Lyrical videos!! (and then I meander into covers territory)

Aw man,
I've been wanting to talk about them since ages. Ages! I mean, c'mon, what's not to like?

More and more artistes are turning to releasing lyrical videos initially and building the hype up thusly, getting viewers wanting more- and bam! comes the real deal. Only, for me, I'm more vested in the lyrical video than the actual music video of songs.

Usually you get so caught up in the video, that you wholly or at least partially get distracted from the music.Seriously, check out most of the m/vs. They spend like pots of gold and churn out the flashiest scenes for the single. Result? Humungous dollops of eye candy (which is always nice!), but makes the music secondary.

Take "Payphone" for example. It's so frikkin' movie-like, that I didn't notice the music,

UNTIL Julia Sheer came up with the loveliest cover of the single. Then I was hooked on to both the cover AND the original for life. Luff.

WHICH is why "Someone Like You" is awesome. Also "Rolling in the Deep". Ok, both are different in tone, but BOTH focus on the singer and the music. (And duh, I'm an Adele fan, which probably became obvious with this one sentence).

Y'anyways, I'll try to stop the veering off the topic, and steer us back in. Lyrical videos. As in, the whole lyrics of the single showing up all over the video instead of sexy, almost-naked ladies and just as nonsensical stuff. So awesome! I mean, this is how music videos should have been since the beginning. Yeah, I know how most videos have chyrons and important words from the lyrics showing up anyway. But lyrical videos are a different planet. Just love! Here are three of the lyrical videos I loved. This one was the first lyrical video I noticed as such. Which isn't ancient and is kinda very recent, in fact.

Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" lyrical video was adorable. For me anyway. I cherished it even more when I realised what crap the real music video was. Duh. Katy Perry, are you pretending to be a witch in that video? Is that a reference to Omen I see in it in between? Is that the Cheshire Cat? Have I gone mad? Way too many questions and swear words rushing all at once within my head. Not good.

Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years": That song was so sweet. Saccharine. I just wish it weren't linked up with THAT dreck movie. If you know what I mean. And then last week or so I met Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together". And again, it was the lyrical video that won me over, more than Taylor in a platinum ponytail and is that a 60s era scene you guys are grooving to?

OoooooooooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOooh, we called it off again last night, But OoooOOOOOOOooooh! I LOVE that Oooooh part SO much!

Of Banana-Potato and consequent ear worminess

Yeehaw!
Introducing the insane "Banana Potato song" by the Minions of Despicable Me:

I've been lazy on the blog-front and mostly busy with work and stuff. This stuff includes browsing le internet and not realizing I've been at it from sunrise to sundown. So yes, I've been reading up fun stuff, and chanced upon this crazy-crazy, REALLY crazy song (but I'd rather just call it my ear-worm-of-the-month). And I insist on the word crazy or even ridiculous 'cos I seriously haven't been singing anything else much ever since this song got stuck in my head, heart and ear. Gah! Insanely addictive for me.

I've been singing this A LOT and ALOUD all the freakin' time so much that I effectively drove my usually-calm roomie up the wall. I'd pick up my banana (le fruit of choice for me most of the time) and start singing like crazy: "bananaaaaaaaaaa-potato-naaaaaaaaaaaa, banaNAAAA,potatOOOOOOOOnaaaaaaa". Now that quite sums up the lyrics portion for ya. tee hee!

Said song is from the trailer of Despicable Me 2 and the reason I even bothered listening to it is because my favorite dorky female celebs (from the other universe of South Korean pop-dom that I so religiously follow) randomly sang it on a radio show. That was so super crazy too! I mean, they were hitting all the high notes and singing with all their heart this song. LOL and ROTFLMAO of humungous proportions for me.

Presenting to you- The Banana-Potato song. The original and the cover by Girls' Generation's Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyun.

About The Gods of Headbangs

The DownTroddence/ The Adiyalans

The six piece metal band's current line-up boasts of some of the finest talent in metal hereabouts. No kidding.
They have won headbangs everytime they do a gig,without fail. Plus the accolades, cheers, critical praise- the popularity rising, and the prizes that keep pouring in, everytime. Every f***king time. See? I tolja, their rhythm make me use expletives in the best ways possible.
Last I know, they won 'Amplified' at the NIT-C(alicut) annual fest Raaga, beating every other competitor from across the country.
So if you find yourself screaming hoarse for their signed albums one day in the (hopefully) recent future, remember that you heard of them from me. *smug
Or you probably know them perfectly already.

(damn i'm slow. Was planning to do this post exactly one year back, can't believed it stayed a draft for so long)


Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to go to any gig of theirs. Wish as I might, it won’t happen. Gah, who heard of petite, headscarf wearing girls at metal concerts?? Not that I care, but I don’t have anyone close-by for company anyway.

So how would you like this post to actually start off? Intro on the kings or their music? I self-voted and decided to introduce their music first to the uninitiated:


THE METAL THEY CREATED
 
Death Vanity- the first single. I'll change my name, my ways, my whole life if you can NOT headbang to this one. Seriously, from the first strings itself the song takes a hold onto you with a death grip and makes sure you have fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. It's so sophisticated, polished and perfect, you wouldn't guess it's Downtroddence's very first creation. Their perfect first child.

Then there's Vengeance, their cover of a band called Evergreen. Though I'm addicted to Death Vanity, can't say the same for Vengeance. But I'm not an authority on metal, so you should decide how amazing this song is for yourself.

 Who can forget Hell within hell?

And there is Shiva(!!!!!)- awesomely head-bang-y. And THE BIG NEWS IS THAT, IT'S OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO IS OUT ON YOUTUBE. Released this 14th of May, 2011. Hells yeah!

Another work of theirs that I really, truly, deeply love is known by the very attention-grabbing name Ortniavis which had me going all, what the...? But really the meaning in within the name itself. This song has quite the back story going for it, but that would be for the next post.
Anyways, talking about this track, Ortniavis is different from their other works in that, it is not hard core metal, and more of an experimental thingamagus. (Wot? That word's in the dictionary. Which one? My own.) Gorgeous and appealing to the senses. Period.

