Music#1 Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

I heard them on a rerun of Conan's show last month. They played 40 Day Dream and I was sold. The entire album was in my itunes the next day. I'd recommend that they be seen and heard first via youtube (Live at the Regent) to feel their energy or you can sample songs here (Amazon) as well. They seem MAD but I love that MAD.

40 Day Dream is the first track of their album and my favourite. It is happy, careless and joyous. See them sing it - you'd feel happier.
I am pretty set and happy with my life but if I ever had a chance of becoming whoever I wanted to be? A musician. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros is one reason why.

My next favourite track is Home. I actually heard it on a website like a year back. Fell in love but left it to trail. Home is going to be my wedding day song, someday maybe :)
Album: Up from Below
Genre: Indie, rock pop, alternative

Music and other things

I discover amazing music at times and I think to not let my blog die, I should blog about it. I also stumble on amazing videos and stuff on the internet and I reckon this should be a good place for me to store away.

I hope my few blogger friends have been doing well over the past year....dying to catch up on your posts!

Magical Ko Tao

I was in Thailand around March end for my birthday and a nice vacation. Clear blue water, snorkeling, amazing food and amazing ambiance. Could not have asked for more :)
Ko Tao's beauty cannot be expalined. You have to live it.

Sairee Beach

My best friend's wedding

It finally happened. She always wanted the big-fat-wedding and it was exactly that. We were nine bridesmaids, three flower girls and the cutest ring boy. Weddings at home with thousands of strangers around is really not my scene but you cannot help but be overwhelmed and blessed when you witness the people you care about getting married. At the end of the day, we dropped her off at the lucky guy's place and I could not help but shed a few bittersweet tears as I hugged her goodbye.

Post's Sake #1

Most of my blog friends are posting thier AWOL reasons and I want a new post on my blog too! :)
Books - Read Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg - about the middle-east politics in a biblical perspective - I know he is writing sense. Currently reading Obama's Audacity of Hope.

Work - Exciting project in hand, struggling for it which means I will learn a lot.

Boys - Last I heard my russian spy was howling my name, looking for me on the beaches of Goa Lol. Kidding. He was actually in India but I did not want to ruin my perfect night.

Ouch points - ICICI Bank - will post a long post why not to get ICICI Credit Cards. They are trying to screw me but fighting back. Good thing is that I have not used my credit cards for more than a month!

Others: My best friend's 13 year old sister is here. I feel so, so old but wise also :)

Twilight - not just for "young adults"

Got them as a birthday gift and read them on the birthday week itself.
Pure, unadulterated indulgence :)

Who would have thought that "young adult" teenage-vampire-romance novels could be so exciting! I live for these kind of surprises.

Happy beach days!

These are but mere words of what I saw and felt - of course, it does not do justice to the real thing or even the picture posted which my friend just about managed to click from her camera phone!
The sun was the deepest red-orange color, strong enough to create a bright sun ray like haze on a part of the ocean; a white yatch zips through the haze and a fisherman's small boat slowly struts through the same haze. The small crowd turns toward the sun and enjoys the sheer beauty which is only for the senses. Everyone's scattered - atop the small hill, boulders, 'insea' and inland but we are all held together by the amazing glorious dying sun.
Two cute young guys - one particular in red shorts and barefoot, runs toward one of the many boulders which surrounds this tiny island-like place and starts moving to the beat of the best trance/house music I'd ever heard. I am in a daze. If I have ever felt perfection, this was it. Everything came together harmoniously - the beat, the dancing, the lull in the sea, the rich white yatch and the fisherman's modest boat within the warm rays of the sun - this lasted for about 20 minutes and I'd like to think that I stopped breathing for those 20 and was in another reality .

How to get to this spot? take right from the main entrance of Palolem Beach - it is right at the end of the beach; ask for Sundowner. You can swim across the river or take a boat for 50 Rs. It is hilarious how we find the best for last. This was our last and the best night.

