Save my skull from Hel(l)met

The spirit lifting feeling of the wind in the hair is no more. The days of the spirit dampner called

Hel(l)met are here again. I've always loved that amazing feeling of the wind crashing on my hair as I rode the bike at top speed. Now its really sad to know that I cant enjoy it anymore if i dont get a highway in my backyard. After many days of waiting in vain with the hope of the government becoming lenient on the helmet rule, today I gave in to the pressure from parents and brought a helmet. The guy at the shop was telling that this is the only shop selling original helmets and showed me the ISI mark. Then itself I was convinced that this is surely a duplicate one. But who cares. Afterall, this is just to fill up the money thirsty eyes of the police. My first expereince today of wearing this was almost like hell to say the least. It kinda suffocated me and I tried hard to breath in some fresh air. Within 5 minutes, my head was paining. Back home, after I removed it and touched my head, it was like a hot oven. I guess this helmet's gonna contribute its own share in my already high rate of hair falling. Hope you will all see the full bald crusader in an year if this rule is not cancelled soon.

Everytime the helmet company's market profits dip, the courts put out an order making it compulsory for the poor biker to carry the heavy load on his head. And he has to shell out anything in the range of Rs. 750- 1500 to get this thing. This time the court took up the matter considering a petition filed by a man who lost his son in a bike accident. But its no secret that some helmet companies were behind the courtreprimanding the government for not enforcing the helmet law compulsarily. It should be left to the individual to decide whether he/she wants to wear a helmet or not. There are many who find it really uncomfortable to ride a bike and thus end up in accidents just because of this. Wearing the helmet, your head might be protected. But what if a lorry driven by a drunken driver hits you. The head gear's surely not gonna save you. For that, we need to enforce strict laws against drunken driving. We also need to control the flow of liquor. Kerala is known as a state which consumes the maximum quantity of liquor in India. All this in a state which is pretty small compared to many other states in India. Most of the accidents happen due to drunken driving.

No one rides a bike with the aim of banging his head on the road and dying. We all know how to drive safely. And the city roads are not like some formula one or motogp circuit. Coupled with the potholed roads, the heavy traffic makes it difficult for even to reach a speed of 50 kmph. Helmets are good if we are riding at 100kmph in 6 lane superhighways. But not in the narrow poorly maintained roads of the state. Another problem is carrying this thing everywhere you go. Its not possible to take this thing with me when i go for jogging at the museum. And given my luck with the traffic police, that would be exactly the time when they stop me on the road and make me pay 100 bucks for violating the rule. Last time the rule was made compulsory, the policemen went into overdrive and once famously threw down a biker with a lathi for not wearing helmet. Today, I brought the helmet only because my parents still remember that story very well. Hope the government cancells the order soon. Until then, its life on the road with the HEL(L)MET.

pic courtesy - comstockcreations

with a pain in the head,
your crusader Praveen

TajMahal, celebrities and some votes

Many of us are really proud to say that we dont vote in the general elections in our country. They are right to some extent given that its more of taking a choice between the devil and the deep sea. So, for all of us who hate to vote and all of us who love to vote[includes me], here's a chance atlast, a poll which is worth the time you spent voting. Yes, its the most talked about poll and least cared about poll[going by the number of votes the Indian candidate got] right now in India. Its the poll to choose the new seven wonders and yes, our very own Taj Mahal is competing. But the sad part is that the great monument of love is now in the 10th position and if it is to make it to the final list, it should reach atleast 6th position. This is because the pyramids of Giza is already in the final list as it is one of the ancient 7 wonders.

A.R.Rahman's Taj Anthem video

Its great to see that a wonderful personality is promoting the cause of Taj Mahal. As always, A.R.Rahman is singing for a cause. Its sad that no other celebrity talks about it. We are a nation having as many celebrities as there are poor people. Cricketers, filmstars, artists, musicians, writers...celebrities are there in every field and we do see them regularly in cola ads, fashion ramps and even if u miss both, they are there in page 3. Sorry, these days i feel like page 3 has shifted to page 1, going by the coverage celebrity news gets on the mainstream media. Abhi- Ash wedding is the next best thing that happened in India after Independence in 1947. History repeats every 60 years if the media is to be believed. Year 2007..Ash weds Abhi..enough fodder for media to blabber all through the year. Engagement, baaraat, party at the house, marriage, reception, honeymoon...everything is on tv. hope in the coming months, there will be an adult movie in the news channels featuring Ash and abhi live in action. Then, after one year its 'cradle of filth' time as abhi/ash junior arrives on tv. 3 years later, daddy daycare featuring Rajdeep sardesai.But, now its time for another discussion. Will this marriage last that long considering
Ash's habit of changing partners with every changing season...let them debate to hell....

Lets listen to Rahman singing ''ek mohabbat''. He sings the anthem with so much passion. The words, co-written by him reflects religious harmony and the power of love. This is his bit of promoting the cause. If such a busy person as Rahman can spent so much time writing, composing and acting in a song for TajMahal, why can't the normal Indian spent 5 minutes voting for the Taj. Afterall, its India's greatest architectural wonder. Its worthwhile voting for these pieces of white marble stones than wasting your vote on living dreadful creatures who eat into our country's coffers. But sadly only 4 percent of us have voted for it now. And now its in 10th place. It should reach up atleast till 6th place to secure a place in the final list. Please vote for it...Lets make our country proud...

