eclectic VIBES- for Music & Entertainment by Eclectic Publications

ARUNACHAL PRADESH • ASSAM • MANIPUR • MEGHALAYA • MIZORAM • NAGALAND • SIKKIM • TRIPURA

FOR MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT AUGUST 2010 Rs 30

T HEAS T R O N BY T HEAR

JUNK IN TOWN

The Times They Are a-Chan

gin’

s; und us across all dimension e see a lot of cha nges aro A . etc its, hab sica l shape, be it our personalit y, phy h cha nge is a part of growt t tha is t fac n ow widely kn st mo As it. in e iev bel y ngl and we, here at Vibes, stro an our journey as a music beg we , ow kn s der rea r of ou launch, we are ready to hin less tha n a year of its wit ay, tod and nt me ple sup s with it. start a bra nd new inning an, not to forget the new dress or the latest sed a it be – For exa mple suit, we all like to rket or that cla ssic business best music player in the ma rds, Vibes has taken wa for a world of fast In s. live r ou to new ing add someth ty. Music is still a ng niche and unique identi stro a h wit n ow its of a mould ta. east India’s musica l bio-da salient in Vibes, the North you in its new avatar to ngs bri es is what Vib A ‘little something for all’ e rea lm of the revised sic and entertainment! Th – it’s a mixed flavour of mu aspects of fad, passion sic as we move to broader monthly goes beyond mu n you remember the r music readers happy. Ca and events, yet keeping ou taboos mentioned? no live-in and there were last time you talked about gouts in the metros of han t icated Northeas ded are re the ow kn you Or did nar y achievers who k into the lives of extraordi pee ak sne a get You ia? Ind to the word ‘pa ssion’. have given a new meaning hearts, inspire, st stories that will touch We bring to you the choice e. pag The new Vibes you with the turn of every mesmerize, and enthra ll me, fun and frolic and t with warmth and welco comes to you this Augus ance. When we of and expectations accept es hop h wit tly, tan por most im how our readers would last year, we did not know er tob Oc in es Vib d rte sta dous support from y first issue, we got stupen respond, but from the ver nitely we wish the of Northeast India. So, defi across all the eight states son II of Vibes. same rejoinder for our Sea er its meaning as orbing – we can all deciph Vibes, as a word is self abs e; others use it hon rap vib reviated word for abb an as it ow kn e Som we like. ses or reactions g feelings, emotions, respon sin res exp ile wh y usl mo synony the aura or atmosphere can also use it to describe we el, lev eric gen a on and be so meaningful! ng how one small word can around us. It is truly amazi ge of vivid lexis, still have tried to explore a ran In this ma iden issue, we strive to ma ke all ely entals musica l. We will sur trying to keep the fundam port. Meanwhile sup our readers’ love and h wit d rea to at tre a es future issu let’s keep our vibes high!

Happy reading…

tor) (Managing Edi

July 2010

nobody knows when and how our life takes a turning point and reading Aby’s article was really inspirational and I also got an idea to pursue my interest. Thank you so much. Gourav Saikia, Dibrugarh You are right, we never know when our life changes, hope your life too changes for the better. Good luck to your interest! - Team Vibes

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Hi,

I am a big fan of ‘Lamb of God’, and an article on my favourite band in my favourite magazine was all I could ask for! It’s nice to see you guys featuring the best of both national and international music in the magazine every month. And the best thing is that you guys have been able to keep a fair balance of Indian and western music, now that’s something great!

irst, let me congratulate the entire team of Vibes for bringing out this absolutely amazing magazine from Northeast. The article on Vuvuzela (July issue) was great! Though we’ve seen it during the soccer matches, but didn’t know much about the Vuvuzelas. Glad that you guys gave us such detailed info. The last track section of the magazine seems to be getting better with every issue, I found the list of ten best sexy songs really SEXY! It’s nice to see that you are coming up with something new and exciting for last track every month. Keep it up! Subhashish Dutta, Guwahati

Thanks for the appreciation! All in the name of music, God bless! - Team Vibes

ey, I was really glad to read the piece on ‘Lamb of God’ that you guys carried in the mag. I also liked the article ‘Aby-solutely’and was amused to see that before he joined the radio station (in Shillong), he was following the same time table as mine now. It’s a fact that

Kunal Baruah, Jorhat Thanks bro, we are glad that you liked the magazine so much. Right from the beginning we have been trying to ensure that we maintain a healthy balance between Indian and western music, thanks for valuing our efforts. - Team Vibes

ould like to thank the entire team of Vibes for creating such a vibrant and (musically) informative magazine from the Northeast. Hope you can come up with more such articles in future, good luck. Augustine Terang, Dolamara, Karbi Anglong Northeast is musically very rich and we are making a humble effort to bring that info to you - Team Vibes

am a regular reader of Vibes and feel that you guys are making great progress. I loved the article on ‘Lamb of God’. You guys rock, keep up the good work and keep rocking!! Himangshu Kashyap, Tinsukia Amen! Readers like you are the reason for our progress. - Team Vibes

ongrats for making Vibes a super success! I was not much into western music, but after reading Vibes, my knowledge in western music has increased a lot, now I know the names of the bands, their members and their music. Thank you so much! Amrita Ghosh, Guwahati

Thanks Amrita! Watch out for more articles and we’re sure you’ll be a pro in western music! - Team Vibes

ust wanted to say that Vibes has become an integral part of my life. I liked the interviews of ‘Bhayanak Maut’ and other such national and international bands that you carry in the magazine. Being a music lover, I wait for this magazine eagerly every month. Ram Mohan, Chandmari

And we too, would eagerly wait for your feedback every month. Keep writing. - Team Vibes

ot to know about Vibes from my elder brother and I really liked it. You guys carry features and stories of bands from all over Northeast which is just awesome! I would like to thank the entire team for featuring such wonderful bands in the magazine. Trishna, Guwahati

Thanks for your appreciation, keep reading Vibes and keep rocking!! - Team Vibes

WRITE TO US AT: VIBES INBOX, ECLECTIC HOUSE, 34 P.B. ROAD, REHABARI, GUWAHATI - 781008 MAIL US AT: editorial@eclectic.co.in or SMS US AT: + 91 94355 44836

UM Pro Records celebrated World Music Day with a two-day mega festival, “Musicae Amore”. Beginning with a cultural rally called ‘Walk On’, from Latasil Playground, Guwahati on 21st June, 2010, and inagurated by renowned music director, Ramen Baruah, the occasion also saw UM Pro Records felicitating some legendary regional musical ﬁgures like Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, Nanigopal Baruah and Mr. Prabhat Sharma. Packed with something for everyone, the evening resounded with performances by stalwarts like Apurba Bezbaruah, Rooplekha Phukan and Somnath Borah Ojha, followed by the fusion performance by Bidyut Misra and rock performances by Voodoo Child, D’luzion and Dark Horizon.

Dhritiman is a member of the Kirori Mal College Music Society, Delhi University. Further, spending a year in Varanasi among various musicians gave him a golden experience with diﬀerent kinds of traditional and contemporary musical genres, which eventually inspired him to conceptualise his own compositions. Sharing ideas with the likes of musicians like Ambar Das, Pankaj Misra, Late Dhanjit Sharma, Bulbul etc, Dhritiman has been able to grab a chunk of real musical taste that leverages his growth as a singer-musician.

fter a brief stint in the Indian music scene, as an audio engineer and aspiring musician, Dhritiman Deori (one of the promising young Assamese alternative singer/musician) released his debut album, Mon Akax on 4th of July, 2010 at Town Club, Guwahati. Started in 2008 and recorded in Delhi, Guwahati and Shillong, the album is a generous blend of lounge, Indian classical and folk elements. Dhritiman also began “Rhythm of Northeast”, a project to promote and preserve the folk music of the diﬀerent regions of the Northeast. He was recently featured in a US television show, Rudy Maxa’s World, apart from The Strand, BBC World Radio’s programme on art and culture. He has also performed in various other avenues in New Delhi.

PRERANA CHAUDHURY TAKES A LOOK AT HOW INDIAN CINEMA PORTRAYS THE COMMERCIALISM CREEPING INTO OUR SCHOOLS AND MODE OF EDUCATION

ecently, I chanced upon a reality show that took place at my school when I dropped in there after a long time. Stepping on to the school grounds after so long, I was caught in a sudden rush of beautiful memories. But I was also slightly shocked to see the superﬁciality of the contest which appeared to be more of a chalked-out pretence show than an actual competition for students. Of late, a lot of fair and fast debates have stirred up on the issue of education. Newspapers and channels have widely circulated the discussions that have inspired a series of fresh changes. HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal is keen upon reviving

the tradition of ‘knowledge’. His proposed changes hope to break out of a system that adheres to pressure and is indiﬀerent to a child’s potential. In some of our recent movies, we see ﬁ lmmakers capture the waves of discontent in regards to matters of education today. The issues at hand are many: primary and college education, the monotonous pattern of syllabi, choice of professions and stereotypes involving ‘respectable’ jobs. Undoubtedly, cinema runs as a brilliant mode of social commentary; and movies showcasing such issues deserve applause. In Paathshala, Bollywood creates a narrative of mismanaged education. It portrays the confusion and chaos that media drops school authorities into.

