Anyways. Here goes...Enjoy, given a certain risk to your ear buds ;-)
| bekaraar3.mp3 |
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Bekaraar
You won't believe the wonders a drink in your hand can do to you at times. Especially on the coveted Friday evenings. Yet to correlate it exactly though. It was yet another evening, yet another drink, Sam played on the keyboard, a few random notes and then this song came alive. I penned the lyrics, composed the tune, did a few dry runs, Sam did the mixing and here it is. So with all due credit to him, it should be our first original song ever. Please pardon the poor quality of recording. If it makes sense maybe, shall take it to a proper recording studio someday.
Anyways. Here goes...Enjoy, given a certain risk to your ear buds ;-)
Anyways. Here goes...Enjoy, given a certain risk to your ear buds ;-)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
A Story
In 1986, when I used to reside with my parents in Kolkata (then Calcutta), we had a little kitten stumble upon our front door, weak, hungry, skinny with hardly a Meow escaping the poor creature. The first few drops of milk that we fed Kitty were consumed with everlasting gratefulness. The Meows became louder and more distinct as the cat grew in strength and even became a regular member of the family, much to my mother's annoyance and thrilling me and my sister to the hilt.
After a few years we grew ever so used to the cat hungrily calling out for its morning breakfast. We would dutifully leave its share of milk if we ever had to go out. We would battle any other cat that happened to invade the property, protecting Kitty as though she was one of our own.
Then one day Kitty disappeared. She simply left without a Meow or a trace. We tried looking for her but to no avail. Sure, we were kind of hurt, sad and her absence was inexplicable. Many months passed by and slowly it seemed like Kitty was forever gone, even that she had never existed.
Then one day Kitty appeared out of nowhere. She stood by the kitchen door eager to lap up her favorite Mother Dairy milk again. The whole family was upon her in a flash. A thousand questions seemed to explode all at once: "Where the hell did you go? How dare you leave without a noise? What if some dog had killed you? What did you do all this while?"
But believe it or not, not a single noise was raised at that point. The cat promptly took to her mat, the milk was served in a very relieved fashion, Kitty hungrily lapped it all up. And then over the next hour she brought her three extremely cute kittens into the house.
They were welcomed with relieved hearts, even a moist eye or two, big smiles. It was good.
Dear Anonymous: It was heartening to see at least one person miss my writing. I believe I am back and I do apologize for my silence, if it really matters anymore. Life was kind to me, spraying me with a high degree of attention and I was trying to be attentive for a change. But I will swear that I have not been producing kittens during my absence from you all. I turned a year older in April. No feelings there, but the beautiful cake I was crowned with on the 10th of April was more delicious than I could ever make it sound here. I finished an acrylic on canvas. Wrote and composed the music for my own song. And oh yes, I did go to work very religiously. Everyday. Ahem.
I hope and pray all my readers or ex-readers have prospered much better than me in the meantime. Cheers!
After a few years we grew ever so used to the cat hungrily calling out for its morning breakfast. We would dutifully leave its share of milk if we ever had to go out. We would battle any other cat that happened to invade the property, protecting Kitty as though she was one of our own.
Then one day Kitty disappeared. She simply left without a Meow or a trace. We tried looking for her but to no avail. Sure, we were kind of hurt, sad and her absence was inexplicable. Many months passed by and slowly it seemed like Kitty was forever gone, even that she had never existed.
Then one day Kitty appeared out of nowhere. She stood by the kitchen door eager to lap up her favorite Mother Dairy milk again. The whole family was upon her in a flash. A thousand questions seemed to explode all at once: "Where the hell did you go? How dare you leave without a noise? What if some dog had killed you? What did you do all this while?"
But believe it or not, not a single noise was raised at that point. The cat promptly took to her mat, the milk was served in a very relieved fashion, Kitty hungrily lapped it all up. And then over the next hour she brought her three extremely cute kittens into the house.
They were welcomed with relieved hearts, even a moist eye or two, big smiles. It was good.
Dear Anonymous: It was heartening to see at least one person miss my writing. I believe I am back and I do apologize for my silence, if it really matters anymore. Life was kind to me, spraying me with a high degree of attention and I was trying to be attentive for a change. But I will swear that I have not been producing kittens during my absence from you all. I turned a year older in April. No feelings there, but the beautiful cake I was crowned with on the 10th of April was more delicious than I could ever make it sound here. I finished an acrylic on canvas. Wrote and composed the music for my own song. And oh yes, I did go to work very religiously. Everyday. Ahem.
