My father used to always say before an exam (now that i am in ckp i dont have any), that its your responsibility to study, prepare, To Do you Job, and the results will be in gods hands. And for a long time , i believed that was true.. I believed that if you got bad marks, its because of your fault (most of the time), if you did something stupid when you were angry, it was your fault to lose your temper in the first place..but what happened today…man, seriously screwed up my mind.
..(still laughing at what happened)…okay, so here is the situation to what happened today in Jain College aka SBJC (J.C Road)..
I participate in the western acoustic event. I wait patiently in the 200 seater conference hall for the event to begin. Coincidentally my name came up first. I am not the nervous type, neither was i today. I confidently sat down, while the volunteers set up the mic system. Then one of them tell me that there is no mic stand and only a small one enough for the acoustic guitar. So i have 2 minutes to make a decision and decide to sing without a mic. I speak up to the packed hall that i wont be using a mic and sing a trail song (Heart of Life) to check whether they can hear me..
Then i start with my song, a cover of Free Falling by John Mayer. And honestly, i gave the best performance of my life and the applause at the end of the song was proof enough. To be completely honest, i was full of myself after that, i mean why shouldn’t i be? My main goal was not to disappoint myself and hear those dreaded words “Kenneth, you sang better during practice”..I wanted to sing the best i could and i did. The next performances that followed me all suffered the same problem, bad sound system. The vocals couldn’t be heard due to the poor mics..There were two performances that really gave me chills (sorry don’t remember the names). One was a friend of my classmate (She sang , while a guy with my future hairstyle accompanied her on the guitar) and another was a girl who sang “Summer” something ( a very Jazzy song). I cant possibly forget the gospel tamil singer who wailed his way into history and our very own Ricky Martin who kept referring to a certain “whore”. lol
It was just a matter of time before the results were announced. and i was tensed…and the fact that the judges were passing the results paper around didn’t help much. Finally the moment came…and WHAMMY!!!
I don’t get the first place (the fact that all the participants are staring at me in horror made me realize that it actually happened) , but the shock was who got it. Honestly, the two girls i mentioned earlier deserved it, if i was to get second.
DOUBLE WHAMMY!! I don’t get second place either (again, sitting at the last row where everyone looks at you in shock was making me really uncomfortable), and
TRIPLE WHAMMY!!! I don’t get the third place either..by now, the crowd (which has shrunk to 30%, mainly only the participants) goes crazy..As i get up to leave , what was really heartening that almost every particpate came over to me and congratulated me and told me how i deserved first place (wanted to thank you all at that moment for that, whoever you guys are, but i was still recovering from what happened)..
I walk out and go home. I couldn’t help it, but i was hurt.
Who wouldn’t be? People who have heard me sing, think that i am “naturally” good at singing. (Doesn’t mean i dont appreciate you guys tolerate my singing) , but they don’t know about the countless nights at home when my whole family is sleeping and i take my guitar and practice, practice for hours to get that song right, to do justice to that song. When i sing a song, i believe that i wrote every single word of it and its my job to make sure that the listeners feel, and understand the purpose of the song. When you literally put you heart and soul into something…and then dont get what you deserve..you can’t help but feel bad.
But like everything, this experience has taught me something. It made me ask myself, why i sing?
Today, 200 music lovers gave me first place, while two judges thought i don’t deserve anything.
Some people when they go for trips, they plan what clothes to bring, where to stop for food or where to fill fuel. But we are not some people, we are Ckp students. We went to Mekedatu a week ago (Arjun brought his Pimped out ride) along with Fattoo (aka Jiwani), Dilip and Abraham.
Basically all we planned about was that we were going to swim and have some beers , turns out Abraham forgot his trunks (a huge battle with his mom) , Arjun was suffering from a hangover (brought some fried chicken with him) Dilip was waiting for 2 hours in petrol bunk with enough alcohol to run two trucks.
