Jammi's Page.: January 2009

Friday, January 23, 2009

Violinist in the Metro

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him,but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist.Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over,no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Arcane

Why is it that in our country any person who has crossed 30 and is single considered not to be considered?

Don't start the "get married and then you will know" wala funda.

I got married. I saw. Which is the reason why I am single. Everywhere I go, people ask me about my family, I tell them they are fine, then comes the question about the kids. I tell them I don't have any. Then comes the wife wala question and the divorce wala answer. Then its the oh I am sorry wala reaction. Please people, you were not the reason for the divorce, don't be sorry about it. I goofed up, I owned up, I am back living my life my way. Yes, divorce is a painful aspect, but why can't you see that I am free? Why should I be reminded of the past? Why can't I be free from all bonds? It is normal human tendency to cling on to the negative patches in one's life. I have wired myself differently, I try and cling on to the positive. Is that wrong? If I look sad or morose, maybe it just means that I am missing smoking or drinking or something like that. How on earth does that connect to my being single? It's like if you don't get married, you got no soul. That, to me, is effing stupid.

Went on a recent trip to our ashram. Everyone there wants me to get married. That's why this outburst. Some comments / phone calls to cheer me up on this effing thing from your effing selves would be effiing nice.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Sanskrit

If you are ambidextrous, does it mean you are ambiguous?

Right up until now, I was quite OK. Blissfully ignorant and all that. But ever since a thought came into my head yesterday night, the beatific smile on my face is twitching. You see, I figured that I am at the crossroads, only in my case, there are two paths that I can go by. One path is where I lead my life, the other is where my life leads me. If I chose to lead my life, I know that somewhere there will be a glorious defeat. And if life leads me, there will be a victory which I shall not be proud of. The current status of various aspects of my life is surmised below:

Professional - OK. TATA. Horn Please. Buri nazar wale tera muh kala.

Personal - OK. TATA. Horn Please. Buri nazar wale tera muh kala.

Love life - OK. TATA. Horny Please.

And to complicate matters further, I've got this big fix now. Which path do I take? What choice do I make?

BOOM!

(Bright light, booming voice in Dolby surround)

"Put the left indicator and turn right."

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Vagabond vagaries.

"Have you ever had a near death experience?"

"Sure. I was married once."

__________________________________

I most probably maybe might mayen loseth my job. So, I plan to sell my car.

(I really don't know if I have lost it already, or I will be, or am losing it as I currently type. Hence the tense use of the tense.)

My only regret would be that none of my "friends" have visited my house. (With the only exception of Beetle Billy Dilly). RamK, Couch, Big Fat Man, Khadar, Etc. etc., this is the last call to see my house and drink Black dog.

Which brings me to the point of discussion. It's been one year since I took my "Hiatus from humanity". Let's see what I learnt/did.

1. Cooking.

I can make delicious puliogare with MTR ready mix. (Give me any MTR powder, vangi bath, sambar powder, biryani, tomato rice, anything, and I will make puliogare out of it. It is not easy, OK. If you have drunk your mother's milk and father's whiskey, do it and show.)

2. Quit Smoking.

3. Quit Drinking*.

* Except Bourbon and Scotch.

4. Bought nice clothes, new sunglasses and a business phone for myself.

5. Downloaded discographies of all my favorite bands.

6. Built a library.

7. Got Malaria, Fluid in the lungs, Muscle twitches, etc.

8. Bought an awesome bed with an orthopedic mattress.

9. Managed the personal retinue: Mani (Maid), Appa Rao (Watchman cum Car cleaner - Lousy fellow), Prasad (Dhobi), Seenu (Cable TV & Milk), Venu (Newspaper), Srinivas (Internet) and others. (Electricians, Plumbers, etc.)

10. Designed furniture and did the interior decoration for my house.

11. Never attended a meeting of the Flat owner's association.

12. Became very attached to the guitar. Maybe because there was no human company.

13. Started this blog. Started sketching.

Well. That's all that I can think of. Do any of the above mentioned aspects justify cutting off from friends and family? When I told you guys that I would be leaving for this place, a lot of you asked me the same thing. Why? I really don't know. But sometimes, you have to be alone. All by yourself. I guess I chose to be alone because I'd forgotten how to amuse myself. I am content now. Not sad, not happy, just plain content. And though I've said it so many times, I will say it again. Thanks dudes. You know who you are. For giving me cooking tips, for making me feel at home in my house, for coming down all the way just to be with me (when you could get that Tennessee whiskey right next to you!), for calling me up every single day, for taking remote control care of me, for buying me the most beautiful birthday gift ever, for making me feel special, for telling me the best places to eat, for egging me on with every nonsense (like this blog), for telling me that I am the most amazing guitarist you've ever heard, and most of all, for helping me find myself.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

My life.

Yes. It is like that.

No. I don't make up or do anything major to alter the course of events.

My life.

God's own sitcom.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

The Party

Prelude:

This life that you lead is full of anecdotes, stories, etc. The basis of all these mistakes, blunders, spoofs, goof ups etc., is presumption. You presume. The basis of the following story too, is a presumption. That cops cannot make out the difference between iced tea and whiskey on the rocks.

I hope you had a nice new year party. I am going to describe one. It may or may not be mine. It may or may not have occurred. There might or might not be a disclaimer or claimer to this story. Well, you get it, all events depicted in the following chronicle are completely based on fiction. Any resemblance to any person / motor car / whiskey , living or dead is purely co-incidental and unintentional. So.

19:40:

Oh shit!! I am going to be late!! Damn, I gotta drive some distance.... anyway, time to move the butt...Ok Amma, Nanna (Mom & Dad)... so long... have a happy new year!! I'll be back tomorrow by about 9, then I'll take you to your meeting. (Dad leaving for Portugal for important business meet. I am supposed to drop him to a preliminary meeting. I will. For now, hug mom and dad, kiss the dog, tighten jeans, shove the guitar in the boot, get out of the house.)