I visited the college locality, I couldn't have felt more out of place then. The road to my MIT, Kothrud has changed a lot. In the morning I went to attend the marriage of a friend of mine. The marriage hall was just next to my undergraduate collge. I do not know if that hall was there when I went to college. So I had to find it out myself. And I was visiting the area after a long time, dont know how long, may be 4/5 years, and I knew things would have changed, but I was taken by surprise, there is almost metamorphosis.

The road from Bedekar Ganpati to MIT has changed so much that I had to search for the landmarks. The road looked well maintained and clean to me, but there were less open spaces. I saw many tall buildings cropped up in that area. I absolutely dont remember what was there in first place of tall buildings, some bunglows? MIT is situated in a calm pocket of Kothrud. With the ARAI hills surrounding the area, it is surely well placed. But its more crowded now. I could not find the place "Delicious Cuisine". (I learned the word cuisine the time when I saw it back then). There used to be a new hostel next to college. I dont think I remember where it is now. A new tennis academy seems to be started on the tennis court on the way to college, its new for sure. Anna's tapri is still there, and so is Geetanjali mess (not sure if its still there).

Once I was done with attending the marriage, did not dare to visit the college campus. I guess, I am done with my quota of surprises for the day!

Yesterday I scored my first goal in the football game.. This must be some 10th game I was playing and was never able to impress my teammates, infact always got suggestions (read as scolding) as how should I play. I used to be ok in practice and bad in the game. But in last Friday's practice session I realized that I can make a difference, I actually had a dream that night of me scoring goals, in that sense this was dream come true. What was best was my team won 5-3. Ofcourse there are still more matches to be played and whole lot of room for improvement, but this moment is one to be cherished.

Saw the Jagjit Singh's concert in Pune Festival this time. This was a mesmerising experience. I almost decided on the fly to go to the concert. I was a bit late, and there was a hell lot of crowd waiting to go inside the auditorium. My friend who had the passes was already in, but I could not enter the place since the place was running over capacity and they were neither not letting anyone out nor letting anyone in. Somehow I sneaked inside the main gate, but was still outside the hall. Huge crowd and the place was chaotic.. Police were trying their best to control. I decided to go back, blaming myself for being late. Then saw a big screen infront of main gate and the show already started. There were a hundred people sitting infront of the screen.. and that place too was also overfull. So I thought lets stand here, see a couple of gazals and then go. The first gazal I heard was - Main Nasheme hoon. First time I heard this gazal, and now am a big fan of it. There troop contained a tabalji, a violin player, a guitarist (having black electric guitar probably Ibanez type, could not see the brand though), a synth player, a dholki player and the GREAT Jagjit Singh.

Then for the next 3 hours or so I was infront of the screen. I was alone, no friend with me, but never realised so as the whole place was taken to a different level thanks to the music.
The form of the gazals was very simple.. introduction and solos were by guitar/violin/occcasional synth, and the gazals. The guitar was mainly for lead pieces. And there was some great jugalbandi between tabla and violin. The guitarist and violin player were exceptional. They came up with amazing solos, it was impromptu so almost never heard those pieces in the original tracks, but it sounded very good.
Since I got to see it on big screen, I could notice the little things going on. How Jigjit would intimate the musicians to be prepared for the interludes and solos, its like he would invite them to perform and then let them do their own thing, and then take the control again. It was wonderfully orchestrated.
Infact the whole group was so talented, that the gazal show delivered more value than gazals. And then it was Jagjit Singh, you cannot ask for more.

The gazals that were played were: Mai nasheme hoon, Tu habeeb hai hajib hai, Kal chaudhahvi ki raat thi, Tera chehra, Kiska Chehra, Hoshwalon ko, Kagaz ki kashti, Yad nahin kya kya, Baat niklegi to, Tere bare jab shocha nahi tha, Tumko Dekha to, Hotonse choolo tum. I don't remember all of them, and I heard some I dont know. But what was played was good.

Today was differnt. Nothing seemed to be working, right from XML parser. Went to cricket practice in the evening and had had to return from there early, because had that important meeting with my manager. On my way back I was thinking that I don't have license, and now if I get caught will really have to run to office. Think about dreams coming true.. While I was thinking so and waiting for the signal to turn green, a police came and asked for my license. I did not have it, parked my bike at the police station, and literally ran to the office. Before leaving, the police reminded me to bring 100 bucks as the penalty.

I came back, made to that 7 o'clock meeting, found out that it got rescheduled. Went back to the police. When I reached there, one old fellow was arguing with the cop saying how he knows high post officers and trying to get rid of the fine. In this discussion I showed police my license and gave 100 bucks as the fine. This officer told that old man as how honest I was. He let that other fellow go. Then turned to me. He said that very few people actually give fine without hesitation, and he was impressed. He asked me what to do. I said, sir, this never happens with me, alll due to cricket practice I forgot my wallet. He said, ok I will let you go. I thanked him and came back. This was very nice of him. He could have easily got fine from me, I was willing to pay also, but in the end that was a nice gesture from him. I felt good.

Just like the smells, I think songs are also remniscient of things, places and people, memories in general. I was travelling from my home today and an old freind of mine was accompanying me. I showed him my mp3 player and offered to listen to some music. He promptly showed off his cool mobile phone and told me he also some music there. I was scrolling this collection, and found this song - "khamosh raat" from the movie Thakshak. I must have listened to that song for more than hour continuously today. It reminded me my trip to NC, when I was visiting my friend over there. He had this Thakshak CD in his car, and all the time in the road trip, that CD was played, that song in particular. Today when I listened to that song after a long time, all that time came back to me, like a flashback in a movie thanks to the song.

When I came to work, I asked my friends if they had this song in their collection, noone had. Another friend of mine in a different company worked hard to give it to me. And I am listening it.. Its a great song, I would like to have it in my repertoire :)

Walk the line is a good movie. I kind of wanted to see it when I knew that its based on the life of musician John R. Cash, although I am not a fan of him. Infact I don't have any of his songs in my music collection. This sentence does not hold true anymore..

The scene I particularly liked, is his recording audition.. its a make or break situation for JRC, and the recording manager instigates him to get the best out of him. "Is this the best you got Mr. Cash? Will you sing the same song if it was the last song you wanted to sing?". JRC creates history after that. They have shot his life very well, his poverty, stardom, drug habits, his tragedy and his love. Its a period in which Elvis, Bob Dylan were young and famous. The whole period is shot very neatly. Most of the songs in the movie are sung by the lead pair Phoenix and Witherspoon. Its kind of cool to see them singing "It ain't me babe" (originally Dylan's). Always thought it was a sad solo song, but they made a sweet duet out of it. I think its a must see for all the music lovers..

I found interesting piece of audio on Bill Waterson, the creator of one of the most influential comics Calvin and Hobbes. This audio consits of a small interview of his mother.
http://jawboneradio.blogspot.com/2005/11/jawbone-81-in-search-of-bill-watterson.html
Bill Waterson is very much elusive, runs away from media and publicity. Very less is known about him although he is so famous through his work. Bill stays in Chagrin Falls, Oh. That makes me appreciate CnH much more, because the setup described in these strips is familiar.. especially the winter atmosphere.. typical NE Ohio types.

Some wacky english-hindi translations heard on Radio Mirchi:
Don't mess with me. - Meresath gandagee mat karo.
She is fine. - Wo baareek hai.