Chp 280. Sweet December 2009!

Recession. The very word itself is enough to drown you in endless waves of horrifying nightmares and sleepless nights.

But we survived. And we had an unforgettable experience paddling through this phase. Of course there were casualties along the way and there was a 15% pay cut. But eventually, things bounced back to normal and we’re now alive and kicking, ready to storm the world with renewed vigor and zest.

There were a lot of ups and downs this year, but this December’s definitely my most memorable month.

It’s really hard for me to point out everything, so I will just briefly list out my top five favorite moments of this month.







If you had bought the December 19th to 26th TEHELKA issue, you would have probably seen me!



Tehelka published an issue called “The game changers 2000 - 2009” of India during this past decade. They covered various fields like sports, music, cinema, politics, economy, religion etc. It was truly an honor to be listed under “desi blogger” category as one of the game changers of India!


[Click pic for larger size]

What made this incident even more honorable and unforgettable was that, among all the game changers, only a few names were directly mentioned. Those were – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, The Ambani brothers, Narendra Modi, Baba Ramdev, Mamata Banerjee, John Abraham, Ekta Kapoor, Manmohan Singh, Aamir Khan, Sonia Gandhi, and Meeeeeee!

Thank you once again, dear Tehelka. To be a fan of a magazine is one thing. But to see myself featured on my favorite magazine is a complete new high.


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On December 16th, Brand Equity Ad Agency Reckoner 2009 rated us as the number one digital agency in India, for the second year in a row! That was immediately followed by wild parties and celebrations at our Mumbai and Delhi offices. We totally killed our competitors, and trust me, it was definitely not a piece of cake retaining our title.

(Webchutney is the) best digital agency in terms of creative & strategic solutions, knowledge of and investment in most effective technologies, quality & talent of people to address brand problems using technology, give solutions across digital spectrum and provide higher return on digital media investment.

- Brand Equity.

Staying up till 3 in the morning, working overtime almost every day, and thinking only about our projects and campaigns even when we’re at our most “intimate moments” with our loved one – yeah, that’s what webchutney people are made of.

From all my experiences here at webchutney, all I can say is we have a hell lot of amazing bosses managing and guiding us along the way. None of those “boss from hell” or “boss you wanna strangle” you’ve read so much about. Things are completely different over here.

Here are a few pics of our celebration. Mumbai office booked two entire floors of “Hawaiian Shack” while Delhi office had an even bigger party.


[Delhi webchutney 1]


[Delhi webchutney 2]


[Mumbai webchutney]

More Mumbai party pics available here: Rahil’s picasa

Read more about the non-stop parties at our blog: webchutney.org

Here’s a funny cheeky l’il clip: Why webchutney shouldn’t be no.1 digital agency.




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Many people still cannot fathom the power of social media. Apart from brands reaching out to consumers and expanding their market share, it can also bring you closer to so many people you stand no chance of having an interaction with in real life.

Through twitter I’ve chatted and discussed about various topics with people like Barkha Dutt, Gul Panag, Shashi Tharoor etc. I’ve had personal interactions with other famous celebrities on various other platforms, all thanks to social media.

And the moment such celebrities take a few minutes off from their hectic life to go one-on-one with you, you know you’re not just another fish in the sea vying for their attention.

For me, the greatest feeling I got this month was when Francesca Chiara not only accepted my friend invitation on Facebook but also replied to my messages!!!!

You may not know her, but to me, she’s my goddess divine. She’s the vocalist of the band “The LoveCrave”, and words cannot express how crazy I am about this band.



This band isn’t one of those sopranic / mezzo-sopranic / operatic gothic metal I usually listen to. Wiki describes their band as a gothic rock band with a mix of 80’s hard rock, metal, darkwave and electro-pop. The perfect fusion for my taste. If you are a fan of the aforementioned genres, do listen to their songs. You’ll fall head over heels in love with them.

