..(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.

I guess that makes me a winner

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.

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”

THE END

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.

ps: For More pics in high resolution, CLICK HERE

I mean sleeping is a wonderful thing (second to Fried Chicken), but i can do that at home, and frankly i am an expert at it. But Ooty is like the best place to go with your love (Girlfriend, wife , your enfield whatever).

But not a place for a young teenager with horse’s blood in his veins. Another thing is Ooty is freaking cold. Holy cow, its cold man, and its not even winter season. You must have reached a conclusion that “Why the beep does Kenneth hate Ooty so much?” Woo, woo..i dont hate Ooty, i just can’t digest it. Its too mushy-mushy for me. Maybe one day, when i am 30 and married (ya, i know funny shit) and when my wife has completly tamed me into a butt-kissing over-sensitive slave, i might actually enjoy the place with my wife and two spoilt kids, but lets hope i die before that. cough.

Honestly, Ooty is a great place to unwind, i really recommend visiting Wellington Gymkhana Club (If your a memeber) its the most breathtaking resort i have ever laid my eyes on, we couldn’t stay there for long as we planned a short trip. Really a sweet and calm place. To desribe it one sentence.

Ooty is like a long walk in a park.

ps: I hate parks. The drive to ooty is just amazing, pls drive to ooty if possible.

Anywho, when they started initially with the first few short films, i quite honestly wanted to grab the hand of the person sitting next to me and gouge my eyes out. But then gradually, we really started seeing some nice work.

Finally, Ice Cream was screened! And boy was it well recieved, i mean people were clapping, whistling, taking their bra’s off, jumping out of the window and shi*. Siddhanth was obviously really happy with the response. Love Arranged recieved quite a good reaction to, but Void..cough..hmm, i dont quiet seem to remember what happened.

But the most beneficial part was meeting a lot of filmmakers and film lovers at the end of the screenings, that was hell helpful!

Next time its gonna be aired, i am so going to screen my movie! More to come in the coming weeks. Going to Ooty for a few days, and after that Leh(Kashmir) for a week. Will surely write about that!

My friend who studies in CMRIT, came to our college to invite us for their fest CULTURA 09. In excitement we all gave our names for all sorts of events (out of which MAd Ads we didnt do because we weren’t ready enough). 

I gave my name for Western Solo Singing, and my classmates decided to give our names for the western group song also. So, every week, a certian short lady from my class forced us to practice every freakin  day, (having a blast bossing me around) for practice. 

The fest was for two days (19th-20th). On 19th was the solo singing. We reached there on time, and to our shock realized that the prelims for the solo song already had 22 participants, and only 7 would be selected. My two friends and me tried our luck, and came to know that i got selected for the stage event (even though my other two friends really deserved it). 

I was really excited (and overconfident)… And the time for me to perform came..And god did i perform. I put so much feeling to it, that Enrique’s father would be proud ( i sang “Somebody’s Me” by Enrique Iglesius). The other participants also kicked butt, most of them were awesome. The results came, and i got the 2nd prize. What a shock that a CMRIT student got first place even though her song selection sucked donkey balls. I got 1000 bucks in cash ,a fastrack watch worth 1200 bucks annddd fastrack sunglases worth 700 bucks. ( I KNOW , CMRIT IS RICH).

Next day was group song, and we came aaram seee  (translation:in our own sweet time) and got ready for the prelims. We got selected for to perform on stage. And to my shock realized that i wont be able to make it on time for my play rehearsals. I panicked, and for the first time in history ladies and gentlement, Kenneth Sebastian got angry. And i regret it. Anywho, i begged the host to make us perform first, and we did.

And did we rock the stage, we performed awesomely!  And as soon as we finished the songs ( Banana Boat by Rockapella and Lollipop by the Chordettes). I ran like a little girl late for her date for the rehearsals. I was 2 and half hours late and really relieved that my teacher didnt get angry, and the rehearsals also went very well! (mainly because, during it i got a message from my friends that we wont FIRST PLACE in the group song!).

All in all, awesome week…one of the best weeks of my life actually, and i never say that.

When I had gone to met my friend Sai who studies in NIT Suratkal, he mentioned his fest which was coming up in Feb..I knew I HAD to attend it just because of the fact that it went on for a week and 200 colleges participated in it (that’s like a million people)..
In the beginning of Feb, my friend and me decided to bunk college at attend the fest (deciding to bunk college was a hard decision).. We booked the train tickets while Sai booked the hotel room.We left on 26^th evening , all excited to experience the legendary fest (I mean…legendary)..

Since we couldn’t miss too many days of college, I decided we will attend the last three days of the fest, so while the fest began on 25^th, we arrived on 27^th at Mangalore. From Mangalore we took a 35 minute bus to Suratkal where our Hotel was located. We checked into our hotel room at 10am, freshened up and had breakfast. From Suratkal, we had to take another 3 minute bus to the NITK college.

Day1:

Sai told us about solo singing being held at the Silver Jubilee Auditorium. While we sat there we experienced such horror, as girls were singing like sheep. I decided to play “Hey there Delilah”, I thought might as well give it a shot. Gave my name for registration at the last moment, and performed (while borrowing a guitar from Sai’s room mate.), the crowd liked it but the judges didn’t. (Dammit) After that, we went to the beach for “Sandimonium” a beach obstacle course (It was fun, we won the first round, but came last in the second…Dammit)..

After the beach events, everyone in the college ( I mean the guys) were looking forward for the fashion show being held at the Students Activity Center.

