Lenses and Mirrors

Plastic expressions, yielded by habit rather than motive,
Stretched for congruity.

Colored, wrapped market products with specifications,
Scouted, used and dumped before an expiry date.

Wonder, admonished as a childhood fantasy,
Over-stepped by the condescending authority of saturated,repetitive cerebral vibrations.

Digital thoughts bound within 2cm by 3 cms,
Striving to reach lofty dimensions.

Experiences limited to the confines of rigid structure and division,
With uninspiring,unsuccessful attempts to quantify delusions.

Solace found in the familiar,comfortable, electronic strains,
Mute,open-hearted smiles and unrestricted ramble.

The Creation of Harmony

There are certain lessons that stay for life.
My first guitar class more than a decade back happens to be one of them. I couldn't possibly see the beauty and subtlety then, but somehow looking back it's probably one of the best pieces that fit in.

Our Music teacher, Mr. Felix started off...

"Before you play any instrument, its essential that it's in tune.
There is a certain relative tightness of the strings that ends up creating and contributing to the harmony... to what you call music.

First, the primary elements of your guitar that goes into the tuning.
The head-stock which contains the tuners.
The 6 strings that connect the head-stock and the bridge over the sound-hole.
The sound-hole or the heart of the guitar that echoes and reverberates the vibrations of the strings and goes on to produce music.

It may seem a wee bit difficult for you guys to start with, but I swear you'll appreciate and enjoy the music a lot better once you've learnt how to tune them yourselves.
While experienced guitarists can get their instrument tuned without a reference frequency, it is always advisable and in fact necessary for beginners to have a reference note.

The 6th string which is the thickest string is generally used as a reference string as this string does not detune easily. Pluck the sixth string and figure out, how much the note reverberated from the sound-hole deviates from the universally referenced note you want to tune to. To begin with we'll use the commonly referenced E note.
You could use your vocal chords to match the plucked note and see if you have to raise or lower your pitch. Using the tuning screw in the head-stock, either tune it up or down.

Hold down the 5th fret of the 6th string play the open 5th string and tune the 5th string till the notes match. Tune the 4th, 3rd and 1st strings similiarly using the 5th fret of the preceding strings as a reference. For the 2nd string alone, hold down the 4th fret of the 3rd string and match it with the open note of the 2nd string.

It is important to remember that the sixth string forms the best reference for tuning and the other 5 strings may be tuned relative to this.

Also remember that before you tweak the tuning nuts at the head-stock, first listen closely to the notes swaying out from the sound-hole. It's the notes from the sound-hole that truly tell you if you are tuning right to produce the music you want to. Take all your time doing this till you get to master the art of tuning.

Ultimately, the first step in the creation of harmony and the music from your instrument reduces to how well the 6th string is tuned with the reference note and the 5 other strings are tuned relative to each other.

The very first step any good musician must take to produce great music..."

Ants Marching

The characters below are purely fictional. Any resemblance to those living or dead is...well...purely coincidental.

“Ayoo…. I am late! Where the hell are those car keys?!”
Puff…Pant…Phew…Under the couch. Grabs them and SLAM! Shuts the door behind her.
“@#%%^^$!! These little satans! Perennially goofing around in the lift… Ought to be whacked! The way they grin when they come out…eh…devils!”

200 steps, 5 floors down, 4 little devil encounters, limbs aching and drenched in sweat, she heads to the parking lot.

“Which jackass parked his bike in front of my car? When will India change? No one cares… Security! How many times have I told you to keep an eye on ...”
The poor chap nods fervently. Well… he understands nothing other than Hindi.
“Haan madam…Ho jayega…”

She speeds away through the gate in her sporty latest automobile. She’d been in love with the model ever since she saw her heartthrob advertise for it.
“That’ll be mine”, she’d announced.

Honk!!! Screech!
“Fish! These MTC bus drivers… Where do they think they are driving? Sepang grand prix??? He has the audacity to glare back too. $%@!#@… As if I’m at fault.”

“There goes the signal…red! Just not my day…just not my day…
252 sec…251…250…wonder why they have this digital countdown meters…230…229…infuriates me more…saves fuel yeah…221…220…219…but the old element of surprise and the sudden temporary immense relief to behold that wonderful colour…green! Such small pleasures in life snatched away…These so called technology driven people never understand…203…202…losers…199…198…Hello… Has it started? Oh… accident? He’s okay right? Thank God! Yeah…That should help me sneak in before I’m too late…Chal…see you…phew… 141…First time and so many things crop up… 120…119… damn the guy who invented numbers…. …. ….98…97…. …. Also the guy who came up with the idea of counting it down…. …. …. 51… the traffic policeman does nothing other than grow his paunch… 32…. Also damn the guy who thought of extending it to domestic transport too…22...21...rockets I can understand… But.. bikes, buses, cars and cycles? eh…15…losers…9..8..7..6..5…click….3…vroom!”