Yes, another Palolem Birthday!

and it just keeps getting better. Did some things differently; stayed for a week, became "canoers", saw an open air screening of a movie next to the beach and danced away to glory on our last nite - barefoot and happy and yeah, I almost drowned one and a half times but no big deal :)

The picture above is with two of my best friends who made my bday in Palolem possible. I got such good friends, it is indeed a blessing! The next picture is at little quaint Cafe Inn (of course, how can I miss not adding me without shades? hee hee) - Cafe Inn serves the most amazing coffee and breakfast. It has wi-fi and AC - if you want to beat the mid-day heat, head out there with a book/laptop and once the AC kicks in, start ordering coffee!

Who wants to be old???

There were so many cute young guys! sigh! :) To get older and to see what is/will be behind you is really not a very happy realization. We met George who is this tall, strong and loud happy guy about to retire in 5 years time. He told us about how he is beginning to question his whole life; the bourgeoisie dream of owning a house, raising kids, saving money, retirement etc. only to realize that you've never lived at all. Youth is really fleeting, the moment you realize the beauty and importance of it, it is gone (for him hee hee) and nearly gone (for me boo hoo hoo waaaaaaaa). He said that when you are 25, life is slow, at 30 you just feel like you turned 10 pages and then bang! you are 40. It truly sounds like a chop chop affair. Scary huh? It is for me...ayayaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The Wonder of X & Y Chromosomes!

On our last night, I ALSO met this very funny & cute (older than me!) "Russian Spy" who refused to tell me why he came to Goa for one day and couldn't believe that I was an Indian. He had this cutest accent and kept saying I was "Number One". Ah, I just love cute guys with unfathomable foreign accent. Yes, I don't understand half of what they say but me thinks they say the most sensible, smart and funny things. Otherwise, most of the guys I meet just speaks crap in eloquent english.

I remember that happy feeling when you meet someone nice and adorable who makes you laugh for the silliest of reason. I'd thought I was finished with that! The forces between the opposite sex is truly magical, IF you can handle it. Now, my moronic friend does not know how to handle it; he was busy trying to get high instead of getting to know this beautiful girl who am sure was "kinda" interested in him. I mean he could have been the "Russian Spy" for her, except with truck loads of crap :D He could also have extended his holidays for another day (which was 100% possible) and hung out with her, but he calls me up from home and tells me he did "facebooking" instead. Sigh :) What a lost cause!

Icing on my birthday cake? The "Russian Spy" definitely. I didn't know that I could still have those girly giggles and be smitten silly by a guy. Forget about the fact that I will never see him again or about any stupid romantic inclinations but to feel free, bubbly and just enjoying those couple of hours without any expectations? It was truly refreshing.

He writes "were" for "Where?", call me silly but I just couldn't get over that cuteness! :)

La de da 'tis always better late than never...

My Woody Allen experience has always been kinda wishy-washy. I was fascinated by him but never dug deep; saw him cracking hilarious jokes on TV, loved his movies without being alarmed that he Created them or just go mad with joy when he opened his mouth. All because I could not fathom a 53 year old man with a 17 year old daughter of his lover of 12 years. That was in the late 90s.

Today, I saw Woody Allen's Annie Hall and wanted to tear myself apart piece by piece for depriving myself of one of the best movies by perhaps one of the world's greatest director and actor living, dead or soon to be dead. He made this movie more than 30 years ago and it is as ground-breaking for me today as I am sure it was those times. I have never felt the most used and boring phrase 'tis better late than never as I felt today. Touche, touche, touche :)

The first 2 minutes of the movie - how can anyone not be fascinated?

Boy oh boy! This Is Planet B-Boy

(B-boying/breakdancing is a form of hip-hop dancing. It is also a term used for a B-boy or a B-girl who is devoted to hip-hop culture.)

What an amazing documentary about how people from different parts of the world can come together in one platform and communicate with what they know best - B-boying. Since it is a little over an hour long, the doc. focuses on five teams who ultimately are the finalists at the Battle of the Year 2005 in Germany.

