"Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings"

Attempt:

Around a year back someone had asked me, "What does Stairway to heaven mean?" I had given him a little perception of the song. Then I went hunting on the net. What next shocked me was the various range of explanations I found for the same, ranging from God believing Christian fanatic views to extremely dark Satanic views, and all these views suit the song so well its hard to tell what is true and what is not. 

The God believing Christian view of it is as follows:

There is a lady entwined in the materialistic pleasures of the world. She is so engulfed by the mortal pleasures to the extent that a word fetches her all her hearts desires to an extent that she thinks she can buy her stairway to heaven. But, she doesn't find the store  that sells her the stairway to heaven; but she's determined to find it; as she's been blinded by her stubborn nature.

And the materialistic world has made her shrewd enough to make sure that when she does buy it, it is what she paid for. Songbird, is symbolic of angel incarnate as music is deemed to be good and pure much like an angel; and preaches that all of our views are dyed with misconceptions that we bear of today's world.

There is a feeling that overpowers Plant when he looks towards the setting sun as it yearns to be liberated and attain moksha. His thoughts symbolically represent him being stranded amidst a burning forest (more thoughts) yet he finds the will to stand strong and be faithful to his beliefs. This prevailing confusion makes him ponder. It could also be symbolic to deforestation and how we are all not doing anything about it.

While being lost the only thing that is keeping him positive is that somewhere his conscience whispers to him that singing the tune of faith, Jesus will lead them to reason. It will lead to a new day that will echo with laughter of triumph of all that is good, with forests reclaiming the land.

If there is a sound in the forest don't be alarmed it is God weeding out the evil and all that is good in the world prevails. The May Queen signifies the Queen of bloom and the season for blossom, representing all that good is in full bloom. There is always two ways you can approach a problem; as an ancient Sanskrit text (Samyutta Nikaaya) reads,"Tasmaa satan ca asatan ca naanaa hot ito gati, asanto nirayam yanti santo saggaparaayanaa" meaning, "Therefore do the paths of the good and the evil of this world divide; the evil go to hell but the final destination of the good is heaven.” We always have the option of changing what and how we do something; it is never too late to 'change the road you're on'.

Once you're enlightened by the ways of God, you will be attracted by the sheer vitality of His existence. Referring to the old lady's idea of buying your way into heaven is fleeting with the wind.

And as year goes by with barely any time left to live, we all know of a lady who irrespective of her age is still not wise or realistic as she still believes she can buy her way into heaven.

If and when you open your souls to the truth, after the spring cleaning of the May Queen all are together and equal, and to put an end to moribund thinking and come to rest and attain nirvana. 

While some of us get wiser there are and will always be people who believe they can buy their way into heaven.

Satanic version:

The satanic version is very inane as only certain parts of it show complete relevance while other parts just seems a forced upon thinking.
"There's a sign on the wall
But she wants to be sure
'cause you know sometimes words have two meanings."
This humours one's sense of hell and heaven. If Plant were a devil worshipper he would think of hell as heaven.


"There's a feeling I get when I look to the west
And my spirit is crying for leaving".
Christians believe that Jesus will arrive from the east and hence are buried facing east. Looking at the west shows that he is yearning to be one with Satan at its earliest.


"And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul".
In this part of the song it refers to our shadows as something darker and possibly "evil" and our souls are usually referred to as something holy. Our shadows are taller than our souls could refer to being on the path of hell.


"Then the piper will lead us to reason.

And a new day will dawn
For those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter.”
This raptures that in the end you will be rewarded for the path you take.


History:

There are several accounts of the song's existence. In one, Plant says that he wrote it after a period spent before the fire contemplating “spiritual perfection” at the band’s country house in Headley Grange. In another, Plant says that Page played him the chord changes and his hand spontaneously began writing the immortal first words. In another version, Page recalls that Plant jotted down about three quarters of the lyrics on the spot at the band’s very first rehearsal of the song. Stephen Davis maintains that Plant had written under the spell of Lewis Spence, particularly his Magic Arts in Great Britain. Of course, these versions are not mutually exclusive – one or more could be combined. This was considered as Plant's epiphany of spiritualism.