The movie makes an excellent attempt in showing the blurring of line between hunting talent and hunting publicity – a familiar event in most schools today. While extra-curricular activities are meant to relax children and hone their talents, these shows utilize them to feed in TRPs. As the boundary between business and profession disappears, schools become more of commercial mill-houses rather than nurturing grounds for students. Help appears in the form of the young and zealous teacher, Rahul Prakash Udyavar, who builds up a friendship with his students and rescues the entire school from the dirty game of commercialism and money-making. He comes in with the same zeal into the life of his students

as had Ram Kumar Nikumbh (played by Aamir Khan) in Taare Zameen Par. I particularly like what Sudhish Kamath says about Nikumbh: “Movies are where reality meets fantasy. So at the halfway point, enters radical arts teacher Ram Kumar Nikumbh to the rescue of our little hero, with the fairytale song and dance routine…” Same goes for Udyavar. Learning seems to be no-fun and all-stress. Taare Zameen Par explores this and presents a beautiful representation of childhood onscreen – fun and innocence! Nikumbh inspires his students to dream and explore the creative visualizations of their minds; something all teachers must do. The fi lm also makes an oblique yet strong comment on the chaos that is pervading in the primary education sector, with its lack of qualified teachers to fulfi l the needs of basic education. These movies reflect a sad reality. I remember accompanying my three year old cousin to her playschool one day. The trend I saw there made me question a few things. Craftwork, colours and pretty designs on the wall made up its ambience, quite attractive for any kid! But I was surprised to learn that the works displayed are done by teachers and parents in the

name of the students. The prevailing hypocrisy is repulsive. The root cause of all inadequacies can be our attitude towards ‘education’ itself. What is it – a mere job-hunting process or a far more holistic platform of human development on the whole? Our ﬁ lmmakers have been asking the same, and in a way answering it too. 3 Idiots voices the concerns and complexities of our youth who are the victims of this nerve-rattling system of boiling down everything to marks and grades. Every youth in our country at one point or the

other, has to narrow down his desires and aspirations in the name of ‘good’ colleges and courses, or better jobs. Raju Rastogi must enter into a ‘creditable’ course and profession that shall ensure him a job, to support his ailing family. Farhan Qureshi must ideally choose a job that shall pay him well. It is through Rancho that Hirani portrays the image of an ideal student who is marked by a passion to learn, observe and innovate. He is perhaps the image of ‘change’ itself that we want in our educational set-up.

Movies continue to experiment with subaltern perspectives that give an interesting edge to ‘realism’ itself. Realism in cinema always makes an impact on the masses, not simply because it provokes people to think, but also because it presents an ideal we can aspire for and work towards. Bollywood does have interesting streaks of melodrama, but as long as movies ‘speak’ to us, we should care to listen. Cinema has its own history, its story of evolution as interesting as the medium of cinema itself. Films have become a part of the distinctive cultural pattern of a nation, bearing the onus of steady recognition and distinctiveness in a globalised world. Yet, cinema has its own language to add to it. It’s like a systematic yet growing brotherhood, of a passion and involvement that far outstretches boundaries of nationhood or language or anything else. The ﬂair for cinema as long as it exists will tickle our edges of thought and action, at least for the movie-goers out there. And the good thing is, it is a huge lot!

he Collection is mainly in the cool colours of sea green, aqua blues, yellows and whites with a part being in reds and oranges for the slightly cooler look. Fabrics are tie dyed in different hues and teamed with contrasting colors, eg. aqua blues are layered with yellows to create a soothing palette, Greens are layered with reds to create a dramatic effect. The fabrics used are cotton voils, different weights in cottons and georgettes and light flowy silks suitable for beach wear. Silhouettes include dreamy drapy dresses, short and long kaftans, kurtas, tops and skirts. The wide open necks and tie ups, all reflect the ease and comfort for the summer season.

The Spring Summer Collection from Aparna and Norden Wangdi is now in stores like AZA and Ogaan in Delhi, Melange in Mumbai, Cinnamon in Cochin and Bangalore, and Collage in Chennai. Also available in stores in Saudi Arabia, UK, and USA.

nce a storyteller, always a storyteller! If anyone hasn’t coined this yet, let us do the honours. All in the name of Tarunabh Dutta, a new age ﬁlmmaker from Assam whose interesting perspectives are creating waves in the Indian celluloid circuit. An architect in the making, who worked his way into the prestigious JJ School of Architecture, Mumbai, found his old love for movies beckoning him elsewhere.

Tarunabh Dutta made comics when he was young. But he had never thought that he would eventually take up filmmaking as a career. Surprisingly, the tough, competitive and creative atmosphere of Sir JJ College of Architecture, inspired him to pursue his first love – cinema. “I don’t think, being somewhere else, I would have had the trigger for filmmaking. So you might call it destiny,” he says. The young filmmaker started making documentaries from his second year of B. Arch

in JJ. “That was the time when I ﬁrst picked up my camera and suddenly, I knew what I wanted to do!” His ﬁlms were greatly appreciated at the JJ campus and outside as well. With his parents’ support and his passionate love for the medium, Tarunabh was able to turn his imaginations into reality.

THE JOURNEY “During school days, I used to be a great storyteller among my friends. And as I grew up, I started composing stories on my own. Even while playing G.I. JOE with my brother, we used to make stories and those stories seemed to be so entertaining that guests visiting us would also take interest. The humour was created on the spot, of course! Filmmaking happened randomly, but I wasn’t a stranger to this medium. From childhood, I used to sketch situations; people and animals with different backdrops. I fell in love with fiction first and then transcended to classic novels by Charles Dickens, H G Wells, and Robert Louis Stevenson, which is when I came to learn of characters. And I believe

that these lead to the foundation of my ﬁlmmaking. And when I picked it up, I had a connection!”

THE MOVIE BUFF “I gobble up 6-7 movies a day, literally nonstop (laughs). I try to absorb the feel of movies. I enjoy all sorts of movies, though my favourites are – Terminator, Jurassic Park and ET. I have learnt a lot from Hollywood and world movies. Although I am watching a lot of Bollywood ﬂicks these days, my love is

can’t achieve the desired results without creativity. The main base of a new age ﬁlmmaker is the concept, script, visuals, software, and lastly, shooting. Camera quality is not a benchmark, though. The main thing is the idea.”

“IN FILMMAKING, GUERRILLA MEANS FAST EXECUTION IN SPITE OF BIG OBSTACLES! For independent filmmakers, it’s no easy path. You have to aggressively break barriers. It is difficult because we have to achieve a lot in a zero budget. Different people achieve it in different ways. In my case, nothing was fi xed in my films, from script to locations to characters because

Hollywood. I like James Cameron movies for the universal touch in them. From India, my favourites are Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benagal. Moreover, I watch all ﬁlms with same interest.”

FILMMAKING TODAY “New age filmmakers have to be more innovative and therefore, the job becomes very challenging. People might say that a digital filmmaker doesn’t have to bear the cost of film rolls; so he can go on shooting thousand pictures, out of which a couple would be good. They might also say that we can achieve anything using computers as we have access to special effects. But that’s not true. Adding special effects is a very tedious and hard working job. You can’t execute it even if you have the knowledge of the software because you

I had no budget for my projects. It’s very detrimental as a ﬁlmmaker, but I had no choice. I would say my ﬁlms were possible only because I was a Guerrilla.”

PLAN OF ACTION “I do everything in 3D. I sit on story boarding and scripting till the last scene and try to maintain industry standards in my work. Generally, ﬁlmmakers in India write the script and do not work on the

storyboard (except for a few like Satyajit Ray and Anurag Kashyap). But I am doing both as I want to achieve perfection. I construct the sets of my ﬁlms in 3D before achieving them in camera. Even before I start the ﬁlm, I have the storyboard ready. Therefore, I have the exact angles and sequences clear in my head. And since I am into people modelling, I can literally enact the whole scene, and nothing is left to imagination only.”

achievement was that I worked with the top people from the industry which gave a boost to my level of conﬁdence.”

THE TARUNABH FACTOR

VENTURES SO FAR His most acknowledged rendition, UFO, is perhaps the first ever science fiction for children in the Northeast. “It’s my first commercial debut as a filmmaker and I have learnt a lot while making this film. Initially I had no plans of making it commercial but after being encouraged by eminent filmmaker, Manju Bora, I decided to release it commercially. Since the angle was new, everyone took it well; so that way you can call it a success. But financially, it was not. The whole film was completed in a budget of 5,000 bucks. I couldn’t release the film in theatres because that required the film to be converted to celluloid, which would have taken some lakhs of rupees.” He has also made a documentary on the local trains in Mumbai titled, Redefining the Motion of a Public Place which won the Nari-Gandhi Trophy at the annual conference of NASA. Other ventures include a video thriller, Seeing is Believing, Waiting for Sleep, Hourglass,

Obsessed, On the lapse, The Savage and Loving Days.

THE PHOREN AFFAIR The Walt Disney project was Tarunabh’s major break. “Zokkoman is Disney’s second venture in the country. It’s an upcoming Hindi action ﬂick with a superhero theme. As I was part of the preproduction phase, my work was conceptual in this ﬁlm. As a storyboard artist and concept designer, I designed the concept of the scenes, costumes of the superhero and also the set to some extent. My biggest

“I want my films to carry messages that are insightful as well as entertaining. Or something that’s thought provoking, which people can absorb and reflect on. My immediate plan is to work on the loopholes of my art. Though I have three scripts in development, I want to make my move slow. Besides, I am also taking professional classes in filmmaking. I have seen people from Northeast going out and performing well. I don’t understand why filmmaking is commercially not growing in the region because people from Northeast go out and perform well. I invite all the filmmakers of Northeast to come forward, as I am eager to form a community ushering the new wave of Indian filmmaking, and am unable to reach out to like-minded people.”

THE SECRET INGREDIENT “Architecture is my foundation. I had real interest in it because architecture is full of creativity. It is about drawing, designing, looks and space, which I enjoy and which have helped a lot in my ﬁlmmaking. So, if I am not a ﬁlmmaker in future, I’ll be an architect for sure.”

WORDS : HIMAKSHI GOSWAMI

a studio for the band, for recording our originals, and composing and stuff like that. We are also doing a lot of new originals for the coming season. We are already gearing up for the season ahead. We have shows on 24th, 28th, 30th and 31st of July. 28th is actually going to be a ‘webcert’ (web concert) on www.artistaloud.com. So… even summers are not off season, yaar! (Laughs) YOU HAVE A MANAGEMENT COMPANY, THROUGH WHICH YOU MANAGE ARTISTS AND DO EVENTS AND STUFF, RIGHT? We don’t do events at all. We only manage bands. The only artist I had was Mohit Chauhan, which aIso happened by default because of the band Silk Route. I was a manager for Silk Route, but they broke up; so I took Mohit’s work in my hand. But if anyone calls up for Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy etc., hum mana kar dete hai unko (we turn down the request). HOW WAS THE EXPERIENCE IN THE DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL? In ‘Download’, we learnt so many things. We were absolutely a new band there and we didn’t know how they’ll react and stuff like that. Just today morning I was watching a documentary that BBC had shot on us. It was so encouraging to see that the moment they announced our name, the crowd had already started clapping and they had never even seen us. Probably it was because of seeing a band from India, and also maybe because Iron Maiden wrote on their website that ‘it’s a good band, so go and see it’ which made us being accepted in UK, much before we entered the market. We shared our green room with Napalm Death. There, the green rooms are equipped with everything – from Jack Daniels to every kind of beer – you name it, it’s there! In fact, that’s the reason why, in our studio, the first thing we put was a bar; rest of the things, we’re putting later. WHAT IS THE PRESENT ACTIVE LINE-UP OF PARIKAMA? WE HEARD THAT THERE HAVE BEEN A FEW CHANGES. The last change in the line-up was about three years back, when Chintan came in. But then Dilip left the band because he became the vice president of Mutiny and we got

Srijan. Dilip was with Parikrama for almost ﬁfteen years. But the core people have been the same since 1991: me, Chintan on bass, Sonam on guitar and Nitin on vocals. WHAT IS THE BAND DOING RIGHT NOW? We are in the middle of completing

YOU MENTIONED THAT THE STUDIO WOULD BE ONLY FOR THE BAND. SO YOU’RE NOT REALLY PLANNING FOR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL PURPOSES? No, it would be only for Parikrama.

