Blogging in the US of A

so this is my first blog entry after more than a month…..i dont think i can ever be categorized as a blogger …..first things first….LA seems no different from Delhi…..its hot…..theres more traffic than you’d expect ( delhi still wins out here by the way )….lots of indians all around……the only thing that sucks is that the food costs too much…..like today i didnt even feel like going somewhere to have lunch…..i think itll take some time for me to get used to the prices….

other things……well i get nostalgic from time to time….really feel like heading back everyday…but ive been told that its normal…..go figure….I attended the ITA institute which is required for becoming a TA….met some really nice people from all over the world out there and discussed our common dislike for the US….imagine having lunch of bread, salad, chicken/vegetables and pizza….you know something is wrong right away

time to logout……library is closing…atleast ill post this so there is some “Activity” on my blog

MODERN ART(???)

Am I the only one who things modern art is crap…Imagine….this particular photo is a work of art? I mean what is there in it…….are we all tricked to believe that it is the work of a long lost genius and we find it stoooopid just because we’re dumb?

People have taken art for granted nowadays….art is supposed to communicate something to the soul.. look at the renaissance artists……now how can this horrid thing be called art along with the likes of Michelangelo. Sacrilegious !!!!!! I think we just try to defend ourselves by saying how meaningful these parallel lines and how spiritually enhancing is the experience of looking at them when we ourselves think its an eyesore…the other person…not to show that he’s stupid consents to our brilliant understanding…and propagates the stupidness in all directions till this pattern which id not even use for a cushion cover becomes a work of art…I mean come on people…..use your brains…they’re not dead yet……

Now this is what I call art

Those were the days my friend….

we’re in an online age….our lives have been transformed into cyberspace.. the body has been let go…the mind never even existed…we’re just a coordinated pair of hands and eyes which takes in info and puts it back out there….the most famous garbage in garbage out principle in computer science……we’ve even forgotten how to communicate in real life……for example take person A ( Me ) and person B ( a random individual off the street) Online….we’re having lots of fun….. loads of things to do……If we meet in person…man its soo hard to talk……..my jaw hurts from saying too much….lets just sit and get a couple of laptops and chat with each other……is it true we just open up ourselves in front of the computer….im sure psychiatrists would do good to just install computers in their offices and have their patients sit in front of them…..a face to face or telephonic conversation doesnt work nowadays..that part of the brain has already become extinct and can be read in history books about the “Golden Age”

I would definitely for one love to go out with friends rather than sitting in a stupid room in front of a computer interacting with a monitor……its just not the same feeling….but then why dont I do it…..am I just lazy ( ok that is true most of the time) In Kharagpur, we used to chat for hours and hours using netmeeting rather than going to the gol chakkar or some place and talking in person…….i think we’re just becoming machines ourselves….. we dont read any more…we dont exercise any more …we become fat pigs chatting…blogging…orkutting…..i dont remember how to write in hindi anymore coz i havent used it in like 10 years…will that happen to my english as well……or will school curriculum define education as reading from the computer….writing on a keyboard…and using a calculator…. is this going forward or backwards……learning how to write is not just learning how to write and read handwritten things have many other hidden advantages which we would miss out on….ultimately…..we’re gonna have perfect speech to computer interfaces and we wont even need our hands…just a head…..so that is our life right now……no emotions…just one stupid head……and by reading this entry… its quite evident that my brain has gone for a six……..so id rather salvage whats left of it rather than thinking of how to ruin this entry even more………

Doing what you want

I was reading something the other day….why are we stuck with jobs which we dont like or decently like but not something which we truly enjoy….and we end up spending 8-10 hours of the 13-14 hours we are awake doing something we dont like? Whyyyyy??? I mean any sane person would agree that if you dont like it chuck it…to say it plainly….so why are we so stuck !!!!!!!!!