Perceptions:

The Christian views believed that Heaven and Christianity was so ideally represented, that God gifted Led Zep with the #1 spot in all music countdown thereafter even now! While songs like "Highway to Hell" ended up being just another song in the history of rock. "The key to understanding ‘Stairway to Heaven’ is in the cover art on the album. On the back is a prophet on a hill holding a lantern with a six pointed star in it.This is a direct reference to the world of sacred geometry, which has a connection to the world of the occult. (Hence the connection with Aliester Crowly). When you start to understand the teachings of Plato, and why the sign over his academy read, “Let no man enter here who does not understand geometry”, you will begin to understand how the song was created, and why it resonates with our souls.You will also begin to understand that the lyrics of the song is a prophecy that has only started to become relavent in the last few years, and consequently, could not have been correctly interpreted before this time."

Satanic believers have their own set of beliefs, obviously. It is believed that Plant was heavily intoxicated when he was at Headley Grange and he saw Satan speak to him through the flames in the bonfire and he promised him sheer success if he were to write a song preaching Satan's dark words. It is believed that Plant agreed and fudged back-masking into the song dedicating the song to Satan on a global platform. 

I don't believe that Zepellin intentionally put the stuff about Satan in there, but rather that they did draw these dark entities into their music via their lifestyle and Page's then fascination with Aleister Crowley. This pact is also to be held responsible for the death of John Bonham; another price that the band had to pay for their success. Obviously Led Zep denies this, who wouldn't!

Back-masking:

Back-masking is a way of hiding messages which are revealed once played backward. 

The lyrics turn into:

"Plaaaay backwards,

Hear why its sung here, oppositioner..
Allll on track, all arriving
They all sing, and they are one.
Shall I loathe you now, parishoner?
Oh hear Him, Christian within me.
It stirs my sin; the river,
Oh, she swells with our lousiness.
All my life will end for him?
We’re all out of signs,
I know I’m sorta shocked
To hear The Lord,
My God now will save me!
Oh I will n’er be saved,
Because I live with Satan..
One wish today;
That you’ll all pray for
Three who will make it here late.
Pray now and you’ll see..
The ‘Lord’ turned me on,
But, oh, I was the shaggy fool..
Clothed in agony,
Lost at a height.
There’s No Escaping it.
Nor his woes.. 
So here’s to my Sweet Satan. 
The one who’s little path 
Would make me sad, 
Whose power is satan. 
He’ll give you 666. 
there was a little toolshed, 
where he made 
us suffer sad Satan. 
Ohohohoh... 
“Family won’t get loose, 
They’re offered me”
Always soothes the worker. 
Always will be as we know now 
“I see ruins,” said he, 
“the world they offered me? 
Who wished the Lord’s fall”
If we lose feather, 
Say you’ll save me! 

And no wimps can bend the rules.. 
And no wimps can do.. 

Hunt next to the shore, 
‘Cause they see all from there, 
See here’s the news, 
Who walks with mute grief! 
Perhaps no-one found thee... 
“Heavy, lift me out,” 
Spake the Reve, 
“Someday, failed, we’ll lose one line-up, 
They’ve gotta leave forsaken”

And no wimps can do.. 
And no wimps can do... 

He, who say the lords 
Thoth have our laws, 
Maat must be superb. Mass is ended.. 
Over there, 
He who should learn thee. 
Any moot that serves by my sworn music, 
I wish it with snow be shushed, All for my mass’s sake. 
Hear why its sung, 
here, oppositioner, Ohh.. 
He who should show 
May make his show worthy, 
To look, for us, odd.. sickly, 
There’s one chance - take his show. 
Hold thy head, 
Hear why its sung here. oppositioner. 
Who owns this earth built below? 
Oh sweet Israel… "


Well I have heard it too and it sounds exactly like that. While I agree the content is true; I find it highly unlikely that he had intentionally put all this content in there. What I guess makes up my mind is that I'm listening to it when it plays forward so the backward content of it is really irrelevant.

Spiritualism, is very complex, bearing a certain sense of duality. You can interpret it in any form you wish to. It is like Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, meaning we can't really know the truth, but merely seek glimpses of it.

Career diversity

I had once read, "There's no such thing as a fun job! Have you ever seen an advertisement that read 'Wanted Pizza eater', of course not! Work is supposed to stink and that comes by the basic definition of it!". Nonetheless, with an assignment less than a week left to cover, I am busy procrastinating  in my dream world, thinking of all the wonderful things! 


