Advaita - Pre-album release hype!

Very few bollywood songs touch me these days. The pop-culture today demands the kind of songs which are pop-rock, on the spur of the moment, not too deep, 'I am yours and you are mine and let's get together' and all that.
There are a very few songs that strike chord, and you wish to listen to, only for the true essence of charming music and the profound lyrics. Advaita is a band that goes to the very roots, and explores depths and heights of western, soft rock and Hindustani Classical music, as one entity. Their lyrics are well thought and metaphorical, their sounds are novel, yet one thinks they are a part of oneself. The luminous sound of the Sarangi casts it's spell as the English lyrics and resonant Hindustani vocals are woven around the composition. Having released their 2nd album just yesterday, their hype is in the air all around. Very few Indian bands today have such a serious attitude towards music, and are ready to dive deep to experiment and create music that would last for a long time.
When I was exposed to Advaita sometime last year, the Sarangi riffs in their tracks 'Drops of Earth' and 'Miliha' attracted me primarily. Spellbound, I instantly became a hardcore Advaita fan.
Also, the graphic work for the second album, 'The Silent Sea' adds to the overall aesthetic impact of the Band. Though I've heard just two tracks from the album (on MTV Unplugged), and 2 more at NH7 (Pune) the album sounds very promising, and the visuals of the cover inlays do an amazing job of adding to the feelings of the songs.
I still haven't gotten my hands on the album CD, but soon enough!

Listen to the unplugged version of the title track of the new album
here

and unplugged version of 'Gorakh'
here

Do check the album-art out here

Industrial Visit Report: Injection Moulding and Deep Drawing

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The Stories We Don't Believe

Folks, there are stories which have happened and you believe, there are stories which have not happened – and you believe. And, there’s a third kind- stories which have happened, and yet, you don’t believe!
Today, I’m going to talk about the third kind of stories. And, there are 3 stories I am telling you.
The first one is the story of ‘The Girl in the Boys’ Hostel’. This happened sometime around Quasar 5. It was around 11 in the night, when many people on my floor were in the hostel itself. This girl from our college had lost her MacBook that day, and doubted that one of the guys had taken it, and hence was going around in every room, along with the guard and a fourth year guy to find the laptop. Yes, she went to each and every block, scanned all six floors of the boys’ hostel.
I’m not sure whether she found what she was looking for, and it goes without saying, that the last thing the guys were expecting in the hostel was a girl! (I mean, c’mon there were guys roaming around in shorts, without a shirt, and scratching their butts.) Now, if I were to tell this story to anyone, would they have a good reason to believe it?
The second story is quite a recent one. It was 3rd September 2011, to be precise. Because of the ceaseless rains for 2 days, the water had over-flown the banks, and the entire road next to the river was submerged. That day, some 8 of us went for dinner outside campus, via the ‘shortcut’.
While returning to the campus, came from the main gate. Many of us are aware that there was more than 2 feet water under the tunnel that is in front of the main gate. The water’s extent was from the beginning of the tunnel almost to the MIT main gate. Only those who’ve been there would believe that there was a boat-man rowing his boat in there. And, he was charging 10 rupees per person to carry the person from the beginning of the tunnel to the main gate. A boat-man and a boat under the tunnel. How many of you believe it?

The third story is the story of a hundred and fifty tractors. I guess most of us know it, but still, I present you my version. It was 2 AM, on 25th September 2011, and Mandeep and I were sitting in the third floor corridor discussing ‘la vie’. Naman comes up, and asks us, ‘Did you see the tractors?’
Me - ‘What tractors?’
Naman - ‘There were some 10-15 tractors that came into the campus from the shortcut, and are now being parked.’
Mandeep and I share the O.o look, and go to the end of the corridor, to see around a hundred tractors parked right next to our hostel, and more were on their way. Slowly, the entire space filled up with a hundred and fifty tractors. It is said that God has a certain place fixed for everyone and everything that stands on the face of earth. But 150 tractors have their place next to MIT-ID boys’ hostel? I guess the plan of The Master went wrong somewhere!
The next morning I got up and while going for breakfast, saw all of them, royally parked there, as if this place was their final destination. Here’s an evidence for those who don’t believe:

Moksha through Mukti

For our Inter-Design-Studies this year, we have to study Indian Classical Music and theater, to understand and get to know the population we are designing for. And we were lucky enough to have the band "Mukti" - A World Fusion Band (Amano Manish on Indian Slide Guitar, Uday Ramdas on Tabla & Percussions and N Abhay on Electric Guitar.), who gracefully agreed to play for us at MIT-ID. Mukti means liberation, from all the worldly and materialistic pleasures of the world.
Design in many ways is like fusion music. We mix together art and science, to create a melange, the Golden Mean, to make the people happy. The Mukti band members blend together different styles and genres of music, to create amazing experiences for the listeners. Designers and World Fusion Musicians, both experiment and explore a lot – go beyond the frame, beyond all what has been done, to create experiences that the people will keep in mind for a long time. Both are bound by the rules set to them by their parent science, yet, they explore and improvise to a great extent within their limits.