(Source: IMDB)

Most of the teams do not even interact with each other till the final day. There is always high tension as the competition is stiff but as you see each other dance in the end they cannot help but respect each other's craft and style.
Along with the scenes of awe inspiring body movements, the doc. also weaves in personal stories of some of the dancers from all the five teams. So, as you get to know the personal lives of some of the dancers, you actually feel the emotions of the dancers as they give in all their passion and dreams to their movements. While most of them are poor, shunned by "society" or a failure by most "standards", I think all of them have lived their dreams - of doing what means most to them. They may not be b-boying forever but I cannot help but be sure of the fact that this art they imbibed have made them a better human being. To dance like they do, you need dedication, commitment and love and in the process they learn just that; to be dedicated, to be committed, and to love.

A joke: How would a b-boy react if I wished him "Break a leg!"? I know it's lame! :D

Surfwise - Not Your Average Surf Movie

I made a Big cup of hot piping tea to relieve my sore throat and jumped on the bed to watch Surfwise. Listed as one of the best movies of 2008, I thought wow, another surf movie/documentary, let's watch the waves! I was very gladly wrong. What I discovered is this beautiful flawed family that Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, an MD from Stanford University engineered. He left the normal "comfortable" life and hit the road with his wife and had 8 sons and 1 daughter on the way to the beach. None of them attended school but grew up surfing and moving about in their 25 feet camper/home with a strict diet - no fat or sugar.

It is not a rosy picture that filmmaker Doug Pray paints. It is real emotions. The children are angry at their father for not giving them the "tools" and "skills" to thrive in the modern society. Their father agrees. The mid-80 year old father regrets that he did not give his children the choice that he had; a) leading a "decent" and "normal" life or b) leave the material world behind and go be one with the world/ocean - he chose b, his kids had no choice.
Irony is that they still wish that they had a choice but none of them would change a thing.

(Picture Source: Magpictures)
"Even a flawed family that sticks together is better than no family at all." - Joshua Paskowitz


This movie is thought-provoking and it moved me. Please watch - it is not just my obsessive love for the beach or surfing :)

And we be body surfin...

During the elections, this picture was posted on the lading page of Jack Johnson's website with the caption "I support Barack Obama, A leader with the Aloha Spirit.”
Alohaaaa baby! :)

Barack H. Obama - the 44th President of the United States of America

The world is affected by the United States of America because it is most powerful country in the world. Yes, with great power, comes great responsibility but does that mean that they should be perfect? Can they be perfect? I have listened to numerous U.S. bashing and beating and though almost all are true I cannot help but reason that along with great power, comes great criticism too. The U.S. is both loved and attacked just because it is in power.

But today, as I watched Barack Obama being sworn in as the most important man in the world, I am filled with pride with the human spirit that a son of an African immigrant stands tall as the 44th President of the United States of America.

Indeed, it has been a been a long walk for Barack Obama who has risen through the ashes of his ancestor's history. More than forty years ago, an African-American could not vote but this nation has shown that they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character by electing the son of an African immigrant as the most powerful man on earth. Dr. King's dream has come true today.

May God bless America and Barack Obama. He has a long, long way to go.

Holidays 2008

(This post was written late December in Nagaland and posted today in Hyderabad. I haven't been active as usual but Wow blogger has improved and how...love all the features!)

I am home for a month. Like always, each year is unique. Last year it was all about my nephew Aarak, since his brother was just a month old. This year I have the pleasure of being with my second nephew. He is 13 months old and already I can see his personality so different from Aarak, who turned 4 last month. These two boys are such joys to me and I cannot believe I am their second mom! I remember telling my sister to have only one kid because of the fact that she will have her hands full and all the blah about not being able to enjoy her ‘me’ time. I take it back! I cannot imagine life without either of my two nephews. But yeah, she is not having any more babies :)

Things are changing at home - there are more traffic, more shops and more activities around. However, one thing constant in Nagaland is that Christmas is always warm - free open concerts in almost every corner, carols in buses and a star in every house. I even got to see a Whitelion concert (with my older cousins, sister, their husbands and nephew(4) and niece(6) - yeah, imagine). Not that I am a fan but I remember their song "You're all I need" sung by almost every guy in school. So it was pretty awesome to actually listen through the horse's mouth!