Somehow, we left (around noon..we planned to start by 7am). The journey was kicka**! We took turns at driving while running over cattle and homeless people. We finally reached, and then realized that crossing the damn 3 feet river was going to cost us 40 rupees each! We crossed the river, and Akshay didn’t even wait for a second to get naked (due to the presence of children, akshay kept his underwear on). We all jumped into the lake and had a blast with the garbage thrown in the lakes and the strong currents.
After the swim was time for Fish Fry…yeah. I unfortunately suffered severe trauma after having a beer (ya, a single one). Coming back home was even more fun because everyone except Arjun was drunk (note: Abraham and Akshay were high on imaginary crack)…Entering Bangalore was a fun experience since we were stuck in traffic for 3 hours(while listening to tamil versions of hindi songs).
Coming to the point, Abraham shot a lot of footage during the trip which he edited (While Arjun did the titles) and this whole pointless yapping was to give a build up to this video. Enjoy!
Finally, i get it. I get theater. The theater workshops, rehearsing for a play and even performing in a play, i never really got the essence of it..but after watching Hamlet in Rangashankara in its new avatar, a brain child of Rajat Kapoor, i understand why theater is known as (quoting Raghav’s words) The Art of Storytelling.
I don’t watch a lot of plays, and this was my first time to Rangashankara too. Honestly, i am too inexperienced and illetrate to even have the courage to attempt to write a review of this..All i can say is that i felt it..i felt the story..The laughs and the tearful moments, man i am getting emo.
I obviously don’t have to even comment on the acting, the costumes, the choreography, the writing or the direction because i can’t imagine it any other way..it was just perfect.
Some moments, during the play, the lead actor Atul Kapoor just looked into my eyes and literally i could feel what he was feeling..now that’s something i one day dream i will be able to with my acting or directing..i have a long way to go.
Remember that movie? Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle..i thought the movie was funny, but never really connected with that story…but now thats changed.
Arjun aka Scar face (dont ask me ,he told me to write it this way) told me bout a place where you get fantastic BBQ Beef burgers. Well, i just said wow really? (Thats my usual response to everything) and forgot he ever told me that.
But soon, that place came up again and we all decided to go to that place. With quiet a lot of difficulty we found that place ( difficulty= getting lost while trying to find the place, postponing it many times, getting rapped by the people in the bus), we finally reached the place. Then to our horror we realized that they dont make BBQ at that time, and we had to wait another 3 hours.
Well, like any Horny Dog that wants to hump the sofa, we didn’t give up either. So, we went again today. Braving the rain, the traffic and Shivajinagar bus stand. Finally, we sat down and ordered 5 beef burgers (Praveen didn’t want to eat beef since it was against his religion..but he ate it anyway). Abraham loved it, so did i. Scare face already had eaten it, Dilip liked it too..Akshay didn’t like it that much and i was literally making mad passionate love with the beef burger…mettaphorically. (I am all of a sudden mentioning all these names because they asked me to.)
Anywho, we (my friends and me) are a very talkative bunch but when we sank our carnivorous teeth into those burgers, we all fell silent. You see the bond which a man and his beef share is sacred and words cant express them through mere mortal words. We sat there, silently licking each others fingers and burping from our mouths.
Well i decided i am going to be a regular at the place , and you guys should try it too…Oh, obviously you will ask me
“So, where is this super-fantastic-awesomest-BBQ-beef-burger selling place Kenneth?”….
and i will be like
” Oh, you want to know? Well, i am not gonna tell you…Bite me”
How do i start writing about this trip? Where do i start? Well, the whole trip was just overwhelming. The vast and tremendous expanses of nature makes you feel so small. The cold , nail biting weather seems nothing in front of the shimmering snow. The trip to Leh? The best yet.
