Friday 31 October 2014

Music is DEAD

Off late I was talking to a friend about how the 70s were the time when all music related revolution took place, and thereafter it just died. Today we are still living off what the greats created. Most of our playlists are still crowded with Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Pink Floyd, Beatles, and it's likes.

I liked how my friend zeroed into the root of this problem. He said, "Parents during our times or our grandparents time didn't spare the rod and when we did something terrible we were reprimanded. Nowadays parents have gone too soft and society has too. Suddenly hitting your child is frowned upon. That is what used to make us tough. Now they're 30 year olds singing about boy troubles, love at first sight and unicorns that poop rainbows."

And I couldn't agree anymore.

I heard a few recent hit singles and let me quote Katy Perry (or Slutty Perry) from "This is what we do" -

"Yo, shout out to all you kids, buying bottle service, with your rent money.Respect."

Then I remembered another song, "Starships" by Nicki Minaj -

"And I ain’t paying my rent this month, I owe that."

I was astounded as to the number of hit artists who condone wasting away their rent money for glamorous lives. Since when did being irresponsible become commendable and socially accepted?

Or did we just run out of things to sing about that drastically?

Bob Marley used to sing about revolution, John Lennon sang about world peace & unity, Michael Jackson raised his voice against apartheid. These are people who used music like WMD and invaded hearts, souls and minds forever. Now, it seems like the pop artists aren't even trying. They have all the attention in the world but their heads are too far up their butts for them to care to use this for something worthwhile.

When did the artists of our time think it was okay for them to not  be inspired? To not sing about things that concerned them, us, the world? How come not a single artist's music inspires us? Or has a deep message embedded.

U2 used to release all its tracks and all songs had two meanings - the obvious literal one and a deep spiritual one. That's the amount of thought and effort that used to go into creating music, creating something joyous, to create something that would move you..from within.

Like Meatloaf said in an interview, "Most of it isn't music anymore, it's just good looking faces with a great pair of tits."

Then again there are some bands that are trying to show that our generation can still create good music. The likes of Alt-J, Arctic Monkeys & Black Keys are definitely mellifluous but will they make a mark or be swept away into the deep ocean by the tides of time; only the distant future can reveal that. 

Wednesday 21 May 2014

Her Alibi

When I was 12 years old the 2nd most phenomenal movie had released - Matrix (1st obviously being Terminator 2). The movie satisfied such a deep innate question in me. I have often had the will to believe "Life is not what it seems", that we are all on the wrong path wasting time reading, studying, earning and the "Architect" has kept us all busy with these mundane everyday chores of life. I was so confident that any day, any day now I would step on this real piece of information - that we are living a lie, that this is a dream, that we have been looking at it all wrong our whole lives, that the Sun does not revolve around the Earth but the other way round, that our entire thinking needs to take a major hit. This thought of mine was blown up and presented to me and to the world as a US$463M grossing movie, that plagued into this very subconscious and gave us what we wanted on a platter. That we might be having a desk job in an office where we are just another person in a cubicle; but we are definitely "so much more than what meets the eye", that just may be, just may be we are "The One".

When I was 15 years old, the doctor told me I had appendicitis and it needed to be operated. After the shenanigans, I was operated on and my mum told me that the operated appendix was sent to the lab to check if it were malignant, standard protocol.Weirdly enough I day-dreamed that it was cancerous, and that that's why my life had not been how I would have liked it to be - I didn't have great many friends, I didn't do as well as I would like in my studies, I wasn't very athletic/sporty, I wasn't a musical/dance prodigy like I would like to be, I sketched ordinary like every other kid. I thought this was the answer that I was waiting for all 15 years of my life.7 days later mom informed me rather reluctantly it wasn't, like it was obvious that I was healthy. How could I tell her that she had just dashed my perfect alibi to pieces?

I am 26 now, I am still healthy. I have suffered enough losses to drive a person insane yet I am not (maybe that's what is wrong with me! That's an article for a different day I guess). I am still not a musical / dance prodigy, I am still not athletic / sporty, I am still exactly everything I thought I was that made me just another girl when I was 15 years young. I still don't have that magical answer - and somehow I have always waited for that perfect answer that would make life seem sensible / fair for without it life just seems like an endless charade of meaningless acts of being mean, robbed and looted of your sanity.

Mario Puzo said, "...with some impunity, insult an older man who has already been humiliated by life itself and will not take to heart the small slights of another human  being. But a young man thinks these offenses mortal."

That was me when I was a teenager, I wouldn't settle for mediocrity even though I myself was mediocre. The dream that was so alive, approachable and glimmering in my eyes, that I could taste it when I blinked; has been carved out with a butcher's knife while I was screaming and writhing in pain, yet no one could hear me. They were silent screams of desperation and frustration, no one heard me for there was no one to hear me. I was in my own social vacuum bubble and like "Tom" of "Tom & Jerry" fame; I had locked the door to that one and ate the key to make sure no one entered or left.

I asked my mum once, "When someone writes a story and sees it enacted to the dot of its depression & frustration does it sadden the creator with the misery of their story, the misery of their characters? Or do they enjoy how beautifully the spectacle plays out?"