Swoosh…swerve…
“Now which street is that in? These streets look too similar…Pathetic lighting all over…where does all the money we pay as tax vanish? They spend lakhs in advertising half the Hindu’s page asking us to pay tax on time…With a little devil gleefully flashing its teeth. Insane…”

She pulls over. Rolls down her window. Takes out a slip.
“Hello mister…Where is this street?”

The fella shrugs… “This is the street madam. Last building down this lane.”
“Thanks. Why the hell does he have to shrug? Why would I ask him if I knew?! Loser”

Screech…
“This is the one. Shit! I am late…”

She removes her slippers and darts inside.
Heads turn. He smiles understandingly. She manages a sheepish smile in return.
Two hours later, she gets out and heads to her car.

Two hours of her first Art of Living session.

He’d spoken about so many wonderful things…
The spirit of the self…the beauty of fortitude…the divinity of children…the maya of the material world…Tolerance…

Contented and enriched with her day’s learnings, she gets into her car… plugs her I-Pod on…Click…vroom…She speeds off …
Dave Matthews croons in her pod…

“And all the little ants are marching…
Red and black antennas waving…
They all do it the same…
They all do it the same way…”

Twinkling distant stars... How close down do they reach out?

"Hogenakkal Water Dam project" - An instant buzz word in the media the last couple of weeks. The issue has managed to evoke a response from all quarters of the country.

The video posted below is a clip of Tamil film Superstar Rajnikant's speech during the fast that the tamil film fraternity observed to condemn the Karnataka government's denial to progress with the project.

The 'show-man & crowd puller' ('future election candidate') tends to eclipse in most parts of his speech the 'socially sensible and relevant' image that the actor could have portrayed.

Fragments of his talk:
"To make people listen and winning their respect by talking for a long time is difficult. Making them listen and respect by talking for a short time is even more difficult... I am pained by the recent developments. I wonder, Is there a government? Is there a supreme court? What do people want? Who will they listen to?
Truth...Justice... This will finally prevail! People are God! Ha...Wouldn't I know? (Thunderous applause follows. Any smart script writer would have penned the lines down to use them in his next movie)
I request all politicians. Don't work with the elections as your motive... Nip this off the bud... "

Frankly, one can never question the integrity or motives of Rajini. The effort by him and the film fraternity to bring out the importance of the issue is to be commended. But sadly, the way it has been put forward, considering the public and Karnataka government's reaction to his outburst is a pity. (Sample the nasty tussle between the Kannadigas and Tamilians in their comments on youtube where this clip's posted.Pathetic!)
Following Rajini's views, the Karnataka film industry was quick to retaliate by banning all Rajini movies and posters throughout the state. As usual effigies of the star were burnt (The public somehow always forget that Dussehra is a long time away!)

I wonder if this has helped in taking a step forward in the negotiations between the two states or has it actually made matters worse. In front of a mass gathering as the one above, the individual interests and ideals of the stars tend to over-shadow the issue concerned.
An endless ego trip pursues... (Apparently actor Satyaraj got all worked up at the enormous importance given to Rajini) How many of the people in that crowd of thousands would have actually taken in the depth of the situation? Star gazing was all that mattered to them.

A TV studio shoot or a representative from the industry meeting the governing people concerned would have served the purpose much better. Strong thoughts put forward without the individual's need to get the crowd's approval with a roar for every strong intonation that he makes. Heroism and unnecessary propaganda would not take centre-stage and the actual issue would reach out.
When will we stop appeasing ourselves?

The first piece...

ॐ सहना ववतु सहनौ भुनक्तु
सहवीर्यं करवावहै
तेजस्विनावती तमस्तुमा विध्विशावहै
ॐ शान्ति शान्ति शान्तिही...

As the echo of peace slowly comes to a halt, I try to come to terms with the sudden gush of light into my eyes after a 15 min entreaty with the divine. Amidst myriad new faces, the smell of fresh fabric & coconut oil, an atmosphere filled with red sand dust, the feel of rubble under my sole and a distant electronic cacophony, I attempt to gather my senses and not seem over awed.
Excited, curious and a trifle bit shaken, I get in line and march to the division bell that had just rung.

More than a decade after I first stood in the school assembly, why do these thoughts flood back into my memory?