Yet Untitled

The forcibly-made-former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, has been hanged to death. And most certainly this is not going to change the way things are. Except that the number of posts today will increase significantly in the blogosphere, riots will break out for some more days, people will protest in the coming months, I shall continue to download more Metallica FLVs and Wiki gets one more article.

I was glad about the ten day trip to home and it’s been already a week in Hyderabad and the moments are passing even before I realise what’s happening right then. The welcome news was sad. A very close relative of ours expired. Some were glad that she hasn’t troubled her children or husband by getting hospitalized for months or spending months on the bed chanting God’s name seeking the slightest of helps from others. And some others were sad that her ‘time has come so soon’. Her husband (my uncle a.k.a pedananna), who is incidentally a lot into life and its philosophy, accepted fate, but was happy that she passed away on the banks of river Krishna according to her last wish.

So things have returned to normalcy except for the daily rituals that have been taking place since then. I accompanied mom and dad almost everyday during the dinner time. Fortunately, relationships in our family are enjoyable. And so are the relatives. Just for some trivia, dad has 7 brothers and 3 sisters. With that same logic, I have close to 40 siblings (all ahead of me!). And all of them married. Or should I speak of the only unmarried?

Before my sister got married, she was the common target among the group of elderly women in any occasion. The only discussion on earth apart from jewellery, sarees and deaths that these sorts of women can ever have is to pull the legs of the oldest-yet-young unmarried person in the family.

Fortunately or unfortunately, this crown is now on my head.

It all starts off taking the word ‘marriage’. And before you start blushing, the discussion diverts to what bride’s gifts each of the women would give and get. Give is always far lesser than get though. And most of the times, my mom manages to make her presence while this discussion goes on. Her (or any conventional mom for that matter!) stance rises when these close-relatives-cum-GD-women speak about son’s marriage. A discussion of daughter’s marriage involves a lot of ‘you-have-to-give’ dialogues while son’s marriage essentially delivers a lot of ‘we-shall-not-take-anything-from-them’ kind of words. Happily proud, you see.

And the worst part is elder women who have beautiful unmarried daughters never speak all this. Bad.

Apart from that, I got to receive some off-beat comments like ‘You look complete now!’ (God alone knows what was incomplete in me before!), some routine comments like ‘You are getting thinner everyday. Your cheeks are drying up and going inside.’ Followed by an ‘Aren’t you eating properly?’ and some good-old comments like ‘You were thissss much when I saw you 20 years back…’ I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t obvious!

But still, its all funny and enjoyable. It’s a fact that it has really been a long time since all of us relatives are together. Or may be it would sound more apt if I say that I haven’t been to many of the recent ceremonies, functions or these occasionally held get-togethers. Somehow, this time I realised that many among my relatives were getting old. Their energy levels have come down. Most of the kids whom I have seen the last time are now in their higher schools. And unlike how they were before, they all have become silent. Among these tens of transitions that people have made in their lives, careers or education, I’m the only one to go for a job. And I was happy to realise that I was forcibly made the role-model for some of the children of my many cousins. Some others have taken sessions on what I should do next and whom to see as a role-model to grow in life. Well, they meant it when they said that taking up a job is not the last step in your career. And strangely, there is a sense of respect that you get from some more of them when they know that you are in a job working for a company like Wipro. And it doubles when you are not in your hometown, living on nothing but yourself.

Relationships are getting branched. Priorities are driving relations. Food tastes the same. Yet, the lives don't.

Apart from all of this, I spent most of my time meeting friends and doing some ‘to-be-done’ things. I actually prepared one such list before I came down to Hyderabad and successfully executed most of them. At the end of my trip to home, this trivial list of mine looked somewhat like:

Convocation.
Audio system.
Battery.
Wirewash.
Laundry.
Ticket Cancellation.
Change Blog.
Hutch Bill.
Hit.
Clean It - CD Player, Computer.

'Convocation' meant going to JNTU and applying for my convocation certificate. ‘Battery’ is to change the battery of the cordless phone in my house. On a lighter note, I learnt how to play Metallica’s Battery on the guitar. Wirewash is as stupid as it sounds. Actually stupider than it sounds. It is to wash the wires of the earphones of my MP3 player. Yeah. Wash them. Laundry Work. (Which is left half done. And so is the half-strike on it.) Cancel the train ticket booked originally for 26th. Change the template of this blog. Pay my telephone bill. Buy HIT! And finally clean the audio system and computer with Colin.

