Devalued

all the world's music is here

It was not long back, about 7-8 years ago. It was a source of great pleasure when I somehow got hold of a song I been looking for. For some rare songs, I had to wait for years to get it into my collection. But it brought me immense satisfaction and a certain genuine happiness in the heart when I got it. I still remember how or where I got some of those songs. Now, that pleasure is not there. In a world filled with torrents and file sharing stuff like Ares, shareaza, limewire etc, you can obtain any obscure song just by typing its name and pressing enter. You can even get complete collections of every artiast on the face of the earth. I, for one, has downloaded tons of discographies of various artists and am having a hard time devoting my time for a particular artist. This kind of easy availability has diminished the value of the music somewhat. The old world satisfaction of securing a much loved and rare song is also missing. Also, its confusing sometimes thinking on what I should listen beacuse I've all the world's music at my disposal. But still...getting a free meal is good...hahhaa...

your crusader Praveen

Moshpit- God's own rock

Once upon a time, they used to say..Oh, what a place..always in a slumber..and what kinda people..the most sleepy unappreciative dead crowd u can ever have..and a rock show here..forget it... Now, to all those who used to say that or ever said that, here's our answer. We, the rockers community of Trivandrum is proud to say that, your perceptions or claims won't stand any longer. Because, today something happened which can be said to be an epoch making event in the history of rock in Trivandrum. Because today, MOSHPIT happened.

Billed as 'God's own rock' in 'God's own country', Moshpit broke all apprehensions about the feasibility of a rock concert in the city and also exceeded all our expectaions thus turning out to be one of the best things to have happened to the local rock scene in a very long time. When we started off with Moshpit last year, the scene was totally different. Not many were ready to shell out hard earned money for a rock show. Still, people came out in satisfactory numbers to cheer the 3 bands rage, rubbur band and afterdeath. But, now it has all changed for good. The number of new bands that have come up is a testimony to this fact.

In the morning itself, local metalheads were present at the venue, VJT Hall, happily doing all the small small chores. It was raining heavily from the morning itself thus proving right our decision to conduct the fest indoors. And to provide us security, there were a bunch of policemen from the world famous Kerala Police. The expressions on their faces during the show were great to see. They were as if standing on some alien land. Small groups of metal freaks started trickling in the afternoon. And by the time, the show started rolling towards 4 pm, the hall was filled up with a sizeable crowd, most of them wearing the traditional black t shirts and sporting long locks.

The proceedings started off with the band 'Xitropy'. As the guys from my band 'Stoneage' was having exams, I played guitar with xitropy. The set list consisted of 4 original tracks and 2 covers- distubed's voices and deftones's my own summer. The new age stuff did go down well with the audience. Nirmal spirited up the audience with his heavy screaming. The combination of weirdo lighting and smoke provided a great atmosphere to play in although sometimes the lights blinded me. Alex was pounding real hard and tight behind the drums. Cliffy put in some nice solos though the guitar tones kinda sucked. And Robbins did good work on the bass although he could've avoided delaying the whole event. The decision to play one more song Deftones's 'My own summer' was really unnecessary as it didn't add anything to the nice performance till then but only served in diminishing the effect. Next up was the band 'Soulburn' and they did burn the place with some tight numbers. My favourite was their cover of Pearl Jam's 'even flow'. Another notable one was Alice in Chains's 'would'. Lead guitarist Arjun's shirtless act attracted loud cheers from the crowd. Chippu did amazing work on bass. Vivek was aggression personified as he pointed at the crowd and said ''I want a f***ing mosh right here in the front''. Sabu, the drummer needs special mention as he was the one behind designing the posters, brochures and tickets of moshpit '07. After soulburn's grunge attack, the gospel band 'Live jam' came on stage. But I cant write anything on their show because I had to leave for some urgent work outside and couldn't watch it. I heard from someone who watched them that they played songs by POD. If anyone has more info on their performance, please do comment.

