the general masses. This big bands are also more often than not the ones who are seen swearing at the sound engineers ( well i cant quite get the right word for these guys cuz i have never seen a sound engineer at an indian concert look like a sound engineer . He more often than not, looks illiterate to me.) and perenially asking for some monitor or the other to be turned up.

8. The last bunch of people are the old fogies who land up there after they find out about such shows and actually manage to find company to land up at such dos. They are also known to write satires about the people they saw at the concert when they themselves have been, at some point or the other, a part of one or more of the above mentioned categories.

Ok now to the actual concert. Like I said, since it had been a long time since i had been to one, it actually took me some time to figure out where i was cuz i had never seen soooo many women at a shady rock concert ever. I dont think i have seen so many women in Hyderabad ever also, but lets leave that to some other post someday. It was a different matter that most of them had their smokes out and were wearing pink/green/light blue ( who the fuck wears those colors to a rock show!!) and were busy looking here and there to see who was looking at them. The music was quite bad frankly, i mean i have heard better shows in Manipal for chrissakes. Most the vocalists were just soooooo one-dimensional. I mean come on, if your covering Metallica or Megadeth, then you obviously cannot have Chris Barnes like growls in the song now can you. Most of the rhythms were louder than the lead guitars for some strange reason. And man i must have heard atleast 4 covers of Sepultura's "Territory" each one worse than the other. And where the hell were the college rock fests anthems that i grew up on. No "Paranoid". No RATM. No "Sweet Child o' mine". Though there was one band that made my entire trip worthwhile. These guys were called Cynapse and where from Bangalore( where else!!) and played some tight ass Slipknot and Korn covers. They had a kickass drummer who specialised in Lars Ulrich type facial contortions. And more importantly, they had a great sound setup wherein each instrument could be heard clearly. And man their entire act had sooooo much energy!! The last time i saw so much energy on stage must have been at a PDV show. Their lead singer was a livewire and got the whole crowd really involved in the show. They'll go places i am sure, well the places being all those places that all the bigger bands in India land up after sometime. Really sometimes i soooo miss attending some of these college rock shows that i used to attend earlier. I dont think i missed too many of them during college and man i have seen some good shows. I mean there are good bands but they dont always peform at their best at all their dos. But then there will be one night when everything will come together for them and they will give a kickass performance. Here are some that come to my mind:

1. Bangalore Institute of Technology, 99-00 sometime. That was the first time i saw Kryptos on stage and man that day they rocked. What a fucking show they put on with Ganesh at his absolute best. "Forgotten land of ice" , "Mark of Cain", "Descension" and their cover of "Riders on the storm" . Woo fucking hoo!

2. NLS, 99. That was the first time i saw Siddharth Naidu on stage with his band Threnody. Kreator's "Golden Age", "Disembodiment", Metallica's " Sad but True". I was in awe of the guy for days. Especially after he gave some dope to Saigo after the show *wink*

3. Mood Indigo, 2000. Late night show after the prelims got delayed and had to be moved to some lawn infront of some god forsaken hostel. At around 12 am came this band called "Mother's of F". One casually dressed guy with a sweatshirt and a baseball cap called Jatin introduced the band and then launched into RATM covers doing both, yes both, the guitars as well as the vocals. "Killing in the name of", "People of the sun", " Bulls on Parade". Never seen better RATM covers. Ever.

4. Palace Grounds, 2002 maybe. That was the first time i saw the Vedic metallers "Rudra" live. The tightest set i have seen till date. One really small show with less than 100 people and the menacing band at its absolute best. I remember the show ended with some Sanskrit chants at the end. I had goosebumps for the next 2 hours i think.

5. Manipal, 2001-2 i think. Saigo and Akshay Rao's band( were they called Schwarzchild's radius then??) played "Stairway to Heaven" and "Comfortably Numb" i think. Both the guys were in their elements that day and that was a dreamy show.( Brokentooth, dude remember that night ?? :-) )

6. Freedom Jam,2003. That show will be in my mind for totally dubious reasons, but that was also the time i saw the last performance(i think!) of a really gifted guy. Sajid covered "Flying in a Blue Dream" to the hilt and i remember thinking that it would be the best live performance that i would ever see of that song. Well it turned out to be quite the case, cuz i missed the Joe Satriani show. Sajid was such a humble stud.

Man, those were some of the best days.

Current Music: Godsmack - Bad Religion

posted by Nitish @ 2:27 AM Comments: 13

Speechless!

