Whims published... It's not an expert's opinion, It's not an online diary, It's not a web journal... It is just my whims published

Plan:
To leave for Kukke Subramanya tonight. Trek Kumara Parvatha and celebrate new year eve atop the hill under the dark open sky. Also planning to visit the temple the next day.

Hum-sufferers:
Ethapay, Pujar, Byre and yours affectionately...

What to expect:
> The pain of carrying sleeping bags, tents, food and water bottles to the top
> hot Sun of Dakshina Kannada
> picturesque western ghats
> severe cold during the night
> clouds
> leeches
> camp fire
> loads of fun and guffaws

All in all another great adventurous outing

What not to expect:
Rain

Food:
On the new year eve, we have to settle down for bread slices, jam and biscuits :(
But on Jan 1st night, I am gonna try prasadam in Kukke temple. I am told the food is tasty there..

Would be missing:
Bhai, he had to back out from the trip because of some crazy project schedule planned by some crazy sadist chap [Bhai calls him PM]

Mode of transport:
KSRTC

C ya guys.. in the next year! Wish you all a very happy new year..

The dictionary definition of the word ‘chug’ reads as, ‘To move or travel while making dull explosive sounds’.
I no more agree with this definition after I listen to the song ‘O sayaa..’ from Slumdog Millionaire, music scored by The God of music A R Rahman himself.

The movie is quite in news before its release in India because of the Oscar and Golden Globe nominations in four categories. I believe even the audio is not released in India, but thanks to piracy I got to lay my hand on the music of Slumdog Millionaire. BTW, I did not know who Danny Boyle was until I Wiki’d for his bio. After reading which I had to laugh at my own ignorance. It’s the same guy who has directed Trainspotting and The Beach. That adds Slumdog to my must-watch list.

Coming back to the definition of ‘chug’, the other day while I was traveling in train back to home, had a discussion with a friend about the sound of chugging of the train wheels. We were discussing the rhythmic noise it produces. I am amazed to see how ARR has used the same rhythms in ‘O sayaa’ of Slumdog. I think Shivmani and ARR when combined can extract fine quality of music from any noise in the world. ‘O sayaa’ must be picturised on some train sequence in the movie. The song begins with a pacy techno beats and magical voice of ARR complementing it. Then begins the chugging of train wheels. The beats transform to crescendo further. Now chugging of train wheels is accompanied by other orchestration and gets transcended to classy music. By this time I bet you would have started swaying involuntarily. To describe the transition of sound from chugging of train wheels to rhythmic beats, I am falling short of adjectives. So I would settle for the phrase ‘Its so Rahman!!’ Listen to it to experience the sheer genius of ARR.

Not only this, I found many other tracks of Slumdog great. As in one of the interviews Danny Boyle says that he wanted ARR to score ‘something very pulse-y’ for this movie. ARR took 2 months to conceptualize the music and just took 2 weeks to deliver this incredible product. There are also many other pulse-y numbers and classy background scores. I loved ‘Jai ho’ sung by Sukhvinder – the resonant voice of Sukhvinder makes the song even more splendid, ‘Ringa ringa ringa’ sung by Ila Arun and Alka Yagnik – brings back the memories of controversial ‘Choli ke piche’, ‘Gangsta blues’ rapped by Blaaze makes me consider him as a special talent, ‘Paper planes’ by MIA – an original song of MIA herself is used by ARR, also sounds good. ‘Lathika’s theme’, ‘Mausam & Escape’, ‘Riots’, ‘Liquid dance’, ‘Millionaire’ proves the eminence of ARR in the modern era of music. There is also a surprise track in this album, ‘Aaj ki raat’ of Don with some top-up beats by ARR. No wonder ARR won Golden Globe for this album.

Though I have downloaded the music, I am a chor with some usool you see :) So I am planning to buy the Audio CD of this album. Guys, don’t miss to listen to this audio.
I consider Slumdog Millionaire as one of the best works of ARR till date. I hope ARR wins Oscar also for this.

There were numerous terrorist attacks in various towns and cities of India in the past, but the recent attacks on Mumbai is the one that made by blood boil, to the most. No! Not because of the magnitude of it. Because of sheer ease with which the terrorists infiltrated into our country with loaded ammo. Because of the ruthlessness they displayed in killing hundreds of helpless civilians on the streets of Mumbai. Because of holding the best and efficient lot of the security @ bay for 60 hrs. And all this is done by just 10-12 well trained, brain washed bastards in their 20s!

The death toll has reached to 200 almost. The magnificent 100 yrs old heritage hotel is damaged now. Many of the brave soldiers and police have lost their lives in fighting against the terrorists. There is condolence expressed from every nook and corner of the country. At this juncture, being a responsible citizen of the country, I have few points to raise.. I need answers…

To political leaders:

To media:

I was glued either to the TV or news websites during the entire Operation Cyclone. I consider you did quite a fair job of the coverage. But in the hush to be the first one to cover the news, mobbing the hostages who were just let out of the captive and covering the footage of the critical positions of the NSG commandos in and around Taj and Nariman house was quite unpardonable mistakes you did.

To NSG, Military, STF, and Police force:

I salute you for your courage and thank you for saving so many lives. I deeply respect your sincerity and commitment but have some questions to ask you too!