I used to...

I used to be able  to close my eyes and drift off to another world. I would float around and sing melodies that had never been written before. I would sing them in rhythms long forgotten. I would move to them in ways no one had ever moved. I could fly in this world. Meet people and see places I had never met or seen before. I never dreamed in that world; for dreaming doesn't make sense when you're at the very edge of existence itself. Where simply willing something brings it to life. Where little plastic men march around and sing hebrew songs. The sun sets behind another sun and it's setting turns the world a shade of blue. Or green. Or yellow. All in the blink of an eye.

I would feel everything that everything that ever was, is and will be felt. I was everything and I was nothing and though I look back at that time today and recall very little, I know this: I do not go there now because in reality, I never did. Because there was nowhere to go. I was always there. And I am here today, just as you are. The world spins around itself and around the sun and around the merry-go-round that is the universe. Cars pass me by slow motion; Disassemble. Reassemble. And go back to standard time. My viens still pulse to the music as I float through the air and out my window and I am still the tree outside my window and I still do feel the wind blowing through my leaves. I am Nothing and still very much am, Everything.

And so are you! We are the same, you and I. No! We are all there is. And all there is, is us. These physical divisions are just links in the chain that is all and is yet insignificant for it is nothing without itself and it's very existence is questionable.

Look up! Can you see it? Through whatever blocks your view, can you see it? Can you see the Sun? As it sets into another sun and it's setting turns the world a shade of blue. Or green. Or yellow. All in the blink of an eye.

Stories

I've always loved stories. Hearing and telling them. Asking my dad for just one more story till he fell asleep narrating extended my bedtime by an hour on so many nights when I was young. As I grew older, I had my own stories. Most were based very very losely on reality, some were complete imagination. Time passed and I heard so many more stories. I had my own completely true stories too, to accompany the ones with a dash of imagination or maybe reality. I realised that I wanted to tell my stories. That I wanted to share them with the world. I wanted to swap stories because I had realised that stories are important. They enrich our lives and give them depth. They are the greatest way in which we may live on because when we hear a story from a good Story Teller, we feel exactly as he/she feels. We laugh and weep and wonder just as they do. Because they are the imbodiment of the soul of the story. The story is theirs. Not because they lived it, but because they felt it truly.

A friend of mine once called me a wordsmith. I found it fitting and carried it around till today.

See I met this girl a few months ago. Isha*. And today, as I spoke to her I realised that the title fit her better. For she is a true wordsmith. As for me? Well I realised I'm something else. (Well I aspire for it anyway)

I am a Story Teller.

I have no great skills. I have no polished craft. But I have stories. And when it comes to stories, I have seen more than I can remember, and I remember more than I have seen. (G.B.Shaw ladies and gentlemen) I dont even know which stories are mine anymore. But I love telling them. Whether it's through songs or comedy or films or plays or just over lunch, I love telling them. I realise that the great joy for me was not creation and performance. It was the framing and telling of stories that would connect to people. All these stories in my head are a part of me. And if you've heard and felt any of them, they're a part of you too.

Yes. I am a Story Teller. Sounds right, nai?

*Isha Maniar is a talented writer currently studying law. Her blog Chai Paani Etc. fills me with joy and wonder every time I read it.
http://ishamaniar.blogspot.in

Damn tablet wont let me hyperlink. :-/

Merry Christmas

It's almost the end of the year and man... What a year it's been.

I just got back from Pune today. Spent half of Christmas in a car and the other half in an old as hell ritual at home. But I can't complain. Cause I got a pretty awesome Christmas gift this year. One of the best I've ever had.

I was in Pune at my friends home from the 23rd to today. On the night of the 23rd, we (We being Meet, my world's bestest friend, his folks and two of their friends) were all up waiting for the clock to strike 12 since it was Meet's parent's Anniversary the next day. I had my Ukulele with me and so I was singing them a few songs. From what I understand, they really liked the songs and as the clock struck 12, we cut a cake and the friends got ready to leave. When we opened the door, on the grill of the outer door was a note:

"Wow... Sweet Voice.. Nice Composition... Over all best. All The best for a  bright future."