And an important thing, DON'T VOTE for
1) Acropolis 2) Chichen Itza 3) Colosseum 4) Eiffel Tower
5) Great Wall 6) Machu Picchu 7) Petra 8) Statues of Easter Island
and 9) Statue of Christ Redeemer

as these are currently ahead of the Taj Mahal. As u have to select 7 to vote, just select the other choices in the list.

I've already voted 3 times using 3 different mail IDs. So u also do that if u got more than one ID.

VOTE NOW...
http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php?id=351

with love,
your crusader Praveen

STONEAGE live


Hello people,

Checkout our band stoneage performing live at Taj green cove, Kovalam. The event is kingfisher kerala rocks fest. Two of our original songs are shown in this video. The 1st one is called ''the mob''. Its against the pointless destruction caused by aimless mobs everywhere. The 2nd song is ''the return''. Its the story of a man who goes to prison for a crime he never committed. After 20 years he gets out from jail..but the soceity doesn't accept him...he begins to miss the jail and his friends there as he had become so used to the life there....he goes insane...and he commits a real crime and returns back to jail...

The lyrics are posted below

The Mob Song

Like a herd of unchained mad dogs
They storm the cities
With hearts so young and limbs so old
They roam the streets.

Destruction is the motto,
Revolution is the warcry,
''Revenge'', they cry out,
But where's the man at the hench?

Aimless to the core,
But no less is the roar,
Spilling blood on the road,
Still crying for more.

Leaving behind a trail of destruction,
Walking back with pride, on their contribution,
Little realising, its their own damnation.
I wonder, will there be a retribution?
****************

The Return

Behind the bars, I repent,
For what I never did.
These walls been my home and shelter,
These outlaws been my kin.

Behind the bars, I wait,
for the day has arrived
for me to bid goodbye,
to my abode of 20 years.

Walking the streets, it feels so new,
But the faces which smile at me are so few,
Is it just that am one not to be known,
'cause am the sign of a life went wrong.

I don't belong here, my heart says,
Now the bars beckon me,
For a crime I did,
I smile as the bars close behind me, one last time
*****************

The band members are as follows-
Vocals- Santhosh aka Mojojojo
Drums- Govind aka wolfrider
Lead guitar- Sreemon aka sreemon
Bass Guitar- Mahadevan aka Nimrod
Rhythm Guitar- Praveen aka ME...

SO, thats $+oή€@g€ 4 u....
Hope u enjoyed the show...

with love,
your crusader Praveen

Bharat Mata by M.F.Hussain
Saffron army's Bin Laden Swamiji

Intolerant!!!

After reading this post, u may think that am an anti- hindu. I dint particularly impress the Hindus by speaking bad about the revered Mataji Nirmala Devi. But, let me make one thing clear now itself. Am a god fearing Hindu myself. Am writing all these posts from the viewpoint of a normal human being, who thinks beyond any caste, creed or race. So read on...

India is becoming a hard place to live in, day by day. Our soceity is becoming increasingly intolerant. A case in point is the recent widespread attack on art and artists by the saffron brigade, who proclaim themselves as the caretakers of the great Indian culture. The BJP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and the other similar dirty bunches have taken it upon themselves to clean up our country of everything that goes against our so called tradition and culture. There were attack on art exhibitions at many places, most notably at MS University Vadodara's fine arts gallery. Bajrang Dal activists barged into the gallery and vandalised the student's paintings. In another incident, VHP and Bhajrang Dal activists attacked the Golden art gallery in Surat for allegedly exhibiting blasphemous paintings. The reason they gave for all this atrocious behaviour is that it hurt their religious sentiments. I have a question to ask to them, ''Is your religion so weak as to get hurt by some simple paintings?'' Religion is about belief, its not about idol worship.. Religion is about being tolerant not about vandalism. These uneducated blind believers should understand that art is something as divine as the God they worship.

The recent protests against India's greatest artist M.F.Hussain are also being carried out by this very own saffron army. He's been a victim of their attack for a long time. It is sad to note that there are no people mature enough in all these hindu organisations to guide their illiterate followers in the right path. Instead, these senior leaders themselves are making them do these attacks. There's much more to the 'Nude Saraswathi' than the nudity it displays. The last thing that might have come to Hussain's mind while painting it is the nudity.

My own explanation for the 'Nude Saraswathi' painting is that ''nudity is the purest and most divine form of any living being. When God created us, he dint give us clothes. Those are material things we acquired later on. So by depicting a God/Godess in nude, the artist might be trying to convey to the people the purest form of God.'' Hussain might have been trying to convey a different meaning. So much of thought and imagination goes into that genius's paintings. But, when our religious army sees the painting, their eyes would go straight to the lady's private parts on display. WHY? Because, thats the way they are used to looking at woman. One who wears red glasses will see even a dove as red in colour. These people should learn to look at the bigger picture. No artist would purposefully try to hurt religious sentiments. They are attacking all this without even studying the meaning of these paintings.

