Melody Divine...

i went to the Dover Lane music conference yesterday. and i have to say it was one of the most the most amazing concertz i ever saw. itz a pity lotz of todayz 'musicianz' don't like indian classical music. i think i'm really lucky coz i've learnt a lot about music over time...i mean different kindz of music. i used to learn classical vocal when i waz small(i mean not really small) and then i didn't like it a lot but now i'm happy i did coz itz helping me a lot with sitar. and after that i learnt keyboardz(synthesizer i mean) and then piano and i learnt the difference between the two. and i know how to read music. i quite like the idea of fusion and i think i'm in a state to try it coz i actually know how different the two formz of music are AND how to merge them together. now i learn tabla too so i have a pretty good idea about rythm az well. i think itz important for every musician to have an idea bout rythm. the thing iz, after learning all that music, i'm able to UNDERSTAND music when itz played. i mean really understand it.

well anyway, i hadn't been to a concert of this sort for pretty long and i didn't knwo what it would really be like. i'd never been to a full sitar or sarod recital so i was particularly eager to watch this.

the concert waz suppose to go on all night and the first performance waz a vocal recital, and the sitar waz right after that so my plan waz that i would sleep through the vocal so that i could stay awake properly for the sitar.
but it waz impossible. i never i'd like vocal that much. it waz enthralling. i mean once you start listening to it, it just putz you into a trance. i couldnt make out the first raag - i could just make out a komol ni. she sang perfectly, flawlessly, effortlessly..it looked so natural coming from her. it waz evident that there waz a LOT of improvisation. but all of it waz done so perfectly. and it really looked like she waz having a great time up there. tabla waz cool. he too played seemingly effortlessly. both the vocalist and the tabla player seemed to be so cool about everything, az if singing and playing like that waz the easiest thing on earth. they would nod their headz in pleasure and smile when she sang a particularly intricate taan and he played a brialliant tabla solo. this whole on-stage musician partnership thing made it really cool to watch. maan, it waz seriously brilliant. another thing i learnt iz that when you're having a music recital for a long time(vocal or instrumental), taals change quite a lot, even in the same raag. i try to figure out taalz for myself and i waz really worried when i couldn't recognize them for sure. at first i think itz teentaal but then i count and see that it doezn't fit however i try and i'm forced to conclude itz ektaal but then later, he startz playing a clear-cut teentaal and i go like 'oh my gosh, how could i not regocnize it earlier!!?'. then i realized taalz change and i'm not that stupid. :P

the vocal recital ended with something(it sounded like a tarana) in raag kalyan(i haven't learnt it yet but itz supposed to be close to Iman - they have the same source). divine melody. really.

after that came what i'd been waiting for - the sitar recital. Ustad Shahid Pervez and his son. a duet waz bound to be interesting. this started at around 1:00 am. now i learnt another thing. i learnt the significe of different raagas and their timing. i think this is a unique concept. every raag haz a specific time when itz played. for example, bhairav and bhairavi are early morning raagaz and (i'm not too sure) kaafi and Iman are night raagaz. now i understood why they're night raagaz. it FELT like night. and we could actually hear an owl hooting. :P
most of these night raags have a komol ni. (if i try to explain any more at this point i will get utterly confuzed and i will confuze everyone az well).
i can't say anything except that it waz brilliant. from what i've been learning, a sitar recital haz three main partz - the aalap, where the raag is introduced, the actual piece, taanz, and jhaala. this recital went on for about two hourz and there's no way i'll be able to describe it. the aalap waz beautiful. but the thing waz that there waz no clear-cut aalap or taan. everything waz like mixed up. and thatz how professional sitar playerz play. sitar haz so much of detailed handwork.
And the duet waz really good. Shahid Pervez's son lookz like one of those typical rock band guitarists - long hair and all that. really. but he playz sitar brialliantly. the table accompaniment waz also really good. the raag they played waz Chandrakosh. i can't wait to learn it.

next waz Ustad Rashid Khan on vocalz. i slept coz i waz feeling really sleepy. but my god...what a VOICE the man haz...

and the final recital of the night - Amjad Ali Khan on sarod. He played two raagz i heard of for the first time - Shubhanjali and Sahana. and then at around 5:00 am he started with bhairavi to mark the break of dawn. it waz beautiful. bhairavi with birdz chirping in the background. he broke a string in the middle and fixed a new one in a jiffy while the tabla player Shubhankar Bannerjee played solo. itz hard to imagine how someone'z handz can move that fast. and he doez that smiling away at the audience like itz a piece of cake! the end had a bit of baul too.

so i came home completely exhausted. whoa. i think i've had enough Dover lane. i waz half freezing to death dammit!! but it waz worth it. :)
i don't think i'll go next year though. itz scary.

