One Night at the Taj Blue Diamond

I sometimes like going to pubs n discs here in Pune...You get quite a nice crowd n the music is generally good...Last Saturday night, I'd been to Taj Blue Diamond's disc, Polaris...What a letdown it was!!! First of all, the crowd...I felt the majority of it was 28 plus and a crowd like that sucks when you want to have fun n let your hair down...Not that people over 28 years don't know how to have fun, it's just that with a crowd nearer your own age group it's way more exciting!!! Then there was the dance floor itself...I think it's the tiniest one I've ever seen so far...When we first entered the disc (at 10.30 or so I may add), it looked more like a lounge than anythin else...Plus the dance floor was absolutely empty!!! So, we sat down for sometime grumbling, complaining about the place and giving gaalis to the person who suggested it in the first place...BTW we still don't know who was the wise guy who wanted to come here!!! So anyway, the mavericks that we all are, we said what the hell??!! An empty dance floor shouldn't stop us from not enjoying ourselves right? So we got on the dance floor n started grooving away!!! The music was pathetic in the beginning and everybody else absolutely refused to come on to the dance floor...Ours was the only group who was there n we were enjoying ourselves thoroughly...Slowly, as the music started getting better, the dance floor started filling up...The DJ started playing hip-hop numbers in between and the floor could still accomodate everybody without anyone having to jostle for space...Then he started off with the Hindi movie songs and just about everyone there wanted to dance!!! It was as it is pretty hot n stuffy there n with the addition of more people and the dancing, everybody started sweating like anything!!! Soon there was no space to even move a hand or a leg forget shaking them!!! So, all of us were just jumping on the spot or moving our hands vertically...We must've danced for 2 hours atleast n the music was at last stopped at 1 in the morning...After a photo session in which all of us look tired, hot n sweaty, we decided to go home...N since the next day was a Sunday, most of us took that full day to recover before Monday morning took us back to work n back to our routine...

Thank You for the Music

As most of you people know, music is my life...so I thought why not write about something that actually runs in my blood!!!
So, music...as the song by ABBA goes, "What would life be? Without a song or dance what are we?" If you actually sit down and think, what would life be like without the beautiful sounds of music? How would countless number of people express themselves without this absolutely wonderful gift of nature (and man-made instruments of course!!! But the basic premise lies with nature itself)? Because with the help of music you can express any emotion you feel, be it happiness, sadness, wooing someone, being in love, getting ur heart broken, patriotism and many more...Music makes your heart sing along with it and it can lift up your spirits even wen you're really down in the dumps...Kickass songs can make you feel good about yourself when you've been rejected or whatever (I personally love those songs!!!)...You've got songs by Avril Lavigne which are odes to individuality and then again you have songs by Evanescence which are deep, dark and sometimes quite disturbing...Classic rock songs can be heard even in this day and age when genres like death metal and trash metal are so prevalent...I personally can't listen to heavy metal as I feel it atually trashes the sanctity of music...
One of my all time favourite bands is ABBA...now here's a group who knew how to make music...their songs cut across generations and are popular even today...Both my grandfathers were fans of ABBA, my parents still are and I will always be!!! I can't exactly pick one song which is my favourite but I love Fernando, Chiquitita, Eagle, S.O.S, The Winner Takes It All and lots more...I can't exactly give the list out here!!! And now for the paradigm shift from pop to rock...Evanescence is another all time favourite with me...Its lead singer Amy Lee has an amazingly powerful voice and the songs which they write and compose are all about hurt and pain...Their music is Gothic in nature and it somehow appeals to my more darker side (yes I do have a darker side)!!! Avril Lavigne is another artiste whom I absolutely adore...Her devil-may-care attitude shows in her songs and I can listen to them again and again...Then there are songs by Nirvana, Guns n Roses, Eagles, Eric Clapton and other classic rock gods which I love and can identify with...
Then of course who can forget our very own Hindi movie songs? Some of them rock I tell you...My current favourites are Ajab Si from Om Shanti Om and Saawariya from the movie of the same name...There are a lotta other Hindi songs I like from various movies...Can't really write all of them here so it'll suffice to say that there are loads of them!!!
Anyway, I think I'll sign off now...Took me two days to write this post and frankly speakin I'm a bit tired of it now!!! So, till the next time...Adios!!!

The Final Frontier...

I haven't posted anything in a long time I know...I lost my maternal grandfather last week...It was a huge blow to all of us...It happened just so suddenly that we were hardly prepared for it...On Sunday he was with us, hale and hearty (apparently), and on the intervening night between Tuesday and Wednesday he was gone...Just like that...When I saw him in the ICU on Tuesday I couldn't hold back my tears...He was put on the ventilator and there were all sorts of pipes and tubes going in and out of him...He looked so frail and so helpless, it was heartbreaking...But he wasn't conscious so he wasn't aware of all the pain his body was having to endure...My Mom was not here when he had to be admitted to the hospital...I called her and she reached on Tuesday morning...I feel he hung on till then and when he sensed she'd come, he slowly gave up...
Death...It has such a finality to it...There's of course no escaping it, but the emptiness it brings to the people around is heartrending...My grandfather, at 81, was the life of the family...He used to always be cheerful, whatever the circumstances or how much ever in pain he may be...He was an extraordinary human being who had tremendous willpower and an undying zest for life...His whole life is a lesson for all those who knew him and admired him for it...I don't think I'm ever gonna come across a more principled man who was also a big inspiration to all the people around him...It's been a week since he's left us, but not a day has passed when someone or the other has not come to give their condolences or called up at home for the same...
So coming back to the topic of death, the final frontier...The most terrifying of all aspects on this earth...everyone is afraid of losing their near and dear ones be it suddenly as in an accident or slowly as in an illness or just plain old age...It is very scary...The thought of not being able to see someone again ever is downright horrifying...What happens to a person after crossing over to the other world? Does the soul really wander in the real world for three days thinking that it is normal and not realizing it has left the body it lived in? Does reincarnation really take place? These are just some of the questions that come to your mind but whatever may be the case, in the end everyone wants their departed to rest in peace and be happy in the nether world...That is all that matters in the end...
I have so much more to write...So many memories (I was his 1st grandchild)...He was so proud of me when I got a job in IBM...I'm so glad I could give him that happiness...But i think I'll stop now...Its not possible for me to go on...So until the next post...Adieu n may god bless you!