What is more disheartening is the attitude of the police. What they did after the attack at Vadodara University was to arrest the student who did the painting. The guys who carried out the attack were talking jubiliantly and threateningly in front of the press. The Dean of the arts faculty, who showed the guts to support the student was reprimanded by the University Vice chancellor. Its no secret that the VC was appointed by the uncrowned king of saffronisation, Mr.Narendra Modi. This kind of moral policing is a shame for our great country. This is not our culture[which they are boasting of protecting] or our tradition. We were once called the most tolerant soceity in the world. Now we are slowly losing that name. One week back, there was a murderous assault on a preacher right in front of his house. The faces of prominent VHP leaders, who carried out the attack were caught on camera. Still, the police didn't take any action for more than 10 days.

These kind of attacks make us no different from those intolerant-as-hell islamic countries. The prophet mohammed cartoon controversy is still fresh in mind. This moral policing is not limited to arts alone. The Shiv Sena has made it an annual affair to burn greeting cards and carryout attack on young couples on Valentines day. They also regularly visit parks and other public places to drive away young couples. Who gave them the license to do all this? Is there something wrong in celebrating love? Is there something wrong in two people kissing, with mutual permission? Its all wrong according to them. Everything western is wrong. Rock concerts are bad. Ghazal is muslim music. So it should also be attacked[Remember the attack on a famous pakistani ghazal singer's concert some years back]. They raised a hue and cry when A.R.Rahman released Vande Mataram. Their line of thinking was that Rahman being a muslim was purposefully trying to show disrespect to our national song. Its another matter that he's one of the most patriotic musicians India has ever produced. That day is not far away when the saffron army declares that music is against our beliefs. So lets burn all cassettes and close down all the music shops. This is exactly what is happening in Pakistan right now. The music shop owners there are now selling vegetables. There are reports that all music shops in some provinces are closed down because of pressure from hardcore Islamic organisations. Even teaching music is banned in some of the Pakistani universities.

If u dont want to see India in that state we should resist this saffron army. If u still want to hear Floyd, Nirvana and Rahman, if u still want to feast your eyes on divine works of art and if u still want to kiss your girlfriend, you gotta say ''FUCK OFF'' to these moral policing...

NB- The writer is a devout Hindu who hates the hindu political organisations who boasts of fighting for the cause of Hindusim

your crusader Praveen

VOICES HEARD..

All hail the supreme court of India for staying the OBC quota for another academic year. The politicians [especially the great quota lover Arjun Singh] are now trying all possible ways to get it done this year itself, but I dont think the Supreme court is gonna change its strong stand on this issue. This decision comes as a solace for all those spirited young guns who battled with all heart against this injustice. Hope next year, the supreme court produce a ruling abolishing the quotas as a whole[hmm...thats my wild mind going wilder with some impossible dreams...''etra sundaramaaya nadakkatha swapnam'']...

So, to celebrate this great day, I dedicate this great song titled ''voices'' from the Indian band ''pentagram''.. The video is a tribute to the young citizens of India, who fought for merit...

with a voice not good enuf 4 singing,
your crusader praveen

Nayakan... our own godfather
When u think of films on the underworld, what comes to your mind are images filled with blood and gore. Right from frame one, you'll be treated to scene after scene of the ruthless conquests of the gangmen. And by the end of it, you'll be yearning for some peace. But there's one film which is entirely different from all other films of this genre. And its no wonder that this movie comes from India's most brilliant director whose films has always served as a bridge between commercial and parallel cinema- Mani Ratnam. As you might have already guessed, am taking about the all time cult classic 'Nayakan'. This film has, over the years, become a sort of benchmark, a film to which every other underworld film, before and after it, is compared. 'Nayakan' saw the coming together of three of Indian cinema's stalwarts- Mani Ratnam, Kamal Haasan and Ilayaraja. More than that, all three of them gave their best till date. Mani Ratnam with his crisp direction, Kamal Haasan with his breath taking acting and Ilayaraja with his lilting melodies made this film a treasure trove of all that is good in every department of film making.

So what makes 'Nayakan' really different from the rest of the lot? While the usual underworld film focusses on just the 'gore' factor of the main character, Nayakan treads an entirely different path. It traces the life story of the man right from childhood to death. The gradual transformation of the don through various phases of his life is done so seamlessly that you can't help but admire the tight scripting. Kamal Haasan's acting prowess comes to the fore in this film. He morphs easily from the angry young man to the ruthless middle aged don and then finally to the family loving old man. His powerhouse performance makes Don Velu Naikar[was that Mani's nod to Puzzo's Don Vitto Corleone?] one of the most unforgettable characters in Indian cinema. The buildup that Mani carries out on this character is just awesome to say the least. The kid commiting a murder, then as he grow up going into smalltime smuggling, becoming a local goon and finally the all powerful don, the leader of the pack..the Nayakan. This kind of layering and weaving on a single character was unprecedented in Indian cinema and even now, not many have succeeded in this.