Guess I have your attention now! The next post is more of an interview-metamorphed into a blog post about the evil metal geniuses who are behind The Downtroddence. The concerts they have done, the stories behind their works and all that jazz.
Oops.
All that metal.
=D






Their Facebook official page
Their YouTube official channel 

Why I used to heart Potsecret a lot

Now playing (forever playing): Walking Far From Home- Iron and Wine
Found this slice-of-heaven of a song from a blog I stalk day and night.Iron and Wine make insanely beautiful music, and in case you haven't ever tried them out, try now!
You could try the above song, plus their Each Coming Night which is so soothing that I can't even put the feeling into words!


Since I don't seem to have the time to actually post anything regular these days, I'm posting my favorite Valentine-related postsecrets in the last three years. here goes!
Starting with the older ones

Where I go blah blah blah

And the quest for the black beaded bracelet thus comes to an end. Yay! I finally found a shop where they sell 'em, so bought 2 while I was at it [what if I lost it again?? *shudder] here to jog your memory.

So I'm pretty much super happy and pleased with myself.

And then I realize that I haven't really blogged what's going on with me for quite a long time. Not that life is dull, but more like too jammed with tests, assignments and the academic damnedness. So much so that I'm almost losing my motivation to blog about myself. Which explains the long gaps between posts.

Second realization is that I never blog about my current classmates or course. Not much anyway. And definitely not much when compared with the frequency and intensity with which I used to blog about MY GIRLS. The ones from my under grad days. Those were great times...

Anyways, snaps myself back to the present and I tell you that these people are fun too. Not like the Offbeat girlfriends of mine, but nice and sweet anyway. Damn, we are like one big family these days ever since living together during the internship. Oh I love 'em. There's this film-crazy duo who keeps spouting apt one-liners from Malayalam movies every five minutes, and another duo that just leave the campus as soon as classes are over. Unfortunately, I've joined them since this semester. So I've pretty much forfeited my rights to criticizing them!

Oh! I'm trying to get my uncle to buy me that new book "Love in a headscarf". The title did sound something like that.. What? It's not every day that you get chick-lit from the Muslim woman's angle. And that too about someone who's educated and independent and NOT oppressed. Quite a refreshing change!

By the by, there were quite a lot of blank stares for my "selective amnesic" post. That post was about a friend who used to be real close, but now we have totally grown apart, thanks to X ignoring me. That ha never happened to be before, so, it pretty much hurt.

Changing topics; I'm about to come out with a secret almost everyone knows by now. I'm addicted to South Korean stuff. Well, except for their diet, I'm fascinated by their culture, the gorgeous celebs, their uber-awesome dramas and music, the hilarious-I-can't-stop-laughing kind of celeb reality shows, the picturesque outdoors and weather. Nowadays, I can understand half of the things they say. Ahhhhhh. Normally, there are two reactions when I start talking on the topic:

1.      everyone rolls their eyes and runs away from me when I come dangerously close to starting to gush;

2.      OR they listen patiently with amusement heavily wrought all over their face.

This girl here is THE bet actress I've ever, ever seen. Love her range!

And there is a third kind- and this angel assured me that I'm not crazy. That, "it's [the obsession] just being you. It's just an Azra thing!" If I hadn't already loved her, I would've started loving her unconditionally for that one sentence. =)

Errr…Has everyone already left the place?

Knock knock??

PS- I'm being reckless with music and been discovering lots of good stuff [and some bad stuff too]. So will probably share that in the next post.

And currently reading "Pride and Prejudice and the Zombies". Delightful!

Thanks to you...

Thanks to you,

There is a lot of music I can't

Listen to happily anymore.

Damn.

That was the way it was for quite some time after graduation. I couldn't listen to any of the music we sang and shared during those three years.

So, there was this whole folder worth of music from that period that I couldn't listen to without having to fight the urge to just run away.

Away as in anywhere.

I couldn't move on if I clung to memories.

And I couldn't listen to several of my favorites without getting all whimsical and moony.

So, now there is this new me who's been shaping up over the past year who is always experimenting with the new genres and styles.

And it has done me good. Real good!

I discovered

• Death Cab For Cutie,
• Carolina Liar,
• Sondre Lerche,
• Fray,
• Emma Lee,
• Iron& Wine,
• Sara Bareilles,

• Ryuichi Sakamoto,
• M.I.A [yeah, I know she's been around like for ages, but I had never checked her out earlier. And man, what a costly mistake! She's awesome!]
• Joss Stone [but I haven't gotten the hang of her yet. Any help?]
• Katie Melua
• And I'm very much and sincerely, in love with Malayalam folk songs. I guess the folk-crossover-rock band "Avial" did it for me.
• Kings of Leon
• Elisa
• Azure Ray
• Dixie Chicks had made a great impression on me when they'd come out yelling anti-war and anti-Bush and were boo-ed for that since everyone was pro Bush back then. They are not just any random bimbos. Na ha. And their music? I'd never really cared for country. Until I checked these ladies out. They are sooooooo good at this!

And a helluva lot much more. But the thing is, I'm showing a definite leaning towards mellower stuff. That's because I'm rooting for the Jazz and Indie camp, of course. But can anyone please yank me back to the Rock camp. I'm dying to return to the time when I was all about head bangin'. =)

*Thanks to my beautiful, out-of-this-world amazing 7 friends and all the other great friendships I've been carrying with me since my Brennen days. I love you all soooooo much that my heart breaks. In a good way. =)

Of heartbreaks and the Heartless

For some, Heartless may remind them of that really popular number by Kanye West, plus the equally amazing Fray cover and makes-me-wanna-swoon cover by Kris Allen.

But, I meant Heartless as in, me. All me.