Mum very calmly answered, "They marvel at their artwork."

I retorted, "Is that how God feels?"

She replied very wryly, "Of course!"

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Logic vs unexplainned

From the moment when you are born you are taught to believe. To believe in a higher power, to believe in things that are beyond our control, to believe "to believe". Out of this compulsory habit that we are taught, by default we believe in "magic" - that which is beyond logic, that which is unexplained, that what should not be questioned and admired simply because you can't explain it. May be its a form of respect that arrives out of fear of not knowing/understanding what lies beyond.

The extrapolation of this unexplained "magic" is "love". That we have made to our custom suiting. We seek out the attraction and chemistry that we feel that is different from the chemistry that we share with the rest as "love". For many have tried and failed at their attempts to explain "What is love?"

This sheer compulsion for us to feel the need of magic brings us to believe in love, to look for love, to seek out for love. We need to believe that when two eyes meet and a moment where their souls can see each other for the person they really are and are still ready to accept each other irrespective of allll their flaws is beyond logic and hence it is "magic" aka "love".

What certainly doesn't help is the amount of havoc your dopamine and serotonin cooks up in your brain, one might almost say "makes you delusional" but I'm not that one.We explain the "CLICK" moment as love for how else would we explain it? Your best friend too understands your needs but do you feel that you are in that kind of "love" with her/him? Of course not, you have been taught to understand friendship since birth, but love; alas! Even your parents haven't had much luck with that have they? They are also under the same umbrella of delusion of love that every other philosopher has suffered from. Fear the unknown? Put a label on it and make it less scary.

Our need to hunt down the unknown and label it as magic is almost amusing. It's more convenience than "love"; about time we realise we are just muggles.

Thursday 20 February 2014

Good times

More often than not when I find myself depressed I have a simple fix. I logon to craigslist.com and look at the titles for "Men seeking men". Sometimes I would get an easy quick fix that would keep me roaring with laughter for an adequate amount of time. This one time I came across a title that read "31 year old looking for his daddy" - needless to say I was touched and I found myself running to make acquaintance of this poor son; what I found tickled my funny bone to an eerie extent. It read "31 year old looking to spank me like my daddy used to."

Peeved out yet? It get's better.

So I find this other title that said, "Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others, - m4m - 23 (Bangalore)" and immediately started reading this beautiful poem by Nancye Sims.

"Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.

Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only you know what is best for you.

Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless.

Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Don't give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect.
It is this fragile thread that binds us to each other.

Don't be afraid to encounter risks.
It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly;
and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

Don't dismiss your dreams.
To be without dreams is to be without hope;
to be without hope is to be without purpose.

Don't run through life so fast that you forget not only where you've been,
but also where you're going. Life is not a race,
but a journey to be savored each step of the way."

Thank you craigslist for having people who take the time out to write a few words to support the nicety in people.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

To borrow sunshine when I'm running low

1. A hedgehog taking a bath

6v7fjrr

2. A flirty dog

  • A turtle nom-nom-ing on a raspberry

    Bt2id
  • 4. An old GIF that's just as great the 100th time around

    Cdr58dl
  • 5. A silly pun

    Gf8voaf
  • 6. A ninja kitten

    Mrap130
    7. A bad day at the costume shop
  • Tutyu5x
    8. SLOTH
  • Dau7bw4
    9. A happy frog
  • 7bl92
    10. A dog standing on cheeseburgers
  • Zuw3fz2
    11. A corgi bringing joy to a stranger
  • Ebkmsan
    12. A puppy saved from a fire
  • Wo2rvdu
    13. A very grumpy sheriff
  • Grumpy-cat-sheriff
    14. A random act of kindness
  • 9ivbk1j
    15. A dog on a car ride
  • Nfbdphq
    16. A ride for man's best friends
  • Kncc6cl
    17. A couple of cat paw bears
  • 6uwlz
    18. A cat that sits like a human
  • 67tqk6i
    19. A perfectly angled selfie
  • Nukyafv
    20. A turtle birthday
  • Wjz4kmq
    21. Lil Bub and googly eyes
  • Bub-googly-eyes
    22. A ballpit
  • Ovns5
    23. An incredibly cool dog riding a horse
  • 3yrz8ja

22 places that put a smile on my lips and in my heart

1. Tunnel of Love, Ukraine



2. Tulip Fields in Netherlands



3.Salar de Uyuni: One of the World’s Largest Mirrors, Bolivia

4. Hitachi Seaside Park, Japan
5. Mendenhall Ice Caves, Juneau, Alaska
6. Red Beach, Panjin, China

7. Bamboo Forest, Japan


8. Street in Bonn, Germany

9. Naica Mine, Mexico

10. Wisteria Flower Tunnel in Japan

11. Black Forest, Germany


12. Fields of Tea, China


13. Tianzi Mountains, China


14. Hang Son Doong, Vietnam


15. Shibazakura Flowers, Takinoue Park, Japan


16. Antelope Canyon, USA


17. Lake Hillier, Australia


18. Lake Retba, Senegal


19. Lavender Fields, UK and France


20. Canola Flower Fields, China


21. Mount Roraima, Venezuela/Brazil/Guyana


22. Zhangye Danxia Landform, China