OVER THE YEARS, HOW HAS THE BAND CHANGED TECHNICALLY? See, when I started playing, I was playing on a small keyboard called PFR 110 and today, I am playing a Curb. When Sonam started, he was playing on a 4000 rupees Yamaha. Now, he is playing a four and a half lakh Slash model Gibson Les Paul. We have grown technically and also in the way we play. We’ve been learning a lot together in the last nineteen years. YOU HAD A SONG WITH USHA UTHUP CALLED ‘RHYTHM AND BLUES’. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE WITH WHOM YOU ARE COLLABORATING IN THE NEW INDIAN SCENE? We just played in two-three shows with Farhan Akhtar, and we’re also playing with Saif Ali Khan. Nothing much!

THERE ARE MORE THAN 40 ORIGINALS OF PARIKRAMA ON THE NET. I COULD HAVE EASILY COMPILED THE SONGS INTO A CD AND SOLD IT FOR 150 BUCKS. BUT THE THING IS, WAY BACK IN 95-96’ WHEN INTERNET HAD JUST COME IN TO INDIA, WE HAD A POOR PERCENTAGE OF OUR ENGLISH SPEAKING JANTA. ANY INTERESTING MOMENT THAT YOU REMEMBER FROM THE MAKING OF ‘BUT IT RAINED’; ANYTHING FROM THOSE DAYS? We were an English speaking band. And we had no support from anybody to shoot the video except friends who contributed. There was no professional agency, so we had to do everything on our own. We were busy doing that because we were a group of seventeen people, and we didn’t go to Ladakh because everybody was going to Ladakh at that time. This video was shot in Spiti Valley, in a place called Kaza. It was a tough shoot to pull oﬀ;

and just that we were able to do it on our own was really amazing. ARGUABLY, YOU ARE THE MOST POPULAR BAND IN INDIA. EVERYBODY KNOWS PARIKRAMA. SO WHY HAVEN’T YOU RELEASED AN ALBUM? We have never been in favour of releasing an album. In fact, in today’s time, there’s no point releasing an album. Because the funda is simple; when you release an album, it is available for free download on the net within half an hour. It’s not like we didn’t do it because we had no originals. Just recently, when we did a show for Coke (Coca Cola) on 28th in the Shillong Street festival, we did an all original set, about fifteen original songs. Today, if you join the Facebook page of Parikrama and write to this guy called Piyush, the moment you leave your email id on the page, you get about 20 songs on your inbox for free. It is almost like two and half album. Make eight songs ka three or four albums, as you want. There are more than 40 originals of Parikrama on the net. I could have easily compiled the songs into a CD and sold it for 150 bucks. But the thing is, way back in 95-96’ when internet had just come in to India, we had a poor percentage of our English speaking janta. Among them, how many would listen to music, or for that matter English rock, and how many would buy an Indian band’s album? Looking at the percentage, it would have been absolutely stupid to invest 25-30,000 bucks to record a song then. Our main money was coming through live shows. So when we bought parikrama.com in ‘97, it was the first band in Asia to have its songs available online for free. At that time, there was no other band which even had a website. What we did in 1997, the whole world is doing it today. We realized the potential of the internet fifteen years before. I don’t know how many of you go and buy CDs. I am sure you, your colleagues or friends download music. Nobody buys a CD nowadays yaar, because you are getting it for free. I can send you a link of a BBC documentary, where they have questioned how we could predict this when nobody else did. Similarly, I got an email from none other than Peter Gabriel, a company in UK, and

they wanted to be a publisher for our music in UK. Even they wrote about the same thing – how could you predict future of music fifteen years back when nobody could! YEAH, THERE’S DEFINITELY NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT. BUT WE’RE GENERALLY CURIOUS, NOW THAT YOU HAVE 20-30 ORIGINALS, DON’T YOU THINK YOU COULD PROBABLY COMPILE THEM INTO AN ALBUM, EVEN IF IT IS FREE ON THE NET? DON’T YOU THINK IT WOULD ADD TO THE BAND’S IMAGE? Yeah, why not! See, today you see even bigger bands like Indian Ocean, releasing there album for free but after five-seven years, the concept of album will totally vanish. The physical sale would come to zero. Biggies like EMI have shut down 60 percent of their offices all over the world. Most of the record companies are bankrupt; record companies in India are surviving only because of Bollywood. The problem is that we realized that the future of Indian music is going to be what it is happening today. Seven years before we released our first track, it looked like the physical CD sales have become negligible. We thought it would happen in 2005. There were times when Daler Mehndi’s Bolo Tara Rara sold about twenty lakh copies in ‘95. Today the biggest of artists cannot sell fifteen to twenty thousand CDs. We are still surviving and playing up to 150-160 shows a year, perhaps because our prediction was right. FROM YOUR VIEWPOINT, WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS IN THE PRESENT MUSIC SCENE? Well, I can’t say much about the pros and cons, but one thing is for sure that it’s impossible to stop it. You can do anti-piracy or whatever, but you can’t stop youngsters from downloading music. IN GREAT INDIAN ROCK VOLUME ONE, THERE WAS A SONG ‘TILL I AM NO ONE’, ONE OF MY PERSONAL FAVOURITES. I WAS SEARCHING FOR IT AND I CAME ACROSS THIS LINK ON THE NET, WHERE THIS GUY HAD RECORDED THE ENTIRE GIR VOLUMES I AND II FROM TAPE, CONVERTED INTO MP3 AND PUT IT FOR ONLINE STREAMING...

are not on the net. There is the latest one like the Lord of the Rings song. I haven’t recorded it yet. You’ll get them in Youtube but you won’t be able to download them as audios. I GUESS SOME DECADES BACK, YOU HAD STAGE-DIVED AND PEOPLE JUST PARTED. RIGHT? HAVE YOU TRIED IT AGAIN? (Laughs) Yeah, lot of times! Once in Bombay, I had come backstage and the organizers wouldn’t let me in. My face was covered with hair, and he thought I was part of the audience. When I told that ‘my part is coming, let me go’, then he was like ‘okay’. NOW DO THEY HOLD YOU OR DO THEY PART? Now I don’t normally do it much. I survived that. I think I’ve got my kicks.

Well, you can just log on to our Facebook page and leave your email id. You would get all the songs. WHY DON’T YOU PLAY THIS SONG IN YOUR SHOWS? Yeah, we don’t play it too often, but we would, deﬁnitely. It’s a brilliant song, we love it. We did our ﬁrst original, called ‘Xerox’ in 15th September 1991. We had been writing songs, and then in 1992, we released a song called ‘Gonna Get It’. I’m telling you, you’ll get around 40 songs on the net, and there’d still be 40 more that we composed but which

THE ROCK MUSIC OR ROCK METAL MUSIC IS PRETTY BIG NOW, COMPARED TO A DECADE AGO. LOTS OF ORIGINAL MUSIC IS HAPPENING. SO WHY IS PARIKRAMA SILENT? OR IS IT A LULL BEFORE THE STORM? Nothing like that! We are not silent; we are doing live shows, but we have no plans like that because there is no point. Today, even releasing a video has got no point. Open up Channel V or MTV. How many videos of Indian bands do you see? Because… MTV has almost become Star Plus in English. So today, if I end up spending twenty lakhs in a video, I am being stupid. What we are doing is that we started promoting the Facebook page in 22nd January, and in ﬁve or ﬁve and half months, we have about 17,000 fans. Even if we take six months, that is like adding almost 50,000 people per month. WHEN YOU STARTED PARIKRAMA ABOUT

EIGHTEEN YEARS BACK, DID YOU EVER THINK THAT YOU’LL BE REACHING THE STAGE THAT YOU ARE IN RIGHT NOW? No yaar, not at all. It started oﬀ as a four-month project because I had to join my family business. So I said let’s just jam for four-ﬁve months and get over with it. But nobody knew that we would end up playing for nineteen years. WHEN YOU STARTED OUT, YOU OBVIOUSLY HAD A VISION. I AM SURE YOU HAD A DREAM OF BEING A ROCK STAR. SO DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE MANAGED TO BE WHERE YOU THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE? I think we managed to achieve a million, trillion times more than we thought we would. We played in the best of venues, the best of festivals and shows. We played more than 60-70 percent of our shows in places that had about 3000-15000 people attending it. We’ve stayed in the best of the hotels; we’ve got the best of cars. For any English singing band in India, we have achieved a trillion times than anyone can achieve in the country. FROM THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD COULD YOU TELL ME THE NO. OF SHOWS YOU HAVE DONE SINCE YOUR INCEPTION? About 2500 plus shows! HAVE YOU GUYS EVER CONSIDERED GETTING INTO BOLLYWOOD KIND OF MUSIC? LIKE INDIAN OCEAN IS NOW COLLABORATING WITH AAMIR KHAN, HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF ANY SUCH COLLABORATION? They are collaborating on a very brilliant song, because it was a very village kind of a song and their music gelled with it very well. If we get to things like that, as creators of our own thing, then we would. But the problem is that we don’t sing in Hindi and we have no plans to do that either. IF YOU HAD GOT THE OFFER OF DOING THE MUSIC AND SINGING IN THE MOVIE ‘ROCK ON’, WOULD YOU GUYS HAVE DONE IT? Yeah, we would have done it but we would have done it in English. We don’t sing in Hindi. If we had to do it in Hindi, we would not have done it.

helped, because he liked Parikrama quite a lot. He actually got the organizers and got us to the Download Festival.

