When Audio Cassettes Were Alive

Audio cassettes are extinct. The era of cassettes was over long time back. Cassettes have been dumped by the music listeners in favour of CDs, free MP3s, torrents, P2P softwares,DVDs, pen drives and so on. Cassettes look like dwarfs in front of such modern avenues of music storage.Walkmans has been replaced by an MP3 players and technology moves on.

But this article is not about highlighting the negatives. It’s about remembering the times when we played those audio cassettes on our stereo systems. The time when we would insert that rectangular shaped object in our stereo systems and hit the play button.The time when we took the trouble of rewinding and fast forwarding the cassette in order to listen to our favourite songs. The whole ordeal would feel worth the satisfaction of hearing your favourite song.
The time when CDs were a luxury of the rich and the elite. The time when cassettes were our saviours for good music at affordable rates and if we were cash starved, then we could always buy a blank cassette and record the content of other audio cassettes on it.The time when we would gift cassettes to our friends. The time when audio cassettes became a symbol of happiness for all the music listeners.

In my childhood days , I have bought a lot of English as well as Hindi cassettes. If I didn't have enough money, I would buy a Hindi cassette .Otherwise ,It would be English all the way. The Cassettes introduced me to a lot of good music like Incubus(morning view),Beatles(1),deep purple(the best of deep purple),John Mayer(room for squares) and a lot of other bands and artists. I had a cheap walkman too .I used to visit planet M quite regularly.

But look at how the times have changed! As of today, I have only a handful of cassettes left. My walkman has disappeared into oblivion. My stereo system has turned into a heaven for dust and spider webs. Planet M doesn't keep cassettes anymore. Last year, some music shops had kept a clearance sale on cassettes .My MP3 player has taken the place of the walkman. It’s just CDs AND DVDs all the way.
The cassette is dead but the sepia-toned memories still linger on.

Something I Pondered Upon

I was reading this interesting interview yesterday.the interview was of Mahesh Murthy, the founder and CEO of Pinstorm.
Source:
http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/sep/26inter.htm<

“What are the biggest lessons that you have learnt from your varied experience?
No one knows anything, least of all any supposed management guru or consultant or expert. You can discover your own rules and create your own playing field. It is better to move in business as an innovative naive person than as a cautious experienced person. ”
The above mentioned quote from the interview caught my attention and I couldn’t help but ponder over one question. Should one undergo Training in a particular field and follow the rules taught or should one be one’s own teacher and discover one’s own rules? Past experiences made me choose the latter. Let me describe these experiences.

7 years back, I used to go to a guitar classes (to learn duh!).I had learnt for 9 months and had gained some knowledge and had learnt about the rules of playing and composing songs. Soon, I left the classes and started composing tunes. I had a lot of problems composing. The tunes sounded pretty bland and unoriginal. So why did this happen? I was bounded by the rules and theory that was taught to me. I never went beyond the rules to make my own. Now, when there are no rules to follow anymore and when the theories don’t work (I can’t remember the theory :-D),things seem much better and tunes sound much more original.

Here’s another experience.
I had taken up a graphic design course. I was taught a Graphics software called Photoshop I was taught the basics and these basics pretty much ruled my thought process. I never experimented, never thought beyond the basics and my Photoshop projects left a lot to be desired. Now, as I read and practice different tutorials and experiment more with different images without any boundaries, things seem much better.

So, what’s my conclusion? I would like to advice everyone to discover and make their own rules. One must constantly keep discovering and learning all the time. I don’t suggest one not to take the training which sounds quite absurd. Take the training but don’t be bounded by the rules and norms which act as a deterrent towards one’s creative thinking and potential. Know the rules but have no inhibitions in breaking them and thinking beyond the thinkable. Don’t just look at the window, look beyond it too!

Indipop is Dead? Not on Youtube!

Indipop – this word brings back a lot of childhood memories. At a time, when Metallica seemed like a T-shirt brand and Guns N' Roses sounded like an action movie, Indipop was an introduction to good Indian music. Simple melodies served with funny and mediocre lyrics made for some good listening. From Hindi rap (Baba Sehgal) to Bhangra (Daler Mehndi, Sukhbir ),from soulful melodies(Colonial cousins , Silk Route) to sweet sugar-coated female voices( Anaida , Mehnaz), Indipop displayed a lot of variety which made it special.

Indipop era was over long time back. It made way for mainstream Bollywood music which we are so accustomed to. But is Indipop really dead? No! Not at least on Youtube. Here are some of the video links I came across during hours of mindless net surfing. If you ever come across such videos, please post the links in the comment section. Take Care!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMN4GBMm4e8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQgsIbc6-a0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpHLEm9-0bg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmbLKo0pyeY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG9Sbg_gkxA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZg9XnljNNs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGdd4pINL_w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWjpYbLTjc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVKn0bAQKzg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6qOjgjTkUY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlJ3-peEqa0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN-dQtLS5-E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IloH8iq5htw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqkrkDcHc0k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npMKa_X7OZQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu4m1qDKXEA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n1OReqQahA

I'm an Optimist and I’m a Pessimist

I'm an optimist and I’m a pessimist. Sometimes, even the impossible looks possible, sometimes even an easy possibility looks impossible. When things go my way, the whole world seems conquerable. The sky looks like it is cheering for me. Suddenly, everything seems alright and the confidence level goes sky high. Positive attitude rules the mind. I feel like a warrior who can fight against all odds and win. Nothing seems impossible.