It all started with my dad’s old course mate from NDA inviting him to come to Leh, where he was posted. My dad, realizing that a vacation was overdue, decided to take the trip. We left early in the morning for the airport. Our flight was from Bangalore-Delhi and then Leh the next day. It had been quiet a long time since i flew, and it was the first time i saw the Bangalore International Airport too. But what i don’t understand is, why no one told me that there was a great epidemic which killed off all the hot air hostess? huh? Am i missing something or have all the air hostess have become Butt ugly? They looked more like the ice-princess from Narnia. What the hell? Leaving the face, even the body man, very disappointing.
Anywho, i have never seen the air hostess scream so much in my life, cause earlier flights weren’t so cheap, now , anyone can afford them..by anyone i mean people who like to get up all of a sudden and do a 5o meter dash inside the plane or start screaming when they look out the window or take a bath in the plane bathroom.
Delhi was the first stop, more like mid-stop. Roamed around for a while, didn’t like it so much…anywho, the flight to Leh was early in the morning. People who have gone to Delhi before, you already know that the bathroom in the Delhi airport is as big as the whole Bangalore International Airport..just wanted to clarify.
The flight to Leh is like no other..mainly because the whole plain is filled with European, American and Russian tourists, Indians were a minority. And, the view from the window is breathtaking! The snow caped mountains were a treat to the eye sockets.
Landing on Leh, we were greeted by the Army ( i mean the whole freaking army). We were immediately escorted to the military base in Leh (which is 80% of Leh) and shown our guest room. A nice comfy room, which looked more like a bunker which could survive the war.
Due to the lack of oxygen in Leh (only 25% of whats available in Bangalore) we had to acclimatise for two days i.e. sit at home for two days covered up from head to toe and do nothing. Unfortunately my moms Bloop pressure sky rocketed and she was in the ICU for two days. Don’t worry she is fine now.
After we got suited to the climate, we were off to see the land. First stop was Leh market. Due to the tourist season, there were more tourists than Indians (its a fact) and watching the bustling bazaar was fun. Then we visited Sanchi Stupa , a big ass stupa on top of a hill which took 8 years to make. Really amazing view from the top.
The next day, i fell sick , cause i , like a retarded wearing a t-shirt sat outside and sketched the mountains. The next day my B.P. rose and was on medication. The reason for that is, in high a altitude place like Leh,Dry wind blows. That is, its air which blows past you, sucking the moisture out of your body. You instantly get dehydrated without even knowing it…
After that, we drove to Chang la, a mountain pass at the height of 17,576 feet, ya, your right, it was shit cold. But it was also the first time i saw snow. That was really exciting. We drove ahead to Pangangso Lake, which is the highest lake in the world (not kidding) its so long, that the lake extends into the Chinese border.
The next day, we visited the Shey palace, its was a 18th century palace. After that we roamed around near Leh to visit many scenic routes. The next day, we went to Tso Morriri , a beautiful lake 220 kilometers from Leh. The Drive was just amazing. When we reached there, we just relaxed and took pictures of the lake. There i saw a horse tied to a stick eating grass. I went and stood next to him, luckily he was friendly and told me his name was Ramdayal. I spoke to Ramdayal the horse for a few minutes while my brother clicked pictures of me talking to a horse.
After coming back home, we were treated to the usual military food from the mess (believe me, the cook makes amazing food). The last day was the best. We were going to visit Khardungla top, the highest motorable road in the world. At approx. 18,500 feet, i didn’t want to argue. When we reached there, we went crazy , cause we had never seen so much snow in our lives. Me and my bro climbed a snow covered hill and slid below. Being with the army has its advantages since only we were allowed to climb the snow while other jealous tourists watched on (or maybe they had seen enough snow in their native land..)
We ended the day, with dinner at the Grand Dragon Hotel which is the only hotel in Leh which is open in the winter also, when temperatures dip to -35 degrees.
The flight back was fun too, and we spent a few hours in Delhi airport (i got lost in the terminal again).
I can write volumes about the trip, but i know no one has the patience to read all of that. But what i will always remember is the snow flakes at Chang la, Ramdayal At Tso Morriri, Snow fighting at Khardungla and the long drives with the army…now that’s what i call a vacation.
Flickr Photos