Last week or the previous one- not sure when; I find it hard to track which day I'm breathing in; anyway, some time back, there was a flurry of break ups, anticipated break ups and all. Good ol' Eddie [Edward] got dumped by his girlfriend. Serves him right, maybe now he'll try to remain single for at least 7 whole days, ha! Then, the same day another friend buzzed about what looked like his break-up related misery. But later it turns out he wasn't even dating in the first place to have been dumped. Or so he says.

Anyhoo, this love is takin' its toll on me.

I just can't stand listening to break ups without laughing at inappropriate grave parts of the "heart-rending" story. When I'm forced to console someone with love failure, I end up overdoing the consoling part, making it seem like someone died.

I never can empathize much with a dumpee. You took the risk and fell in love; you should have been ready for this consequence too! In short, I'm what people call Heartless, all cold-logic, mean. But I'm what I call, self-preserving and practical.

=)

So, don't I ever feel love? Yeah sure, I fall in love, crush and burn every other day. But that's all. All you have to do is show an ion of interest back, and I skitter to the remotest planet possible. Why?

Because I have least possible faith in myself and don't think it possible that I might actually be likeable to people other than friends.But then there are times when I think, hey, I'm too good to be anyone's girl!

I just have crushes on people. Ranging from Sirius Black and Darcy to Keira Knightley. Yes, even Keira. She tops my list of straight, same-sex crushes.

I'm mostly a "So What" and "I Will Survive" kind of person, though thanks to my love for indie and jazz music, I find I'm turning into quite the mellow, laidback romantic.

But right now?

I'm in a very dreamy state thanks to a South Korean novel "Coffee Prince" and the hit drama which followed [same name].

Pause.

I don't and can't read Korean. I'm reading an English translation of the book and have watched a couple o' episodes of the drama which was loosely translated off the book.

End of Pause.

Clickie here in case you had like to check it out. It unintentionally raises a lot of questions as regards homosexuality, which I loved about it. Apart from the unique love story line.

For now I have succeeded in getting dahlings Gilsha and Remya interested in the story.

And here's something I penned down when I was in a mellow and dejected mood. [sure, the 2 emotions can blend together]

Even if I walk away,

Even if I don't turn back,

Even if didn't smile

Or look your way.

Please don't leave.

I'm scared of a lot of things,

About myself,

About you,

About relationships.

Things that make me run away

Every time I fall for you,

Again and again.

So stay.

Hold me tight,

Lock your fingers with mine.

Pull me back

No matter how hard I may try to run.

It's still in the draft mode, so grin and bear.

Pft

Back! And it feels real good too, [even though no one seems to have noticed that I haven't blogged in a while. =( ]

So what's going on in my life now?

• Aunt gives birth to the prettiest tiny baby girl. Mom, myself and a lot of people are really cooing around it, but there were a couple of weirdos who think baby boy would have been better. I don't get it! Baby girls are prettier any day!
• Exams over. I officially am a second semester student this coming Monday onwards.
• This blog of mine just became 2 years old on November 30th, and I didn't even have time to notice. Heartfelt apologies baby! Love you!
• I'm in crush. Again.
• Began a NEW BLOG. FOR DISCUSSING ALL THE AMAZING BOOKS I READ, THANKS TO MY AMAZING-AMAZING LIBRARY AT UNIVERSITY CENTRE!

And the link is judging-book-by-cover
Hey, if anyone is interested in the venture, put in a comment. I'd love the company. :)

• I'm pretty hyped about it, since it's been a long time plan and I got time just now.
• Reading Twilight and some other books simultaneously.
• I realize I'm a pretty good Music-Suggester. Literally everyone who has got a taste of my recommendations, have loved it so far. Yay to me!
• Started going for a Qur'an study class today. Weekly once thing. And no. They don't teach ANYTHING even remotely related to bombs or anything violence.Funny how such a peaceful religion got misconstrued as something so scary. I had like to learn about Islam, then jump on to understand more about Hinduism, Christianity, Zen Buddhism and on and on if possible.
• Wish I had time and money to take piano classes. :(
• Rahul has awarded me some awards and tags. Yippee!! Apparently he's doing a wholesale thingy of awards. I got three so.

So as per rules, I have to award deserving bloggers that I know.
Here we go:
"Ladies and gentlemen, and the "I love your blog" award goes tooooooooo.........
Nishi and Mohua!!"

*applause all around

And the Kreative blog award goes to:
Blue Butterfly and Truth!!!!
*bigger applause

And the One Lovely blog award goes to
Jean!!!! [though i should admit the more appropriate award would be "Best Resurrection of the year award"]

• And Rahul, will do your tag next post, or the post after that, or the one after that, or after that..... :P

Some time!

Posted-only-to-confess-my never-dying love-for-the-movie

There was music,
There was Magik,
and there was you...

One year and more of loving this amazing celluloid phenomenon. Probably the only movie that I fell in love with from the day its first promo rocked my tv screen.I loved everything about it,the cast, the story, the friendship, the music and the conversations it triggered among my friends and the way it entered relationships. Both on-screen and off-screen..

Loved it, still loves it, and always will love it!

Rock On for.ever!!!

and thus the long awaited brother-sister road trip finally happened

Everything else took a back seat for these past 7 days.

Yes, all you jealous ppl, I had a fantastic brother-sister-road-trip-of-sorts. The destination wasn't fancy by any means, but there was a comfy house tucked away in a suburb of Tamil Nadu. my uncle's place. our favorite vacation retreat.

My favorite parts from the trip?
*EVERYTHING! EVERY SINGLE MOMENT!

*the lure of the train. [you know i love them!There's a gypsy in me that LOVES roads,wheels,winds,traveling and the whole package about road trips]

*my favorite cousin/brother for company.

*sharing the music [Than ta naaaa!!!!!!!!{kaminey} for one]

*Kite Runner. [my choice for on-the-move read. Bro had "The Broker"-John Grisham] i swear i almost cried thru several parts of it.

