Recollection of Harmony

November 20th, 2008 Roshan

There was a time when Metallica was cool. Everyone and their dad flashed the heavy metal salute while listening to _the_ band of the time. Then things changed, Metallica went after Napster, they went after their fans, some people who celebrated them. Things changed quickly, Metallica is now Public Enemy No. 1. But sometimes I look through my cassette tapes, go over Motorhead, Styx, Soul Asylum, Uriah Heep, and wait with anticipation as the tape hiss segues into Metallica. I know how it’s going to start, years of listening to these cassettes has my mind primed for the next note that comes through.

Listening to those tapes brings with it all the memories of a time when we were all younger: you can almost feel all the teenage angst, all the anger and pain, the childishness and the stupidity. Often you can remember happy times, and the people you knew, and who knew you. Nostalgia comes in waves, not in drops. I’m sure everyone strongly associates music with memories.

Take this rendition of Nothing Else Matters. Tell me it doesn’t remind you of anything.

PS: An RSS aggregator is a nice thing to have. Also, I can’t stop listening to the last thirty seconds of Around the World

Posted in Me | 3 Comments »

Book Meme

November 12th, 2008 Roshan

He had just finished, and had put the packet in his pocket, when in the court below resounded the cry:… - Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky.
I’ve been reading this book for a while now, and it is depressing. I don’t think I’m going to finish it. How did it all start? Well, one day I told myself, “I shall no longer be ignorant of English literature, I shall read The Classics”. Well here I am, with a Classic, and it’s goddamn depressing.

Saw this on the blog of Jono Bacon of Jokosher fame. Because it’s so cool, I’m going to share:

  • Grab the nearest book.
  • Open it to page 56.
  • Find the fifth sentence.
  • Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
  • Pick the closest book, not your favourite. C. & P. was nearly edged out by my cousin’s Engineering Mathematics. Close one.

As revenge for previous acts, and just because I want to hate on some people, I demand that everyone do this.

Posted in internet | 3 Comments »

Veni, vidi, reveni

November 9th, 2008 Roshan

I am back, bad Latin translations and all, to the city where I was born. Bombay is one hell of a city, count me impressed. Madras is an okay place, an overgrown town perhaps, but there’s nothing like having everything just the way you want: from cabs that you can register by email to drinks with your dinner just about anywhere. In Bombay, things get done…except if you’re Vodafone. I’ve had them for a month and a half now and I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to a human customer care rep. and they don’t honour their own DND lists.

There’s nothing like taking a train into the south end of the city and being faced by tranquility along long sidewalks, overhung by trees. I got my tickets to concerts sent to me by SMS, my wine delivered to my door, my local train pass in 40 seconds. I’ve walked by crazed BJP activists, stared in apprehension at TV sets on my bus fizzing with police warnings while the MNS’s riots were stopped short by the police, and anxiously stood silent as a truck loaded with Hindutva nutcases waving flags careens around the corner in front of me. Excitement and wonder are cheap. I’ve lost myself on paved streets, wandered into cricket matches and bazaars alike, and stood on the edge of a mosque’s sea-wall staring into the sea. It was bright where I was, the people had changed.

Things happen in Bombay. You open the papers to find someone or the other shot, to find someone caught for shooting someone else, or the best of all, to find that the cop who shot all those people was a mob hitman, extortionist, and land-grabber. Posters called for alertness, plainclothesmen played terrorists to catch sleeping guards. Getting to work is an adventure, the lines ferry as many people as there are in all of Chennai. Everything is faster, bigger, more complex. Everything was nicer.

I was happy.

Posted in Me | 6 Comments »