I had a really great experience, and an amazing story to tell people after this concert. I was really glad to have volunteered for arranging the concert. The band arrived at our college at about 15.30, and along with a handful of classmates, I went to help them out, to carry their sound equipment. I also was lucky to have been the one to show them a changing room in the college, where they got ready for the concert. I had a head to head dialogue with the three of them, though then, I wasn’t aware of what they had in store for us in the next 2 hours. After taking care of the seating arrangements, we all got set for them to start off.
Then, they came in, and in a very modest and down-to-earth way, started off with invocation of Lord Ganesh. The music of the trio was absolutely stunning. They not only had innovative music, but also an unforeseen instrument - the Indian Slide Guitar. They explained us what ‘raagas’ in Indian Classical music are. Through the 7 tracks they played, they displayed vivid fusion of Indian Classical along with myriad forms of music, such as Sufi, Spanish, Jazz etc. The musicians regaled everyone sitting in the foyer, irrespective of the fact that many people in MIT-Institute of Design didn’t have a keen interest in Indian Classical Music. The clapping and hooting by the students – most of whom were sitting for a classical concert for the first time, was almost instant, after every abstract play of notes, and returning to ‘sama’. The Indian Slide Guitar sounded surprisingly classical, as we have a different sound of the guitar in our minds; the electric guitar was refreshingly smooth; and the tabla was versatile – vibrant or serene, as the song demanded.
All in all, the experience was just brilliant, the sound was fresh and it was a good break from typical Bollywood and English songs that most people in the college listen to. Also, in the end, I was lucky to get a photograph with the band, along with the other event-volunteers, and also a small chat with them. This was surely one of those evenings I’ll never forget, and the memories of which will rejuvenate me for the times to come!
Visit Mukti – The World Fusion Band here.

Beginning of the Batman Obsession

I guess most of those around me know how much I love Batman. I mean, I'm the guy, who, in June 2011, went searching toy-stores for Batman's 1992 line of toys. I have downloaded all - and I mean all - animated and real-action episodes/movies ever made, ever since 1939 to now - this includes graphic novels scans, episodes, interviews, commentaries and featurettes. I had a Batman towel as a child. Last week, I got a bright blue belt with a shiny Batman logo buckle, which was hardly worth the price.

So, more than a few people keep asking me, 'Viraj, why Batman? Why do you like him so much?' What I answer most of the times is - 'I don't know.', but the fact is, I can't really articulate all that in words when someone just randomly throws the question at me. Now, let me try putting it all in words.

As a child, before 3rd standard (Before I was about 8), all of us knew Batman and Superman as superheroes, without any media going on about them, apart from movies. I remember, when I was in 3rd std., Cartoon Network brought in Batman: The Animated Series, which aired in America in 1992, and in India in around 2000-2001.


This series was the primary medium that introduced the people of my age back then to Batman. I was immediately attracted to it. I can't say whether many people around me were. But unconsciously I knew, that this was not like the other cartoons. This was much more dark, serious, and most of all, believable. We always had a discussion as peers in the recess of our school about Batman. Though Batman was a dark, shady figure in the show, we believed that he did good. I'm not sure whether I wholly understood why most people in his city feared him, but I believed in him. And then I saw good people like Commissioner Gordon, or maybe, a mother who's child is kidnapped (Episode: See No Evil) believe in him, and him doing the right thing, no matter how hard the circumstances were. Slowly I came to know, good guys don't fear Batman. But then again, that's the case with every superhero. Why only Batman?

What made Batman more believable, was of course the fact that he is just a human being and has no super powers, but also, the quality of animation they had in the 1992 series. Nothing was drastically superhuman, well of course, there is exaggeration, since it's a superhero fiction show - but it was all believable. Everything was at a human level.

Also, I saw in the series, good people like Harvey Dent, or Matt Hagen turn into villains because of incidents that happened to them. Of course, they were not responsible for what happened to them, but I think the series taught me, not to waver from whatever you stand for, because you are good, and if you deviate towards the bad, you have a new identity - the good in you is lost.

And Batman always stood upto what was good. No matter how hard it was. I guess that was the prime influence that help build my personality. Of course, there are millions of situations and people in the real world, and it is too much to believe that a TV show influenced a person so much, but I was in my budding age. The age when I learnt good and bad. When I learnt that not all people are good, and that good people can turn bad, and the age when children get to know the harsher facts of life like disease, suffering and death.



There have been people in my life as well whom I believed in, and whom I believed to be good. They didn't turn out to be that way. And no matter how much they mattered to me, I just cannot turn into something else. I guess all this was simplified in Batman: The Animated Series and shown, making it more easy to relate to.

Of course, graphic novels and movies followed suite. But, nothing gives me the nostalgia and the sense of belonging as Batman: The Animated Series does. Of course, the graphic novels stood true to what image of Batman I had through the animated series, and I really have a soft corner when it comes to the Batman toys.

And then, there was the Gray Ghost episode. They've shown Bruce Wayne as an 8 year old watching his favorite superhero show 'The Gray Ghost' on TV with an action figure of the Gray Ghost. I did the same with my Batman toy. So there was this relation.

Also, the kind of huge house Bruce had, and the kind of a man he was when he wasn't Batman - an industrialist (Of course, his playboy image was incomprehensible to me as a child) was something I wanted to become, and the show suggested in some uncanny way that if I follow what I like, if I am true and just, I will be that someday, because that's what happened to Bruce.

I think it's just an important part of my growing up. And it was forgotten for a few years as Pokémon and other indulgences came in, but when I rediscovered Batman: The Animated Series in 2008, the memories came to me like summer tempest.



Putting it all together, this rational, idealist figure of justice was what made the lessons given by the people around and experiences seem more simple, and right.