*making acquaintances on the train. i chose not to ask their names though, what's the fun if you can't add some imagination to all those friendships you made?!

*all those late-night movies and laughing at tacky old Tamil movies. [no offense meant!]and throw in the bits where we fought over the remote like we were kids.[never mind that we are both way past the age to fight like kids!!]

*and add to that the fact that we two bought a whole box of chocolates to go with the tv watching. munch,munch,munch.

*THE Shopping. ohhhhhhhh, the shop-all-day at Coimbatore!

*Uncle lent me a book of his, the one which he hadn't parted with in all of the 20 odd years of owning it, yet. And I'm the lucky girl who gets her hands on it. The book?
Between Ourselves: letters between mothers and daughters.
*Him saying that I was going to be his heiress. No, not money. But to his VAST collection of books. Think of every masterpiece, memorable books and all those good books- he's got 'em all in his shelves.
And I'm going to inherit them all!!!!!!!
-------------
I don't care if I don't actually get those books. Just the idea that he thought me important enough to leave his precious books with... that's the best part of it.

*The food. We dined out virtually every day. Went to many of the well known South Indian restaurants around there.And I have tasted some of the best veg food, plus discovered how spicy the "dragon chicken" dish was. Yum!

And the best-best part of all? That bonding time. With the best uncle in the world and my aunt and,most importantly-
with the best cousin in the whole wide world.

Beyond sharing music,books,movies,chocolates and some sizable portions of good television watching [which would include NDTV, Nat Geo as well-IF you're wondering what i meant by good television watching]
and some dumb fights,
and 'fessing up on past relationships [read-ruined relationships],
our shady records of shady vices,sins and our dealings with:
Stuff-considered-taboo-in-our-family;

i know I have a wonderful brother of a lifetime.
He's always been so good; despite me being one big jerk of a sister to him. :D





The part I didn't like-

*Eating prior to long journeys makes me queasy, for some mysterious reason. On the other hand, when I travel on an almost empty stomach, I'm so good!

Maybe I'm just being psycho.


-this shot taken from Flickr

Let it rain on me!

It has been several posts since I posted a poem. This one given here was actually written during last year's summer rains. [Those were beautiful, by the way] The reason why I didn't post it all this time was because I thought it would make into the college mag. which is didn't.
:(
Well, so what? I have you people!

This one's dedicated to all those rain-lovers out there. I love you all so much!
This was written for my long-term best friend and published for my best friends.The Offbeats and the Smash.

btw-Hey, set the mood first by listening to some good music. imagine that wet, nice, comfy feeling rain brings [since not everyone gets a good rain in the summer]

if it were me, I'd listen to some jazz, piano stuff, ARR in the lonely spot to bring on the mood.



When it rains
When it rains
I'm hoping you are thinking of me
--------------(more than anything else)
-out on the road, or
by the window side,
or wherever else.
You watch the rain
coloring up the world around you_
The coolness, freshness
And that aroma of damp earth
the sensation rain evokes in you
the mood it sets,
and the magic and intimacy...
Do you think of me then?


When it rains,
I hope the feelings it stirs up in you
Are the same feelings (i hope) I cause in you.


Is my fragrance in the moist breeze?
--------------(which whips up memories long forgotten)
Do the drizzles that softly kiss your cheek
--------------(remind you of our walks in the rain?)
Those drops slipping down your arms to your hands (your hands...)
---------------do you find me in them?
When a wind blew off your umbrella
---------------did you remember the times I dragged you into the downpour??
Does the soft music of the monsoons
---------------echo with my voice


Guess I should just let go of it all.

Because,
Instead of you thinking of me (when it rains)
It's me thinking of you.
-Not the other way round
Which is actually what I want.


Now
Together
Only
In the lines of my poems.

And the distance between
filled by
rains,
the music we shared
and
those coffee cups.


Can you see me,
The way I see you
Standing there
Just beyond the shimmering veil
of falling rain drops.
With a small smile.
(Yes, even your smallest smile will do)

Was it worth all that hype?

first off,
HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frankly,
I'm in high spirits since ARR won the Oscar and I'm a long time self-confessed ARRahmaniac. Plus the Oscar for Resul Pookutty was the icing on the cake. As he's just as much a Malayali as me.

But was Slumdog worth all that hype and Oscars?
I didn't think so. Not because they showed a poor India, but the story is just another typical bollywood trash. All that lost-and-found-and-lost again love story, rags-to-riches element... and there were glaring flaws too. i can't believe a quiz master could be so rude to a chai-walla on a TV show. That's sort of impossible.

like Vinaya said, "Bollywood story made by Hollywood".
Well put!

And music?
ARR has made music million times better than this soundtrack for sure.

Why didn't Rang De basanti get the oscars?story-wise, music-wise, directionwise and in every other sense that was such a perfect movie.

It deserved the golden statuette but doesn't get it 'cos it was not made by a Western guy?

But I gotta say that technically it was fantastic, even though there wasn't much logic in the whole movie, the cinematography was perfect.
Best Motion Picture Award?

Please.....

But like my friends said, the movie is not to be blamed, it's the jury that needs a spanking.

BUT FOR THE TIME BEING, I'M GONNA FORGET ALL THAT.

WHO CARES WHEN WE HAVE GOTTEN HOME THREE OSCARS!!

3 CHEERS FOR ARR AND RESUL POOKUTTY!

i had a hell lot more to say but i'm darned busy with exam preparations. catcha later!

and has anyone heard from Nishi? she seems to have disappeared- just.like.that.

Really back to blog-land this time around!

Eeps. That wasn't a fun way to make a comeback. But the questions were kind of bugging me since yesterday. I deleted that post, cos it went completely against this happy place I'm trying to make up in here.

I'm pretty much really enjoying the Ramzan month. Y'know, all that fasting is actually good for you!Totally detoxifies the bod and soul. Make you come out clean. Mmm..

And at beloved college?
Excellenta!
This week has been especially earthly-heavenly!!