Currently, the band is my most listened band on my last.fm profile! Their lyrics are quite similar to “Theatres des vampires” but their styles definitely aren’t. Their songs are heavily influenced by vampire cult but at the same time, they managed to bring out that 80’s era kinda music.

So imagine my elation when Francesca accepted my friend request and replied after I told her not many people here in India listen to their kinda music…

ahahahaha that's ok Kima! That means that you will be the boss of our huge fan club when we will sell millions of records hahahah!!!
Thanks so much and take care,

hugs
Francesca++

HEAVEN!!!!

Here is my favorite song of theirs – “Vampires”




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My mom and niece spent some quality time with me and my sis here in Mumbai from 26th December to 30th. I couldn’t ask for a bigger X’mas gift! The last time I spent this season with mom away from Mizoram was in the year 1998 when she came down to Chennai and made me slog like hell for my 12th standard exams

It was the first time my niece came to Mumbai too, and she was shit scared to sit in the autos. Mum too kept poking the auto driver and told him to drive slower. lolz.

My sister took Monday off to show them around the city, and on Tuesday it was my turn to take casual leave from work and show them around Mumbai. I’ve never felt more gratified.

Made my niece taste “authentic” chinese food and pizzas for the first time, and she hated them. lolz. And of course mom still couldn’t believe we would spend more than 1 grand on a “decent” dinner at a “decent” restaurant in Mumbai. Times are a changing indeed.

My cousin Saii, the IAS officer, too came and spent X’mas with us. She was her usual self, bringing even her toothpaste to our house as if we didn’t have one, just like old times. All in all, it was one happy X’mas reunion.

On 29th December, my father’s side of the family (yes, did you know I’m from the Hrahsel clan?) had a huge family reunion in Mizoram, aptly called “Zabanga thlahte Nite” (Zabanga is my paternal granpa). My cousins released a book about all the offspring of Zabanga (more than 100 so far) and on the acknowledgment was my name along with my cousin’s!

Yeah I’ve been doing a small project during the past one year, collecting the names and other information of all our cousins and nephews/nieces. Its one huge family scattered all over the city, so my cousin Sangtea (Mimi’s bro) continued the project. Eventually, we got all the names and they threw the reunion party two days ago where they released the book, which supposedly was a big hit.


Images from Mimi hrahsel. On the bottom left are the oldest and youngest direct descendant of Granpa Zabanga.

Here is me raising my glass to all the Hrahsels out there. Cheers!


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This month, I got to meet two old friends of mine in Mumbai.

First there was Tommy, one of my closest friends from IIMB. Read my 2004 – 2005 blog entries and you will find a lot about him. He came down to Mumbai from London on 27th December, so me and Amol met him at Pop Tate’s. The last time we saw each other was like, 4 years ago, when he got placed at Barclays UK and left for work immediately. He hadn’t changed one bit and we had so much fun catching up and reminiscing about our wild IIMB escapades.

We watched the Arsenal – Aston Villa LIVE match on the giant screen and it sure felt good to win 3-0.



The place was filled with hardcore Gunners fans and I vaguely remember getting into a fight with a couple of ManUtd supporters (The ManUtd – Hull match was next)


And then, another friend from Delhi – Ben, came to Mumbai on the 23rd.

Yeah, that was when the death metal fan in me came alive.

Ben (Reuben) is the drummer of “IIIrd Sovereign” one of India’s hottest death metal bands. Meeting Ben, Benja, Vedant and Vicky after so many years definitely rekindled some of the flames that had long died down.

They came to Mumbai to perform at POWERCHORDS ’09, India’s most happening and definitely most extreme death metal concert, organized by S.I.E.S College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai.


[ Source: Facebook Powerchords 09 ]


[ Source: Niksphotography ]


The performers were Atmosfear, Devoid, Infernal Wrath, IIIrd Sovereign and Kryptos. And I had a backstage pass so I got to mingle with all the band members! FTW.



Never had I head-banged that much in a long long time. I had a freaking hoarse throat the entire next day!


