Have you ever met GOD ?

It was a nite to remember ... to cherish ...

The GOD himself had come down to the MMRDA grnds Bandra mumbai ... to enthrall His mortal audience with a music which the blind could see ... the deaf could hear ... music which could pump life into a corpse ... The 8000 strong crowd waited patiently for 2 hours b4 the schedule just not to miss a single "see", a single "hear" from the cool goggle clad, shaved head GOD.

The show started with "Up In the Sky". The ticket money that we paid ... got over on this very song ... and O' boy who knew that there were 19 more tracks to come .... Then came the cooolest song .... my favourite ... cool as a breeze, COOL # 9. By the time He played "Flying in a blue dream", we were already out of this world ... in the GOD's durbar ... "the heaven" :)
This is the divine creature who has professionally taught "Metallica", "GnR", Steve Vai ... and the like ... who themselves are considered to be the Gods of music !!!
The other songs that we had the extereme privilege to listen were - "Is there love in space", "Starry night", "The Mountain song".

And last but not the least ... the penultimate one - "morrocan sunset" followed by the laaast "Psycho monkey" !!! What a show it waaaas !!! killing performance ... No wonder they had scores of ambulances lined up outside the stage ... :D

But was that the End ???????????? NOOOOOOOO WAAAY !!!!!!!!!! the worshippers wouldnt just let the GOD leave like that !!! The worshippers kept chanting "more" "more" .... Their penance was answered ... and the GOD reappeard !!!

So, finally ... last but not the least .... the penultimate one ... again my fav - "Surfing with an alien". Phew !!!!!!!!!! what energy ... equivalent to a 1000 atom bombs exploding inside of u !!! And the last song ... "Friends" left us gasping for more !!! That brought to an end, a show which I would rate the best till now ... A show the memoirs of which would last for 7 of my lives ... A show for which I have already sinned by putting it into words ...

Shayaris

Jinki aankhein aansuon se nam nahi
Kya samajhte ho unhe koi gham nahi?
Tum tadap kar ro diye to kya hua,
Gham chupakar bhi hansne wale kam nahi

tere liye ek payaam laya hoon,
narm naazuk gulaab laya hoon,
kisi darr se jo tune likhe hi nahi,
unn khaton ka jawab laya hoon.

khuda unhe salamat rakhe,
jo nafrat humse karte hai,
pyaar nahi nafrat hi sahi,
kuch toh humse karte hai.

Concerto Knopflero ...

Lemme start this with a sad comment. Whoever is reading this, might never get a chance to see the Legend himself performing live in concert.

The legend himself is no other than the 60 years old God - Mark Knopfler. Lemme henceforth not call God by his name.

Krishna, Ruz, Rishi n me, we all set out for the concert. First there was this beautiful ride on the bombay poona highway, during which we exhausted almost all of the God's tracks. The day was just getting better. As the day set, we got in line for an appointment with the God Himself alongwith around 15000 more devotees, many of which were from Pune, and bangalore too. My heart sank when the stupid @#$@ tore our cool credit-card like tickets at the entry. Anyways, the torn cards will also be treasured, cherished as a memorabilia ! We got in after about 15 mins. 1 hr wait by which time, it was like a sea of fans waiting for a glimpse of The God himself. So much so, that some of the fans had paid 1000 /- just to hear Him. I bet He wasn’t visible after the last man in the 2500 /- ticket area !

So, 1 hr wait and The God made a modest entry. White loose shirt, blue jeans, blonde sparse hair, a grim face and a guitar that completed the attire ! The show started with some of the best blues music that I have heard. The mood all changed as soon as He played “Walk of life”, which is one of my favourites. The crowd just went wild ! With voice unparalleled and killing guitaaring, He had the crowd at His feet. All that the crowd can shout was “more”.

Then he played “Sultans of Swing”, “Donegons gone”, “Boom like that”, “Telegraph road”, “Romeo and Juliet”. Then, again, the mood changed. The brightly lit stage was transformed into a starry night. He played “Brothers in arms”. A perfect song for that mood. By that song he took us for a tour to heaven with Him, a five minute tour.

Then another favourite – “Money for nothing”, then another “Telegraph road”, then another “So far away”. It was an overdose of good music for us. It all ended with a sweet good-bye song “Going Home”. With a “Good bye all, Good night, Is everybody OK ?”, He made a quiet quite modest exit. Most of the audience (I was one of them) was not content as he couldn’t play some of his best tracks – Calling Elvis, Heavy Fuel. But it was good in a sense, otherwise no one would have left the show alive, such was the killing performance !

