I’m trying to recollect the snapshots of my second Mysore trip this year. Hope you will get the hang of it! Please give a try

My manager and a senior had come to Bangalore for an official visit. They had planned for a trip to Mysore on Sunday and wanted someone to accompany as they are new to this place. Everyone in the team was engaged in one or the other way. I also had a scheduled meeting with Daatra members (the band under construction) for discussion, practice and introduction of new band members because of which I had not committed for the trip. But on Saturday evening I called up my manager to find that nobody has agreed to accompany. All of a sudden tables were turned and Vivek and I signed in for the trip. Oh yeah, we later realized it was a nice decision.

Sunday 18-11-07

6:30 AM Oberoi Hotel MG road, Bangalore

Rakesh dropped us (Vivek and me) in his car till the reception of Oberoi Hotel. He didn’t forget to pass on the comment “Its only because of my car, that you both are able to enter into this hotel, else you will not be permitted” Who knows, he might be right! Thanks for the lift buddy J

We entered the reception and were amazed by the exuding opulence. Hmmm… wish I got a chance to stay there for a day! We waited at the reception for our seniors to turn up. Meanwhile, we clicked a few snaps just as a souvenir of our Oberoi Reception visit.

6:45 AM

Our car, a Ford Ikon, which ostensibly was a contrast for the inmates from Oberoi, arrived and took us. Yeah, we started our journey!

I placed myself near the driver when the seniors and Vivek squeezed in on the back seat.

Nobody seemed interested in conversation and so I plugged in my headphones and started listening to songs. It took some time for me to realize that the ice had been broken and different Indian – US topics are being shared behind me. I also joined them taking a break from the walkman.

8:57 AM Sreeranga Pattina, Summer Palace of Tippu Sultan

The guard at the gate of the palace compound told us by gestures that we will have to wait for 3 more minutes, because 9:00AM was the right time for him to open the gates.

I still haven’t digested the logic behind 5 Rs ticket for Indians and 100 Rs ticket for a foreigner. Persons from Bhutan, Nigeria or some other country (where value of their currency is less than INR) will also be treated as a foreigner. For an American, INR 100 wouldn’t be a big deal, but what about the other category of foreigners?

Though I was not feeling very hungry, the mention of food by someone amongst us commenced the thought of eating. Vivek and I were happy to find a big box of Oberoi breakfast with my manager, but once it was opened, our dreams were shattered. It consisted of 4-5 slices of wheat bread, a packet of Lays, 2 apples, 6 (big) grapes, 4 fresh figs and 2 plain sandwiches. We were about to faint when my manager revealed the cost – 25 $ translated to an amount of 1K. I could eat 1 month’s breakfast and lunch from our Kerala mess near ITPL J

We finished the breakfast standing in the garden surrounding the summer palace and then entered the palace. I’ve been to  Tippu Sultan’s summer palaces in Bangalore and Nandi Hills. This one also looks similar in construction. There were pictures depicting old Mysore maps, Sreeranga Pattinam, flow of river Kaveri etc. There were some old weapons like swords, spears and old pistols displayed.

The Summer palace didn’t eat too much of our time and we started moving at around 9:40 AM.

10:00 AM Rangan Thittu Bird Sanctuary

If you haven’t paid a visit to this place yet, plan a weekend trip to this beautiful place and enjoy. I’ll try giving a brief note about this place, thanks to Wiki and other sites from where I’ve mustered the below information.

Rangan Thittu is situated in Mandya district, near to Sriranga Pattina. It consists of six small islands in Kaveri river which occupies a total area of .67 Km2. The place was declared to be a wildlife sanctuary in 1940 by Wodeyar Kings of Mysore because of persuasion from the famous ornithologist Dr Salim Ali, thanks to his observation that these small isles formed the nesting ground for rare species of birds.

If you go there, don’t skip the rowing boat ride, which is the most important part for the boat takes you around all the small six isles to watch the flora and fauna. There are 2 options for boating, either with a group of 15 people or a private boat, which will be exclusively for your group. We chose a private boat and boarded it.

The islands are themselves covered with broadleaf forests, consisting of Arjun trees, Bamboo groves and Pandanus trees. Riverine reed beds cover the banks of the isles. There are Eucalyptus and Acacia trees planted by man too, which might disturb the native species in the long run. Animal inhabitants include Bonnet Macaque, Flying Fox, Common palm civet, Indian gray mongoose, monitor lizard and Marsh crocodiles.

