I'm so happy, I can't stop crying!

2006 is a sad year for me, simply because I’ve got so many weddings to attend, most of them my close friends. Why am I sad then? Well, these are guys who I’ve seen through school, we’ve partied together, sit and sipped coffee till the wee hours of the morning, shared crazy moments on the weekends when we would have movie marathons, but most of all – they’re getting married and I’m still single! Woe is me…

Then again, staying single is a good thing. Whatever it is, it’s now a different feeling. The first people in the group to get married did so less than two months ago, and that night we all were ecstatic, but at the same time, we knew we had crossed over onto a different plateau. From guys and girls who would hang out at every opportunity to juggling work schedules. Everyone would try and get together sometime on the weekends, but even that didn’t work due to the different kinds of jobs we did. Some of us worked in call centres; some did the regular 9-5 routine and me, with my radio shows, regular job, and once-in-a-while DJ routine that threw keeping a proper schedule out the door. We still stayed in touch regularly through messenger chat and phone calls, but somehow we then had evolved. Now, from that to this — a group of people who now hop from one wedding to another, losing one friend after another to wedded bliss.

My best friend, Leroy, and me, sometime back, wondered how long it would be before we would start meeting with our wives and husbands for a Saturday night barbeque. We laughed so hard that night threw back a few glasses of vodka and watched Superman. We also made a pact that whoever got married first, the other would be his best man. We still haven’t got that chance but sooner or later, we will. Life changes quickly sometimes. In the past month, one friend’s engaged, the other just started booking the venue and sound for his wedding in January next year. And we’ve walked on… It’s difficult to explain; one moment you’re running in the fields without a care in the world and the next moment you’re booking a band for your wedding. Where did time go? Every year you grow older, every time the sun rises, you’re faced with more and more responsibilities. And you take them on, but there are times when you wish you could just give it all up for a week and laze around in the sunshine. Some of us will get that chance in the near future, some of us will not. But whatever happens, we’ll stick together. We still do, inspite of the fact that we’re scattered all over the world, London, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Melbourne and soon, somewhere in America. And we still counsel each other, and help each other cross over, pick up a heavier bag and trudge on.

Growing older seems scary sometimes. When I turned 18, I wondered what would happen five years down the line. I’ve passed that milestone a long time ago and now look forward to 30 with the same trepidation, albeit with more confidence. And as we walk down, we sometimes look behind for glimpses of the past, when we had a good time, when we laughed into the night and we hope that we’ll still get times like those ahead. We most definitely will, at weddings, barbeques and parties, whenever we can. Hopefully, we’ll see each other often, but then, that’s what good friends are all about, you come back after a year and they’ll greet you like you never left. And that’s what growing older and wiser is all about too. Walking the line…and smiling!

Feb 22, Gomantak Times, Goa

playing the strings of life

Music is the food of life! Music is something that I’ve loved ever since I can remember loving anything. What I love most about music is its ability to adapt to the changing times effortlessly. In the early 1900s, classical music was for the elite classes in most parts of the world. In Europe, there was raunchy cabaret that enchanted the poorer folks, that and songs of struggle and strife. In America, classical music was ‘in’, but not as much as good old country music down south. Then came jazz! And as Satchmo wooed young women with his golden trumpet, he helped carve out a niche in music history. Jazz music, till today, remains America’s only original art form.

In the 60s, people like Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Elvis, John Mayall and the Rolling Stones revolutionised music and were part of a movement that created the myriad of genres that still exist today. Now, we have thousands of artistes and sounds to choose from.
What I also love about music is that, if you know music carefully, you can find a song for almost every mood, every emotion and every breath you take. In my collection of almost 300 CDs and over 100 records you can take your pick and groove to the rhetoric and multitude of moods in each song.

India, quite alike the Africa it broke away from when the continents were formed, is filled with music in every drop of blood and sweat and the colourful corners on every street. India still has its music, not the music of most Bollywood films, but classical, fusion, ghazals, regional sounds and more. The poetry in those traditional instruments has captured hearts all over the world.

Today in Goa, like the melting pot of cultures it has become, you can find different sounds all over the place. Each hotel and restaurant, each club and disco, the parties on the beach and the rare, unknown, yet amazing musician that plays at Anjuna. As I walked into the Saturday Night Market at Arpora, Carlos and his merry band were playing their hearts out and everyone around them couldn’t help but tap their feet. Friday nights at Cavala’s sees Alex, Nini and Menino — the Music Company regale the people who walk through the restaurant’s doors. They and many more at hundreds of places all over the state add to the emerging Goan culture, which was earlier only thought to be found at raves on Saturday night. To an outsider, Goa is the place to be, except for the high priced taxis, and drug and child trafficking. The reason Goa is so badly exploited for the wrong reasons is because some people weren’t interested in anything other than making a quick buck. Now, it’s up to you to try and help change that and make Goa into what it should be — a place where the music plays into the night. A place where you can relax to Sting and Miles Davis on a quiet evening, or jam it up with Bob Marley, Snoop Dogg and Martin Solveig at the clubs in the hills and on the beach. Music makes me happy and music makes the world go round. Music is in every Goan and every visitor to the state, in the food that’s created all along the beachfronts, and by the river. Music is also what makes Goa come alive every night, right into the early hours of the morning, in the art at Kala Academy and in the films and stage productions all over. But somehow, the music just doesn’t feel right, not with the garbage in the river or the ban on locals entering shacks in some beaches up north. It’s still our state… your state. Don’t let the music play on it’s own, get behind the decks and dictate the flow.

Feb 8, Gomantak Times, Goa