This is the man who once was asked why he didn’t press charges against a woman who caused an accident, due to which he had 9 broken bones, to which he replied “Why the hassle !”. This is the kind of a man he is ! most popular yet modest. The memory of the show will linger till the rest of my life …

The Autorikshaw-walla dudes !!!

Lemme henceforth address the autorikshaw wala as "The dude".

Chapter 1 :

me : Bhaiyya, oxford blues jaana hai.

The dude: ji sahab.

The dude: Harrr ghadiii badal rahi hai dhoop jindagii. chaav hai kahiin kahiin hai dhoooop jindagiiiii.

me: bhaiya, achcha gaa lete ho.

The dude: arey sahab, ye to kuch bhi nahi hai. aapne vo gaana suna hai ? ... "chupke chupke raat diin ...."

This is how it started !!! then, the whole journey till my home was a cakeride as i would call it. When my home was just a minute away,

The dude: sahab, abhi to aapko jaana hai, fir kabhi hamaari sawaari mein baithiye, aapko talat aziz sunaaoonga, mera favourite hai.

me: jaroor bhaiya. (as if my bike would break everyday n as if this coincidence isnt enuff, everyday I wud get this dude for lift till the office !)

me: kitna hua bhaiya ?

The dude: vaise to 35 hue hain, lekin aap ke liye special discount. sirf 30 dijiye !!!

Wow !!! THATS WHY I call these dudes "THE DUDES".

Chapter 2:

This is the day I was supposed to get the offer letter frm Selectica at 11 am. It was already 10:45, and I was an hour away from the office. And I didnt have a bike that time.

The dude: kahan jaana hai bhaiya ?

me: bhaiya, bahut der ho gayi hai ... Sharda arcade (I am 1000% sure I told him this) jaana hai. Bhaut important kaam hai. Jara tej chalaana.

The dude: bhaiya, agar itna important kaam hai to jaraa jaldi nikalna tha ghar se !!!
(words of wisdom, accepted)

me: bhaiya, left turn nahi, seedha chalna hai.

The dude: bhaiya, ye shortcut hai. jaldi pahunchenge.

me: confused. Its 3 months I have been going this route, how the hell did I miss this shortcut !

The dude: lo bhaiya, aa gaya.

me: confused. (Its only 15 mins past dude !!! 15 mins mein Sharda arcade ???? But ... this place doesnt look like sharda arcade.)

me: ye khaaaan aa gaye hum ???

The dude: SHARDA CENTER, yehi to bola tha na aapne ?

me: What the &*#@ !!!

chalo, neways. bhaiyaji, Sharda Aaaarrrccccaaaadde ... Biiiiibbbbbwwweeewwwaaadddiiii.

The dude: Kyo bhaiya ? itni jaldi kya hai ? office hi jaana hai na ... thoda late hi sahi ...

me: bhaiyaji, aaj naukri ka pehela din hai. offer letter milne vaala hai. Bahut dhakke khaane ke baad ye naukri mili hai.

10 mins of silence.

The dude: Bhaiya, niraash mat hona kabhi ... try karte rehna.

me: matlab ?

The dude: Dekhiye, aaj nahi to kal, kabhi na kabhi, "telco", "bajaj" jaisi company mein naukri mil hi jaayegi.

me: again, What the *^#( ????

The earliest snapshot of my life.

The earliest day that I can remember from my childhood.

The earliest that I can think of myself is the 1st grade. I was a real phattu, shy but equally michievous types. That day I wanted to scare-off this more phattuer friend of mine. I happened to catch him in the loo. I locked him in and started giving "hool" to him. Now I never knew that this dude can cry like crazy. I never knew that if ever there were a "Whoz the loudest" competition in my school, this guy would break all the records !!! So, obviously he cried to the best that he could. This gathered some 3-4 scariest teachers outside the loo. "open the door and get ur @$$ colored red" was the thought that ran thru' my mind ! Now. Thats it, It took just 10 more mins when even the principal was outside. 20 more mins and my mom was outside !!! "dude ! its mummy now ! if you dont open the door now, ur @$$ would be colored first red by the teachers n then black n blue by mummy", as soon as I thought this, clang - the door opened and clap, clap,clap ... no no ... what're you thinking, those were the claps that mummy gave to me :) , on my cheeks :).

That day taught me a lesson - never give "hool" to any person ... especially in the loo :)