For The Love Of Gigs!!

Coming from Calcutta, being a musician, weekends meant plenty of live gigs, jams etc. Now I am in Pune where weekends mean only drinking and clubbing. There are no live bands, live music places on weekends in Pune. Everything is over by Thursday at all pubs, cafes etc. Cover bands, tribute shows, stand up comedy, open mics,karaoke, you name it and it happens from Monday through Thursday. Friday night onwards people are sloshed and dancing to the same beats over and over again.

In the midst of all the drunken clubbing scene of weekends, Classic Rock Coffee Company in Koregaon Park has taken an initiative to host one band or act in a month on a Saturday which is actually a great relief to people like me who just cant get sloshed and dance to the same beats every weekend. Its just been two months that they have started and I have been to both acts. Inside the pub/cafe they have actually made a small amphitheater and a stage with lights and sound for bands which is way better than most of other places in Pune.

They started with hosting Indian Ocean at the end of June. The small amphitheater was packed to capacity or maybe more, cheering and singing with the band as they played their songs and made jokes on stage. The overall sound was pretty decent, the band started on time and played a pretty long set. Everyone was having a good time onstage as well as off stage. The pub even threw in free dinner and food for all the guests along with the band's performance which actually deserves a thumbs up. We just showed up to watch the band perform live and then made our way back home.

The second act at July end was Indian rock band Parikrama. Parikrama Live was much awaited. The last time I had watched them live was in Nazrul Manch, Kolkata, at some college fest. Being a newbie to music, Parikrama was amazing then!!! But I am digressing.

I expected CRCC to deliver like they had with Indian Ocean. I was disappointed.Bookmyshow said 6PM, Facebook said 7 PM, hoardings said 6 PM again; we reached at 6PM to avoid missing out in case it started at 6 PM. We had to wait till 815 PM,sitting through various fun-games(that reminded me of team events in office)concocted by the management to keep the audience entertained(Please note:In a rock show, the people in the audience will understand what's going on and just a simple message saying the band will start a bit late due to  a few issues is wayyyyy better than calling up people on stage and making them dance/do pushups just to make sure the organizers' names aren't tainted in any way).

So...... The sound check wasn't done, the band didn't seem interested anymore, there were problems with the guitar output, the band had to get ready etc etc. Parikrama started at around 815 PM and by 10 PM they were done.  We were thoroughly disappointed. Maybe they had intended to do more songs but because of all the delay,had lost interest in doing so. I get their point of view;it's pretty natural if you have opened for giants like Iron Maiden. The sound was bad, guitar solos got lost between backing guitars, the bass stopped working somewhere in the middle of the show, couldn't hear vocals a lot of times which were overpowered by other instruments.

But whatever Parikrama performed was a relief to weekend-gig-stricken people like me. The best part was the cover of Teenage Wasteland that they did. I have never heard any band playing this track live. Being one of my all time favourites, I was pretty damn surprised to hear the opening notes of the song when it started. Personally, I did not like the acoustic cover of But It Rained Nitin and Sonam did but Open Skies, Vaporize and Am I Dreaming made up for the song.The band ended with the ACDC song Highway to Hell and left a lingering mix of satisfaction and dissatisfaction within.

Kudos to CRCC for taking this initiative in Pune. Apart from hosting bands on weekends they are doing Open Mics, Tribute Nights, Karaoke Nights which obviously fall on weekdays again but no matter;they are hosting Karsh Kale and the MIDIval Punditz at the end of the month of August,2015. Here's to hoping other places in the city follow suit regarding weekend live gigs. Cheers!!

Rebel Pop

Okay, after reading this post(or not reading it!)some people might nickname me Narcissus but its something I consider an achievement in life and hence wanted to write about.

I have made it. After a lot of effort at the gym, swimming, food its all paid off. Weight loss is a lot of a mental challenge as a physical challenge. True, I am nowhere near abs, but it feels so much better;mentally and physically. Old clothes fit, smaller clothes fit, wardrobe needs a makeover. Plus its all coupled with the fact that my looks changed too, which required as much of an effort mentally too. Having long hair is trouble but I have come to deal with it by now.

I had started to bloat so much that my waist size went up to 36 at a point in my life. New clothes, XL tees and Shirts over 40 had to come to the rescue. But now thanks to ABs gm and swimming, YouTube and Sharda Centre Gym I am on the other side again.
Now I am down to a waist size lesser than 32(can't believe that myself!!)and on the happier side of life.
I am a foodie(comes with being a Bengali I guess)and eat just about anything and everything and no surprise, love eating. It had to be a lot of self control that made me not want to eat. But I started to do something else-I made sure I wasn't eating much of any high calorie food. That meant I was eating everything from burgers to cheesecake but not much of them, assuring my brain I had eaten thus.
Then I asked a cousin of mine to draw me up a diet chart which she did and I followed that for two weeks straight along with an additional warm water-lemon-honey concoction in the morning. That burned fat like anything I believe truly. Nonetheless, the battle was hard being  a foodie and I was finally able to buy tees of M size and a pair of jeans which is 32 at the waist very recently.