We were surprised, rather shocked when the boat went VERY close to the crocodile, which was lying on the bank of an island. He (or she) was deeply thinking about something, probably about food as its mouth was wide open, exhibiting its saw like teeth. It didn’t care a bit about a boat and the passengers coming near. It should’ve been thinking “another set of bugging people to stare at me as if I’m a show piece”

The ranger cum boat rower repeatedly assured that marsh crocodiles found there are innocuous and there had not been any case of attack towards humans yet. Nevertheless, the thought of my manager’s comment made a wave of chill pass through our spines “who knows when this crocodile is going to give a surprise?”

The ranger cum rower was feeding us with all information that he had come across in his career. He spoke in English, which was an appreciable attempt really successful in conveying what he wanted to. The birds that we could watch were Snake bird, Black eyed Ibis, White breasted Kingfisher and Stork. Ranger told us that season for migrating birds from Siberia, Atlanta etc starts on January. (Wiki has quoted it as June-November)

Half an hour passed by hastily. We had a photo session in and around the sanctuary.

We continued our journey to Mysore palace. It was almost 12:00 noon when we reached the palace. My first visit to the palace (that I remember, I’ve heard from mother that I had visited the same as a toddler) was from our college 4 years back.

I totally agree with what one of the guides told us – “you can enjoy the beauty of the palace without the help of a guide, but you cannot understand it”. Unlike the guide who was more than a chatterbox that we hired the last time (4 months back) this person had the skill of talking to the point. I cannot explain the beauty of the palace in a blog or by a speech. I’ll give a brief account on that, again thanking wiki.

It was the official residence of former royal family of Mysore (the Wodeyar family). Mysore has a lot of palaces, but Mysore palace refers to this particular one – Amba Vilas.

The construction spanned 15 years from 1897 to 1912 when the former palace which was built in 1803 was charred and gutted in 1897. The queen regent of Mysore at that time Vanivilasa Sannidhana commissioned a British Architect Henry Irwin, to build another palace at the same site. He combined different architecture styles and completed the construction by 1912 costing a sum of 42 Lakhs. (Now it costs more than that to buy a flat in Bangalore) The architectural style of the palace is commonly described as Indo-Saracenic, and blends together Hindu, Muslim, Rajput, and Gothic styles of architecture. It is a three-storied stone structure, with marble domes and a 145 ft five-storied tower. The palace is surrounded by a large garden. The three storied stone building of fine gray granite with deep pink marble domes was designed by Henry Irwin.. The facade has seven expansive arches and two smaller ones flanking the central arch which is supported by tall pillars. Above the central arch is an impressive sculpture of Gajalakshmi, the goddess of wealth with elephants. Every autumn, the Palace is the venue for the famous Mysore Dasara festival, during which the entire palace is lit up with thousands of bulbs, and leading artistes perform on a stage set up in the palace grounds. On the tenth day of the festival Vijaya Dashami, a parade with caparisoned elephants and other floats originate from the palace grounds.

Gombe Thotti – The entry to the palace is through the Gombe Thotti or Doll’s pavilion, a gallery of traditional dolls from 19th and early 20th centuries. The pavilion also houses a fine collection of Indian and European sculpture and ceremonial objects like a wooden elephant howdah (frame to carry passengers) decorated with 84 kilograms of gold.

Amba Vilas or Diwan e Khas – This was used by the king for private audience and is one of the most spectacular rooms. Entry to this magnificient hall is through an elegantly carved rosewood doorway inlaid with ivory that opens into a shrine to Ganesha. The central portion of the hall has ornately gilded columns, stained glass ceilings, decorative steel grills, and chandeliers with fine floral motifs, mirrored in the pietra dura mosaic floor embellished with semi-precious stones.

Kalyana Mantapa – The Kalyana Mantapa or marriage hall is a grand octagonal-shaped pavilion with a multihued stained glass ceiling with peacock motifs arranged in geometrical patterns. The entire structure was wrought in Glasgow, Scotland. The floor of the Mantapa continues the peacock theme with a peacock mosaic, designed with tiles from England. Oil paintings, illustrating the royal procession and Dasara celebrations of bygone years, make the walls more splendid.

