Lots of resolutions. Lots of promises. Lots of things to do.

2008 was an absolutely spectacular year. For me it stood more for highs than the lows, more about achieving goals and less about failing. I could have barely asked for more.

In terms of personal life and relationships, the last year left a lot to be desired, although professionally it was everything I had hoped for, and much more. Leading a wonderful bunch of kids, getting an internship despite of messing up (very badly, that too) an interview, and finally, getting a job before anyone else… I have had very few reasons not to smile.

Especially the last one - a job, was something that was very unexpected and surprising. To be the first person (ever) to get placed from the very first batch of a different, innovative MBA programme, from a rather new institution is a feeling quite indescribable. I had heard a moment can change your life, but I never thought I would get to experience it. Getting congratulated and recognized for all the hard work, a culmination of something that you strived to achieve for years together coming together is indeed euphoric. Becoming the most talked about figure in a crowd of thousands sure does make you feel special.

December 15th especially is one day I will never forget. It made me feel like an overnight celebrity of sorts. Best feeling EVER.

To end the year with the very best of friends is to have your cake and eat it too. The very best of house parties consist of good food, drinks, music and above all, great company. For me, the last party of the year that I attended had it all.

Some things about 2008 that I shall never forget: Kerala, Bangalore, December 15th, New Year’s Eve, GG, OTH, Diablo 3, Barça, home made Pasta and indie love <3

Goodbye 2008, I shall miss you dearly.

It was a five day trip, more about work than play, but I was hardly complaining. Heck, how many people get to travel on college expenses besides?

The trip had a pretty serious agenda - Placements. Judging by the current scenario of a global slowdown, recession and what not, it was very much needed to say the least.

The journey

Getting to Bangalore (or shall I say Bangalooru?) was not as much fun as I had expected it to be. We (there were 3 of us - two other girls and I) had to swallow the bitter pill and travel by bus on a dull Sunday afternoon to make it in time for a meeting the next day. Raj Travels, I was told was a good way to travel and sadly it turned out to be anything but that. We had the last row of seats to ourselves, and while it was fun chitchatting and all that, the bus in itself was old, rickety and dusty! So dusty that every time it hit a bump, some dust would fall from the overhead luggage shelf. The air conditioning barely worked, and being the cheapskates that they are, they turned it off at night! Some grand service for 1300 odd bucks I’d say! And to top it off, I was covered with dust by the time I woke up in the morning. To add to the misery, the bus didn’t even get us to our destination within the promised time og 18 hours, as a result of which we couldn’t make it for the meeting. So much for customer service.

Thankfully the rest of the trip wasn’t even half as bad as the trip to Bangalore.

Bangalore - the Garden city

The city sure did seem quite a bit different from my last visit here, which was roughly two years ago. The city has some vintage charm which I very much like. On reaching our “booked” cab never really arrived, and after a lot of haggling with the auto mafia (read: auto drivers who extort money as they please) we finally got going. At least the driver was nice enough to get us to our hotel, which was located in the heart of the city on M G road.

The hotel in itself was rather modest, very traditional by the looks of it. The rooms were dirt cheap (we had a stay budget of 500 bucks a day) so it was a steal. The girls took up a rather grand double room while I settled for a rather small single room which felt more like a room straight out of an old age home.

^{Does it not match the description?}

Placement work

The placement bit of the trip went A-OK. Some of the companies were simply dazzling. Like that of a particular aircraft manufacturer where the HR head of its country operations was kind enough to let us in and give us a good amount of time. Similarly, it went from OK to pretty well with most companies. Although it left a lot to be desired on a personal level as this was something that should have been done a year ago. Sadly now we have to pay for those timely mistakes and live with it.

Evenings in the city

Being the not-so-adventurous bunch that we were, most of the evenings were spent in browsing through countless shops on M G road or usually in some mall or the other. While it does sound a bit sad, it was not too bad. I guess I probably enjoyed myself as it was a new city. Or something like that.

Somehow it was very different from Bombay and even Delhi. As I said before, Bangalore has its own charm, and I really liked that.

^{They didn’t have a T or a C unfortunately}

I particularly liked what little I saw of the city. The offices seemed rather grand and awesome. The public transport - considerably improved (not accounting for the auto mafia who seem to have gained more notoriety) and the traffic was comparatively lesser than in Bombay.

