And the award goes to...

Recently, our very own Mozart, A.R. Rahman, won two Oscars for his brilliant music direction, in Slumdog Millionaire. This got me thinking. We Indians do have an ear for music, but do we have an ear for words, rather lyrics? Take a look at the follwing.

Disclaimer: Take a breather and sit down. These songs might cause cardiac insomnia.

-> Cow dies,

Man eats,

Take the skin,

Beat the drum

Naaku Mukka(x14) - I'm ain't kiddin' here.

Yep, one of the biggest hits of the year. Got all of Tamil Nadu(dare I say India) on the dance floor. When there are lightning fast beats, who gives a damn about the lyrics!?!

-> When I close my eyes,

and I'm about to sleep,

My bedroom fan comes down,

And wakes me up,

And tells me to think of you

If you have a broken-hearted friend, who has a really big nose and atrocious spectacles and bugs bunny teeth, this is the song for him. Guarenteed to make you commit suicide after you hear the ghastly rap from Blaaze(who in my opinion might just be your friendly neighbourhood bathroom singer, nay, rapper).

-> Light a cigarette,

From the liver,

There's a huge fire,

In my liver.

This might be because Bips has a lotta bile(pun intended).

And to think that India once produced great poets like Rabindranath Tagore, Kalidas among many others.

I leave you with the best one.

-> Where is the party tonight?

(low pitched grunt)

It's in your house.

Where is the party tonight?

(yet another low pitched grunt)

It's in my house.

Where is the party tonight?

(low pitched grunt, again)

In the middle of the road.

Where is the party tonight?

(the last low pitched grunt)

In Tamil Nadu.

My First Common Crush

Well, this was one of the more prominent ones. I still remember how my close, close friend Jass and I used to hang on to the remote, switching between music channels at the speed of light...waiting to catch a glimpse of 'Him'. Who is 'He'? 'He' is the most good-looking guy, the most awesome dancer, the most talented singer and the best music composer...well at least 'He' was at that time...to be more specific regarding the time=>when I was in 11th grade. Who is 'He'(this is the last time I use quotes)? See for yourself.

Yeah I know, he is not even that cute. He's a bit of a douche, really(see 0:38 in the video). Actually J loved him more than me. Much more. There was this one incident I cannot forget when she was walking down Rolla Square at 6 PM(rush hour).

Oh by the way, this is how Rolla Square looks when it's NOT crowded.

Anyhoo, she is about to cross the street when she sees this poster of him outside some shady video rental store and she stepped in front of a Hummer and nearly killed herself. But of course, the first thing she did after returning home was punch in my number and let out squeals of glory regarding how cute he looked, how awesome his hair looked, etc. Yes, she is mental.

I saw the video again a few days back, and I don't know why I had a crush on this guy in the first place! But I've to admit, he dances well :) He is the classic example of a person whose talent overshadows his looks. But more than this, more than anything else, the reason I still like this video is a memory I have. A memory in which two silly 11th grade girls swoon over their first common crush :)

R.I.P. M.J.

A little over a year ago, the King of Pop, the ultimate entertainer, the philanthropist and the benevolent human being , Michael Jackson passed away.

When I woke up on June 26Th, 2009, my grandmother came to me and said "I didn't want to tell you the moment you woke up, but Michael Jackson is dead". It's incredible how my grandmother who doesn't even listen to English music, knew who Michael was.

I was not a very big fan but I did like his music. And I know I'm probably a few days too late to pay him a tribute, but I'd like to try! So here's a list of my favorite Michael Jackson songs. Some obvious ones, but all amazing ones.

-> Thriller

An obvious one. I love Thriller. I first heard this song in the film '13 going on 30'. I've never met anyone who doesn't like this song. And the music video is just epic. You can watch it here.

Note: There was a Telugu version of Thriller. It was horrible...horribly funny after being subtitled by Buffalax(of Benny Lava fame). You can watch it here. Don't tell me I didn't warn you :)

-> They don't care about us

This song is brilliant. Just brilliant. I mean, with a song so controversial, MJ actually tried to unite people against racism.

-> Remember the time

I love this song. Seriously, of all the songs that MJ has sung, this one is my favorite. The music video consisted of various wizards trying to entertain the Pharaoh(Eddie Murphy) and his Queen(Iman). When it's Michael's turn, he starts singing to the Queen asking if she remembers their time together. The music video was actually marketed as a 9-minute short film.

-> Pretty Young Thing

This song was released in 1982. JabbaWockeez danced to this song in 2008. I watched the JabbaWockeez video in 2010. And 28 years after this song was released, it still managed to hook me onto it. I could not stop listening to it for 2 days straight!

-> Smooth Criminal

I love it. It's fast-paced and I'm not sure if I'm right, but it was the first time anyone in the world saw an anti-gravity lean.

-> Beat It

What an amazing song. And the video is awesome too. Michael brings two rival gangs together through dance.

MJ was an amazing artist. He gave the world of music so much. He really was the King of Pop.

Yinglish Rap in Saangs..

Them hoes and bitches, they drop it like that,
They shakin' that thang,
They go for the bling,
You get what imma sayin'?

If you get what imma...ahem, I mean if you understand what I'm saying then I can safely assume you grew up on the streets and you're from the block. Earlier, rap artists were from the ghetto streets. They had gun shots in their chests, they had bling on their vests, they were hittin' that booty, they were acting all snooty. *Slap* Whew I needed to snap outta the rap *Slap*.