It's now all about keeping in shape in the days to come. For some reason at 26, when everyone I know are getting married, settling down, having babies, getting deadFromThe9To6Job haircuts, buying more and more formal clothes, getting their shit together, getting plump and rosy and being happy with their lives, I want to keep doing the opposite till I feel like I should be a part of that crowd too(which I assume will be very late or not happen at all!!). Hence I am not getting married, not settling down, not having babies, keeping long curly hair,getting contact lenses, buying bandanas, graphic t-shirts, messing up more and more, losing weight and I am happy with my life. YET.

The Thing About You

The thing about you is that 
When I look into your eyes
I feel like I should smile at you
In a way you cant deny(me)

And you would be bound to smile
And get me in your head
Where I'd  do things to u
You'd wish I wasn't there.

Yes I know that you already are
Hooked to the chemical system
That's flashing its signs
Saying we're meant to be....
We're meant to be...
We're meant to be....


The thing about you is that
When your saying things to me
I feel like I should kiss your lips
Wherever we might be.

And you'd be bound to kiss me back
Resisting nevertheless

Cuz for some hysterical reason
You wanna pretend to be my friend.
 
But I know that you already are
Hooked to the chemical system
That's flashing its signs
Saying we're meant to be....
We're meant to be...
We're meant to be....
 
The thing about you is you're the one for me.
Your hands twitch like mine do when we're near.
I'll wait I'll wait I'll wait for you.
And when you're done, I'll be still be here for you.

Habits

I could wait till you said yes
I could lie to the world
About how you turned me down 
The first time i reached out.
 
I could take my world n turn 
Turn it upside down
And hold my breath till you straighten
Straighten my world out.
  
And I'll keep holding to the last bit of you
And go about my days like you're gone.

I could never look at you straight in the eye,
Cuz waves and walls kept crushing my mind.
But over the years I got used to your sounds,
Now you're a habit I cant get around.


I could spend all my days
Wandering through the trees
Picking blades of grass
Feeling incomplete.

I could be listening to a song
That reminded me of you
But I wouldn't tell a soul
That I was feeling blue.

And I'll keep holding to the last bit of you
And go about my days like you're gone.

I could never look at you straight in the eye,
Cuz waves and walls kept crushing my mind.
But over the years I got used to your sounds,
Now you're a habit I cant get around.

Distance

Overboard and yet unfettered,
Was there reason to drown?

Floating on the surface and yet an urge to drown
Was there any reason to swim?

He wondered if she could hear his signals.
She thought he was still at the other end of the ship.
He saw the rush in her eyes.
She thought her touch had seemed hesitant.
He needed to be certain.
She needed a reason.

Who would voice their emotions?

Bound souls, cast away,
Traveling worlds.
In touch with reality
Out of touch with the surreal.
And so the unsteadiness,
Even though the weather was calm.
Wondering about the next step to take,
Wondering about the next words to say.

Shiver,Paralysed

Its not easy when you know
something's about to happen
something you didn't want
in the first place.

But its on the way
you know it for sure
and there's nothing in the world
that can stop it at all.

You dig a hole
and disappear undeground
And it follows you down there
snaking behind you.

You shiver, paralysed.
hold your breath in vain
knowing you're just a little ahead.
a mental pat on the back.

the moment comes
you're caught
squeezed and twisted
till you gasp for breath.

And you never prepared
even though you knew
convinced yourself
it wasnt possible.

So you shiver, paralysed
gasp for breath in vain.
knowing you're taken in
gone from your world.

centrEpoint

I despair,
Amidst the fools that behold me.

Underneath the tassels
the grate of the fireplace isn't warm enough.
I need the fire.
I need to feel the heat,
surging through my skin,
sucking lifeblood.

I cannot
overlook nor oversee.
procrastinate nor complete.
light up nor burn.
disappear nor turn.

Vigorously oscillating
Warping my form
Extremes untouched
In paradoxes I storm.
Tremendous breaths
Gigantic sighs
Miniatures of laughter
Am I alive?

Brainwashed,
Pushed along,
On the foggy road
They could never stay strong.
They brainwashed me too
Pushed me along
On the foggy road
I realized the wrong.

But I am too late,
I despair,Amidst the fools that behold me.