At the end of the trip, come to think of it, I would certainly not mind being there for a couple of years. It seems like a pretty great place, and judging by the way Slumbay is degrading and dying a slow death, Bangalore might just be that perfect alternative (besides Goa that is :P).

Going home

Before I knew it, my time was up. It seemed awfully short (well longer than my last trip, but still) but it was quite a memorable one. Not only did it erase whatever bad memories I had from the last trip it also left quite a few lasting and postive impressions in my mind.

My favourite part of the trip was the food. I prefer simple food, and having just that throughout the trip was great. I especially LOVED the donuts we picked up for the return journey from this little donut shop on M G road. They were by far some of the most delicious ones I had ever had - something for which I wouldn’t mind coming to Bangalore over and over again!

Thankfully we had a better bus while returning home and it was a pretty comfortable journey.

All in all it was a pretty great trip, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to visit it and explore whatever little I could on my own terms.

This is a modified repost of an old review, originally written on 20 May 2005

Mysterious Skin is a sensitive and a touching movie that deals with a very delicate issue. Disturbing, intense, warm and shocking are probably the words that would sum up the experience of watching this movie. I have not quite felt the same way after watching a movie in a long time.

^{Promotional Poster for Mysterious Skin}

The movie, eighth by director Gregg Araki is an adaptation of a novel by fellow American writer Scott Heim by the same name.

The movie has a sexual theme, which is quite common for almost all Araki’s movies albeit this one deals with a slightly more serious topic of child sexual abuse. The plot is set in Hutchinson, Kansas, USA, and describes effects of childhood sexual abuse through the eyes of two teenagers.

When aged eight, the two boys are subjected to sexual abuse by their Little League Baseball coach. One of them, Brian Lackey, is so traumatized by the entire experience that he shuts out the entire episode, and is convinced that he was abducted by aliens. The other, Neil McCormick on the other hand recalls the entire experience vividly and chooses to believe that the coach was the love of his young life. Subsequently he grows up to be a teenage male prostitute whereas Brian has asexual feelings, nosebleeds and dreams about alien abductions. Brian tries to unravel the hidden meaning behind his dreams and decides to track down Neil, ten long years after the incident in hopes of finding out the truth. One cannot remember, while the other cannot forget. Both eventually find a kind of balance through the other’s shared experience.

“Where normal people have a heart, Neil McCormick has a bottomless black hole.”

The relationship between Neil, his best friend Eric, and his “soul mate” and “partner in crime” Wendy is portrayed beautifully and gives an insight into the lives of these young teenagers.

^{Neil, Eric and Wendy}

Neil comes to term with his sexuality, while Brian on the other hand, on account of his troubled past avoids it altogether. Wendy, initially infatuated with Neil, comes to term with his homosexuality and is supportive of him. Eric, Neil’s best friend and later a good friend of Brian provides some much needed shades of white throughout the movie. Neil’s sexual encounters are unsettling, sad and sometimes almost comic. On the other hand, Brain’s non-social and inward tendencies give a good account of the toll the event has taken on his life. Brian seems to be frozen in his uncertain childhood and is afraid to grow up. Coming to terms with the truth is a very painful experience for him.

The movie is by far one of the most disturbing movies I have come across in recent times. A lot of credit has to be given to the actors for their solid, intense performances.

Teenaged Neil McCormick’s portrayal by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, 10 Things I Hate About You) is simply brilliant. Brady Corbet also does justice in his role as the traumatized Brain. Michelle Trachtenberg’s (Eurotrip, Ice Princess) performance as Wendy too, is noteworthy. The trauma, pain and grief of the victims and their haunting pasts have been captured exceptionally well by Araki. The opening and closing sequences especially are intense and gripping. Araki has also ensured that the child actors involved were protected from the subject matter of this film. The scenes depicting Brian and Neil’s first sexual encounters handled with care and shot separately and later on edited to give the appearance of the abuse happening to the children. They were also given scripts that were different from those given to the rest of the cast.

“As we sat there listening to the carollers, I wanted to tell Brian that it was over now and that everything would be okay. But that was a lie, plus I couldn’t speak anyway. I wish there was some way to go back and undo the past. But there wasn’t. There was nothing we could do. So I just stayed silent and tried to telepathically communicate how sorry I was about what happened. And I thought of all the grief and suffering and fucked up stuff in the world, and it made me want to escape. I wished with all my heart we could just leave this world behind. Rise like two angels in the night and magically disappear.”

