Change. (Might not make sense to you! :D)

Change is the only certain thing in life they say. That and death. But I am not going to talk about death here because I don't know anything about it! I know a few things about change though. Like how it can in it's arcane ways make you feel ecstatic one instant and the next instant you want to hide in a corner from the whole world wishing nobody ever heard of you. One instant you're on top of everybody's charts and then you're the last person anyone wants to bump into.

Of course without change life would suck terribly. Nobody would have any imagination. You'd still be stuck at the same place doing the same thing after ten years. Twenty years. A whole eternity. Progress would stop and this world would see day after day after day pass by with no spectacular occurrences.

And yet people are afraid of change. Nothing might be so mind-boggling without change but then things aren't unsettling either. Some people live in apprehension and fear all their lives... pondering about what might become of them... what they will or will not make of their "insignificant lives"... does anything last forever? Hope? Love? Friendship? What if something happens that will change everything? Change. Something that invokes fear and anticipation. Change. Something that you know will change your life but you have no clue if it will be for the better or for the worse. Now some may argue that everything happens for the best but honestly... how often do we KNOW what good has come out of certain things... How do we know what disaster someone has averted by losing a limb? Is it for the better? Maybe. How so? No one knows.

So what is it about change that makes it so hard to live with it or live without it? Do all of us need this uncertainty to go on? I am thinking we do. What's a race when you know for sure who's going to win it and how? Maybe change is what makes life. Or maybe change is life. So when people say only death and change is ever certain... they're really talking about life and death. Or are they? Maybe :)

JRO!

OK here I am again. I know it has been long and I've missed my blog! *Looks around happily... until her eyes wander and stop to see the date of the last entry...* Yeah, like I said... I've missed blogging.

Anyway, this is about the June RockOut which happened in July and what can I say... it was amazing! Like many concerts that happen in Chennai, the fan following was rather small (there might have been like 150 people which is kind of a big deal for Chn!) but what the heck, it was totally awesome! This blog is dedicated to my all time favourite Indian bands - Blood and Iron, SKRAT and Motherjane.

SKRAT came on and as always, they had the fans screaming out loud for more. Their music, to me, is creative, professional and fun. It isn't beat up. You can never hear a similar sounding song anywhere. The riffs were perfect, the drum fills were complementary. The vocals fit in so well... if you have seen one of those delicately carved pieces of furniture that wouldn't have looked as exquisite without minor, vein-sized details... you'll know what I'm talking about. They weave together a perfect fabric with all their instruments, paying perfect attention to details. If there's anything that SKRAT needs to achieve the overall awesomeness that they're so close to having - it is the lyrics. They're very good but they could be better.

Blood and Iron was pure METAL. That's all there is to it. It was raining cats and dogs. Nobody cared. Half an hour of headbanging and indulgence. And then they were gone. Just like that. For what seemed like a minute, a silence fell over everyone after they found out that repeated pleas of an encore wasn't going to yield any results. BnI has musical genes in them. If they wouldn't have told you that the drummer had a broken wrist, you'd hardly notice. The grounds were filed with mad sounds from the snare and the crash. The double bass was too good to be true. Keyboards made the song. Guitar solos have their own place in a song but a keyboard solo this genial is hard to come by. Vocals were out of the world. The only thing was that nobody could hear the bassy. Well, bad arrangements maybe... But Blood and Iron was probably the band that got most of the attention and accolades.

Motherjane... if you would look at these guys in a coffee shop they'd seem like ordinary Mallus who live a happy life eating beef and drinking their everyday chaaya. The "rockband" outfit is only for stage. And boy do they astonish you! The Neversink river isn't the confluence of east and west, Motherjane's music is! You will start to wonder if Nikola Tesla made magical guitars if you'd just look at Baiju play. Now it's Indian... now it's western rock... Indian... rock... It makes you breathless and when the solo breaks off and he's playing rhythm again all you can say is "wow!"

There might be Wacken Open Air and Bloodstock and Woodstock... but there is also JRO and the talent here is definitely a threat to anyone who is competing. Viva la Musica!