The paintings on the wall were having 3D characteristics, simply amazing talent! The horse and the men seem to look at the spectator regardless from where he/she looks at the picture. In one painting, there was a Rolls Royce, when I got reminded that there is still one such car is kept in the Palace. I had heard it last time when I visited the palace and I re-confirmed it with our guide and passed this knowledge to my co-travelers.

The palace also houses an Audience chamber where the king used to have meetings with his ministers and guests from Europe. The guide explained us how the chamber would be lit using candles. There were 3 chandeliers having lot of mirrors, which will hold a single candle each and the mirrors would multiply the light which gets reflected in the pillars plated with gold also. So the chamber would glow with golden colored light at the time of a special meeting. What an amazing implementation of optical excellence, it is indeed! Another excellent architectural establishment is the Public Durbar, which is a very big hall from where the Maharaja used to address the public. The specialty of the construction is that, from any corner of that hall the people could see the king. While he made public speeches, 2 guards on his side, used to announce it live with megaphones.

I was really amazed by the statues of tigers in and around the palace. The guide told us that it was molded bronze. Whoever had done it, is a Sculptural Guru.

We left the palace at around 1:30. We had lunch from a hotel named Sandesh, the Prince, which reminded me of Bangalore pubs. After the lunch we visited Chamundi Hills. The hill got its name from the myth that Goddess Chamundi killed the Asura King Mahisha who then ruled the kingdom of Mysore. In fact, Mysore got its name from this Asura Maharaja – Mahisha. The temple on the top of the hill has idol of the Godess Chamundi. A panoramic view of the city is seen from the top of the hills. Among other landmarks, you can see the Race Course, the Lalitha Mahal palace, the Mysore Palace, the Karanji and Kukkarahalli lakes. (Courtesy for the names of lakes- Wiki) While climbing the hill down, we stopped to visit the famous Nandi the bull’s statue which is made out of a single stone. It is an amazing structure!

The buffet we had was good enough to trigger a sleep. I took a short nap on the way to Vrindavan Gardens. At around 4:30 we found ourselves wandering inside the Gardens. I’m not a kind of guy who can enjoy the beauty of flowers and fountains. So, sparing myself from writing it, but I’d like to give a small account on the garden’s history.

Vrindavan (Brindavan) is a beautiful botanical park full of exciting fountains. Diwans of Mysore planned and built the gardens in connection with the construction of the dam. Display items include a musical fountain. Various biological research departments are housed here. There is a guest house for tourists.It is situated at Krishna Raja Sagara dam. We roamed around the gardens, took some photos but didn’t wait to watch the musical fountain which starts at 6:30. Because we had a plan to revisit the palace, to see it fully illuminated. The palace will be illuminated on every Sundays and then for Dasara festival  days. We reached in time to see that beautiful sight. It’s a scene that no one can forget!

After taking photos we were back in the ikon and started our way back home. I slept inside the car dreaming the crocodiles in Rangan Thittu and the Bronze tigers in the palace.

Please have a look at Vivek’s Picasa album – http://picasaweb.google.com/vivek039/Mysore?authkey=mVz6AYRZgBY

Really wish, I could go back, to the past. Now I’m falling down in my future, without even knowing what present is!Is there a way to go back in time, to live again, a better life, enjoying the presents present presents?But I know my cup in not half empty, its always half full!

I think I already have made it clear that I’m not a good reader. But, hmm… I do read seasonally! I thank my good friend Kaushik for sharing ‘The greatness guide’ by Robin Sharma. Read it, if you haven’t already! I bet its going to change your life! I’m full of energy now. Totally inspired, motivated… Have to read more of his books before this spark gets doused by work and other personal affairs and make sure that the spark is going to grow as a flame! I’ve become a big fan of this guy!

This book doesn’t have any big stories, no romance, no flying brooms and magic potions, no suspense but just 101 small chapters each one of which will act as shot in the arms!