PHOTO: AKSHAYRAJ UCHIL

IF I SAY ONE BAND IS FOR TWO LAKHS, PEOPLE ARE LIKE “TWO LAKHS, BAND MAIN AISA KYA HAI? SHAADI WALE BAND TOH 800-1000 RUPEY MEIN MIL JATA HAI (2 LAKHS, WHAT IS THERE IN THESE BANDS? YOU CAN GET EVEN WEDDING PARTY BANDS FOR 800-1000 BUCKS)”. HOW DO YOU RATE THE MUSIC OF ‘ROCK ON’? I personally like it very much. Most of the songs, in fact! I don’t know what the fuss was about when people wrote that the music was not very ‘rock-ish’. I think people didn’t understand that the movie has made people realize the diﬀerence between rock bands and shaadi (wedding) orchestra party. Trust me, I deal with so many bands; and if I say one band is for two lakhs, people are like “two lakhs, band main aisa kya hai? Shaadi wale band toh 800-1000 rupey mein mil jata hai (two lakhs, what is there in these bands? You can get even wedding party bands for 8001000 bucks)”. Many people, especially in North India, have a mindset that a band is what plays in an orchestra party. Even in Bollywood, when Shaan, Sonu Nigam and all come to perform for a band, they get an orchestra party. Whereas, Sonu Nigam will stay in The Taj Hotel suite, the rest of the band will stay in a lodge. People’s mindset is still that. So with the example of Rock On, I can explain that this band is not an orchestra party; here everybody will stay together, because everybody is equal. Then they understand. So, Rock On has done a lot, especially for me. It’s almost been a boon. SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR PEERS? There was a band called Warlock which

was really good. Then there were bands like Orange Street. And we’ve noticed that a number of recent bands have really improved. A LOT OF BANDS ARE NOT THERE BUT PARIKRAMA IS STILL GOING STRONG. WHAT IS THE DRIVING FORCE? I really don’t have an answer to this. Probably, it is because we adapt to situations and we made a rule of keeping egos out of the practice room. A lot of small things have really helped us. I can’t comment about others, but for us, discipline has worked. Like none of us would take a sip of liquor before going on stage and until the show is over. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE SOUND OF PARIKRAMA? Before we went to the Download Festival, our music was very classic rock base, but after the festival, we changed our sound to classic rock with shades of metal.

WHICH BAND DO YOU THINK REPRESENTS THE INDIAN METAL SCENE? To be frank, I have really not been watching too many bands except for the ones who have been with Parikrama. But there are a lot of good metal and non-metal bands. I really freak out on this band called Something Relevant from Bombay; then Raghu Dixit project is good… even Sorappa is very nice. Another one is Boomerang, and then obviously we love Soulmate very much. WHAT ABOUT MIDDLE BANDS LIKE BHAYANAK MAUT AND SCRIBE? I saw Bhayanak Maut in one of the shows. They were really good. They got the crowd completely. DON’T YOU THINK MANY BANDS ARE GROWLING TOO MUCH NOWADAYS? DON’T YOU THINK THE CLASSIC METAL VOCAL IS DYING OUT? Growling mujhe toh samajh mein nahi aata hai (I don’t understand growling). The crowd would understand. It’s not like everybody is doing it. There are certain bands that are doing it, and if their audience likes it, I have no problem. I personally don’t like it at all. WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE NORTHEAST MUSIC SCENE? I have always maintained that some of the best musicians in this country are from there. It’s just that they’re not exposed too much.

RIGHT NOW YOU’D PUT IT LIKE A MIXTURE OF ROCK AND METAL? Yeah!

OTHER THAN SUBIR MALIK, WHO IS THE OTHER PERSON THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE? I haven’t really thought about it! I am content and happy with who I am.

I GUESS YOU HAVE A VERY GOOD RELATION WITH IRON MAIDEN. A FEW WORDS ON THAT... They saw us in Bangalore for the ﬁrst time and that’s how it started. We were in touch with everybody, but Bruce especially

OTHER THAN PARIKRAMA, WHOSE SHOES WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE IN? All the bands I mentioned like Soul mate, Indian Ocean etc. WORDS : KOUSHIK HAZARIKA

ANY TOURS IN THE NORTHEAST? There are two shows for October – one in Guwahati and another in Shillong. But nothing is conﬁrmed yet.

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PHOTO: BIDYA SAGAR BARUA

f you’re assuming that I am going to tell-tale (yawn!) you on how he abandoned his flamboyant life and sold off his sexy red car, then give me a break! Well, I am rather here to talk about a “Singing Monk” full of wit and humour behind his regular Tibetan Buddhist robe, who made his way from the hills of Arunachal Pradesh to the magnificent Grammy platform. Monk, music and scholar – now that’s a deadly combo! A Monpa, Ngawang Tashi Bapu (aka Lama Tashi) proudly states, “Monk, because I always wanted to live a simple life; scholar, because my mind is hungry for knowledge and music, because it’s something I enjoy!” A perfectionist in Tibetan ‘Deep Voice’, this multi-phonic Chant Master is the first Northeasterner to be nominated at the 48th Grammy Awards. Hailing from Thembang, a remote village in the West Kameng district of AP, he was one among the first batch of students to join the first village school. “I was born at the edge of the world! I grew up walking bare-footed on the ice and first saw a car when I was 13 years old,” says a nostalgic Lama. While leading a multi-phonic chant at the World Festival of Sacred Music at the Hollywood Boel in Pasadena, California and at Central Park in New York City, Lama Tashi was appreciated by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, whose way of life had once inspired him to become a monk. “When I was young, I was inspired by the lifestyle of the monks and therefore, decided to take up monkhood and joined the Bomdila monastery. From there, I went to on Karnataka to pursue higher education in Drepung Loseling Monastery, one of the largest monasteries of Asia located in a place called Mundgod in Karnataka and there, I took my Geshe degree (equivalent to PhD) in Buddhist Philosophy,” he recollects.

Talking about music again, he said that he was very impressed, after hearing the monks chanting in the monastery and quietly started imitating them. Somehow, it came to the notice of the Head Chant Master who asked him to attend chanting sessions regularly. Considering it to be some kind of spiritual direction, the monk started practising chants. And since then, there was no looking back. The compassion, wisdom and vocal abilities of Lama Tashi impressed the spiritual leaders of the monastery so much that in 1991 he was chosen as one of the monks to travel the world on the Sacred Music and Dance tour of 1991-1992. For eleven months, he travelled throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada performing on the tour, and observed that while chanting is looked upon as one form of music in the West, it is seen as a spiritual prayer in Asia. As part of another tour sponsored by the Drepung Loseling Institute and Richard Gere Foundation, Lama Tashi again toured North America in 1996. He was Head Chant Master of the Monlam Chenmo (Great Prayer Festival) at the National Mall in Washington D.C, before an audience of over 50,000 people. In January, 2002, Lama Tashi led the prayer as Choyang Umzey at the traditional Great Prayer Festival in Bodhgaya which was attended by over 250,000 people. He appeared twice at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, in 1997 and 1998, performing with world famous biggies like Philip Glass, Natalie Merchant, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., Patti Smith, Ben Harper, Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, and Sheryl Crow. In 1998, he performed with Philip Glass at the premiere of the award winning ﬁlm Kundun at Lincoln Center in New York City. One of his chants recorded in the lowa State City University studio with a group of other Tibetan monks was also used in Brad Pitt

With Jonathan Goldman

starrer, Seven Years in Tibet. In one of his foreign tours, Lama Tashi met Jonathan Goldman, a writer, musician and teacher in the ﬁeld of Harmonics and Sound Healing based in Boulder, Colorado. With no big plans initially, they just started experimenting chants with instruments in his studio. Later, on another vacation, Lama was again invited to the studio to record few more tracks. “It was my friend’s suggestion to put those chants together and release as an album,” says Lama Tashi. Finally, the album was released in the market in 2005; and in the latter half of the year, to much

of his surprise, it got nominated for the ‘Best Traditional World Music’ category in the prestigious Grammy Awards. “For something like chants which are usually preserved in the monasteries, to be standing in an international podium like the Grammy, they have to be ﬁrst accepted by the people. And I am happy that I have been able to contribute in my own small way,” he humbly replies. The Lost Chord, Tibetan Master Chants and Medicine Buddah are his independent record labels, whereas Sacred Tibetan Chants, Sounds of the Void, Sacred Music/Sacred Dance and Compassion were recorded with the monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery. The amazingly powerful and deeply resonant voice of Lama Tashi is known to produce two frequencies at the same time. Once, his vocal cords were examined in a research lab in Canada while he was chanting; by inserting a camera through his nose. He describes, “When I was chanting, the vibrations of my chants were transmitted to a computer screen and we could see two simultaneous frequencies of my voice – a low note and a very high note.” Answering to the trick behind this whole thing, the multi-phonic chant master says, “Chanting is nothing but vibrating the vocal cord, the way we gurgle. And that’s when one voice can produce two notes – both high and low at the same time.” Interestingly, the purpose of chanting is not necessarily mantras. The master insists on memorizing these chants, as one needs

PHOTO: BIDYA SAGAR BARUA

Imparting lessons in the institute

forget everything in the name of music. Therefore, if we can use this musical connection to build a better friendship amongst ourselves, the Northeast would be a much better and happier place.” An admirer of Bollywood music, especially Lata Mangeskar and Kishore Kumar, he

to recite each and every word accurately while chanting. He elucidates that many a times, our physical health depends on our mental health and chanting helps our physical health by keeping us mentally healthy. Maybe, that’s why his chants are said to be spiritual healing. Sometimes, Lama also uses an instrument called the ‘Longhorn’ which adds a diﬀerent tempo to his chants. Appointed as the Umzey or Principal Chant Master of Drepung Loseling Monastery in 1999, Lama Tashi assisted the monastery in using modern recording techniques to archive sacred Tibetan Chants in digital format, for generations to come. Thereafter in 2004, returning to his native land, the monk joined as the Principal of Central Institute of Himalayan Culture Studies in Dahung. Looking after both academics and administration of the institute, he aims at elevating the general knowledge and broadening the mindset of the local people. One of his most heartfelt works is through the Siddhartha Foundation, a charitable organization which is dedicated to preserving and bracing the Tibetan Buddhist Culture. The program is fully active, ﬁnding sponsors for deserving Tibetan/Himalayan Buddhist