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So I guess this month’s top 5 moments bring this year to a fantastic end. Memorable, yet looking forward to making next year even more memorable. Here is me wishing all of you a very happy New Year and hope you don’t do anything stupid like making a New Year resolution. Lolz. Cheers and keep the faith.

Chp 279. Racism and online discussion forums.

The internet has brought people closer, they say. I’ll drink to that. But the internet is also responsible for pushing people further and further away from each other too. Bitter pill indeed.

Long time ago before Netscape and Napster, we had opinions. Opinions on various issues ranging from politics to society. Opinions that we shared with our close friends. Hence, people around us (more or less) used to agree with our opinions. Our world was small then. Very small. And then the dot.com boom happened and suddenly everybody thought it was pretty damn cool to design a homepage at geocities or freeservers with marquee text effect.

Soon, social media kicked in and mankind for the first time interacted with a different kind of community – the onliners. Various issues were discussed at various chat servers. Suddenly people realized – hey, not everybody share my views or opinion on this or that. OMG!!!

The goody ones came across the trolls. They learnt that the world was not all sugar and spice and all things nice. The trolls came across the troll-hunters. They learnt that there were others more “intelligent” than them. The nerds pwned everybody with Slashdot while the noobs continued to be the butt of all jokes.

In the midst of all this, we started having discussion forums. Here in India, things kicked off pretty well. Discussion forums were created (oh those ugly threaded design days). Blogs gained momentum and it became a rave. Followed by the blog conglomerate sites. Desipundit, mutiny, blogbharti, etc etc became the hub of all opinionated netizens. Soon news portals started implementing a “comment system” on their articles. Web 2.0. Orkut still dominates Facebook in India purely due to its first mover advantage. And then there’s twitter and the hazaar other new applications.

And so we are now faced with one very uncomfortable question: The world may have become a global village, but what is the point when all the huts within that village are on the warpath with each other?

You see, as much as the internet brings people closer, it also pulls them apart too.

Talk about groupism and India has it all. From caste to race to ethnicity to religion to region to politics to language, any article on this topic is bound to raise one helluva storm.

People often say racism begets racism. The problem is, we cannot see this with a myopic view. We always come to a point where our act of racism is “actually not racism” whereas other people’s act upon us is indeed racism. Playing the role of the victim has always been more convenient than the victimizer. And we vehemently defend our action, which is nothing more than our intellectuality slowly sinking in quicksand, or should I say, cesspool.

Racism is ugly. Yes. But one thing we should never forget is that racism indeed begets racism. After all these years of exposure to various discussion topics and taking part in many of them, one thing is for sure – any racial abuse is resolved with another racial abuse.

I mean, seriously, isn’t that pathetic?

Take for example, the recent Rina Dutta episode. If you are not from the North East, you probably wouldn’t have heard of her. But every net savvy person from North East India knows about this. Her article first appeared at Assam Times. It was taken down within a couple of hours, but not without getting more than 500 responses from people all over the North East. That continued at other mirror sites, facebook pages etc etc.

Likewise, there are hundreds of other such abuses out there. The target can be anybody from the Northest north to the Southest south of India. If a person says something we absolutely abhor, instead of criticizing him or his reasoning, we usually end up saying something nasty about the other person’s community. Pray, do tell me then, when will this vicious cycle end?

Along with a couple of friends, we run a very popular Mizo discussion forum: misual.com. And yes, sometimes it is A VERY BIG pain editing or removing all the hate comments. Mutiny.in admins too have faced this same situation, so do all the other renowned discussion forums. My blog too is no stranger to racial slurs either. Most (if not all) renowned News websites have activated comment moderation already to prevent this.

I still remember reading a hilarious post about hate comments, I think it was fakingnews.com (do correct me if I’m wrong), with a fake report on one News site infamous for harboring extremely detestable and insensitive comments targeted at various communities, suddenly amazed that one fine day, there was not even one single hate comment. And so they celebrated and partied.

