A Trip to Gulbarga

Music is something that has always eluded my mind. Although I have tried my hand on playing several musical instruments, I have actually never been able to master one completely. To top it all, as if its fate’s way of rubbing salt on wounds, all my close friends are brilliant musicians. One of them has even released a music album. Another is teaching music in the Middle East. Still another is a music director for the films. Sigh.

Amidst this trauma, what is a little consoling is that I manage to play a bit of guitar and keyboards. But that’s it. Beyond that I am a dunce. Therefore, it was a bolt from the blues when a University in Gulbarga sent a letter requesting me to come and judge their music competitions. I remember them sending me a similar letter two years ago. After much coaxing, I agreed. But I thought that would be the last time. But I guess I was wrong!

Besides, the situation had been different last year. I had relatives in Gulbarga. I had time to splurge. I had my friend who rolled out a music album accompany me as a judge. This time, everything was haywire. I didn’t even have the choice of tagging my friend along as the authorities had already arranged judges from other states. What was relieving though was I had to judge Western music and not Carnatic or Hindustani classical music, which could have made my life miserable, unless I knew all the ragas, which I doubt.

Since the professors knew me on a personal level, I was compelled to take the trip. Stricken with fear about the role I would don, I undertook the journey to Gulbarga. When I hit the city around 2 am in the night there wasn’t a soul in sight. The roads looked curfew-laden. Not wishing to barge into the university and wake up authorities, and declare my presence at that unearthly hour, I scouted for a hotel to stay for the night. I found that all the good hotels were taken. I cursed myself for not reserving a room in advance. Finally, just before the crack of dawn, I located a place. The hotel wasn’t any great shakes, but just enough to sleep away the tiredness.

The search had me exhausted totally. So, I crashed immediately. Crazily, I had a bad dream involving music. It was all hazy, couldn’t make out what it was about. That apart, when the alarm went off, the ghosts of music returned to haunt me about the competition that lay ahead. Suddenly, my hands and feet turned clammy. I wished I was dead.

Next day, we received a hearty welcome at the university. I was introduced to other two judges. One guy, Yousuf, who supposedly did vocals for a Bangalore-based band and other lady, a very good looking one, was a classical singer herself. Both were from Bangalore. That put me at a definite disadvantage as they frequently chatted in Kanada of which I could make no head or tails. But in the end, we three hit it off well as we seem to be bond by one common “cord” – music.

Unlike what I expected, the competition turned out to be a pleasant experience with singers doling out songs of Celine Dion, Back Street Boys, Abba and other groups…but unfortunately nobody sang any of MJ’s numbers. Sad! Although the participants picked up good numbers, either they jumped the scale, or their voices cracked, or they were completely off key. Only a few were good. Moreover, there was this group that appeared on stage dressed in immaculate suits but sang the entire song out of tune! I wondered what they thought it was: a fancy dress competition or a singing competition.

Since there were only a few groups which sang professionally, it made our judges’ work dead easy. We could narrow down the winners quite easily. Once satisfied with the outcome, we all loosened up. We took a short break for tea before we dispersed for good.

Even before I realized the competitions were over, I was heading home. With the dreaded contest coming to an end, my tensions disappeared. After living life on the edge, the return journey filled my heart with a lightness that can only be explained by an individual whose death sentence has just been pardoned.

Mirza Ghalib

Currently I am half way through Salman Rushdie’s Enchantress of Florence. The book is slow-paced but profound. What I like about Rushdie is his extraordinary grasp on the English language. No wonder his writing is laced with smoothness akin to running one’s work-hardened and weather-beaten fingers through finely spun silk. Exquisite!

The book, Enchantress of Florence, opens on our own Mirza Ghalib’s words that have neither lost the charm nor the beauty even after being translated into English. A.S. Kline worked on the translation. Here is the piece that stole my heart.

If there is a knower of tongues here, fetch him; there’s a stranger in the city.
And he has many things to say.

The sphere.

"Congo" was the first movie I ever bunked college to watch. It was a bold move considering that I hadn’t done anything of that kind before. Inside theatre, my eyes were shifty, afraid that someone might locate me! However, I enjoyed the movie. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Shot in the dense African tropical rainforests, it was all about transporting back a friendly Ape to the Congo basin in South Africa and searching for the Solomon’s temple where the promise of discovering diamonds loomed large.

However, what the expedition troop didn’t know was guarding this hidden treasure were apes. Apes trained to ruthlessly kill anyone who comes near the diamonds. The entire movie was gripping and fast-paced. I might have seen the movie like 5 times and over. Not just because it had a wonderful plot but also to watch Laura Linney on whom I had a huge crush then.

But only later I came to know the movie was an adaptation of the book “Congo” by Michael Crichton. My respect for the author swiftly rose. Crichton also authored Jurassic Park and The Lost World, which, we know, were later converted into big-budget movies that kept box-office registers ringing. This in itself is self-explanatory of Crichton’s abilities as a writer with superb imagination.