Album release

monks, nuns and children. Music has a universal appeal and Lama Tashi hopes to make a better connection amongst the north-eastern states through music. As he says, “When it comes to music, we generally don’t see if I am a Monpa and he is a Naga; we

expresses, “I ﬁnd their songs very soothing and moreover, when you’re young, you get impressed by many people and that imprint stays in your mind forever. Maybe, that’s what happened with me!” WORDS : HIMAKSHI GOSWAMI

f music be your passion and recording your own stuff your best hobby, let’s say you have bumped into the right weapon! Apparently the most powerful rack processor ever with a dual COSM effect engine and an expansive I/O section that includes XLR outputs, 3 sets of send/returns and a UB port for data exchange, Boss GT Pro-Guitar effects processor is perfect for stage and studio. You can switch, layer or pan its amp channels in real time; its dynamic mode allows channel switching, based on picking dynamics. There’s more… it has 200 preset patches, and 200 user patches, 44 effects category and upon 15 simultaneous effects block.

f you always wanted to beat your own drums (!), well, now you can! The new, userfriendly Ronald V-Drums affords you that luxury. The V-Drums, the first of its kind electronic drums, gives drumming a whole new definition. Supposedly a revolution of its kind, components like the V-HI Hat and patented Mesh Heads embody Ronald’s exclusive technology. The best part about this drum is that even a beginner to a pro can use it. Get one for yourself and drum up a storm!

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hecking out’ is perhaps just the right verb for Jackson RRS Randy Rhoads Pro Electric Guitar (Ivory). Its neck through body construction, alder body, maple neck with compound radius rosewood fretboard, a pair of Seymour Duncan TB4 hum buckers, tune-o-matic bridge with string-throughbody shark-fin inlays and gold hardware drives onlookers crazy. And it’s not just a beauty. It sounds equally good. Its compound radius fingerboard moves dramatically, for easy chording and flattens out as it approaches the neck joints for low action bent without fretting out. Lay your hands on it!

VIBES MUSIC

E R O C e h t To

f metal harmonies, FearFactory-esque breakdowns, Assamese squawks and religionbased lyrical doodles are your preference when it comes to music, Elektrokore could just be THE outﬁt you’ve always talked, heard and wondered about – one which breaks the ennui of typecasting sounds with genre, one which stands true to themselves and

music in general by not restricting their approach and appeal in anyway. A fusion of meticulous and moody sounds that are suavely crooned the metal way, Elektrokore brings toothpaste-fresh soundscapes, drenched in experimentalism; in the way the American Head Charge approach their music, along with a long list of other inﬂuences, manipulated by the powers

of Union Underground and Powerman 5000’s music. Their otherwise distinctive sound also emits similar vibes to that of their fellow countrymen, Frequency, but with a much deeper and a seemingly eﬀortless purr. Their deceptively sparse yet incredibly infectious beats, adds a certain postmodern sensibility to their sound that makes it an indulgence to

listen to them. If you took Frequency’s vocal production, rough-edged guitar work, Issues-era Korn’s smooth imagery and some Rammstein-esque grooves, you’ve got the heady cocktail of Elektrokore’s sound. There is an element of excitement with Elektrokore. Eccentricity bleeds from their music, and they have a bizarre concoction that just works. Theirs is a concept that is chaotic, but one that culminates into perfectly arranged and sharply fi ltered manoeuvres. Their music often contradicts itself, providing end results that mystify. They are as bewildering as they are sublime. It’s their fresh sounding electroexperimentation that lightens the day, puts the breeze in your window and the music to your party. Idiosyncratic, but knowing their own barriers for not being particularly exquisite showmen, they have built a look, making Axl iconic in a strummerlike fashion in his facade. They are of few words, indecipherable, some may say. Their hype is understandable through their angst-shielded melodies of yesteryears. They strive to revive old-school grace and rebelliousness back into their guitars. The Flaming Skull Podcast E-zine describes them as the Pioneers of Nu-age Music in Northeast India. With Keng’s vocals telling tales of the treacheries that come with life on the Guwahati streets, Elektrokore can sometimes sound (lyrically) like Soulfly being backed by Mick Thomson’s magnum opuses. Elektrokore have instilled an ethically thought out great game plan for their movement. They live the performance with vigour and don’t replicate the record as you hear it at home. The stabilizers are fi rmly off with Shantu’s solo joust. The versatility he has, is a recipe for longevity. The way the former acoustics-man rips up the stage with their heavily religious ‘Buddham Charanam Gacchami’, is profound; one which I’ve borne testament to – a great live performer and an inspiring messageladen song.

You can’t deny there is personality in this group, streaming through their onslaught of calamity guitars and damning percussion. For now, the band is having fun tweaking and testing Reason and Fruity Loops, while

at work on their debut album that is scheduled for release in the month of July. However, their sound, which right now is untamed, may have to tighten somewhat; if they are to garner anymore fans outside of their already, underground following. The ability to transport a listener to another setting or subconscious is a talent within itself, but Elektrokore’s ability to do it is so subtle, you’ll be forced to think you’ve been sleepwalking. PHOTOS: Himangshu Lahkar

. AT E F

TU EA

The wise and the fool alike, in an advertent or an inadvertent cynicism, have long been instrumental in prophesying/sermonizing the denigrated ‘New Age’ syndrome as against the ‘revered’ traditional values. Be it culture or art, there’s always been a judgemental bandwagon running around, trying to highlight the generation’s mismatch and the quality degradation in every walk of the modern, ‘hollow’ cultural milieu. Music is the point of relevance here. And among many things allegedly endangered in the present musical scenario, the loss of lyrical elegance is one aspect being widely talked upon. The ballyhoo of ‘substance less’ commercial sound business is said to be engulfing the wisdom of musical sanctity all together. Whether or not this is a just commentary, (something

beyond the finite perimeters of us mortal entities) these downright criticisms have ensued the everconf licting melodrama of Tradition vs Novelty. While one jaunts through the memory lines of one’s cultural biography, the aforementioned case against lyrical descent, gathers space and hold. And that is plain obvious, as folk and traditional songs forming the cultural essence of any community, would always be kept in a different league of reverence. However, should we limit our judgemental perimeter onto the 20th century and later – when commercial music began to evolve cementing its place in records, tapes and discs – the graph of quality downgrade would still be prominent to the critics and the cynics alike. Talk about songs from the likes of Paul Robesons, Frank Sinatras, Bing Crosbys and to the more recent Bob Dylans and Don McLeans, the art of music had always been more than just the sound and beat of a song; the fundamental aspect of it being the brilliance of word manifestation and poetic wisdom. Take an Old Man River by Robeson (lyrics Oscar Hammerstein) or Vincent by McLean (a tribute to Vincent van Gogh) or a revolting Hurricane by Dylan, from poignancy to poetry and to social uprising, all are in a spectrum of spirituality called music… and nothing else. Dwelling on further, to the songs of such eras where ‘true’ lyricists supposedly trod on the musical field, there would be more and more names spilling out of the bin. Paul Simon’s magical songs (further immortalized by

the heartfelt voice of Art Garfunkel) would forever be resonated with a drone of philosophy and life. The Boxer remains one of the finest, poetically evinced renditions along with an equally metaphoric Sound of Silence. Coming back to Bob Dylan – perhaps (in the eyes of many) the greatest implementer of English literature-use in the musical purview – there’s no point exaggerating over and again the cult Blowing in the Wind! And then the list goes on: Bob Marley’s Redemption Song, Bee Gees’ I started a joke, Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car – songs that have captured the imagination purely on the lyrical base, pervading an air of creativity where a song is indeed an amalgamation of tune and ‘words’! Hailing thus the ‘wizards of the words’ – moving more towards the ‘callous’ present – two more golden

names (with Dylan already covered) must be ingrained with panache. An eccentric thinking lad from the trails of the greatest band of all, John ‘Imagine’ Lennon, and a philosopher in song writing, the rock-opera-star, Roger ‘Floyd’ Waters! Beatles might have given Lennon all the fame and

stardom, but a creative ‘activist’ self of its own, kept exploring the human and social elements beyond the ‘Beatle-like escapism’. In time, he became a cult maverick and his songs – ‘runaway anthems’. The acerbic wit and the naive optimism prevalent in his songs drew an uncanny parallelism with

the world at large, and a very simple yet unbelievably thought-provoking ‘Imagine’ went down in history as one of the most important songs of times. Waters, on the other hand, had seemed to rediscover the poetic side within, in the midway course of the ‘Pink Floyd’ journey. Post Syd Barrett’s drug annihilation, the resurrection of the band had been scripted by a very

allegorical Waters, with his lyrics really making waves in the more philosophical and intellectual front, and the success of the overall song products, at the same time, breaking all music records. The Dark Side of the Moon – perhaps the greatest rock album of all time – is, till date, regarded as a phenomenon of sorts that had redefined the essence of song writing and production of music in whole. Some timeless classics – Time, Us and Them, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here and the Rock Opera The Wall – Roger Waters’ poetic exploits marveled and intrigued the generations, in many ways, to a point of musical renaissance… Well, in the backdrop of all these fascinations for the ‘comparison charts’ and the ‘aesthetic’ past, the present new fraternity kept huffing and puffing all along, in a bid to hold on to that abundant legacy. Forever judged by the never blinking critical eyes, the new generation has had hard times, re-inculcating the bygone aura

of the golden years. This story has been rendered across all cultures (not only just western musical scene, which has been the quintessence here). An allusion to our own backyard would testify: both on the Hindi as well as on the Assamese commercial music front. After all, the shrieks that make the paucity of the Sahir Ludhianvis and the Bhupen Hazarikas more obvious can’t merely be an exaggeration. “Dead Poets’ Society” (name adapted from a movie of the same title) – is indeed an outrageous term affronting the New. Paradoxically, perhaps it’s been a satire of sorts, contrived by the anti-ageist lot in the bid to salvage the sacrosanct Old. Perhaps it’s been an overdose of vilification, on everyone’s part, with an insouciant disposition toward the New. Perhaps it’s been always about living safe, in the shadows spurring the wisdom of Old. Well, it’s been since the warring times, one great never-ending epic of time: the ‘advanced’ New versus the ‘Noble’ Old.

