THE WAREBLOG

I would often stumble at this question on the umpteen slam-books and diaries that we’ve filled up in our days – what is your favorite song? I would, like many others, go on merrily mentioning several songs that I loved – didn’t actually matter if I really would want to keep hearing them back or back it up with some traceable metric.

So I came up with this list of songs that I had been mentioning across different places claiming to be my favorite (this actually got me to log in to Orkut – seems like time travel) ones. Equipped with a bag of 100 songs (with a few additions to make up the number in the end), I plugged them into my media player and shuffled them up to start with.

Now on, it was fairly simple – every day I would listen to these songs in a random order and either hear the song playing or impulsively hit the next button. At the end of every day I had columns that highlighted the number of skips I made and the number of runs I heard through among the total number of plays.

Ran this for twelve days – and on the thirteenth day, well, I have the top ten songs that I definitely would love to keep playing over and over on my headphones.

The songs considered though are all from movies released after I was born and until last year – to prevent both the biases, classic (I really don’t care in this exercise if Guru Dutt gave us a few gems, I wouldn’t end up hearing them repeatedly at work anyways) as well as infatuation-based (I tried to keep it as less skewed as possible).

So here are the ten – let me know if they work for you! Criteria (For Reference) – Hindi song from a film soundtrack, released after 1985 and before 2011.

It’s an year since Autograph released. Not only was the movie impeccable, the songs were perhaps a shade better. Here’s a translation of the most striking song from this super soundtrack – “Aamake Aamar Moto Thakte Daao…”

And to round it off, the quick embed follows. Share & Savour!

It is interesting to go through a novella form of a short story you had visited as a child.

While Ruskin Bond weaves his patent magic of making the most mundane things spark to life, the story is so named because of a very important reason.

I haven’t seen the movie myself, but have read the original script (also included in the paperback available in bookstores now). However, I have come across a lot of discussion on who the seventh husband was and who was the seventh one she murdered – and the like.

It would be interesting to note that Ruskin Bond never suggests the concept of seven murders – either in the title of the novella or anywhere within. What simply remains is a subtle yet clear indication towards the end of the original story – precisely pointing out all the seven husbands.

However, the film-makers chose to toy with the idea of extrapolating what happens in the end. And yes, they did clearly suggest seven murders (not necessarily husbands, but as it turned out – and also the very words of the script, all seven murders were indeed of husbands). But as in the original story, so in the script, the concept of the seventh murder & husband is again very prominently conveyed – not quite needing you to be a Nolan to move out of the theatre with your head held high, knowing the secret of the universe. It’s there for everyone to see and absorb.

As for me, I loved the novella and well, the script was pretty well extrapolated too.

The bottomline – This is a treat for all Ruskin Bond fans out there. Go for it!

I write this post to pay my respectful and glowing tributes to the art of website designing (here, the lack of it) and share your grief in having to sit through each of these links.

So, here goes…

10. DPS BOKARO & LIFE IN BHOPAL
To start with, I pay homage to the spirit of developing these two sites (especially because of my association to these two cities) –

9. I KISS YOU
There were worthy competitors to this – but with my admiration for Turkish cuisine, music & locales; here’s something that became the most popular thing back in 1999 and would later inspire Borat et al.

8. HIGH ON FIRE
What happens when you sleep under a rock & still surface – after over ten years!

7. ROD C DAVIS
What was that? I thought it had to do with supernatural healing… I already feel a paranormal experience.

6. YALE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ART
It would be just another migraine-ingrained site if not for the Yale part of it. Seriously, is this one of USA’s premier art schools?

5. GEORGE HUTCHINS
I won’t exactly gift such a personal portal to even the worst of my enemies!

4. TIMECUBE
So, what are we trying to do here?

3. ALMIGHTY WIND
Ok… so what exactly is this wind, people??

2. HURR-DURR
Please… Why? PeTA… Alpha, Beta and Theta… Somebody!!

1. DOKIMOS
This is epic.
If Jesus’ site actually looked like this – Christianity would not exist today!

For wider circulation, here’s one of my favorite posts -

When Manmohan Singh opened up the economy, little did he know the ramifications of it. Yes, we have great plasma TVs, IT jobs and foreign cheerleaders in our tournaments and calendars. But it has brought in some side effects as well. As I browse through my Facebook feed through various tinted photographs of poor people and a crow eating from a bowl of rice, it only compounds my irritation.

