Sadho Re....

AGNEE – the latest Fusion/Rock Band from India. And they are extremely promising if they continue the way they have debuted. Two of their videos are currently on air. Both songs were written by the Great Saint Kabir [1398-1448 A.D]. Actually the lyrics is comprised of his dohas.... which really convey the essence of life.

But here I am going to talk about the music videos of the forementioned songs. The first one to air was “Sadho Re” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBsiFhcTbc4 ] and the second was “Kabira” [video not found on YouTube]. The best part about the videos is that they do not have any ‘model’. They are made with real, day-to-day people.

Lets talk first about “Sadho Re”. The video is based on the Ghats of Ganga in Banaras. It focusses on the pain in the world while emphasizing on death. A little girl is shown lost in the crowd and, while she is crying aloud, nobody is noticing her. In the meanwhile, some painful ways of devotion are shown, like hitting self with a hunter. The entire video is very dark in theme, so is the lyrics.. with one line going as....“Sadho re.... ye murdo ka gaon.....”
Absolutely wonderfully shot and edited. A must watch.

The second one.... “Kabira” is another masterpiece... both in terms of lyrics and video. In contrast with “Sadho Re” ..... “Kabira” is a happy song, and so is its video, which is based on Hope, Smile and Spirit. Everybody is smiling in the video... be it a Dabbawaala, a Panwaala, a Bhajiawala, a Saloon owner, a roadside posterwaala... anyone. Everyone loves his/her job and is proud of it. And their smile is really contagious. And different smile symbolises different feelings. A Dabbawaala smiles with the satisfaction of helping another man caught in the busy corporate life have home-made food. A bhajiawaala smiles being happy that he added some spice to the otherwise monotonous life of an office-goer. The old Posterwaala smiles being proud that he helped a foreigner know more about our motherland... our India. Every smile has a meaning. Every smile has a story. Every smile has the spirit of life.

Brilliant work by the director.

I hereby express my salute to the Great Saint Kabir ..... for the wonderful lyrics..... so very meaningful.
And Hats-off to the Band for bringing out such a great fusion music, and to the director for making such amazing videos.

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added later: the video link of "Kabira" : http://uncutvideo.aol.co.uk/videos/1d0cae37c873f801744f8554478d200b

The Countdown Begins....

From today.... it is exactly 10 days to go.
Everything's done except Forex and Medical.
Came back yesterday after bidding good-bye to my relatives and lots of my kid-cousins. When I told them that when there's morning in India, there's evening in America.... one of them posed a BIG question.....
she: "भैया.... आप जब फ़ोन करियेगा तो हम good morning बोलेंगे या good evening?"
me: "err.... ummm..... देख लो .... हमको नहीं पता"
after giving it lots of thoughts.....
she: "ये good morning , good evening का झंझट छोड़िये ..... प्रणाम , नमस्ते का system रखेंगें... तब कोई दिक्कत नहीं होगा."
methinks..... Good job.

It's time to look at 'The Lasts' ... at least for the next 365 days or so....

• The last time I was in my Institute.
• The last time I was with my Wing.
• The last time I travelled in a local train.
• The last time I crossed Howrah Bridge.
• The last time I rode my bi-cycle.
• The last time I travelled in a jam-packed general compartment.
• The last time I drove my Bajaj Legend.
  
• The last time I get a तेल - मालिश from Mom
  
• The last days at my home.
• The last days in my motherland.
  

Indian Idol 3

Well.... क्या करें... जब इन्सान घर पे हो और करने को कुछ ना हो .... तो मज़बूरी का नाम होता है TV. My 13 year old TV has just(?)39 channels but वो भी ज्यादा पड़ जाते हैं. So of the very very few watchable shows... Indian Idol 3 is one of the better ones. And.... now that I am hooked.... I am giving my review of the contestants in the Gala round(its sad that I ill be gone before Indian Idol 3 gets its final 7). Nevertheless..... here I go......

• Meyang Chang : Very good singer. Has a charming appearance and a very sweet smile. The first one in my TOP 5. BTW... He's from my hometown Dhanbad.

• Abhishek Kumar : Another very good singer, especially the Kishore Kumar songs. Wears a cap for luck a la you-know-who :P. Has very strong support of judges. I believe he doesn't need the cap now, for he can sing his way through. Definitely in my TOP 5. And oh... he is also from Dhanbad.
  

• Deepali : This girl from Patna is extremely talented.... and she looks very graceful. But somehow I feel she is a bit short on luck. I definitely want her to be in TOP 5.
  

• Puja Chatterjee : Another extremely talented, pretty and confident girl and the third one from Dhanbad. They don't call her 'Dhanbad Dynamite' for no reason. After being in the bottom 2 after the 1st gala.... she's bounced back superbly... and is singing powerfully. A must have in TOP 5.

• Emon Chatterjee : A smarty from Kolkata and a very good singer. But somehow I get the feel that he won't last till the last. As of now.. he completes my TOP 5.

• Ankita Mishra : This Kanpur gal is a very very confident performer. She very well makes up for the slight goof-ups in her singing by her extra-energetic performance. Its her performance that will take her to the top. After facing eviction in the piano round... she's come back very strongly and is a threat to all.