But his bulky books always dampened my reading spirit. I thought who has time to kill on such voluminous tomes? But the other day, when I read the blurb behind his book, Sphere, I found it very absorbing. I couldn’t stop bringing this book home.

Expectedly, Sphere turned out to be mind-blowing. Hinged around Einstein’s theory of relativity, accentuating on refraction of time, it’s about an alien spaceship that has suddenly showed up on the Pacific Ocean bed. Moreover, the unique mix of metal and plastic alloys on board speaks of a technology that is clearly not of this era.

With control manuals unmistakably scripted in English, it was imperative the spaceship has time-traveled from the future. But the crew on board somehow seems to be missing. What further remains an indecipherable puzzle is the existence of a Sphere on board. No one takes notice of it initially. But when it starts sending hostile messages onto the computer screen, that’s when complete chaos sets in.

The book was phenomenal. Hooked on to it, I didn’t realize it was 3 am and pitchy dark outside when I finally finished reading it.

Michael Crichton sure knows how to keep you glued to the book.

Remember me? Made me remember the author.

When someone I know, after sensing my penchant for reading, handed six books of various, distinguished authors. I was dumbstruck at the generous gesture. But what took me by surprise was I have barely known this individual for two months. Yet, he heartily gave away the books. May his bighearted tribe increase!

“Remember me?” by Sophie kinsella was one among them. When I grasped the blurb’s essence at the back, I realized the book would suffocate me by immersing in an overwhelming tub of emotions. I still can’t really get to the root why women are controlled by and sometimes swept away with emotions. Frankly, I really can’t. And god help me for that! ;)

Nonetheless, I decided to take the emotional trip offered by Kinsella. For one reason, the book sounded unusually different. Secound, it promised an element of mystery that could be unfurled only after spending considerable time. Moreover, the person who donated the book lavished praise on the writer. Naturally, among the six books, my first read began with “Remember me?”

The story opens on the heroine having a faint recollection of a minor accident. Further down the pages, we find the fall had unfortunately blacked out her memory of last 3 years. During which she had actually managed to steadily climb the company’s corporate ladder to become one of its powerful board members, become a yoga and gym-crazy individual, got a dental job done that made her look coy, married an achingly handsome man, and not to say the least, drawn a bulky pay packet.

Unfortunately, she remembers none of these. The complete turmoil that floods her mind at this stage is what the whole story is about. While she is still sorting out her disjointed memory, there steps in another individual with a bombshell. When he drops it, all hell breaks lose for her. Her whole world is suddenly upside down.

Sophie Kinsella scores good points with her compelling book. The thought behind such a solid storyline undoubtedly raises her IQ bar a few notches up. Honestly, how many could really think of stories that are whacky at the same time gripping? After having read "Remember me?", my trust in Kinsella’s narrating skills has sky-rocketed. I am confident that her other books would also be equally intense.

Next time, I am out scouting for books; I’ll ensure her name is infused in memory along with other authors I generally keep my eyes open for. Watch out Kinsella...here I come.

Mango Juice Trickling Through Fingers.

After a long time, I had the opportunity of relishing sliced pieces of a sweet mango. My mom handed them on a plate with a tiny fork. Munching on these, my mind quickly wandered to childhood days.

As kids, we used to fight tooth and nail over a mango seed. That is because the seed almost always contained a larger portion of the mango pulp. This, consequently, stood as a contest. The kid who finally got his hands on the seed had won. Hands down! Hands gooey! When I think back on those days I only smile. Then, there was no fear of being taunted. No fear of getting your hands gooey. No fear of looking silly slurping on a mango seed. Only the delight of eating the mango.

As grown-ups, I find we are suddenly straight jacketed with rules and regimes. We rarely follow our heart. Most often we follow what others think is right. We don’t set trends. In a way, we have lost our own true identity. We have become another cog in the wheel. That’s quite sad.

While I was still munching on the tiny mango pieces a strange thought crossed my mind. I smiled to myself. I yelled to my mom in the kitchen. “Mom, do you still have the mango seed.” As expected the answer was yes.

So, before I could stop him, the kid in me leaped and dashed to the kitchen…

Rules? Who cares!!

A son's Letter to His Mom.

Someone sent me this e-mail, it was so nice, I didn't feel like keeping it to myself. So, here it is:

She jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said: 'How is my little boy? Is he going to be all right? When can I see him?' The surgeon said, 'I'm sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn't make it.'

Sally said, 'Why do little children get cancer? Doesn't God care any more? Where were you, God, when my son needed you?'

The surgeon asked, 'Would you like some time alone with your son? One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he's transported to the university.

Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said good bye to son. She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair. 'Would you like a lock of his hair?' the nurse asked. Sally nodded yes.. The nurse cut a lock of the boy's hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally.

The mother said, 'It was Jimmy's idea to donate his body to the University for Study. He said it might help somebody else... 'I said no at first, but Jimmy said, 'Mom, I won't be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom..' She went on, 'My Jimmy had a heart of gold. Always thinking of someone else. Always wanting to help others if he could.'

