Of breaking and rutbreaks

And so it was foretold
the doom about the unfold
the pure of heart were to be poisoned
the bitter revelation of betrayal, envisioned

"Sure , why not?", they laughed it by
with a sarcasm so sharp, yet so dry
Neither of the two had thought of the bad
But one wasn't true, yet the other so glad

And so dragged on this tryst past many a fight
the one so true, held on with all might
The seers and prophets laughed, jokes galore
"Silly young lad! This shan't last no more!"

PS: Found this piece of crap while clearing my drawers at work.
PPS: This is nothing related to me or anyone else in my life.
PPPS: Poetry standards at all time low - this would be #37.

I sat I saw I survived!

When I had stated earlier that I would make optimal use of my weekend, I was not kidding!
I slept through most of my Saturday (aah) and then saw the masterpiece 'Yaaruko Yaaro'.
I sat.
I saw.
I survived.

If I survived this, I can survive ANYTHING!

A fun week

Today we had a dance and music club performance for 2 hours - it was a predominantly dance event with the music club providing fillers intermittently. We had loads of fun rehearsing as the equipment seemed far more co-operative this whole week, when we practiced during the first few hours of the day for the past 5 days.

And today, yes, the PA System f#$ked up.

Yes , this was expected.

No, we did not fret as much.

Yes, we had an awesome time.

No, the following week will not be so forgiving.
The calm before the storm . . . . @-)

Yes, I am going to make the most of this weekend! :-D

The end of an era

Last night, thanks to a good friend of mine, I was reminded of the fact that Michael Jackson's memorial services was about to start. I had never watched a live event on web cast . This was the first time.

I got a CNN link and they had collaborated with Facebook - so millions of people were watching the video on pane of the browser and updating status in Facebook parallely. The memorial service featured performances by famous artistes like Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie , John Mayer and Jermaine Jackson (MJ's elder brother). Usher broke down in the middle of the service (wonder why) and the entire Jackson family came up on stage and hugged him. Jermaine Jackson's rendition of 'Smile' was very touching. And as we all had expected the event wound up with 'We are the world' and 'Heal the world'. Tear filled goodbyes were bid to the true king of pop , and his daughter's sentimental , choked up goodbye had touched many hearts.

Most people in my generation would agree when I state that we listened to Michael Jackson's work a lot in our teens and still do. Who hasn't heard of 'They dont really care about us' or did not get choked up after seeing the video of 'Earth Song', or jived to 'Black or White', 'Beat it', 'Thriller' or 'Smooth Criminal'?

Even though he had a turbulent and a traumatic personal life , I have tremendous respect for the musician in him.And he will live in our hearts. Eternally.

RIP.

Michael Joseph Jackson
(August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

Maktub

I say to you , it is written.
And by your hands, it is unwritten.
In those sacred moments , where
the creator walks through the creation.

JRO 2009

Needless to say , this post is about the June rock out fest 2009 - which was a 2 day fiesta of the best in emerging rock , that India had to offer. Having asked a few rock concert regulars after refrerring to the list of groups on both days , I ended up going on saturday (yesterday).

I reached the venue a little late , so I guess I missed out one group's perfomance ... I was there for the rest . Here is the list~

ABRAXAS from Pune

BLEED from Bangalore

BLOOD & IRON from Namma Chennai!

CRIMSON WOOD from Trivandrum

PUBLIC ISSUE from Namma Chennai!

SKRAT from Namma Chennai!

TOUCH WOOD from Namma Chennai! (never got to listen to them)

The first group I listened to was Public Issue. They did a good mix of Modjo's Lady , followed by an original of theirs , and also a MJ medley - which was pretty good! (Tracks included were Billie Jean , Black or white , Smooth criminal and they don't really care about us) . After Public Issue , it was Crimson Wood , who had won CRI (Campus Rock Idol) hunt.

These guys played some real good hard rock , and those who were not standing in the mosh pit (most people in the stands) were barely able to hear the lead singer , but their sound was edgy and quite good!

Following them was Skrat (who already had the crowd cheering loud for them) and they also played a lot of original tracks , which was well recieved by the crowd. Following these two were the real screamers.

Next up was Bleed from Bengalooru. (Again due to the feeble mic, the lead singer was barely heard from the stands) They also played a few originals and couple of covers too - Iris by Goo Goo dolls, Vindicated by Dashboard Confessionals and a mix of Another brick in the wall (Pink Floyd) and Take a look around(Limp Bizkit)

Abraxas and Blood & Iron were the only 2 metals bands from the line up (thank god!) I definitely could not understand a word of what each of their lead singers were growling into the mic. And I honestly wonder how they can talk after growling like that continously for like 30-45 min! May be I dont understand that genre , but I definitely don't appreciate it :-) (Metal lovers, no brickbats puhlease! Freedom of opinion , people!!!)