Read about the book here – http://www.thegreatnessguide.com/ 

So head to the nearest bookstall…and grab one soon…

Hey, I’ve almost forgotten that I used to write blogs. Umpteen incidents in life, have occured making me more than happy… Hmmm… I logged in to my blog to describe a small incident, which made me neither happy nor sad

 I went to Canara Bank Maratahalli branch intending to find the details of home loans provided by them. As soon as I entered the office premises I got reminded of sub registrar office in Trivandrum where my mother used to work. Obviously there are some differences, the first one being a conspicuous over-head board which says ‘Please Switch Off Your Mobile Phone Inside the Bank Premises’ in 3 languages. As I was expecting a call, I couldnt do that, but I changed it to silent mode. The obvious smell of old mite-bitten files prevailed in the air. I could see a number of chairs in front of me, some occupied, some not, I looked around to read the boards to find whom should I contact for satiating my requirement. Unfortunately no board was there with the label ‘Loan’. But to my relief, there was a board which said ‘May I Help You’. It was dangling over the heads of two people seemingly aspirants of the ‘help’ offered by the same. I also took a seat near to them, hoping that I’l l also get blessed with the help. I could observe that the empty easy chair at that counter is looking away from the counter as if it doesnt care about the ‘help’ offered by the board. I waited for almost 10-15 minutes when I could see that among the aspirants, I’m the only one getting frustrated with mounting impatience. The others must have been regular customers for a long time. My attention then turned to the loud noise produced by a group of people approaching that counter. Funniest thing I could notice was the sound was not coming from the group of people, but from a person who was not to be seen because of the wall created by those people. I thought that, that person would’ve been the one who abandoned that easy chair, making it look the other way, as if it doesn’t find comfortable to face the old HCL monitor on the table and the faces that are patiently waiting for the occupant. I was badly waiting for them to finish that talk, which sounded like an argument, but proved to be just an explanation given by that person at the center to the people pounding on him. His voice might have gone up, in struggle for more air too, God knows! I was shocked to see that, the person when got extricated from the crowd, didnt occupy that easy chair, which I was eagerly waiting to happen, but another chair, above which there was  a board which said ‘Manager’. Then I came to agree what my kannadiga friend had told me – “You go to Canara Bank, you might have to wait a little, but they are THE best in taking care of their customers” I just compared that man with the managers of private sector who will be sitting inside a closed cabin which is sound proof so as not to take part in the external commotion even unknowingly. I just recalled the talk to an ICICI manager the day before, I said “I wanted to know the details of home loan product, could you help me out?” for which he answered “Please give me your contact number and the office address, I’ll send my agent there, he’ll talk to you”. The agent came and talked to me in no time, but home loan product seemed to be greek for me! He never explained anything, just took my visiting card, gave me an application form to sign,tried a cheap marketing trick on me saying that “Sir, if you take the loan now (this moment? He really thinks people are nutcases?) I’ll give it in 11.2% as your company is one of our listed companies. (I never knew ICICI lists companies) If you dont take it now, you will have to pay 12% (was he trying to threaten me? ooh I’m so afraid ) Back to Canara…I thought of waiting in front of that empty chair for some more time, but as I didnt have much time , as I had skipped my lunch in order to find time to come to the bank and also I didn’t want to miss an official meeting for which I should rush back to work, I moved on to another counter which said ‘Clearance’ A lady was busily adding,subtracting,counting etc. I waited for a while, broke the silence when she took what seemed to be a hiatus for taking a long breathe, with the best tool to break the ice - ‘excuse me’. She gave me a tired look, her eyes clearly wanted to ask me ‘What the hell?’ Fortunately it didnt come out from her tongue, because I didnt give her the time I asked her if she can direct me to the person who deals with home loans. Accepting her advice I went to the first floor where again I had to spend another 10 minutes waiting for a persons elocution to get over. He told me to go to downstairs and gave me the name of the person who would solve the mystery rather misery Not exaggerating, nor joking, I spent another 15 minutes to talk to that person! I was afraid if he would send me back to first floor directing me to meet some other person. But that didnt happen, but both of us together went to first floor He explained about the loan process and loan amount pellucidly without leaving any room for doubt! So finally I got my questions answered in 20 minutes for which I had waited 35 minutes already :) I thanked him from my heart and emptied the chair I was occupying. Worrying about the potential rain and cursing my memory for not taking the umbrella I descended the stairs. Out of curiosity, I just checked the chair beneath the ‘May I Help You’ board. Some one who passed by that chair had dragged it towards a side, other than that, there is no change. Chair is looking at a different direction now, HCL monitor still running some screen saver, files piled up, that manager still talking to some other group of people like arguing, lady at the ‘Clearance’ section still busy adding,subtracting and counting… Shockingly I could find those two aspirants also, at the same position, one of them seemed to be a bit frustrated. I wonder if they both still hadn’t lost their hope on the ‘help’ offered by that ‘May I Help You’ board!

