DIARY OF A JANIAC

I've always been at sixes and sevens when the topic of Godmen came to the fore. I've never been their biggest fan and lost any faith I had remaining when the Nithyananda controversy came up.

The recent death of Sathya Sai Baba, born Sathyanarayan Raju, lead to an ocean of articles being written about him and his work. A few articles on the darker side of this very same Godman too saw the light of day.

I must admit that the concept of a man filling in for God(often even replacing Him), in a land devoid of Gods blessings is extremely attractive. It fits my belief of there being a God in each and everyone of us. Unfortunately, at the same time it stretches the very same concept a bit too far. But thats my personal opinion.

However, Sathyanarayan Raju, the mortal behind Sathya Sai Baba, was a pretty extra ordinary human being. It takes an extremely strong will and an enormous heart to do the things that he has done for the materially and emotionally poor of our country.

He(The Sathya Sai Trust) funded and oversaw water-related projects, costing an estimated $63 million, which have benefited hundreds of villages in the predominantly drought ridden regions of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. He also built a vast educational system that offers free education all the way from kindergarten to doctoral studies. In addition, he set up two super specialty hospitals in South India that offers treatment for a wide range of ailments, all free of cost.

Yes, his Trust probably receives twice the money that they invested in these projects in the form of donations, but it still takes a highly principled man to put all of this money to such great use.

Having said that, It was unfortunate that a man who had followers numbering in hundreds of thousands(possibly more) had to resort to cheap magic tricks to capture the belief of a few thousand more.

Make no mistake, everyone loves a golden Rolex being pulled out of thin air, but not everyone loves the idea that pulling a watch out of thin air is an act of an incarnate of God.

Sathyanarayana Rajus discourses too were a huge benefit to numerous people in our country. He did talk about God and the sacrifices fit for God and so on and so forth, which one may or may not choose to believe in. But at the same time he also spoke about moral values that we needed to have to be good sons or daughters to not just our birth parents but also to our country. He spoke personally to young kids and helped guide them through their education and whatever little troubles they had. He was the guiding force behind numerous families reuniting, and behind men reforming and so on.

He was a huge source of inspiration to a large number of people, ranging from the Sachins to the Manmohan Singhs to the people of Brazil to the Ricky Martins. He may or may not have been an incarnation of God but he gave the people what they needed most in the world we live in.He gave the people - HOPE.

HOPE and INSPIRATION is something that can fuel a man to no end. The Music Masters rap group in Misrata, Libya is the first example that pops to my head. Using music to inspire the rebels to fight for the people against Gaddafi is an excellent idea. Its their own little contribution which I'm sure will inspire at least a few of the people to fight harder.

Whether Sai Baba really had the powers that he claimed to have is a debate that will linger for years but he gave those that believed in him confidence and made them believe that could, nay WILL, definitely succeed and that is something that'll help people remember him for a long long time.

Cheers
Hari
amajaniac n so r u

This blog has been LOOOOOOOOOOOONG overdue but unfortunately, a certain set of Board Exams got in the way.

Before I get to the actual content of the blog, there is a small development. I have decided to start blogging about more than just music or atleast try to blog about a few more things. :) Hence the new blog, Diary of a Janiac!

Now to describe the awesomeness of the 19th February!!

We(Raja, Remya and I) left for Hyderabad on 18th night by bus and reached Hyderabad on 19th morning. We headed over to a friends place and got ready for a full day of sight-seeing and well of course the gig that we had traveled all the way till Hyderabad to watch.

First we headed to the Charminar. Nestled in what the locals call "Old Hyderabad", the quadruple-towered mosque made for an amazing sight. Right at the centre of the mosque was a moderate size yet intricately designed fountain. Though partially damaged, the minor details of each carving of the fountain piece could still be seen and admired. We then climbed one of the minarets to reach the second level of the tower(the higher levels are sealed off). The second level was the one with the prayer rooms. There were around 30-40 of them, each with a beautiful window and brilliantly carved frames. An unfortunate sight was the numerous etchings on the walls. "Romantics" used the walls of a great mosque and an even greater monument, to proclaim their love for their girlfriends and boyfriends, thinking that they are immortalizing their love when in fact they are defacing an immortal piece of history.

Right outside this mosque was a small Muslim Shrine where the priest(don’t know exactly what they are called, ulemas? Not sure) offered prayers and applied a grey powder on our foreheads. Right next to this shrine was a Hindu Devi Temple. The amity between the priests and the people too made for a visual treat.