I also met some old friends and acquaintances who I was not in touch with and realized how differently I felt; you'd never think at that point of time that you'll grow apart. This actually reminded me of an old literary class lecture about how art or a text does not change, but we do. I have changed, the way I look at life has changed and I guess that is why I don’t feel the same about people who I am not growing up with literally or virtually for that matter.

Travel wise I, "Loren" and her brother/my friend also drove up to Kohima which is almost three hours away. The drive was amazing – I actually felt like a tourist as we crossed through the mountains and streams and the little waterfalls amongst the greenery. See pictures below...we stopped to buy pineapples on the way up and down as well...they were so sweet and juicy!



Now, I am from Dimapur and this town is as plain as any city. So, technically though people gush about the mountains and the weather when I say that I am from Nagaland, I actually do not see the mountains and greenery except when I go toward Kohima and further. Otherwise, Kohima and every other area of Nagaland is all lush and green and all the splendor that comes with it – almost all my friends houses in Kohima are on hill-tops amidst the glory of the mountains and the greenery and to wake up to such a sight in the morning must be like a piece of heaven.

The only overkill factor - BBQ. I am not going to have another BBQ or attend any for the next six months! We had BBQ nights almost every other night - if it was not at Loren's place (pic below), it was at Kohima or at my place and I was always tending to it cause' I was the best tee hee :)

Happy new year everyone - may we always, always make the best of every situation - Cheers!

Tag@Mac

I got tagged from Mac. Honeslty, I blog almost all the time because he pricks me with all stupid comments like "You have a blog???" Hmmffffpppp Yes, I do have one! :)
Here you go...

1. If your lover betrayed you, what would your reaction be?
Oops, wrong door!

2. If you can have a dream come true, what would it be?
I don't know. I have so many that I probably will not end up making one.

3. Whose butt would you like to kick?

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
Go bonkers - buy a beach house and share the loot :)

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
If it happens, I think that will be the almost perfect relationship. But that hardly happens, considering the fact that he or she is your best friend you might not be attracted to each other or just might not want to ruin your friendship.

6. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?
Being loved is what we all want but loving someone is magic in itself. Our ability to love another person is what makes the world go round.

7. How long would you wait for someone you loved?
I hate waiting :)

8. If the person you secretly like is attached, what will you do?
Dream about him for a week and then let go.

9. If you could root for one social cause, what would it be?
Poverty.

10. What takes you down the fastest?
The third first gulp of LIT.
11. Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
A week ago I would have said probably still in the corporate world with a job I love. Now, nothing is for sure...I am in between dreams!

12. What’s your fear?
Growing old.

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Mac is a nice, kind and a valuable human being. It is a blessing to know him :)

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?
If poor means not being able to go to the beach then NO thank you very much. I'd rather be rich and single!

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Grab the paper and heat the water for tea!

16. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously who will you pick?
If the love quotient is equal for both; I will pick the one who loves me more. Ta da! Now, IF that is also equal then the last resort will be to ask them to choose between the beach or the mountains. The Beach wins hands down! :)

17. Would you give all in a relationship?
Yes. But sometimes your "all" can be pretty small compared to what you are expected of :)

18. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?
I can say yes because I have pretty much forgotten about all the "horrible" things that people might have done to me so far in my life. I get angry at that second and then weeks after I forget about it. Life is too short to just be brooding about things which are in the past.

19. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?
Single :) I know, I know being in a relationship is what we all are supposed to be driving at they say but is it really? I am doing great being single. Why mess it up!

20. List of people to tag:
Loren and Benz.

Surfing

Surfing is ridiculous. Ridiculously wonderful! It is being one with the ocean - literally.