i guess society has a big role to play in this…….in India there are only a few professions which are considered worth it…….engineering, medicine, law etc……but isnt it unfair trying to fit the whole young generation into these small categories…some of us are forced into these coz it would sound nice if their son/daughter was an engineer rather than a struggling artist when discussed in dinner parties….. i mean is that how life works!!!!! I mean whats next…..putting our field of interest in our janampatris?? i mean tell your children where to go and what to do and just make them work as hard as possible to get in…but is that what they want………..i mean this is the vicious cycle we have over here……our dreams are never fulfilled by ourselves…we wait to have children and we give them a big list of what we wanted to do but never were allowed…..and then their dreams are fulfilled by their kids and so on…..i think its time to let go and concentrate on ourselves and trying to understand what we want finally….and then giving it a shot……wouldnt you rather be on the stage rather than being in the audience …. you deserve to be there….. we shouldnt let anyone take that away from us…..

but what do we do….we’ve started jobs which are the result of a carefully planned path taken by a horde of our peers ….. and we think that one step out of that path would be completely disastrous…we need to get this done by the deadline….or the whole world will end………we end up neglecting everything else because some release has to be sent in the next month and we have to fix a bug!!!……face it people … we’re just clinging on to this coz we’re either too lazy or too scared……..to actually try to find a path for ourselves…in which we’re happy….. i mean we need to manage time…we need to take out some time to do stuff which interests us…or maybe try out new stuff so that we can eventually find something that we love so much to do that we dont have to complain all the time why our work sucks……….

and we should be more accepting of other professions……. how boring would the world be if it were just full of engineers and doctors and managers……… why dont we just put money and status aside for some time and ask ourselves “What do I want ???” ….

Casta Diva …… a voi la Divina

How many of us have one picture flash before us when the word opera is mentioned …. you have the fattest woman on earth in a vikings helmet spilling her guts out so as all artifacts made of glass in a 1 km radius are shattered into tiny bits…… ( FYI…this is the role of Brunhilde in the Wagnerian opera Die Walkure ) so much was this image engraved into my head that even after I saw the opera scene in Dil Chahta hai, my only memories of it were an overgrown viking woman doing exactly what I described above till I managed to catch it on cable a month earlier…..

However after around a year of experience with opera…listening to it….singing it…..acting it….. my whole perception has changed….. and its thanks to one singer…the singer people loved to hate .. Maria Callas

The biography of Maria Callas has been told so many times that I wont want to repeat it on my blog….(For those who’ve watched the film may remember her as the person singing “La mamma morta” in the spectacular scene with Tom Hanks in the movie Philadelphia.)this entry is dedicated to one role and one aria which has been unparalleled even 30 years after her death….. the role is Norma…that of the druid princess in the opera by the same name…. The composer Vincenzo Bellini … The aria “Casta Diva”

The difficulty in Norma lies in the fact that it requires a dramatic coloratura soprano…. Dramatic so that the voice can pierce through even the loudest orchestras…and coloratura so that the voice is light and flexibile enough to tackle the extremely difficult ornamentation put in by Bellini…… And the prime example of this is the recitative ( dialogue ) + aria + cabaletta of Norma’s entry………Sediziosi Voci ……… Casta Diva……Ah bello a me ritorna

The first time a voice like Maria Callas hits you….it comes across as ugly, screechy, and totally unmusical…..the thought that how anyone with a voice like hers could ever be popular is something which would take anyone by surprise….but all one has to do is to listen to this aria from norma and one understands….. you cannot understand the words…..you cannot understand the music…..but you can understand the meaning……even people with no experience of opera….would understand the aria….the phrasing….the music….that is what is miraculous about Maria Callas…coupled with the ever so beautiful music of Bellini……the voice pierces through all prejudices , all artificial boundaries we have created for ourselves and makes us feel…… we have a thing of beauty which is appreciated with open eyes and an open mind…..without us having any control……

Questo e per voi o Maria Callas…..La Divina

Whoz afraid of the big bad wolf…..

well dont get mislead by the title….this is just a strange thought which came to my head one day n i guess i should write about it…….

the -phobia words are not just out there to test our vocabulary in big shot exams just to check how thorough we are with our vocabulary….they exist….there are actually people who are scared of things and we ridicule them bcoz of it….

Verbophobia- Fear of words ( well if the words are like those then count me in !!!)