My trip to home has almost come to an end. And as it always is, some things never change in life. I shall be in my cubicle in a couple of days. Coffee, printouts, meetings, t-con’s, life, from now and on…

By the way, I wish all the readers of my blog a wonderful new year ahead! Have a great time.

Phew...!

An year that changed my life the most. An year of happiness. An year of sadness. An year of music. An year of hatred. An year of tears. An year of designs and colours. An year of friends. An year of changes. An year of joy. Half an year of bachelorhood and a little more of being a kannadiga. An year of memories. An year that marked everything. An year into blogging. And a new dress for my blog. No stats. No nothing. Just a hearty 'Happy Birthday!'.

:-)

Thou Shall Eventually Becometh a MetalliFan

First Song: No Leaf Clover. S&M. You heard that song just to get rid of my nagging trials to make you realise how legendary and rocking this band is.

Next Song: Nothing Else Matters. An amazing ballad. You wonder... "Ballad from a metal band?". I say... "Check out parts of the song where he sings in two different pitches at the same time. Check the Symphony at the back. Check the...blah blah blah blah...." Next, find the S&M version of this song. Keep going.

First listen to the original song two times a day. Morning before breakfast. Night after dinner. Don’t drink too much of water after you listen to the song or do not go for an over dosage of the song. Follow this for 15 days. Then get back to me. We shall now improve. Let's start the heavy dosage. How about Fade to Black, Orion or Sanitarium? By this time you will get half crazy about Metallica. If you are a guitarist, you almost got into the groove. Also, if you are preparing for some competitive exam and you have a tiny audio player with you, you are dead. Better give up the preparation and concentrate on the songs completely. Be ready to get heavy and heavily crazy!

Turn on the S&M version of Nothing Else Matters. Follow the same schedule for this song also. Then search for another live version of this song. It’s recorded at Live Shit Binge & Purge Tour, 1991, Mexico. Now you are almost in the groove!

Like how I am.

Now hear that. By now, most probably you will feel like listening to that song at nights, just when you are getting into sleep. Like a lullaby. Sometimes The Unforgiven, from the same live series, serves the purpose. When you are engrossed in work, you are listening to Fight Fire With Fire or Battery. Then the Black Album. Load. Reload. S&M. St. Anger. And then the covers. The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited. Another earlier album - Kill 'Em All.

Just think of this - You are in a lift, alone, and you enact as if you are playing a guitar and jump in the lift for the song that’s going in your head. Your friends think you are 'just another rocker'. Your parents think you, and not the band or their songs, are the actual headache in the house. Your dog wags the tail and leaves your room as soon as you get your hands on the guitar. The fellow passengers in the bus request you to reduce the volume on your headphones (even on the headphones!!) during a journey. You wait for people to walk past your cubicle just to bang that head of yours. You get excited and send songs to your buddy just to realise later that she actually hasn't heard that song despite your consistent praises of that song. And later she says "Abbaaaaa... gola!!!!!”(Yes Miss Vej...that’s you!!! x-( ) (Gola = Noise)

If all this happens, theory says "Welcome to Life Metallica".

(A couple of months then on - You got it; Slow and heavy poison)

Now you will feel like exploring the lives of the men behind the Metal Revolution. You will find out in no time that they are actually James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted and Robert Trujillo. You will love that 'Kick-Ass' pun of Jaymz. You will be stunned by the way Kirk plays (with) his guitar. Stage presence - Redefined by Jason. Bass God - Cliff Burton. Roll with Lars. You will start downloading videos now. And MORE videos. Then Live Versions. Then guitar. Sound. Noise. Life. Bass Solos. Guitar Solos. The drum roll in "One". Rare Videos. YouTube. Google Video. Concert Collections. Bootlegs. Rare Bootlegs. LiveMetallica. More electricity. Even more Life. More and more Life. "Ditch the problems, I have the best MetalliCollection". WOAH!!

Relish all those moments!!

Anyway, what would you call "Dhoom - 2" if it was released in Telugu? Will it be "Dhoomu - rendu"?