When I come to terms with the harsh realities of life and go through a painful phase, the same world seems too good for me. Suddenly, the sky seems to be getting dark. Everything seems like a never ending nightmare and negative attitude ceases to disappear. Hopelessness and confusion prevails. I feel like a thirsty boy who needs water but can’t seem to get it. Everything seems impossible.

How I wish I would remain an optimist all my life. How I wish I could be a stoical person. How I wish I could remain confident all the time and never lose myself when faced with a huge problem. How I wish I could always see opportunity in adversity and always have the courage to fight all the difficulties I face.

I try to be optimistic .I try hard to fight with determination. But sometimes, I fall into that hole of helplessness and trivialize myself. I guess it’s just human to fall back upon that line of negativity and is beyond my control.

I try. I keep trying to be positive. I keep trying to achieve what I couldn’t in the past. I gather courage and determination to fight against all odds. I’m trying my best. I know I will feel invincible someday and never look back.
Though, for now, I’m an optimist and I’m a pessimist.

Not Another Friendship's Day

Last Sunday was a disaster. No, it wasn’t because I was forced to study. No, it wasn’t because I couldn’t play cricket due to a backache. It was because of a day known as friendship’s day.The day I heard "Dosti waale" songs on the radio.The day I received 20 SMSes .The SMSes weren’t really original. They were typically typical. Reading them, I felt like I was at this Archies shop checking out greeting cards. Sample this:
“True friends are like flowers in the garden of life”

“True friends help you in your hour of need”

“Friends are toilet cleaning fluids of a toilet called life”

Sorry, I made up the last one. But does it really matter? I really value all my friends and well wishers but I completely detest these greeting-card-type SMSes. These SMSes make me puke till eternity. There is no need to send such SMSes which are not even written by you (I doubt whether anyone even reads them before forwarding). Friendship’s day is so overhyped. Not as overhyped as Valentine’s Day though and that’s a good thing.

You must have heard it before but I’ll say it again: Friendship’s day is a marketing gimmick. While you are busy sending SMSes , greeting cards and all the other possible things, some people are laughing their way to their banks. So what’s next, mr.money minters? Happy Mama’s day, happy Chachi’s day, happy Uncle and Aunty’s day, happy Girlfriend’s day or happy Ex-Girlfriend’s day?

Last but not the least, I’ll repeat what many have said. Finding true friends is as hard as finding aliens on the earth. Wait a minute! Didn’t I meet Jaadoo(of Koi Mil Gayaa fame) at a sprawling mall 4 years ago? I did. Moral of the story? True friends can be found. Just look around. He might be hanging out near your home. He might be at another corner of your city in hope of a true friend. Just look around because you never know! A stranger today might turn into someone important tomorrow.TC!

Jealousy

The feeling which plagued my mind during my childhood. The feeling which had broken me completely. The feeling which I experienced when I lost a random competition. The feeling I experienced when I felt inferior to the people around me.

Beware of jealously, for it causes a lot of problems. Love turns into hate. Hate turns into anger. Anger turned into an outburst and outburst turned into guilt. That guilt is of a dangerous kind. I want to completely resist this feeling. If there is some sort of vaccination against this feeling, then I would use it. When jealously hits, friends turn into foes, blood brothers turn into strangers and love turns into hate. The feeling gets to you. It makes you insane. Blood runs faster. The world turns chaotic and the chaos is spread by no one but you. The optimism goes out of sight. Pessimism flows like an endless stream.

So, when that feeling comes back again, I just close my eyes and concentrate on the beautiful sound of silence. Let this feeling pass away.

JEALOUSLY, GET LOST!

Advertising

Advertising is something that I just can't escape. Whether I step my foot in a train, a bus or any remote place you could think of. I step in a train and voila!I witness advertisements from underwears to sex clinics , from haldiram ki bhujia to 100% placement guarantee institutes. I haven’t seen so much diversity in any other place as far as advertising is concerned. Enter a bus and voila!I see brand new seats with Tata Sky advertisements at the back of all the seats. Advertising provides thousands of people with 2 waqt ki roti but to me, it provides a lot of things. It provides amusement, anger and embarrassment and whether I like it or not, I have to bear with it.
Advertisements irritate me after every 10 minutes while watching my favourite sitcom on TV. Sure some are really funny and are a treat to watch again and again. Teleshopping ads just crack me up. They can give any TV program a run for their TRP's. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of them. I get terribly irritated watching ads of similar concepts. Soaps, toothpastes, washing powders come under this category. Almost all of them have an extra ingredient which apparently works wonders. So the toothpaste I use has extra salts which make my teeth whiter and the soap I use has certain chemicals which will make my skin fair. Not that I desire such a skin.
Sometimes, TV ads just disgust me. I get disgusted whenever I see a toilet cleaning ad(Harpic!) on the TV while I'm eating my dinner!
Some ads are ingrained in my brain(aap PSPO nahi jaantey?). Sometimes ,I get embarrassed whenever I'm watching TV with my family and suddenly, out of nowhere, a condom ad comes up! The only thing on my mind after that ,is to change the channel!
There are some ads I just can't understand(don't be a balti! , yeh toh badaa toing hai) and won't be able to understand and the countless number of "guy impresses girl because guy uses a xyz soap or a xyz hair gel or yada,yada..." type ads are the ads I completely hate.
The informative ads on Doordarshan are some of the ads that must be commended for creating an awareness about different social issues although, it would have been much better had it been made in a better way. They all look ancient now and bad actors don’t really help their cause.

Love it or hate it, the fact is neither I nor you can't escape it. I'm all for anything that creates employment and advertising ain't no exception. So, I'll continue to bear the various advertisements.