Bare Beginnings II

Seems it’s been a while I was here! Feels good though. Same old me with some new escapades. I was not lost but then I didn’t get the chance to venture into one of my favourite escapes. Don’t know where to start and what to write as my mind is going through a myriad range of emotions. But yes, there are lot’s of things to write and I shall again head to this escape of mine, soon! For everything else, there is Himalayas. 

Last few days have been emotionally grinding or rather drenching. I was hoping to start the new year on a happy note, just like the way I have been since last 6 years. I remember, 2011 was one year I wanted to get rid of in hurry. It came with a lot’s of hiccups but then it gave me many savouring memories as well. Last 5 years been very rewarding though (I shall come back soon to reveal some tiny details about them). But then yes, 2017 so far has tested my patience like never before but at the same time, taking all the positives out of it, I stand here…Upbeat! Spirited!

Just to kick start and break the shackles I’m jotting down these words. 2011 to 2016 to 2017 …it’s been a great transition. Let me tell you a few things that inspired this journey but with a warning that I can draw inspiration from tiniest or strangest of things and I am glad, I can. 

July 2011, it was the beginning of my fightback as I saw a struggling Indian Cricket Team going down. What inspired me there was a gentleman named Rahul Dravid who stood still in between all the ruins and defied defeat as long as possible. Talk about patience, perseverance and focus or may be poise, grace and determination? Talk about this man. I knew I could never replicate his cricketing talent or feats but I also knew what I could learn from him. 

August 2011, Jill! Her arrival changed many things as I found a new meaning of the word Zeal. 

November 2011, the Movie Rock Star and it’s Music. I was reading an interview by A.R. Rahman where he mentioned how he struggled to get the Music right as it had a lot of pain involved. It was about how he drenched himself emotionally to get the Music right. Talk about passion? Then talk about this man. Ever since it’s been ‘Sadda Haq Aithe Rakh’ and ‘Nadan Parinde’. 

December 2011, another incident of Indian Test Team struggling. This time it was Australia. India lost 0-4 and ended the year 0-8. What was positive there was a man named Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Talk about staying calm, staying composed and dealing all the pressure of a losing team and being aggressive? Talk about this man. He’s someone very contemporary, yet I look upto him for being level headed and witty at the same time. 

Probably all these won’t make any sense to many of us, but then I think a few would take the positives out of this just like I did. The journey of last 5 years have been very intriguing also very very struggling at times. It’s not so easy to be 'Arpan' (A few would surely understand what I mean here). 

Today as I start 2017 on a happy note, I would like to thank every person I’ve come across, the good, the bad and the ugly, the old and the new ones. Also the ones who came with vested benefits and the ones who came and stayed back forever. Thanks to every organisation I have been a part of, Enajori, Metropolis, Photography Club of Assam, WildTrail for being the integral part of this journey. I must mention, Muse & Memories, my teammates both past and present, it’s because of you all MnM is spreading happiness today. Keep shining in all you do. 

As I promise to keep coming back to write a few (mis)adventures, I hope that the days to follow will have bright lights ahead and life will keep smiling at us in all we do and deserve, here’s to a Happy 2017. 

Unleash! Let’s celebrate all we have and say yes to ‘Life’! 

Of A Delight And Missing It!

“Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here!”  ~~ A Dumbledore

Power? Checked! Cable? Checked! Instruments? Checked! Sound? Checked! Monitor? Checked! 1, 2, 3 ...Go!

How can I forget this journey, we started at count 3? Despite all the hiccups, technical or human faults it was always fun and memorable. It is magic, it is celestial! It’s beyond what we humans do. It’s timeless, it’s endless and it’s immortal.

For me, it’s a delight. I always loved being there, whenever I got a chance.  I relish being on board. I somehow felt that divine intervention. So much so that I don’t even remember being nervous. Yes, that adrenaline rush was always there, but I never panicked, even if I was half prepared for a show. I was always the first one to get into the stage and the last one to leave.

Just prior to that journey, we all belonged to a different world. A world very few people have seen. Green Room! One can see various kinds of people there. Someone praying, someone silent, someone cribbing, someone shouting, someone babbling, someone nervous, someone panicking, someone visiting the washroom every now and then, someone checking his dress and someone like me, pepping up everyone. It is a world different from anything else.