Some random day of this week:
We meet up with Gymnast's boyfriend. And he looks utterly toy-boy despite his almost brutal looking, breath taking muscles.

Y'day:
Lots of free hours. Had hard time convincing everyone that we weren't bunking at all. In fact, we haven't bunked at ALL for a long-long time. AND there was a sorta-spat between Phon.E and Frizz. It ended with Phon.E crying and Vinaya had to console her.
Post everyone else's lunch, we goof around the grand stairs, finally settling down for a game of reverse-quizzing. Un-understandable??? You think of someone we all know, I shoot max 21 questions at you to try to find out who it is. We split into pairs. Me and My-Girl weren't scoring at all, so finally when we DID manage to come up with a person the others couldn't guess, we were so happy. Hugh and Mad tried to madden us by saying we cheated, blah-blah. In the end, MG cried and I was almost out of breath with anger. The fire-coming-from-nose type anger.
One among the many things i can't, simply can't bear?
-False accusations. Even though they were just joking, we got all too messed up.
Anyways, Vinaya consoled MG. The Agony-Aunt back in action.

That done with. We realise that Namitha and Yours Truly are the only ones who haven't cried in college. Yet. The others have cried in random places within the campus. Dusk tops the list.

Got hold of K gang's shades. Very cool and Armani and all. We all take turns wearing it and taking photos in it, mimicking K gang's style. [=P]

To top it all, Hugh, Mad and me were sitting on the steps of the Grand Stairs as well. Quite unashamed, of course!
***********************
Today:
Free hours all morn. So we pack off to town to shop for my dress. Cool Uncle gave me money for that! Then zipping back to college on Singer's bike. Post everyone else's lunch, I slouch with loosened wild,untamed hair.
i love my hair. totally. truly. deeply. madly.
And then, Mad, Z and Frizz bunketh class and sit outside, listening to songs on CJ's phone.
Hey! Mad and Dusk are already crushed on him, proposing him back and forth. Now, it seems Z is a big fan of his as well!
Mad and Z lean on to each others' back. Then both mistake 2 strangers to be our professors and scramble for cover. Dumbo!
Ah well,
Lip-Syncing to "My LOve"-Westlife with Vinaya. Loved it sooo much! Both were squealing with delight, we couldn't really sing along since we wanted to enjoy Westlife's angelic voices.
Where the skies are blue, see you once again my love.
==========================
So addicted to college now, that we fantasise of setting up a tree-top house on the tree over Main Entrance and staying there for.ever.
***
Music-wise
*Namitha and I listen to "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"-Nirvana
I'm awestruck. So much passion and so intense. I could almost feel it in me.
*They try in vain to make me like some Malayalam romantic song. Un-impressive.
*Rock On is so wow.
*Everyone, everywhere is everytime listening to a new Tamil song "Kankal Irundaay" from movie "Santhosh Puram". Or something like that. I like it too!
* Jal new song "Ye Mera Pakistan" [at least, new to me] sounds good. real good. I sing with corrected lyrics "Ye mera Hindustan", :)
*Someone's got hair all Bob-Marley-in-the-making this monday! Turns out the yaar was pretty sick then. Dishevelled hair thus explained.



Dusk is missing out on a Lot. A helluva lot.



And Raphael's birthday is coming up!! Only 4 days to go!! Yeah!!

Jaane tu...Ya Jaane Na for Z, Vi, Vai and N /WARNING:SPOILERS INCLUDED

Yup. Finally. After having to take refuge with a pirated online version. Z gets to go for the movie as on the Big Screen. She was just so damned obsessed with the movie that she actually didn't care that she had watched the movie already at home! Well, and Vi,Vai and Nare like,the sweetest friends in the whole world. They wouldn't have gone for "Jaane Tu..." if it hadn't been for Z talking about JTYJN from the moment the first promo was out. And Z has never gone for a movie from college. So,why not begin with a cute movie she's so hung up on?

For this reason, Vi and Vai are discussing the idea of calling Z a petty bourgeousie(hope i got the spelling right.) since Z came along for the movie only because of her selfish interest in the movie and not for sport sake.

So off the foursome leave today, freezing from the whipping winds and just begun monsoon that's out-and-about with a vengeance. It was cold! Teeth chattering cold!So cold that Z was hugging Vi for warmth. Bunked classes and a half-reluctant, conscience-pricked Vai was coaxed and it was chalo chalo!!

*Over to Z:
" Just 17 spectators man! This place has never had much taste. Anyway, we occupied the last seats, back-benchers attitude still on! One young couple, one retired-from-military looking dad and his two daughters, one family with a cute baby whom Vai tried to woo, three
vagrant kind of men who made us doubtful if we had reached the correct movie. And some more typical looking people. Well, who's complaining the lack of spectatorship? This meant we could stretch our legs and place them on the seats in front of us. AND we were the most responsive. Well, the ONLY who made any kind of response. The rest of them were sooooooo dead! We cheered, ooooooh-ed, laughed, muttered at the right places.
Too bad none of us knew wolf-whistling. =(
It would have come in handy.
The 2 daughters-duo DID respond too,now I remember. But we drowned out their dignified laughter I guess. And no one turned left,right or backwards. On this N and Vai later remarked, 'they must have said, "don't look behind you. There are some rowdy kind of people sitting there.'" ' (about us)
Some kind of behaviour we are putting up,huh?

The sad parts from the otherwise delightful movie(according to me):
* Vi,Vai and N were not AT ALL impressed by JTYJN. They think it is only a one-time watch. Not much standards either. Just an ok movie. Seeeeee?????? I need to team up with JTYJN fans and defend the movie!
*They don't find Imran Khan cute or even impressive! They didn't think his acting prowess (they don't even think he has a prowess) was much of a big deal.
*They didn't like Genelia much either. Her face ain't much,they say. They also say that no boy would go back for a second watch. Farzad, Nezer,Shabas, and all theguys I know who liked the movie, help me out! I need evidence and witnesses!
*All in all they don't think it's anything as wonderful as I'm making it seem. And that a hit campus movie of Kerala of ages ago ("Niram") was way much awesome.
Excuuuuuuse meh? That movie was just soo materialistic and shallow! Ugh!