Dementia

I was drunk as a fish when I wrote this. So no you can't laugh too much over this one.

Seething through your veins
A surge of anger passes
Down the memory lanes
Violent, maverick clashes
The darkness overcomes
And you can’t set yourself free
The chains of indifference
Make you blind and you can’t see

Venomous tasteful desires
Creeping through your veins
Light of a thousand pyres
Down your memory lanes
Seeping from the shadows
A discerning twinge of gloom
Hits you deep inside
And takes you to your doom

Now the anger is gone
And fear is here instead
You can’t sleep for too long
You twist and turn in bed
Your mind is now capsized
By the wilderness vile
And your heart is incised
Into pieces fragile

Hold on to your broken soul
Don’t wander too far
Or get sucked into the black hole
And soon you’ll be that dead star

My entry for Jhankar 2009-10 poetry writing

Inspiration: Hypnogaja - (Talk to me) Like lovers do

So we were given this topic "Can money buy love" and an hour's time to write our poem. And this is what got me the second place. Only goes on to show that the others really sucked =P 

Can Money Buy Love?

I’m a rich kid with a lot of money

I have a personal bodyguard and three cars

But I sometimes feel strangely funny

When I lie awake watching the stars

For I may have a playstation and the latest game

And all the record labels in the store

Yet I sometimes wish that I could claim

That I have something I want evermore

 

I dream of lovers holding hands

And kissing gently beneath the sky

Or sharing their tacos at the stands

But that’s something money can’t buy

I dream of gardens and the sea

And two souls oblivious to all that

Whispering sweet nothings softly

Lost in their subliminal chat

 

I have a fast bike that can fly

But I have no one to share the ride

I have company in laughter but I’m alone when I cry

I wish I had a lover by my side

If I could trade all that I possess

For a humble wish from Above

I’d forget about playthings and fancy dresses

And wish for one true love. 

Life is a storm cloud

**I wrote this for my ten year old cousin and she urged me to put it up on here. So yeh go ahead, have a laugh at my terrible writing skills and dance like mavericks at the grave of my dead muses.**

Just when you think that it's all over

Life gives you a sudden cheer
If all your worries would sink any lower
You'd wonder if they were ever here

Some memories fade and some linger
Some seem like they happened yesterday
Like the song of a soulful singer
They often rewind in your head and play

Distant dreams look closer now
All your wishes come true somehow
Your heart wants to sing in glee
You want to dance because you feel free
Say it once, say it again out loud
Life is a moving storm cloud

Just when you thought you'd never find love
Life gives you a surprise
Like a blessing from the heaven above
Like an angel in disguise

Some friends go and some stay
Some come into your life late

But I'll think you'd agree that any day

They make your simple life great

Happy times are closer now

All your tears seem to dry somehow

You can't help but nod and smile

At how it seemed over before a little while

Sing it once sing it out loud

Life is a moving storm cloud

The Iron Maidens

For as long as I can remember I have been a huge fan of all genres of music and Iron Maiden was one of the first few bands that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to when I found out that I had an ear for metal music. I never really used to enjoy metal at first (and look at me now!) but an accidental hearing of The Land where Dragons Rule by DragonForce thinking it was the ATB song got me addicted. 

Anyway, one day I was doing another of my researches on music bands and a Wikipedia link got me to The Iron Maidens page. The world's only all-female tribute band of Iron Maiden. I wasted no time in listening to their music and I was spellbound. I mean it was simply brilliant. I don't know if I can ever finish talking about how much I loved it. The lead vocalist Aja Kim (Bruce Lee Chickinson) has an amazing voice. She impresses me as a singer, a martial arts champ (yeah she's a black belt -Shotokan) and as a performer. I mean there is a difference when you listen to her sing the song and then listen to Bruce's version but that's only because she is a she. The most amazing person I thought was Wanda Ortiz (Steph Harris). Nobody could have done a better bass and I mean seriously... that woman rocks. If I ever get to see her I will prolly die of the joy and honour. I heard their version of The Trooper. It couldn't get any better. It was the best cover I have ever seen of the song. 