HOT ARTISTS TO WATCH OUT FOR By Kaushik Barua

STACY’S PENITENCE

awthorne Heights look-alike quartet, Stacy’s Penitence, have been making rounds of the circuit for quite some time, and have recently kicked back with a spate of mind-boggling originals on cyberspace. These four Mizoram lads are the sauce to the Indian-Indie rock sandwich. The band takes a raw, heated and fun loving approach to their music, managing to provoke and adulterate your thoughts in the process. They pull together candid, shout-loud songs from bands like Death Cab for Cutie and Human Abstract and still manage to cover the acquired taste of storytelling lyrics. It’s also impressive how the band manages to remain influenced by a large array of Screamo and Hardcore bands while having woven enough of their own uplifting, tone-smart quality into the music, making them incomparable to any singular band in today’s scene.

hese Grindcore/Death metal-revival flagbearers have been kicking about the mean streets of the Northeast, since the beginning of 2006 and have really hit the ground, running this year. With influences as diverse as Cannibal Corpse and Death (cited on their Myspace page), this is a band who take their jobs very seriously and have that most vital of qualities: an in-your-face attitude, also sparing you a holier-than-thou wisdom. One who listens to the surging madness of their latest single, Present Chaos, will tell you all you need to know about PT. Somehow, it gives me visions of a boiling, sweaty practice room, with earsplitting guitars pulverizing through shoulder-height valve amps, headthumping drums, and a singer burning with energy. When the Shillong based trio are on stage, you can hear the hunger gurgling in their performance, the chugging riffs and quiet-loud dynamics harking back to a golden era of Death Metal. Check out the undulating core drone of Life’s a Bitch - the catchiest and the most awesome slice of extreme metal since Mark Burney penned You suﬀ er.

VIBES MUSIC

he metal world seems to be obsessed with Hybrids and Experiments. Recent example: Djent – the result of irrepressible muting techniques and the sheer monstrosity of physics meets metal. However, what Periphery and acclaimed guitarist Misha Mansoor build out of this monstrosity, truly transcends the limits of human comprehension. With just the right mix of polyrhythmic attacks and melodic know how, Misha and his six-piece kill machine incorporate ﬁerce poly-metric timings with tuneful but raw vocals and powerful

riﬃ ng to concoct their own unique style of hard-nosed metal that is looking at laying waste to any new venues across the world.

Tell us a little about your band and your music. I’m Jake and I play guitar in a progressive metal band called Periphery.

You guys are presently on tour. How have you guys been received on the road? Is this your first major tour as a band?

It’s been pretty good everywhere so far. It depends on the turn out. We’ve been on the road since last summer; so this isn’t our ﬁ rst tour, but we’re still green and learning.

You have recently been signed on to giants, Sumerian Records. Give us an insight into the process and what this means for Periphery. Well, there’s a lot of negotiating,

compromises, but we get it all on paper and we sign. Periphery signing to a label just means another avenue of support for us. To grow as a band, you have to be supported by those around you. Being on Sumerian helps with that.

Nobuo Uematsu and electronic artists like Telefon Tel Aviv.

For an aspiring metal guitarist, which aspects of guitar-playing do you think deserve utmost importance?

Now that you’ve been signed on to a big label, is there anyone in particular you would like to work with in terms of production, etc. and why?

I think playing tight is extremely important. Being able to lock into a click or a drummer who is playing to one. Metal is a very precise style of music for how chaotic it is. I also think it is getting a bit stale and that I deﬁ nitely appreciate the artists who try to fuse other styles

There are a few people we might be interested in, but we’re pretty content with how we do things ourselves.

Besides the deal with Sumerian, what has been the crowning achievement of your career? Releasing the album. We’ve had many setbacks as a band and recording our ﬁ rst album, we are very lucky to be witnessing the growth of our fan base by having a successful ﬁ rst release.

What are your goals as a band? To make a comfortable living, touring and writing music, that’s the big one.

‘Making a buck’ or ‘Metal for Masses’? (Piracy or NO Piracy)? I always believed that music should be free and you support the band by coming to the shows and wearing the shirts. It makes the relationship between the fans and the band much more personal. I know the record companies don’t agree with this, but I’d rather someone download the record and listen to the music than not hear it at all because they didn’t want to pay for it.

Any Indian bands that you might have heard of and liked? Unfortunately, I haven’t heard any metal bands from India.

Any last words for your fans in India? Hopefully, we can tour India soon! Keep supporting!

Rumor has it, that you started off as a drummer and then moved to guitar. What led to the transformation? When did you first pick up the guitar, and what has been the major step in your playing that helped you get to where you are now? I started drums when I was 14 and focussed on that until I was 17. I had to stop because that’s when I went to Uni. I couldn’t practice it there, so I decided to focus my time on the guitar which I had been casually playing until then. I was really into Dream Theater, and I spent a lot of time learning DT songs and solos. Since about then, I have been recording my songs, and that process has really shaped me into the player I am today.

When did you first start listening to metal? Tell us about your influences, both early on and now. I started maybe when I was fi fteen or sixteen; it’s hard to say. I am not really sure what my fi rst real metal album was. Maybe, Demanufacture by Fear Factory. Earlier on, my influences were Meshuggah, Dream Theater, Tool and the Deftones, and these days it is more ‘fusiony’ players such as Allan Holdsworth and Guthrie Govan, composers like

I always believed that music should be free and you support the band by coming to the shows and wearing the shirts. It makes the relationship between the fans and the band much more personal. with metal to make it more interesting.

For the sake of newbies, tell us in detail what ‘Djent’ is all about. It’s just a sound. I didn’t coin the term, Meshuggah did; but its just describing the sound of a metallic sounding palm mute that happens when you do a four string power chord and palm mute heavily and pick hard. I really liked that sound and started seeking gear and techniques that would facilitate getting that kind of palm muted sound.

In an earlier interview, you mentioned your fascination for Electronic Music. What are the other genres, besides Metal and Electronic, which you appreciate? Have you

ever considered doing Non-metal projects? I could honestly ﬁ nd a band in just about any genre I would likely enjoy. I am just very picky with music in general, so within those genres I may only like a handful of bands at most. I would deﬁ nitely do a non-metal project if it was something that was inspiring!

Tell us in detail about the guitars and gear that you use in the studio and in live sets. What presets do you normally use? In the studio, I use my EBMM JP7 for 7 string stuﬀ and Blackmachine B2 for 6 string stuﬀ. All my guitar tones are done with the Fractal AxeFx Ultra direct to the interface. I usually make my own presets from scratch. Until recently, I was using my Engl Invader live, but I will be switching to AxeFx soon. I have several live guitars, but probably my current favourites are my Bernie Rico Jr. Jekyll 7 string and my Blackmachine B6.

Your guitar usage varies between 6,7and 8 stringers. How do you think that contributes to your signature sound? Honestly, I write differently on each guitar. 95% of the music is 6 or 7 string. I rarely fi nd myself to be creative on the 8, but it all comes down to which guitar inspires me when I have a riff or when I’m just jamming on the guitar. The 6 string stuff lends itself to more chordal and notey kinds of riff s for me, and the 7 string lends itself to more groove based and atmospheric kind of riffi ng. The 8 is

just weird for me, still I like it as a concept but I rarely come up with ideas I really like on it.

How did the concept of Bulb come up? How is Bulb different from your band Periphery?

lyrics. I leave that up to the respective singers. I might tweak vocal lines and deﬁ nitely spend a lot of time with vocal rhythms and phrasing once they are somewhat established, but the lyrics I usually just leave to the singer.

It came up by accident. Bulb has just kinda become my online/onstage persona. Any song I write will become a Bulb song, but then usually become something else, like a Periphery song eventually. Periphery is my live band and has a deﬁ nite sound and is the band I put everything into. It is my priority and will hopefully be, for a very long time. If on the other hand, I were to do a Bulb album, I have no idea what it would sound like. It could be almost anything at this point.

Tell us about your recording procedures (Bulb-wise). Any tips for beginners? Do you believe that only technology can get you good sound?

How important are lyrics in your scheme of things or approach towards song-making?

Not really sure! At this point of time, I’m focussing on Periphery and producing the other bands and projects I’m working with. So I honestly have no plans for it at the moment. Perhaps… further down the

To me, they aren’t terribly important. I’m neither good at writing vocals or

Technology won’t get you good sound. Working with what you have and trying to ‘make’ a good sound for yourself, will. Just keep tweaking, and try to make something that sounds good to you.

What’s next in line for Bulb as a project?

R E V I W S

SCREAM

VIBES MUSIC

MON AKAX

OZZY OSBORNE Genre: Metal

DHRITIMAN DEORI Genre: Alternative

he legendary singer and the former vocalist of the British heavy metal band-Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne is back with his latest record - Scream. The album is a collection of high energy tracks and it opens with the song - Let it die. Like all his other albums, this one too, is on the course with metal riﬀs, relentless drums and metal melodies which have become Oz’s forte. Following this is the title track - Let me hear your scream along with Soul-sucker, Crucify and Fearless have excellent vocal deliveries with a slight quaint charm of the 80s. There is, however, a touch of change in this record in comparison to the older ones in that it has a hint of new-age riﬃ ng in some places coupled with classic song writing. Solos are fairly entertaining and although it does not sound like a ground-breaking album, it does have its special moments. Ozzy’s voice is peerless and after decades of giving the metal heads a sore neck, he decides that it is time to do it a little more. In a nutshell, the album is an average buy with a little more to it.  GAURAV SAIKIA

s a debut, Dhritiman’s Mon Akax is a good attempt. Good, because it is not the run-of-the-mill downpour of sundry music albums that we get to hear; and also because, there’s ample scope for him to descend right into his listeners’ hearts. The ﬁ rst-time listener is bound to notice the choice of lyrics and the less than easily hummable style of the songs. While this accentuates his musical capacities, it also obscures him to his audience. What is undoubted though, is the power of his voice – mellow and absolutely soothing. The tracks range from modern to folk to semi-classical, with traces of ghazal strains here and there. Luitore Bali falls softly on the ears; Faguni botahe chimes well with the guitar chords, while Mone janu aji mur is of the youthful romantic kind. With Dhriti’s professional musical background and a commendable portfolio, his versatility is something that remains awaited. But for all that, Mon Akax presents with almost the right playlist for your evening reverie.

