This is a long due review, views; call it whatever! Swarathma, an Indian contemporary folk fusion band as they call themselves, have, are and will be carrying with themselves a huge fan following. Unfortunately, I’ve seen them perform live only once but hear them virtually everyday!
The band members are as follows:
• Vasu Dixit - Vocals, acoustic guitar
• Jishnu Dasgupta - Bass, backing vocals
• Varun - Guitars, backing vocals
• Montry Manuel – Drums
• Pavan Kumar – Percussions
• Sanjeev Nayak – Violins
As mere listeners when we watch a show, we generally concentrate on that one person who is the pick of the day or the one who is at his/her best on a given day, but Swarathma is one group loaded with talent in each of the members. The team is packed with some astounding energy whether it’s the start of the show or the fag end!
First impression is the best they say, and Swarathma has vowed their performance by this. Their presentation skills in terms of clothing, marketing, music which is of utmost importance is utterly professional. I have always noticed this in most bands: each of them standing in their fixed positions, concentrating on their instruments alone. Only the lead singer is all over the stage filling in some life. This was the case in the recent rock show I was witness to that too a leading band in India.
However, Swarathma impressed me on this note too! Vasu and Jishnu were on fire, involving all the musicians, the listeners and virtually the bartender too! To top it all, Montry the drummer on a different league altogether! He was so involved, it was all emanating on his face! Thorough enjoyment I must say! Personally, my favourite was Sanjeev on the violins! Bald men always thrill me ;) But then his music spoke for himself. He and Varun looked composed and let their music speak.
Coming to their songs, Yeshu Allah aur Krishna, Jaana Kahaan hai mujhe, Ee Bhoomi, Topiwalleh, Tibet and Pyaasi are my top favourites. Their lyrics are simple, refreshing and mirror their thoughts. The use of classical instruments like the Khanjiri sure blends its way with the other western instruments and is quite pleasing to the ear.
I’ve said all good things till now. Time for some suggestions! When it comes to another genre, say classical music; there are tons of compositions. So a musician has a choice of presenting different songs every concert. However, bands like these have to continually innovate, create new songs, not just for an album but for their performance galore! Right now, Topiwalleh and Tibet are the latest additions, but 3 or 4 concerts later, though their present numbers are crowd pullers, more will be expected of them. This is purely my view and many may beg to differ. Nevertheless, considering their talent, I am pretty sure they are capable of belting out new compositions every month :)
Lastly, I hope the team sticks together as many bands these days, once making it big generally tend to disintegrate and the initial spark is totally lost. So, a big hope that they hold on strong at least for their fans! Oh yes! Another thing! A small search on each of the members reveal that one is an XLRI pass out, one is as young as 21 years of age and so on. It really feels nice that even after big accomplishments, these guys are getting to pursue their passion. Some sincerity towards music for sure!
In their recent update I read they felt on top of the world to be sharing the stage with India’s top rock bands; the day is not far off when other up and coming bands will feel the same with Swarathma themselves! You rock guys!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Menacing auto-rickshaws and their drivers!
I was writing my internals in class, when I heard one of my juniors, in her last round of Ms Personality, giving her thoughts on auto drivers outside college. What a question to ask I wondered.
The girl ranted her frustration about how the ‘ever-ready to pounce’ drivers waited for a smart Carmelite to pick their vehicle. And also about how they’d charge insane rates in spite of flaunting their latest electronic meters! Guess its Chennai for them!
I could not agree better with that girl. I actually stopped writing and listened to her vent out. I have taken the autos several times outside college and each one of them has a link of sorts. Some will go only to Malleshwaram, some to MG Road and so on. Each driver has his choice of saying yes or no, but here it’s all fixed in advance. Worse of it all, these guys don’t even bother waiting to be approached. Like tourist guides, they leap on the poor girls.
In my previous blogs, I have also mentioned about the insane, unscrupulous behaviour by these drivers. Obviously I cannot generalise, but I am sure 8 out of 10 drivers are out there to jut their necks out of the vehicle to eye at women, whether decently clad or otherwise. A bus ahead of them, two-wheelers on either side, cars behind; who cares! The road belongs to him and he can, at his whim, change directions on a busy road. The indicator will show right, and he alarmingly, to others mind you, will take a left with ease. Worse of it all, no indicators at times!
There are honest drivers as I said. At 5 in the morning, I urgently needed to get to the hospital and the nice chap was ready to drop me for free! On the contrast, I had this jaw-dropping experience. I returned from Chennai one morning at around 4:30. The auto driver demanded 50% extra of what the meter showed and I willingly accepted as these are the norms in Bangalore. A 4 km ride from the Bangalore Bus Stand, I was not even half way and the meter sped its away much faster than the driver’s himself!!! What I was to pay at my destination was already on the meter. I picked up a fight instantly. His answer was startling. “Madam, you belong to Bangalore is it? I thought you belonged to Chennai. Anyway people there pay much more, so big deal! Since you speak the local language and seem like one among us, pay whatever the right amount is.”
For a second I did not know how to react. “What about people from other states man? They just get tricked is it?” was my question. His answer was a menacing smile! I was more than happy to just get home safely. Who knows what else they’d do if I belonged to another state!