The happy parts
*They loved the music. Obvious.
*We all loved and are still singing the old "jaane tu" song. Gala phaad ke. Like we naturally do.
*Everyone loved Shaleen best.
*And Jiggy.
*And the whole group.
*And liked the fact that it was a group movie. Everyone gets equal importance. Not just Jai (sigh!!) and Aditi.
*Vi was just as touched and felt-it-in-her-skin-too in the Kahin to scene where Jai gets shocked and gets the jolt of his life when Sushant kisses Aditi. Youch! Same same here!
*Jai's singing in the climax. W.O.W! So naturally disgustingly bad and shrill and tired out he sounds. Perfect for the scene!
*Vi and I agree that they could have elaborated on the Aditi-Amit relatioship. It had a lot more to it.
*Plus a zillion other cute things.

I personally think this movie is so cute-overload and so polished. But i admit that the movie looks as if it were made for 15 year olds. Where kisses are covered up by the girls' hair. To which Vai wondered out loud, "wonder what they had do if they were bald!"

I lurved the movie. totalllllllllyyyyyyy. completelyyyyy. every bit of it. every scene of it. so much that i know every dialogue by now.
ok.
Over and Out.
Over to Raphael who will probably publish an out and out gushing review on the movie. "

Back to me.
That's all for this post. Z has done almost a lot of gushings herself, so I'm not sure if I need to put in a review.

Rain-Bikes,Birthdays,Photo Sessions...and Aditi and Pappu

I'm talking about Wednesday first because that was the best day of the week. Hope you guys have the luck myself and Vrinda had!
good luck!
*Wednesday
The BEST DAY OF THE WEEK
I realise I'm quite broke in the evening and so had to take a lift from Vrinda. Had to take? Not exactly, cos I love bikes,I love bikes and I love Vrinda! She turns on the engine and we are ON! In between before we'd made a quarter of the ride, Vrinda made the first halt to take out her driving glasses to stop the dust from getting in the eyes.
I'm riding full-saddled. Hey, comfort first, maintaing feminine illusions is only next!
By the time we reach the Court areas, the climate had progressed to a full-fledged downpour. We giggle down to our second halt. I take out my umbrella and by then the rain is down to a minimum of a drizzle. On the bike again and off we start, this time with the umbrella as well. We wouldn't have bothered about an umbrella if it hadn't been for the fact that you can't drive smooth with rain blinding your eyes. But the strong winds keep trying to blow the umbrella out of my hands. And the place we were driving along was very close to the sea. So really,really strong gales. The umbrella finally breaks off the hold and__flies awayyyy! We were like, "oh shit!" and laughing our heads off. Vrinda halts for the third time in the ride and I step off to pick up the umbrella. All the while with my face and hers split into smiles and drenched to the bones. The umbrella wasn't helping much and the rain had come down. So we drove with the umbrella folded and put aside and enjoyed the rain. We still had to make a fourth halt when it got too heavy to see straight.
You can guess the scenario. No frustration. 2 girls laughing like mad,pointing at a broken umbrella (yes, it got twisted) and pointing at each other's wet clothes. We couldn't even wipe our glasses as there was no part of us which wasn't wet! Both couldn't stop saying over and over again, "This is the best ride I've ever had!"
Finally reached our places.
Drenched, cold and happy as a 'nything.

*Monday-
KS's 11th birthday. Happy birthday dahling!! I still can't believe the Kid Sis is growing up, and that too in such a short time!
At college, my pals and meself wolf down the biriyanis me and Vrinda brought in a matter of nano-seconds.
Somehow by 2.30pm all our buddies have left college. That is,except me,Namitha and Vrinda. We take out my camera, and it's clickety-click,snappity-snap-snap-snap!! Climbed broken walls and trees for cool poses. And since our college has a history of more than 200 years, there were millions of places to discover! After snapping each other in every thinkable place and pose, we used the auto-timer and laughed and giggled for the camera. Plus we went into a mini-jungle and climbed trees (trying to be oblivious to the presence of biting ants and worse biting insects). Obviously by the time we stepped out of there, the 3 of us were scratching arms and feet.
Babes in the woods, but not at all lost!

*Tuesday- Vinaya is mighty jealous that we held a photo-session when she wasn't around. Mind you, she's the first camera-obsessed among us. (I became camera-obsessed only after I owned one.) Morning onwards I'm all pepped up. But by 10am, Namitha,Vinaya,Vaikhari and Nimisha leave to watch that very-hyped "Dashavataram" of Kamal Hasan. Seriously, I'd have been suffocated to watch the same man 10 times over in the span of 3 and a half hours. Ragitha,Prajisha and myself stay back and do a photo session. Cute photos turn up. Noon and we did a house-hunting. Futile search,I may add. By then, our movie-going pals have returned and are speechless. Yes,they loved it and were mind-blown. To tell you more, they mark the movie as an "experience" in itself. What do I know? I'll just don the garb of Scroogie for now.
Bah, Humbug!
Vinaya is all-consuming jealous by now when she learns that we conducted yet another photo-session without her. Hey! Nimisha swept me off my feet literally and had the moment immortalised by Prajisha who handles the cam. I couldn't stop giggling! By this time, a misunderstanding has begun and a spat over between Offbeats and a friend. No one's too sure what triggered him to talk so.
Was he on dope? drunk? or in love???
Anyways, we clicked more photos.

