Reinvention

Well hello there! It seems like its been a while since I met you here. No recap of the previous year as was the usual norm for a few years now. Neither was there a very resolute post in early Jan like was the norm a few years earlier. I actually thought the last I wrote was in Nov. I was let down. Mightily.

So, a very happy new year to all fellow bloggers and followers. Hope more of your resolutions are made and executed this year. I just noticed early this year that almost all my resolutions have been stuck on paper for the past couple of years now. Don't have the heart or the will to strike them off (read that as cancel) and for a multitude of reasons, they have not been executed. I hope to realise a few of them this year and strike them off (read that as executed) so that the next years resolutions look at least a little fresh. I'm very happy that this year has started on the right NOTE.

Anyways, I was thinking about a topic that was boggling me for the past few weeks now. Reinvention. How important it is for one to reinvent and adapt as per the current scenario. Or wait, maybe not. Adaptability is something that's probably vastly different from reinvention. Yeah. it actually is. Although both of them form the core essentials of an individual's nature. You might be able to adapt, but when it comes to reinventing, maybe you would shy away citing a lot of reasons.

I really don't want to take any names out, as always. But sometimes this reinvention that people term they are doing to themselves is mostly an abomination. The people or the organisations i'm talking about were at a point of time at their best. Displaying unparalleled workmanship, displaying creative ability, taking out ideas out of thin air, having everyone stumped. No, i'm not saying success got to their heads and they just got too cocky to experiment any more. I don't think its that. True, a lot of us might say that now there is access to everyone to everything. The world is a smaller place. You really can't think so much out of the box like earlier. Dude, if you can't think, then its dangerous. Not just for us, but for the future generations to come. Because this is what we'd pass on - intellectually and genetically.

Reinvention has happened in a few ways. People have gone out of their comfort zone to do things they have never done. I strongly feel that time and again, this needs to be done. Even your brain gets bored after a regular workout routine, so much so that unless you surprise it with something new, it signals the body to stop responding. So, basically to keep the brain active, you need to surprise it with a lot of new things and this is when you'd find out what's more to you than what was hitherto. But completely shifting focus to a new area and just resting on a previously created name will not do much good. If you are an expert at doing something, find out ways to better that. Find your forte. Find your native spirit. When it is set, you can play all around it. Some people fail to find that. But what's startling is that in today's times, after finding your trait, your home ground, you leave it all out and then go in pursuit of something else? I seriously think there is something amiss there. Its probably a phase, I like to believe where people have gotten more experimental, but I have strongly experienced that getting back to the roots is always the solution.

Yeah, you need to have roots of course. Without that, everything is just vapour.

Life, as we know it, or do we?

What is life? No, seriously, what is it?

I know, we all know that there are atleast one zillion ways you can answer that. Some people who have tried on doing many a things and have failed would probably tell you that life’s a compromise. The other lucky ones who have tasted success by doing what they always wanted would probably tell you that everything is just great. A guy on the road who’s starving and begs to fill his stomach or probably his kids’ would tell that life is miserable. A teenager would define it in his own way, so would anyone, based on their own experiences, or the way they have been going through things in their lives. But the bottom line is, what is it any way?

With the current state of mind, I honestly don’t know. I don’t know if it’s about compromises, if it’s about achieving, if it’s about just going with the flow, if it’s just pleasing someone for whatever reasons. It gets a little tricky to make a general definition for this question. Just today, a while back, I saw something that said something like this - “why do they say that life’s short when that’s probably one of the longest things you ever have?” Well, that’s kinda true. I think why they say life’s short is mainly because of the encouraging vibe that line gives. Come on, life’s short, let’s do this, let’s do that and so on. Is it really like that? Does it happen that way? Who knows?

What life becomes is eventually a mystery. We start with something in mind, it takes it own turn, adapting to the uncertainties of time. And then by the time we realise something, it’s all too late. It’s very comforting to say that a good time is going to come, that times change and all that. I’m not saying it never will, it’s one thing to hope but another thing to realise the practicality of it. 

Random Ramble - 3

Well, hello.