I wondered, if there were any fun jobs and I came across seemingly fun jobs like a Theme park employee, Hollywood wardrobe stylist, groomer, hairstylist, baker, wedding planner, publicist..but all these careers I could see myself getting tired out, by a max of 2 years and most probably strangling my clients. LOL. So I moved on...I searched the internet for fun courses. I thought to myself, what do I really adore and is a part of my daily life. I heard my soul speak almost howling, MUSIC! So I looked for courses in music.
I was fascinated by the number of courses focussing on rock music. I found Perth university, which offers you a MA in Rock Music Studies and Maryville University of St. Louis offering B.A. in Cultural Studies of Rock Music. But the most obnoxious degree of all requires a run up, and I will give it the much demanded honour.


UK is perhaps one of the most recession hit countries, its pound rate from a 82 INR went down to as low as 62 INR, had 10% more unemployed people in the age group 16-25 and raised its VAT from 15 to 17.5% in order to recover from this blizzard hit state. If the bigger picture goes down then obviously its sub-parts go down too, basic logic. Liverpool, in the light of "The Beatles" is considered to be where it all began! The town realises its potential and pools in the "ka-ching" like no other with the "Hard Day's Night Hotel", which is perhaps the Hard Rock Hotel, Las Vegas's English version. Enough said about the backdrop now the real run. 


Liverpool Hope Foundation offers a MA degree in "The Beatles, Popular Music and Society”. I understand you want to pool in cash but do it with some class. Do not mistake me, I am an ardent classic rock fan and it doesn't get more classic than "The Beatles", but what do you do with this degree? In what scenario is this degree relevant! There are already more than 8,000 books in the market! What novel stuff could these people write or stumble upon 40 years of disintegration of "The Beatles", 2 dead artists (John Lennon and George Harrison) and 8,000 books later? More hauntingly who could want a masters in Beatles?
I realise that in India we do not have such wide career options but at the end of the day, you need some direction; this isn't a summer camp, its a masters degree.


Funny how people will get pooled into anything. I hope people realise this money scam for a masters degree and decide better. 


[Hope you enjoyed a work of my critical self, as pointed out by someone; I suffer from Multiple personality disorder! :P ]

Stupidity: Not passée but In Vogue!

Stupidity is commonly interpreted as lack of intelligence, understanding or maturity.
As kids, the word "Stupid" was treated with same hostility from our parents like we used a f---aar worse word, if you catch my drift. Although, soon enough we acted so stupid that our parents were forced to utter these very unholy words and chide us with a common and much heard, "Stop acting so stupid..get serious... deal with your life and don't act like an ostrich!" So commonly heard, that it is almost a cliché  now.  We were incessantly told not to act stupid and the harder we tried the stupider we got. Sometimes we didn't even realise that we are acting stupid, to an extent that stupidity got incorporated into acting polite.

For example, today when I got back home with a huge amount of food supplies peeping out of my bag; my flatmate politely asked, "You went grocery shopping?" , I nodded yes; we smiled and parted ways. It was without a doubt,very clear to her that I had gone shopping, but stupidity prevails. If I were in her situation I would say the same thing!
Someone colours their hair and when they look at you with a look of "praise me", you say-"Coloured your hair?", she says "Yes!" and somehow amidst this, a thought gets passed that you were praising them, I don't know how that works out; but it does!

We were taught to be polite; but in today's world, with oh! So many morons floating about, it is almost impossible. While some are naturally stupid, others just abuse the privilege. We try to fill the gap and the best we can come up with is, stupidity.

I would say, being stupid is the new being polite.

I rest my case, sire!