We then clicked a few pictures and then proceeded to the next monument, Mecca Masjid. There were a huge flock of pigeons sitting at the front yard of the Masjid. Just as we walked in after an extremely brief security check, which consisted of a guard glaring at you, a boy ran right towards the pigeons and made them all fly. A brilliant way to enter a monument huh? [:D]

Unfortunately we were unable to enter the Masjid, but we did look around and it was beautiful. There were a large number of prayer stones lined up outside and a priest prayed for us and for our good health.

We then went to the nearby local Bazaar, famously known as Choodi Bazaar. The Bazaar is especially famous for its pearl jewellery and we did pick up a few pieces of jewellery for our mothers and sisters. There were shops nearby which were also famous for their black metal pieces.

Next, we visited the Hussain Sagar Lake. However, we didn’t get off the car to take a closer look at the lake and the huge monolithic statue of Gautam Buddha. We did admire the statue from a distance for a while though.

The next thing on the itinerary was to go home, freshen up and leave for THE concert.

I was super excited when it was time to leave. It was the first time that I would see the NEW MOTHERJANE live. This was the first time that I was going to see the new guitarist, Santhosh Chandran on guitar. There were a lot of questions in my head. Would he be as good as Baiju? Could he pull off those solos that The God of Small Strings played with such beauty and with such precision? I was excited but I was equally nervous!

We reached the venue, after a two hour drive. We had a surprise visitor with us when we left for the venue. MY DAD! My dad was working in Hyderabad during the time. Though he had spent the entire day sight-seeing with us, none of us thought that he would join us for the gig. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least.

We started the process of donning paints when my dad decided to surprise us once more. He wanted us to paint his face too. He was going to involve himself in every activity and it was super cool of him to do that. [:)]

Before motherjane took stage, there were two opening bands that had apparently won some local competition in order to open for the Gods. The bands, however, were pretty ordinary. Then, it was time for MOTHERJANE to hit the stage. The one reason why we had travelled over 500 kms was to see these 5 men rock the stage.

The Panchari Mellam music started playing and I went high. I was about to see my favourite band live after about four months and it was an amazing feeling. The band soon came on stage and started their set with DISILLUSION. Their energy was infectious and soon the entire VJIET crowd was singing their hearts out. Motherjane performed all of their songs with immaculate energy and the new guitarist was hitting every note perfectly (as far as what the songs sounded like were concerned).

This new guitarist was abnormally down to earth too. During the solos on one of the first few songs, Santhosh was standing near his processor and playing the solo. Suraj came over and pushed in front towards the crowd and into the spotlight. It was a really funny moment that one.

Another part of this gig that I was really looking forward to was Jihad. This was the first time that I was going to hear the Anwar O.S.T live. I loved the track, especially due to the amazing vocals on this track. For the first time in a motherjane song, the vocalist was the one that provided the Indian element to the song.

Unfortunately due to a slight glitch with the speaker on our side of the crowd, we couldn’t hear that song properly. [:(] We soon moved over to the side of the crowd and still got right to the front and soon continued to enjoy the music.

The solos played by Santhosh and John were splendid. Though the usual Metal Mataram that Baiju played was missing, Santhosh played a brilliant solo which sounded just as beautiful. [:)]

My guru, John, played a kickass solo too. Its amazing to see him perform solos live now. The first time he performed a solo live on stage was at Kyra on October 15^th at Bangalore thanks to a lot of screaming and shouting from us janiacs right at the front. It was a splendid solo filled with various rolls and a few funky beats too and other stuff that I'm not musically literate enough to even begin to understand.

The crowd at VJIET was a really fun one. They were singing every word along with Suraj for every song. It was a heart warming sight.

All in all, 19^th February was an amazing day. We went to meet the band after the gig and got ourselves introduced to the new man, Santhosh Chandran. The band was also extremely delighted to meet my father, with his face painted et al.

On our way back home, my dad told us what he felt about the concert. He thought that the music was pretty nice but what really struck him was the energy with which they performed. He was especially impressed with Suraj, not just because of the high level of energy but also because of the way in which he interacted with the crowd and brought out the crazy men and women in everyone in the crowd.

It was extremely inspiriting to see that my dad understood why I loved this band to death and would travel this far 10 days before the start of my exams even though I’ve seen them more than 10 times live before.

The entire day was a brilliant experience and I don’t think I’ve ever slept with such a huge smile on my face.

The next day was kept aside for one huge place – RAMOJI FILM CITY. But that story is for another blog. I’ve already written way too much on this post. Unfortunately didnt get pics of the concert but I hope the videos will make up for the long read.

Special Thanks to youtube user jovanightfall for the videos.

p.s. Eva, So sorry for the delay [:p]

Cheers

a\m/ajaniac

Oct 5th saw the release of the much awaited single "Movie" from JYG frontmans Ameeth Thomas' new single venture.