Monday, February 19, 2007

Dark Side of The Moon

I must admit at first, that i am quite new to the Pink Floyd scene, and i should have let Neeraj write this first, as the numero uno Pink Fan here from our batch, and one of the lucky few attendees to have witnessed Roger Waters live at mumbai ( of course, we were there too). But as luck would have it, i am here on my computer while he is right now lounging at the Nirmal Lifestyle mall, so i get to write about it first.
So here goes. This Sunday, was the performance by Roger Waters. It was billed only Dark Side of the Moon, however he played a number of other songs too, most notably his own solo ones. Anyways, beginning from the beginning of the euphoric end, we as in myself and my roommate reached Bandra MMRDA grounds here and met up with Neeraj and his school freind who also had come for the show. having got in quite early we settled down to watch the show. There was no seating, but then seeing the no of speakers around and also the two large screens that would afford the veiw of the stage, we thought it would not be that bad. The show began band at 7 in the evening, with the band initially playing some jazz, and some retro and well as new-age indi pop. Simultaneously, ( and this we only realised a little later), the main screen on the stage showed a very old classic radio in a small room, complete with a bottle of whiskey and some cigarettes and an ash tray. ever so often, a hand would come and tune the radio, in sync with the change in the songs being played initially. and then it started, as in Roger Waters came on stage and started hi part. He had with him, one person on the drums, one on guitar and one on the saxophone alongwith three ladies who served as the chorus.
The performance began with some songs from "The wall-final cut". I had not heard most of these so could not connect with the lyrics though the music was awesome. of course the sound system featured the trademark sounds of planes and bombing and all. Then came the ever so longing " Shine on you crazy diamond", with pictures of Syd Barrett on the main screen. This screen served to really connect the songs with photos and shoots kinda portraying the mood of the song being played. So with every song you could literally feel it happening. "wish you were here" was good and so were the other songs. Another notable feature was the Pink Pig Baloon, which was kinda indianised, with graffiti mentioning stuff like " Do away with the cast system" as well as the usual " Bush must be impeached". Was good that one.
After about an hour and a half the group took a break for 15 minutes before coming back to playing what i had come for " Dark Side of the Moon". And were they good? Breathe simply took my breath away. So did the others "on the run", "time", " money" "Us and them" " Eclipse" etc. Their were some changes in the music, changes and enhancements that simply made the expereince a "wow". All the songs had the audience swaying from head to toe. and so did we. Having listened to this album, more than any other i really enjoyed each one of them. When the final words " theres no dark side of the moon, in fact its all dark" rang out, we thought it was over. But then as one of my seniors wo saw the same concert in the US had said, Roger Waters came back again to play " Another Brick in the Wall" and one more song before finally closing it out with " Comfortably Numb".
Was just amazing the show was. The only Disappointment? they should have allowed us to carry cameras, simple ones that is. I wanted to click so many snaps. Guess its time i got a mobile phone camera. Neeraj had one but due to lack of battery we could only take a couple of shots. Still all in all, a memorable expereince.

Random

No wonder i called this random paths. Look at the last two posts. One goes east the other west.

Life is Phoenix

I don't know why I have opened this document and what I am writing. Call it a multitude of things I want to right about, or call it a zero I have. But I just want to write something. There are different kinds of people in this world. Some who stay quiet, keep it all to themselves and move about with nothing but the fire raging within themselves. And there are those like me, who see no merit in keeping it to one's self, especially when it has no form ( which is the specific case with me). They take it out, examine it, turn it around, and view it from a kaleidoscope of emotions to see whether it makes sense. And if it does they see what to finally make of it. Guess both have their merits and demerits, but for my kind of people, what the world sees of us is as big show off kind of cribbers. I must say the former conform to a more courageous and better type, because they, in their silence are able to give form to the fire within and get something out of it. Its like how pressure and heat within the core of the earth's crust maketh a diamond. Release it out and all you have is a volcanic eruption which can do nothing but destroy everything around. Yeah destroy it does, but it does leave a fertile ground, with the lava sowing the seeds for a brighter future. The past however, is wiped out. Or so it seems. Because it keeps lurking right there, ready to spring upon you when you are not guarded.

Anyways, I actually am a big cribber. I do crib a lot about the situation around me. I keep analyzing and analyzing and over analyzing situations till they start to make a contorted sense which to me seems good. They did not say for nothing that I could make a good scriptwriter for one of those nonsense saas-bahu rhapsodies. That I am not one, is thankfully a good thing.

And today I am in a big mood to crib about everything. In fact no, I am in a big mood to crib about my own self. I somehow can't seem to understand what kind of an individual I am. I know it sounds strange from an individual who sometime back wrote something about how he was learning so many things especially after watching that movie by the name of Lakshya. But coming back to the man that I am, I am confused. Confused as to where I am headed. I take a decision and I am not able to reconcile everyone to it. I do things in full knowledge of the consequences and then crib when the consequences happen. Then why did I take the decision. If I am the one who continuously harps on being practical, then why do I follow myself to take a decision that somewhere is bolder, more ambitious and is perhaps not steeped in this thing called practicality? That emanates from a certain corner of the human anatomy which gives rise to the best and at times the worst of what they call emotions. That involves not me alone, but others around me too, other much better individuals in all sense of the word. Aah, practicality, now that's an interesting word. Years ago I remember, I used to keep doing strange things around me. I used to take strong stands, and when asked why I did not do it the practical way, I used to boast that only when you are impractical does change happen. Big words, I must say, but yeah I stated them. And no it was not only a boast, but a genuine belief in that statement. And yet today I harp on just the opposite. So what has changed the circumstances or me? Well, no points for guessing its me. In the crudest of the terms, I could say one tries to act like a chameleon because one wants to be practical. Well maybe I am one too.