It was by accident that we bought the tickets for the movie Incovenient Truth. But then I realized that accidents can have positive meaning too! I had bought a ‘Frontline’ which had lots of write ups on Global Warming. But it remained untouched for almost 2 months and then it occupied the dust bin and finally got thrown out with other house hold wastes! But this documentary gave me more statistics, information than that book (had i taken the pain to read it)

Ain’t it really formidable to think that we are all going to lose our dear mother earth in a few decades? It surely is horrendous. But everyone should brood over it and should do something for protecting our green (rather once green) planet. Now itself our own negligence has encroached all the fences of survival chances. 

Just by looking around the place where I live now, I can predict that nothing is going to save the mankind from pollution. But still there is room left for giving a try!

Amount of plastic wastes getting accrued makes all the calculations go wrong. Recently I read from The Hindu that there were 292 trucks carrying waste from the city (amounting to about 230 tonnes) somewhere on the suburbs. This is not a particular days fate. Believe it happens every other day!

I can see a lot of trees on the footpaths, courtesy the governments decision to preserve the greenery…but look where they stand, on the footpath surrounded by concrete. It simply conveys the message, only the existing trees will give us shade. No new trees can come up on the concrete floor.

There are a lot of parks too! Protected by BMP, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike! But aint the green color getting faded because of the grey concrete forest growing at an overwhelming rate?

The documentary then talked about the change in climate. Its blatant here! I still remember the climate when I had visited B’lore 3 yrs back for engineering Industrial visit. We roamed around the city, walking and never felt really hot, albeit it was summer. And now, I cant imagine myself taking a walk in the city at noon. And the rains, they come unsolicitedly every now and then. Once a friend commented, that we can see all the four climates on a single day here in B’lore, aint it true though a bit exaggerated?

I’ve written this small account as a Bangalorean. This is the case with almost every place in India as well as any other country.

According to the documentary, Indians are way down in adding to the pollution as compared to the Americans. But day by day we are competing our best inorder to take up one of the first ranks, thanks to the Metros, Growing Population, Growing number of Vehicles, Unrestricted fossil fuel usage, Usage of non degrading Plastics, etc

Please visit www.climatecrisis.net for the details about the documentary and please do watch the documentary as soon as possible.

There is an adage in Malayalam which will roughly translate to this – Only if there is a canvas we can draw a picture. Only if our Mother earth is let to lead a peaceful life, we will be able to survive, our coming genarations will be able to exist!

Who create the waste? We do!

Who will suffer? We will!

Why? Because ‘As you sow, So you reap’!

My Friend Raja Ravi Varma forwarded his friend Monu’s mail … which has a lot of points that I had missed out!” Pasting it below …