One of those days where you open blogger after what seems like ages without a set agenda in mind. You really don't know where to begin, what to address or what to ramble upon. I should probably start naming these in sequence. But again, for the frequency of my writing, I might not even remember the previous number. I'm quite sure there is at the very least, more than one blog which says random something. Anyways, let me begin, somehow.

So, its September. The dreaded month. This time, I think it is in conjunction with its predecessor, August. There was an onslaught of a very courageous mosquito(es) who escaped the electric bat and made their way into finding us and infecting all of our blood streams, resulting in quite a prolonged viral infection. It was quite terrible, with all of us at home sleeping through the day, unable to move a muscle. What's worse is that even through half of September, the body pains haven't reduced. Quite a strong mosquito, maybe. So since September joined hands with August, I'd not blame most of it on the 9th month.

End of August is when our own brand of shirts - Rue mode launched, under the aegis of That Corner Store. We started off this after a lot of planning and research. We have presence on Amazon and Snapdeal and lot of local orders. That's about the publicity I can do. Maybe we need to get a professional fashion blogger to talk about it and promote it.

One thing about working with a labour class oriented industry is that you learn a lot. Learn to explain small things, learn to do the same things in different ways and so on. Its been just over two years since I started working here and boy, it is taxing. Draining mentally more than physically. To top it all, you find clients who screw you over and just when you are settling, demonetisation hits you in the face again. Problems are endless, but again, if everything went smooth, what would be memorable?

Nope. Still don't have anything concrete to talk about. Rather, there is just so much to talk about. I should probably revisit with a little more organisation in thought.

Ta!

The apathy of Music, or what is left of it.

I have been observing a very disturbing trend off late. I remember writing about how people want everything instantly in today's times, some 4 years back at least. I'm surprised that tables haven't turned since then. What's disturbing is that probably they won't, ever.

Its a little appalling, the approach people are taking toward art forms. This is probably a lament on similar lines that I remember was happening when there was a debate going on as to how much technology should you let into your music. While there were pros like different artists not being available together for a recording, there were also cons that robbed songs off their expression because of various breaks during recording, off the chemistry and bonding that would have been if not for technology. Taken in with a pinch of salt, since technology simplified the work of the sound engineer, it reigned supreme.

Today, its the exposure. Social media has played and will continue to play a very important role in our lives. People decide to showcase the food they eat, the people they have gone out with and the like. But when used properly, social media can serve as a very powerful tool for the required exposure. With a lot of people - young and old taking up music and taking up gigging on the rise, its only fair that they require their followers to increase, recognise them so that they get more shows, hoping their musical career would get an upstart. Its very heartening to know that youtube sensations have gotten big breaks earlier. So that one reason is enough for us to hope, and thus, perform and publicise.

I'm not saying publicity is bad, neither am I saying marketing ourselves is bad. There needs to be an aggressive push in the market if we are looking for people to notice us. What is appalling and steadily deteriorating is the quality of music.

We all think of getting on stage and covering classics. Few people shy away from covering them because they would be worried that if its not reproduced the same way as of the original, the crowd would well, boo them. Few people take the brave step of acing the guitar riff or the solo the way it is with rigorous practice. Few people play the part with their modifications and then stand by it saying its their own version of it. I've seen all these kinds of people. One simple thought we need to stop sometime in life and ask ourselves is this. Why did these bands become classics? Why have few bands like Iron Maiden perhaps stood the test of time? How is it that anything that's new isn't termed a classic, or how is it that it fades away too soon? I'm not trying to demean any artist here. All artists, in my opinion are trying to give it their own flavour to it and only few are successful in getting a taste of it. As kids, we've heard stories of musicians practicing for days on a particular scale, conducting workshops only about a certain raaga and the various ways it can be interpreted.