Moving on, politically too, auto drivers are here to create some trouble. I can never forget the day when Kannada’s biggest film star passed away and these auto drivers created such a drama and actually shut down shops all the way. The shouting and the lunacy is hard to forget.
On October 12, there was an auto strike which on peacefully I must say. They were against the government because the latter wanted a change of colour of the vehicles from black-yellow to green! There were some who still came on to the roads and charged phenomenally high rates, but otherwise it was a peaceful strike.
On October 16, a newspaper carried an article saying that the government ordered to check for the reduction in pollution rates in two major areas in the city where the number of autos operating is large. And as expected, following were the results:
Sulphur di oxide reduced by 29%, oxides of nitrogen by 59%, oxides of carbon by 33% at the city station alone! The article further went on to mention the various impacts it will have on health. Lastly, it was written that most autos in the city, about 65,000 in number are two-stroke vehicles, which have incomplete combustion thereby causing pollution. If they are replaced to four-stroke vehicles, the amount of pollution will apparently come down.
Frankly, with all the pollution and the agony the drivers and their vehicles are causing, the number of vehicles must slowly be reduced. Yes, I agree many people in this city do not prefer using public transport and rely upon autos but then with all these ill-effects, I am sure people can shift to another mode and with the arrival of the metro, however late, people have options.
On the employment side, these drivers may be taught to drive larger vehicles and may be given employment in other sectors. Many drivers still feel they lost out on education and with so many plans to help the under-privileged, the government could fund for the families at least till they complete a level of education where they can get decent jobs.
Thoughts beget reality! Maybe these little thoughts may provide fodder to those who read these articles and are in a position to make that change!
The girl ranted her frustration about how the ‘ever-ready to pounce’ drivers waited for a smart Carmelite to pick their vehicle. And also about how they’d charge insane rates in spite of flaunting their latest electronic meters! Guess its Chennai for them!
I could not agree better with that girl. I actually stopped writing and listened to her vent out. I have taken the autos several times outside college and each one of them has a link of sorts. Some will go only to Malleshwaram, some to MG Road and so on. Each driver has his choice of saying yes or no, but here it’s all fixed in advance. Worse of it all, these guys don’t even bother waiting to be approached. Like tourist guides, they leap on the poor girls.
In my previous blogs, I have also mentioned about the insane, unscrupulous behaviour by these drivers. Obviously I cannot generalise, but I am sure 8 out of 10 drivers are out there to jut their necks out of the vehicle to eye at women, whether decently clad or otherwise. A bus ahead of them, two-wheelers on either side, cars behind; who cares! The road belongs to him and he can, at his whim, change directions on a busy road. The indicator will show right, and he alarmingly, to others mind you, will take a left with ease. Worse of it all, no indicators at times!
There are honest drivers as I said. At 5 in the morning, I urgently needed to get to the hospital and the nice chap was ready to drop me for free! On the contrast, I had this jaw-dropping experience. I returned from Chennai one morning at around 4:30. The auto driver demanded 50% extra of what the meter showed and I willingly accepted as these are the norms in Bangalore. A 4 km ride from the Bangalore Bus Stand, I was not even half way and the meter sped its away much faster than the driver’s himself!!! What I was to pay at my destination was already on the meter. I picked up a fight instantly. His answer was startling. “Madam, you belong to Bangalore is it? I thought you belonged to Chennai. Anyway people there pay much more, so big deal! Since you speak the local language and seem like one among us, pay whatever the right amount is.”
For a second I did not know how to react. “What about people from other states man? They just get tricked is it?” was my question. His answer was a menacing smile! I was more than happy to just get home safely. Who knows what else they’d do if I belonged to another state!
Moving on, politically too, auto drivers are here to create some trouble. I can never forget the day when Kannada’s biggest film star passed away and these auto drivers created such a drama and actually shut down shops all the way. The shouting and the lunacy is hard to forget.
On October 12, there was an auto strike which on peacefully I must say. They were against the government because the latter wanted a change of colour of the vehicles from black-yellow to green! There were some who still came on to the roads and charged phenomenally high rates, but otherwise it was a peaceful strike.
On October 16, a newspaper carried an article saying that the government ordered to check for the reduction in pollution rates in two major areas in the city where the number of autos operating is large. And as expected, following were the results:
Sulphur di oxide reduced by 29%, oxides of nitrogen by 59%, oxides of carbon by 33% at the city station alone! The article further went on to mention the various impacts it will have on health. Lastly, it was written that most autos in the city, about 65,000 in number are two-stroke vehicles, which have incomplete combustion thereby causing pollution. If they are replaced to four-stroke vehicles, the amount of pollution will apparently come down.
Frankly, with all the pollution and the agony the drivers and their vehicles are causing, the number of vehicles must slowly be reduced. Yes, I agree many people in this city do not prefer using public transport and rely upon autos but then with all these ill-effects, I am sure people can shift to another mode and with the arrival of the metro, however late, people have options.
On the employment side, these drivers may be taught to drive larger vehicles and may be given employment in other sectors. Many drivers still feel they lost out on education and with so many plans to help the under-privileged, the government could fund for the families at least till they complete a level of education where they can get decent jobs.