The roads filled with black tees having smiling eddy in different poses (one Tee had LEDs for eddy’s eyes), the long queue to enter the grounds, the jam packed time I spend in the front rows were I couldn’t move a finger, the long queues for water in the back which turned to free for all stampedes – the water cans being held high with loads of thirsty mouths below, the air filled condoms flying high in the air, fans of Iron Maiden who had waited up to 17 yrs for a live show coming with their entire families to enjoy, dads having giggling head banging kids on their shoulders , couples jumping together to the beats in each others arms, the sound vibrations that ran up to your knees from the ground below, the sea of mobile cams trying to capture the snap of a life time, the guy who colored his hair yellow and moved proudly through the grounds, the weed smoking girl who kept screaming behind my ear as if there was no tomorrow, the look of sheer ecstasy on the fans and the ‘gosh, I am so f@#$nig lucky for not missing this ’ smiles on the fans leaving the grounds was all an experience of a life time… “Dreams do come true……last Saturday on March 17th, Iron Maiden, the first (quality) rock band to perform in India gave one hell of a performance in Bangalore…The trains from all places to Bangalore on Friday had loads of head bangers wearing characteristic black Tees. All rock fans were moving towards Bangalore for the Saturday’s performance….some had waited more than 10/15 yrs to see these guys perform live….I entered the palace grounds at around 4 pm and had to wait around 3.5 hrs before I got to see Iron maiden perform. In spite of frisking by the organizers in the entrance, liquor and cigarettes (99 % weed ones) were being used freely and the smell of weed was over whelming. The crowd was fully charged with everyone having done ‘something’ to their hair/face…The girls in the crowd were very vocal and putting even hard core head bangers to shame…. The sole downers of the show were the 2 of the 3 opening performances which were a torture because they were first of all prolonging the wait to see Iron Maiden perform live and secondly because they were literally a torture to the ear drums….The first was by a college band which won some god dam competition and frankly I don’t understand the logic of showcasing such crap in a show of such magnitude. Its like allowing a karting winner of some obscure local tournament to drive just before an F1 race began…..I mean I agree that local talent needs to be nurtured and all but not at the expense of hot sweaty fans waiting for more than 3 hrs. Predictably, the college band got lots boos and swears words, not to mention the sea of middle- fingered hands swaying to their ‘music’…I pity those guys and applaud their thick skins. The 2nd performance was by Parikrama and was decent enough, giving the fans something to cheer about. Next to come on stage was Steve Harris’s daughter whose performance was also average. At last the Gods of Rock came on stage with a bang, starting predictably, with tracks from their latest album. The 1500 ticket people and the 900 ticket people were separated by a barricade and two rows of security and police personnel. Here and there, the 900 rs fans tried to jump the barricade only to be hit by the lathi welding cops…..but as soon as “the Trooper” track began, all hell broke lose. Fans started jumping from every where and the cops finally gave up and allowed everyone to move forward….The band members, mostly pushing 50 yrs were a joy to watch…..the sheer energy of Brue Dickinson and the wicked laughter of the drummer(caught by a camera up close), Nicko McBrain were priceless….The arrival of the military tank and the 14 foot eddy were other highlights of the day. The song everyone will remember that night will be “Fear of the Dark”, rumored to be inspired by Steve Harris’s childhood fear….Almost everyone in the audience was mouthing the lyrics and taking part in the background vocals…All in all, it was an experience of a life time….and from what Bruce promised in the end, the fans that waited for as long as 17 yrs to see them won’t have to wait for even 17 months before they saw them again “I am a man who walks alone. And when I’m walking a dark road At night or strolling through the park When the light begins to changeI sometimes feel a little strange A little anxious when it’s darkFear of the dark, fear of the darkI have a constant fear that something’s always near Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a phobia that someone’s always there… “ 

Pinch me! I’m yet to believe myself that i’ve seen Gods, the Gods of metal! Every one who was present there at the palace ground has this feeling, i swear. Let me give a brief account of the day, when Gods alighted, enthralled the pious throng!