 AGAMONEE BARBARUAH

Stevie Nicks and Don Henley – Leather and Lace This gentle acoustic ballad showcases two of the ﬁnest rock singers of the 70’s. Nick’s trademark sultry voice contrasts interestingly with Henley’s high tenor, spotlighting somewhat heavy-handed, but eﬀective metaphor of the title in lyrics like, Sometimes I am a strong man, sometimes cold and scared and sometimes I cry. An evergreen number, indeed!

Nightmare - AVENGED SEVENFOLD One in Ear - CAGE THE ELEPHANT Saviour - RISE AGAINST 1901 - PHOENIX Let me hear you scream - OZZY OSBOURNE Another way to die - DISTURBED

Ann Wilson and Robin Zander – Surrender to me It is one of the best remembered silver screen duets of the period like, Up where we belong and Endless love. It holds it on quite well as a pleasant romantic balladry for when the credits roll. Co-written by 80’s soft rock extraordinaire Richard Marx. Olivia Newton, John and Cliff Richard – Suddenly The male-female duet works as highly dramatic form, and perhaps that’s why, it’s so often linked with ﬁlmed entertainment; particularly cinematic releases. In this case, the rather disastrous 1980 ﬁlm Xanadu, provided an appropriate arena for a number of hit songs by its stars, Newton and John. While the title track is more well-known, this mid-tempo ballad arguably represents a pleasurable melodic experience.

This is War - 30 SECONDS TO MARS Lay me down - THE DIRTY HEADS FEATURING The good life - ROME THREE DAYS GRACE The Crow and the Butterfly - SHINEDOWN

Patty Austin and Jams Ingram – Baby come to me The song climbed the No.1 chart in early 1983, after the tune was resurrected as a love scene accompaniment for a soap opera. It is deﬁnitely one of the sexiest tunes on the list, communicating a sense of romantic longing and anticipation with the aide of a sultry groove. Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes - Don’t fall in love with a dreamer There are a number of duets featuring this grey-bearded wonder that could easily crack the list! Rogers’ chemistry with Carnes is quite evident in this song. This popular track of the 80’s displays genuine passion and compelling heartaches.

Atlantic Starr – Secret Lovers Though not strictly a duet, because it was performed by a group, this song perfectly encapsulates the prototypical male-female duet format. It sets up a dramatic scene and introduces listeners to two characters in a conﬂict-ridden situation. This is an emblematic tune of the 80’s. Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne – Close my eyes forever The main attraction of this song clearly turns out to be the pleasing way hard rock legends, Ford and Ozzy Osbourne actually sound together. The tune is a special case in which the individual performer happens to deliver top notch eﬀorts, which results in a surprisingly moving and lingering combination.

Sergio Mendes – Never gonna let you go This ballad brings back the sweet memories of the 80’s. Sung in generic anonymity by Joe Pizzulo and Leza Miller, the song somehow manages to sound diﬀerent. Of course, the saving grace was the memorable, melodic rush of the verse and the payoﬀ of the chorus. Peter Cetera and Amy Grant – The next time I fall This song shot to No. 1 in 1986. Amy Grant’s partnership with bassist and singer, Cetera produced musical ambrosia as sweet as a fruit from the Garden of Eden. Cetera had already built a reputation as a balladeer with his former band, but in this song he, along with Amy, created a highly melodic classic. Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin – Separate Lives Sung by pop superstar Phil Collins and relatively unknown Marilyn Martin, the tune rises to the best of its potential, precisely because it is presented in a duet form, which allows for emotionally charged give and take between the two performers.

Airplane – BOB FEAT. HAYLEY WILLIAMS OMG – USHER Billionaire – TRAVEY MCCOY Your Love is My Drug – KESHA Bulletproof – LA ROUX Cooler than me – MIKE POSNER Alejandro – LADY GAGA Break Your Heart – TAIO CRUZ Impossible – SHONTELLE California Gurls – KATY P PERRY FEAT. SNOOP DOGG

h, what a close shave it was! Smooth and soft, it was all very possible, as it was a beautiful and sunny Sunday. But that’s not the usual story every glorious morning, when I’ve to wake up early to reach office before others actually sit down to relish their breakfasts. My day starts early, as I’ve to reach the studios before 7 every morning. After honking horns to invade space and overcome the yellow school buses, I eventually reach office; only to the bewilderment that I urgently need to fi x an appointment with the barber for a quick shave. To be really honest, shaving the unwanted facial hairs every morning can be a great pain in the neck. And to sport sideburns and manage without getting cut, is an even bigger pain. So most of us prefer to visit a parlour or salon rather than trying to wipe them off clean, by looking at one’s own reflection in the mirror. But then, to manage time to go to the salon is another issue. Paying the bill is easier than getting oneself a seat, which obviously requires time and patience, while we seldom have both. So out come the twin blades from the closet as you gear yourself for a self ‘barber-ic’ act. With your fingers firmly gripping the handle, and the blade laden clamp kissing

away all the unwanted facial hairs, a clean and new avatar comes into view. But before you could rejoice your new look, the razor’s sharp edge gently wipes out a bit of flesh from your skin and blood oozes out of it. That was a nasty shave, you may think. Nastier yet, is when everyone at office starts cunningly enquiring about that cut until it finally dries off and disappears! I’m not too sure whether a clean shaven face can be a subject of discussion. But I have somehow heard that some like it clean and smooth while others prefer the rugged, coarse look. Shaving is to boys what applying lipstick is to girls. A clean shaven face epitomizes discipline and cleanliness. But I, among the many don’t find it necessary to exhibit a clean shaven face every time. I’ve my own rule that you too would love adhering to. Gliding a sharp razor over your facial skin removes much of the smoothness and makes the skin coarse, even after applying an exorbitant after-shave. Moreover, there is a belief circulating the social atmosphere that girls love the rugged looks in a man. That apparently leaves us with no other choice but to remain unshaven for most of the time lest we lose out a golden chance!

Guys usually have a fascination for razors while growing up and some even go to the extent of using them before they actually need them, but once it becomes imperative for them to use, it alters into a boring task. Now, while some try to ﬁnd God by shaving their heads at the Ganges, I alter my looks between a clean shave and stubble, as and when it suits me to grab attention of the lovely ladies out there. And I must say that it pays huge dividends. So next time you go for a shave, always remember that shaving is the mark of a man. Amen!

ote to Punit Malhotra: If you can’t stand the heat, i.e. unable to deal with criticism, please don’t make a crappy film. Yes, that is my advice to the Karan Johar wannabe. So basically, I Hate Luv Storys is out and yes, while a chunk of the population (read: NRI’s and Sonam Kapoor fans) have enjoyed the film, the critics have not taken to Malhotra’s debut film. And of course, because it is their job, they have all come out in unison to pull the film apart. A number of prominent writers went on to call the film “dumb” among many other names. This did not sit well with Punit Malhotra who publicly defamed the renowned

writer on a social networking site. But that is not the real problem. Why make a film which houses nothing but cheese when you will not be able to handle the tomatoes that will be thrown at you in various forms? Punit Malhotra and his irk have proved a point that has been reiterated time and time again: star kids have no manners. This only makes us question their rearing. Let’s get it straight: I Hate Luv Storys is not an epic film nor, is it plausible. In fact, in front of IHLS, Kites and Raavan, two recent films which were written off, look like award winning films! Did we see the likes of Anurag Basu and Mani Ratnam, both credible directors, rain accusations at the

critics? Absolutely not! In fact, they maintained a dignified silence and went on about their business. Hrithik Roshan even went on to acknowledge that the film was clearly a dud and was not accepted. Punit Malhotra has a lesson to be learnt from these veteran filmmakers. Take it and deal with it – cheap shots will gain you nothing. Instead, your values and morals are questioned. And for the record, you failed this test, hands down. Back to business and why I Hate Luv Storys didn’t work, for me at least. There are a number of reasons, but this is how I see it. IHLS teaches the youth many lessons. Love is filmy. The only way to woo a girl is to buy her flowers and be tasteless. I felt like I was put back in the 1990’s when I saw the number of flowers that were used in the film. It was simply beyond my understanding! In this age when young women want things straight and simple, we are introduced to a girl, who not only owns a filmy name but believes in some unfathomable ways of love. And even if I somehow manage that, I cannot understand why on earth Imran Khan’s character, who has some problem with his name – J or Jay, would fall in love with a girl who wants such a story which by the way, he has no belief in. I realized that I Hate Luv Storys is actually pretty complicated;

psychologically complex. I also couldn’t fathom why Imran and Sonam, who by the way have zero, none, zilch chemistry, would want to fall in love with each other. He hates love and she loves love. He hates Hindi love stories, she adores them. He hates monogamy, she wants it. He drinks on week days; she of course, doesn’t touch it. I know they say, opposites attract, but even then something needs to click. And in this case, it seems that they don’t work at all. Needless to say, the couple end up together – shock and horror! But I highly doubt that the

couple would have stayed together. Her innate love for filmy love stories would have eventually hit an all time high and really challenged his patience for rubbish Karan Johar-infused films. In the end, they would have ended up taking the Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna route. Ultimately, Punit Malhotra has no idea what he is talking about. He has no sense of love, hate or even filmmaking and there is no denying that. Perhaps, Malhotra will continue to make films which will NOT work; critics will continue to condemn it and most likely, he will come out and call them names yet again. Our suggestion: Get over it!

cloudy day and grey was spread all over the living room. Wind ﬂowing in from the big windows, as I sat there with Roshan and Akshita. The aroma of black tea was all over the place with the ballet of the cold breeze. Teddy bear in the showcase and Metallica poster on the opposite wall – two people discovering their life; rather than just means to co-exist. Roshan and Akshita have been living together for almost two years now.