And this word "practical" - its a beautiful word for people like the above, perhaps the weakest souls that roam on this earth. They just keep talking about how they want to do, what they want to do, and still find myself absolutely incapable of taking any direct step in a particular direction. So what they do is rely on time, and say that time and tide shall show where it all goes. And they keep harping on this silly thing called hope.

The other day I had an argument with a senior who said she would prefer calculated optimism based on proactive action to mere hope, which she likened to being the tool of a petty gamble. So am I a gambler? A gambler who put his odds on a bet, to see how it would turn, and now with almost all cards out, knows that his hope is not working out, and yet is waiting for someone like a Shakuni to throw in that heavily loaded dice that turns things in his favor. Again, it's like you cannot yourself load the dice, you have to rely on that someone else. And that someone never comes, and you keep hoping and cribbing about it, asking for time, which is always a precious quantity.

Spineless, gutless I must say. I hate em. I hate em like anything. They blabber to the world all the greatest philosophies in the world and when it comes to acting out on their own, they don't. All they do is keep waiting for that one instance. Which anyways doesn't come. Sometimes I like to ask, why do such people exist? Maybe its because the good lord has in his balance sheet a record of good and bad, and so that the good does increase so much as to become boring, they keep some of these souls. Guess finally they too have a purpose. They are actually not purposeless.

But something somewhere tells me, even these people one day turn to the other side. when they realise they do have some spine there, some gut there. maybe when the last feathers of the phoenix burn out the beginning cometh. See, there again i see hope.
Guess life is a phoenix.

Chaos

Thoughts

p.s. - this was written some time back. i just did not get the opportunity to post it

Its about half past twelve in the night and I have just got up after an
absolutely terrifying session of ‘The Omen’ on my laptop. Guess I am a
little late in watching this movie, but for its worth it, it was a
little scary. Of course at the mature ( I know some people would scoff
at that, but yeah I just realized I am 24 plus so I ought to be mature)
age I am, I should not be scared. Anyways, that’s not the point why I am
right now on the laptop. I have not been influenced by the devil to make
me stay awake when I should be snuggling into my blanket. It just so
happens that I am copying the movie lakshya onto my laptop and while it
gets copied I just decided to write something. Its been a while now.
This movie lakshya happens to be one of my favorite movies for a
different reason. The plot is set around the armed forces and for a
change they have stuck to the basics of an army life, without resorting
to a lot of rhetorics and mistakes ( colonel wearing a corporals uniform
and so on). The reason I like this movie, is because it makes me live
even if virtually, a life I dreamt of living as a kid, that of an army
officer. A dream that still refuses to go away, despite all the
practicalities of life that i am in. A dream, fresh from the eyes of a
star struck young boy, watching in awe those smartly dressed young men,
marching to the tune of Beating the retreat and numerous other parades,
the passing outs at the IMAs and the NDAs of the world and so on and so
forth. Of course what i am now, you wouldnt beleive an ounce of what i
said. Yepp, it is true however. I always did want to be one like those
brave souls. For some reason I don’t know, this movie does it all the
more, make me want to go there. Maybe it’s the music. I don’t know. An
army kid I have been all through, and now sometimes it just about feels
a little strange. I mean a couple of years from now, there would be none
of that life, that is once my dad retires. I know I would never have
been able to stay on as an army man for long ( atleast that’s what maa
has driven into me), yet that life has something in it.


Its been a rather long month this past one. Lots of happenings,
mishappenings and all. Office was never as hectic as has been past
month. And no I am not complaining. It feels good to have worked hard. I
was kind of very cozily settled into a rather mundane routine here in
my company. So for a change we really worked, nights, holidays, Sundays
and all. The whole also helped me get over some of the personal tensions
I had. Some failures I encountered. I must admit I am very bad when it
comes to losing. Or atleast I was till this time. I do claim I have
learnt to accept and go around searching ways to turn things around. But
yeah only time and a further setback will really tell whether I have
learnt. The process has been painful, for me yeah, but more so for my
loved ones, my parents, my sister and some of my closest pals, who bore
the brunt of my shall I say moods.

And now that I see it, I realize that always however big I consider my
problems to be they are always very small compared to what those around
me go through. The lord has been good to me all the way. And guess he
just wants me to get a little stronger and learn to fight out things. As
I see back I really have not fought much this while, with things very
much getting to me quickly.

Aah I like this song quite a lot. Ahem it’s a little censored coz it
talks about the sutta, and what happens when a smoker does not get his
daily dose of sutta. No am no smoker. But I like the music. I have
similar feelings for one another amazing song by the same group. Put it
on your laptop when you have a deadline to finish and you don’t have
time and everything is operating according to Murphy’s law. I swear this
one will help. It helps to channel the tension out. Try it. Oops, sorry
ladies this ones not for you though.

And in other news I am going to learn the salsa. Oh yeah I am , believe
it or not. I have bribed/cajoled/threatened a close friend of mine to
accept me as her partner. The only thing that remains is to make her
sign the consequential damages clause with me. You see I do like to
“throw my weight around”. So that risk needs to be covered. And my
friend she happens to be a good lawyer so I need to be careful.

Hmm, a lot of thoughts completely unconnected to each other, what say?.
I could go on. But ill stop here. More next time when I really have
something to write on. In fact I do have, but don’t know how to put it.


chaos