I came back right in time for one of my favourite bands 'K.OS'. Now, let me tell you, these guys mean serious business. The crowd really came alive to the fullest with their soundcheck playing Metallica's 'sad but true'. Then came 'Seek and destroy' and their original track 'Coup d etat', which now most of the rock fans here know by heart. The highlight of their performance was the awesome cover of Pantera's 'Cowboys from hell', which they dedicated to the late Dimebag Darrel. Nikhil, wearing his trademark torn jeans did some great work with the solos. Raja sporting his heavy mop of hair and ever present smile regalled the audience with some great rhythm work. This was a special performance for him and nikhil as their parents were present among the audience. Weirdo bassist Pappu was as weird as ever on stage. Wikiboy Basil did some amazing work as he slammed the hell out of the drums. Then, there was Mr.Louda JK with his powerful vocals, although he could've done better with less of the swearing. K.OS signed off with the crowd Favourite ''For whom the bell tolls''.

Next up was 'Heretic', the band from Ernakulam, which is quite famous in the Kerala rock circuit. I could watch only a couple of songs as I had to go for another urgent work. The ones I watched confirmed the fact that these guys have real substance. Their cover of SOAD's 'toxicity' was great. I heard that they also did some slipknot songs. Really missed the whole show. Guitarist Abhijeet's processor 'POD XT Live' did turn a few heads. My envious eyes also had a look at the jumbo sized processor. The next band in the non stop show was 'Rubbur band'. The highlight of their performance was the cover of Iron Maiden's 'fear of the dark'. Kripa should henceforth be called 'the lady dickinson' for this performance. The crowd chanted along with her during the chorus. Izak did some powerful vocal performances singing Slayer's 'Dead skin
mask' and Pantera's 'This love'. Sadly for Duttan, there was no one to sing the 'this love' chorus on stage as he had planned. But he did do some great work with the lead guitar. This was a special performance for the great Sunil as this was his last show with the band. We will all miss this innocent looking elephant on stage. Hari did amazing work on the drums. But the one who stole the show was 'Death Nithin' with his growling vocals. His vocals in Arch enemy's 'we will rise' and Iron Maiden's 'hallowed be thy name' deserves special mention. Not to forget was crazy Rahul on the bass. They ended the show by officially announcing the vacancies for vocalist and rhythm guitarist.

Now, it was time for 'slingshot' to liven up the fest with some funky stuff. This band's been in the news lately after winning the 'Kingfisher Kerala rocks' competition. They burst on stage with RHCP's 'hump de bump'. Professionalism was one element that shined through their performance. My favorites from yesterday's performance were ''country liquor'' and ''way back home'', their original tracks which are really different from what you usually hear from local bands. Fad was as high spirited as ever with his energetic vocals and also with his mic stand circus. The really fat Kaushik was too small for the big bass he was holding but he proved that size doesn't really matter as he blasted out some real cool bass lines. Then there was thalaivar Jhanu on guitars. I really love his unique playing style. Vineeth provided great support behind the drums. The guys came on stage wearing 'che guevara' t shirts, the symbol of revolution. Indeed, a representation of the revolution that is happening in the Trivandrum rock scene. The guys had their own unique way of interacting with the audience with some interesting games like 'Name-sucks or rocks' and 'Jump', when they made the audience sit on the floor and then jump back to life together. This was innovative performance at its best. Some other notable numbers were 'Blow' and 'get in line'.

Ok, its time for the final act. The one and only kings of Trivandrum rock- 'Rage'. There's a saying that goes here in the city- 'If u are doing covers, you gotta do it the rage way'. Such is the perfection with which they cover popular metal songs that you would mistake it for the original ones if you just hear the sound. They came for moshpit with just one practise session under their belt. But not once did that show in their performance. They soundchecked with Megadeth's 'holy wars' that send the crowd into a frenzy. The whole crowd was headbanging when they started iron Maiden's '2 minutes to midnight'. Rock Biju, the new vocalist blew away everyone with his vocal range as he rendered 'aces high' perfectly. His stage act reminded me of Bruce Dickinson during the recent Iron Maiden concert in Banglore, although once he almost fell on the ground as he jumped from the drum raiser. Next up they performed Ozzy osbourne's 'gets me through' and ACDC's 'Back in black'. Abi on the bass and pramod on the rhythm looked like twins as they banged their long haired heads in tandem. Mithun on the drums was bang on with some heavy drumming. The final song was Metallica's 'Master of puppets'. Now I have to mention one man who made this song all the more special. Lead guitarist Nithin chettan. The soloing was perfect to the core. He never missed a note in the whole performance. And his behind the scenes work for moshpit was exemplary. Without him, this fest would never have happened. He even sacrificed his practice sessions to run for various organising activities connected with the fest. Now, this showed why the whole rock community here respects this man so much. And the whole show showed why 'Rage' are the uncrowned kings of Trivandrum rock.