When it comes to racism or any of the other form of –isms, replying in the same manner only fuels the episode. It won’t stop there, and will only entice others to take part in the discussion in full swing.

Suppose A+B+C+D are members of X and E+F+G+H are members of Y, here’s a small slideshow I made…

From Racism to Utopia

View more presentations from Kima .

You can also download/view the animated gif version by clicking here.

If you flame a community, then not only be prepared to be flamed back by that community, but also expect that community to flame back at your community. Even among individuals, expressing your opinion is bound to create a ripple somewhere. Anonymous cowards everywhere ready to rip you apart and feel good about themselves (to make up for the obvious lack of you know what). You try to make others see things with reason and you’re attacked. The seculars are branded the SICKulars (seriously, I didn’t coin that term. It’s everywhere on the net).

As an admin, I subscribe to Google alerts for key words like “Mizo” and “Mizoram”. Half the results I get disgusts me. But I guess we just move on. If you have a bone to pick with anyone, make sure you address that person and his opinion only. Leave his community or “people” out, else you’re just becoming as bad as he is.

I’ve created three simple smileys, and from today onwards I am going to paste this at various forums where I participate or visit when I see anybody replying with a racial slur because of another racial slur. Feel free to use these images and spread the love.

Cheers.

Chp 278. Monday Music: Lonely this Christmas.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, we used to sing this song in hostel every December.

I was brought up in a residential boys boarding school (which was pretty much like an orphanage if you really think about it – parents weren’t allowed to visit you except on very rare school functions, you could go home or walk outside the large school campus only thrice a year, and even till today your classmates still feel like family to you), hence the intensity of loneliness when it came to the opposite sex was overwhelming.

Of course it’s no “lonely Christmas” for me this Christmas but I’d like to dedicate this favorite song of mine to all my friends who are spending this Christmas alone (and of course by alone, I don’t mean alone alone. You may have friends and family around you, but if there ain’t that someone special that makes you feel complete and your heart go boingggg, then you are pretty much alone).

Cheers!



Ps. This goes specially to VaiVa. I know it must suck to be alone, yet again, this Christmas. But hey, look at the bright side. At least you are doing mankind a favor by remaining single, because people like you shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce and spread your spawn. That would be like, breaking the very foundation of the laws of nature. Wakau!



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Chp 277. Chastity.

She left him.

Like a cold gust of winter wind, she left him, drowning in his own pool of self pity and grief. He had always wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, growing old together and naming their grand children. She loved him back, he thought. All those whispers of sweet nothings and gentle caresses had been nothing but a sham. The day he lost his inheritance, he lost more than he ever imagined.

She walked out, neither uttering a word nor shedding a tear.

She convinced herself that she did the right thing. Like many young women in her town, she wanted a future. She wanted stability and security. He was the most eligible bachelor in her town, coming from the most affluent family. And she thought she had it all when he proposed to her – They made love that night, even though their community was vehemently opposed to premarital sex. She said yes against her will and closed her eyes.

She knew they were committing a grave sin and breaking a sanctimonious traditional law. But she didn’t care because the future blinded her and muddled her judgment. She thought she loved him, until a week later his father discovered he was not really his son and in a fit of rage cut him off from his will. He threw him out, along with his mother, banished, never to return.

It was then that she suddenly realized she had never loved him. With the riches and glory gone, there was now suddenly a large eerie void. She couldn’t believe how foolish and naïve she had been. She felt sorry for leading him on. She regretted sleeping with him. She contemplated and felt dirty. Extremely dirty.

She moved to the city the next day. She couldn’t take the gossips and whispers anymore. The venomous stares that seemed to follow her everywhere she went. Deep inside she knew they were right and that she deserved to be judged harshly. But she also knew she made a mistake and that she could not ruin her life just for the sake of “being true to her lover”. A lover that she didn’t even genuinely love. Life is cruel. And the only way to rebuild her life was to go on an exile from the maddening town.

