alright. so this is crazy. 2 days now since i've been invited to orkut and i'm still surfing. the remarkable fact abt this friendster-like network is that there are tons of desi-babes-oops-mahilaayen with gorgeous pics. hoho. seems like another virtual-meet-real effort by humanity with good trust levels.

indeed it is fascinating. the virtual social network scene has had me thinking for a while abt its consequences. ppl are quite candid abt themselves. i guess nobody is clear now why he/she has singned up for it. hoho. if i cud, i wud have setup a smart match-maker bot inside n soon shaadi.com etc wud be out of business. hoho.the pure indian population is yet to join in masses as mostly amrikan desis seem to participate. got to see huge fan clubs of some of the bloggers too. in fact, thousands of virtual communities already exist there..like..jagjit singh, rdb, dance, bollywood, arr. u name it there's a community...even a hindi-speaking-videshi ppl community. i fear a lot of them mite back out once they perceive it as some kind of invasion of privacy. a lot of them mite not even join for the same reason. and there r plenty of long lost fellows too. communities of hi-schools n all. harping on an optimistic note: i guess we're moving towards a society with more candid ppl and greater acceptance levels. maybe virtual lives have some point to prove b4 the real ones.

and finally google IPO'ed today. guess they'll speculate more abt the imminent doomsday. fascinating user feedback on slashdot.

songs - kabhi aar kabhi paar remix, kareena kapoor croons in dev. started liking songs of yuva even more. and lakshya has lovely musical paradigm yet hopeless lyrics. main aisa kyu hoon(very psychedilc music, beats kill bill ). hum tum's lovely romantic number: sanson ko sanson mein ghulne do zara by babul supriyo, alka yagnik. piya bawri in deewar, again by alka yagnik. a post eulogising her has long been in queue.

crazy out of the world zakir hussain concert (minus ranjit barot) in NY. taufiq qureshi - agnivarsha n misc. zakir+sultan in kithe meher ali from mr mrs iyer -zakir's debut. dream come true. was mostly out of my wits to see those two sing, to actually fine tune my binoculars on their faces. hoho.

more comic political drama. first hue n outcry on prospect of sonia gandhi becoming PM. ppl resigning, stock markets plunging. now she comes up with her inner voice telling her - no post, no power. columns on rediff shout bewafaayee, express disappointment. i wish i knew wot goes on behind the scenes in such cases. i hope manmohan singh takes a few acting classes in first few weeks as PM. he needs to obtain the charisma of a world leader n lose the geek in him. hoho.

watched meenaxi twice in a row this evening. i'm quite fascinated altho no meaning came out of it, which makes me like it even better. hoho. Tabu is fabolous, gorgeous, terrific and sensuous. as a hyderabadi maiden, or a jaisalmer lady or maria from prague, she gets into the skin of the character effortlessly. esp the accent n body language of each of them. and more esp, her czech-slovenian accented hindi. completely adorable. so lovely. tabu has always looked beyond her years to me. in fact, it appears as a crime of condescension of nth degree when she chooses to play the routine girl. the half before the interval is better. some scenes of chemistry+humor between raghuvir yadav n tabu are amazing. kunal kapoor transforms into an actor of calibre as the movie goes on. the dialogues are out of the world. i need to sit down n produce a transcript soon. hoho. lazeez urdu zubaan ki baareekiyon se manje hue lafz aur kiredaar. har ek lamhe mein ek deewangi hai. the movie carries itself fwd with variance of Tabu's character n corresponding varied art of courtship of her man. as for the meaning, i think its basically abt inordinate pursual of romanticism. very aesthetic presentation. while direction, screenplay, actors seem to lose hold at few moments, overall i loved the aura created.

i was in cleveland for St. Thyagaraja Aradhana on saturday. altho we planned to catch the last two days, one full day of back2back concerts was sufficient to cause a buffer-overflow as my pal put it. my earlier fears of not being able to tolerate a carnatic concert were almost confirmed until the rejuvenating aruna sairam concert at the end of the day. i guess i'm too accustommed to n indian classical patterns n basically wasnt satisfied till i found hints of them here n there. plenty of raags are common in between, shivranjini n yaman being the favs. found myself humming jaane kahan gaye wo din, mere naina sawan bhado in between. inspite of all that, i found to my amazement how intoxicating cud such musical sessions can be provided one is ready to put in some initial aural effort. when i left, i was drunk like hell n cud take in infinite more. the only other such concert for me i rem was a n indian one, organized by spicmacay in calcutta few years back. all of us in the family sat awake all thru nite. an eminent passion, junoon takes over. aside: i wish there was a n indian classical festival once a year in amrika too.

and finally, found myself humming tu jo mila from alisha chinai's long forgotten Om. a sweet, lovely pleasing melodious number sung with child-like innocence. she is gorgeous, aint she?

brihat sannata,
vyaktigat sannata,
stabdh sannata,
vichalit sannaata.

