It’s funny how if anything in life is a certainty it is that at any point the one person you’re always going to be around is yourself, yet that seems to be the one person that most people can’t get along with. I took a rather, apparently bold, decision to go on a vacation, a road trip of sorts by myself. Now the reaction to that has been two fold, on one hand, there are the few who thing it’s awesome, then there is the majority who think I’m mad. The primary reason for my madness being the fact that I fail to see that I’ll get bored.

Yet as I sit here enveloped in a forest, with nothing but an ornithologists favorite symphony playing in the background and tiny little yellow butterflies to keep me company, I can call myself a lot of things but bored isn’t one of them.

 

Now most of you are probably already half way through to tagging me as a loner, but let me be the first person to admit, company is a good thing. We all need to counter our own thoughts and re-assure our decisions. But at times its good to let the voices in your own mind come to its own decisions. I mean independence means a lot of things to a lot of people, but to me true independence is when you’re comfortable with your own company.

The other thing a lot of people don’t realize is, a solo trip isn’t a trip to a deserted island, you’re never really alone. For instance on this trip, I met an aging yet sprightly forest official who asked me if I could drop him on the way, and all through the drive he went on and on about old jungle stories. Of course since my Kannada is not that great I understood only half of it, but he got a kick out of telling them and I was more than willing to play my part of quiet listener. I also met two rather exuberant north Indian couples who were more than willing to give me company, though for the most part I only played the role of silent observer. Then of course there are the people curious enough to go “ But why alone” expecting a popcorn worthy story out of it, but to which I have to simply reply it’s an experience worth having. So with all that to be frank the amount of time you have to yourself is quite little, but immensely precious.

There are but a few things in this world that you can truly call your own, and your thoughts are perhaps the most sacred. Give them a chance to stew and refine in your mind before giving them away with speech. If you still think that’s mad, well someone once said there is a joy to madness that only a mad man knows. So try your own company sometime, he/she might be more fascinating than you know. After all they are your only true BFF.

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In the past I have written endlessly about the demise of music in recent time. Where music is less about people with talent singing to instruments and more about random people feeding their voice into a computer. I thought the glory days of simple straightforward music was done.

Minor anomalies did occur, for instance Cee-Lo Green’s runaway hit “F*** You”. Now I know the name puts of a lot of people, so I suggest listening to the radio edit version called “Forget you”. Expletives aside the song is simply fantastic, it has this old world charm and genuine-ness about it which made me instantly like it. It’s like seeing an old classic car beautifully restored, it just makes you feel good.

The success of that song was a bit surprising to me cause it sounded nothing like the usual hits that do the rounds. So i thought it was a mere coincidence. But then I heard a rather simple sounding fantastic song on the radio by Adele, also please note when I say simple I mean only in terms of the amount of equipment used.

I also heard that the album had achieved a record in the UK for being the highest selling female artist album ever, beating a rather old record held by none other than Madonna herself. That actually made me a bit apprehensive because I figured if that many people liked it, it could mean that not all songs are that raw.

So then I got the album and listened to it and am very glad to report that I was wrong, Adele’s new album 21 is as raw as it can get. On many of the songs all that is present is her fantastic voice and a piano or a guitar. And when I say fantastic voice I MEAN fantastic, she has such a powerful and versatile voice that can sound vulnerable and strong at the same time. That entire album is a must for any fan of good music and more specifically a great voice.

Though is it a fantastic album? perhaps not, but more than anything its a reassuring one. It tells me that perhaps there is still a place in this world for real music after all. Thank you Adele you are a gift.

My recommendations from the album: Turning Tables, Rolling in the Deep, Lovesong

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I hate new years resolutions, they annoy the hell out of me. The most annoying fact about them is that that I forget how annoying they are when December comes, and end up falling into that trap again.

It begins all bright and cheery, you think its a new year I’m going to do this and that and be a new person blahdy blah. January begins with that enthusiasm and you go through with it all, feeling good and happy about yourself. Then February comes and you skip a day, two days, a week, hell February is a small month (well smaller anyway) lets skip that, March I will get back. Cue the annoying WRONG! buzzer here. And we March straight into exactly what we were like last year, all puns intended.