Apparently anyone can now own a DSLR without knowing what it expands to. The moment you get one, you update your Facebook status with technical specifications of your camera that serves as a harbinger to us. Then you have two passive Facebook users(Their role in online social life ends with the like button) to like it. I think they are like assassins. You can hire them and get them to like stuff on a temporary basis. An innocent girl falls for the bait and comments “Wow”. A hound of wolves go and like her comment, which tallies to a higher rational number than the likes for your original post, thereby embarrassing you. I mean, why this hoopla? Aren’t bloggers like me shamelessly publicizing blogposts on Facebook enough for humanity?

When you get your DSLR, do you start looking at everything as a prospective photograph. Poor people are now the target of your black and white pics. Suddenly old senile men clad in loin cloth are of value to you. A wrecked car becomes an object of art. I mean, how suddenly? You categorize stuff into different senseless albums. Stray dogs come under the category of wildlife. Why man, why?Do they live in the forest? Are they endangered? I really don’t think so. They chase me all around the housing colony, as I ride my bike with my legs near the handle bar out of fear, when I return home after 11 pm. Your cycle bell is shot in high resolution and uploaded into “random pics”.”Random pics”, the worst ever name, not just for for an album. If you hate your child, you should name him “random pics”.

Doors, windows, bullet enfields and light switches go under the category of classic pictures. Who certified it as a classic? The Academy awards jury? Sigh, self-proclamation. And yes, find new names. “What I see”, “Brilliant shots from my eye” and “Shots through my lens” are trite names for an album. Just like fatuous names such as “Virtualjunk” for a blog.

You know what I dread the most? When you go for a photowalk. Apparently it is exactly like your normal walk, except for the fact that you annoy other people with your camera during your walk, thereby intruding their privacy. You shoot pictures of mango sellers, beach, shops, and everything you find. Then you post process it and make it look pretentious. And then you put your logo and copyright. Yeah, because Ram Gopal Varma is looking to sneak away your photos and plagiarize it in his next movie. Some of you even put “Rights reserved” at the footer of the image. I wonder what rights you have reserved for yourself. I will plagiarize it and see how you effectively sue me in Mumbai high court. It is tiring to see “Ram photography” , “Shyam photography” or “Soorpanakha photography” as image footers.
You don’t stop with that, do you? You have to bestow your photography tips on us. When we common men click photos with our “point and shoot” cameras, you go all over our pictures and say “This should have been shot in Macro mode” ,  “That should have been shot at this exposure”. Ok, I know you understand the nuances of photography. However all I want is just to click a button and get a picture. From now on, your shooting tips will be met with shooting, from a gun.
End of rant.

P.S: Not intended to be derisive – just an ironical perspective on photographer idiosyncrasies. No need to outrage.

I remember a place not far away,

I remember a time not long ago;

I remember being with you too..

And I still remember you in all that I do.!

But it’s not with love… daggers of pain!

And I promise…

I will never look into your eyes again..!

The maple tree stares down upon me,

And reminds me of a time I was here before;

The path leads me to a field,

Which shows me it still has life galore;

But I recognize them all..

Same old chaff.. Yet different grain..!

And so I promise…

I will never look into your eyes again..!

Alone I meander through the crossroads,

And I see a coffee pub I had frequented before;

This very street! That very day!!

I wish I had thought of it before..

Before letting go of your hand..

One fateful moment and you were no more..

All I had with me was lost..

And washed away in that autumn rain…

And so I promise…

I will never look into your eyes again..!

Kamaal Khan burst into the Indian Music Industry as the refreshing new voice of Salman Khan, a title that was held by S.P.Balasubramaniam for close to a decade. But the singer was never actually given the credit that was due and mostly rubbed away as another IndiPop singer, a treatment which rooted from the mushrooming of a huge number of blink-and-miss artistes during the late 90s and early years of the millennium. Kamaal nevertheless is still going strong and being a huge fan myself, look forward to the forthcoming album ‘Khanfusion’.

Raghav Sachar at 26 years of age is one exceedingly gifted artiste who can actually play more musical instruments than his age ( 32 instruments as on date ). If his formative years in the Indian Music Industry are anything to go by, we have a rarity on the cards. With contemporary sounds in his compositions, he manages to effortlessly pull-off one chartbuster after another. Perhaps, Kabul Fiza from Kabul Express is one song that one wouldn’t have lost from their mp3 players altogether. Give some more of his numbers a try and you may soon be humming one random piece.. go for it.!

Anjaane Chehre – The most amazing bloopers are here