I cannot talk enough about our families, teachers, mentors who made us, what we are as musicians! Someone came from a musical background, someone’s family was not supportive, someone rich, someone poor, someone didn’t tell their parents, someone was ill; someone had a fight with girlfriend. It was an amalgamation of myriad backgrounds and emotions. But on board, we felt only one feeling. That is Music! It’s like the same blood running through our veins; we spoke, played, and enjoyed the same universal language.

As I stand here today, all I want to put across is the remarkable journey I travelled with music. I miss being at the realm with it. I miss the animated me, who always used to pep up others, the excitement which used to begin right from the practice session to the show and to the time beyond, I miss the winks, the grins, the smirks we used to give other on stage, I miss the pranks we played live, I miss the way we used to complement each other for each mistakes we made, I miss playing with those mystical mesmerizing voices and the not so mesmerizing voices, I miss that huddle where we used to pep up the nervous ones, I miss those gaze we gave each other on stage when someone was not so confident, miss the feeling when power or instruments go off, miss those electric shocks, miss the transition of emotion the mind goes through with each song, miss the euphoria involved in it, miss the bite of the tongue for every time I made a mistake or missed a beat ,  miss the chanting crowd, miss the adrenaline just before going in, miss the whole overall setting of one of the most worthwhile things I have ever been a small part of.

And I miss that never fading feeling of satisfaction...silence everywhere. And the loud buzzing sound inside my head since I left the stage. That happy feeling which did not let me sleep, did not calculate my dreams, and did not let limit myself.

Craziness Redefined!

So, I’m writing about Music again. My escape from the world. Someone once said, if a person is not touched by Music, he is either divine or insane. This statement can’t be wrong actually. Music makes us feel, makes us realize, makes us speak our unspoken feelings, makes us groove, makes us cry, makes us elate, makes us inspire. It won’t be wrong if I say, Music relates us, what we do, what we going through, what we want to do.  We actually cannot define the magic of it, it’s like a journey within us, and it gives us expression, it makes our mind travel through myriad emotions.  Music is the language of the soul. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, eliminating friction. Being at the dominion of Music, I've always felt its magic. It’s one craziness, one passion! It’s one euphoria that dominates me, most of the time when I’m at a close proximity of it. During my short and un-illustrated career as a musician I went through a few crazy incidents, even a mere thought of which makes me crazy.

To start with I remember, it was Fresher’s Social for the newcomers from Assam in Pune. It used to be one real opportunity to showcase your talent to your native people. Practice sessions were full of people, who wanted to perform. Girls accompanied by their boyfriend, so that they can approach us and convince us to get the chance for his girl. Overall a fun environment. One fun day, a girl came up with a song, she wanted to sing. Our keyboardist, Bablu Da asked, “Bhanti, tumar gaan tur scale ki?” (Which scale is your song?). The girl, stunned, waited a while and replied...” Dada, moi scale ana nai nohoi!” (I did not bring a scale with me!). We all just looked at each other with a smirk and went on with the practice session. And later, when all left we were rolling on the floor laughing. No pun intended, but we still imitate this feat, whenever we are in the middle of a boring practice.

  

Smoke N’ I: I remember growing up seeing smoke machines blowing a sage effect during live performances. So, one fine day, when the light and sound engineer asked me, if we need smoke machine for the show, I readily agreed, fantasying the feel I will go through on stage when it blows up. The ever excited me! First song of the evening, and as always we started with a traditional ‘Borgeet’. The light guy, being a local Marathi, had no clue what we were playing, blew up the smoke machine which was incidentally placed just below the stool I was sitting. And in a flash the smoke gulped me in. Trust me, for a minute or two I actually could not figure out where I was.

Dard e Disco: This event happened suddenly. Exams, accident, skinned palm everything was a part of it. So was I, not to forget SRK and Om Shanti Om. It was just a day, the movie had released. We had just one day for practice, and when the singers came in, we asked them to sing common songs, so that it doesn’t consume much time while practicing. 3-4 songs down, I saw a guy sitting in the corner, with a wide grin. Finally it was his turn, I asked generously, “Bhaity, kuntu gaan gaba?” (Which song you want to sing?). The guy retaliated, “Dada, Dard e Disco tu e gai diu, bor solise”. (I’ll sing Dard e Disco, it’s a hit) and while saying so he actually showed us some SRK steps from the song. Though that guy did not sing the song, he actually gave us some respite from the hectic practice session and my bleeding hand.

