Moving mountains is easy...

Journeys are interesting, whatever they maybe, however imposed, in retrospect always interesting. Largely, we choose where we go; doesnt matter if your Daddy's got a car, a scooter or a truck... man want to go, man will go... child dont want to go, gets two on its bum-bum, and will be forced to go. Tough.

Most journeys however, end up being ignored and earn an almost non-existential place in the pool of greys; that cesspit-styled, culturedly volatile, relentlessly ablutionary place... phew! In non-wiki-folks terms, easily forgotten. Mr.Mani says/quotes :

"Brevity is the soul of humour"

... I'm in short supply of all three.

Rapidly dwindling memory pools notwithstanding, some journeys migrate to mindly havens, replete with exaggeration and sometimes displaced in time... we are progressive. (disclaimer)

This is about one of those 'journeys'.

Take :
1 Swaraj Mazda
1 Rock Band
1 Rock Band Manager
7 Roadies/groupies/free-loaders
1 'Out-station' show
1 Long and winding road (bumpy too)

My first 'tour' with the band, also my first experience of being part of the headlining act! What thirrlls i say! Loaded with whiskey for the booze-partees, and Orbits... for me, we set forth... of course, not before Jungle Boy took a nice dump, while sadly, S.Yacoulb, the enormous homophobe, didnt. This partially set a 'drone' for most of the journey ...

S.Yacoulb : "I want to do kakka"

... nice.

While the booze-partees were getting drunk, I was getting queasy. Bus journeys are not for the weak of stomach. Enter orbit. Chewing gum helped prevent me from decorating the insides of the mazda with last night's dinner. So, i slumped in the back-most seat, menky-cap et al, ears protected from wind, while the baais made merry, and S.Yacoulb droned on; Annoyance Galore Inc.

Bad roads, pop songs, air laced with whiskey burps and nicotine, and the relentless drone of excretory yen. All summed-up to a soul filling experience of my first time.. . that is, travelling with the band. Made me wonder, is this what the "rock'n'roll", 'Band Scene' is about?

Smoke, booze and bad jokes..
Bumpy roads, queasiness and diesel fumes..
Long hair, tatoos and red-brassieres...

Most certainly NOT!... not red bras atleast... that was just S.Yacoulb at her prime.

Just when I felt my overbearing thoughts push me further into skepticism towards the whole 'Band' scene, amidst all that smoke, music and confusion, it happened... pragmatically magical, surreally lifelike...

...we all started singing. Just like that...

Time-out here, to refer a 'similar' scene from one of my all time favourites, "Almost Famous". That scene in the bus, where Russel Hammond, the lead guitarist, now wrapped in a towel, settles in after a night of flight. And Elton John's "Tiny dancer" sets in...



..as do the voices of everyone aboard, gradually.

Back to my story; we didnt sing Elton John. It was "Bed of Roses" by Bon Jovi, but what the hell...
It was pretty much like that... and yes, it was GOOD! It was a bonding of sorts, a 'come together'... right now, our own Lucy in the sky with diamonds, space truckin' across the universe.

With all our voices weaving complex overtones and harmonics of unrestrained cacophany, I felt like it was ALWAYS like this;

I was, am and will be here.

Thats what a 'Rock Band' is about... that feeling of allegiance, not in a jingoist sense, no. Its just good to be part of a tale; any part, even the tail.

Its good to belong.

Set me free...

There has never been another song that could ACTUALLY make me feel like this one does....OK,agreed, every song is exclusive in its own subtle way, and further, a song strikes a chord depending on the circumstances under which it is heard, but not this one....from the first time I heard it,to right now...slumped in front of the PC on a Sunday afternoon...at "work"....and through my window,watching a typical "Bangalore" rain...(partial sun...torrential rain...) Even the bloody RAW recording sounds beautiful.... Dunno WHAT those guys were on...when they wrote it.
Brilliant piece of work though. I really dont know the words, but sometimes...just sometimes, a song just by the quality of ABSOLUTE music can "speak" with you...just like the way this does with me..... i dont know if its because of the lovely Maj7ths or the Sus2 or the funny riffs in between (i'm just showing off my knowledge on chords...eh???) But No, seriously....this one song, has THE potential to hit it big... FUCKING BIG!!!...if we can only get our act together.

SO I disconnected my bike's horn... WOW...total "Zen" feeling while riding around... that is, if Zen means "just about to DIE". Bangalore has lost it. Dunno if its S.M Krishna's fault or Premji and Moorthy's. Well, bottomline, its crowded... And Mr.Lowda and Singh are'nt helping either....So,in the words of the Jengle Boy...
"Big Slimey Sweaty Hairy Balls" to them... Ha!
Long Live Jengle Boy!

But its nice not having a horn...No, I'm not mad, maybe a little, Ok, you win. But it sort-of calms you down.
In the beginning, all you feel like doing is RIPPING the MoFo's head off....then you shout stuff like..."Ninn ammanakayee..." of course, only if you're wearing a helmet... otherwise you just say it in your head...thats not so much fun...no. But then gradually, after a few days, you do something you've not done in a long time...you ride SLOW. Now thats more ZEN like.... Riding slow ROCKS! its amazing to watch people swish past... reminds me of Revolver...
"...Running everywhere in such a speed,
Till they find, theres no need, theres no need..."
Long live Georgie!
Now, when a mundane thing like riding in traffic can remind me of a song I love, then it does'nt stay mundane anymore!

I hope something,someday,while riding, will remind me of...
"She's jaas Layk a PEHNGWYN in BAAUHNDAYGE BOIEEN... Oh YEAH Oh Yeah Oie... "
Long Live Zappa!

Actually...thaas jaas SICK!


Well, Freedom jam happened... it kicked ass as usual, mostly ours.

Correction to an affore-mentioned Lamentation... there was no bomb threat, Its just that the organisers forgot to get police permission....hmmm. How sad is that? Not very, especially if you have only 2 people running around, arranging something for 20,000 other people... yep! there were 3 stages, and we got the 3rd stage, and we also got mighty PISSED! there were horses around, and it was stinky...Horse Dung....Kudre Laddhi...heheheh R-N-C.... in the words of Mr.BTR...
" Labo-Labohhhh.....!!! "
Long Live BTR!
The allotment was anounced 3 hours after we reported there, so thats 3 hours of horrible,scalding,BUM BELTING heat!!!!...palace grounds is like a bleddy desert!!!
Anyway, things turned out great! we got to sound check our entire list at 3, made fools of ourselves of course, and then got a prime 7 O'clock slot! Which was when we ROCKED the crowd!!!

Its amazing how a drunk audience can be controlled with a simple distortion pedal.

"Wakka-chikka-wakka-chikka-wah-wahn-wahn-wahkah-CHAYHNAYNNNNNN..."
Long Live OS-2 !!!

So,Life is good.
So good is life.
So,is life good?
Good,so is life.
Life is so good.
Life is good,so?

Good Night!