Beacons of hope

It’s a Sunday evening, and I’m at a random charity event(as you do), waiting for the free food to arrive. While aimlessly wandering through the building, I met a very enthusiastic gentleman. Dude just wouldn’t stop talking. He was so excited to meet me, and talk to me about his little dream. He said he’s the founder of an organization that helps fund the education of underprivileged children. And I thought to myself,” well…this is it. If I ever do something good for society, it’s going to be this”. The talkative man invited me to come visit his village, and that’s what I did. This past weekend, along with a friend, I made a trip, far, far away, to the village of “exciting changes”. I was in an adventurous mood for the whole trip. I felt like a mountaineer. I felt the oxygen drop as we travelled further, but soon realized that it was my fat body trying to resist exercise. Plus, we weren’t near any mountains. So, I get there and meet up with the talkative man. He offers to take us to the homes of the students who he’s supporting. So, we went to meet the families. One of them was a family of farmers.

At each house, as soon as we reached, these young minds, these little beacons of hope, came out to greet us. Those were the students. We met each and every one of them personally, talked to them about their hopes and their dreams. I observed the relationship between the talkative man and the parents of the kids. They treated him like a God. This frightened me a little bit. So while returning home, I turned to my friend and asked him, “you think he’ll rape these kids?”. “I don’t think so”, he said. “I think he’s just an honest guy who wants to give something back”.

Old beer

These sculptures were built by people before me, at a different time, at a different place. They thought differently, they ate differently, they fucked differently, or maybe they didn’t. Did they build these sculptures out of devotion? Or did they build it for money? What did they do with the money? What did they do to relax? What was their life like? How did they live without a phone? How did they order food? If I went back in time and met them, will they accept me into their society? Or will I remain a recluse there too? Did people suffer from depression back then? What did they do to cope? How did they deal with death? Was it just a funeral, and then move on? What was friendship like? If I made them listen to Megadeth, will they stone me to death? How about Deep Purple? Everyone likes Deep Purple! Will they dance to Deep Purple? Will they like a burger? How about ice cream? Movies? Will I fuck up their mind? Tinder? How about Tinder? What if I show them pictures of outer space? Will they teach me something I don’t know? Like, how to read people’s body language? I would love to get a beer with someone from prehistoric times.

The power of wonder

Sometimes I look up and wonder if life is out there lurking beneath the surface of moons. Then I go get drunk and discuss personal issues with people who I don’t really know that well.

Welcome to my home

My place of peace and quiet, Kerala.

The four legged figure that looks like the monster from Stranger Things is actually part of a fishing net

Wait, that’s just a picture of the sky. Doesn’t matter if it was taken in Kerala or Egypt! The introvert in me feels at ease in this environment. How I wish vacations lasted a lifetime!

Let’s talk about fruits

As a meat enthusiast, I tend to overlook, basically everything that is healthy. So this is my journey into the art of fruit-eating, after moving to North India. When I think about having a fruit, the first thing that comes to mind is a mango, because lets be honest, a mango is what paradise tastes like, not an apple, that shit sucks. But here’s the thing about mangoes. You have to pick the right one, there are so many, unnecessary kinds of mangoes out there. You have to wash it, peel it. You have to make sure there are no worms in it. Such a waste of time. I’m talkin, “raising a child”, kind of effort to eat a mango. Think about it. With all the time and energy you’ve wasted eating mangoes, you could have easily raised a child. I know…I’m blowing your mind right now. This is why I don’t have any friends. Anyway, my life changed the other day when I tried these

They are called lychees. I know, everyone knows. They taste like fruit from an alien planet. Remember that scene in Avatar, where the guy tastes the alien fruit for the first time? The movie sucked bigtime but the fruit was kickass. I imagine it would have tasted something like this. What blew my mind is, there’s no work involved in eating these things. You make a crack in the shell and then pop it into your mouth. Then enjoy as paradise melts. Now, guys, isn’t that the way life is supposed to be? Simple and satisfying? Am I asking for too much here? So kids, what I’m really trying to say is, a lychee is still a great tasting fruit without all the complexities. Be like lychee.

Inspiration to write

You know when’s the best time to write? When you’re drunk and you don’t care about spelling, well, unless autocorrect is tuned on. Creativity just flows like molten lava. Also, it really helps if your dog died. Then you get that extra boost/pressure to write. I call it depressure. Get it? depression+pressure? Anyway, I think I’ll go back to staring at the wall now. Oh almost forgot! I climbed a hill last weekend. Here’s a picture.

 

Kolakham, West Bengal

 

Have a good weekend!

Into the wilderness I go

The reason why I used “wilderness” in the title is not because I trekked through a forest but because I trekked through a forest accompanied by three other human beings, which I normally don’t do. The super-introvert in me could never do such a thing but I did it just to see what it would be like and here’s what I’ve learned.

I’ve heard people say ,”you have to travel with people to really get to know them”. I agree with this. However I really think that you need to get to know people if you really need to get to know them. There’s no easy way to do it. So when I went trekking with a friend, her friend and a local, I learned the real reason why we humans are still classified as “animals” rather than something upper-class like “the engineers” or “centurions” 🙂 . 

Exploring the world and talking to strangers

Everything I see affects me in some way. Its hard to pinpoint the changes it creates in my behaviour, but I know for sure that I view the world a little differently after a day of exploring.

I feel the difference when I talk to people, when I go to work, when I make music.

Floating market

Being the adventurous go-getter that I am, I paid a visit to the “floating market” on Sunday. The idea of the floating market is simple. Basically, you pay extra to buy groceries from boats. It kind of makes sense. There’s no entry fee. So you get to enjoy the sights for free, if you want to.

The Floating Market, Kolkata

My sole purpose of visiting the market was to chill, like this guy.

The hunt for bass, deep thunderous bass

What’s the problem with looking for musicians on the internet?

Well… lets put it this way. It’s just like using Tinder. You never know what you are going to get. This person might say something online and it might be a whole different story offline. Even if they have a video or audio clip in their bio, the reality is going to be very different. Because the recording on their profile is rehearsed. Real life is different. Real life is…I wouldn’t say ‘hell’ because I really like my life right now. Challenging, challenging is the right word. Real life is challenging, and exciting. Plus, people on the internet, you know, could kill you(no offence). Now, since ending up dead is not part of the plan, I stay away from online ‘friends’. I am in no way discouraging people who look for ‘people’ online. There is tons of talent out there on the internet. I hear miracles happen. In fact, so many people have found success this way. Its just that, I have oddly specific interests that I don’t think other people can relate to. The internet is supposed to make it easier, I know, but when it comes to music, its complicated. The internet is awesome. So you do you!

So I set sail tomorrow morning to meet the lord of bass. He was introduced to me by the bassist of my old band. It’s pretty ironic because the bassist of the old band was in a way, responsible for the band’s demise. Well, I guess he made up for his motherfuckery by giving me a bassist. Anyway, I meet the lord of bass tomorrow. He seemed like a nice dude over the phone. Hope it stays that way in real life. Well, I suppose my outgoing nature and general love of social interactions should take care of that(sarcasm).

Side note: I quit Tinder today. Fuck this shit. I don’t know what the moral is here. Real life is more exciting than virtual life? Deadpool will be in theatres 16th of May? I really don’t know. Here’s a sight from Kolkata from the waist-down (because filming people’s faces is a douchebag-move).

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