Cold....

i quite like this weather. i quite like the cold. makes me feel very ALIVE somehow. even when the windz biting you and you're half freezing. even when your nose is so cold it could fall off. even when you're handz are so white and cold you cant feel a thing.
winter is beautiful. everything is so serene.
i love it when its dark outside. and cold. i like deserted places. i like long empty paths with lots of trees.
well, i've started talking about random thingz again. not that it matterz to me. :P
i never have anything fixed in mind when i come to blog. there are times i plan out my posts meticulously but then when i login i don't feel like writing the stuff i thought i would and i just end up typing random thingz. acutally i forget what i waz actually going to write. :P[sorry i had to interrupt the continuity but Smashing Pumpkins is an amazing band AND they have a girl bassist. mwhahahahaha. girl power!!]

i think i've grown up a lot. i mean, now i kinda realize i'm more mature than a lot of other people and thatz a nice thought. and over the past year i've learnt a bit about how to survive. i've learnt that in the end you'll have to do it all alone....i've learnt how bloody rare actual friendz are. i've learnt that people get nowhere without self-respect. there are people who don't know when to get out of thingz. i hate people who hang around where they bloody well know they're not needed. mean thing to say i know. well, a lot of times itz like it would be better off without a certain person, not because you don't like them but because they'll feel completely out of place there. but more often, people just hang around even of they have nothing to do or say.

well i had a lot more utter crap to write but my dadz shooing me off the computer so i gotta go.
ciao!

Cribbing....

I wonder how I'm going to survive in society. People...my greatest fear...people.....
No. I didn't mean PEOPLE.
I bore people so much I wonder why they ever even talk to me. I wonder why I have friendz actually. I wonder why people don't hate me. People should be avoiding me, the way I behave. I can never make friendz. Why the hell do I have to be so shy and awkward around everyone all the time? ALL THE TIME irrespective of whether I know the people or not. I can write well but why cant I talk? I write so much of utter crap all the time but why cant I talk crap when I'm needed to? I think so much but how is it that I never have anything to say?
I hate the way I avoid people without any reason whatsoever.
I like being alone a lot. Rather more than normal and thatz just plain wierd. Itz almost every day. I've gotten so used to solitude I actually like it but when I really HAVE to go around with people I just get so fed up after a while. Every time, every single time, I'm the only one who'z completely quiet. I'm the only one who never has anything to say. All I do iz just listen to other people saying thingz and laugh at their jokes and smile occassionally, but I never say anything myself. The best place for me to live would be outer space.
I wish I was more mature like other people. I wish I could handle everything properly like everyone around me.
I'm beginning to wonder how long people will be able to stick to me...
But I'm happy with the few friendz I have coz they're really good onez.
I don't bloody care about anything anymore. I've given up bothering about thingz. I never learn.
I wonder if I'll ever grow up....
I guess I should stop writing crap now...I've got a chemistry practical test tomorrow. Yuck. I've got to get the damn Kreb'z cycle into my head. I wonder why the hell I want to study biochemistry. Itz gonna be HELL!! :-O

:-P

Naked eye...

Have you ever looked at your eyes really closesly? Really really closesly?
Have you ever seen your eyes shine when sunlight falls on them from the side and they glow?
Look into a mirror and flash light on your eyes from the side.
You'll see your iris and the ciliary muscles(I think thatz what they're called) around them in a ring.
Look closesly and you'll see what lookz like raw flesh with deep radial cutz. You can see each and every groove. So raw. So wounded. Thatz really what it lookz like. Open your eyes wide and you'll see them stretch.
Itz almost revolting.
Try it.

New Year!!

So 2008 iz finally here. Not that I'd been waiting for it particularly. But itz new year and all that so wer're all suppozed to be really excited and stuff so...Happy New Year!. Blah.
I don't know...I don't like the number 8 somehow. I mean I like 7 much better. 7's really nice. :-)
Not that 8 iz that bad. Itz more a fat and cute type. What I really hate are 6 and 9. They're too ordinary. So iz 8. Very ordinary. 7 iznt ordinary. If you get what I mean. Though you obvisouly didn't. Hah. But anyway I like seven. :-)

Naaah...just because 8 iz too ordinary and I don't like it much doesn't mean 2008 iz gonna suck. :P

I guess itz kinda late now, but 2007 waz a pretty nice and eventful year for me so I'd like to look back. Though itz sad I can't write everything I'd like to coz lotz of people I know read my blog. ;)

Well....January. I was supposed to be buried in bookz studying for ICSE but I ruddy well wazn't. Damn I still can't fathom how I got through ICSE! I spent half my dayz on orkut and the other half sleeping, dreaming, chatting on the phone and looking into the fridge to see if there was anything to eat and eating it if there waz and stomping around the house creating pandemonium and shouting about how I would starve to death before ICSE if there wazn't. And then there were those mock tests at summit which succesfully tested our ability to use the question papers as origami and throw paper planes and boatz at the invigilatorz. :D

February....One month to ICSE....Well, I don't really rememer what I did in feb and nothing major really happened so blah. :P

March - ICSE. I had the time of my life. :P

April.....Well, that waz the real beginning. Beginning of class 11. Beginning of new discovery. Beginning of a lot of lessonz and I don't just mean physics and chemistry and stuff. I think I really started blogging properly in april. I liked it. And I still like it.

June....Some of the greatest fun I've had...Parties every other day...meeting new people, making friendz..

July...I think it waz then that I started really writing poetry.

August...I'd say this was the most eventful month of the year. Maybe the most eventful month of my life. My birthdayz in august! :)

September...

Ok I'm gettin bored. :P
And I don't feel like deletin the stuff I wasted so much time on. :P

OK I'm getting bored of typing so I'll put my resolutionz in the next post. :P