“Two years? I didn’t realize it until now!” he says, amusingly. So when did they move in together? Whose idea was it? “We used to have weekend parties at his place and I’d generally sleep here when it was late. So one Sunday, I returned from my home in Mumbai and got my luggage with me. Monday was so hassle-free. And then one Monday led to another and one meal to breakfast. He didn’t let me take my luggage and I didn’t want to”. While she narrates all this, Roshan is smiling as if someone is narrating the rules of his favourite childhood game. Any resentment from family or friends? “Friends have been really supportive. Actually, most of them said they saw it coming. Moreover, they party more frequently here, so they can’t complain. When someone from family visits, it’s time for crisis management,” she adds. Roshan easily moved to headphones from speakers comfortably but Akshita had to be convinced to move the giant teddy bear out of the bedroom. While Roshan found it creepy (“I wake up in the middle of the night and this stupid toy is staring at me. It’s very unnerving!”), she found it cute. Perhaps these changes will remain as signs of the amalgamation of two lives. They have divided the chores among themselves. How, they refuse to share. They have a notebook to record their expenses. They again refuse to show me. They are more of a couple than newly weds, guarding the secret

ingredients of their charming recipe. So when are they planning to get married? “I don’t really know. I want to take GMAT and then, if I get through a good B-School. But sounds like one hell of a plan,” he says candidly, yet a little nervous. All this while, she plays with the curtains. She thinks otherwise. When he goes downstairs, she conﬁdes, “I get scared sometimes, at the thought of a life without him. We are no more young lovebirds, past the verbose romance. But even the silence and his presence around are so reassuring that it is scary to think, it won’t be there someday. But, I don’t want to be the catalyst in his career. He is very ambitious. I can live with heartbreak but not with guilt.” She carefully goes away to make tea.

We just had tea, but I don’t stop her. So how has it been so far? “Just saying that I have been happiest won’t do justice to her company,” he looks at her to fill in. She smiles, “The numerous vacations, movies or even endless hours of random conversations, I can handle a thousand family visits for them”. Aren’t they afraid of the moral police? A very large number of people still find it socially unacceptable for two people, who are not married, to stay together. “They have their reasons, probably. I am too busy being happy to care for reasons, theirs or ours. Pyar ke side eff ects, you see”, he laughs. So they don’t care. I guess, part of it is because they stay in a metropolitan city where acquaintances are limited to timely greetings and anniversary wishes. It gets much uglier in a small town where lives are intertwined like knots in a sweater. “Probably,” they say. Yes, they are too busy being happy, right now.

“One more question, and the most obvious one…” – I can’t stop smiling and they know the question. She throws a pillow right on my face and she doesn’t miss. Roshan jumps on me like the Undertaker yelling “Bastard!”. I am ﬂat on the mattress and the room is full of our laughter. I leave the question aside. What if their parents come to know? “Then we will call you. We have no other option than to rely on friends for supports and hideouts, right?,” she replies quickly. I tell them I am unreliable. We laugh the evening away in echoes of cheap jokes and sweet rock and roll. I can’t comprehend how two people can be in a live-in and not sleep together. Is it that big a deal? As usual, I leave their place with questions in my mind but this time I was smiling all the way. Smiles are contagious, I guess. (Names have been changed to conceal the real identities of the people involved)

ibrant décor welcomes you the minute you walk into this café-cumhandicraft store, nestled behind lush green trees in Indira Nagar, Bangalore. The rooftop café’s ambience is serene and comforting; the sound of the wind, blowing through the trees makes for the perfect breakfast backdrop. The menu reads a variety of sips – regular coffees, dessert mixes and non-coffee drinks! I dove straight into the English breakfast which consists of toast, scrambled eggs and some sublime sausages. If you get to the cafe at any other time of the day, you can choose from their list of short-eats – fries, chicken nuggets, potato wedges et al. The variety of omelettes would really impress an egg person with ingredients ranging from cheese, masala, corn mushroom and cheese, onion pepper and ham, cheese and chicken, ham and mushroom to the more traditional Spanish omelette. You can even relish on sandwiches, burgers, pastas and salads. Those with a sweet tooth should definitely try their brownies and donuts. After my gastronomic indulgence, I made my way down to the inviting handicraft store that tastefully stocks handicrafts made by Northeast Indian ethnic groups. From a contemporary array of apparels (kurtas/ kurtis, stoles and Aagor cotton shawls), trendy and traditional stone jewellery, home furnishings and kitchen accessories to products of black pottery and bamboo furniture, the store has it all! Besides, it also offers customized and tailor-made products, and takes bulk orders too. With a reasonably priced menu

and an aﬀordable range of dexterities (ranging from 30-900 bucks), there is something for everyone! If not, a visit to the cafeteria to enjoy a cup of tea while reading your favourite book is a must try… WORDS : POOJA BARKATAKY

WHERE 2023/B, 14A Main, 2nd Stage HAL, Bangalore CONTACT 080-41521742

Vibes went on a quest to find out what the market has to offer, and was left dazed! ACCESSORIZE YOURSELF AT ‘THE CHAIN GANG’ ZOO ROAD, ‘GAME ZONE’ LACHIT NAGAR AND ‘LOCKUP’ DONA PLANET.

hen it comes to the youth, what is it that mostly deﬁ nes them - clothes, gadgets, bikes, attitude, or accessories? Well, a mix of everything, you would say. We agree. Lately, Guwahati has morphed from a small town to a growing city, sporting the latest looks and trends in fashion. You’d be forgiven for believing that you were in any of the metros. Since rock music rules in the Northeast, not surprisingly, the black T-shirt with the skull mark dominates the informal look among guys. Black is almost an attitude. And as I checked out

All that the stuff available at one store, I spied two young girls walking by in black tees. It’s not just confi ned to garments. Black wristbands with metalwork, round, spiked, or round and fl at, guarantee loads of attitude. And you thought earrings meant only that solid, yellow metal? Man, earrings have got a makeover, and how! From small rounded plastic ones, to the dangling and elongated, to the silver encrusted ones, the collections are a revelation about the changing demands. Ditto for lockets that come in every conceivable shapes and designs! Egged on by the rising demands of the youth to keep up they come in so many with the times, a few enterprising colours from deep blue, faded with storeowners are now stocking up stuff like a scruff y look at the edges, to the cool scarves, bandanas, belt, and caps of all white, that you can simply wear them for shapes and sizes. From the popular baseball to the French style and even cowboy hats, there’s a huge variety. And what’s more,

Since rock music rules in the Northeast, not surprisingly, the black T-shirt with the skull mark dominates the informal look among guys. Black is almost an attitude.

that casual, laid-back and comfortable look. Hot pants couldn’t possibly get any hotter, if their length (or the lack of it) is any indication! If your outlook is daring, you’ll surely opt for the ones available in jeans. Guaranteed to set pulses racing, they come at a price where you could easily get two pairs of full length jeans. But then, when the intention is ‘hot’, why allow the price tag to be a deterrent? For those who’d rather opt for a feminine look, these pants also come in ‘almost knee-length’ ﬂoral prints. Some of the stores also have shoes on display with embellishments for the party look, although most shops do have the white-and-blue sporty ones. For the more adventurous, there are boots resembling those worn by the Red Indians ages ago. They come in a denim

and suede look, ideal for a ride, or if you want to hide somewhere in the woods with your special someone. And when it comes to shoes, people do tend to pay a lot of attention to them. So it was a pleasant surprise to discover the wide array of pretty shoelaces that were vying for attention. In stunning reds featuring the skull mark to floral designs, they would defi nitely brighten up a good pair of sneakers or any other casual footwear. If you are keen on making that bold fashion statement or just ‘be’, go ahead and check out all the cool stuff that’s available in the city. And the good news is that, there are more stores coming up. WORDS: NAZNEEN HUSSAIN

know I’m not good looking. I know I’m miserable, but I also know this wasn’t the job you dreamed of as a kid. I understand that. However, I care, and I have to live with the hole you have built around my head. While I shell out 100 bucks, I expect a halfway decent haircut. All I ask of you is to respect these few things... ¤ When I say an inch, I mean an inch! The last time I checked, an inch is 2.54 cm. It is not “my new imported scissor cuts all.” I know you are no engineer, but come

on, inches are everywhere. Obviously, I don’t expect you to be perfect, but when I say an inch, and you give me a fourth grade buzz cut, then we have a problem going on. This isn’t Funskool Play-Doh Mop-Top Hair Shop. You can’t just cut away and expect something new to shoot out of my head like

Vince McMahon on steroids. This is real hair, on a real person, and it takes a hell lot of time to grow back. ¤ Please do not make small talk. There’s a reason every redneck has the same weird haircut. And it’s hurtling toward you at 188 mph. You’ve made it pretty clear already. You don’t give a darn about my physical appearance. Then why would I want to talk to you about my plans for the weekend? I’ll tell you what I’m doing this weekend: I’m probably making a 3-hour drive to my lawyer just to sue you! The last thing I want to do is talk to you, and further distract you while you continue to make noodles of my hair. No, I don’t care about your dog, and I don’t care that your boyfriend’s probably cheating on you. All I care about is the fact that you are taking that razor too close and too vertical to my neck. ¤ Of course I want sideburns. As this haircut from hell is finally coming to end, you go off and do the unthinkable. You proceed to chop off the only natural looking thing I have left going for me: my sideburns. As if you haven’t made me look like stupid enough, you go and turn me into a jerk without sideburns! That’s it. I’m getting out of here before you shave a Nike swoosh into the back of my head. WORDS : ARSHAD NAWAZ

ew days back, after a long shower on a Sunday, I sat down to watch TV. While surfing through the different channels, I stopped at a popular English news channel that was showing how girls today, as young as 13, are taking to i-Pills. Gynaecologists were shooting one side effect after another, citing the probable reasons behind why young ones take to the post-sex measure rather than before. This got me thinking. How can you even think of having a sexual intercourse without the rubber? The guy needs to just wear it. I know there are condoms for women too. So why get into all the headache of ‘what if I’m pregnant’? Pleasure is the main

thing, according to the girls, for which they ask their guys not to wear a condom. What does ‘getting educated’ mean to you? Women, use your brains and be peaceful! This reminds me of the movie, Jhankaar Beats. Comedy was the forte, but that ad campaign about the condom was well eye-catching and thought provoking. BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY. So control your hormones, fellow women, and let your partner wear the condom. WORDS: PRIYA

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