^{Eric reveals the painful truth about Brian’s past}

Mysterious skin is a complex, emotional and a thought provoking movie. It is not for the weak hearted, nor is it for those who cannot come to terms with alternate sexuality. It is a movie about discovery, and scarring experiences. How one experience could shape or alter your life. Neil was perhaps born gay, and his encounter gave him a direction. On the other hand, the encounter was too much for Brian who is scarred forever. His innocence has been robbed, and he may never feel or look at anything in the same way ever again.

As stated before, Mysterious Skin is a disturbing movie. If you are looking for something fun, you may as well look elsewhere.

Having said that, I must say I’m quite looking forward to see Araki’s next venture, Smiley Face which deals with the misadventures of a young actress after she unknowingly eats her roommate’s pot brownies.

This is a modified repost of an old review, originally written on 3 March 2006

The Great Indian Rock festival is an annual event to promote bands on the Indian rock circuit. The festival, which is mostly held in New Delhi, makes occasional forays into Bombay as was the case this year.

Bands performing in this tenth edition of Great Indian Rock included Demonic Resurrection and Split from Mumbai, Joint Family and Prestorika from Delhi. Progressive metal band Freak Kitchen was flown all the way from Gothenburg, Sweden to feature as the headlining act. The city’s very own Medusa was also scheduled to perform at the show, but were unable to do so as their drummer unexpectedly fell ill. Nevertheless, the line-up was good enough to enthrall the masses and had all the right ingredients to make it a memorable show.

Demonic Resurrection kick started the proceedings. I had heard a couple of their songs before, but this was the first time I was seeing them live. The band had an all original set, which mostly comprised of songs from their latest album, ‘A Darkness Descends’. They started off their set with “Behind the Mask of God”. The drumming and vocals were impressive, as they continued their set with other popular songs from their album such as “Apocalyptic Dawn”, “Spirits of the Mystic Mountains” and “The Summoning”. Mephisto did a good job on the keyboard, and the band overall was pretty tight, combining grinding guitars and hardcore rhythms to a good effect. The crowd response was very good — which was evident as a large mosh pit was seen at the front of the stage and several listeners were seen headbanging. The band gave the festival a good start I thought.

Split were up next. The last time I had seen them perform was two years ago at the nineteenth (and sadly the last to be held at Rang Bhavan) edition of Independence Rock. The band had reunited very recently after a brief hiatus and was on a comeback trail of sorts. Vocalist Garreth sported a Mangal-Pandey-meets-Russell-Hammond (remember ‘Almost Famous’?) look for some odd reason, which captivated a fairly large section of the crowd. Guitarist Vishwesh tried his hand at a bit of stage humour, which didn’t go down too well with the crowd.

The band started off with “Slither” by Velvet Revolver. Quite a song to start the set with, I’d say! The guitars sounded nice and heavy, and the drumming was tight. The vocals were weak in my opinion, with Garreth trying to pull off a Scott Weiland, albeit unsuccessfully. They played U2’s “Vertigo” next, which really made me wonder where they were going with their set. Anyway, the guitars were pretty crisp, although the vocals persisted to be weak. Still, they were engaging and put on a rather decent show.

Next in line were their original compositions, “My House” and “Don’t Let Go”. The former was the highlight of their set, laced with edgy riffs and some good drumming. What they played next was a bit of surprise for everyone — Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody To Love”. What started out as a little experiment back at home actually turned out to be quite a crowd pleaser. To my surprise I spotted a dozen people moshing to the song, which was quite amusing because the song isn’t quite mosh-friendly by any stretch of imagination! The band did a great job on the number and executed it to perfection. “Pig Society”, an original composition (featured on the Great Indian Rock 2006 compilation disc) was played next. The catchy chorus and good vocals complimented the neck breaking hook lines.

The band concluded their set with a rendition of Audioslave’s “Cochise”. Garreth again attempted a change of style, trying to pull off a Chris Cornell this time, but finally settled for what sounded like Scott Stapp! The intro seemed a bit off the hook, but they gradually built momentum to end their set on a high note.

Joint Family was up next. I had heard a lot about this band, and they lived up to expectations. They started off with “The Drummer’s Advice”. The crowd instantly took a liking to the song and responded with a large mosh pit. Frontman Akshay’s vocals were reminiscent of KoRn’s old works.