I hope and pray all my readers or ex-readers have prospered much better than me in the meantime. Cheers!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
VisionsIndia
About 1.5 years back, I along with a friend formed VisionsIndia. This is an umbrella platform trying to unite scattered micro-steps in social development, working for a better India. The idea is that professional expertise and especially free cycles coupled with an intent to contribute towards social development can help India progress towards a better future. We paired up with a couple of other small organizations in North America including Sai's group based out of Michigan and another small group of individuals operating in Windsor, Canada.
Many small and scattered groups working independently are unaware of what other similar groups are doing often resulting in duplicated and overlapping effort. This is not detected until too late and the effort often goes unnoticed because one other such group has already implemented the idea first. VisionsIndia attempts to bring all such steps under one umbrella.
The above is only a very basic step. VisionsIndia's primary purpose is to serve as a network of professionals working towards social development and a common goal - a better India, a better future. We connect with NGOs working at the grass-root level and with professional experience and expertise, try to resolve some of the stumbling blocks at the grass-roots. Thus on one hand we tie up with professionals who have skills in specific areas (and that actually covers almost everything under the sun) and NGOs on the other.
Of course, social enterprises and social development look great in theory. In practice it is a different ballgame. We are aware that this is a mere beginning and really, we do it because we have cycles to spare and want to see India step towards a better future.
The areas of focus is almost anything connected to a developing country, as it steps into the future. Some of the issues of today include Micro-finance, Waste Management, alternate energy resources, construction, application of technology to improve conditions in the rural areas, water management, employment, politics, education etc. And before you roll your eyes, let me tell you this is really not cliched at all. The number of initiatives in the above areas will stagger you once you start looking at things. You can read more about the above at VisionsIndia.
For example, projects like these are feasible: 1. We develop a google maps mashup of a city say Bangalore with a very easy interface using which a person who has faced some corruption issue en route to work can simply click on the website and add details of the incident. People might be too tied up to visit the local police station (or the local station may not have the right reputation to encourage people to barge in and complain) or might simply want to remain anonymous because of their immense faith in the system. In such cases, a red flag will appear on the map for that city; if you click on the flag the details of the incident will appear in a slick popup. Many such red flags on a city map would mean an alarming rate of incidents in the region. The data can then be taken up by a firm fighting corruption at the local courts. There are lawyers who do that. Unfortunately they don't get the data to substantiate their cases and support from the victims in general. With such an application, the victims need only come forward when the case is actually being fought in the court.
Other than this there are a number of project ideas taking shape. Will update as we progress...
If you are a student or a professional and into social enterprises, social entrepreneurship and think about a better India, don't hesitate to get in touch with visionsIndia. We are currently building a diverse and experienced network of professionals, we usually collaborate over the Net, conference periodically and in general it is good fun...
Cheers.
Many small and scattered groups working independently are unaware of what other similar groups are doing often resulting in duplicated and overlapping effort. This is not detected until too late and the effort often goes unnoticed because one other such group has already implemented the idea first. VisionsIndia attempts to bring all such steps under one umbrella.
The above is only a very basic step. VisionsIndia's primary purpose is to serve as a network of professionals working towards social development and a common goal - a better India, a better future. We connect with NGOs working at the grass-root level and with professional experience and expertise, try to resolve some of the stumbling blocks at the grass-roots. Thus on one hand we tie up with professionals who have skills in specific areas (and that actually covers almost everything under the sun) and NGOs on the other.
Of course, social enterprises and social development look great in theory. In practice it is a different ballgame. We are aware that this is a mere beginning and really, we do it because we have cycles to spare and want to see India step towards a better future.
The areas of focus is almost anything connected to a developing country, as it steps into the future. Some of the issues of today include Micro-finance, Waste Management, alternate energy resources, construction, application of technology to improve conditions in the rural areas, water management, employment, politics, education etc. And before you roll your eyes, let me tell you this is really not cliched at all. The number of initiatives in the above areas will stagger you once you start looking at things. You can read more about the above at VisionsIndia.