We Owned The Night: Agriculture College, Pune. It’s one grand ground where most of the concerts in Pune used to take place. The crowd capacity, the atmosphere, the intensity was always there when a concert was there. Seeing youth events like ‘Verve’ (Fergusson College Fest), I used to crave to perform on that platform. And one fine day, it happened...we performed in front of 20,000 odd people...chanting, singing and dancing with us. Good feeling isn’t it. The most amazing part about that show, the crowd gathered there to see KK, Shruti Pathak (Mar Jawaan, OST Fashion fame) and Neha Bhasin (Dhunki, OST MBKD fame) who were to perform after us. But the feeling was so amazing, that we actually forgot that we were just up to an opening act there.

Life for obvious reasons is full of such amazing moments and memories. We leave behind the moments, but the memories remain, ever cherished. And Music, it’s one immortal thing that we all need. We grow, we change but the Music remains same. After a 100 years, we won’t be alive, but the music we create, we sing, we listen will always be there.

Go, Meet The World!

They say you need to recollect and relive your good times when you are going through a bad phase. Being me, was always so easy for me, it always bordered sleepwalking. But today as I stand here, I just got the feeling that this guy, who is self inspired, who loves to inspire others to stand up to anything that comes up, didn’t stored any for himself. I still remember, how a few friends of mine, still look up to me, they say that they have this belief that I can make things look simple and easy. Some say, my smile diminishes half of their problems. But then, it’s not always easy to inspire yourself. To talk happiness to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them. To wear a cheerful countenance at all time as and give every living creature you meet a smile.

Standing at this state of affairs, where the heart says I should and the mind says I should not; I actually never thought I have to self motivate myself someday. As they say, one should always remember where they originate from; almost certainly I should go back to where I began.

I remember my debut. I was so damn nervous. Not talking to anyone, I just went in. And I remember, someone told me, “go in boy, and don’t make eye contact to anyone in the audience, if you feel nervous just look at us”. That was the beginning. And during the next few years, that same me, used to tell his fellow musicians, “go in there, have fun, don’t look anywhere, if you feel nervous just look at me”. 

As a musician, I know, it’s not easy to go in and give your best every time. We know our strengths and we know our flaws. But we can always improve and deliver. All we need to do is enjoy and create memories.  Today it’s our turn to go in because we are the chosen ones to do so. Let us not think too much, not over analyze, not over react, not act overtly responsible! Let’s not anyone take away this moment from us, let’s go into our own musical world where we are celebrated, slowly, savouring each moment.

Holding onto my pair of drumsticks, trying to gather all my strength, my experience, my memories and all the fun I had, this is me! Going in for the one last time! To the chanting crowd, to the cheers, to the rhythm and to the Music!

An Ode To Music!

The New Year is already a month old. The month of February suddenly turns the year into just another year and there’s this sudden dash of mush into it, no wonder it’s the valentine month. Talking about love, we actually can’t have enough of it till we feel it, but talking about my first love of my life, it has the power to get me weak on my knees or to elate me a euphoric high and everything in between.

Frankly speaking, it cannot be defined. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to define Music. It’s indefinable, it travels, it stirs something within us. It impels us to prominence. It makes a friend out of a stranger. It gives a community culture and identity. Maybe music isn’t just enjoyable and exciting, maybe it is necessary.

Being at the realm of Music, I actually never felt any pain, maybe its magic. Such a healer it is! It’s one craziness, one obsession, one escape I looked up to at many times, and it always looked back at me with the perfect amount of care I needed. There are many times in life when you just wish people would listen, when you know in your heart that you are right, but you just can't get people to see it your way. It is just so frustrating when you can't talk some sense into people. As we grow older, as we continue to change with age, there is one thing that will never change . . . its music. Time change, people change, but it doesn’t. I bet you listen to music. Not everyone does. Music is one of the rare things we all have in common.

