Krantikari Shri Gyaan ka Saagar Maharaj Ji

Strange Advertising Slogans..

2009-06-24T17:02:00.003+05:30

The Open Road…

2009-06-19T13:39:00.001+05:30

The open road is meditation. It’s a place where there are no destinations..

The Chain-Snatcher’s Weapon of Choice

2009-06-18T11:47:00.005+05:30

Review of the yesteryear's Yamaha RX100 from a long term ownership perspective

For most boys who grew up in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s in India, the Yamaha RX100 is an icon. With its peppy sound, rapid acceleration and an exuberant charm that no other bike of that era possessed, the 100cc, 4 speed bike captured the hearts of many a young riders. The Yamaha RX100 till date is one of the most engaging rides in India. Sure, it doesn’t have the technological advancements and refinement of modern Indian or Japanese bikes, but the sheer throttle response, exhaust sound and seat of the pants feel of the bike is something that has to be experienced to be believed. The bike is no scorcher by today’s standards but can manage about 110 kmph top speeds in stock condition. It also has an excellent pick up and can beat your average 4 stroke 150 cc bikes in the 0-60 dash easily.

One of the best things about the Yamaha RX100 is the reliability of the bike. Cheap spares and low maintenance costs have ensured that you still see plenty of these on the roads. Considering the fact that the model was discontinued in ’97 or thereabouts, seeing so many RX100s still on the road and some of them in top form is a clear indicative of the build quality of the bike. Over the 3 years that I owned this bike and at an average running of 1000 kms per month, I don’t recollect ever spending over Rs. 1700/- for a servicing and that amount was also paid just once when a major overhaul was done on the bike. Add to that the fact that the bike never stalled, had only two punctures in the time that I owned it and pretty much kept running no matter how much I abused it.

The suspension on this one is quite stiff and you feel every bump on the road. Every once in a while when you hit a big enough pot hole, the bike threatens to wash out. This is one of the lightest bikes in India and sports an amazing power to weight ratio. Though the bike makes a modest 11 bhp, drag racing a stock bike will easily get the front wheel off the ground. The bike is fun to ride, though long rides can be a problem due to the low weight. Also, high speed stability is an issue. The bike sways when riding across cross currents of air and also tends to wobble if a heavy vehicle passes you by on the highway. However, through smaller lanes and intra city roads, the RX100 is at home. Due to its exceptional handling, small size and superb pickup, the bike can literally be shoved around from one gap to the next while at the same time providing adequate feedback to the rider.

The shorter wheelbase makes for a zippy ride in the city and the bike is flick-able for quick turns. However, two up and the bike feels crammed with longer reaction times due to poor brakes and a small seat. With a single rider the brakes aid retardation quite well and the braking is decent. The RX100 is also an easy bike to modify and simple mods like porting, jetting and a free flow silencer can do wonders to its performance. It sports minimum instrumentation with just a speedometer and odometer. The bike’s also a good buy for the budding stunt man; it’s got good handling and is cheap to crash. These may be the exact same reasons why the bike was also a hit with miscreants, chain snatchers, drive by shooters etc. back in the day.

One of the slightly negative aspects of owning an RX100 is the fact that due to it being a two stroke bike, it needs regular top ups of 2T oil which is gulps down with a ferocious appetite. The bike gives a mileage of 25 kms/ltr to 35 kms/ltr depending on your riding style and this combined with the 2T oil consumption makes it a little expensive to run by today’s standard of fuel efficient 100cc bikes. However, if your daily running is not much than this part can be easily ignored. The bike still remains not so eco friendly and if you’re thinking of decreasing your carbon footprint, you can easily give this one a miss.

All in all, there are very few bikes in India that have managed attaining a cult status and by all accords; the Yamaha RX100 is easily one of the most underrated amongst them.

Ride one and you’ll know why.

(This review is based on my ’96 Yamaha RX100 that I owned for a period of 3 years.)

Life:Money

2009-06-16T18:22:00.001+05:30

you need money to live your life and you need to sell your life to earn that money…

Some videos..

