Srinagar, is a very beautiful city, with good roads, and even more beautiful huge sprawling parks and gardens. But after all the adrenaline rush and breathtaking scenery in ladakh, I wasn’t much impressed, though a lot of families seemed to be having an awesome time. :p

The biriyani I had from a store near the park was mediocre to say the best. Over all I was just resenting my srinagar plan. The only saving grace probably would be the immensely beautiful women everywhere.

My experience though took a radical turn after lunch, when I went to visit the hazrat bal. It was my first visit to a mosque and of mughal architecture and I was totally bowled over. The beautiful carvings on the white marble, the sense of peace in which doves were settled in the adjacent ground, the opulence in the silver drinking urn all just made me fall in love with the place.

Outside, there is a bustling market where I had some sweets from irfan punjabiwala, a very courteous and nice man. My impression that kashmiris were boneheads was totally changed. Following that, I set off for my first visit to a gurudwara before moving to the jami mazjid.

The jami masjid is the oldest masjid in kashmir, built in nearly 1406 AD and doesn’t look anything like a mosque, but more like a buddhist building with pagodas in the middle of each side instead of minars from corners. Inside, there were 4 prayer halls on each side lined with columns of huge pillars of solid wood almost nearly 130 pillars in all.

After, I went out to meet shabrooze who brought some good kashmiri stuff and after getting stoned went off to Delinz for dinner. Definitely, THE BEST mutton biriyani I’ve had, along with some other mutton dishes that were simply exquisite. Anyone who goes to srinagar should certainly visit this restaurant. After that we went to my hotel, and sat at the banks of jhelum with shabrooze and a couple of other friends getting stoned on both manali and kashmiri stuff.

I should say …. it was better than expected Expecting a drunk Tony to go haywire with his rendition, I actually found a drunk Tony ( nonetheleass) but with unbelievable stage presence. Nobody cared what he was singing !!

Mithun went crazy on the drums while Rex was in his element .. The female vocals by Neha Nair was excellent too … Only feeling was that the show was a li’l too short though

2) Don’t bring in politics as a topic of discussion for a small-talk with a prospective client/partner and especially NEVER with a prospective employer. I learned that the hard way too

Many would have forgotten the attrocities that happened in Orrissa last year. Thought the visible violence have subsided, the area is far from normalcy. More than 200 families still live in refugee camps because they are afraid to return to their villages. The sangh parivar factions have given decree that they are not to return to the villages unless they convert back to Hinduism. Most of the refugees have lost all identification cards and have not received any new voters identity cards to register their votes in the coming elections. As such they are still sidelined since their sentiments wouldn’t matter much in the elections.

The christians in Kandhamal may have been persecuted due to lack of any political power. However, the situation is entirely different in Kerala where christians wield great political and social powers. However, the power seems to have gone to the head for the catholic church which has issued guidelines to its cmmunities on who to vote for(the church is anti-left and right) . Why the hell does the church have to stick its head in the political process. The bishops and clergy should just stick to addressing the spritual and religious needs of its followers and should just stay out of politics.

But, all is not bad I guess. The Jagore and Lead India campaigns have gained lot of momentum and are doing a great job in coaxing all educated Indians to vote and hopefully it will be a success. We also see a lot of middle class professionals like Mallika Sarabhai, Shashi Tarur, Meera Sanyal, etc are taking part in the elections as candidates, which is a great sign. Newly independent India had intellectuals elite and thought-leaders at the helm of affairs which slowly gave way to dynasty politics and corruption.Hope what we see now is a reversal of trends.