We started our journey by 12 noon, braving the traffic through the  MG road, cursing each traffic signal! Kaushik was skeptical if we were a wee too early, the thought which was refuted when we realized the presence of iron maiden t-shirt companions all around us. Oh yeah! we (Riju,Bhasi,Kaushik & me in bikes and Midhun, Kishore, Raja, Nikhil, Nithin chetan,Pramod etc guys too) were also in iron maiden t-shirts! After an enormous amount of lingering through the traffic, we made it to our destination. The journey made me sing in mind, the song The Man on the edge..”The freeway is jammed and is backed up for miles, the car is an oven and baking is wild, nothing is ever the way it should be, what we deserve we just dont get you see…” The place was crowded and we could see people who have even spent their time since morning! What really caught my attention was the huge female population. Most of the girls reminded me of withces, no offence meant, might be their black dresses, jwellery and even dark lipstick gave them a black-magic appearance. All of us aligned ourselves in the long queue. After about half an hour, by 3 pm, as they had mentioned in the ticket, they opened the gates of heaven. They had made a narrow passage for controlling the flow of audience into the ground and for ease of administration which failed to serve its purpose. As soon as they opened the passage, people started rushing in, creating uproar, screaming, abusing and pushing their preceding people.I cursed those nutters who havent even heard of the term maturity. I regretted for not wearing my shoes when i lost a part of nail from my right toe and it started bleeding. Though I had expected a full dusty environment (Palace grounds as always), to my surprise, i could learn that the whole place was covered by mats. People gathered at the front of the stage as closer to it as possible. Stage decoration was still going on, lights glowing once in a while, fixing ladders etc. Each time a head turns up on the stage, one time the electrician, next time the decorator, the crowd screamed ‘Maiden’ ‘Maiden’ Though initially it irritated, i found myself joining the crowd – herd mentality, may be. They had turned on Radio Indigo through the sound systems, which kept the audience away from the hot sun and the hubbub. Kaushik and I were totally astonished by the lady standing nearby who kept on singing any song that was played through the radio. She along with her friend was singing even Judas Priest songs. She was cursing the radio when they played Def Leppard, she cried out loud – “Oh No! Not Def Leppard today, please stop!” I really respect her taste! I’m desperate that i couldnt get any contact id from her or her companion, though we talked for a long time. At around 5:30 pm everyone became active at the sight of FTN on stage, the band which won the campus rock idols! Poor Guys, they didnt have any takers, among the 18000 people who were anxiously waiting in the sun for the gig to start. They were playing new age metal, which was very much unsuitable for the real metal heads, who started booing, throwing bottles, abusing and i believe given a chance the crowd would’ve even tried manhandling! When they realized that their own comps failed acceptance, they tried switching to covers, which again failed. FTN summoned on the sight of a guy who was lifted by his companion imitated ‘hanging’ with his own belt. It brought laughter to the irritated crowd. With obvious disappointment and defeat in their faces, FTN went to backstage.

Parikrama entered the stage causing a loud applause and sudden change in mood. Vocalist said – “This is the first time we are playing in front of such a crowd, the most unforgettable day in my life, opening stage for Iron Maiden” (not the exact phrase) They could handle the crowd nicely. The violinist of the band mesmerized the audience with his speed runs and metal-like leads that was perfectly blended with the heavy backing rhythm. The band was performing a ‘JugalBandhi’ when suddenly the crazy guys on the left made a human wave pushing the guys towards their right. A lot of people almost fell down, if they did, they could even have lost their lives. I received a nice stamp on my wound in the toe. After a few seconds of confusion, the guys at the right retaliated by pushing them back. Though it sounds very simple, you should’ve experienced the same to understand how it feels! Suddenly the music stopped – the vocalist made an announcement that injected relief into the multitude. He said – “Guys, you are here for listening to music. I’m telling this for your own dear lives. Guys on the left dont push towards your right and guys on the right dont push towards your left. People will get crushed in between. I’m here for the same reason as you are (a small pause) to listen to Iron Maiden. So stay where you are, enjoy the music!” (not the exact phrase) Many thanks to him! His announcement did help. They played for nearly an hour or so.

Lauren Harris entered the stage, next to Parikrama started playing crappy music, though the guitarist was greatly talented. He looked like Zakk Wylde and his style of playing was exactly the same. Though I really liked his performance, had to give a second thought, when Nithin Chetan commented about his imitation as a foolish approach and none should imitate some one but develop their own style! Yeah kind of thought-provoking statement, that was, indeed. Crowd tried to boo them away from stage, waved their middle finger up in the air whenever Lauren screamed “throw your hands up in the air”  :D That was a funny scene! After some more time of irritated waiting, audience were happy that Lauren’s band stopped playing!

We waited for not more than 10 minutes when suddenly the stage was under light – crisp tone of guitars, heavy Steve bass – yes! they were on stage, performing the song A different world! Nobody seemed to be listening, everyone was jumping and prancing around, incredulously, screaming “Iron Maiden” And i sang in my mind – “And I felt I was in a trance and my spirit was lifted from me…And if only someone had the chance, to witness what happened to me!!!” Once the song was finished, the screams and yells echoed the whole ground! Then came the song “These colors dont run” “…for the passion…for the glory, for the memories…for the money…you’re a soldier..” After this song I decided to move to a side as I was again and again suffering stamping on the wound. I struggled and procured some water and got ready for the next song.For each song, they had a different display, the corresponding album cover, at the screen on the stage. After one more song from ‘A matter of life and death’ they played these songs in order – ‘Wrathchild’, ‘The trooper’, ‘Number of the beast’, ‘Fear of the dark’,'Run to the hills’, ‘HBTN’, ‘Two minutes to midnight’, ‘Evil that men do’  The crowd response was simply amazing, I’ve never seen such a crowd, save in videos. I was overwhelming with joy and excitement, when i sang along with the crowd for each songs. Bangalore ROCKS!!! The sight of some guys canoodling their girl friends and guys nearly unconscious out of drugs were causing a disgrace to the faithful metal heads, but the latter hardly had time to pay attention. The obvious smell of weed/grass endured in the air, throughout the show, though the faint breeze tried to drive it.