I used to have many such discussions at music class. In view of getting likes of going live, or just publicising our work, we get into the field like half baked chicken. Here, the musical ability is limited, there, audience doesn't give a damn as to what you play as long as you entertain them. It could be death metal, it could be carnatic classical. That has forced a new breed of musicians to evolve, the ones that don't care. The ones that are ok with learning for 2 years and then going all out on promotion. Yes, it has become a business, it has become very commercial. Gone are the days when music used to sell because of a certain person. Now its the package. That's no harm either. But its art form. Art is liberation. For liberation to happen, there has to be a proper means. Every art form is an ocean. An ocean that needs to be worshipped, needs to be revered. Its what is referred to as 'Saadhana'. Having heard stories of artists who would just lock themselves up and play one particular raaga for days together, getting inspired from them, and looking at people who have an attitude of not wanting to take in new things, not wanting to evolve, not wanting to experiment, but just rely on instant fame is a little too disturbing. Again, its the ones who can actually have a certain discipline that can really stick around to anything. But this trend can surely be changed by proper education, by proper upbringing. Its not fame or success that matters. Its the discipline and the perseverance. Its the practice. Its how you express your liberation after that. But for liberation to happen, you need to know what you are capable of. 

Evolution

I don't intend to make this a discourse on human evolution. But hey, come to actually think of it, it might just be that. Well, to another degree or dimension, I suppose.

There's this thing I keep reading here and there. I think I turn away from it voluntarily because its the truth. I don't think any of us have the balls to face the truth as it is. Well, lets not make it about anybody. Let me talk for myself - for if I do evolve, this will serve as a nice memoir. But seriously, the thing I kept evading every now and then was - 'People are only important to you at specific times'. I thought it was kinda rude to make a statement like that. But its the truth, isn't it?

We all have grown out of relations, out of friendships, out of relations that we can't give a name to. We have evolved out of them. I've heard people say that those who were important to us at a point of time are like plain glass now - we look through them. Why did that happen?

There are probably two things at play here. One - We change. We conveniently say out loud that people change, he/she has changed and blah. But how many times do we stop to realise that we are included in the people? How many times do we think if that other person thought the same about you, some time? Its all laced with self pity and distress that we quickly shift the blame away from us. But, turns out what I read was true.

We all make relationships. We never start a relationship with an intention to make sure it lasts for 2 months. (We call them flings.) No, but seriously, at that point of time, that person would mean quite a lot to us. I don't mean to make this sound in a way that would make people selfish and 'use' the person for some gains. That is a whole new game. But its okay. I'm really convincing myself here that its okay to grow out of relations. But I guess the harsh reality just bites you in the ass. We all consider that person important in that phase of our lives. Priorities change. We change. They change. We find others, they also do. We grow out of it. They do too. Its only the ones who stand the test of time that are laud-worthy. Not to mention, a rarity.

State of mind

Well, hello there.

So it turns out that this is the first blog of the year. I was so hoping that I'd open my blog to find a couple of entries already in Jan. But, it turns out that they just ended up as being plans after all. With a gleam of hope that I'd miss my Feb entry by hours, I immediately rushed to open the screen of my MacBook, but seems like it is right on time to make my first blog entry!

I wasn't lying about making those plans of writing blogs. There was Pravasi Diwas that happened in Bangalore in January. I was a little too perplexed with the way things unfolded during those few days around that event. Greenery everywhere, even planted with due care in the underpasses. Like I heaved a sigh of exasperation about how much of effort would go down the drain for some excessive ornamentation of our 'Garden city', which really did, sooner than expected. This was to form a blog in entirety. I don't know how, please don't ask me. Maybe out of sheer frustration, I'd have ended up typing fancy words at furious speeds.

But without planning (like many times), today, as soon as I wrapped up my now-a-relatively-little-bit regular vocal practice (of which I was mighty disappointed), I just thought to myself - I could take it to two extremities. I could sulk that I'm out of touch and ruin my mood, or I could say it was just one of those days when things didn't turn out to be that hunky-dory. Now, this, too is very subjective. It really depends on the state of mind during that part. But, how many times really have we actually rued about things that have happened and not found a way to brush it off saying, 'its ok, it was just a one off incident'. Reminds me I was cribbing about something that had happened for atlas weeks after the incident till I actually convinced myself - with great motivation from some wonderful people around me of course.

