A Night To Remember..... All Life Long!

Date - 5th November, 2008
Time - 8pm to 10:30pm
Venue - O2 Arena, London


Have you ever been one among 20,000 people singing 'Happy Birthday' all together? Especially when the Birthday 'Boy' is none other than Bryan Adams! No asking him how old he turned because he'll just sing 18 Till I Die!

He is singing Everything I do which was the first song of his I'd heard & loved way back in school....but it's no longer a fav...9/10 on Mush-o-meter! He goes on to Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman - I know you'll find it weird...but I love the guitar in the song...but I find the lyrics a little creepy :P So well....Please Forgive Me!

Ohh wow...now we're off to experience the Summer of 69 - An all time fav! If you have gone through several practice sessions & finally sung on stage with accompaniment ...even one song....I'm sure you've thought of how great it would be to form a band & perform many many more times :)! How awesome it would be to play your first real 6 string till your fingers bled! Each time I hear this song it has a new meaning....Time & Music ...such memory churners!

Then there was Back to You ...one of my Treadmill favourites!

Absolutely love this one! He starts the song like the way I want it...the way its gotto be....making his guitar sound as if he was smooching & saying...Hey Baby Talk To Me, C'mon Talk to Me Baby....ohh how the crowd loves it...& when he actually gets on his knees while doing what he should the crowd wildly responded - 'If Ya Wanna Be Bad Yeah Ya Gotto Be Good' ....& whoaa! he is Gooood! :D!

I tell you these guys are amazing! Bryan Adams steps aside & lets his best friend,lead guitarist Keith Scott display his skills in a 'showcase song'. Scott's fabulous....he drives the crowd wild with his guitar. Later Adams gets back to playing the guitar & harmonica & singing! The Best Of Me & I Ain't Losin the Fight..got my Heart on Fire. Just hoping he doesn't Stop The Thing We Started!

& if the atmosphere isn't already charged Let Make a Night To Remember just made it one that I'd r'ber all life long. What an incredibly sensuous song! He most definitely turned me Inside Out ..love this one & no I don't find this one creepy :)!
We're all up and dancing....The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You! We're rhythmically jumping & pointing our hands towards him & screaming back 'You' :D! The song goes on for longer with almost a jugalbandi sort of effect which ends up sounding like an echo of YOUs...some short YOUs, some long YUUUUUOs, some high YOUs, some low YOUs, some almost barking YOU & others yelling YOUs! YOOOHOOO!

phew!

The night's drawing to an end.. he asks us to turn our mobile on..I do....& so do thousands of others & wow ...Tonight We Have the Stars which lead us to Cloud No. 9! I feel like I'm floating.. isn't too hard to see we're in Heaven! I'm breathing in the darkness...in the twinkling light, between the chords & the pause, through the highs & the sighs, amongst so many people & yet all by myself...& each breath gives me a higher high.

11 concerts in 11 countries, 11 cities in 11 days to release the album 11....& One Unforgettable Night!

The Great Bath

We'd walked a few metres to the hand pump with a bucket, mug, towels & the two kids squealing & shouting in excitement - the excitmenet was no less than that at the Dassra procession in Mysore! The kids were really excited as they were going to be given a bath at the hand pump, under the blue skies....oh how they love it!

As I started pumping water a lizard jumped out from the spout & brought back memories of my childhood & years as a teenager.

Aai has always complained about how quickly I grew independent & wouldn't let anyone give me a bath once I was 4-5 years. I think she was scared of me. I'd run about the house with her trying to catch me & when I'd got a bit of a lead I'd simply dart into the bathroom & arm myself with a mugful of water (since I couldn't reach the high door bolt)....dare anyone try to enter the bathroom! After her warning me on several occassions & me flinging water....full force.....she finally gave up! Ya wild thing I was! :P

I'm no Cleopatra who is said to have bathed herself in milk everyday! Good Heavens! I'd rather use all that milk in basundi (=thickened milk sweet) than in my bath tub! Nor did the idea of a Roman Bath appeal to me. You see...it's not just a bath that I'd enjoy...it was the bathroom...the only place at home where by closing one door I opened another door; one that was a passage to a whole new world.

I was perhaps the most enegetic bathroom singer you've ever known...& undoubtedly the loudest! I was teasingly informed many times that the gentleman living 10 houses away had complained about the noise I made, or that donkeys had collected outside the house! I'd play antakshari with myself...sing all the 'cheap' songs. Aai would say - You can at least practice your classical singing lessons! She didn't get it did she? It was another world for me...despite what they said I felt I couldn't be heard on the other side of the door cause we were in two different worlds.