*Thursday
At college,Vrinda has already dished out our adventure to all and we can barely stop laughing when we so much as look at each other. *Sigh!
The best ride on wheels yet!
Vaikhari has finally fallen in love with "Aditi", so has Namitha. Which means everyone is singing "aditi" all the time. Then it's "Pappu Can't Dance".
Photo sessions. Jumping from fences. "strangling" Namitha and Vinaya. But i notice that volunteers for "strangling" Namitha were much higher than for Vinaya.
!
Say what you want!
Just as I expected Namitha is highly jealous of our very cool bike adventure.
-------------------------------------------------
*Friday
A fight in which many of our friends get hurt. What was worse is that the whole "friction" began right from the place we were. Very ouch feeling for the rest of the day.
A movie star comes to college for some club inauguration.
On a happier note, Prajisha's birthday!!!!
Took videos of the whole thing. I'd taken along my pipe. nothing too excellent. in fact, it makes a very ugly noise when blown, which had everyone in splits!That's exactly why I bought it at the flea market. Plus it lengthens when you blow. Extra fun. The childishness of the whole thing had Prajisha and everyone else tiring themselves out laughing.

YOU SIMPLY HAVE TO READ THIS, IF YOU ARE AN A.R RAHMANIAC.
"HOW A.R.R COMPOSES A TUNE"
Amazing write up, Farzad! Kudos!

Zi baby comes home/ Z's day out;literally

Apologies for the long disappearance. Anyways I had a lovely week. Wednesday my favorite cousins came home,and Zi came in tow! I got so excited by their arrival that I absented myself from classes the next day. Hey,they stayed for a mere 24 hours man!And its not always that u get cousins to stay. I spent the most of it zooming my lens in on darling-darling Zi, my cutie-pie niece and snapping shots of her. AND talking with my dear brother Mac and sister Zub. Late night, us 3 ended up spending some hours on a Mensa test. Bheja fry sample or what? Phew! But we did scrape a decent 15 marks though.
Anyways, friday was pretty exciting for Z. She got to talk smooth and lots with her Crush. Still flushing post that chat, she steps in for an extremely boring class. You cannot blame Z and her pals for playing an innocent game of Filmy Hangman. Well, her teacher caught them and kicked them outta class. And the idiots still can't stop laughing over it. They actually recorded and shot their fotos together in memory of the day they got kicked out.

Wipe out all that.
I got hold of all my recent wished for songs!!! JTYJN, Ada, Khuda Kayliye and Jal the band.
I simply can't get enough of the ARR songs! Every single one of them is just gorgeous!
Especially Meherban-Ada and Kahi to hogi-JTYJN. And Sajni from Jal,the Pak band. AND Bandya from Khuda kayliye. AND....
oh well, you better stop me or I will continue gushing on about my favourite composers and artists and all.

Ciao for now.

The year after the Beginning, and before the Ending

This one's a look-back at my past academic year. The fun year! This might be rather long, you are warned!

June- Second year begins, on a rather sullen note for me since I was still melancholic with my cousin's death. But my friends helped me recover soon. Vaikhari moved into Vinaya's home. My favorite surrogate brother calls! Admitted that I have more surrogate relationships than anyone else around me. But he's my blue-eyed boy! The felicitation thingy. Doesn't help much that our dept always bags ranks as a habit. And we have to always do speeches and organise events. Sound of Music rules. I share my S.o.M cd with friends and we're singing High on a hill was a lonely goatherd, Maria, the Farewell Song etc.. Last year's crush still flickerin' from somewhere within. New lecturers, we get prejudices against some, but that changes soon. Begin- the Cognitions workshop. Kinda ok with that since my pack always happen to be together in everything, adventure/misadventure. Got new friends bcos of those Communicative Skills classes. Me and Vinaya get seriously bitching abt irresponsibility of our dept with....our teachers Prof Babu&Efthikar! Actually we bitch abt everything with our teachers, they're all more informal than any other dept. I have the best deptmental family in here!! Books,books and more of 'em. New ma'am for journalism, she roxx! By now we bgin bunking Cognition classes.They were gettin too bawring. Singing songs all over the place, "like the gypsies", Anil sir quips! Some teachers are taking 3month leaves. So thoughtful of them..
27 June- Prajisha's b'day. Gift her bag, bookmark and card.

July-Novel summary assignment. These classes when Leena ma'am make us summarise novels is fun. We get to ask the person questions and make 'em sweat, (obviously they havent read the whole thing yaar!) Windsurfing on the buses to college and from college as always. Wimbledon matches. Federer equals Borg's record of 5 Wimbledon titles!!!!!Love ya Fed! Some Union workshop at college, since me and Vinaya are Joint Convenors we HAD to sit down for the revolutionary speeches(which were kind ok).Vaika joins in later, she too a joint convenor. We bgin talking thru paper chits and gestures.Starved thru the 3 hour long programme. The next week witnessed a fight at college. We watched it all! Rain hols declared. Interviews for admission begin. Lots of rain walks and runs!!! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.Me and Vaik deathly worried,"will JKR finish off Harry?" J class- me as Pratibha Patil,prez candidate in meet-the-press. Cool me fended off questions thrown esp by Nami and Vinaya.

August- Literary association of department inaugurated in style.And I'm chosen as Secretary!! Reaching college drenched is becoming a habit for us now.And in Kerala it's raining from June to December virtually! Lunch times are mostly turning into Mad-Hatter's tea-parties.Me and Nimisha arguing passionately(with witnesses-mostly threatened into saying so;)that Idiputtu and Idiyappam are 2 different food items. Others argue as heatedly that they 2 are one and the same.Onam. Welcome party for freshers. Soft-core ragging.Just silly kid stuff. Namitha's birthday-Aug15. Gift her watch and card. 18-Thanzeela's b'day. Riph sweet is back home!Both of us spend quality time together going for shopping and eating out.
Nimisha is all sweetness.For she's the only one who wants to listen me sing Avril,Linkin Park, and anything english. I enacted Iago in Shakespeare hour!!