Ah much better. As I was saying, right now, the "in" thing in the Indian Music Scene is Rap. Yep, in hindi movies, in tamil movies, in pop albums. And who's the leading Indian Rapper on da block!?! It's none other than Lakshmi Narasimha Vijaya Rajagopala Seshadri Sharma Rajesh Raman. Name doesn't ring a bell!?! Does Blaaze sound familiar to you? Yep, they both are the same guys. The Tam Brahm Rapper from Zambia has revolutionized the Music scene with his, ummm, rapping.


Hey, don't get me wrong but I love Eminem, 50Cent, Usher, Akon and many more, so I find the "rap" in the Indian songs an insult to the above mentioned real rappers. You don't believe me? Take a look at the following snippets from very popular Indian songs which have rap interlaced at every 30-second period of the song.

• Let me break it down, I'm taking the top spot, She doesn't know it, But I've got a soft spot.

Just one doubt here: Is the soft spot in his head? Later in the song, he talks about how he's gonna throw a party and invite everyone to see his wife and think of the beautiful kiss that she's gonna give. Seriously, it sounds like porno. Is this guy for real?

• BABA! That's what they say, B to the A to the B to the A.

Who the hell is the "they" referring to? The FOBs(Followers Of Baba) are super angry that they have been compared to the "they" in the song.

• Mama told me, Don't be talkin' to the stranga, Don't be talkin' to the stranga, Stranga is Danga.

Well, I got to tell your mama that she don't be talkin' to anybody with her habit of eating up the ending letters of words(stranger->stranga, danger->danga). Oh, and her gramma could be betta.

• Everybody in the pardy are you ready, say X! Gotta go with the flow, say P-L-O! Ready for me put the D to the E! E-X-P-L-O-D-E..Explode!!!!

Where do I even begin!?! First of all, he skips the first E. Then to rhyme, he puts in words like "pardy" and "flow". Need I say more?

PT!

I was going through my blog and I was so surprised that I haven't posted about Porcupine Tree yet. So here goes.


My romance or obsession, whatever you call it doesn't really matter, with Porcupine Tree started in the my 3rd semester. Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band from England. The front man is Steven Wilson. He's the lead vocalist and he also doubles up as lead guitarist. Oh did I mention that he writes most of the songs?! In short, he is insanely awesome. I love PT. Why?

• Every song of PT is unique and different. It's really hard to believe that the band that gave us Lazarus, was the same one that did a Blackest Eyes.
• For me, each song of PT is like a person. It has moods. Beautiful, melancholic, nostalgic.
• Their live performances are just A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I remember watching their concert on my laptop throughout the 3rd semester, to the point that I knew it by heart. Sigh, if only I concentrated this much on academics.
• The drummer, Gavin Harrison, is kick ass!

Naturally, when I came to know that they were coming to IIT Bombay for Mood Indigo, I was out of my mind. I knew that if I didn't go for the concert, I'll never forgive myself. So for about a month or so, I kept checking online if they had opened for booking. It was luck that I got tickets for their concert. I mean, frankly I've never really wished for something and got it, ya know. So I was happy that the tide was changing. Finally, mera number aa gaya!

Oops! Spoke too soon. I didn't get train tickets to go to Bombay and I fell sick. Ah, here's where lady luck brings me back to square one. I thought that all hope was lost, but my mom was not one who takes such things lying down. She convinced my dad to get me a flight ticket to Bombay. Of course, that's my birthday gift in advance but what the heck! Hopefully, my dad will forget about this teeny weeny gift. The probability of that happening is the same as that of Love Ishtory(Himesh Reshammiya's upcoming movie) becoming a super hit.

Anyways, by hook or crook, I reached Bombay. I reached on time for the concert and I was so super duper psyched. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I had seized it. But life is never so easy. I thought I was done with getting myself to Bombay. I did not realize that there would be a line as long as the Great Wall Of China just to get myself into the Open Air Theatre(OAT). While I tried to get entertained by the gentlemen standing behind me, who were talking about how Splitsvilla should be renamed Slutsvilla, a girl came up to me and said "Hey! There's a separate girls' queue so if you have come alone(which meant without a guy, judging by the funny looks she kept giving me like I'm a lesbian or something) you can join there". What's going on in my mind: Thank goodness I'm single and I'm a girl. And guess what? The girls' queue was empty, except for the mosquitoes though. And as you know, only female mosquitoes suck blood. But I reached the OAT with time and blood to spare. I found a few college mates and I got enough space to keep my big toe on the floor.

The concert started. It was amazing. When they came out on the stage, it was like this surreal experience. His first words on stage were "Namastey". So cute! They played some really popular songs like Trains, Halo, Hatesong, Lazarus, Open Car, Time Flies, Blackest Eyes, The Sound Of Muzak and a few lesser known ones like Start Of Something Beautiful, Way Out Of Here, Occam's Razor. It was even better to watch them live. Steven Wilson kept the crowd on their feet, which meant I got more place to sit! The band gave a stellar performance. I liked the fact that they had a good mix from older tracks and more recent ones. The crowd was kinda the type you have in cricket stadiums. Lots of whistling and all, ya know. But once the music started they thankfully stopped the irritating whistling. I was just really bummed out when they didn't play Arriving Somewhere and they played only for 2 hours. But as people say, all good things must come to an end. The experience is still fresh in my mind. It's something I'll never forget. And hopefully, I'll get to attend another one of their concerts :)