peeda hai koi,
kyu nahi bataata.
kshobh hai kiska,
use sataata.
vyomkaaya sannata.

baar baar khokhle tanon mein,
gum ho jaata.
hai kabse icchuk,
koi upaay mit paata.

nidraa pukaarti,
na jeevan bulaata.
use sukh ya dukh,
koi na choo paata.
ghanghor sannata.

prakaash bolon ki,
anginat wo paata.
mook dhwani se,
wo kisko samjhaata?

sannaaton ki bheedh mein,
tanha wo sannata.
arth khojta jidhar,
kewal paata sannata.

kritrim jeevon mein ghulkar,
gaganbhedi anarth pukaarta.
haahakaar ki been bajaata,
duh-saahsi sannata.


akasmaat bhram ke kokh mein,
kinchit lupt ho jaata.
vyakul hridaya ke shor mein,
punar-janm paata.
bheeshan sannata. baawla sannata.

vyangya-kreedasthal ki,
raunak sada badhaata.
astitva mera odhkar,
jhoom uthaa sannata.


the poets of this world shud try being less abstract. hoho. an ode to sannata, shud we call it?

tumhe mehboob kehta,
palkon pe bithaata,
nazron se sajaata.
baat sirf itni, tum gar maan leti:
tum, tum na hoti.

meethe neem ke narm chaaon mein,
svapn-desh vichraata.
nabh ke taaron se,
zameen ko sajaata, behlaata.
bas ek sirf,
tum, tum na hoti.

lekhniyaan tum par mohabbat ki,
din raat lutaata, dohraata.
mridul ritu ki deewangee jutaakar,
man ki jalti pyaas bujhaata.
ae kaash agar,
tum, tum na hoti.

khamoshiyon ko bikherte,
tumhare saundarya ke raag gaata.
chanchal titli, tere chitt ko,
apne hridaya ka vishaal vyom thamaata.
bas wohi, ae jaanejaan,
tum, tum na hoti.


ho anumati agar,
ek aagrah karoon tumse?
path mile firse, tumse agar,
in tanhaayiyon par taras khaana.
milte rahe kayee mujhse,
is baar tum mil jaana.

As if we didnt have enuf of Tabu in maqbool already, here's the next big surprise - meenaxi. afterall, who cud do a better job than a painter like MF Hussain to depict tabu's beauty on celluloid. in all her varied forms, full of sensuality, charm n most of all seduction. meenaxi is an abstract poetic journey into the heart n mind of restless womanhood. much toned-down n abstract maya memsaab i guess.

Believe me, if her voice was a lil less hoarse, she wud have displaced madhuri dixit long back. hoho. yo tabu!

and btw, rediff is turning more n more classy in its choices. print media has seldom seen such a support for the alternatives on the front page. but then, everything now is on the cover (web)page. hoho.

am voraciously reading anything related to meenaxi since yesterday. went back to its music trying to look at it in a new kind of light. not a mere acquaintance but someone u wanna love, get emotionally involved with. the songs are incredibly fascinating n each one of them except perhaps dhuan dhuan, which i learnt was done in 3 hrs. ARR says he's learning to compose good qawwalis n i fully agree. noor-un-ala-noor captures all the intriguing aspects of qawaali. in retrospect, i found that we've been exposed to some elaborate qawaali finery thru NFAK n ARR. looking back at those 70's movies, where qawalis were degraded to rishi kapoor, swivel n clap depiction, somehow it seems to me that this version of sufi music was on verge of being lost. one cud study n lay down several principles of this genre in detail (beginning with the dual purpose of the songs wrt both the beloved n the god), but a couple of them can be seen right off. qawaali has a pass-the-parcel flavor in between two or more lead qawwals. one of them proposes while the other stresses upon the idea. altho similar, the two propositions are independent in their classical intonations, the guy with the parcel being the boss for the moment. one doode being busy with serious stuff while the other frivolously indulging in his alaap. some of my fav expressions:

zindagi ek raaz thi, ek raaz hai, ik raaz hai,
jaankar hoga kyaaaaaa,
jaankar hoga kyaa, kisne hai jaana,
koi kahe mohabbat, koi ibaadat.

deewaangee kahen chaahe junoon,
deewaangee kahen chaahe junoon,
chaahat hi meri adaaaaaa.

fir chidi raat, baat foolon ki,
raat hai ya, baaraat foolon ki.

fool ke haar, fool ke gajre,
shaam foolon ki, raat foolon ki.

aapka saath, saath foolon ka,
aapki baat, baat foolon ki.

fool khilte rahenge, duniya mein,
roz niklegi baat foolon ki.

nazren milti hain, jaam milte hain,
mil rahi hai, hayaat foolon ki.

ye mehekti hui ghazal, 'makhdoon',
jaisa sehraa mein raat foolon ki.

fir chidi raat baat foolon ki

a song dedicated to the fool's of this world. hoho. one of the most passively seductive song ever made.