Every member of the band is darn talented and Iron Maiden themselves have praised the band time and again for their perfect rendering of the songs. Enough said. They have a new female lead vocalist coming in now and I can't wait to see who.

I'm an Indian and like all other metalheads here I am thrilled about iron Maiden's concert here next year in Feb... the only thing that could make me happier is an Iron Maidens performance. And as said by various people time and time again, I have nothing more to say than echo what has already been said -you girls rock. 

Breast ironing and irony

I spoke to this Nigerian girl a while back -Mahparah (not her real name). She is a lively seventeen year old and the first girl in her family to go to school. She laughs like an angel. A laugh that conceals all the pain that her past carries. Every moment of horror and agony that she went through. 

Mahparah misses her sister. She's dead. "Dead!" I exclaim. "How? What happened to her?" Mahparah does not answer. She says I might not understand if she told me. After some reassurance and prodding Mahparah says she was killed by her mother and by the society. By now I am sure it's some evil ritual of the community she lives in. I ask her to tell me more. She shared some pictures with me. Pictures of breasts. Deformed breasts. Breasts that looked like they had froth forming on them. Froth of scalded flesh. Blisters and boils. Her breasts were ironed with a hot grinding stone -the traditional way. 

I took one look at those pictures and I supressed a shriek. Mahparah continued to speak without emotion. Three days after her sister's breasts were ironed, her genitals were mutilated. She died shortly after that due to a horrible haemorrhage. It has been ten years now but Mahparah has not forgotten her sister's screams. And her mother's. She remembers her mother screaming... at her sister... telling her to bite her lip and take it all in. 

Mahparah said to me... you're a feminist... please do something about this. Tell people about this. Nobody even knows what we endure. Nobody knows what this is all about. And even if they do... it's only through all the scientific terms they use in articles and papers. Nobody understands the gravity.

 It's true. People know about many problems women face. Seldom have I come across people actually knowing what breast ironing is. Her words saddened me so much that it felt like somebody just placed a rock on my heart. This is why I want to tell Mahparah's story to the world. I really can't say much because I am not at liberty to reveal where she is from. (((Yes she told me not to eve if I said I changed her name :-| :'( )))

To Mahparah's luck, after her sister died... a qualified doctor had come to visit their community. He warned her parents that she would take Mahparah away to America if they did any of this BS to her. Mahparah and some other girls in her community were saved. But those were only a few. 

You must be wondering why on earth they do this. Because according to them the girls don't get raped by boys and men. Because the name of the family is held high. Because there's no loss of reputaion. And genitals are cut because they are evil and they are unhealthy. Because they will cause a woman to become a monster. Don't all these "religious" people who think that FGM should be done because god said so THINK for one moment? If god didn't want women to have clits, then they wouldn't have them. But they do so why cut it off? Patriarchy -down with you. 

A note to all people saying I'm not a feminist BUT I care for women's rights... You know guys? Feminists are not evil devils who want to turn all men into stone and then destroy them with sledgehammers. We only want equality. There are some bad apples who claim to be feminists but they want female superiority. I think they're idiots. All the real feminists think they're idiots. So if you want equality for women and men then you ARE a feminist. Why the term feminist? Because this has always been about women not getting the same legal or social privileges as men do. Not the other way round. 

Anyway that's not what, Mahparah is a hero to me. To anybody who cares to listen to her story. She is the face of bravery and courage. She stood up to her parents and said she needs to go to school like her brothers. "I'm first in class. I finally beat the boy who sists next to me in math", she said to me with an undeniable sense of pride and innocence. My heat goes out to her and all the other girls in that village who have sad stories to tell but they don't find the time to tell it. They are now shaping the future of their country. 

At the end of it all Mahparah returned to her usual self and with the laughter that captivates all souls, she said to me -"You know Swati, it's good to finally see some girls with breasts!"