Monday, January 14, 2008

The King!!!

Well, my fans seem to be clamouring for yet another post, its so tiresome to oblige to your fan following...... i wonder how ELVIS must have felt every living moment of his life gone by...i saw one of his tour DVDs today, you know the type, recorded live and then released years after the legend in question passes away...

ELVIS it seems was quite aware and proud of the hysteria his mere presence created,both on and off stage...the DVD did no justice to him in that short span of an hour, i mean really! This is The King we are talking about.I myself have always been a self proclaimed lover of ELVIS, in the purest sense of that word.I consider it demeaning to myself and Him, to call myself a fan. I'm not a fan,i love him,plain and simple.

He was,in my opinion, a rare mix of a performer and an entertainer.The proof is there for all to see.When that smooth flick of his wrist sent the trademark red kerchief around his neck flying, one has to simply see the audience's reaction to comprehend his power.Women swooning all over were a testimony to the craze he held worldwide.ELVIS was also lucky enough to have one of the best bands the world has and will ever see; they were what he called his "rhythm group"....
The man truly enjoyed music,i have conciously every performance of his that i could lay my hands on and i have never seen him standstill.Every part of ELVIS would move to every beat of the ELVIS music as i call it.

He even dabbled in movies for sometime there and though i have never seen any,I'm sure i won't be disappointed when i eventually manage to see one....he was such a phenomenon!That lip curl of his, that impish smile flashed at one all,his cheeky sense of humour,his confidence in getting what and who he wanted as and when he wanted.....some would argue he was arrogant and difficult and threw tantrums,maybe....but why should he not be who he was,he was ELVIS and he knew it.We all are we but very few of us have the luxury to flaunt ourselves for everyone to see...i read this interesting snippet of info the other day; Elvis loved a certain hot dog that was popular in Memphis,so if and when on tour,he would actually have the hot dogs flown in for him in a private jet.That is going a bit too far i guess but if his hot dogs helped create legendary hits like "Jailhouse rocks","Love me tender","The ghetto",etc;then i say,he should have flown in food from other parts of the world too.
Even today in almost every chapel, casino and diner of Las Vegas, we find ELVIS impersonators who preside over weddings,deal out cards and take pictures with tourists from across the world.
Those sideburns,that white jumpsuit,those large buckled belts,those droopy blue eyes that gave the mistaken impression of him being perennially sleepy,all helped put together the phenomenon that ELVIS was,is and will be...till date,we find die hard fans claiming to have "spotted" the king,maybe they really did,then again maybe they are just hopeful like me..

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Mood Indigo

Ok! so we were thinking, last year, few more months, last trip, few good memories to boot, this has to be the best thing that has happened to us, right??? Wrong! turns out, inspite of advance booking, No reservations!!!!! We were all on waiting list and though we had planned to get to know each other better and bond and stuff, this turned out to be a bigger deal than we had bargained for which meant, Extra bonding, as in 2 girls on each berth and as interesting as that may sound, let me tell you, it is not! and i happen to have first hand experience....
Then again, in retrospect, it was'nt all that bad, we all of us barely slept. To add an interesting spin to the ensuing events, i ended up spraining my back which made it quite a feat for me and pujitha { my best friend } who was,bless her soul,sharing a berth with me. We just could'nt wait for daybreak and mumbai to arrive. Any passing IITian would have been moved to see our anxiety for the arrival of the fest and the city, little knowing what we Really awaited :)

When we finally arrived at our room, well, never mind, there is'nt enought space for me to accomodate that story, it will have to await another day....im tired just thinking of those 5 days, i don't think i have ever walked as much as i did those few days; massive campus is putting it mildly...really! what were the authorities thinking??
sure,they provided these buses called "tum tum" ( go figure), but trust me, a few flyovers and escalators would have made the experience a lot more pleasant, honestly!

An unruly gang of 12 girls made the whole situation a lot more fun and bearable though, we had an entire flat to ourselves which was nice since we did'nt have to share the bathroom and beds with strangers,we Could however share clothes and we did! :) The best part was everytime we got together for a group photo, there were at least 7 cameras to handle while we held the same pose,since;every girl wanted that precise picture for her personal collection( but naturally ).

Now, young girls tend to have quite an appetite as it is, but add to that, the kilometers of trekking back and forth to the room and canteen and you have for yourself a ravenous gang ready to eat anything that is edible....We were eating most of the time and when we were'nt eating, we were walking or talking or cribbing about all the walking :)

The IITians for their part did everything they could to make the experience memorable, one could really see the efforts they had put into the whole event. Oh! and i MUST mention the sights we saw, it was almost as if the hands striking 12 meant insanity time for all youngsters.
I sincerely wondered if some of the crowd had been smoking something exhilerating or what, it was amazing the way everyone exuded all that enthusiasm and energy in the wee hours of morning. People dedicatedly attended even the late night shows and i doubt if any professor has ever seen a loyal turnout as SHANKAR, EHSAAN & LOY did 1 of those nights. Not to mention the Tribute To R.D.Burman night which i was surprised to see had quite a turn out itself.

The last day, we also had this performance by an Indo-US jazz band,which i could tell were really good since i understood absolutely nothing of thier music; to add to their talent was a great sense of humour and the beauty of the band was that the foreigner who played the saxophone,also turned out to be quite a genius at the flute! It was a pity we did'nt participate in any activities but then again who had the time? It was way more fun just living together and watching all the events and attending the UV LIGHT DANCE show, a must mention! The initial 2 days were quite a drag for us what with the journey and the accomodation hassles and blah N BLAH. The next 2 days however were quite enjoyable because ,roll the drums, we discovered mumbaiyya shopping!!!

Now, i know there are a lot of people out there who think they know how crazy women are with shopping but if all you people had seen us that day on linking road, we would have given you a whole new perspective to your opinions. There were 10-12 of us and without exaggeration, 3 pairs of footwear each and what have you??? 36 odd pairs of foot work, buckles et al. Not to mention, some of the girls needed clothes ( duh! ) ,so there you have it...a productive day all in all :)

And it goes without saying,that shopping would involve a lot of walking and in our case,eating ,so back to square one ! surprisingly, though the trip did'nt set off on a great note, the last 2 days and nights, atleast for me, were quite memorable....I look forward to the next trip which is doubtful but then again i am hopeful... So, here's to all you wonderful women who were with me for those 5 nights and 6 days of Mood Indigo, it would never have been the same without you...