For example, projects like these are feasible: 1. We develop a google maps mashup of a city say Bangalore with a very easy interface using which a person who has faced some corruption issue en route to work can simply click on the website and add details of the incident. People might be too tied up to visit the local police station (or the local station may not have the right reputation to encourage people to barge in and complain) or might simply want to remain anonymous because of their immense faith in the system. In such cases, a red flag will appear on the map for that city; if you click on the flag the details of the incident will appear in a slick popup. Many such red flags on a city map would mean an alarming rate of incidents in the region. The data can then be taken up by a firm fighting corruption at the local courts. There are lawyers who do that. Unfortunately they don't get the data to substantiate their cases and support from the victims in general. With such an application, the victims need only come forward when the case is actually being fought in the court.
Other than this there are a number of project ideas taking shape. Will update as we progress...
If you are a student or a professional and into social enterprises, social entrepreneurship and think about a better India, don't hesitate to get in touch with visionsIndia. We are currently building a diverse and experienced network of professionals, we usually collaborate over the Net, conference periodically and in general it is good fun...
Cheers.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Koi Sapna
I recoorded an old favorite, which was from one of my favorite singers - Ali Haider. I believe he still is the most talented pop singer out there. Credit for the keyboard programming and mixing is due to Sam. Enjoy!
| koi sapna2.mp3 |
Realization
"It is all about the chase. Men love that...", is a phrase/sentence I have heard only too often. No doubt, you have too. Veering away from the usually fixed frame of reference, my pointer was to the phrase applied in a wholly different context.
That of living life. Now, more than ever I have realized that it indeed is the journey that is important. The chase. The living. Of chasing life I would wager. The spirit. The thought. The process. The high sense. The higher Self. The lower Self. Sensing them. The ever-changing colors in the kaleidoscope of life are bright, beautiful, loud and I view them clear. I have managed to drag a good part of me from the morrow to the today.
...and in your true (not saying darkest) moment you are actually alone. You alone are your best judge, your best friend, your best guide. Not said with even a hint of negativity but instead there is a positive to be drawn out of this. Every person has some thoughts, feelings in his/her deep dungeons that simply cannot be fathomed by anyone else, nor explained to anyone outside of his/her own inner frame of reference. By no means is this an intentional act mind you. But it is you. The closest an external entity can come to these silent thoughts is via some inexplicable mechanism, a kind of 7th sense, simply absorbing the silence, the unsaid and the unknown in an unsaid fashion, in an unknown, silent manner.
A realization.
A person to thank too.
That of living life. Now, more than ever I have realized that it indeed is the journey that is important. The chase. The living. Of chasing life I would wager. The spirit. The thought. The process. The high sense. The higher Self. The lower Self. Sensing them. The ever-changing colors in the kaleidoscope of life are bright, beautiful, loud and I view them clear. I have managed to drag a good part of me from the morrow to the today.
...and in your true (not saying darkest) moment you are actually alone. You alone are your best judge, your best friend, your best guide. Not said with even a hint of negativity but instead there is a positive to be drawn out of this. Every person has some thoughts, feelings in his/her deep dungeons that simply cannot be fathomed by anyone else, nor explained to anyone outside of his/her own inner frame of reference. By no means is this an intentional act mind you. But it is you. The closest an external entity can come to these silent thoughts is via some inexplicable mechanism, a kind of 7th sense, simply absorbing the silence, the unsaid and the unknown in an unsaid fashion, in an unknown, silent manner.
A realization.
A person to thank too.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
jhankarBeats
No, not talking about the movie.
It has been 1.5 years since jhankarBeats was born. I founded it to primarily fill in the void in India whereby emerging artists could showcase their talents to a global audience. It has been an open, free platform so far in which we have taken measures to protect the copyright issues on behalf of the artists. The reason partly was the frustration I felt at many of the contests on television in which a singer was expected to dance on stage. That was ridiculous. I felt it was unnecessarily filtering out a lot of good talent who without these dancing gimmicks could have made it to the top. With the broadband penetration in India, online platforms are certainly more accessible now. So why not allow the neighborhood talent to surface and help expose them to a global audience, NRIs et al. Therefore jhankarBeats.