Each and every scene of this movie is still fresh in my memory eventhough I watched this some years back. And most memorable of them all is Kamal Haasan's epic crying when he sees his son's deadbody. Believe me, he'll literally make your jaws drop in admiration and disbelief. How can any one act like this!! This single scene makes Nayakan a movie worth watching. The dialogues are simple but utterly brilliant that it hits you right in the middle of the heart. My favorite is when his grandson asks Don Velu- ''Are you a good man or a bad man?'' to which Velu replies - ''I don't know''. Look, how simple. But the way it is delivered is what makes it so special. Kamal's scenes with the corrupt police officer's mentally challenged son is also touching. Then, when his daughter asks him to stop the bloodshed, he delivers some really punching words- ''I'll stop. First ask them to stop..the policemen who killed a labour union leader when he asked for a salary hike, the policeman who killed a poor old man and made it up as a suicide, the seth who tried to bring down the houses of poor slum dwellers, the people who shot ur mother dead at night. Ask them all to stop. Then ill stop....'' This dialogue sometimes reminds me of Russel Crowe's legendary ''father to a murdered son..'' dialogue from Gladiator. Was that a case of Hollywood getting inspired by Tollywood?

Another star of the film is Ilayaraja's melodic music. Who'll forget the song ''Thenbandi cheemayile'', which epitomises the life of Nayakan? This song appears at various critical points of the narrative telling a story of its own. The background score fits to the square. Even the silent scenes carry a beauty of its own. Ilayaraja gives everyone a tutorial on how to make use of silence to heighten the anxeity of a particular scene. The supporting cast delivers some stunning performance although they get overshadowed by Kamal's 'out of the world' acting. Janagaraj as his friend Selva, Nasser as the ACP and son-in-law, Saranya as his wife and Karthika as his daughter all deliver commanding performances. Of this, Jankaraj as Nayakan's friend through thick and thin, especially tugs your heart with his histrionics. The cinematography and carefully lighted scenes are an added bonus to this epic. Mani's eye for detail shines through in almost every scene. You'll still miss some detail even on the 10th watching of this movie. Now, I guess, u can imagine the amount of detail.

The movie won accolades all over. Kamal got a national award for this path breaking performance. I can surely say that no best actor oscar award winner till date could even dream of ever matching his acting. Maybe, thats why I have an utter disregard for the oscars. Recently, Nayakan was included in TIME Magazine's list of 100 best films of the last century. I think TIME magazine should be proud that they included this film in their list, rather than the other way around. Despite all this, I become sad when I think about this movie because the magical duo of Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan has never come together after this movie citing creative differences. Fireworks are bound to happen when two brillaint people meet. Thats what happened in this case too. Hope they get over their differences and come together for an encore. Until then, its Nayakan all the way...

your crusader Praveen

THE IRON MAIDEN EXPERIENCE

Pappu, me , jk with the tickets

Last week can be termed as one of the most rocking one of my life..After having two days of pure fun at NIT Calicut's Raagam '07, we headed straight to Banglore to watch the concert of our lifetime..to watch the uncrowned kings of heavy metal in action.. to watch none other than IRON MAIDEN... It was a sort of get together of the who's who of the Trivandrum headbangers club.. let me compile a list of the metalheads from TVM who attended the show.. first of all, the 'Rage' band..Nithin chettan, mithun chettan, abi chettan, pramod chettan...then, Raja, Nikhil, JK, Pappu and Kishore chettan from K.OS...Govindan chettan from old 'transmigration', Vivek, Chippu and Alex from 'Soulburn', metal fans bhasi chettan, sono chettan, subin chettan, Rohan, sreejith and finally rohith and me representing 'Stoneage'..

take a look at the lighting equipments

with the superfans from Germany

Me and k.os guys set out to the palace grounds at morning 10am itself. Even the autorickshaw drivers in banglore seemed to know 'iron maiden' and they easily recognised that we were heading to the concert venue. As we reached there, lots of young guys and gals were already pouring in. The site of IRON MAIDEN LIVE on the arch leading to the ground really pumped up my spirits. We walked in and was greeted by the awesome sight of a sea of black shirts outside the grounds and most of the shirts had the words 'iron maiden' written on it. Some weirdo guys and gals with equally weird haircuts and dressups were roaming around there. Many of them carried beer cans. As expected, some were busy smoking the 'stuff'. It was only 11am now. The gates won't open in another 4 hours. And the guys who were having our tickets were still to arrive. We sat around there savouring the multi cultural, multi lingual but still united rock crowd who had gathered there. Am sure there were atleast a dozen people representing each state in India.