You know what the problem with New Years Resolutions are, the fact that there’s no incentive. I mean anyone who works knows we do new years resolutions at work all the time, except they are called a more formal, “Year end objectives”. We usually finish most of those, get more money and everyones happy.

The problem with New Years Resolutions are that they have no incentives, and I’m sure there are a million of of you going ( ok maybe not a million) but the way you feel at the end of the year blah blah. To which I have to say, “Who the hell cares??”, human beings (well most anyway) are selfish beings, we will trade later happiness for immediate smaller happiness any day. Plus happiness, unlike money isn’t a envisionable entity ( I honestly blanked out on a better way to say that), you can’t count or say how happy you’ll be, and hence no motivations. And hence new years resolutions last only a month while the thrill of the new years stays alive.

You know what we need, we need a really rich dude to start a fund/foundation that gives people money for keeping new years resolutions for the whole year. I mean think about it, more people are happy, healthy, well read, have quit smoking etc etc , I mean thats usually what new years resolutions comprise of right? On top of that people get money, the rich dude is doing his bit for society, its a win win. Hmm this idea should be patented; on that note I’ve done my bit for my resolution of writing more,I’ll be at home waiting for my cheque.

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Continuing on in the series of reliving the past, here's another one of my earlier scribbles, one of my favorites actually. Sadly still as relevant today as it was earlier, but then again when are we not confused.

Confusion reigns within,
Not righteous neither sin.
So many ways not all right,
Not all wrong provide no respite.
Each one with its dents its pains;
These are rantings of a mindless brain.

Choice is a word I can do without,
No clue whats wrong or right and no way out.
Answers to questions seem non existent,
Appear so simple, might seem redundant.
Through all this I still seem sane;
These are rantings of a mindless brain.

Mind is a thing that separates us,
But what it is, is a question that plagues us.
Imaginary entity masked with conscience,
But exists or what keeps us righteous.
That brings me back to confusion again,
So these remain the rantings of a mindless brain.

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So here’s the first of the bunch, one of my earlier poems, and one that I think the most people have read. This is one of the few that I have given to more than a couple of people to read.

And before the question comes up let me answer it - No I am not the Unsung Hero, the poem came out of a single image of a man rowing into a sunset, the rest kind of wrote itself.

 

Oh! Unsung hero where do you go?
Why mournfully into the sunset do you row?
Why look of anger of confusion do I see?
What answers far away do u seek?
Care not do you of your people no more?
Leave will you while their hearts still sore?

Care? care is a word I once knew,
Without that word now I can do.
Your wrongs I've made right, kept you from what might.
I have been your beacon, I have been your light.
So much so I have done,
Why am I still the unsung?

Questions all wrong cloud your head;
Answers to those are in no book, in no sunset.
Of the title which you hold only some are worthy,
Look unto only one word do you, the other dont you see?
A word that overshadows the rest,
A word that you brandish on your chest.

Wise words you speak oh unknown counsel,
Lead to light do you from where I dwell.
Who are you who brings the light?
Protect me from my own demise.
Who is it that knows whats done?
Who is it that sings the songs of the unsung?

I am the light, I am the truth.
I am your conscience, I am you.
So say with me the words you wish,
So this guilt I carry I can rid.

Hear this all living under the sun,
I'll be your hero I'll be your unsung.

Hear this all living under the sun,
I'll be your hero I'll be your unsung.

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Poetry, I’ve always loved it, it seems to add a sense of artistry to the otherwise ordinary. It always has a way of blending together words and expressions to bring together a thought, or way of seeing things, that otherwise would not have occurred to me.

There was a time, long ago, that sitting in the back of class, staring at a blank piece of paper, I could write something that had some semblance of rhyme with reason to it. Not all good mind you, but it was something. And it always brought about that joy of creation that comes with creating something vaguely artistic (even if the final result might not be). That feeling of I made this and if I didn’t it wouldn’t have existed.

Over the years I’ve sort of fallen out of the habit and I’ve always attributed that to everyone’s favorite scapegoat, Time. But when I really thought about it, I figured out that that’s not really true, there is a lot of time that I sit around doing nothing of any real significance that could really be put to better use. But unfortunately that so called time is never really practically available, it always exists only in theory in our mind.