Thoughts beget reality! Maybe these little thoughts may provide fodder to those who read these articles and are in a position to make that change!
Friday, October 9, 2009
An ode to the best cricket writer under the sun...Miss you Periapps!
Some people walk into our lives like breeze but my Periapps (periappa in Tamil, means uncle) replaced the word ‘breeze’ with ‘smoke’! The smell of the special rum-mixed tobacco still lingers on…
At an age where most teens are influenced by power, name and style, I was awe-struck by this old man exactly 40 years older than I was. He walked into my home wanting to rekindle a lost relationship and that very relationship turned into a life changing bond for me.
People across the world know him as the veteran cricket journalist, Rajan Bala. To me, he was my beloved Periapps and will remain so forever. We’d fondly call him ‘the sitting encyclopedia’. Why? He was not only the best cricket writer but by far the most well read man on the planet! From Alexander to Vikram Seth, he’d read it all and would still bemuse us all when he said he’d not read enough!
If I cried over ‘Love in the time of Cholera’, it was courtesy him, if I smiled coyly over ‘Kamasutra’, it was again ‘cause of him, anger ‘cause of ‘Macbeth’, reason being he again. My first glass of Chardonnay was not with my ‘flavour of the season’ but with my own Periapps.
The old man changed many lives and my metamorphosis to being a changed young lady was thanks to this sharp, smart, smooth man alright! Oh! The 3 S’s reminds me of his early morning 3 S’s again: Shit, Shave, and Shampoo! Even if he was running a temperature, he’d never fail to have a shave! Any man walking into office with sneakers on was an obtuse, mentally retarded twit! MRTP, he’d call them!
I once remember him telling me, “Kitty, place your derrière on the couch” (French word for the backside). The novice I kept looking behind me to find what ever he was mentioning to be placed!!! The laughs galore… Learning never ceased then on. New words, books everyday! The stern Periapps when I’d be lazy and not willing to learn anything, the fun Periapps when we’d catch up for lunch almost everyday, the drunk Periapps along with his equally drunk niece… You’ll be missed like crazy Periapps.
His trademark pipes and customized tobacco was a prized possession and I was allowed to smoke it once. It’s an art which the old man had mastered. He was class personified from cigars he smoked to the rum he drowned himself into. A Bala trait which even the second generation has not failed to amass.
He was known to be very upfront and wrote what he wished to. Not many had this trait. Periapps lived life exactly the way he wished to but could’ve left the world in style. But he still got what he wanted: Dressed him up in an impeccable suit, his favourite Titan watch, a copy of 20000 leagues under the sea, his array of pipes with his pipe bag.
Wish I could write more… but some memories, silly or otherwise remain forever. I’ll miss you for life Periapps. Love you loads. RIP.
At an age where most teens are influenced by power, name and style, I was awe-struck by this old man exactly 40 years older than I was. He walked into my home wanting to rekindle a lost relationship and that very relationship turned into a life changing bond for me.
People across the world know him as the veteran cricket journalist, Rajan Bala. To me, he was my beloved Periapps and will remain so forever. We’d fondly call him ‘the sitting encyclopedia’. Why? He was not only the best cricket writer but by far the most well read man on the planet! From Alexander to Vikram Seth, he’d read it all and would still bemuse us all when he said he’d not read enough!
If I cried over ‘Love in the time of Cholera’, it was courtesy him, if I smiled coyly over ‘Kamasutra’, it was again ‘cause of him, anger ‘cause of ‘Macbeth’, reason being he again. My first glass of Chardonnay was not with my ‘flavour of the season’ but with my own Periapps.
The old man changed many lives and my metamorphosis to being a changed young lady was thanks to this sharp, smart, smooth man alright! Oh! The 3 S’s reminds me of his early morning 3 S’s again: Shit, Shave, and Shampoo! Even if he was running a temperature, he’d never fail to have a shave! Any man walking into office with sneakers on was an obtuse, mentally retarded twit! MRTP, he’d call them!
I once remember him telling me, “Kitty, place your derrière on the couch” (French word for the backside). The novice I kept looking behind me to find what ever he was mentioning to be placed!!! The laughs galore… Learning never ceased then on. New words, books everyday! The stern Periapps when I’d be lazy and not willing to learn anything, the fun Periapps when we’d catch up for lunch almost everyday, the drunk Periapps along with his equally drunk niece… You’ll be missed like crazy Periapps.
His trademark pipes and customized tobacco was a prized possession and I was allowed to smoke it once. It’s an art which the old man had mastered. He was class personified from cigars he smoked to the rum he drowned himself into. A Bala trait which even the second generation has not failed to amass.
He was known to be very upfront and wrote what he wished to. Not many had this trait. Periapps lived life exactly the way he wished to but could’ve left the world in style. But he still got what he wanted: Dressed him up in an impeccable suit, his favourite Titan watch, a copy of 20000 leagues under the sea, his array of pipes with his pipe bag.
Wish I could write more… but some memories, silly or otherwise remain forever. I’ll miss you for life Periapps. Love you loads. RIP.
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