As we sat around there munching some water melon, a van carrying police men passed by. And the agressive crowd raised up their middle finger in unison and sang some slogans which cannot be written here. Already, big queues were gathering in front of both the 900rs and 1500rs entry points. Atlast at 2, all the guys arrived. We posed for pics holding the tickets in our hands. Then, we queued up for the final push to the stadium. The impatient crowd were banging on the metal panels and chanting 'maiden , maiden'...and finally the gates opened at 2 30 pm...The ticket guy checked our tickets and was collecting it back. I was not ready to part with that prized possession. I showed it to him and ran away with it. I could hear him calling from my back but i dint turn back. We all ran straight to the front. And all of us went mad because we were so close to the stage. The first 30 minutes were really mad as lots of pushing and swearing were happening. We were struck by the sheer elegance of the stage. The number of lighting equipments dangling from the top were just mind blowing. After many rounds of slogan shouting, the crowd settled down. As we roamed around there, we met 3 superfans of maiden from Germany. They had the SPF[Superfan] badges and lots of Maiden stuff on their dresses. According to them, there are only 40 people all around the world with this special pass. These people follow the band wherever they go. We spend sometime talking with them. As we walked around, we could see smoke enveloping the whole stadium. Cigarettes and the 'other stuff' were being smoked freely all around.

The proceedings started around 5 30 pm with this year's campus rock idol winners F**k The Name[FTN] taking the centrestage. And the poor guys were not given the full output, which was preserved to be unleashed during the maiden show. So, inspite of being really good, they were booed down. Lots of F words were heard from all around. This day would rank as the one in which i heard the maxmum number of F words. After FTN, Parikrama came on stage. Their popularity out here was guaged by the loud cheers that greeted them. They played 8 of their original songs of which my favorite was 'but it rained'. The violinist and the lead guitarist stole the show. The vocalist made some unnecessary remarks at the end which were really in bad taste. He used the F word to describe the critics of the band. That was going a little too far. Then, it was time for Lauren Harris, daughter of Steve Harris, and her girl band to perform. Less said about the show, the better. Barring the old spirited lady behind the drums, it was a load of crap, the biggest crap being the Zakk wylde imitating guitarist.

OK, now enough is enough..sorry to all the maiden fans out here for boring you with such a long intro. The Edd Fest '07 really started at 10 minutes past 8 'O' Clock. There was no warning. There was this rumour going over many months that the show is scheduled at 12 am. So we never expected this to happen so fast. All through the opening shows of FTN, Parikrama and Lauren, we were looking behind the stage to catch a glimpse of the maiden guys and we were successful a couple of times. We were waiting impatiently for their arrival on stage..And they did arrive! Like an unannounced storm, they came on stage sending the whole crowd into frenzy. All of us were still screaming out of disbelief. The thought that am watching Iron Maiden in flesh and blood, right before my eyes, sent a chill down my spines. Dickinson was in full form as he sang 'Different world' from the new album ''A matter of life and death''. The album artwork that was dispalyed in the background was awesome. The lighting was innovative. Next up, they played some more songs from the new album..'Brighter than a thousand suns', 'For the greater good of god', ''these colours don't run'' and 'the reincarnation of benjamin breeg'. Nicko McBrain was thumping behind the mammoth drumkit and he could be seen only from the screen. The rest of them were their energetic self, setting the stage ablaze. Bruce Dickinson's voice was still the old air raid siren sound, with no evident changes. Seems like guitarists never age..All of them, Janick Gers, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray looked less than 30 years of age. But truth is that the band itself is more than 30 years old.

More surprises were in store for us. The biggest of them came during the song ''Iron Maiden''. We saw something rising up from behind the stage. Oh god..It was a full scale model of a military tank. First, it was side view. Then it turned with the big barrel facing the audience. The whole stadium roared. Then came the song ''evil that men do''. This time, it was eddy himself, who surprised us. The mammoth eddy walked in and probed the audience with a binocular. After some spirited calls of ''scream for me banglore'' from Bruce, came the icing on the Maiden cake. ''Hallowed be thy name''. I felt the song was being played from a CD player. That was the perfection with which they reproduced it on stage. For that matter, they played almost all songs like that. And, almost everyone was singing along that Bruce's voice was drowned. This song was the signal that the concert was coming to an end. Bruce was so impressed by the crowd, who sang almost every song with him, that he said the following words..''You've waited 17 years for Maiden, but u don't have to wait even 17 months for the next one''.. So, another Indian concert is on the cards soon. At the end, they all turned their back to the audience for a snap with us in the background. Am sure that will rank alongside some of the other iconic Iron Maiden posters. They threw down drum sticks, wrist bands and guitar picks down into the audience. Though we were all standing in the front row, none among us were fortunate enough to get a piece of the memorabilia.

