Put your Hands Together..

Back in Manipal, while trying to salvage a degree, I happened to attend a lot of inter collegiate culturals. The participation was divided into two groups, one the geeky category which took part in the quizzes, pot pourri's, dumb charades and the like, while the alternate groups satisfied the senses by being part of the dance and the music performances. I am not divulging where I tread, but the highlight of these cultural fetes and a part I enjoyed the most were the rock shows/ battle of the bands as it was popularly known.

I am not a metalhead but I do believe I have a sound ear for music of different genres. A small bunch of us ( not many were fans and the rest had to get up for class the following day) made sure we stayed till the very end of these culturals when these rock shows were scheduled. Everything about the show amazed me, right from the sound checks to the final performances, taking it to a new level. Talent was in abundance and there were many a times when I have imagined myself on stage trying to be the next best thing in guitar history. Manipal had a number of bands who were exceptionally good and things kept getting better when bands from all over the state competed. As part of our own college culturals, we had Euphoria visit Manipal in 2002 and Shaan in 2003. I remember Euphoria's performance distinctly as they performed on my birthday. As part of the festivities early morning, my friends doused me with water and left me in my shorts and Tee's in a corner of the city, right when the band were performing their sound checks. Here I am, at 2 in the morning, wet and wasted, listening to Palash Sen and his guys perform their take on Collective Soul's Shine. I was never this charged for their concert that evening. Needless to say, Euphoria did not disappoint. Right from AR Rahman's vande mataram to Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water interspersed with their own hits, It was worth the 100 Rs paid for the tickets.

Watching ROCK ON this weekend took me on this trip down memory lane. The movie itself is a fine watch and has much more to say than just about a band's rise, fall and resurrection, and I would love to talk about it soon. This little trip that I ventured into had a lot of my college buddies, trying to squeeze through every possible gap while inching towards the podium, moving to the riffs and the drum beats and showing off our half baked knowledge of music. In short, we were having the time of our lives..even though it might have lasted a little over 15 minutes and three songs.

On a different note, I have missed doing a lot of things that I love and I will be making up for most of them soon. I just got started.

Bussy Days

I thought of this post on an impromptu early morning bus trip to New York last week, and it finally materialized on my notepad. Much as I tried to catch some sleep during the monotonous 4 hour journey, I couldn't help thinking about the influx of public transportation in my 24 year journey so far.

My earliest recollection of buses was when dad took M and me to check out the buses at Sanskrit college after dinner. I still remember the 12Bs, 45Bs, the 12s and the occasional 41 series at the bend. School was closer to home and we did not bank on buses to get us there. We walked and then eventually graduated to cycles. I used buses to get everywhere in town and was a master of most of the cities bus routes. 21 went all the way from Parry's to Mandaveli, 29C all the way from Perambur to Adayar, 12G from Anna Square to KK nagar, 12B from Foreshore estate to Vadapalani and 1 from thriruvotriyur to thiruvanmiyur. We used to take the express buses from Broadway to Vellore, the equivalent of a Boston-New York journey. The buses stopped enroute for breaks, and we made use of opportunity to have "Elaneer" on hot summer days. These point to point buses were outrageously fast, but had limited stops on the way. I remember travelling in UP, Haryana and Rajasthan in their famous tourist buses.

Manipal was bus haven. The trains used to go all the way to Mangalore and Manipal was an hour away from there. It was on the notoriously famous Mangalore-Manipal buses on NH17 that I used to reach college. These buses had their fifteen minutes of fame on the highway by travelling at unimaginable speeds. There have been many an accident on NH-17 courtesy these buses but the need for speed flourishes. An alternative way to reach Chennai was by taking the buses to bangalore and take the train from there.

In the US, my college was in a place where public transport wasnt necessary. I traveled from Chicago to Lexington in DEC 2004 which was my first long distance bus trip. That trip was a blast ( I have blogged about it earlier). After relocating to Boston, Buses were my staple mode of commutation till late.

My trips to New York have been courtesy the Fungwah buses, these buses are a boon to students and the like who want to get to New York fast and without burning a hole in your pocket. The tickets costs you 15 bucks and you are in NYC in 4 hours. Buses leave every hour and they are invariably filled.

As I look back, how much ever I love to bike or drive, my first crush is always public transport. I have met interesting people, debated on contemporary issues, made friends and in general, had great times during my bus and train travels. Madras, Manipal, New Orleans, Boston, Chicago or Vellore, nothing beats a good ole bus ride!

May the trips keep rolling.

mimes and sketches

played dumbcharades and pictionary with some ubercool people this evening. After a very very long time. Lots of competition and loads of fun.
I miss quizzing.