A number of interesting musical compositions have emerged. Going by the feedback received, the group Pralay stands out. Their song Sawariya has been a chart topper. Meera Manohar, an independent artist based in the Bay Area has received a lot of applause. It feels great to hear such feedback and many a time, have felt it is a privilege that these artists chose to associate with jhankarBeats. A number of terrific talents have helped shape JB : The song Nadiya by Aurko, the Bengali number Nagar Ratri were remarkable to say the least. The going has been a bit slow but jhankarBeats will be trying its best to bring these talents to the world at large.
If you guys can lend your support, would be super. Simply asking for moral support - if you can help spread the word, pass on the information to any artist friends you might have or even try and upload a song you have sung. You can join the orkut community for jhankarBeats too.
We feel jhankarBeats is growing. It survived pretty much on its own once some good artists uploaded their songs. Unlike other ventures which tend to focus on a single genre like rock/metal, JB additionally targets and caters to some serious listeners and almost all forms of Indian or South Asian music. I believe that has set us apart from the others in this segment.
Have no idea where things might ultimately end up. But am convinced that somehow JB has braved the initial rough waters. Today. It would be great to have your inputs on jhankarBeats.
jhankarBeats is looking for smart marketing people and web developers to join the team. Let us know if you are interested in a fast-paced, challenging Web 3.0 startup!
Happy humming and listening...
It has been 1.5 years since jhankarBeats was born. I founded it to primarily fill in the void in India whereby emerging artists could showcase their talents to a global audience. It has been an open, free platform so far in which we have taken measures to protect the copyright issues on behalf of the artists. The reason partly was the frustration I felt at many of the contests on television in which a singer was expected to dance on stage. That was ridiculous. I felt it was unnecessarily filtering out a lot of good talent who without these dancing gimmicks could have made it to the top. With the broadband penetration in India, online platforms are certainly more accessible now. So why not allow the neighborhood talent to surface and help expose them to a global audience, NRIs et al. Therefore jhankarBeats.
A number of interesting musical compositions have emerged. Going by the feedback received, the group Pralay stands out. Their song Sawariya has been a chart topper. Meera Manohar, an independent artist based in the Bay Area has received a lot of applause. It feels great to hear such feedback and many a time, have felt it is a privilege that these artists chose to associate with jhankarBeats. A number of terrific talents have helped shape JB : The song Nadiya by Aurko, the Bengali number Nagar Ratri were remarkable to say the least. The going has been a bit slow but jhankarBeats will be trying its best to bring these talents to the world at large.
If you guys can lend your support, would be super. Simply asking for moral support - if you can help spread the word, pass on the information to any artist friends you might have or even try and upload a song you have sung. You can join the orkut community for jhankarBeats too.
We feel jhankarBeats is growing. It survived pretty much on its own once some good artists uploaded their songs. Unlike other ventures which tend to focus on a single genre like rock/metal, JB additionally targets and caters to some serious listeners and almost all forms of Indian or South Asian music. I believe that has set us apart from the others in this segment.
Have no idea where things might ultimately end up. But am convinced that somehow JB has braved the initial rough waters. Today. It would be great to have your inputs on jhankarBeats.
jhankarBeats is looking for smart marketing people and web developers to join the team. Let us know if you are interested in a fast-paced, challenging Web 3.0 startup!
Happy humming and listening...
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
A Brush with Inspiration
The brushes, the acrylics and the canvas finally beckoned. Long time.
Open to all interpretation(s).
The Buddha's image was inspired partly by my visit to Bodh Gaya and the visit to Kalighat. This is the preliminary notebook sketch. The final outcome on canvas is unknown to me right now...(Kali - Buddha - Woman - Man - Goddess - God - Intensity - Enlightenment - The Fire - The Calm - Life-like - Death-like - Bodh Gaya - Kalighat: all merge at some point).
The musician's image was partly inspired by Pandit Jasraj at his concert in Kolkata.
Intezaar.
Open to all interpretation(s).
The Buddha's image was inspired partly by my visit to Bodh Gaya and the visit to Kalighat. This is the preliminary notebook sketch. The final outcome on canvas is unknown to me right now...(Kali - Buddha - Woman - Man - Goddess - God - Intensity - Enlightenment - The Fire - The Calm - Life-like - Death-like - Bodh Gaya - Kalighat: all merge at some point).
The musician's image was partly inspired by Pandit Jasraj at his concert in Kolkata.
Intezaar.
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