Eddie arrives

Goodbye Banglore

We didn't know what hit us. And before we could find out, it was all over. We didn't want it to end so fast. But it was all over by the time we realised its Maiden playing in front of us. Now, that is Maiden magic for you. Its not for nothing that they been ruling the Metal Kingdom for the past 30 years... The audience kept on chanting 'Maiden, Maiden'. Most of us were relucatant to leave even after Maiden left. We hung around near the stage trying to catch a glimpse of the Maiden guys and all we got to see were the sound guys. They were all really fast in dismantling the huge amount of concert equipment that they had set up there on stage. Atlast, the policemen drew us away. As we walked back, we were still shaking our head. Now, as I write this, almost one week after the show, am still shaking my head. Am wondering when will it all sink in..the truth that I watched Iron Maiden live...up close..in flesh and blood..from the front row..... Until then, its 'MAIDEN MAIDEN'....chant alongggg...all u members of the Maiden army...

for the complete photo album checkout...
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/blazeofglory2007/IronMaidenEddFest07Banglore


your crusader Praveen

2nd time LUCKYY

emil, me , arr and swapna chechi

This is a really late post. Late by one week, to be precise. Been busy this past week. So here I am, trying hard to describe a moment which is too big to be described in words. 1st time , it was sweet. and the 2nd time around it was sweeter. 1st time, i got to him thru the crowd, shook hands, got autograph and even asked a few questions. But, now it was up close and personal and there was no crowd to obstruct me. Yes, am talking about my 2nd meeting with my idol... the music maestro A.R.Rahman.

This time also, the 1st person I've to thank is Swapna Chechi who alongwith Bharat called me to reach for the meeting urgently. It all happened last monday afternoon. Rahman was in the city to receive the swaralaya award. Chechi had told me the day before that we may get a chance to meet him personally. So I was really hopeful and waited for her call right from the morning. And i bunked the morning classes and hung around at the campus so that I could rush out once I get the call. Then went to my friend Raja's house nearby college. And thus the much awaited phone call came at 12 40. Bharat was at the other end. He told me to rush to Hotel Leela Palace, Kovalam. They were waiting there. And there was specific instructions from chechi not to take anyone with me. As soon as I hung up the call, I began running with my bike keys and my friend was calling from behind to take him with me. But I cudn't do that. So, here I was, on top of my bike , ready for another 100kmph drive. As I sped along the highway leading to kovalam, I was tossing various questions in my mind to ask ARR, when I meet him. I reached there in record time, even surprising the guys who called me some minutes before.

My heartbeat increased as I crossed the gates of the hotel. And then a villian came in the form of the security man, who stopped me. He asked me what i was doing there. Probably, my shabby jeans and T shirt looked out of place among the executive looking guys arriving there. I said I came to meet ARR sir and that one of my friends got an appointment. He dint believe me and called up the hotel reception to confirm and then he half heartedly let me in. There they were, Swapna Chechi, Bharat, Arun Chettan and Emil, waiting 4 me. It was Arun Chettan who fixed up the meeting. Arun chettan and bharat were wearing ARR T shirts, designed by Bharat. I was really sad to see that because i couldn't wear my over sized t shirts. Its all because Bharat miscalculated my shirt size...he hee....It was chechi's birthday. So i wished her happy birthday. Then someone came and told arun chettan that ARR's been waiting 4 us. I was really shocked to hear this. My god, ARR waiting 4 some unknown fans. I was really amazed at this man's humility.

We walked on to the lobby. There he was sitting alone in a table, wearing a white kurta. You could mistake him for just another normal man, because he had no celebrity airs or bodyguards by his side. You would never think that this is a man who has conquered the world with his magical music. We all walked to his table and Arun chettan told him that we are all from arrfans yahoogroups. His face lighted up to hear that we are from his official fan group. Then he asked our names. When Bharat said that he's from Chennai, ARR asked whether he came such a long distance just to meeet him..he hee... Arun chettan told him that more of the fans are pouring in. ARR looked really tired and he told us that he was getting ready to sleep and would wake up only at 5pm, in time 4 the award function. We all told him that it was a dream come true for us to meet him in person. He smiled. He got up to go to his room. We were all awe struck by his presence that we dint even think of taking a snap until then. Then we asked him whether we can take snaps with him.He happily obliged.Arun chettan took one in his digicam and then one for me in my mobile cam. Then ARR left after bidding goodbye to us. Thats when Bharat thought about the portrait that he drew of ARR. So we put it in a frame and send it to his room with a note.

I was still in a state of wonder and awe that i could barely speak. I can't put it down on words here beacuse all my words were used up the 1st time around when i posted a blog on meeting him. But meeting in a crowd and meeting in such a quiet place is different. You can sense the presence of something divine when u r near him. The magic he radiates is really awesome. And coupled with that, his down to earth behaviour makes u feel at home. So with the un explainable happiness of meeting ARR for the 2nd time in life, I walked back along with all of them. I was still shaking my head as I sped back to my college in my bike. As soon I got back to college, I dint waste anytime in showing my pic to all of my friends. I was beaming with pride as my friends kept on asking whether the snap was for real or was it one of my morphed creations.