Playlist

"I wish my life had background music" is such a commonly used statement these days. For my case I guess it's been happening quite a lot these days. You see when you need to study for quite sometime, you need something keeping you sane; but not wasting your time. Music just about serves and fits the purpose. I have had been listening to music quite constantly indeed. Either it's at home, in the wee hours at the library or the endless hours that me and my friends have spent waiting in the coffee room; either for some one to get free to help us or for our endless number of ELISAs to complete, while feeling even more unwanted than cancer! LOL. 
Anyway, getting back to my original topic,Music...AAAhhh! What would be doing without it. I had ended up with a  rather weird music collection being the soul-sold-out classic rock fan that I am, being friends with metal heads and pop lovers, and the "old man's music" is just something that you get from being part of a family, any family! So nothing can really shock me at this point. I have tracks from "Blah blah blah" to "The Joker" to "Rose of Sharyn" to "So happy together". 
Today feeling extremely exuberant and happy, I was wondering what to have for dinner and I decided just to keep it simple cause I was too lazy to begin with. Then I heard the iPod playing, "..We were meant to live for so much more have we lost ourselves..", thinking of it as a mere coincidence, I smiled to myself. I stepped into the kitchen thinking of my flatmate who is super sensitive to noise and busts me every time I try cooking at odd times. To be fair it was only 00:30 :P . While I was figuring how to keep it low, I heard the following track playing,"..If we're adding to the noise turn off this song. If we're adding to the noise turn off your stereo, radio, video...". I was pretty impressed about the synchronisation of my thoughts and my iPod and wondered what all Apple could do to make that happen. As my potato wedges turned golden brown. I turned off the stove and added salt and pepper to the wedges. I tasted them and it was too hot and the music ringing in my ears went to "Dead God in me" which kinda suited the scenario on the account that it was too hot and I was breathing fire to add to its effects. LOL. Then I placed them on hot steaming rice and strangely enough I had Christmas carols playing "..It's the most wonderful time..", which makes sense cause I love having hot food on cold winter nights (it's March but summer is yet to arrive in Nottingham). 
I added some butter, generously, remembering how my mum always said that my grandad loved nothing more than rice with ample amount of butter and some potato wedges.I also pondered what my mum would say if she saw me having that, and I remembered that period during which my "not-so-sane" family had gone on to a "no-oil" phase. I had visited a friend during winter and he saved me, on the account of his mother being an amazing cook. I noticed that her nose was rather red and I asked her if she was running a cold. She said that it's her sign that it's winter and that is why people refer to her as "Rudolph". Unsurprisingly enough it was playing "..Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.." ; by now my iPod had become too predictable and didn't surprise me any more. 
I finished my meal feeling extremely content and it was playing "Y'all want a single..". Now ain't that the stuff I'm talking about. 
God, this was come rambling I don't care. I love the "shuffling" cause "This is the new $hit..."..Yep, that is exactly what is playing. Believe it! :D


"Most of us go to our graves with our music still inside of us."

----

I do not have a title for this post. I do not have any opinion. I do not have a way to react. I do not know why I am writing this. I do not know what I am getting at. I do not know whether this makes or will make any sense by the end of this article.

I witnessed my golden retriever dying, as the doctor had forgotten to prescribe vitamins with steroids. I saw him suffer an agonising death at the age of 8. My parents fixed it by never getting a dog again.

I witnessed my grandmother die of breast cancer, everyday lying in that bed, everyday I could feel her slipping away from us and stepping closer to the doors of death. There were three things she told me when she died. "Remember the cash I gave you, please buy your mum a watch with that on her birthday, take care of your mother and take two of my bangles, I would be glad if you had them". I tried to fix it by getting into a course that dealt with therapy of cancer.

I lost two of my batch mates in something that I do not have the courage or heart to type through, and I do not know how to fix it.

I had been fortunate enough to have and share my room in my undergraduate years with splendid friends. A hell lot of fun during holidays, and were often yelled at during exam times.
Every time I choked and I didn't have water in my room I would run to adjoining rooms, and Sindhuri would run and hunt for water and get me some from somewhere. Every time we were at the mess tables eating that horrible fodder called "food" on our plates, Sindhuri would kindly present her pickle to make the food edible. Every time we had an outing, some grand social occassion and some one missed some matching accessories Shilpa would bring out her big bag of jewellery and help us, and even suggest us people who could help us out. I remember once I had to get to Ranchi and I didn't get my seats confirmed she let me and Aayushi take her berth while she and Shreya bunked together.

People say you don't realise the value of something till its gone and I empathise. I now realise that they weren't just people who lived next to my room, they weren't just faces I came across every now and then at the canteen, at the corridors of the institute, at the O.C.; somehow we all shared so many million memories that it's just difficult to put a finger on the fact as to why this loss is so painful to come to terms to.

Death, no matter in what form it comes; is always hard to come to terms with. But forced unnatural death; it just doesn't give you enough scope to come to terms with something like that.

My friends and batch mates had a peace march and a condolence that made them get closer and come to terms with their sorrow and grief. I have no vent, I have no mourners who are in the same denied state. I am still somehow foolishly led on to believe that they are alive and we are mistaken.

I never realised Shilpa and Sindhuri had touched my life in such different ways.

With this article I hope I come in terms with my grief and sorrow. With this article I pull myself up and say,


R.I.P. Shilpa & Sindhuri....