Oh no..I forgot 2 names. 2 awesome drummers who made this festival all the more worthwhile- Vlad Jayesh and his student Manu. Their solo performances were the highlight of Moshpit '07. I've no words to describe what I saw there. Some of the best drumming work I've ever seen in my life. Altogether, Moshpit '07 was a real fest of pure music that again underlined the fact that the rock scene in Trivandrum is alive and kicking. Can u believe that a mosh actually happened here in God's own country? Thankfully no one ended up with broken legs or jaws. And this was the first time stage diving happened down south. It was during Rage's power packed performance. I never knew that there were so many metal freaks in this city. The guys who came all the way from Ernakulam and Calicut also made the atmosphere lively. We've to thank the sponsors 'attitude' and 'cellular world' for coming forward and supporting our cause. As I said earlier, Moshpit '07 exceeded all our expectations and turned out to be a grand success. Going by this, I can very well guess how big Moshpit '08 gonna be. Those who missed it yesterday, am sad for you. Hope you can catch when its shown on 'rosebowl'. Still, U had to be there to know what it really was. If you were there you would be having a sore neck and sore throat now. Really 'god's own rock' in 'god's own capital'...

a big thanks from trivandrum rockers to all those who came and supported us..and to all those who helped us in some way or the other

your crusader Praveen

WE MISS YOU


WE DON'T WANT U

Prathibha......who?
I hate politics. I hate politicians. But i always end up writing just about that. Because, someway or other, their foolish decisions affects us[mostly badly]. The latest political game being vigorously played out now will rob us of one of the most illustrious persons to have adorned India's presidentship. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is a man whom all indians[except politicians] love, irrespective of age. He's the 'Father of modern India', a man whom we all see almost on par with the great Mahatma. A man who redefined India's standing as a technologically innovative nation. A scientist par excellence. Above all, a down to earth human being who saw himself as one among us despite being the nations' first citizen. His inspiring words and deeds have fuelled a whole generation to follow in his footsteps and serve their own motherland rather than sweat it out for foreigners. He taught us all to dream and exhorted us to reach for our dreams. He din't care about his own security as he reached out to the common man. He set an example worldwide with his inspiring words and made the whole world to look at our country with envy for having such an enlightened soul as the leader. His speeches, most notably the recent one at Europian union, are classified as the best ever to be spoken by a world leader. Yet, unfortunately, India's famed political leaders find this great man unsuitable to be India's president for a second term.

All the politicians were competing with each other in blaming Abdul Kalam for expressing his desire for a second tenure. We had GuruDas Dasgupta calling him ''a gimmick'' and asking ''what has he done for the country''. May I ask this revered communist leader, ''Have you ever spilled a drop of sweat for your motherland? Have you done anything other than using up all your saliva in crticising anything and everything?'' Then we had Sharad Pawar, the man who made a mockery of BCCI with his political games telling Kalam. ''Your game is over'' . Is this the way you talk to one of the most respected elder statesmen we ever had? Maybe, this is the Pawar culture, since he doesn't know what the word 'respect' means. Last but not the least, we had India's official buffoon Laloo Prasad Ji[I respect him for what he did with the Railways], giving a piece of advice to Kalam, ''You should quit gracefully''. I can't help laughing at the irony of it all. Here is a man who's still going strong after a string of multicrore scams alleged against him and he's advicing the purest soul to have adorned India's highest post to quit gracefully. I can't understand what's the wrong thing in he wanting to run for a second term. He's actually making himself available to serve the country. His critics[politicians] speak as if he's a culprit in some big scam. Shame on all of you for this unbecoming behaviour. How can we forget so fast all the great service he has done for the nation?