2009-06-12T14:04:00.001+05:30

Found some links to our band's videos on Youtube.. compiled them for your viewing pleasure (read: shameless self promotion)

Frequency + Human Abstract Channel V Promo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9rj-pgdRAs&feature=related

Human Abstract @ Channel V Launchpad 2007 - ReServe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFkms8EQ7qM&feature=related

Human Abstract @ Channel V Launchpad 2007 - Get Up, Stand Up (Bob Marley Cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLm_wObIFNU&feature=related

Human Abstract @ Channel V Launchpad 2007 - CRY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL8Jsr_cTQE&feature=related

Human Abstract - Too Far In (LIVE & feat. Rishu Singh)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAiWh58LXxA&feature=related

Human Abstract - Disjoint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXGZZh0T4Nc&feature=related

Human Abstract - The Zephyr Song (RHCP Cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbVSqt-ijh8&feature=related

Human Abstract - Suck My Kiss (RHCP Cover)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxYyDxpfBqw&feature=related

Blog Entry

2009-05-11T16:06:00.000+05:30

I found my blogspot page and I managed to get my login details. But this not the reason that blog has no updates over a year. Frankly, I don’t know what the reason is. I usually have a lot of things to say but I don’t generally bother saying them as I tend to think that it is so obvious, everybody knows it. Just to recap the entire last year in one blog entry, the last one was written before I got a job. About 20 days after that entry, I got a job as a public relations executive in one the MNC IT companies. Since, then I’ve been busy pretending to be busy and working, chilling and generally getting a swing of the 9-5 serious job thinggi. I’ve practically stopped playing guitar all together other than drunken parties at friends place. This blog, which was supposed be sort of like an online portfolio of my writings has been quite off the mark of its purpose as there’s no need for something like that anymore.

Last year, I tripped quite a bit. Went to some really nice places. Visited Manali for the first time and rode a bike in the hills. I also bought two bikes and spent most of my free time roaming around them or at the mechanic’s fixing them. Lots of weekend trips, late night trips, early morning trips and even peak afternoon trips. Despite of all this, last year I manage to put on 14 kgs. How? Beer. My dad opened up a beer shop. So say I was to become a freelance musician as originally intended, I was sorted actually. Beer’s free. =)

So getting back to the blog entry, I realized this long back that on a certain level we all live the same lives. At the end of the day, irrespective of your social standing the measure of happiness and sadness in a person’s life is comparable. So no matter if you’re a slum dweller or a rich socialite, you will be happy to have a kid. Of course, assuming the kid is yours. Then why is it that people are so interested in other people’s lives? You see it on online blogs, your friendly neighborhood gossip aunties, and whiny teenage girls. All of them are interested in other peoples’ lives. To a certain extent even I am as long as it makes an interesting read.

These days I also feel old. My back and legs ache sometimes. I will be 24 in less than a month. I feel about 30. I’m still young at heart though and impulsive. I’m also brash and reckless. I like that. “I” is one of my most used words in conversation. I is not even a word.

There’s this thing going on in my mind. A friend once mentioned to me that he heard a song which was the world’s most kick ass song. The song was about a band which wrote the world’s most kick ass song. In the song they say that they’ve made the world’s most kick ass song but this song is not that song, this song is about the song that they made which was the world’s most kick ass song. I want that song. I can’t remember though which friend told me about this song and how can I do a google search to find this song.

Another thing is that these days I don’t have time. I spend 2-3 hours commuting to and fro to work. I spend 8-10 hours typically in the office. That along with my sleeping time leaves me with no time for anything else. At the end of the day, I also get tired. I work two Saturdays. That leaves me with 6 days a week off every month. Out of these six days, I’m usually out of town or at a friend’s place for 2-3 days. The rest of the time goes fast enough for me to not even remember where it goes. I see life as being one big cycle of Mon-Fri – Work, Sat-Sun – Chill. Hard to beat the cycle.

