A. Naik -- Caught & Bowled H. Parikh -- 26 (26)

  4th July is celebrated as Independence Day here in Red-Blue-White Country where US citizens celebrate their FREEDOM... But my dear friend chose this day to celebrate his Life Sentence... Yes - My pal of a decade Mr. Aditya Naik or as we fondly call him Sade Bara (12:30), is more than happy to surrender himself in the embrace of the deadliest phenomenon happening in a Guy's life... No points to guess... He's getting engaged...

I remember the year 2007 (which was my first trip to India) when a fine evening, Naik, Avi (Another Fellow Antonian) and I were taking long walks near Naik's place in Vakola... We were discussing the usual fun stuff when Naik suddenly went,

Naik: Guys I want to let you know something.

Avi: What happened man? U into Drugs or something...


(Knowing that Naik wud not even touch a PAPER ciggie, let alone a real one, I figured that this had to be something of a personal mishap!)

Akki: Dude r u in LOVE or what???

Naik: I dunno how to say this... But kinda I am....

Avi: Duh.. and whose the 'GUY' ?

Akki: Avya...I think he's serious... Naik Bol re..

Naik: Well, She's my roomie at Dallas.... and we stay together...

Akki: What? wow dude.. so u already in a LIVE-IN relationship huh... Score man!

Naik: No man... she duz not even know about this... and just so u know - we 4 share a room, Bhide n I in one and Navya and Hinal share another!

Avi: So who happens to be YOUR Love interest???

Naik: Its Hinal... Hinal Parikh... and we are really very very good friends... Its been the first time in my life that I am so comfortable being MYSELF in front of her...

( This was so true... Naik being a LOYAL ANTONIAN for almost 1/4th of his HALE 'N HEARTY life, anything remotely female was like a burning charcoal in hand for Naik... You take it in hand only when you are forced to and You can't hold it for more than 3 sec... I was very happy that finally Naik had come out of his Antonian Genre and started to live life like a NORMAL guy! )

Avi: OK... So when r ya gonna tell her?

Naik: I never will...

Akki: What? Why? What's the problem man?

Naik: Methinks their family won't allow us and probably its not even the right time... I  haven't even graduated, I dunno wen would I get a job... Probably she might even get married before I m capable to stand on my own feet!

Whoooooooooooooooooshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Time flew...
So it was that day and it is TODAY that I have received Naik n Hinal's personal invitation card to attend the C-day of their life! (Wedding being the D-day... This is one step less.. Lol). Both Naik n Hinal had to go thru a lot of ordeal to make things happen the way they wanted, Thats why I really SALUTE their LOVE for each other and its prowess to stay with each other in times of both joy n sorrow...



I wish both of them all the good things in LIFE and May God bless them... Yeh Baat aur hai ki, when we all Antonians meet up on July 4th, Naik is gonna be our SCAPEGOAT as usual... That's a tradition... I m so excited to see that day!!!

LONG LIVE ANTONIANS!!!
 

Ekal Concert @ Houston!

I had performed at the Ekal Vidyalaya Chapter of Houston in Feb 2010... It was after a long time (My last performance was in Atlanta, GA in Feb 2008..... So it was nearly 2 years that I had not performed in front of a live audience!!!!) that I got this amazing three-fold opportunity:

  1 - To perform in front of a huge croed (Almost a 1000!!)  

  2 - The gig was in Houston so I could get to meet my Good Ol' Pals of my Good Ol' Masters Era...
   3- 'Twas a sponsored trip from LA to Houston so no pennies were shelled off my own pocket (ugghh... I know...pretty cheap thought... huh... But staying in LA is tuff folks!)

My concert was amazing... 'Dost Loga' from Houston, grabbed the front seat in the auditorium to cheer for me... They definitely did a great job... I started my introductory song with the Hit Qawwali of the 1970s, the Laxman-Pyarelal masterpiece - 'Pardah Hai Pardah' from Amar Akbar Anthony... Its been my signature song., or so i believe.. I love performing this song in front of a live audience, I make'em clap, sing and dance with me... and the whole credit goes to the composition itself... Dexter Raghunanan on Tabla, Kamal Haji on Keyboard and Ramesh on Guitar was a lethal combination which helped me make my introduction a huge success.