The basic installation looks nondescript and plain. But once you start exploring a bit and tweaking things, you’re in for a real surprise:)…. Most of the software any normal user runs in the windows have an ubuntu/linux version too.. so thats not an issue. So over the past couple of days i’ve been experimenting and exploring this whole new world…. The graphics and utilities are simply awesome — one eye candy for example is the Avant windows manager that gives a MAC OS kinda feel to the desktop…check it out..There’s one more too by using a tool called compiz.. but i cant seem to take a screenshot of it.. will upload as soon as it figure out:)

The album starts with Chasing the Sun which is absolutely superb followed by another one of my favourites from the album- Fields of Sound. But one of the songs that I was really waiting was a little disappointment though. I was an instant fan of Broken when I heard the initial version around 2 years back. However, the version in the album for some reason didn’t evoke the same kind of feeling inside. Especially the vocal rendering near the end of the song[...tempered with black melancholy], in fact made me cringe — . No offence to Mr. Mani – he’s surely one of the best singers I’ve heard with unbelievable control at any range. It’s a treat to watch how he manages to deliver stage shows with studio recording precision. The “over-classicalisation” as I call it, especially in the vocals  lasts throughout the album and would be one of the things i  would have loved to do away with. The title song – Maktub also found a place in my permanent play-list instantly. The groovy guitar lead staring from the second stanza changes the pace of the song and takes the listener to a different level. Another one of my favourites in the album is Karmic steps.

Byju chettan certainly hasn’t disappointed a bit in the album. The guitarist icon who claims to be inspired by Prasanna(I think)  has done an excellent job in the album with unbelievably superb guitaring one after another in before one million, chasing the sun, karmic steps and maktub.

The album definitely defines the new style of Motherjane -  heavy Indian classical touch to all the songs. All songs adhere to their trademark progressive rock category with a lot of twin guitaring and mind numbingly fast leads and not to forget the over-classical vocals.

But, then the album is not just about the music. In these times of rampant music piracy, the album has been released in a way .. people would rather pay up.. We dont see the Rs.200 price tag for the album on this one. Each song can be purchased seperately( if needed) at anywhere from as low as Rs.20 to ..(get creative). Motherjane has made trhe process ‘personal” by calling it contributing to the music fraternity rather than paying for the album. And this has in fact worked out in their favour. Almost everyone I know who has the songs have contributed in some sort… and some generously too -(for one thing the songs do deserve it) . So head straight to www.motherjane.in. Contribute, download and enjoy:)

   However, today morning while on bus to office i saw something that caught my eye. I have never seen them in Kerala. The first time I actually saw one was in Bangalore Market and thereafter regularly on Bangalore Chennai trains. Men try to avoid them at any cost. Most people look to other away or just pretend to be asleep until they pass.

     Its a cruel fate to be left in the middle — in the middle of nowhere. Caked in cheap rouge, kajal, powder and lipstick; dressed in ill-fitting blouses and colorful sari’s in a grotesque parody of womanhood, they roam around the busy streets and market place terrorising pedestrians for a tenner. im talking about eunuchs; or hijras as we know them in India.

    Apart from the brief encounters we have with them in trains or markets, most people dont even know such a lot exists. Even our government does not quite recognise their existence legally. I wont dwell on debates if they are male or female, but I would like to see the community accomodating them.

Hijras have been a part of the Indian culture for a long time, finding references even in the sacred texts(i think). However, they have been marginalised throughout the centuries, with their conditions being pretty pathetic in the 21st century. Apart from rare exceptions were i have read of hijras winning some local election in the north, i have never seen of their lot in respectable positions in society. Reports claim that there are almost a million hijras living in India. Most of them stuck in slums and making a living out of begging or as sex workers.
 Hijras do not have the right to vote, marry or own a ration card or a driving licesnce and cannot claim employment or health beneits. Furthermore, they are decreed as incapable of acting as a guardian, making a gift, drawing up a will or adopting a child.

I have more or less mixed feelings for their lot. I dont feel any affinity however, I do believe they are huamn beings, and as citizens of this country, deserve a better treatment. Education and accomodating them in the mainstream society are the only ways of ending the numerous troubles faced by them. Providing employment opportunities can help to pull them out of prostitution. NGOs and social welfare institutions should play a more active role in organising them into welfare and co-operative societies that can help them in gaining self employment and better economic conditions.