And what we get in his place? Pratibha Patil, a lame lady who looks not even good enough for the post of panchayat president. It makes my head to bow down in shame to think that this woman is going to represent India worldwide. Whats this big deal about woman empowerment, i can't understand. Presidentship is not the kind of post where you make experiments on empowering woman. It requires a person of great stature, who has proved his/her credentials. We shouldn't be nominating some unknown lady all of a sudden to become the president of India. There are so many other ways to empower woman, by setting up woman co-operatives and giving them special training. By giving the post of presidentship to this woman, we won't be progressing even a single step in woman empowerment. Rather, her blunders will eventually make everyone to believe that a woman is incapable for this post. Mind you, she's no Indira Gandhi. She's just a puppet in the hands of the worthless foreign lady, Sonia Gandhi. The image of Sonia tugging her hand and leading her to a press conference reminded me of a little kid being taken to school by her mother. Pratibha's own words, ''I am not a rubber stamp'' confirms the fact that she herself has a feeling that she's a rubber stamp. Already, all the filthy politicians are happy to lick Sonia'a feet. Pratibha is one more addition to the growing list of Sonia'a shameless sycophants. Our Prime Minister Mr.Mamohan Singh is a highly efficient man who could've become a great leader. But he too is a puppet of Sonia.

Already, there are many many allegations surfacing against Pratibha. You can dismiss some of them as the opposition's way of tarnishing her image. But you can't dismiss all. A woman who claims to have talked with ghosts is not at all suitable to lead a nation. Then there's this story of the woman's co-operative bank founded by her. A woman's co- operative is supposed to give loans only to woman. This institution is meant for the so called 'woman empowerment'. But most of the loans that were given was to men, mostly from prathibha's own family. Now, we can call that 'man empowerment'. Atlast the bank shut shop some years back and still owes a lot of money. Then, the other story of the sugar factory, of which she was a co- founder, owing a lot of money to some banks. Lastly, the report on her brother's being murderers and prathibha trying to protect them. You cannot turn a blind eye to all of these and tell its all baseless. Atleast, one of these charges should be having something behind it. No one would build up such stories from scratch. Do we actually need such a person to lead our nation, just for the sake of this divine stuff called 'woman empowerment'? Despite all this Mr.Manmohan Singh was eager yesterday to dismiss all these as nothing more than 'mudslinging'. And when asked about some ministers from his cabinet talking irreverently to Abdul Kalam, he was quick to point out the 'context' and defend the ministers. So, according to him its ok to talk any rubbish about India's greatest scientist and best president till date. But we shouldn't utter a word about a president cadidate who's yet to prove her credentials. Isn't it the right of every Indian citizen to know the background of the person who's going to be the president of the country? Another thing is that we still haven't heard Prathibha opening her mouth to comment on any of this. She got the whole congress party to speak for her. Maybe, they know that if she opens her mouth, she'll utter another blunder like the now famous 'veil' comment.

The union minister P.R.Dasmunshi went as far as to request the opposition candidate Mr.Shekhawat to step down from the election and thus pave way for India's first woman president.If electing a woman is so important, why dont you look at some really popular female social activists like Medha Patkar? That wont happen because they wont be ready to lick sonia's feet or toe the congress line. Its really a bad state of affairs that a foreign lady of not much credentials to speak of, is taking India' most important decisions. The Gandhi family is leading this country to doom. The whole political community in India are the exclusive sychophants of this family. And now because of them, we've lost a great man at the helm. We'll miss you dear Abdul Kalam Ji...The morons in Indian politics doesn't know your worth. How I wish the people had the power to vote the president. You would have won hands down. Now, Lord save India from the hands of the loan defaulter, corrupt and sister of a murderer, Pratibha, the new president of India....

adieu to our beloved president Kalamji,

your crusaderr, Praveen

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