Then in the evening me and my friends went to the Swaralaya award function. ARR was accompanied by his mother. The loudest cheers of the evening where reserved for ARR, even when the venue was studded with celebrities from the music world. He received the Swaralaya award from K.J.Yesudas, after whom the award is named. Rahman sang a few lines of the song 'Tere Bina' from Guru. Then some young singers sang 'Chinna chinna asai' and 'veerapandi kottayile' with ARR watching them closely on the stage. It was a great performance. Then we witnessed a host of big singers singing ARR songs- Chitra, sujatha, srinivas, sadhna sargam, unni krishnan, unnimenon, naresh Iyer etc. Another notable performance was from a It was really a musical treat. Then while returning back, I had the good fortune of meeting Sadhna Sargam backstage. Got autograph and posed 4 a pic with her. But unluckily 4 me, my frend accidently took it as a video of bad clarity. But still I was happy for this special day when I had the good fortune of watching so many musical heavy weights. This is a day for me to remember forever in life. Thanks a million to swapna chechi, arun chettan and bharat 4 making this meeting possible.

with love,
diehard Rahmaniac...your crusader praveen

THE REAL BIG BROTHER

Now, this is a thing to be proud of..am talking about Tata steel's successful takeover of anglo dutch steel giant Corus. Now, almost all of world's steel production is in the hands of Indians. Hope u remember Mittal steel's takeover of Arcelor. These are the things that raises the stature of the country in the global arena. Not Shilpa Shetty's manufactured emotional tryst on Big brother. The media was obsessed with projecting her as a sign of India's growing stature abroad. And she herself was telling us that she made the country proud with her exemplary behaviour and then by her winning the big brother show. This is such a big piece of crap to say the least.

Anyone with little common sense can understand that BIG BROTHER was nothing more than a perfectly scripted TV show. There's not even a tinge of the so called 'reality' in it. The racism controversy was a well planned move to rescue a show which was sinking. And they did rescue it. More than that, senseless characters like Jade goody became household names worldwide. Then, the kissing and making up show between jade and shilpa 2 days later was another big pre planned twist to the tale. Shilpa's innocent looking face and her famous dialogue, ''i was not aware of the things going on all over the world because of this. I was not subjected to racism'' etc, proved that she can act well after all. It would've done her a world of good, if she had displayed this talent in her films, rather than the tiring skin shows. And Jade goody played the perfect villian. Now, there's the media, bombarding us with the latest from Big Brother and the house mates. Shilpa's winning was hailed all day long on all the news channels as the best thing to happen to India. But, they don't understand that this was also a foregone conclusion. Another hidden agenda of channel 4 was to boost the ratings of its Indian clone 'Big boss'. And the Indian media helped them in all the ways they could. Still, 3 days after the show ended, u can see some trivial news on shilpa's win on some of the channels. The most funniest was what i saw yesterday on CNN IBN- a feature on the Shettys who made it big. The interesting thing was that the reporter was also a Shetty. I wonder why such reputed channels stoop to such levels. What difference does a failed actress winning 3 crores make to the millions of starving Indians? What difference is it gonna make to the stature of India as a nation? Can anyone please answer these questions?Can Rajdeep Sardesai's long tongue which has the power to present trivial news as breaking news answer my question?

As long as these questions remain unanswered, these type of page 3 gossip will rule the Indian media headlines..Not a normal headline..But Banner headlines in big bold black letters...Don't be surprised if morrow the front page of your paper reads..''SHILPA's LITTLE FINGER BROKE YESTERDAY. BIG BROTHER PREVENTS THE BLEEDING BY HOLDING HER HAND
TIGHT''. Don't think am exaggerating, but this is the way in which the national media is heading.

Leave all those shit at big brother's house. Lets celebrate a news which deserves to be called as a sign of 'India rising'. TATA group laid a foundation stone on India Inc's quest to be the BIG BROTHER of World economy. I know, its a long way to go. But, there's nothing wrong in celebrating this. Some years back, such mammoth takeovers by Indian companies was unimaginable. Rather, it was the other way round with foreign companies taking over Indian companies. Now its all changed for good. Hope this is the just the starting point for a long list of Indian takeovers abroad. JRD Tata's dream has grown into a full fledged global empire thus taking India along with it to the top of the world corporate ladder. The TATAs have proved their worth in all the fields they have laid their hands on. Ratan Tata's able leadership has more than matched the huge legacy left behind by JRD Tata....This is a new dawn for India Inc... I can see the Indian domination looming large in the horizon...Celebrate..but don't rest on the laurels...Move ahead ...conquer....

Salutes to the real big brother of India Inc..the TATAs

With pride,
your crusader Praveen

RAHMANTIC DAY...

Its morning again. The rays of sun and my mother's non stop calls of 'wake up wake up' made me sit up from bed. I go straight to my cd player and push the play button..The mellow strains of guitar starts and then Rahman's magical voice enters singing 'vellai Pookkal'. This is how I begin every other day. Today also I did the same, but this day was special. It was A.R.Rahman's 41st birthday. A day special for every rahman fan, a day he celebrates every year like his own

birthday. Here, I celebrate my day as a Rahman musical.....

Rahman has made a song for every moment of the day, every emotion and every action. After 'vellai pookkal' welcomed me to the beautiful world, its time for me to take a bath..here comes 'kulicha kutraalam' from duet. I looked at my small garden as i walked along. 'en veetu thottathil' is the song on my lips now. Then i took a peek at the days' newspaper, as usual the i saw some news about some communal riot in north india. The song that came to my mind was 'ishwar allah' from earth. Oh, its breakfast time. Amma's affectionately calling me to come and eat. Seeing the love in her eyes, i think of the song 'kalayil dinavum' from New, describing motherly love.