I saw The September Sessions - a 2002 surf movie/documentary-like featuring the world famous Kelly Slater and other surfers with Kelly and Rob Machado doing the voice overs. This was my second surf movie so I could pretty much follow what they were saying and in what context. Thicker Than Water, another film by Jack Johnson was my first surf movie. I'd really wished Thicker Than Water had subtitles with the names and background every time they showed the surfers riding the waves or at least periodically. However, I think what worked me was that both the movies were raw, confusing, original and awe-inspiring! It was non-commercial.

Look at Kelly go for the big one! (print screen picture from the movie :)

In the movie, the surfers talk about how sometimes we get a chance of being alone but don't really enjoy the solitude. We don't even realise that we are addicted to living with people around us. I could really relate to what they said next about being able to enjoy moments of solitude especially when you are in the water, enjoying the surrounding, the temperature of the water, the birds flying by, and just looking around and all these things coming together which refreshes you. These moments are priceless - calms everything.

Surfing takes my breath away. It is beyond my comprehension as to what the surfers must be feeling at that moment when they are just On the tide or when they go Through them. The closest I could get to surfing was body boarding at Palolem - and I still cannot forget the feeling of "riding" the waves. I cannot imagine what you'd really feel when you actually surf. It makes my heart skip.

I am a total ocean babe and cannot wait to experience the waves again :)

Not a fan of surfing? Click here. This which will change your mind.

Jack Johnson Covers Rolling Stone!

zDear Jack on the Cover of Rolling Stone and how!

Please click here for the cover story.

And below is just another pic of me and "Loren" watching the sunset.

I tell you - it is so soothing to see it this way; does something to the soul....
No wonder Jack is so mellow!
Mahalo Jack! for your music and dreams :)

Palolem

I post this as I listen to Baz Luhrman's Sunscreen Song - I dunno if I like it or not....but please, please trust him on the sunscreen.

Palolem was everything I imagined and more.
Among the other things that we did; it was simply nice to just sit back after breakfast, for a game of scrabble at our shack and make moves with the sound of the waves.
Ain't life just sweet; I just found out that a dear friend of mine has written on our trip. Please click here for an elaborate and beautifully written write up on it :)



It is better than this!
I saw Dolphins for the first time in my life. Wow.
Me and "Loren" ; we are still nursing our black and blues after the excessive use of the surf boards.


Go visit if you just want to relax and catch up with friends or even celebrate your birthday like we did and yeah, if you are with some you are in luvvvvvvvv with, it is the best place to be! I envied my two very dear friends of mine :)
A very decent (nice!) crowd who mind their own business and just sleep, eat, relax and see life go by.

I was rejuvenated and Tanned
A very very happy birthday indeed :)


FYI:
Palolem is 1hour away from Madgoan/Margao
Do not book in advance; just go and Pick from the stretch of options across the beach
Do drop in at Butterfly Island and say Aloha! to the Dolphins on your way :)

The Beautiful Temperamental Six Yard

I started this year draped myself with lots and lots of chiffon!

I wore Saree for the first time in my life. The occasion was New Year's Party organized by our office for our 250+ group.

Kudos to all the +billion women in India/around the globe who wears Saree with such sheer ease and elegance.

I for one, along with her, was all over the place wherever I went. She was a separate entity; temperamental, snooty and proud and someone who absolutely did not like me at all.
In the first hour, I could hardly walk, so I lifted her many folds a bit higher than my ankle; my friends started chastising me.
Then I draped her loose end over and tied it across my waist; my friends came down on me again.
So, finally they pinned her against me; I still did manage to get smothered!

I gave up and after a glass of wine, I let her Be. She was free to do whatever she wanted to do.
Viola! She immediately liked the independence! We became the best of friends and swayed away to glory.

:)


Another attempt to revive thee blog! but I did have an amazing experience (though much later) wearing a Saree. Giving the Saree a personal touch because it is one of the most beautiful attire on earth and just did not feel like refering it to a mundane 'Saree'.
Here is me with her and my new found good friend N.