The band followed it up with a couple of originals, “Fight Back” and a really bad pun on ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’ (which I can’t seem to recall, for obvious reasons). These guys had everything going for them. The crowd went into a frenzy when the band was joined by none other than Vinay from Bhayanak Maut as the guest vocalist for Slipknot’s “People = Shit”. Vinay absolutely nailed the song and did a great job partnering Akshay on the vocals. The man surely knows how to put on a great show. I saw a huge mosh pit being formed right in front of me eyes, which was quite amazing to say the least.

The band then followed that up with yet another Slipknot number, “Liberate”, along with a few more original compositions — “Change”, “Life’s a Bitch” and “Juggernaut”.

Overall it was a highly entertaining set. Akshay did a good job on the vocals, drummer Shardul set the pace for their high-voltage set. These guys are destined for great things, and I simply cannot wait to watch them perform again.

Prestorika were next in line to perform. I had heard a bit of what they had to offer last year at Livewire, although not enough to form an opinion. Hence I was curious to see what they had to offer this time around. They kick started their set with Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”. The vocals were pretty good, and the axe work was intricate. They followed it up with Skid Row’s “Monkey Business” and a few original compositions, which included, “I Survive” and “Not My Way”. Apart from a good show put up by their lead guitarist Lokesh, I for one wasn’t too impressed by this band. This band seemed to lack that killer stage presence and to me it seemed that they were playing more for themselves than for the crowd. Their set was quite long and after a long stroll through the ground I noticed that a very few people actually seemed to be enjoying it. I was quite honestly relieved when they stopped playing and was looking forward to the next band.

Next on stage were but of course, the highlight of the show, the headlining act Freak Kitchen. The Swedish trio from Gothenburg comprising of Björn Fryklund on drums, the mighty powerful Christer Örtefors on the bass guitar and Mattias “IA” Eklundh on lead guitar and vocals, has been around for almost fifteen years now, their career spanning six albums, the latest being ‘Organic’, which was released last year.

The set up and sound check took an awful lot of time, during which time the audience was repeatedly subjected to a “highly informative” semi-documentary about an AIDS-related NGO. Social responsibility and the “devil’s” music going hand in hand? I think not!

After what seemed an eternity, the band started off with “Blind” from their freshman effort, ‘Appetizer’. With uplifting lyrics related to themes of racism and hate and some really fabulous vocals, it was quite a surprise when I learnt that the band composed this song more than a decade ago. They followed it up with the stark “Porno Daddy” and “Nobody’s Laughing” from their fifth studio album, ‘Move’. Mattias’ vocals and stage presence were simply astounding as the band continued to amaze the audience with “Silence” (‘Dead Soul Men’). The extremely catchy chorus and strong bass lines had the crowd on their feet. They followed it up with two of my personal favourites, “The Rights to You”, and “Speak When Spoken To” from ‘Organic’. A fairly large section of the crowd was seen humming along to the latter as the song had received quite a lot of airtime on VH1 as part of promotion for the event. Next came “Vaseline Bizniz” from their eponymous album, which soon led into a very impressive Viking ‘folk’ song. The audience could not help but watch in amazement at Mattias’ ‘my-guitar-doubles-as-a-keyboard’ antics — simply amazing. They finally concluded their set, and the proceeding for the evening with the political “Propaganda Pie” from their album ‘Move’.

It was great to finally have a Scandinavian band perform in India — Björn’s incredible drumming talent was a treat to watch and Christer’s on-stage antics, especially the Viking dance, were a lot of fun apart from the fact that he did a great job on the bass. Freak Kitchen’s distinctly operating structure fuses elements of hardcore, jazz and progressive music into a cohesive, alternate sound, void of any broader qualifying characteristics that would anchor it to any one style of music.

It was easily one of the very best live performances I have seen so far in my life, and I was glad I got to see the band in action barely a few weeks after I was introduced to their music. The band has been successful in making me their fan, and how! I went home with a big grin on my face and a Freak Kitchen t-shirt to go!

All in all it was one of the finest events of the year so far which left Bombay’s rock & metal aficionados craving for more. Rock Street Journal has done great service to the Indian Rock circuit and I surely do hope that Great Indian Rock pays city a visit again next year to showcase some of the finest talent from the local circuit and, and more. Here’s hoping for the best, for the love of music. Cheers.

This is a modified repost of an old review, originally written on 14 November 2005

Hypnotize is the latest (and probably the last) offering by the Armenian quartet System Of A Down. It is the second and concluding part of the Mesmerize/Hypnotize double album. Nearly six months after the release of Mesmerize, Hypnotize is finally here and delivers what it promised to -  an old school System of a Down. Good news for the fans of the band as the foursome is back, and how!