I screamed out my vocal cord and banged out my brains! The crowd roared when Bruce yelled ‘Scream for me Bangalore’ after each song. He announced “You all waited 17 long years to watch us perform, but now it will be just another 17 months for us to come to India again” (not the exact phrase)

I’m desperate to have missed taking photos and videos, people have posted a lot of them in Youtube. Thanks to each one of them!

 If anyone asks me “Tell me about an incident, very important to you, that happened in your life” or “Which is the most unforgettable day of your life” I’ve the answer – “March 17th, 2007, Palace Grounds, I saw the Gods, the Gods of Metal, They lived in front of the multitude, an agile  Bruce running around with his mike, Steve shooting the people with his bass, Dave Murray and Adrian smith pumping the leads and Nicko McBrain ruling the drums”

Thanks for reading! Come join the relegion, the relegion of rock! Hail the Metal Gods, see them live, listen to their divine anthems!

Bangalore is zeroing in for hosting a mark in the History of this rock hub! Only 8 more days to go! From all over Asia, people will be flowing to the mighty Palace Grounds! Too excited, I’m… Not sure about the time when the show begins, but the gates will be open by 3pm. I’ve taken 13 tickets till now, for 3 of us here (Bangalore) and 10 of my friends who are coming all the way from Trivandrum to headbang!

There are some feelings which we cannot express with words. They may or may not have names too. But it is omnipresent, might appear as a glow in your eyes, a whiff, a weight on your mind a lot of other things too. I had a similar feeling which I cant express, when I watched the Performance of Extinct Reflections, Bhoomi & Kryptos at Guru Nanak Bhavan this Friday. When techniques meet the required perfection, its sound takes you a different world - a world where you imagine yourself playing the guitar, tackling the difficult tapping sequence, you will find yourself holding the air guitar and banging your head either following the drums or the rhythm guitar – provided you are not one of those chocolate bollywood or pop music fan – provided you know how difficult it is to deliver the powerful note perfectly to quench the never ending thirst of the metal heads in front of you. I reached the auditorium by 6:15, when i could make out that stage set up is still going on, by the sound coming out once in a while. I was so desperate to learn that tickets were sold out, but i follwed the organizers’ advice and waited there. I found Tony (Lead/Rhythm – Bhoomi) coming out of the hall. I thought of talking to him and in addition I could collect a ticket from him after introducing myself as the guy who talked to him over phone regarding the ‘difficult to tune’ guitar Extinct Reflections started the gig, I’m yet to get used to all this new age style, but they were too good in what they did. I have not come out of the Thrash style that ruled 80’s, which I’ve been a die hard fan since ‘02. After 3 songs, they gave way for Bhoomi to perform which i was looking forward to listening to. Their songs in the order they had played - Crime (The same one that they had played at IIT Saarang, 05)-which reminded me of a song(dont remember the name) from Judas Priest, Dead Time Stories (from their new album-which could be enjoyed at http://www.mosh.in/bhoomi), Vertigo (From new album again), Aces High (As a tribute to the legends of Iron Maiden and to the Lead vocals Leon of Moksha who had passed away recently) and Raise the hell (Again a song with the 80’s touch) . They emptied the stage after this mindblowing performance for Kryptos to enter. I dont remember the name of their songs, as this was the ever first time I’m listening to them, but made it a point that I will grab a cd as early as possible. Its kind of black/death metal I felt.

 Then…thats about the Metal mania, i had a very boring weekend as usual, eagerly waiting for Monday morning to kick out the weekend blues Too tired after cleaning the whole house, washing clothes and doing nothing, gonna sleep well. Goodnight!