When I left you on Friday, I did nothing. Except veg out and plow into the home-stretch of book reading. And some time during Friday night, while still reading the book, I ended up face down in my pillow, sobbing my eyes out.

It's been a long time since I’ve read anything quite as disturbing as Elie Wiesel’s ‘Night’. If you haven't discovered this guy, ‘Night’ is the perfect place to start. Books just don't get any disturbing than this.

If I could go back and right any wrong in history - historic or personal - without having to worry about any of that ‘Heroes-Hiro-Nakamura’ past changing the future paradox shit, I believe that the holocaust would be one of the things that I would have liked to never have existed... and any other hate crimes motivated by race.
I was bummed out when I finished this book, not because it wasn’t good but because it make me feel sickened, bewildered, troubled and vaguely pissed off. But that’s what Wiesel intends to do the reader, fight against Holocaust denial and encourage more awareness-raising both on the level of political elites, on the level of history teaching and the media, to restore collective memory and make known the difficult truth about the Holocaust so that something like that won’t ever happen again.
Moving onto Saturday. I had the good fortune of being invited for a small show at Herbs & Spices featuring Naina Kundu and Floyd Fernandes, a fine blues and soul duo from Mumbai. The location was cozy. Not big, on the side of small but we got ourselves a table at the back with a good view. The show started at 9 when Naina Kundu got up on stage with a guitar that looked bigger than her, to perform “These Days” (by Jamie Cullum). Her voice was very warm, smooth and deep and her songs have an unusual blaze to them which is very appealing. Add in good looks and her set was great. Usually I'm wary of covers but she didn't let anyone down, doing a slow, easy on the ear job on ‘Another Day’ (Jamie Lidell) with her own particular unhurried jazz style. Unfortunately it was raining quite terribly all day so I didn't get to take out my camera.
What else can I tell you other than that from the opening track to the end of the concert every second was worth listening to. Here’s Naina Kundu and Floyd Fernandes with ‘The Truth’. It’s a live track, not a studio recording, so be prepared for a little crowd action and clapping.

Until the next time around keep reading and, as always, enjoy the music.

Resurface

Please forgive my recent silence. I haven't had internet access at home in almost a whole week and I think I almost lost my mind. My laptop hasn't been very cooperative. I've somehow managed to infuriate the internet gods, snubbed them in some way. It started when a bug was pushed to my machine late last week...which put Google out of action (Gmail, Gtalk and BlogSpot) because, yeah, I only use that every day. So I was left convulsing without my fix of chatting and blogging goodness. All my browsers refused to load. No scowling face, no question mark. Just a little message saying I should restart my computer. It would have been very, very easy to get caught in an infinite loop, especially as I enjoy following orders. I kept on doing as I was told, rebooting time and time again, but eventually I had to stop for sleep. It's really enough to make one want to gulp down a cake made of nothing but chili paste.

My computer finally got fixed yesterday. Apparently they were able to save most of my data. And, in the end, the price was slightly less astronomically high than I expected it would be. Not much, mind you--I still have to scrap my plan to do some month-end shopping and drinking. But now that my computer is back, of course I'm going to have to catch up on all the blog reading and I shall also see if I can arrange a human sacrifice to pacify the internet gods.

Since I got a job that keeps me sitting down for the better part of the day; parked behind a computer screen. Music is a lifesaver after lunch and it’s been quite a treat to get to listen to loads of the music I had stored in my computer at work. One of them being Incubus’ ‘Aqueous Transmission’, which is a beautiful and relaxing trip through ‘a land of rivers, kung fu and unicorns, eventually making the listener pee in her/his pants’ – Brandon Boyd, Lead vocalist of Incubus. And just a fun fact, the band uses a traditional Japanese string instrument called 'Ko-kyu’ in this track. If you really dig their music you should check out their album ‘Morning View’. Trust me, it’s a good enough album to impulsively get and enjoy it over this weekend. And if you’re not from this side of the world then you might as well enjoy it while you’re at work tomorrow.

Happy Friday y’all!

Making It through the Puddle of Life

I'd be untruthful if I stated that the last week was the best ever. I mean, it was alright. Above average, in fact. I was in a crappy mood through much of it and I hold responsible the many things that I've somehow had to get done on the work front.


In other news, I can finally scratch ‘Wine Tasting’ off the list of ‘Things to do before I turn 30’. Yep, I woke up one Saturday, nice and late only to find out there was no electricity. The heat didn’t make things any less annoying. So we headed out to a wine tasting event that was held in B’lore on Saturday. Damn, how suburban of me. It also didn't help that I was simultaneously attacked by a wide assortment of wines and an alcoholic ex-boyfriend. The afternoon was focused on good looking people (fun, a mob scene) and the fact that I ate the most perfect summer meal ever – an assortment of cheeses, a burger, Belgian chocolates and sparkling white wine.

Can I tell you how long it’s been since I’ve just had a whole day to just relax? No. I can't remember that far back. And I'm happy to report that just thinking of the event transcended my shitty mood. It was entertaining. It was righteous.

It’s been raining here in B’lore since last week. And with the terrible summer we’ve been having here nothing is better than a hot day right now. I took a long walk on my way back home, walking in the puddles and adoring the weather for all its rain and cold. Anything’s better than a scorching and humid morning. Life is still very good and I'm a lucky woman to be living in the midst of this gorgeous weather in B’lore.

Imagine if you took a well known track and then you added a grungy bass line and called it a remix. Brilliant. Everything about this cover is perfection. This is a track that feels like it’s never going to reach a point worth caring about. If you turn it off in the first minute you’re missing out. This track is so good I’m tempted to simply stop now and publish this post. Here are The Used with ‘Burning Down the House’.

Holidaying: The Photo Recap

It's some time late evening and I’m just dealing with yet another frenzied week. Sadly, I've had about as much sleep as Paris Hilton has brain cells so forgive me if I haven’t a lot of time to write about my vacation that took place two weekends back. I figured I'd leave you with pictures of the Early Vacation of '10.

What went down during that weekend, you ask? Well, we/I...

* Went to the Tibetan settlement in near Coorg;

* Stayed the monastery;

* Spent hours at the Sera Jey Temple and The Namdroling Temple (also know as the

Golden Temple);

* Strolled through a local garden at the monastery;

* (You worn out yet? By this point, we were!);

* Ate lots of authentic Tibetan food – Thukpa, Momos, Shaptra;

* Took care of musician boy with a stomach bug;

* Shot hundreds of pictures; and

* Seriously dreaded going back to work.

Whew. So, now that I'm back from butt stuck work for an ungodly nine hours (not including travel time). That's all I've got. So, what's up with you?
Couple of nights ago I heard the cover of ‘Psycho Killer’ by Velvet Revolver (originally performed by the band ‘Talking Heads’). The song has a certain shine. If you take the time to play this one you’re all in for a treat. Have a listen and a great week.