Honesty, Great Ideas and Cockroaches

2008-01-02T13:29:00.000+05:30

Honesty is the best policy. Remember they taught you that in school? I'm sure all of us remember that. It's like one of those things, like say polish your shoes, brush your teeth, comb your hair, cut your nails etc. But they didn't tell you that honesty comes for a price. Maybe that's the reason why you stopped following that maxim as soon as you were out of school, or for some of us who were wiser, while in school itself. Well, of all things, I hope you're still brushing your teeth. I gave up on mundane things like polishing my shoes and combing my hair way back. These I reckon are the activities of those with ample time to spare, while I'd rather choose to spend that time lazing around, waiting for the next great idea to come to me.

They say a great idea can change your life. (For the sake of peace of mind, world peace, general upliftment of mankind and the future of our universe, never ever for once think, ask or wonder who "They" are, remember "They" are watching you). Or as some ad campaign for a recent cellular network says "An idea can change your life". Very true I must say. Very, very true. Whoever said great ideas come only to great people was probably right but not entirely. Great ideas come to everyone, some act on them and some dont. Remember the last time you thought of walking out on your well paying corporate job that you hated to do something you really loved? Well, that my friend was a great idea. Remember that Monday morning you thought of calling in sick to lie in bed watching movies, calling in a pizza and some friends for company? That again, was a very good idea. I'm glad you enjoyed the conference though, afterall new process developments are very interesting aren't they?

Yours truly in his twenty-two years of walking this beautiful world that the big man in the sky made for us has had many such great ideas. Of becoming a busker, a vagabond, a farmer, a travel show host, a freelance musician, children's story book writer and off late, fancies becoming a copy writer. They're all great ideas, acting on them would change my life or so I think. (Cynic's observation number 433: Most people never act upon great ideas they come up with) So much for honesty.

Irrespective of what you chose to believe in during and after your years of receiving the formal education that you probably never really used, honesty is still the best policy. Now being completely honest, let me tell you that I've a friend who has the utmost genuine dislike towards cockroaches. The tales of his encounters with those of the crawly kind are stuff legends are made of. They say cockroaches can survive a nuclear attack because they can adapt quickly to changing environments. There my friends, is a lesson to learn if you're to survive in the current scheme of things. Adapt to changing environments. Yours truly doesnt like cockroaches too much either. Well, maybe I like a dead cockroach a little more than a live one but it isn't the sort of genuine affection I'd feel towards a warmed up tube amp or a fresh, straight off the oven pizza with extra cheese and toppings.

So having covered the three topics mentioned in the heading and established somewhat no connection between their inter relatedness, I would say that expecting a conclusion to this rant would be as deluded as expecting snowfall in the burning Sahara. However, for the sake of a baseline, I conclude, honesty is the best policy. (Mother smiles approvingly)

Project Underground

2008-01-02T12:09:00.000+05:30

It's not about commercial gains or fame. For these college students who form local rock bands, it is about creating heartfelt music, finds BT

So you have heard the Karachi-based underground band Zeest's Sutta song with unmentionable lyrics? You're also probably expecting to hear it on a radio station or catch it on a TV channel? Chances are you will be disappointed. Being an underground band, their music will attract only a niche audience, who will nevertheless lap the song up big time. This phenomenon has become a rage among colleges in Mumbai. With rock competitions on the rise, local bands have started focusing on sounding original and playing their own music for the audiences. The fact that there is not much scope for rock in India and knowing very well that their videos will seldom make it to the airwaves, is not a deterrent. These bands are not here to fill stadiums or sell a million copies of their album, the idea is to create some honest music. At a point when remixed music rakes in more moolah than original compositions, their original notes come as a refreshing surprise.

As Sohail, the vocalist of Skincold, a band from National Institute of Open Schooling, puts it, "In a country like India, I don't think rock or metal stands any chance due to the extremity and the total western attitude of the music itself. But non-commercialsation is also good because bands will always make music for the joy of writing and playing it." As drummer Anand adds, "Skincold would like more shows to happen and especially rock competitions so that the talent and hard work put in by bands does not go unrecognized."

