Snapshots of life - 3

This photograph was taken at Panhala fort. We wanted to capture the ethereal blend of the ancient fort and the pure white moonlight. This picture(a personal favorite) was clicked without flash using ISO settings. It somehow reminds me of Alladin's genie. The astute jinn revealing the secrets of the universe to a curious mortal while the moon lights up their existance.

Dark Silhouettes in the beautiful, soft moonlight, the cold stone walls resonating stories of the thousands of yesterdays- of kings and wars, the sagacious speaker and the devoted listener....

Picture Courtesy: Akshay

Snapshots of life - 2

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping

While my guitar gently weeps

I look at the floor and I see it need sweeping

Still my guitar gently weeps

I don't know why nobody told you

how to unfold you love

I don't know how someone controlled you

they bought and sold you

I look at the world and I notice it's turning

While my guitar gently weeps

With every mistake we must surely be learning

Still my guitar gently weeps

I don't know how you were diverted

you were perverted too

I don't know how you were inverted

no one alerted you

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping

While my guitar gently weeps

I look at you all

Still my guitar gently weeps

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One of my all time favorite songs. So much meaning in the melody.

Sitting devoid of company in the post-lunch stupor, I'm hearing this for the fourth time in a row and I have no idea as to how many times I'm going to listen to it hereafter.

The melody transports me back to the 60s(my obsession with the era is legendary) or the closest to it I have seen.

The Cedars, the sound of the river, the fragrance of incense, of freshly baked bread, colorful baggy clothes, many colored people, semi-precious stones, tattoos....

All of that and much more.

Manali.

My emotional haven. Where nature absorbs all sadness, all worry and gives you back a sense of belonging.

Have you ever felt what it's like to be owned by someone, something ? It's a nice feeling. Like you can let go of the burden of the world and just fall unafraid. I've been owned by nature - by the pretty green trees, by the gushing ice-cold water from the rivers, by the sight of pure white snow; and all in Manali.

The sounds of the Beatles take me there, and I walk alone through those long winding roads where no one sees my tears. Where nature embraces me at every street corner. Someday, I will go back there. Just don't know when....

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I've been cleaning out my closets lately

Only to find dirt's tremendous might

The floors, they need sweeping

But there isn't a washcloth in sight

The corners are full of cobwebs

But I just can't reach them now

I want to make things better

But I just don't know how

The world never stops turning

But I am frozen in time

No control on todays and tomorrows

Coz' there's nothing that's mine...

Snapshots of life

" Every now and then, once in a while, life gives us a miracle "

I've been searching for this quote on google for an hour now. I have no idea where I've read this quote or if it's formulated inexplicably in my head.

There are so many times that I go through this extremely colorful photo album in my head. Snapshots from my life. Like these tiny polaroid photographs. Only they imprint themselves in the fabric of your consciousness. On those rare occassions when my thoughts enter some forgotten dimension in my brain(in a dream or otherwise), it never fails to elicit a smile.

I don't know how, but somehow, the best part of those thoughts appear.

Hence, this series that I call Snapshots of life - my personal miracles . Just some yesterdays, some beautiful yesterdays...

And I start of with this small picture and a million memories.

Quad damage.

Screams.

Familiar faces. Some unfamiliar ones.

Guitar feedback. Drum rolls.

"Vocals on the monitor please. Add some reverb please."

A strong smell of alcohol. Cigarette smoke.

A tiny whiff of Mary Jane.

The finger. Victory Signs.

And then the riff starts, and I lose myself in the music....

October 2007. I was in my final year of engineering(Finally) and going through a hard time mentally after some losses on the family front and some other issues.

A friend from college who I'd played with for some college fests called out of the blue, to meet with his band. It turned out they needed a vocalist and they were ready to give a female rock vox (which in those days in Pune was not such a common occurrence) a try.

One lead, one rhythm, one drummer, and me.

I remember the first meet over coffee that day. One moment we were getting introduced, and the next thing I knew we'd spend two and a half hours speaking of musical influences and bands like we'd known each other forever.

Then the first practice. Two guitarists and me. And the lights were out on that October day. But we sat in the garage in the dark and sang Pearl Jam's "Alive" to acoustic guitar and watched Angela Gossow from Arch enemy on the tiny laptop screen for inspiration.

We spent hours and days jamming. Making music. In the garage( where this picture was taken) and then once the renovations were over, up in our guitarist's room.

Now when I look back I just remember those extended practices. Led Zeppelin one day and Megadeth on another and Incubus some other time.

We did do a couple of gigs. Two and a half to be precise :) They were all fun. Being on stage is a totally unique experience in itself. The gigs were neither too earth shatteringly amazing nor absolutely unwatchable. But they were a fabulous experience.

The band was great while it lasted - two and a half months. We broke up in the beginning of the following year primarily because of creative differences(lol...ego would be a simpler way to put it).

Each time I go to a show, I remember the "being in the band feeling". The heady enthusiasm. It is truly a lovely picture.

And,

I miss Quad damage.