City life was definitely different.

She stayed with her uncle and aunt. They didn’t question her or mention anything about “the” incident. They knew.

Her uncle was a pastor and she found renewed faith in God. She prayed every night and asked God for forgiveness for that one night of sin.

She found a job as a librarian through her uncle’s influence, and in a month she was back on her feet, cheerful and happier, but more importantly, wiser.

She worked devotedly every day in that library, catering to University students and professors. Very soon, all the regular library visitors knew her on a first name basis. Some of the students even had a crush on her. She dismissed their advances sportingly because they were not what she’s looking for. Being wiser, all she wanted was true love. A perfect match.

And then one day, a new He stepped into her life. He was a research assistant. Working on his thesis. Handsome. Smart. Polite. Suave.

After a few days and many smile exchanges later, he asked her out. She nodded with a blush. Their first date was at the University canteen. Tea and momos. They connected immediately. He wasn’t rich, but he came from a respectable family. 42 cousins and a sister who was a renowned gospel singer.

Within a month, she got to know all 42 cousins. His parents absolutely adored her and she was on cloud nine. She imagined what her life would have been like had she remained with the other person. No love. No money. No family. Just plain misery.

She thanked the good Lord that night. Three months passed by. She had never felt this strong and passionate about anyone before. Neither had he. They went to Church together. They went to picnic spots with his family on weekends. Everybody around them could feel the aura of love surrounding them.

Like most men, he of course made his advances when they were alone. A hand gently slipped below or a quick grope. She politely declined and he smiled. He was not persistent. He respected her. She whispered to him that she was a virgin. That she was saving herself. That she was a good Christian afraid of God. He beamed with pride and whispered back that he too was a virgin. And then, he proposed.

As they hugged in joy, she cried. Not tears of joy. She was overwhelmed with shame for lying.

She brushed aside her shame. She convinced herself that some things were best left unsaid. She didn’t want to throw this away. It was too perfect.

One week before the marriage, when all the invitation cards had been sent, her uncle and aunt left the city to attend a pastoral conference. They promised to be back before the wedding. She enjoyed the blissful solitude and dreamt about the wedding once again. Then the phone rang.

She answered. It was her cousin. Two minutes later, her whole world came crashing down. She slapped herself to see if it was all a nightmare. One horrible nightmare she wanted to wake up from.

Alas. It was real.

She sat down. The bedroom spun forever. She ran to the bathroom and vomited. The past came haunting back, with horrendous fangs and fiery breath ready to devour her. In those two minutes of phone call, her cousin told her everything. The guy she left, turned to drugs and led a wasteful life. And then a few days ago, when he heard about her upcoming marriage, he quietly tied a rope on the ceiling and ended his perpetual misery.

But not before releasing a few photographs on the internet. Scandalous photos of the two of them. Taken from his mobile phone camera. Of that one fateful night she regretted. Just five photos, but enough to defile any reputation. Bare bodied. Intimate. Provocative. Straight out of a tacky porn film. A minute after sharing the files online, he took the extreme step.

She felt both anger and pain. Angry for what he did, and pain for what he did a minute after that. She was confused. And most of all, she dreaded how her fiancé was going to react. She had lied to him about her sexual past. The ultimate lie according to any guy - Where male egos frequently clashed.

She called him a hundred times. He didn’t answer. News spread fast, especially in their small community. Internet. MMS. Pen drive. All the fires of Hell burnt slower than that.

She couldn’t eat. And being all alone in her house made things worse. She forgot God. Time ticked slowly. She cried over and over again until she felt dizzy. She didn’t have the courage to go to his house.

And then, just around midnight, her doorbell rang.

With a weakened effort, she meekly opened the door. It was him. Eyes bloodshot with a stench of cheap alcohol. He staggered in and sat on the chair. No words spoken. A deafening silence.