The note was from the neighbour. I replied with a thank you note with the link to my soundcloud page. I had just gotten one of the best Christmas gifts ever. The fact that someone was able to connect to and feel the music even through a (thin) wall was the best thing I could've gotten. Things have been hard on the creative front lately. And this was the best sign I could've gotten that things aren't so bad. And that there's always something good in the wind. 

I met the neighbour as I was leaving the apartment today. I thanked her again. Christmas. I guess I felt that Christmas spirit today. Life's good.

Merry Christmas.

Mehta.

Rajkot and the Big Mic.

Got back form Rajkot on Sunday.

Performed at an Open Mic night in Bandra on Monday. Videos will be up Soon.

Till then, here's a short film I worked on. Gave the concept and the back ground score.

Tell me what you think I say! 

Mad Keyboard Lezim Scenes!

When my buddy Smit Bhagat and I get together, we end up doing seriously random stuff. Most of the times, this involves music!

So Fickle.

~Yeh Kya Bol Raha Hai?

For the past few months I've been studying World History for my SAT Subject Tests and while I was studying I figured something out. This is probably just something someone out there's been thinking through and through, and I'm a sure a few buggers will say "Haan toh? I've heard/thought of it all before", but that hardly matters. I think it's time that I say what's been on my mind for some time now.

Religion, as I've learnt, has changed. It's changed a lot. I'm not going to go into the details of how. Wikipedia will tell you that.

What caught my attention was how easily it changed. If you read through world history you'll realize that every few hundred years, you either have a new religion springing up somewhere or an old religion getting altered a little to fit the place, people and time.

Christianity readily adopted pagan holidays and traditions to ease the transition of people into Christianity. In Japan, when Buddhism was adopted, it was eventually mixed with Shinto, the native religion of the Japanese. Hinduism is another example. Hindus believe that the Cow is a sacred animal purely because when that particular rule was made up, Cows were the most important commodity around.

It sounds harsh but in all honesty, it's true. And it makes me wonder really hard whether religion is the path to salvation or just something to give you that feel good factor.

Think about it, and you might come to the kind of conclusion that I came to.

Religion is like the security at a Mall or a 5 Star Hotel in Mumbai (at least). The security isn't even close to being able to keep a man with a gun/bomb out. It's just there to give the people going in a False Sense of Safety. An Assurance that can not be fulfilled. Rituals are the same. How can God be won over by offerings and chants? If it really was that easy, the effects would be evident. We are such fools to believe that the path to salvation is as superficial as this. May be we never knew better. May be we just chose to ignore all the facts.

Most of us can't really help it now can we? Religion gives us a high. Makes us feel better about things in general. Makes it all a little more bearable. Religion is a lie. A lie many of believe in purely because we have nothing else to hold us up.

~Break that glass wall down.

See, religion answers questions the way a parent would answer the questions of a child. It's horribly dimwitted. Take free will for example. We all have Free Will. But if we don't live according to the outlines that GOD has provided us with, we're gonna go to hell. It's like God's telling us to pick and colour as long as it's Red. Reality doesn't work that way!

Question the answers you're given by religion and you'll come to a point where the false sense of logic that religion brings just breaks. You don't even have to go to blurry fields like Metaphysics. Very simple questions do the trick.

Example:

Sindhi's can't eat meat on Tuesdays. Why? Because Tuesday is Bhagvaan ka din. (God's day). Why is Tuesday Bhagvaan ka din? Well folks! Here's where the long story comes into play! If you're lucky, you won't get an answer at all.

One More:

How does the Ramayan make any sense at all? Talking Monkeys? A Monkey God that could change sizes and fly mountains around? Come on! I've asked a few Sants about this and they've told me that it was a "Yug" (Age) where animals could talk.

What? How does that make sense? Well it doesn't. The Logic breaks. It makes no sense. And I will not buy it.

Religion is a fickle thing. The cheapest, most abundant High. The easiest lie. One that will not die.

Religion is a fickle thing. And I know better than to care much for it.

But enough for now.

I think I'll talk about the Harsh Realities soon.