So as the year turns to another Valentine’s Day for me, without a Valentine I don't consider myself a ‘lonely heart.’ It's about love and this Valentine’s is for my first love…Music!

Music And Lyrics

Impact of Music Lyrics

Music is what wakes me up in the morning, makes me dance, and calms me when I’m feeling unhappy about something, makes me cry when its needed, inspires me when I’m down, makes me smile when I’m confused and gives me a way. It is a factor in everyday life and because of the colossal quantity of credence music has, music has had a major influence on behaviour.

Changing the words

Lyrics can inspire, sadden and lead to euphoria. Annie Lennox’s song, Walking on Broken Glass. That was exactly how it felt – painful, cutting and desperate. Music — nostalgic, uplifting, and memorable — forms the soundtrack of my life. It’s much like colours, different colour different mood. I eagerly await the music not yet heard, and the lyrics yet to inspire! What music resonates within you?

How Do Music Lyrics Impact Teen Behavior

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The Good

It’s one topic that everyone has an opinion about. As unlikely as it may seem there are few things that we can agree on, the role music & lyrics can play in fostering some good in our society is being one of them.

Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On (1971): Marvin Gaye’s album What’s Going On imparted context to a culture that seemed to be disintegrating right before our eyes. From the civil rights movement, to the Vietnam War, to the plight of the poor, Marvin Gaye helped a generation deal with what seemed to be a never ending crisis of social perception.

The Beatles' All You Need Is Love (1967): The Fab Four swayed the minds and warmed the hearts of a generation the world over, but it was when All You Need Is Love became the anthem of the anti-war movement that the power of music was truly felt.

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The Bad

Examples plucked from headlines through the years:

Two male teens kidnap a young girl in the early 1990’s and claim that Nirvana’s Penny Royal Tea put the idea in their heads.

Teens commit suicide and Ozzy Osbourne's lyrics to Suicide Solution are blamed.

Every time one of these terrible incidents rears its ugly head, it seems that the music and performers of that music are the ones we blame, not the bullies at school, not the parents, nor the guns and depression. At the end of the day, it is up to us as a society to decide just who is to blame for these tragic instances.

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Comments

I couldn't live without Music! Music is a major part of my life: Music is only self expressionism. It’s what we listen to when we feel a specific emotion, or we want to feel a specific way. I know music may give some kids ideas about violence, but music can be looked at in different ways. Music is just about how we interpret it.

How Music influence Your Life

Music is a human activity which involves prearranged audible sounds and is used for artistic, entertainment or ceremonial purposes. Music is a major part of our environment. It is often referred to as "The International Language" - a simple thought with vast implications behind it. Even if you cannot speak the language of a foreign country, you can move, dance, and most of all, enjoys the music of that country. While we may not understand the words to a particular song, we do understand the beauty of the music.

The making of music predates man's use of the written word and is deeply tied to the development and uniqueness of various human cultures. Music has influenced human beings since the dawn of civilization.

Music greatly affects our personal moods. Music can calm and revitalize us in a variety of ways. It can elevate our moods above our personal fears and doubts and even reduce stress and pain levels. Soft, soothing music can help you unwind. Music ranges from a mere whisper to the fullest of sound. Music is good for your soul!

Music affects our moods; it is the great mood enhancer. We may not understand the words, but instead recognize the expression of its musical beauty and power to de-stress. Have you ever heard the saying, 'Music soothes the savage beast?' It's true. Music can calm and revitalize us in ways even a lengthy nap can't. Music holds the power to elevate our moods above our worries and relieve debilitating depression. It can also perk us up if we use it with exercise or dance.

Give it a chance.

While listening to music, listen to the words and rhythm as well as the tune. We may find something to like a type of music that previously we didn't like at all.

Listening to music is such a basic pure pleasure that many of us forget the tremendous value of it.

If you play an instrument, you'll find you've stumbled onto the best audience in the world. Go back often to visit and play. In this way, you've not only made the lives of other people brighter through your music, but you're going to find yourself in much better spirits.

Music for me is stress buster, life, feel and lyrics is like the door straight to heart.