She sat beside him and cried. He looked at her and broke down too. He hugged her and she reciprocated. No matter what the bitterness had been, the chemistry between them soon exploded and he kissed her with strong emotions and fervent desire. She returned the passion in multifold. From there, it was one oiled mechanism smoothly operating one after the other. The shirt. The blouse. The pants. The undergarments. One by one they fell to the ground, all inhibitions shed.

Still no words spoken.

She had never felt such heightened ecstasy before. Mixed with fear and anticipation. She moaned as he entered. It felt like a hot steaming nuclear explosion of pleasure one after the other. Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to endless waves of ceaseless satisfaction. She felt genuinely complete throughout. She could feel the tears roll down his cheeks and realized how much she meant to him. The past was just the past. He wanted to move on. They had a fantastic future ahead. She held him tight and dug her nails deep into his back as she felt an orgasm brewing one more time.


The next day, he left her.


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Chp 276. Velvet Lounge, Mumbai - Review.

Every now and then, as an active blogger, we like to give our feedback or review on a movie, restaurant, book, pub etc if our experience was really amazing, or dissatisfactory.

Sadly for me, last saturday’s party at Velvet Lounge, Powai, Mumbai, was one of utter disappointment.



Errr… ok the above is a completely different Velvet Lounge [source: mu design] I spent 3 hours online looking for their logo and couldn’t find it.

There were a lot of things I liked about the place, but the negatives clearly outweighed them. Let me start with the positive aspects first.

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Being a 5 star hotel (Renaissance), the ambience and surroundings were truly elegant and breathtaking. But being a 5 star hotel, that cannot be labeled as their USP - It’s a part of the whole “5 star status” package (except for, maybe, the beautiful Powai lake view).



The security was tight, and although it created some inconveniences for people getting in, it was quite reassuring for us Mumbaikars, if you know what I mean. And the sniffer dog was extremelyyy adorable. It licked me lovingly and I really really really wanted to dognap kidnap the cute little mongrel.

The service was great too. Before going to the discotheque, I searched online and people wrote about the bad service and how the bartenders didn’t live up to their expectations. As for me, I think the bartenders did pretty well. I had only beer but my friends tried out all sorts of concoctions and they were all made to perfection. They were very polite and courteous, and most important of all, remembered my drink when I went for a second or third amidst the blaring music.

Entry cost – 1200 for couples and 1500 for stags, which again was not bad since they were entirely cover-charge. (But definitely not worth it if you’re a teetotaler).

Drinks cost – Again for a discotheque of this class, the drinks were not ridiculously overpriced, unlike a few other places I know. 250 bucks for a pint of beer, and most of the “usual” hard liquor started from 350 for a small (30ml). Advice: If you aren’t the Sultan of Brunei, stick to beer. And do what the rest of us commoners do – Drink before reaching the venue.

The glow – I loved the glow all across the very lengthy bar. Very night-clubbish indeed.


[image source]

The smoking section – I went out to smoke quite a number of times, and not even once did I catch a whiff of marijuana in the air. Don’t you just hate it when people start smoking up right next to you at a pub or disc and run a risk of police raiding the place and throwing you in the police van for being present at the “scene of crime”? I have nothing against people who smoke up. I just hate spending the nights in jail.

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I think those are the positive points about the place.

Now onto the bad.

First of all, the loo was freaking dirty. Made me sick every time I went to pee (and pee many times I did as I was having only beer). There were no attendants in the restroom, something very hard to believe for a 5 star hotel stature. And hey, even if there weren’t anybody there, how about sending somebody every 30 minutes or so to clean the mess some idiots made? Every time I went to pee, there was a line of guys complaining about the dirt.

Next – the dance floor. Hah, dance floor my ass. There were 10 of us in our group that night, and we all went together to the main dance floor excitedly after a couple of drinks at “the other side” of the lengthy discotheque. How disappointed we all were! I think I counted just three disco bulbs meekly rotating around the place. One section was completely dark, as the lights weren’t working. Considering the great ambience outside the discotheque, that was a real bummer. An anti-climax. It’s like you paid for a Benz and they delivered a Nano.