While the metal bands growled, I stepped out to grab a wrap which was uber spicy (never underestimate the indication of 2 red chillies next to a particular item on the menu) - and walked back to my place. Even before the other performers wound up , there were chants of - 'Mother Jane!' 'Mother Jane!' making regular rounds.

The grand finale was performed by Motherjane (duh!) . This was the first time I had ever heard these guys and I love their sound! (Baiju is GOD) Here were some of the tracks that they had played :

Chasing the sun

Maktub

Mindstreet

Broken

Karmic Steps

Fields of sound

Blood in the apple

Maya

I stayed on till the last song, the event got over at around 10:50 - 11:00pm. In between there was a hella lot of rain coming on and off. There were some sissies who ran to the sound control area's shamiana to take cover. I , for one, stay put and enjoyed it. JRO is known to have rains happening through out the venue - so this was no surprise. But it was a one of kind experience , and a great one at at that!

All about the Ahobilam Trip : Part 2

Mahanandi:

After a good trek and exciting , yet exhausting almost 2 days at Ahobilam, we headed to Mahanandi, which is home to Mahanandishwara (Lord Shiva) and is again , in the middle of nowhere. Here is how we got to Mahanandi ~

Ahobilam -> Aalagadda (Via bus)

Aalagadda -> Nandyal (Via bus)

Nandyal -> Mahanandi (Via bus)

What is special about this spot is the fact that there is a mysterious source of water which has been redirected to 3 pools within the temple premises - this water is said to healany sort of ailments. And the water is so clear and cool at all seasons through out the year!

But one thing needs to be mentioned here - those who are really fussy about the intake of food either be stocked with a good stock of bread butter and jam or take a mini electric cooker along with this trip , good food is impossible to find around here! After a night's relaxation at the feet of Mahanandishwara, we headed to Sri Sailam the next morning on the 6 am bus.

Note : There are only 2 buses to Sri Sailam from Mahanandi, one at 6 00 am and one at 3 30 in the afternoon. Sri Sailam happens to be in the Ghats sections so buses are not allowed late at night. Sri Sailam also happens to be a Tiger Reserve, btw.

Sri Sailam:

Sri Sailam is one of the most important pilgrimage places for Shaivaites in the world. It is one of the 12 places in India where Saint Adi Shankara had placed a Jyotirlingam. (He had done that in 12 places spanning across the length and breadth of India, and I have covered about 8 of the 12 B-) ) It was a 6 hr ardous bus journey from Mahanandi to Sri Sailam. But definitely worth the wait!

A number of legends have grown round Srisailam and its principal deities. Among them the most significant one is that Parvatha, son of Silada Maharshi is said to have performed penance, pleased Siva and made him agree to live on his body. This Parvatha assumed the shape of big Hill –‘ Sriparvatha’ and Siva lived on it’s top as Mallikarjuna Swamy. According to one story, Chandravathi the ruler of Chandraguptha Patana situated near Srisailam on the opposite bank of the river Krishna ran away from her father who made amorous advances to her went up the hill and settled down there with few servants. One day she found that one of her cows standing above a natural rock formation resembling the Sivalinga and shedding its milk over it. The princess in dream was informed that the piece of the stone was a self-manifested Linga of God Mallikarjuna and took to worshipping it. This story is mentioned in the Skanda Purana. Two sculptures of the Prakara Wall of the temple also represent this story. According to another story ‘Sri’ the daughter of a Rishi did penance, pleased Siva and got her name associated with the name of the Hill( Sailam ) which thereafter came to be known as Srisailam.

You will find the Lingam motif being used exclusively across this little town. Everywhere, as in Everywhere! Hoardings , Grills , random decoration in public spots. You will also find 30 - 40 feet tall status of Lord Veerbhadra, Lord Dakhshinamurthy and Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvathy, Lord Karthikeyan and Lord Ganesha all together.

The main attraction of Sri Sailam is obviously Lord Mallikarjunaswamy and Goddess Bhramarambha sannidhi. Apart from that there are lots of tourist spots in and around , you could probably hop onto a share auto to watch them all. One of the many spots you would find is PHALADHARA – PANCHADHARA - where Saint Adi Shankara did penance and composed the famous Sivanandalahari here.

After a wonderful time at Sri Sailam , we boarded a bus and headed to Markapur , from where we boarded a train to Bellary to attend a family function.

All in all , a really good and satisfying trip!