BRO-rigination

Barney Stinson, the "Casanova",the person responsible for causing an entire season of controversies, books, blogs, facebook "SUIT-UP" events and generating quite the business for CBS. After seeing tonnes of series and its complete seasons over and time and over again, what came pretty apparent was that "Barney Stinson" ain't any radical that they stumbled upon.


A mere progression from one successful cast character to simply another one. I guess the evolution starts from the discovery of "Patrick Maitland" of Coupling (2000-2004). Patrick is a successful businessman and is very competitive with others in the same business, but he does have a vague sense of loyalty to his friends. A guy with a narrow opinion of women, or a "one track mind". He is good at courting women and collects videos of nights with his girlfriends in his rather large "cupboard of love."


"Patrick" was taken to the next level by "That 70s Show"s character 'Michael Kelso'. A dumb-witted fool who gets off by his looks. He has been pretty lucky "in the sack". He has had a series of off & on relationships with 'Jackie Burkhart' which initially prematurely ends as he cheats on her with numerous other "skanks". But goes on to sleep perhaps with most number of girls in the series and practically floats by nothing apart from his good looks. He bypasses adolescence the first in the series as he impregnates a girl over a one-night stand.


Warner Bros. Television tapped this source and incorporated in the famous sitcom of all times, "Friends" and tried this phenomenon with 'Joseph Francis Tribbiani'. In Season 1 they experimented with the witty, smart, casanova, but as the season progressed they realised that the audience prefers the sweet cocktail of dumbness and playboy. For the rest of the seasons he was a loyal and  true friend but just kept getting dumber.


BARNEY STINSON, the CBS production and mark of absolute awesomeness had been ensued as risky business. But it all turned out for the best with his "Lemon Law", "Suit up" and other insanely bizarre rules, the audience just could not have enough of his charm. Everybody tuned in with an intent of hearing Barney's statements rather than see where the story led up to. CBS even tested with him in a relationship with Robin Scherbatsky, something which severely destroyed the "BRO"ness entailling him and was called to an end so that he could continue being the single guy that he is. After all, he is "awesome" at it ;) 


To end the day, all I'd say, Barney Stinson, the notch above notches of various Don Juans, classy, charming and witty. The perfect CBS creation.

Withdrawal Symptoms

In today's world when people are getting addicted to tobacco, cocaine, ecstasy, coffee and even chocolate; I brutally and quietly suffered from a different kind of addiction. Facebook! Yes, you might be laughing your a$$ off the chair, but I did and all of you on my facebook friend list suffered the wrath!
Around a year ago I was made aware of this addiction by a fellow sufferer, its termed as FAS (Facebook Addiction Syndrome). While I laughed heartily at him, little did I know that I was to suffer from this sooner or later.
About three months ago, my real life ceased to exist, studies flooded my life, old bonds were too far to fetch and hence I sought the "known" solace on Facebook. I knew the people, there was no "new" akwardness (the old akwardness sufficed :P ). Slowly, it became a habit, too much of it!
Yesterday, with the onset of upcoming papers I realised what's going on, and decided to take charge. Till my exams get over, i.e. the 18th January,2009, I take recluse from Facebook.
Its been 24 hours since I had last logged on. And its not that simple.
On a daily basis, I wake up, check and respond to my notifications. Log in every now and then and reply to the posts etcetera etcetera. Today not having done that, it feels like I didn't do something, that was due to me. Man is a creature of habit, and for an ex-BIT-ian lazying around comes more than naturally. And when you combine the two, it indeed gets quite lethal! Every now and then when I get bored I feel like logging in, more like what the smokers state as "Sutta-break". I guess more or less all of us are hooked on to it, but without being freaked out about it like me, or may be I did get a bit hyperactive! :P
On the plus side, I did get a surplus of time. I updated my blog site, read my fellow bloggers blogs, saw new videos, played a few rounds of Counter Strike. Just like the old life. :)
Lets see how many more days do I last.
And you know what perhaps is the saddest or best part is?
The fact that when you people reply to this on Facebook,all those snickery,sarcastic and cocky comments that you'll post, I'll have no clue!What-so-ever!
Curiosity always gets to me, so hoping that curiosity doesn't kill the DOG ( HATE cats! ) this time, at least!
So long, farewell.... :)

[P.S. : LMAO! It reads like a log entry of a hardcore drug addict!}