.
Thus, I sang quite a few songs one after another. Especially 'Kuhu Kuhu Bole Koyaliya' being just out of the blue owing to Uma Mantravadi - The self-proclaimed 'SENIOR-MOST' singer in the group... I too did believe her until she opened her mouth to sing... Well, she; most definitely was the SENIOR-MOST singer by AGE and that's it! Then I went on to sing 'Laaga Chunari Pe Daag' which was also a huge hit of its time.. immortal even today! Unbelievably, but true, the concert went on for 4 hrs straight with 0 people bored! That IS an achievement guys!!



Some days later, my friend happened to search my name on Google, (Ya.. that is our fav TP as we are thrilled to see our name come up under Google!!) this link on VOICE OF ASIA newspaper showed up covering the Ekal Concert!!! I'd love to share the article with u guys... I SO loved it... I hope so u will too!

Feeling Nostalgic...

I just remembered the time when I was in school and there were way too many things that Mum n Dad and my sisters wanted to me to do... Surprisingly I was a known face in school as a 'GOOD BOY' for teachers, a 'GOOD FRIEND' for my guy friends, 'A STUPID MONITOR' for girls and last but not the least... 'THE BOY WHO COULD SING!!!' Come some 'free lecture' and Teachers used to say, "C'mon Akshay, come to the podium and sing a song for all of us..." As soon as this 'recurring' dialog ended, this was the time to have a look at a variety of expressions on the faces of my classmates...


My friends.. or true friends... very enthusiastically cheered for me for a time - since I got up from my 'FIRST BENCH' till the time I reached the teacher's podium... Some girls who used to have a fancy for me (Blusshhhinnggggg... huh?... Ya there were a few.. I ain't kiddin'...) used to share a smirk with me from their benches.... The 1 girl that I used to like, used to take her 'ALGEBRA' textbook out and start solving the 'D-Group Problems...', (hhmmmppffff)... Guys which deliberately turned a deaf ear to my 'Oh! So Soothing Music', would start playing their unfinished Book Cricket Game! Amidst all this, defying all laws of ethics, here I was standing tall on the podium besides the teacher singing my signature song which was a 1950 HIT from 'Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi' --> 'Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si' Believe it or not, I sang this song for 10 years in school... every single time my teachers called me to sing on stage...


But then there were a few times when I had made my school proud when I bagged a 2nd position at 'All India Original Light Music' competition organised by State Bank of India in the year 1997-98... This song penned down by Baba and composed by Baba and Pt. Arun Kashalkar together... This is one of Baba's best work according to me...


Thought of sharing this wonderful lyrics with all...


त्या जाहल्या चुकांची, मागितली क्षमा मी
उमजे मनास आता माफीस पात्र ना मी || धृ ||

शिक्षा असेल एक अक्षम्य त्या गुन्ह्याची
अज्ञातवास मजला संपर्क ना तुझ्याशी
भाळावरी मिरवीते हे दुःख वंचनेचे
मज यातना मिळाव्या, हे सूत्र संचिताचे || १ ||

देवा दयाघनाला करिते विनंती एक
हे दुःख साहण्याची पदरात घाल भीक
इतुके असून तरीही नाही मनात किंतु
तुज सौख्य मात्र लाभो, मनी हाच एक हेतू || २ || 

Mala Atyanta Awadlela Babanche Ek Kavya!!!

ती अमावसेची रात  माल आठवते

रस्त्यवर कोणी चिटपाखरू ही नव्हते...

गडगडाट होता मेघांचा अवकाशी

अन वीज लखाके भेदून त्या तीमिराशी...

जरी ओळखीची ती होती पाउलवाट

तरी मनात होते भीतीचे सावट...

धडधडे ह्रदय अन थिजून गेली वाचा

तरी मनात होतो करीत जप रामाचा...

अन एक अचानक वीज अशी चमचमली

मज ओले ती सुंदरी अवचित दिसली...

थंडीने थरथर कापत होती काया

असहाय्य होवुनी निघे जवळ यावया...

कर करांत गुंफून जवळ तिला घेतले

आधारांवर अलगद आधार तिचे टेकले...

