Monday, February 20, 2012

A new home

After eight years on blogger, I'am moving to a new home for Thought Warp - http://wp.me/2ebTI.
Whoever you are- the ones I know and the ones I don't, Au Revoir! 

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Its like a photograph

Songs are like photographs. Let me explain.

Photographs capture moments and hold it for a lifetime.
You look at them and it refreshes moments long gone by.
Although photographs tend to fade with time, both the memory and the photograph itself.

Here's the connect.

Songs you once listened to and cherished, captured the time and space in its entirety.
They speak of a lifetime and are in tune with the mood and spirit of the times gone by.
You listen to those songs and you relive those times.

I recently got down to making my songslist from various phases in life.
Each song unleashes memories. And listening to an entire playlist gives me the feeling of having flipped through an entire album- it gushes forth incidents, conversations, people, places, warmth, joy, happiness, friction, loneliness, betrayal, deep camaraderie, genuine relationships, struggle, rebellion, growth, adventure, dreams, summertime... so on and so forth.

A photograph imprints an instant, a song captures an era.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The grass is greener. Not.

Everybody has their own struggle which is so intrinsic to her/ his own world.
To think the grass is greener on the other side is a foolish thought.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

1Q84- after thoughts and reading update

I just finished the 900- odd Haruki Murakami book- 1Q84.
Last week, I read the play Pygmalion by G. B. Shaw for the book club and have just placed an order for another Japanese- authored book 'Remains of the Day' by Kazuo Ishiguro.

After the long, nearly three- week 1Q84 read I can say this- only Murakami could have made this book a hit, even before it was read. The book was originally released as Book I, II & III. May be, if I read it with those intermittent breaks, I'd feel differently. Though even with the three as a bundle I couldn't put the book down.  Gripping indeed, speaks of the author's impeccable command over fiction- writing. I even lugged it along on a Pune- Chennai- Trichy trail.

The story, set in Tokya is mystery, suspence, sci-fi and a love story rolled into one. The central characters of Tengo, Aomame, Fuka- Eri are unconnected individuals within a seemingly disconnected but connected setting. More than half the way through the book, the connectedness starts to show, although it is still not completely predictable- once it has been established by the Leader on the night of his death by Aomame, their conversation draws the reader into the workings of the parallel world of 1Q84. From this point on, the read becomes murky and opaquish. Also the poetic style of Murakami starts to fade.

A great inception, that sets your imagination balloon- up to conjure the Murakami story, floats along higher and higher until it doesn't have enough fuel and so it commences its descent. Nevertheless, the book is a good read. A good tip is to judge a book by its read. Neither by its cover, nor its author.

As an aside, its quite soothing, a hot cup of cocoa in hand while you distill and process a good book when the night has set and all the sounds have receded into 'silent' mode.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Wavelengths matter

I have loved radio programs from the time I started listening to them and that happened circumstantially. During summer vacations while on the road, Dad would not miss his news updates and so he would turn off whatever music we were listening to and tune into 'News at Nine' on All India Radio (AIR). Trailing past the silhouttes of trees drenched in night light along the road, at times the moon playing spotlight on the farm fields and at other times the stars shining vividly and pointedly on moonless nights. I would gaze out of the window, intently immersing the imagery running past me cocooned in a car with my family.

In college and away from the comfort of home I didn't have much of a choice while living in a hostel/ dorm (nunnery in other words) that had (on purpose) no plugpoints- read 'no music players',  than tune into a radio show. Again, AIR came to my rescue with its two- hour rock show every night. I'd eagerly wait each night. I'd tune in at 10 pm. Only now there wasn't any external imagery running past me nor was I cocooned with my family in a car, I only had with me a gazillion thoughts buzzing in my head. It was merriment when FM got a big leeway, regulations eased and Bangalore and us music- starving/ craving souls got a 24- hour English rock music channel. 

When I went back to graduate school on another continent, who would think radio would come to my rescue! Only this time, it was internet radio. Pandora saved me!

Oflate, I am enthused by community radio and its immense potential. And delightfully, there is a buzz of activity happening in this space to make way for effective and efficient community radios in India. Thanks to a ton of pursuasion from civil sector organisations to open- up airwaves to communities which are infact public property, vetted so by a Supreme Court ruling in 1995. 

And now I find myself in pursuit of Community Radio. I know my hopes won't be lost, you've never let me down!  Long live the radio!