We arrived (around 7 30 pm) and the show started really late. The show was a big flop, I mean really boring because the girls being shown to us were very bad (some were good..some might have been guys dressing up as girls or something..)..and they were taking too much time in between..So my friend and me decided to leave at 10 30 and fell asleep by 11 30 at the hotel.

Day 2:

We reached the college at 11 am , and realized that Sai and his friend Bala had given their names for step up, A Hip Hop workshop. We also gave our names. Man, did we have fun at the workshop..We learned new dance steps and at the end performed all the steps together while the “Low” by Flo Rida.. As you might know, Suratkal is damn hot, so we were completely drenched with sweat at the end of it..

Next, we decided to freshen up in the boys block (while I was talking a bath , the bloody electricity went off, and the constant urine smell coming from the shower area wasn’t helping either).

I borrowed a shirt from Sai, and we got ready to go for the “Slam Dunk” competition being held at the basketball court. Holy crap, I am so glad that god gave me eyes to see such fantastic and creative slam dunks ever! From there, there was the ProNite event at the SAC, where Nikhil Chinaappa was supposed to play, along with two other DJ’s.The event was 2 hours late, it started at 9 30pm..the music was very disappointing, but we danced nonetheless (along people who haven’t seen or heard of any modern civilization in their whole lives..). Again, we kept hoping that Nikhil would come, and he finally did at 10 30, and he sucked even more than the losers on stage. He didn’t even know how to use the equipment! We already knew it was too late to go back to the hotel and decided to stay with Sai in his dormitory. But we were all hungry, so we decided to have dinner at the PCO (the guy running the PCO has a side business of selling Maggie noodles and fried eggs). We sat together ( I was wearing a screwed up vest , since the shirt I borrowed from sai was also soaking with sweat)., and had a relaxing dinner under the stars.

We then went to Sai’s room , where Sai and me imitated our School teachers and students and made everyone laugh (even cry..). Then we all sat together in front of Sai’s laptop and watched Iron Man till 4 am.

Day 3:

We got up at 7 am (after 3 hours to sleep) and checked back into our hotel room in Suratkal. We had to check out by 10 am and came back to the college by 11am.

From there we went straight for the Visual Effects Workshop being held at the main building (by now you would have realized that this campus is HUGE and involves a LOT of walking). The workshop was hell boring, mainly because the guy talking claimed that he was responsible for animation you see in Max Payne, Spiderman 3, Devil May Cry, Happy Dent..etc…and his English sucked. It wasn’t really helpful in any way.

After the workshop we headed for the room, and played Call of Duty 4 in Sai’s laptop. We then realized that our train was to departure at 7 45 and we just had 2 hours. Kunal Ganjawala was going to perform at the Encore event but we couldn’t attend it as we had the train at the same time. We obviously waisted another hour in the room and then headed to the beach. My friend wanted to take pictures, so we posed a lot at the beach, and finally couldn’t help ourselves and jumped into the beach fully dressed. After that we hurried to the Sai’s room,i tried to freshen up while everyone panicked (well, that usually happens a lot at home too, even in my college…hmm..actually everywhere.).

We ran to the Bus stop (ran for 10 meters and then crawled), caught a express bus to Mangalore, and just made it in time for the train.

So what did I learn from this trip?

That NITK isn’t just a college, its actually a way of living. A student here eats,sleeps,plays,laughs and occasionally studies in this one place. I took bath at the boys bathroom while people there just got used to the constant power cuts , less water and the urine stink. I had food at the Mess (with the horrible but free food), at the “FC” (food court..cough..would recommend it since no other place is good) and at the PCO (food is okay, but the atmosphere is fantastic).

I went to the beach and saw guys n girls just enjoying the view (about two of them), went to the various tea shops (the famous Amul Parlor that Sai claims is the most succesful Amul Parlour in Asia..but I think it is the ONLY Amul Parlor in Asia..maybe even in the known Universe) and saw where the students met up for juice and gossip…

And at the end of it, these last 3 days, I dint live how I usually lived, I lived like an NITian..which is fantastic by the way…

Ps: Next year, I am gonna drive to Suratkal on a bike with my chick..all of you (Friends, Girls come with your BF’s (You need a guy around you all the time in such places) and if your someone I have not met…go yourself!) are more than welcome to come..

]]> http://kennymedia.com/2009/03/incident-09-something-i-will-rememberagain-n-again/feed/ 2 http://kennymedia.com/2009/02/203/ http://kennymedia.com/2009/02/203/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:14:24 +0000 Kenneth http://kennymedia.com/?p=203 As promised, i attended the St Josephs fest, ‘Visagas 09“.

Finally a fest which had amazing stage events and other off stage activities. For the first time i actually sat down and concentrated on the various stage events such as Solo singing, Dance,etc..

Awesome stuff..but sadly i was really disappointed  as there were hardly any hot girls at the event (my friend who studies there, said that all the hot chicks were their on Saturday (21st feb) yaaa right!).

Anywho, the food at the fest was okay (much better than the food at the Christ fest). And i must say that if you can come and watch the stage events for two days you should , as only the best of the best come and perform (the rest get ruthlessly Booed off stage!).

Since i went on a Sunday, the crowd was pretty less (i dont know why, they might be selling free Red Bull somewhere i guess), and reactions to the goof ups at stage were pretty controlled.

The funny thing was, there were more “Guys” at the event than girls. (Damn!).

The fest is definitely worth going for, dont forget to bring your college Id’s and a pair of binoculars.

Nah, i am just kidding. Bring two.