But then again poetry isn’t something that is really that easy to get back to, well not to me atleast. For me I need to be in that groove of sorts where you recognize a series of thoughts or feelings as something that can be penned down as a poem. It’s like your mind needs to remember what it’s like to think like that again. Either that, or you need to be hit with something profound, which was the case with my most recent endeavor into poetry, my ode to Gokarna.

But I miss those times and I figured now is as good a time as any to get back to it while these thoughts are still afresh in my head. So as a result I have decided to publish some of my older works occasionally, for everyone who reads my blog to see. There aren’t that many just a handful but its something. The hope is that perhaps revisiting some of the older poems can get me back in to the flow of writing poetry again. So for all those who commented on my Gokarna post asking for the older stuff, here you go, hope you don’t regret what you wished for.

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My disdain for Hip-Hop has been rather well documented in the past on this very blog, but I have a confession to make. There are a couple of artists who I do pay attention to, and while one may not surprise anyone to a large extent the other might need some explanation. Though before you drive me out with pitchforks, let me just say I like them simply because they do show semblances of music at times. I’m not saying I’m a die hard fan, all I’m saying is some of their songs have found a place in my iPhone (yes I have to mention that).So who are the chosen few? Lets get down to it, Eminem and Kanye West.

Now while the first might be a little easy to explain I’m afraid explanation on the latter might take a while. So lets get the easy one out of the way, Eminem, you got to give credit to a man whose not afraid to say whatever the hell he wants to say and excel in a genre almost devoid of white folk, I don't mean to be racial but that's the honest truth. On top of that he has a twisted sense of humour that he’s more than willing to use, listen to the start of “When the music stops” (the whole song would work too) to get what I mean, never fails to make me laugh.

 

Now coming to the tough one, Kanye West, the perpetual bad boy of Hip Hop. The man has an ego the size of the Statue of Liberty, is probably a little more than cuckoo in the head and at times can be a total jackass. But you know what, you can use that line for a lot many musicians, and I’m not talking Hip Hop here. With Kanye somehow there is a mad sense of genius somewhere in that head of his.

The fascination with Kanye began when I first heard Flashing lights while playing one of the Grand Theft Auto games. The use of violins with the synth and the beats was something I hadn’t heard in Hip Hop before, it was musical. Then came Homecoming, Stronger (based on Daft Punk’s song), Welcome to the heartbreak etc., and what fascinated me most, was that most of these songs were produced by Kanye himself, meaning the man has talent!

So when Rolling Stones gave his latest album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy 5 stars and named it the album of the year (2010), I had to take a listen. So is it a 5 star album in my book? Well no, I didn’t really expect it to be either. But is it good? Its listenable and saying that for an entire Hip Hop album is saying something! The album is classic Kanye with the crazy cranked up, catchy beats mingled with surprisingly musical bits, using instruments ranging from Cello’s, trumpets and paino’s to guitars. While the album might not have been a 5 star album in my book I did find a song that is.

 

The song is called All of the lights, and its interlude alone was enough to melt me and its on the back of that song that that entire album tilts to good in my book. The song features a piano and violin riff that is to die for, featuring Elton John on the keys. The song also has a total of 11 guest artists of whome, other than Rihanna, you can’t pick out any of em! They are all layered one over the other to form a vocal texture that is completely unique to the song, who’d have thunk it! That song is brilliant and I have no qualms saying that. And if Kanye is the one who came up with that then I have no qualms in saying he has talent either. I’m not condoning anything he says or does, all I’m saying is when it comes to music the man knows what he’s doing. It’s like Ron Artest, I mean that guy is plain mad (hilariously so), but put him on defence on a basketball court and he can do no wrong.

One of the best lines I came across from last year was from a Hip Hop song and I never thought I’d say that, it went “Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars, I could really use a wish right now”. All I’m saying is in all the madness that is the world of Hip Hop I concede that it is possible that a couple of good artists do exist and manage to slip through the cracks. Is Kanye’s album the best of the year, I don’t know, I haven’t really listened to much of the competition. I’m just saying that considering the way the rest of the music industry is at this point . . . stranger things have happened.

PS: As for the rest of the money hungry talentless mongrels, I still hold my disdain.

PPS: I recommend hearing a better quality version of that track too, you can’t really hear all the layers in this one.

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