'My Life Musical'

Some people say, am crazy, but yes I can listen to a song in loop uncountable times, just to admire its beauty, and go through a joy ride of emotions. Music is a way of life, expression of life, appearance of life; it is something beyond evaluation, something celestial. Music means something different for everybody.

When I find myself captivated by the first line of a song, I continue on, enjoying the rhythm or structure the author created, and most if the time by the end I am usually completely lost. It’s amazing, the way people throws out random beautiful thoughts and somehow makes it seem like it's all connected together. Music juggles our emotions, takes them to a different level; gives us something to refresh, to push, to hope, and to restart. Music makes us smile, makes us laugh, makes us sing, inspire, enlighten, makes us weep, makes us cry, makes us realize and makes us feel, makes us dance, it makes us relax, and it makes us dream…

Wish life could be one musical. A musical movie may be, furnished with some amazing songs with heart warming music. Wow!! But yes, can’t expect it to be happy and peppy, some sadness and pain are also important. We may call it irony of life, but without all these emotions, we actually can’t signify the value of the opposite emotion. Even then, I would love to select a few songs for my life….’my life musical’! For me, I’ve been traveling through years, in the canvas of these tunes...

Innocence:

Meri Maa (OST Tare Zameen Par, Shankar Mahadevan, Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi)

So innocent and so delicate. This song has the ability to ripple my innocence. I still remember weeping in theatre, the first time I heard it and once while performing it.

Hope/ Dream:

Dil Hi Chota Sa (OST Roja, Minmini, Lyrics: Jagdish Khebudkar)

Have grown up listening to this song. For me it’s one ultimate hope song. Every time I listen, it makes hope, make my dreams takes its flight and comes back to us. Inspires to hope…to dream.

Inspiration:

Ashsaayen (OST Iqbaal, K.K, Lyrics: Irfan Siddique)

A song full of inspiration! Do I need to say more?

Happiness/fun:

Summer of ‘69 (OST Reckless, Bryan Adams, Lyrics: Bryan Adams)

It actually denotes some other meaning and we all know it. But this song has some feel good factor in it, at least for me. The energy makes me happy, a distinct song for happy fun filled moments.

Friendship:

Yeh Dosti (OST Sholay, Kishore Kumar/Manna De, Lyrics: Anand Bakshi)

Do we need not explain a song on friendship?

Love:

Please Forgive Me (OST, Bryan Adams, Lyrics: Bryan Adams)

What pain, what acceptance and what lyrics. Subtle, soothing and yet painful. I think that what love is all about.

Mar Jawaan (OST Fashion, Shruti Pathak, Lyrics: Irfan Siddique, Sandeep Nath)

Maudlin, mushy, raw…yes may be. Heard many people complain about this song for being over emotional. Probably they overlooked the passion, the pain. And what lyrics! Aah! For me this song is an escape to love. I feel soaked in love every time I listen to it.

Pain/ Sadness:

Tere Bina Zindagi Se (OST Andhi, Kishore Kumar/ Lata Mangeshkar, Lyrics: Gulzar)

An amazing composition. The lyrics, the song says it all.

Tu Jaane Na (OST Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani, Sohum, Lyrics: Irshad Kamil)

A fresh just out of the oven song, with touching lyrics. Tale of unrequited or unexpressed love isn’t it?

Life:

Kal Ho Naa Ho (OST KHNH, Sonu Nigam, Lyrics: Javed Akhtar)

Life indeed is a mixture of sunshine & rain, laughter & pleasure, teardrops & pain. The clouds and the sun play hide and seek in the sky, and the emotions play the same part in our life.

Mon Mur (OST Junaki Rati, Angaraag Mahanta, Lyrics: Keshab Mahanta)

Just three words. Mesmerizing, enchanting and refreshing.

Nostalgia:

Sandhya Jetiya Name (OST Junaki Rati, Angaraag Mahanta, Lyrics: Sorot Borkotoky)

Bideshot Apun Manuh (OST Bideshot Apun Manuh, Saju, Lyrics: Jimoni Choudhury)

Nostalgia! Just pure of it, and nothing else. Actually this feeling is something out of the world, no happiness no pain, just pure remembrance.

Music On, World Off !!

…it’s called life or something like it. Been a while now I guess. And all this while I was too busy running after work, career, success, happiness, love, I definitely missed a special part of being me. I really did!

