Saturday, May 31, 2008

Its All About the Money - 2

After a long time this topic has hit me again. Somehow it occurs to me what ever we do, how much ever we do is equated in the end to "how much we make" .. show me the money baby!

This post is partly inspired by this

Some how these days it is important as a son a relative a friend, that you are in the US of A or some distant place minting out dollars or pounds .. Doesn't matter what kind of work you do.. all that matters is, $#$%@#$

Partly can we really blame the people who have these kind of expectations??? This question quiet interestingly points fingers at us, who are connecting to this post. Are we being selfish of not going to the distant land, staying in India doing what ever you wanted to do ... Just for yourself????


                __                  __
               / /                  \ \
              / /                    \ \
          ---   --------     --------    ---
         /        ______)   (________        \
    -----     ----                   -----    ------
             (D___}                 {____@)
             (D___}                 {____@)
    _____    (D___}                 {____@)   ______
         \_______/                   \_______/


Well it some how seems to be like a chicken and egg problem ;) But this is the situation at the ground level where software engineers are the victims.. But The Problem With Money seems to be omnipresent. It is everywhere. Nothing can be done. Below is an interesting observation made by some guy long time ago on Slashdot.

There used to be a wonderful website that provides tabulature for budding guitarists, who couldn't figure out how a particular song has to be played. This website was a breeding ground for lot of such guitarists and a few of my friends including me used to be parasites at this site. This website was called olga.net or Online Guitar Archive over net ;)

Not to be misled by a fact, that playing such songs becomes an inspiration to create much more beautiful music.. and no one here is trying to actually moneterize on the Tabulature provided by that site.

Later on a bunch of guys, thought that this website was causing havoc with the artistes by grabbing away all their money and so this website has to be closed, once and for all. It might be a customary in Indian Cinema, that a poor hero finally wins the Rich man's daughter.. but not in real. This website to this day is still closed and on their home page is a slap at all those musicians, rock stars who wanted to revolutionize the world and bring one hood, brother hood ... my foot.

Below is one interesting post that i have seen on that particular discussion.

Quote
--------------
Right. What his 'representatives' are doing with his music seems to be the very antithesis of his philosophy. Indeed, recall the lyrics to Imagine:

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

--------------

Ink in my brain has dried out, i cant think of anything else to write. So dropping my keyboard for now :)


PS: Thanks for appreciating my ascii art. It looked okie okie in notepad though. ;o)

Monday, May 26, 2008

I Believe i can fly...

Lot of thoughts going through my mind... i was thinking of writing something since Sunday... but couldn't write ...

All that is going in my head right now is the amazing song.. that i have missed to listen all these days... tis one is by R Kelly.. the OST to movie SPACE JAM titled "I Believe I can Fly"

here it goes... a copy paste from Ultimate Guitar
-----------------------------------------------------------------

1. Verse:
C Fm
I used to think that i could not go on
C Fm
And life was nothing but an awful song
C Fm
But now I know the meaning of true love
C Fm
I'm kneeling on the everlasting lines

Pre-chorus:
Am
If I can see it
Fm
Then I can do it
Am
If I just believe it
G
There's nothing to it

Chorus: (all lighters in the air!)
C
I believe i can fly
Am7
I believe i can touch the sky
Dm
I think about it every night and day
G
Spread my wings and fly away
Am
I believe I can soar
Fm
I see me running through that open door
C
I believe I can fly
Fm
I believe I can fly
Am
I believe I can fly

Oh...

2. Verse
C Fm
See I was on the verge of breaking out
C Fm
Sometimes silence can seem so loud
C Fm
There are miracles in life i must achieve
C Fm
But first I know it starts inside of me oh oh

Pre-chorus:
Am
If I can see it
Fm
Then I can do it
Am
If I just believe it
G
There's nothing to it

C
I believe i can fly
Am7
I believe i can touch the sky
Dm
I think about it every night and day
G
Spread my wings and fly away
Am
I believe I can soar
Fm
I see me running through that open door
C
I believe I can fly
Fm
I believe I can fly
Am
I believe I can fly

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Angels

Facing highs and lows of life is the part which makes us human and being able to handle these situations and is what separates men from boys :)

No wonder that each and every one of us has passed through such situations, some of which we handled some of which we failed.
In all such situations, there is always an angel that helps us through. Be it a friend, family member, a team member or in some cases a total stranger. Most of the times we tend to forget that it is the "angels help" that acted like a shield protecting our candle of hope from all the external effects.

As the time passes the success/failure is what is remembered and we tend to forget everything else. This is a small recollection of how my angel was there for me in some of those situations.

Almost an year back there was a mail in our company asking for instrumentalists/musicians to gather for a new band in the office. Though i have played (tried to play) guitar for a long time i was hesitant to go. Was expecting a lot of people to turn up. One more reason being i was too shy to go there. So i did not respond to the mail. A few days after this mail incident, we have heard the band practicing in the cafeteria and was interested to go there. but still hesitation on my mind. then my Angel spoke "Lets go". He took me to the practice area which also was our Dorm. I was sitting there watching people play, looking at the Electric guitars lying around. I wasn't very used to looking at or playing electric guitars in Live at that time ;)

After they have finished playing a song, my angel came out again "Go and play", and there i was a bit shy, scared, with butterflies in my stomach took the guitar from some person and started playing "Hotel California". i was kind of okie with the playing. I was officially in to the group.

The practice sessions started, and being a shy person was not able to attend the practice sessions alone, so again a call for my angel and there he was, accompanying me to the practice sessions. Always encouraging me though i was pretty bad at playing.
When ever he says you are good i know in my mind that im playing it the worst, but his encouragement is what landed me on to the stage, my first full blown performance on the stage. (Previous encounters in another post)

Similar was the case with the second stage performance too, and without his help i wouldn't have made it on to the stage, and called my self a band member ;o)

There were a lot of situations where he was always with me. I will not be able to recollect all of them. But here is the most recent one.

This one is regarding the Sunfeast 10k Marathon. Me and my friend were going to gym since a few months, working out together and trying to stick to the plan :) I'm kind of a weak person, physically though with not much of physical activities. and one day he said there is a 10k run in Bangalore register maadi. And i went in to a thinking stance, can i make it, will i be able to run... and was also thinking on the after effects of the run.

While i was in my 12th i had a jogging adventure, went out with a friend of mine (a physically fit guy) he mad me run like anything and after a while all i know was the earth revolving around, feeling like throwing out etc etc. This is the misadventure that kept me away from running.

So this guy made me thinking should i go or not, I was hesitating also as i was worried that i will slow my friend down in the race. Finally after all the hesitation, registered for the run. I practiced with him for a couple of days and we both successfully made through the 10k marathon.

This is a small thank you for my friend Vamsi aka Krish, thanks for always being there for me. And may god give you the best in what ever you do.