I remember telling a friend recently - a quote that I read somewhere in a very disturbed state of mind. You know when you are all a little upset about something, you are trying hard to get rid of it because its affecting your efficiency and all that. So, I was a little preoccupied with some thoughts when I saw this - 'If you are upset about something and really can't do much about it, close your eyes for a minute and think if it would affect you in some way in the next 5 years. If it would, you better pull up your socks together and do something about it. If it doesn't, then you have your answer.' Some quotes like these at the right time can make wonders. In your head. 

We are all human after all. We all err. We all are meant to. Or else we never learn. We never get motivated. Have you ever thought that motivation doesn't come by looking at videos? Neither does persistence. Neither does a state of mind. This reminds of another incident that most of you would have read about - the cockroach story. You know a lady freaks out in a restaurant when she sees a cockroach at her feet. The dude next to her freaks out too, and as a chain reaction, all people start scampering and shouting. The poor cockroach, oblivious to all the commotion is trying to find a place and running pillar to post. A waiter comes along, confidently picks up the cockroach by the antenna and throws it out. What was on display here? The waiter's ability to not get affected by the cockroach, because, duh, it really didn't mean to affect you in any way. So, similarly, state of mind is created by us. We are upset because we let ourselves become upset. We are happy because of similar reasons. We get motivated when we want to, and the days we aren't, we blame it on something silly. Its never an external force. Its all us. Its all inside us.

2017 beckons

So, as it turns out, it had been a while since my customary new year post happened. I remember only the last 2 new years when I was hanging out with friends, incidentally at the same place. The last year was slightly more memorable since it was right after a gig. Well, ok. A bad gig.

After much deliberation, I must admit that I don't remember the most important events in this year. Maybe there aren't much important events that have happened. Maybe it was just another year of failed hopes, failed goals. But what I know is that it was one step closer. You know like when people say I don't see anything constructive happening and you retort back saying that you are laying the foundation to make sure the skyscraper rises really high. Maybe its just that. Or, maybe another failed hope.

All the emojiless sarcasm apart, I think this year was fairly good, on many notes. And fairly bad on many notes. Its like how you see a half filled cup. Emotions and life does that to you. A good state of mind will make you think that the cup is half full and on the other hand, a bad day would make you see how much emptiness the cup has. 

Workwise, there has been a lot of ups and downs, lot of running around and stress. To which I attribute the reducing levels of creative thinking and memory. Well, you really need to find a defence point. That's how life works. Over the past few days, I guess (and hope) that I've found a way to beat it. It has gotten a little better. I don't lament that I don't remember at least. 

Musically, a lot of things have (not) happened. Plans got stronger and the desire to get close to making them happen got stronger as well. There are two people who have contributed to this. One who keeps telling me that I just plan and don't DO, and the other who is always surprised that I've not given up on them, yet.

I see these (intentionally funny) posts off late about a list of people who turned strangers in 2016. I have never thought of it that way. Found it extremely rude. Yeah, coming from a judgemental, arrogant person it isn't rude. But really, I never thought that people could turn into strangers just like that. Maybe there were two things to it - one is that I really take a lot of time to warm up to somebody to know if I need to give them enough importance or not, and the other thing is that you never really understand a person. You understand only what you want to. Never is an effort made to understand who they really are. So, obviously when something happens, you get all worked up saying things like you didn't expect such things and so forth. Here's where being judgemental helps. But mark my words, it isn't fool proof.

Despite that, I really look forward to more memories, more lamenting about not meeting goals, more confusion and anarchy, more helpless states of mind. I also look forward to more meaningful relationships, more happiness, more sharing, more love and of course, more mystery and suspense, which may or may not be coupled with Music.

I'd like to thank all of them who have been through my rough and best times. I'd like to thank all of them who set goals for me this year. I will admit, I realised none of them. I'd like to thank a few people for just being there, and at times being more than just 'being'.

Happy new year folks, hoping (yeah, the bitch is back) that it would be better!

PS. Someday I'll have a New Year bash with meaningful people all around, making merry, raising toasts, having fun and all that. Oh wait, I should wait to sleep, to dream.