The album art has a very interesting story to go with it. Like the art that came with Mesmerize, the album art for this album too has a bit of history and a certain mystery surrounding it. The album art has been created by guitarist/singer Daron Malakian’s father, Vartan Malakian. The packaging for Hypnotize is specially designed to physically join Mezmerize and Hypnotize together, forming one unified product with continuous artwork. Pretty impressive and quite amusing to say the least.

^{Cover for Hypnotize}

The album comprises of a total of twelve tracks and is 39:36 minutes long.

The track listing is as follows:
1. Attack
2. Dreaming
3. Kill Rock ‘N Roll
4. Hypnotize
5. Stealing Society
6. Tentative
7. U-Fig
8. Holy Mountains
9. Vicinity of Obscenity
10. She’s Like Heroin
11. Lonely Day
12. Soldier Side

The lead single Hypnotize, which shares its name with the album, was released about a month ago and can be heard on the band’s official site. The single was a sort of a teaser, and gave the band’s fans a glimpse of what was on offer. The single is in the same vein as the music on Mesmerize complete with mellow vocals, electric beats, strong riffs and rhythmic guitars. Daron Malakian’s distinct, sharp vocals fused with their iconic frontman Serj Tankian’s trademark vocals have been utilized pretty well, not only on the single but also throughout the album. This collaboration raised a lot of questions in the minds of the fans. Could System of a Down finally be onto something new here? Would they be finally breaking free of the Nu-Metal genre shackles? What does the future hold for guitarist Daron Malakian? All these questions were answered through this album.

The album is reminiscent of the band’s old works, when they took the entire world by storm with its raw yet captivating début in the form of their self-titled album. Although not as hard-hitting and political as they were back then seven years ago, System of a Down has still managed to capture their fan’s imagination with their surprisingly successful experiments. For me, the band has shrugged the Nu-Metal genre which was forced upon them by their critics and they have made a successful transition to New Progressive, a relatively new and not-so-popular genre.

The album features some very powerful and heavy songs like Dreaming, Tentative, Stealing Society and U-Fig which would remind any devoted System of a Down fan of the band’s works in their début and sophomore effort, Toxicity, which went on to become their best selling album. With this new album, they have reaffirmed my faith that they are a very fine bunch of musicians that I always thought they were. For the die-hard fan, Holy Mountain and Kill Rock ‘N Roll would seem familiar as they are the final studio versions of the bootlegs floating on the internet during the pre-Mesmerize days. The band also shows a different and experimental side with Lonely Day. It also features the full version of the song Soldier Side, whose snippet could be heard on Mesmerize in the form of a rather intriguing introduction to the album. The song is rather contrasting, as it now sets the mood to conclude the album and does a rather good job of it. My favorite song off this album undoubtedly has to Vicinity of Obscenity which uncannily reminds me of Chic ‘N Stu from Steal this Album. Catchy riffs coupled with some rather bizarre and crazy lyrics and insane vocals make this song a delight, something I would not refrain to listen to over and over again.

This album features some of the most interesting lyrics I have come across in a long time. Very few bands manage to execute it with such ease. The guitar work is intricate and some serious efforts have been put into it, which is quite evident. The drumming is hard and rhythmic. All these elements have resulted in a harmonious union which takes the listener to a different plane altogether. Tankian’s team up with Malakian on the vocals has been a rather successful gamble, and is a treat. Unlike the last album, Malakian is quite prominent on this one and it seems to be that the band is exploring new territories in a big way. The new, crisp and hard-hitting sound is pure aural bliss; quite ‘hypnotizing’ indeed. I simply could not manage to take my headphones off once I started listening to this album.The certain degree of unpredictability and the sheer amount of energy that the band possesses has worked in their favour. System of a Down have truly reinvented themselves with this album and according to me, the only band they are competing with are themselves. Their New Progressive sound is very impressive, and one can only imagine what the future holds for these insanely talented musicians. This album is a trademark power epic by the band that is System of a Down and they are all set to scale new heights with Hypnotize.

This album is a must listen for any System of a Down fan. Even if you are not, this would not at all be a bad album to start exploring the band

My rating:4.0/5.0

Here’s to the new beginings. Hopefully the posting will be a bit more regular now that I have a clean slate (of sorts). Cheerio.