So, in other words, bands are pretty much content with their music being underground and care more about the quality rather than the quantity of their audience. As Tanmay, the lead guitarist of Something Relevant of St Xavier's College says, "Music is about being real; be yourself and allow that to come through in your music."

The eight member band Something Relevant has been playing live for the past two years and have additional musicians coming in to jam every now and then. The band comprises of friends who happen to be on a common wavelength.

Categorised as a jam band, they play anything they find interesting; changing it to suit their mood. Be it Allah ke Bande, The Simpsons' Theme, Bob Dylan or Phish… or even (hold your breath) Kyunki Saans Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi theme song! Their philosophy is "If it seems like fun, go for it". Many bands are recording studio albums or EPs (exclusive prints) of their original compositions.

But a lot of the bands are not just underground anymore, like Medusa, Helga's Funk Castle, Demonic Resurrection that have been big in the circuit of late. As Vijay Nair, manager of bands like Pentagram, Zero and Helga's confirms, "Helga's started as and underground band but now a lot of rock fans know their singles. Most bands start as underground bands in college but break from just being that."

With our colleges now harbouring such amazing talent and musical diversity, the music scene in our country still has a long way to go and bands like these just add some fresh air to it. As Vijay concludes, "For the underground bands to see even a thousand people enjoying their kind of music is as big a high as it is for mainstream guys playing for tens of thousands. It's after all the pleasure of originality and what they believe in. Underground musicians never do it form the point of view of being applauded by the entire nation but by the select few who would really appreciate them."

Rohan Kadam

(The writer is a 20-year-old college student and also a guitarist for the rock band Human Abstract)

(Written for Bombay Times, The Times of India supplement, published on Thursday, 11 April 2006)

Revival of Rock

2008-01-02T12:04:00.000+05:30

Finally after years of hibernation, rock again seems to be picking up pace in the Indian as well as the International music scene. With bands like Maroon 5 and The Rasmus that have a strong element of pop to their sound and don’t appeal much to the conventional rock fan to bands like Evanescence, The Darkness, Keane, Sum 41, Nickelback, Hoobastank etc that have tried to evolve their own sound of modern rock. Though most of these bands don’t strike a chord with the traditional rock enthusiast, they have contributed in a substantial way in making rock popular amongst the masses and making it commercially more lucrative to the record companies. And with members from legendary bands coming together to form bands like Audioslave and Velvet Revolver; the going has never been this good for rock lovers in decades.

The local rock scene in India also seems to be picking up again with the number of bands participating in college competitions increasing every year and more and more rock shows being organized in Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Delhi. With bands like Zero and Pentagram coming up with music that could be compared to the standards of any good international acts; Indian rock bands never sounded as promising since the Rockmachine / Indus Creed era. Also with the launch of recent new shows like Luke’s Afterhours on Channel V, MTV live and The Graveyard shift on MTV and shows like Catalogue, Backwards and Spice Jam on SS Music even television channels have now started airing some good rock oriented programs. Some of these programs also educate the audience about a particular band or artist. So as history repeats, rock again finds itself on the verge of being the next best thing.

What may be an interesting coincidence is that America again is under the same circumstances as it was when it give birth to the Woodstock generation of 69 which was quite fed up with its government during the Vietnam War and wanted peace and its people back on its land. Now we have America’s conquest of Afghanistan and more recently Iraq that is again sparking the same sentiments among the people. Also the world over people are being subjected to terrorism and exploitative policies of its own governments. Rock has always personified rebellion though it has always been more about freedom and self-expression. So maybe under the same circumstances we could have a renaissance of quality music again.

Most people will not expect another Bob Dylan from the world today but will surely agree that some good new rock band may surely benefit the world more than the current sellout artists. After all who ever knows? When nothing else is working maybe Rock ‘N’ Roll could really save the world.

(Written for Bombay Rock Association's website April '04)