What is a discotheque without proper lighting effects? Trust me, our college hostel parties were way better than the place! My friends complained that the dance floor was uneven too. I didn’t notice that but the smoke effect was really sad. Reminded me of those failed chemistry lab experiments with dry ice back in school.

Music – I thought the dance floor was the lamest thing I had ever seen, until I heard the music. No offence to the DJ, but the quality of Deejaying that night was in extreme poor taste. I used to hang out a lot with my DJ friends back in Hyderabad and B’lore, and believe me, they spun way better.

First of all – no we do not want to hear your voice every 1 minute. Sure you may want to make an announcement or there are indeed some important announcements to make. But every time you speak, the freaking music stops. And that screws up the entire rhythm for us. When you’re in the middle of a motion that you truly enjoy, you wanna keep going right? And if something disturbs you, it’s very hard to get back to that frame of mind and find your rhythm again… ok some of you naughty minds are thinking about “it”. Point made.

Sure, you may need to pump up the crowd with clichéd lines like “Party people, let’s make some noiiiise” or “this is for all the ladies in da houseeee” etc. But that should happen at the beginning of the track or in between tracks, not in the middle of it. And that too at such frequent intervals! Being disturbed frequently – Epic FAIL definitely.

Secondly, go easy on the remixes please… We have more than enough of remixes of popular club numbers. And it’s no rocket science remixing a song, what with the number of softwares “freely” available today. Of course the quality that people like us make will not be as good as a DJ’s remix. Hence I can understand if the DJ slips in a remix or two here and there among the other popular original tracks. But playing the remix of every song was not cool. And I could have sworn some were remixes of remixes.

Third point regarding the music – You’re not even scratching. At least get your sequences right. One time hiphop, suddenly followed by trance, and then bollywood, followed by club, then back to hiphop. Aaargh. Are we playing musical chair at a kid’s birthday party? I paid good money to unwind on the dance floor after such a tiring week in office. I love dancing regardless of the kind of music playing. But no DJ ever changes the genre abruptly. You gotta move gradually from one type to the other. There has to be a flow so that we don’t lose our rhythm.

Fourthly, I’d like to end my night at a discotheque with trance. Because, 1. You’re pretty tired towards the end and 2. You’re pretty drunk. And so you go on a “trance trip”. Don’t you just love trance trips? Sadly that night, it ended with bollywood music. We all left fuming and disappointed before the “last song”. If you are a bollywood remix lover, you can ignore this last point. Or maybe not, because my friend V loves bollywood and she said there are two types of bollywood remixes – good and bad. What was played that night were all bad bollywood apparently. I don’t know anything about bollywood remixes so no comments on that.

Valet parking – We waited a long time before our car finally came. Maybe it seemed longer because we were disappointed. But whatever be the case, the fact that I wrote half this review the moment I reached home clearly reflected the way I felt about the place. After all, how many of you actually switch on your PC and start blogging after returning from a disc at four in the morning?

Chp 275. Visions of Atlantis - Lost

One of my favorite symphonic power metal bands – Visions of Atlantis.

There are two vocalists, and the guy has a really melodious voice while the girl sings in mezzo-soprano range. Currently, VoA is my most listened band in my last.fm profile, while this song “Lost” is my most listened song.

I really hope you like this song. It’s the only decent music video of theirs that I can find online, and there have many other amazinggg songs like passing dead end, at the back and beyond, the secret, etc.



And here are some of the female vocalists of this amazing band, past and present.


The girl in the pic is Nicole Bogner and she’s the one who is singing in the music video above. She left the band in 2005 and was involved in two albums: Endless Eternal Infinity and Castaway.


The girl is Melissa Ferlaak. She replaced Nicole and later married the guitarist and they both left the band. Album made with band: Trinity.


And this is Joanna Nieniewska, VoA’s latest frontwoman. Haven’t heard her sing yet… Hope she’s good.

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