Its 9 am. Time 4 me to go to college. I kickstart my black unicorn. Now what else..but 'LOSE CONTROL'..I cross the college gate singing 'apni to paathshala, masti ka paathshala..na koi padne waala, na koi seekhne wala'. Its college election time. The campaigning is going on in full swing..am singing 'kannai katti kollathe' from Iruvar after seeing all those pandemonium. Ok, let me attend atleast one period. Now teacher asked me to show me her notebook. Getting into the
class itself is a big acievement for me and she's asking me for note. Am singing 'urvasi, take it easy urvasi' [her name's not urvasi..donnow her name...he hee] in my mind. Well, she took it pretty easy and asked me to get out. 'Ekla chalo' from 'bose-the forgotten hero' is the song for the moment because no one is there with me as usual. She asked only me to get out. I've got nothing to do. So I just walk along the corridors looking at those beautiful gals passing along. Its 'Kalluri Saalai' from kadhal desam as i take a second look at the most beautiful among the lot. Now i head to the cricket ground. There's an exciting match going on there. As am not that expert in playing, my place is at the gallery in the cheering squad singing 'chale chalo' from lagaan. A gust of wind swept through the ground thus providing a little cool atmosphere.
There goes 'kaatre' from rhythm. Now , my best friend comes after the period to give me company. We walked back togather from the ground singing 'musthafa musthafa'.

Its evening. Time 4 me to go back. There's a road block due to a protest march going on in front of us. There's lathicharge and stone pelting up front. I remember the song 'Khoon Chala' from RDB. As i ride along the road, I can see beggars, child labourers from bihar and at the same time a minister passing through a luxury car...Thats how diverse our land is. What better song to symbolise it other than 'yeh jo des hai tera'. Now i've to hurry to be with our band for our rock show tonight. As I wait to get on stage, 'sa re ga me' is the song that inspires me to give it my best shot. The scene of the applauding crowd makes me remember arr's words to always keep my feet on the ground. Now am riding back home on my bike. Night is falling. 'New york nagaram' is the song on my lips.[just change the city name, thts alll]...Well, morrow is a holiday, so i can sleep till noon..'colombus, colombus, chutti hai bhai'....Its a sweet moonlit night. I take my acoustic guitar to play some soft stuff before i go to sleep..what better song than 'Khamosh raat' from 'thakshak'....and atlast am in bed after a hectic day...as i close my eyes, i can imagine my amma singing a lullaby 4 me..'Ghoomparani' from 'Bose'...

Thats a day from my life, told in the form of a musical. And thats my tribute to my idol , the musical genius A.R.Rahman. ARR ended 2006 with a bang by winning the song of the year award in polls conducted by 3 leading news channels. If it was 'lose control' that won in NDTV, 'Roobaroo' made it a clean sweep by winning in CNN IBN and TIMES NOW. Mind u, this was an year in which a guy called Himesh Reshammiya bombarded us with 30 albums of his nosy tracks and was hailed as the greatest thing in Indian music. But, Rahman proved again that quality matters more than quantity. He swept all awards with just one album, that had more vareity than all the other releases of the year combined. Rahman also continued to be the face of Indian music abroad. Towards the end of the year, a list of 56 songs to be considered for oscars were released.. and guess what, our man had 3 songs in that list. One from Water and 2 from Rang De Basanti. And he has two films of his competing in the best foreign film category. RDB from India and Water from Canada. Now, can anyone match that. hope that we could see him with that coveted statue at the kodak theatres this year. This was also an year in which he made great inroads into hollywood. He made a completely foreign crowd at the Hollywood bowl dance to his Indian tunes. His cult classic 'chaiyya chaiyya' was part of the soundtrack of the big budget film 'Inside man'. It was a great feeling to see a Hollywood film opening with A.R.Rahman's song. Then, his evergreen composition 'Bombay Theme' was used in the soundtrack of the Nicolas Cage starrer 'Lord of war'. He was also active in the ad circuit with the Worldspace ads becoming a favorite with the audiences. His tamil releases 'God father' and 'Sillunu oru kaathal' also topped the charts. 'New York Nagaram' and 'Munbe Vaa' is still being played a million times a day in all the tamil music channels. Now, with GURU music finding favour with the critics and audience alike, he's all set to rock 2007. Altogether, it was another eventful year in the life of the musical genius. Another milestone in the musical journey of the man who considers the journey more important than the destination.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAHMAN SIR...
A million Thanks for spreading happeiness all over the world with your music...
LONG LIVE ARR ...LONG LIVE MUSIC..

NB- it was an eventful year for me as an ARR fan as I finally got to meet my idol face to face, give a shakehand and also got an autograph..It was on June 10th ..chkout my previous post on that...

http://crusadertvm.blogspot.com/2006/06/gr8est-day-of-my-life-today.html

sorry 4 the late posting...this was meant to be posted yday..on his bday..but could n't do...

with love,
the greatest fan of ARR....your crusader Praveen