• Charu Semwal : This Dehradun beauty is another very gud singer.. but somehow she has managed to irk the judges and the audience(read: me) by performing below her potential.

• Amit Paul : This guy all the way from Shillong is a real Dark Horse. He is slowly and steadily making his mark. I believe he'll turn out to be a big threat. The reason why he is not in my TOP 5 is his singing in the piano round. But he has been terrific till now in the Galas.

• Prashant Tamang : This sepoy from Kolkata has a sweet voice but not the kind which would take him to the top. He is destined to loose early and his below par performances in the Galas has not helped either.

• Parleen : The over-praised guy. I don't know what do the judges see in him. I mean... okay... he is smart... and sings decent. But you shouldn't exclaim 'mindblowing', 'rockstar', etc for an average performance. This will only harm him. He may go a bit farther than deserved due to his looks.

So... here are the final 10 till now. Lets see if my TOP 5 matches yours and of course the actual TOP 5.

Disclaimer:
All the views expressed above are the personal views of this blogger and all the resemblance to the persons,of course living, was highly required.

ciao

Jai Ho e-world waalon !!!

"I hated being away from my dear blog for such a long time" is a severe understatement. I actually i-don't-know-the-word it. Being dis-connected is one of the worst,if not the worst, thing to happen to any enginner. Oh.... did I tell you that I am now officially an Engineer.... a Metallurgical and Materials Engineer.... to be precise.

*taaliyaaan*

So much happened in the past month. I had to run from pillar to post to get my computer and phone repaired. You can understand the pain. The problem was that my PC was not responding to data cable and my bluetooth enabled handset was having problems with its bluetooth. The result..... no way to connect phone and PC. Anyway.... now I am connected through bluetooth. So... I guess.... All’s well that ends well.

End se yaad aaya..... my stay in my home.... my locality...... my district.... my state..... my country is coming to an end..... temporarily or permanently.... i don’t know. Shopping etc. is almost done. The paper work is also done. All I have to do now i to get used to cooking and teach my parents to oprate the computer and internet...... that pretty well ends the preparation.
All the while I was dis-connected... it was only Me, My bed and TV.

· Indian Idol(Sony TV) is good... in fact .... pretty good. I have always liked its presentation, but this time the level of singing is also very good. PLUS ..... 3 of the 11 remaining finalists are from my hometown Dhanbad. Go Idols..... lage raho. Jai Dhanbad.... Jai Jharkhand... Jai Bhaarat.

· Voice Of India(Star Plus) has brought tremendous talents. All of them sing very well and most are real gems. VOI lacks in its presentation and promotion.

· Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge (Zee TV) sucks. The last time.. when Shaan hosted it..... it was very good but as the creative team moved to Star alongwith Shaan..... the difference clearly shows.

· Antakshari(Star Plus) is back and rocking......... both the general series as well the children series. Anu Kapoor is a very powerful host and Juhi Parmar is very beautiful :)

· The Great India Laughter Challenge III brought some of the best new stand-up comedians. The first female contestant Arti Khandpal(i think) was excellent.

· Comedy Circus(Sony TV) sucks. Simply.... IT SUCKS.... inspite of bringing in the very beautiful Shruti Seth as host.

· Ekta Kapoor and her K-shows..... as usual Sucks. Her shows can easily qualify for “Who Dares Wins”. A normal human being with normal sensibilities just can’t watch any of her show for more than 30 seconds. It is mentally impossible. They don’t say ‘Indian Women are strong ‘ for no reason. After all Indian Women do watch such horible shows for more than 3 hours in a day!!! Jai ho Bhartiya Naari. When Ekta Kapoor came to Koffee with Karan... she said to her detractors “If you don’t like it... don’t watch it.” Good.... I liked that attitude.... and it was fair enough. But then she gave another master statement .... “I aim to make TV serials like Prison Break and 24.” I mean..... Ekta ji.... Please..... give us a break. Have you even watched any episode of the great series you just mentioned!!! They contain two basic ingredients which you, of course don’t know...... Story and Logic( to an extent). And their camermen don’t topple every 5 seconds while shooting. All right.... enough of Ekta.

· The news channels SUCK. All of them. They present just Commercial journalism.... when at such times... they should think of Constructive and Progressive journalism. Football star Christiano Ronaldo gave a peck on Bipasha basu’s cheeks..... and these idiot make it a ‘Headline’ and ‘Breaking News’ !!!! Please guys..... seriously.... who cares. Yesterday Zee News was showing how one can reach runways and other sensitive areas of Mumbai airport without any proper security chekups. In short... they were showing how to blow off the airport. Later they showed how bombs can be made easily. I just want to ask them a Question... Are they sure their channel is not watched by current or wannabe terrorists? If they had such information.... why didn’t they act responsibly and go to appropriate authorities with the video instead of relaying them on National television? Bloody Fools. Careless Buggers.

Anyway.... so much for the Indian Television. Its now back to Me, My PC and Internet.

20 days to go.........