My world was a place where I could -

- sing & dance to the songs I'd never dared to perform in Aai's presence.... become Amitabh Bachchan with the bathroom mug full of water (since there was no beer!) singing ...Aree o jummaa, meri jaaneman, baahar nikal .... :P!.. to... becoming Madhuri performing ...'Mohini Mohini..Namashkar..kahiye kya sunenge aap?' (the song Ek Do Teen).
Things couldn't have been more surreal.


-shed the tears that I never allowed to escape in Aai's presence ..become the 11 year old who' was all confused and upset after her Dad's demise. The tap & I would gradually quieten as we filled buckets.
Could things have been more real?

In the bathroom I discovered my world....I dreamt....& I decided how to live.

I didn't mind some neighbours calling me Zeenie Baby as a teenager cause Chura Liya was a Bathroom chartbuster...with a badminton raquet I sneaked inside the bathroom & the tap as a mike :D! For mobility I'd just fix a pipe to the tap & move around holding the pipe as my mike, the upturned buckets my drums, the stick used to soak the clothes my drum stick :P If the lamps lit up because of Tansen's rendition in Deepak Raga, my roof shattering singing made Phnom Penh my Lizard & bathroom buddy fall straight off the ceiling in a frenzy! I was obviously enthused by that & subsequently sang even louder in operatic style hoping that one day it would dive straight into the the pot! 'Dhooom'...or ehh.... more realistically...'Splash' I suppose (Lizards are not the most graceful creatures you know) .... Phnom Penh, my first admirer, he'd stare hypnotized when I'd sing aloud. I'd name him so after a Country-Capital lesson in Class 5. How can I ever forget the look on his face when I sang? & can you beleive my Aai & my Sister would try to drive him away from the bathroom...Phnom Penh!!!....the ONE ardent admirer of mine!

If you're not bored let me continue...we had 2 buckets in the bathroom - one dark blue and one red. The dark blue one served the purpose of a night sky and the red was like the gaudy red seats of the Royal Albert Hall or some hall I'd seen a picture of music conductor Zubin Mehta performing. The hard water would leave salt deposits on the buckets - as the red bucket was used to store water it had concentric circles which served as rows. I would put the empty bucket on over my head and sing into it as if im singing solo to an audience at the RA Hall :D Same with the blue one - orbits in my Solar system - me being the Sun around which the planets and stars are about. The light bulb coming through the translucent plastic would create a perfect mahol :) I would stand on a wooden stool ( podium sorts) and deliver lectures into the bucket! Mind you the accoustics in the bucket and closed bathroom with high ceilings was fanastic! At the end of all this when I would FINALLY emerge out of the bathroom my Dad would give me a standing ovation and say - what a good show that was!!! :D And Aai would say - '..and the show must go on' & push my dear elder sister( who was tired of waiting for me to get out) in for a bath and tell her to hurry up! :D

Of course there would be special bathroom treats. Some days shining katoris & spoons called for a Jal Tarang recital in my favourite room. On others I'd take a perforated vessel/sieve & pour warm water through that on top of my head - a warm shower bath! On days I didn't mind pushing my luck I'd soap the bathroom floor & skate in the little place it offered!

Ya ya ...by now I'm sure all your sympathy goes out to my Mother and the soap-in-the-eye baths she tried giving me!

Kacchi Dabeli Anyone? ;)

:P !

The Light In Your Eyes

I was standing at the aisle which had tomatoes in this huge supermarket, wondering which tomatoes to buy! Yup! Cause there were vine tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, normal tomatoes, the organic variety, reduced price ones, tomatoes sold loose, in trays of 4/ 6 pieces or in bags of different weights & I'm not going into which country they were imported from! As usual I stood there for a few seconds wondering what to pick up...sour ones, sweet ones, ripe ones, dry or juicy ones....!

I felt the presence of a thin man, around 6 feet tall near me trying to pick some tomatoes. What made me look up to his face was that he was feeling the different crates and their contents rather than picking the tomatoes. I realised he was blind & my natural, spontaneous reaction was to guardedly observe him. His hands seemed to be restlessly looking for something & I looked around to see if anyone else in the same aisle was watching him. But no I was the only one. I wondered if he was looking for a plastic bag & observed that there wasn't a bag roll on the tomatoe side of the aisle. If he wanted a bag did he need anyone to get him one?

