A R Rehman, Live in Concert ..

I have never been to a live show before.I have never been to New York before.Last Saturday, I was in New York , screaming away to glory at THE A R Rehman show.The man ROCKS! just plain and simple, he ROCKS !
The Indian community turned out in full strength, everyone , from the ABCDs to the mami's were there,I found myself looking wistfully at the Kanjevarams and the pretty salwar kameezes and was mentally kicking myself for wearing the usual jeans and tee to an Indian gathering.Of course, as expected, the biggest turnout was the spectacled creatures with brandnames screaming new money from all over, people discussing "I hear SAP pays xxx now" (if you havent guessed it yet, I am guessing you belong to the elite group of people who dont belong to the Software Industry).
Looking at so many Indians(if I can call them that) made me feel like I was in India, had me fooled , for all of a few minutes.Sigh*
We stay so far away from the 'comforts of home', the stuff we grew up with around us all seems a milion light years away(not a few thousand miles like it actually is). We know that this is a 'foreign country'.We are but outsiders,here for a short while (unless you are aspiring to settle here), What happens to "When in Rome,be a Roman" ? I spend most of my time trying to search for everything Indian.There is an indescribable pleasure in just finding a desi face(even if I am at the Indian store :D).There's probably something terribly wrong in the way human beings are made, yup, you thought right, I am hiding the fact that something is terribly wrong with me by trying to palm it off over all human-kind :D Knowingly, we make a decision to come here, far away from all that we hold dear. We watch a new culture, imbibe so many things from it , knowingly or unknowingly. We learn as much as we can while holding on to all that we have in us when we reached here. We change. We begin to think, to compare, to question, to prefer one aspect of a culture over the other, not liking either enough to say this is the best and end up becoming a bit of both.We slowly become part of the misfits that arent Indian enough to be Indians and arent American enough to be American.A cross-over happens, choices are made that put you into no-man's zone. But you arent alone there, you have all the other software guys for company ;)
Well, let me leave that for another day and get back to why I originally started this.
A R Rehman
A crowded stadium. The stage set up for the maestro.Darkness descends,the stage lights up. People walk in.Music starts.Excitement, anticipation and energy building up 360 degrees.The crowd literally waiting with bated breath for the magic to begin.And he walks in. It was like all the strain that was building up broke loose, and the house erupted in one giant scream of energy.
He played quite a few of his 'famous' numbers showing once again why he is the best. The nicest of singers, the soulful Hariharan, Sukhwinder Singh with the modulations(is that the word) that his voice made, the Rajasthani folk singer, Sadhana Sargam and my all time favourite - CHITRA, pure voice, childlike smile and the face of an angel . I couldnt believe there were so many people, so many music greats. There was a nice medley of the slow romantic numbers and the fast beats dance numbers.Then, there was the jugal-bandi style of the Monsoon song, all the singers lined up and sang in succession of each other, each egging on the other to outdo himself.They built up the mood to a crescendo. (for the first time I understood, what people used to talk about when they said Tansen could make it rain when he sang the Megh Raag). I almost believed that these people might have been able to achieve that feat! Then there were the music solos, Sivamani ! He rules, amazing pice that he played. Had people spell bound into silence.All in all, there were so many events, that I cant probably describe it all.
People dancing, tapping their feet away, swaying to the music. It was a sight to be seen and an experience to have been felt.The maximum applause for his older numbers like Dil Se or Humma humma, of course there was a huge-unending demand for songs from Sivaji.He actually managed to appease the whole crowd, with the punjabi numbers,the tamil songs and telugu, the instrumental, the world music, the 'hot' numbers, the 'religious' song.. the whole works. Really makes you wonder, how one man managed to create so much magic.
Well, kudos to him.As for me, it is one of the most memorable evenings that I have ever had.Definitely not going to miss any concert from now on. Dont miss it either if you get a chance.
Dil toh aakhir dil hai na.. Meethi si mushkil hai na ....

Dhire dhire machal aiy dil-e-bekaraar...

There's something magical about the word poetry that gets me all 'I don't have a word for it'. I admire and in the same breath envy a person who gets to express himself and do it with panache. If dealing with one's emotions is bad enough, imagine the guy who has the courage to express it out and then the guy who does it using poetry/shaayari as the medium. The emotion that one is feeling isn't enough, it should be expressed in such a way that you feel what the person was feeling when he sat down to pen it.
Beat a "Main aur meri tanhayee.." or a "Main shayar to nahin, magar aiy haseen,jabse dekha maine tumko , mujhko shayari aa gayi" or a "Yeh kahaan aa gaye hum yoon hi saath saath chalte" or the best " Main jaanta hoon ki tu gair hai magar yu hi kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai"
You can sense the love, the hope, the disillusionment, the heartbreak, the pain, the life afterwords. How it must feel to be on the receiving end of so much love, to be loved so passionately that it cannot be contained within oneself. Maybe the love of a poet is instrumental in bringing out the poet in him , but will s/he ever realise the beauty of the words strung together.Does it even need appreciation?No, the beauty of it is that it is a gift to be able to feel something and let the world know it.
There is one person I need to thank for having opened up this world to me, thank you :)
Will leave you with :
Ishq ne nikamma kar diya Ghalib warna hum bhi aadmi the kaam ke !

Reel-world

I remember trouncing a friend ages ago, who had made the mistake of saying "I go to a movie hall to be entertained, I want to see a few songs, a little romance, some sentiment, I want to see the hero beat up the bad guys and finally get the girl" ,I clearly remember thinking "Isn't he embarrassed even saying that?Is that all you look for in a movie, what about sensitive portrayal of emotion, what about making you think, what about finding something to identify yourself with? How can one be so 'Mass'?".
Not to say that I don't enjoy the 5songs-4fights sagas, but every once in a while , there should be something that makes an impact on you, maybe just for being a well-executed movie or for that one scene which etches itself in your memory forever even if you hate the rest of the movie. I wouldn't really say I am an advocate of true-to-life movies which throw everything in your face and force you to confront all that you have consciously or sub-consciously swept under the proverbial carpet.Given a personal choice, I would vote for all (or at least most movies to be)true story-types with a feel-good factor,aka, Hyderabad Blues or Mr & Mrs Iyer, where you come away with a new thought or a new view on something.
What is it with movies that depict real life.. Why do they always seem life-less!Considering the fact that they are made with a background that is screaming 'BLEAK' from every part of the frame. Will life with a background score become a movie ?

When I go and watch a movie that disturbs me, I abuse the director for having made it and then kick myself for having sat through it. Knowing a fact and not dwelling upon it makes it easier on the heart(mind?/sensibilities?).But when a movie enforces on you a terrible truth, you are forced to face it.(So much for watching movies that make me feel/think). I know that there is terrible sadness in the world, I know that countless people are waging battles to just get through each day, I know that I am but a very insignificant part of this world, but pardon me for not wanting to see that all over again in the three hours that I promise myself as entertainment, away from the daily grind.

Give me something that makes me laugh, something that transports me to another world, something that helps me escape what I see day in and day out(and what I spend trying to escape).
I owe you an apology my friend, maybe you were right after all, good guy beats up baddie and gets the girl. There's more to life than that, but heck, who cares!!