Happy New Year! /Book/Movie Review

Happy new year everybody!!! Sorry for the delay but I was busy with work :)

(This post is last year's which I never published. Just something to salvage by but a profound book and movie nevertheless.)

The Freedom Writers is a movie based on the 1999 non fiction book The Freedom Diary Writers by teacher Erin Gruwell. The movie is about how a teacher can make a difference and in many ways personalized for me of what a real teacher should constitute; someone who teaches from the heart. It's a movie about how a set of different students with much of a bitter past and difficult upbringing are placed in one classroom with a very misplaced teacher.


Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning chronicles his journey through various Nazi concentration camps. The journey reading the 100 pages were memorable; each page for me was a celebration of being alive; even when you have lost everything; even when every ounce of what humanity is, was taken from you.


After more than 65 years of the testament of the brutality of mankind, Erin Gruwell asked her class, if anyone of them has heard about the holocaust. Many of these students had grown up in rough neighborhoods of Long Beach; a mix of African-American, Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Caucasian students. Only one white hand is up in the air. She asked again if anyone of them had been shot; All, except the one white hand is up in the air.


There in that one instant I came to understand why Frankl says that pain is relative to every man. I could have been callous and unashamedly thank God that I was not the one tortured in the many concentrations camps had I not seen All the hands raised who were shot at. They might not have heard or realized the tragedy of holocaust but their life has been their own holocaust. They have seen, felt and tasted pain.


To say, we just need real love to heal the world sounds feeble and unrealistic. But, if I am sure of anything is the fact that we do need real love to heal the world. Nothing else will work.

A Little Waltz

This is a sequel to Claytonia Vices' Before Sunrise. Thank you for empowering me :D

Maybe he has 1000 Questions he wants to ask. She just had to know one Question: Did he show up in Vienna that December?

He in a way immortalized her in his book and the book IS about her. She still falters to accept openly that the book is about her.

It’s been 9 years since they last met. Their lives way battered. Well, not like they were living in the streets or caught in a battlefield. But yeah, their lives have been through reality; a far cry from the magical space they created in the beautiful streets of Vienna.

Before Sunset is the most romantically realistic, witty, and personal movie I have seen. Life does not often roll out as we plan or we simply hurt at times. Celine and Jesse has gone through these moments and I 'd like to believe in my own world that both of them always came back to this moment in time that they had in Vienna. It's the past that is secured with all their wishful thinking, youth and imaginations.
It is funny but sometimes memories are so strong that you actually feel you have cheated time.
You want to seize that.

Celine: So, I want to try something.
Jesse: What?
Celine: [Hugs him] I want to see if you stay together or if you dissolve into molecules.
Jesse: How am I doing?
Celine: Still here
Jesse: Good. I like being here.

The movie could have gone really, really bad if they'd kissed in the boat or simply showed how their differences suddenly melts away since they are "together". They have enormous baggage of their own; both of them are fighting their own demons. They talk and talk, pronounces philospohical stands but really never solve or repair any damage. They can at most think that as they have matured, they are better "equipped", not to repair the damage, but to accept it.

Jesse loves his wife but feels that he is actually running a nursery. Celine is involved with a war photographer who she meets occasionally. I'd like to think again that Celine is happy with him, but she's never been able to connect with anyone as much as she did with Jessie at that moment in time. Each time a relationship failed or felt something was amiss, both of them always used their moment in time as the yardstick.

Maybe it is a mirage. It was a day of wonder in Vienna and they didn't have to deal with the fights and misunderstanding that comes along with every relationship. It was the perfect day.
Lucky for them; they just had one day.

I hope Jesse catches his flight and not stay back for the little party at Celine's courtyard....not eat the delicious Garbanzo Bean Pasta that the woman is going to prepare...not dance with Celine among the lantern lit courtyard...not laugh at the French people making fun of him in French...I hope he does catch his flight!

But you know what, the heart wants him to stay.
:)