September- Nami n me verbal duel.Well,all of us do! Began Orkut account! Wild singing sessions continue.We were born-entertainers who force our vocal skills on others, *chuckle! Everyone else begin Orkutting as well. Bunkings continue. Strikes n fights. Footloose,settle down near green-house. Vrinda and I race down to Portico.I win! But my footwear wears out=( // Sporty's damn cool-dumps boyfriend and still happy-no heart breaks and tears. Sooraj n Fenrir Greyback distribute toffees to celebrate T20WC Indian win. Bad communications day.Written words hurt deep. Soothing balm from N.But everything's sorta changed.I can forgive,but can't forget. But all's fine now.

October-My big day!!Thanks to Orkut I get my long-lost neighbours and school pals. I invent a story out of Nokia ringtones, Bollywood style!Everyone loved it! Vinaya and Vaikhari get a TV break to dance for their college.EID. Busy times, overloaded with assignments. Jashn-e-Debates season begins.A new dimension of me comes out bcos of this.

November-Debate season begins. finally the impossible has happened.I fall out of luv with the Union's attitude with the rest of my pack.But I still idealise them sort-of.Sajla (popular singer of Kerala, plus our friend,she's my class mate.), Vrinda,Nimisha and me go bag shopping for Sajla after classes.Fun.//22nd is a remarkably awesome day.We all set off for wedding gift shopping for Prajisha's big sis.Vaik was in foul mood from ruck with Achayan.To cheer her we go to a tourist spot near Sports Academy local branch.Vri's friends live there.Me,Nimisha and Namitha ended up fighting over umbrella instead. Off shopping for gift.But all do shopping for themselves, and now we're late.Uff! I bought a cool black bead bracelet.Finally we resolve and buy a pretty dress for her.Vaik-Nimisha fight.Foul moods again.
25th- Prajisha's sister's wedding.What's even more special is that I'm attending my very first Hindu wedding and I'm gonna eat my very first "Sadya" all veg and rice.Fun at wedding,witnessed "thalikkettu" and I made a dumbass of me trying to drink the "rasam" with my hand. Impossible!! After cool wedding, we skip off to Namitha's home.Fun time there too.She's got a parrot couple[Chinnu-Minnu] and a single parrot[Rooney, ya reference to Wayne Rooney!] plus a late dog[Jimmi]. Back home late evening,I'm dead tired. 4th b'day of Harmony!

December- I began "Pieces of Me"-my bloggie pet!! 7th-Ragi's b'day. Sajla buys a Scooty Pep. I learnt "Stone-Paper-Scissor" from my young cousin. Association Inauguration and Film Screening. Can you believe it?Instead of watching TZP with my school buddies Baju&Shamnas( yay, the 3Smashers rollicked all over town that day!), we get sorta trapped in the theatre and hadta watch a stupid B grade Malayalam slapstick comedy cos
TZP was over there.=( Nonetheless, enjoyd the time spent togetha and did laff at some one liners.. I did get to watch TZP later on though.

January 2008- . I can actually argue patiently and bring rivals down to their knees (as long as they aren't cheating, that is.) My first year's results came finally after 7 months. I met an Orkut friend. Attended class mate's wedding.A first!

February 2008- In semi-finals of debate, won against the odds, beat the Business dept! Are we dark-horse league or what?! GA fractures leg. Namitha and me are crazy abt debates as a whole now, actually hunted down the whole college for juniors' debate! Our winning streak didnt last long.Lost out in the finals, but we still feel something foul in the air.
College day-mega fun, but it ended with me getting a sore throat which later on developed into a full-fledged bad cold. Z is actually me. i crush'd.

March 2008- Vinaya sprains leg. Bunking spree is very much fun! Friends ho to mere friends jaisa honi chahiye. They motivate crushes and once it is achieved, they will pull u back bfore hings get too complicated!Luv u darlings! Power-packed singing session today.Max fun and croaky throats at the end.Back to back Bolly and spriklings of regional stuff and English.Totally.Rocked.The.Place. Shopping in town,myself bought a cute,chunky bag.=D Tug wars,tributes, crushes-here me and Nami are totally hopeless cases!Happy Feet last edition. Dusk begins blog. Fling and Flirt donno what to do with themselves,can't even call quits, grf!
Official last day of second academic year-Farewell party went smooth,no hitches and much fun. And on a happier note, smoke has died down!
Then the exams.
The End of a very happy year. happys ending!
--------------------------------------------------------
Books I read in the second academic year:
English,August-Upamanyu Chatterjee/ Goddess Abides-Pearl S.Buck/Writer's Diary-Virginia Woolf/Villette-Charlotte Bronte/The Bridge Across Forever-Richard Bach/Secret Garden-Frances Hodgson Burnett/Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte/To Kill A Mocking Bird-Harper Lee/French Lieutenant's Woman-John Fowles/Harry Potter&the Deathly Hallows-JKR/Nanny-Charlotte Bingham/Jonathan Livingston Seagull-Bach/Prophet-Kahlil Gibran/Poems-Matthew Arnold/Rubaiyat-Omar Khaiyyam>Fitzgerald/Disgrace-JM Coetzee/Journey to Ithaca-Anita Desai/Istanbul'Memories of a city-Orhan Pamuk/Unbearable Lightness of Being-Milan Kundera/Clandestine in Chile-Gabriel Garcia Marquez/Persuasion-Jane Austen/Inheritance of Loss-Kiran Desai/Chetan Bhagat/Othello-Shakespeare/Collected Stories-GGM/Hundred Years of Solitude-GGM(man,u need some kind of tough stomach for this book.Weir.D!)/Interpreter of Maladies and other stories-Jhumpa Lahiri/Queen's Confession-Victoria Holt(again and again)

Movies I watched:
Salaam-e-Ishq/Don/Omkara/Khosla ka Ghosla/Bheja Fry/Shrek3/Metro/TaRa RumPum/Chak De!! India/Taare Zameen Par/Dil Hain Ke Maanta Nahi/Music and Lyrics/Pride&Prejudice and In Her Shoes for the Nth time/Om Shanti Om/Race/