बर्फा सम होता थंडगार निश्वास

अन शारीर अवघे जणू शीलेचा भास...

अन एक अचानक वीज अशी लखलखली

नव्हती ती तरुणी एक हडळ मज दिसली...

माने भोवती करपाश तिने करकचला

अन कळले मजला यम दाराशी आला...

ओठांतून फुटली आर्त एक खिंकाली

ऐकून घरातून बायको धावत आली...

गदगदा हलवूनी केले मजला जागे

अन कळले मजला स्वप्नची उरले मागे...

<माझे बाबा - श्री. अशोक अणावकर ह्यांनी लिहिलेली एक कविता...>

Mumbai - From a different Angle >

Normally if there is some free time between work, (This particular instance is way too hypothetical to be discussed  ;-)) I rummage through old snaps of the Maximum City - Mumbai... It gives me a feeling of immense pleasure and content and my mind wanders back in time to have a clean, less crowded and a happy Mumbai...

It would be hard to fathom the fact that even after staying in Mumbai for over 2 decades, I got to know the 'REAL' Mumbai thru snaps on the internet.. (Shame on ya ... Akki)... Well, you gotta believe this thing that Mumbai to a commoner is just 'Making in time to the railway station so that he does not miss out on his '8:37 FAST'.. I still don't know why Train timings are never rounded off to a full 5 minute... I have never come across a train timing like 8:30 or 7:00 or 9:45... Never.. On the other hand, the elite class of Mumbai worry a lot about the stinking band at 'Jazz by the Bay' and how it ruined their well planned romantic evening! The worst part is - the two scenarios explained above are totally hidden for each other... I mean.. a commoner would not even know what Jazz By The Bay is similar to an elite who thinks, Who freaking needs a a train, when I own a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce?

But between these two extremes, its one category that  gets to know a little about whole if Mumbai - 'The Tourist'... Every day the rising sun in the city looks at hoards of people outside of Mumbai, coming in as tourists.. be it an Indian or a foreigner, this city has a lot to offer to anyone and everyone under the sun! So I decided to view Mumbai thru an eye of tourist and guess what - A wonderful city unfolded itself for me like never before... This city of which I have been an integral part of for almost 23 years of my life showed me things I dint even know... Unfortunately, it was only thru the e-medium... Starting with its history of 7 different islands to a metro that it is today, I gulped up all the information on it totally awestruck with pride!

So I have decided that in my next trip to Mumbai (albeit it being my Home city),I am gonna enjoy this beauty thru a tourist's eye and come back loaded with utmost content, pride and refreshed mind....

Start of My Day... ummm..Not so good!

It's a new day... a Monday... pronouncing a hectic week.. But nonetheless, its the 'Shree Ganesha' of a new week, so its time to decide something and 'TRY' to stick to it for a while!!

So from today, I'll update my blog on a regular basis... I know, I know, I have promised this since ages... But works' hectic, blah, blah, blah... The list continues..

Well Monday's kick start was not that favorable... I hate it when Navin's car (My roomie) is parked at the back of mine... that means taking his car out first, then pulling back mine and again parking his car in his parking slot zeroes down to a waste of at least 15 min of valuable morning time, and especially when I am running late, it sux BIG time... So today was one of those days!

In spite of all this superhuman tasks, I managed to reach office at 5:15 am (Yesss... its definitely NOT a typo... ) and started running  those 'neverending' reports, and heaved a sigh of relief as the time to print those came closer... But guess what, paper got jammed, printer started to make weird, squeaky noises and job failed to print..... AAArrggghhhhhhh.. Could my day BE any more horrible???.... well it can get worse... but u know... err.. ahem.. every stupid problem, seems like a mammoth when u know that u ain't gonnna beat or merely meet ur deadline! But finally after a long session of using my 'NOT_A_VERY_ENGINEERY' brain, I somehow managed to pull that damned jammed paper out of the printer to make it work and by God's grace and a li'l bit of serendipity, the reports were out just in time!!

So to sum it all up, the day didn't start great... I hope to end it with a ear-to-ear smile... Atleast ya'll have a fantastic day ahead...

Welcome the Monday!