He suddenly spoke very loudly - Can I get a bag? I had in anticipation, unconciously moved to the bag roll stand already. Quickly gave him the 2 bags I snatched from the stand. He mumbled a careless sort of 'Thanks' & also surprised me with his agility when he felt one bag slip & ducked down to save it from falling to the ground! I unnecessarily suppressed a complex smile. A happy smile in admiration of his reflexes mixed with a guilty one that wondered why I had been so gifted with sight. There are times where I feel apologetic and guilty for what I have; I know it is not right to feel so...but well I do at times.

He then said - Where are the potatoes? This is the first time I'm at this Tesco (the super market)
I replied - They're on the other side of this aisle, 3rd crate ahead from where you are now.
He said - 'Cheers mate', and moved on.

My directions and his instincts led him and the first crate he touched was the one with Potatoes!

A happy smile escaped and spread across my face.

The fact is my mind was full of confused, uncomfortable questions when I realised he was blind. I didn't know whether at that moment he felt his cup was half full or half empty.....& I didn't know whether he wanted or needed any help or how he would react to my 'helping hand'.

I then realised that I was the one with all the complicated questions about life while he gave me the answers. He told me his cup was half full :) !

Ironically, I felt that I was the one who needed the help and guidance to handle my confused feelings :)

I got back to my Tomato problem while he had already finished filling his second bag with potatoes and had moved on :)

Pointless Distance

Perhaps this will remain a silent soliloquy...
Of words longing for their souls to be free,
But in your understanding does lie the key,
That what is, is not what you see.


The air's bereft of friendship's blooming fragrance,
Only lasting memories give past their credence,
Now all that lies is this pointless distance,
Some sinking shadows, some stalking silence.


In the dark hours the regretful Psyche,
Does wonder of what was and what might be...
The lamp so lit, lost was all she could see,
In time will you regressa a mi?

Lunatic Lows

...She does not wane, but my fortune,
Which her rays do not bless,
My wayward path declineth soon,
But she shines not the less.

And if she faintly glimmers here,
And paled is her light,
Yet always in her proper sphere
She's mistress of the night.

- Selected verses by Henry Thoreau

Perhaps some of you will think - 'Aah what a typical Cancerian - governed by the Moon'. Others will tick me off as a lunatic. But after the memorable Solar eclipse; last night, I was really looking forward to the Partial Lunar Eclipse ... and greatly disappointed that I couldn't even see the Moon!

If you have ever snail walked with me some night you'd remember that I have pointed out the mesmerising, magical, playful Moon who's presence may not have registered in your mind. She excites even the mighty ocean....mine is but a mortal heart!

I'd been noting the movements of the Moon so that I'd know where to look for her on the 16th.
Last night both of us were really tired after a long day doing this and that. After a hurried dinner I wanted to catch the eclipsed Moon climbing. But I couldn't see her from the staircase in the building...which she too has been climbing past few days. So we both walked out on the desolate streets to become aware that it was drizzling & was quite cloudy!

With me singing -
Chand pe daag hai yeh jaante hum lekin
Raat bhar dekhe bina usko raha nahi jaata
...khoobsurat hai woh itna saha nahi jaata...

But the Moon did not greet us. Shadowed by the Earth....hidden by the clouds.

Ohh! Trophy of the Night ..where were you?
Upon whom did your gaze linger?
Could you not offer so much as one fleeting glimpse?

Seeking the Celestial

Last Friday I'd gone to the Royal Observatory to catch the Partial Solar Eclipse. It was truly an out of the world experience!

Left home at around 8am....takes about an hour to the Royal Observatory from home. They opened early that morning to let the public observe the eclipse.

The Royal Observatory from Greenwich Park

The atmosphere was fully charged. With children chanting a countdown in the moments before the eclipse started & screaming out that they were the first to spot the beginning of the eclipse!

The coverage was partial (12% by area) over London. Nevertheless, I was quite excited...to see the Moon orbiting the Earth orbiting the Sun! It was beautiful to see the Moon just glide across the face of the Sun.

The photo was taken using a Coronado telescope. The Coronado telescope has a 'hydrogen-alpha' filter - it lets through the red colour light emitted by the hydrogen gas on the Sun. The Observatory staff was really helpful and enthusiastic. Did remember Professor Yashpal & his coverage of the eclipse on Doordarshan !

It was a little difficult to get the shot of the eclipse for several reasons - there were many people wanting to observe through the telescope hence we got little time to take photos. So it was important that my eyes got the exact angle to catch the eclipse through the telescope & my hands didn't shake with excitement (& ya I do suck at photography!) and importantly.... no lazy cloud drifted by at that exact moment!

I suppose you can tell how thrilled I was about it !

PS - For MSB - Geographer & my eternal guiding star

View from the observatory
The London Eye, Queen's house, wings of National Maritime Museum, the towers of Citigroup, HSBC and others