Music! For me is an escape, just like writing. Whether we admit it or not, music embeds our daily life, weaving its beauty and emotion through our thoughts, activities and memories. It is life for some, means of worship for some, and for some it was a means of great expression, beyond words and images. Music has the quality of expressing the inexpressible. I remember someone rightly quoted’ if in the after life there is not music; we will have to import it.’

Now then, life moves on and so do we. What I miss most is my involvement with music. I miss going out there and performing in the crowd, the moment when nerves melt into calm pleasure before the commencement of a show in a hushed theatre, the rehearsals, the fun and the feeling that used to keep me away from every other emotion in this world. Another unlikely thing I miss is the moment, when I make some mistake, on stage, live…and all I can do is look at my fellow musicians and smile and all those funny incidents that happen over there.

One incident that took place in one my shows will always remain so close to my heart. We were playing the song, ‘Bideshot Apun Manuh’, a song so close to our heart and life. Such is the irony of life, we live far away from our native place, get busy with life, yet our heart always craves for little things that is very own. And this song made its way to our lives, more so because it carries only one emotion…nostalgia! No hate, no love…just pure nostalgia. The crowd was very eager to listen to this song. And just when we are about to start, the connection of my drum kit went off. Technical problems…they are the indispensable evil. Started again, the monitor was not working. Then finally at the third attempt when we were halfway through the interlude, my drum kit went off, again. The buzz in the crowd was easily audible from the stage and all of us did panic for a while. I did at least, ‘coz my instrument went off twice. While we were checking the technical things again, I heard a friend of mine (am yet to know who did that, but thanked him probably a zillion times) started cheering me up…Arpan…Arpan. Other friends followed. Oh!! What a feeling! A shiver ran through me, felt like crying, I was elated every time I heard the cheer and inspired. Soon, we started to play the same song again and finally finished. After the show was over, many people came to us and appreciated, particularly for that song. Many eyes were moist; probably that song disturbed a chord that people safely kept back in their heart.

Wish I could go back to all those moments. Fall in love again, with music! Get drenched. Wish life had one on/off button, while the rest of the world gets busy living or dying; all I need to do is…Music On!! World Off!!

Rock On !!!

Recently, one Saturday afternoon, my cell phone beeped…’ 1 message received ‘!!! The sms read as…” Hey KD……I’ve given you a new nickname”. It was my friend Alok. I replied back, what was KD??? He gave me a nickname, after watching the flick “Rock On!!!”

Thanks to Farhan Akhtar and his on screen Rock Band ‘Magik’; and off course the movie ‘Rock On!!!” It’s been the force behind this blog. An inspiring movie for all budding musicians or to all those who have dreams…Dreams to make it big some day, to be on top of everything they ever desired for. It’s a movie on realising your dream and working hard to bring it to life. ‘Rock On’ strikes a chord on right note.

Being a musician myself it was very touchy and nostalgic. Those carefree days of youth when only music and music mattered, we used to starve ourselves while practicing, no hunger no thirst. Life moved on, we got busy with our separate lives…but deep in heart the flame was still there. The movie was the right kind of tonic I needed; it just ignited that flame once again, that feeling just re-ignited in my heart.

Its quirk of fate, that you normally don’t get what you crave for n they say you didn’t deserve that. But life is not so simple, its twist n turns make us forget many of our aspirations, desires and we just need to follow the steps which it offers in our path, despite the fact that we want something else. After out of the music scenario, for almost 4 years when I started again, I felt like I wont be able to do it again but I somehow managed to keep going, and after days of hard work, foodless afternoons and all those critics from my roommates (for playing the music loud and practicing whole day long), I discovered its still left in me. Probably life gives a second chance to everyone to prove one’s credentials. I know, am still a learner, but at least now a few people know what am capable of. I should also be thankful to all my critics; definitely…it’s their words that kept me going and gave the much needed zeal.

“Rock On”…just did some magic. Probably it’s a kind of movie that will touch every person’s life who’s connected with music, even someone who’s not. For someone like me, who worship music, it was the fresh drop of water on a dried leaf. If you have watched it, you are touched and if you haven’t, you are missing something.