Ok now that i am over my post-Himalaya-partum depression(..well almost!) maybe i can write about it a little. My trip was a 4 day affair wherein i visited 2 places, Binsar and Chaukauri. Binsar and Chaukauri are at approximately the same height of almost 2300 mts above sea level ( just as a frame of reference, Mt. Everest is at 8800 mts.), the only difference between the 2 places being that Chaukauri is 25km from Nanda Devi, the 4th highest peak in the world while Binsar is 35 km away. However, Binsar, which is situated in the midst of the Binsar wildlife sanctuary is atleast 4-5 degrees cooler then Chaukauri because of the heavy vegetation around the place.
The whole area is blessed with a panoramic view of 400 km of the Himalayan mountain range with the major visible peaks being Nanda Devi, Trishul and the Panchachuli peaks. But, its tough to define the feeling when you see this majestic range standing right in front of you with awning acres of snow on them. The best season to go to this area is late October and early November where in the weather is the clearest and the mountains have a substantial ice cover.
Travelling through the region is restricted to taxis on primarily potholes masquerading as roads. However, what gives you the will to get through the drives are the awesome views that you come across while on these drives. The roads have been carved out of these mountain peaks and more often the not, one side of the road while be a steep rock face atleast 50 feet high covered with foliage. Its a sight that one has to see to believe. The sun's game of hide and seek with the plantlife is aided by these rock walls, with some regions of the road never ever seeing sunshine and being permanently covered by mist and fog as a result.
What hits you first when you reach Binsar is the desolation! There is hardly a human in sight for miles. The trails and paths of Binsar are a veritable treasure trove for nature lovers like myself with abundant birds and views to keep you engrossed for hours. This region also posses some quaint little houses which make our concrete laden monstrosities pale in comparison. Binsar also possess the highest view point in the entire Kumaon region which is called, quite ironically, Zero Point which situated at a height of 8000 feet above sea level. The 50 feet high iron tower situated here is not for the faint hearted but the views from it are simply fabulous. This is easily the best point in the entire region to catch the sunrise , the extremely low temperatures at the apex notwithstanding. The sunrise is the philosopher's gold of the mountains, no visit to the mountains being complete without it. Seeing the sky change its colors as the sun continues its dance behind the mountains is something that will remain with me forever. I tried to capture some of it on camera, but what i got was a fraction compared to the real thing. The 4:30 am trek for the sunrise view from Zero Point with Raju Guide(!!!) was made a whole lot more exciting by a scampering visit by a leopard(there are 16 of them in the Binsar region). It was too quick for me to capture on camera but i think if the leopard wants to remain incognito then the least i could do was to respect that. One of my afternoons, was spent with a cowherd who took me along a trail along with his 17 cows to a quaint temple by a brook and a field. No! I am not making this up. And at the end of this small excursion, all i had give him was a warm smile and a polite " Thank you". He parted ways by telling me how i seemed a little different from all the other city people he had seen cuz firstly, i had the courage to go up and down a trail which i obviously didnt know and secondly, because i wasnt drunk and abusive like the last bunch of city youths he had given directions to. I dont think my "apologies" for my ilk would have made a difference.
The nights in Binsar, brought with them darkness.....cuz there's no electricity in the entire region. I dont know why, but it also spread a blanket of tranquility which enveloped the resort, lulling the place to sleep by 8 pm. The night brought with it, the cold which penetrates to your very bones and makes any physical activity, other than chattering teeth, virtually impossible.
Chaukauri on the other hand presents you with plains full of lush fields wherein you can lie and gaze at the peaks. The place is full of all the modern amenities like cable and electricity so i wont talk about it much, but it does offer some wonderful treks which are worth considering.

In this post I am also providing a link to some of the photos that i took while in Binsar. My digicam conked out after 2 days and i had to subsist on film rolls after that so posting them would take some time, so for the time being i can only tempt you with some sunrises, some sunsets, a few clouds and a whole bunch of colors. The sunrise, wherein the sun's rays slowly bathe the peaks from head to toe, are also something that i have tried to capture, but its incomparable to the real scene.

The pics are located here .

Current Music : The Dark Aeons - Plan 9

posted by Nitish @ 3:42 AM Comments: 5

Can i hide beside you, maybe for a while...

I come back from heaven back to reality to realise that nothing much ever changes. You still have to see people be the jerks that they always are. Life still treats you like her foster child with nothing but a pillow made of concrete for comfort.
You know its a trip like this that makes me realise, what a useless concept this whole "rat race" is? Sometimes i wonder how would you explain the concept of this "rat race" to the people of the Himalayan villages, ensconced in their own little world, the fundamentals of which are pretty much limited to being content with what you have. I think they'll just laugh in your face and ask you to join them for a cup of tea.
Sometimes, i would like to find the philosopher you gave us the concept of wanting beyond our needs and rip him apart with my bare hands. But then thats not the solution now is it?

Current Music : Dream Theater - The Root of All Evil

posted by Nitish @ 12:21 AM Comments: 4

Breathe on sister,breathe on..

My earliest memories of Paharganj are of a hustling, bustling marketplace, choc-a-bloc with people round the year which my father and i visited once in the distant past to purchase crackers for Diwali. It remains in my mind as some sort of legendary marketplace, like how Da Gama would have described India to his people, a place where one could purchase almost anything and come back home satisfied with a good bargain.
Sarojini Nagar on the other hand was a true middle class market where me and my extended family would often shop looking for great value for money deals. I remember the Diwali crackers that i bought from there when some of my fathers friends had put up a shop, i remember coming home loaded with bags and bags of those goodies. It was my last minute college shopping haven, the place where i could get all the trendy stuff for 1/4th the price. It is the place where my mother purchases all her Diwali diyas and candles to this day. You couldnt beat Sarojini Nagar for the deals that it gave you.
And now I will also remember these two places for these god forsaken blasts. The blasts which killed 50 people, most of whom were the poor peasants who had come from places as far as Mathura, to earn the extra Diwali money, by setting up roadside stalls in these markets. The blasts which shook up a city for whom Diwali is so much more than a festival. The blasts which broke the spirit of the people at a time when they give up all their worries to truly immerse themselves in a spirit that is all about light, warmth and togetherness.
It surprises me how much resilience this city has, how much this city can take. Its been raped, pilaged and mutilated by a multitude of looters right throughout history. Timur and Nadir Shah treated her as her most defiled whore, taking from her all that she had to offer. The British put her in chains and made her their puppet. Sanjay and Indira treated her as their own guinea pig where they unleashed all their vile designs in the name of national emergency. The terrorists, who came in many a garb, be it the Khalistanis or the Kashmiris, have continued to try and take the life out of this city. And now this. It just makes me wonder, isn't our land really cursed ?
Its a pity that when i was leaving for Delhi, last Friday, i had thought that from there i would put up a post that would try and put in to words all that Dilli and Diwali means to me. This is all i can come up with at the moment.
Why?

Current Music : Portishead - Melody

posted by Nitish @ 11:53 PM Comments: 5