Scriptophobia- Fear of writing in public. ( what the …. )

Its not that these guys are completely crazy and we're the only sane ones here ( well excluding me of course )  but it seems to me that theyre just extreme cases of us…..some fears which have just gone out of hand…….so what are we afraid of ? afraid of flunking all exams ….. afraid of making a fool of ourselves on stage…… afraid of being looked down upon by everyone else…….where did these things come from? im sure when i was a little kid, i didnt give a hoot to what people said and must have bawled at the top of my lungs and let my parents do the worrying as to what "other people" might say…..so what happens to us as we grow up that allows people to make millions of dollars off sayings like "Stand up to your fears ???!!!"

so we do feel afraid ….. thats a fact……some which are totally justifiable ( of course you dont want to be eaten up by a tiger in the process of showing your bravery … Id rather run ) … and some which are completely absurd…..so we should take that extra step…trick the mind for that small millisecond and make a run for it……who knows if you'll end up with a million dollars or in the tigers stomach ….but atleast that would be more exciting…….

The high C

since Im an operatic singer , i thought id educate some of the “ignorant” people about this art form (hehe…dont mean to sound this rude)……a brief introduction….Im a tenor…..like Luciano Pavarotti…….its the highest natural male voice and usually gets the role of lovers or heroes in an opera……(well not my favourites but then who am I to complain if I get the girls in the end )
the other voices are

soprano – highest female voice
mezzo-soprano – middle female voice
contralto – lowest female voice
tenor – high
baritone – middle
bass – low

well if anyone has heard the expression “sailing on the high C’s” theyll know what Im gonna write next…..the high C is the ultimate note for a tenor and most sopranos…….it is that note when a tenor starts
sounding like a 50 year old witch(only very few tenors hav demonstrated ne sort of musical beauty in that note) and sopranos like a baby insect trying to search for his mommie by creating the highest pitch
possible……..however reaching that note is a feat in itself….thats why the huge applause at the high C….however lemme tell you one thing….more than 10s of a high C and either youll run out of the room in self
defense to have some of your hearing still left for your old age or youll be trampled by a herd of dogs who think theyve found a mate for the evening …..Theres a story that when Birgit Nilsson ( a very famous
soprano who died recently ) sang the high C at the arena di verona which is an open air theatre, the whole town thought that a fire alarm had been set and started panicking….

well it might sound like a scream for most people….but its the thrilling moment in opera……….the final finish to the high C……….. and that makes the sound worth the while………so heres to all the tenors and
sopranos out there……..keep on sailing the high C’s
Pavarotti singing Pour mon ame from La fille du regiment with the end at the high C

now this is what i call art

mankind has progressed so rapidly in science and technology that we overlook the more important things …..food…slurppp …… newer and newer desserts are being made everyday….its so sad that we are becoming so figure conscious that we need to forego these beautiful creations and instead have to eat boiled vegetables ( wel not that i mind them….but seriously!!!

i propose we should have new places…………..a gym with exercise machines and cakes and all sorts of desserts all around……..so you’re allowed to have the dessert equivalent to half the calories of your workout……. now if thats not inspiration i cant imagine what would be……

and of course you have so many low fat alternatives nowadays…….so it works out for everyone…….i call this idea the CHOCOGYM

cmon people….lets indulge!!!!

Peanuts

Man I love Lucy….can anyone be more fun than her……..

breaking the language barrier………..

Whats this obsession amongst us that we have to use english to sound kool or sound “sophisticated” … Why do we have such prejudices against people who
cannot communicate effectively in english and have to resort to hindi to get their point across….. come on people we’re all indians…..for all of us whose mother
tongue is hindi, we should use it to communicate not just at home but at other places as well……

My italian professor(who is a native italian) is a PhD in hindi and speaks hindi fluently…. we were actually spellbound when we heard his hindi ( though his
first words were actually to scold us ) according to him, the brain of an indian student is divided into two parts….the first part is obsessed with marks and the
second is obsessed with english….. which is true actually….. we form impressions of people on how well they speak english…. and if a person talks in an
american accent then he or she is the cream of the crop….

well im not denying that i dont fall under the same category….but what i wonder is why such a mental stigma…. hindi is one of our national languages and much much
more difficult than english anyday (thats why i stopped studying it….)..then why do we just classify people who communicate in hindi equivalent to people
who are illiterate……… its the most embarassing thing in the world when a foreigner comes to India and corrects u speaking your own language……and I guess
this happens only in India!!!!