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Friday, April 01, 2011

Helllooowwwww thereeeeee

My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey.

Out of the blue and into the black
They give you this, but you pay for that
And once you're gone, you can never come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black.


This track is a find, honestly. If you haven't heard it, then please open its youtube page and let it buffer while you read on.
I just got back from Jodhpur, from a friends wedding. Its werid how I remember my childhood days so well, the minutest, most unimportant details, of how people around me looked, how they talked, their quirks, the roads, the shops, etc. I've been in Jodhpur for two whole years, and that part of my memory is a complete blank. Was I an unhappy child back then? So much so, that all those days have been completelty rubbed off from my mind? It felt like I was visitng a completely new city, and I was as wonderstruck, and as amazed, as my other friends, visiting places, walking through lanes, driving on a empty roads. Oh yeah, empty. The first thing that struck me was the lack of traffic. What a relief. I could breathe on the roads and know there was minimal carbon going inside my already adultrated lungs.

The marriage was just how I had imagined, actually. I knew the set up would be dripping with all the Rajasthani traditions and customs, all the one's that make me happy, secretly, knowing I belong to the same culture. What was more fascinating and appealing was to watch people dressed in Jodhpuris, bandhgalas, etc. and conversing in the native language which oozes royality. Rajasthan is such a rich state, in every sense of the word. The culture, the languages, the food, the clothes, etc. The usual tease and the cheek which is the trademark of mostly all weddings was plesantly absant in this one. We were a part of a bigger, more dignified wedlock, which was so charming, minus the essential ingredients that are indespensible in a Delhi, or UP sort of a marriage. We weren't flowing in non-exhaustive supply of alcohol, the conversation among the most excited and important were tame and the only thing that was supersonic was when the speaker volume reached a prohibitted level for a second and a half, accidently. It wasn't a wedding. It was a marriage. I'm definitely not drawing a parallel in terms of preference. It's great to be a part of a ceremony which isn't like the usual. I don't mind, either, personally!

Life is back to the usual. Work, work, and more work. I never thought I'd say this, but I am really excited for tomorrows match. CRICKET match. The world cup final happens tomorrow, and not a single Indian can mask the excitement or contain the patriotism. It's in the air and no one can escape it. We're all infected. It's a great feeling. I was travelling in the train when the semi-final was upon us. A SEMI-FINAL with PAKISTAN. A doublly important match mixed with the already infectious excitement that the new religion, cricket, brings with it, had me downloading the match score application on my phone. 6 of us, huddled over my phone for some four hours, bursting with nervous excitement and constant prayers for the country to have its name in the finals list, was something I thought I would never be a part of in my life. I was. I really was. The train was quiet, and the lights were off. We could hear the rhythmic snoring, shifting and shuffling as we bore our eyes on the scorecard, waiting for the steady increase in the column that showed "wickets". Everytime it went one number up, we'd whoop and scream, but not loud enough, still. We were waiting for the last second. After that pandemonium would reign, surely. Before my phone could update the score, one friend got a call, and we knew we the world had burst at that very point. There was only screaming, and as the voices carried through the train corridoor, the sleepy eyes and tired bodies sprung up with an energy which seemed to be hibernating within them for what seemed like years. The entire train screamed in one single "YAY". We were in the middle of nowhere, but we didn't feel it. We were in India, and everywhere, everyone around us was a part of one common link that brought us together- cricket.

Cricket is not a sport. It might not even be a religion, since that too is reaching redundancy. Maybe it is an overwhelming feeling, a super natural power that has the capacity to bring us together. There is nothing bigger, more important than making each and every individual of a country feel proud of their identity, the soil which gave them life. I don't know what cricket is. No one knows what cricket is.

On another topic, Coke Studio. That's another one highly recommended. Please do give it a listen. There's nothing more soulful (for now!)

 Im hungry. I had lunch just a while back. Im still hungry.

It's a friday. There's music in my room. Not the annoying sort, ofcourse. Good. Old classics. I like very much. It really isn't that bad an idea to work with light music for light work.

The king is gone but he's not forgotten
Is this the story of johnny rotten?
It's better to burn out 'cause rust never sleeps
The king is gone but he's not forgotten.

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.


-Hey Hey, My My- Neil Young

More later.
Love

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