Sally walked out of Children's Mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there. She put the bag with Jimmy's belongings on the seat beside her in the car.

The drive home was difficult. It was even harder to enter the empty house. She carried Jimmy's belongings, and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son's room.She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them She lay down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.

It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Lying beside her on the bed was a folded letter. The letter said:

'Dear Mom,

I know you're going to miss me; but don't think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you, just 'cause I'm not around to say 'I Love You'. I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day.. Someday we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won't be so lonely, that's okay with me. He can have my room and old stuff to play with.. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn't like the same things us boys do. You'll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know.

Don't be sad thinking about me.. This really is a neat place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything. The angels are so cool. I love to watch them fly. And, you know what? Jesus doesn't look like any of his pictures. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him. Jesus himself took me to see GOD! And guess what, Mom? I got to sit on God's knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important.

That's when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you good bye and everything. But I already knew that wasn't allowed. Well, you know what Mom? God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him 'where was He when I needed him?' 'God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.

Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I've written except you. To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper. Isn't that cool? I have to give God His pen back now He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life. Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I'm sure the food will be great.Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don't hurt anymore the cancer is all gone.. I'm glad because I couldn't stand that pain anymore and God couldn't stand to see me hurt so much, either. That's when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was a Special Delivery! How about that?

Signed with Love from God, Jesus & Me.

Brand Equity Quiz 2009

Brand Equity Quiz – I wouldn’t mind giving my right hand to be present at the event. In fact, I look forward for the quiz the entire year. When it’s over, I am left with a feeling that the whole year is finished and I have reached December 31. That’s precisely the impact of Brand Equity Quiz on me!

I guess it is one event the whole corporate world, across the length and breadth of India, anxiously waits to be a part of. The quiz probably acts like an invisible barometer, testing the mettle of the corporate industry’s intellectual resources. Consequently, the moment your company moves to the top position, you know, you have the sharpest minds on the payroll. Therefore, it doesn’t come as a surprise to watch topnotch organizations battle it out tooth and nail to grab the winning spot. Well, if not for the quiz, the teams would definitely fight for the national grand prize: Mahindra Scorpios.

However, to qualify for the nationals, one has to secure a win among the various local teams on the home turf. As a result, the teams battled it out at Hyderabad to qualify for the nationals in the lush green lawns of Taj Banjara under the twilight sky on 19 April ’09. As always, Derek O' Brien played the audience like a harp. He was in total control right from the word ‘go’. Yeah! A walking dynamo! You could sense imperceptible sparks fly off him. He knows when to pull off a gag, when to keep you numb with suspense, and when to make your heart do a yo yo. Like every year, he had a theme this year too. Last year, the theme was “Old Hindi Movies.” So everything was in tune with the theme. This year, the quiz was dedicated to blind people. And you could see on the background screen Louis Braille’s words slowly take shape, “Ignorance is complete darkness.” And Derek’s line, which he used quite often during the quiz, “Let me lead you from darkness to light” was very apt for the evening.

Unfortunately, I missed the preliminary round as I got stuck in the traffic. By the time I reached the venue, Derek was reeling out the answers for the prelims. I simply couldn’t forgive myself for not starting from home early. But luckily, after the coffee break, I was able to grab a front seat which presented me with a ringside view. Anyway, the six teams that made it to the final rounds at Hyderabad were Vizag Steel, Google, Microsoft, Satyam, JWT Mindset and TIME. The competition among these teams was stiff. As the evening turned cooler, the excitement got hotter. The teams were sharp, the quiz master, sharper. As usual, the crowd loved the combo!

What really drives you nuts about the quiz is that the audience is as charged up as the contestants. That’s because every now and then, Derek walks into the audience throws a question at them. If you happen to answer a question correctly, he will give you half dozen prizes. That is, if he is not in his good spirits! If you catch him in his good spirits, he wouldn’t mind giving you the prizes but also to the entire row in which you are seated! Mind you, the prizes aren’t some tidbits. They could be anything from a bottle of scotch to expensive gift vouchers from Lawrence and Mayo to free travel trips to various places. Of course, the real icing on the cake was an expensive high-end Samsung Phone, which Derek gave out to someone in the crowd.

At the fag-end of the event, only two teams were neck to neck in the competition --Vizag Steel and JWT Mindset. Although my favourite team was Vizag Steel, but as I am true blue Hyderabadi my support went out to the Hyderabad team -- JWT Mindset. Vizag Steel stands as my favourite because of their consistent performance in Brand Equity Quiz. Every year you see them clear the prelims and reach the top. But this time, unfortunately, the buzzer round spelled doom for Vizag Steel as JWT mindset team hammered the final nail on the opponents’ coffin by pressing the buzzer and giving out the correct answer.

When Derek, at the end of the show, announced that there were free drinks for everyone, although I don’t drink, my head was already dizzy with excitement. You really got to hand it out to Derek for making Brand Equity Quiz a classy event!