Friday, March 21, 2008

My First Rolling Stone

Sapota after watching this movie "almost famous" was very much impressed by Rolling Stone, the magazine. Now again after watching this flick school of rock, Sapota could relate rock and roll to his life more closely. Sapota was listening to rock and roll for a long time now, but the pleasure to discover more was becoming a passion. So Sapota started hunting around for posters, he could just manage one of "Nirvana", Sapota was desperate to get 'Metallica" poster at any cost. So Sapota started looking for magazines which publish poster, but to his dismay, in Pune there was only RSJ. So this hunt for poster ended in Sapota looking for magazines on rock and roll; as you become religious u start referring to fundamentals, so sapota started looking for Rolling Stone, but it was no where in Pune. So I looked around at internet, there were so many of them available but shipping charges from US were deterring. Then someone went to US, so Sapota asked him to get 1000th edition of Rolling stones, but again disappointment. Then again Sapota read 50 great stories in Rolling Stones, where Bono writes about Beatles and Marilyn manson wrote about The 'Holy' Doors, Sapota was bloody hooked, he desperately wanted the Magazine. Sapota once went to Bangalore, so here in Landmark Stores they had a "ROLLING STONE"!!!, Sapota was thrilled, but that edition had Jack Nicholson on cover and price was 500 bucks, Sapota thought not worth it, he wanted to buy, but like typical India consumer was justifying "if this would have been 1000th edition I would have paid 1000 buck, but for Nicholson, no way". Although Sapota likes Nicholson but this is the not the right place.
So when Sapota again went to Bangalore, he saw a street boy having a rolling stone in his hand, he said "what?", then he realized that its Rolling Stone India for just 100 bucks; there were no second thought, within seconds "give me the mag, here is your 100 bucks" Sapota was thrilled, he had his first Rolling stones in his hand. Sapota didn't like the cover a bit since it was some hip hop star. But inside they have Led Zeppelin and the holy God of Guitar Jimi Hendrix. Sapota is happy that they started it here in India and want to thanks them from bottom of his heart. Sapota's target to get 1000th edition and 50 great stories is still on list, but for now contended with his new prized possession.
long live rolling stone (\m/ *respect).

Monday, March 17, 2008

The man who saw Mustaine live...

Yeah, I am the man, Fuck yeah, I have seen Mustaine live.... and yes I will bloody brag about it for decades. And one more confession to make I love Bangalore crowd, the fucking awesome crowd, this the best gig till date.
Ladies and gentleman, I went to Bengluru to witness one of the biggest rock festival in country know as "Rock in India", where 9 bands played live viz. Prestorika, Casino Blues, Junkyard Groove, Motherjane, Thermal and a quartet, Millennium, Pentagram, Machine Head, MEGADETH. By the time I reached Palace Grounds, It was around 17:20 hrs, so many of these small bands have already performed. I was looking at arrangement and it was fabulous, there were stalls of booze and cold drink and fast food and official rock merchandise all inside the precinct of concert grounds. One more exciting thing was bungee jumping equipment all inside the grounds, and many guys and gals were trying it. As I went inside, I saw the same large stage where my lords Maiden played Last year and hey! there was another stage on my right hand side. This stage was smaller and by the time I reached this band "Thermal" was performing, I didn't bother to hear them. I was looking around for a place to sit, yup! I want to conserve my energy.
So again the typical environment, which so much is a culture and for few its a religion, all forms of hip dresses and drooling beauties with fags in their hands. So I kept sitting at the end of the concert grounds while "Thermal" finished. Next came this Bangalorean band called "Millennium", this band has been performing since last two decades and the lead vocalist of the band was Fucking awesome. Their sound is quite heavily metallic and the vocalist and drummer were really good. I enjoyed the band, although I was clueless about the music. Then came this shit head band called Pentagram, the filthy Son of Bitch, Vishal Dadlani came on stage, and these guys were singing something disco remix of some bollywood shit, I didn't even bother to listen. I wanted to shout loudly "Fuck you Motherfucker Vishal, you dared insulted my Lords Maidens, you die after while your dick is being chopped off", but I resisted the temptation and just showed him my finger to say "you suck".
Now entire focus shifted on Main stage, where this band called Machine head appeared, this band is a thrash metal band. The vocalist was quite an impressive front man, he has loud screeching vocals apt for his band. Other band members were quite impressive, a truly international band. To my surprise the crowd here knew the vocals for machine head and there was this head banging, which soon converted into a Mosh pit. I shifted my location in oder to avoid being ran down in the mosh pit. The lead vocalist said, "when I came here they ask what will you get in India, but I tell you folks, Bangalore is fucking awesome", "I love you Banglore". He was mad at the crowd response. I am sorry folks, I have no clue what all did they play, It was first time I ever heard them, the music was groovy, but not to my tastes, but yeah the band has it.
Now the banner of machine head was taken down and there was huge Megadeth banner on the back of stage. So everyone was getting impatient, when they started playing some number from Ozzy and Pantera etc. There were bunch of guys and gals making the dope, just next to me.
Finally as stage went dark and the drummer Shawn drover started the thumping and then i saw James Lomenzo, the bassist and then Chris Broderick, the new lead guitarist kicking the lead and then Finally I saw, His Holy Lord "The DAVE MUSTAINE". Oh My holy Devil, this was the moment crowd was waiting for, there was an uproar, hands in air with devil horns floating in air. They played three songs one after another without a break, crowd gasped as to what is happening. There was one guy who was standing besides me, he was headbanging and jumping very enthusiastically, then this guy suddenly asked me "Dude, Can you believe I am seeing Dave mustaine live", I was stunned, "What is with this guy?". While they played "Sleepwalker" from their new album, then they played "Take no prisoners" and then they played "Never walk alone". Then after this Mustaine came for talking, he was brief he said "We will do the talking on our website, here we will just play". And then came "Hanger 18", Oh Devil, the dude besides me went mad. I thought that he was just another kid on high, but then I realized he is one of true devotees , he was madly holding his head with his hands and shouting "kill us Mustaine" and then again he asked me "dude, do you believe I am seeing mustiane live". I had no answer, For a moment I wanted to be him. The kind of Fan Following Megadeth has is awe-inspiring, he bloody knew all the bloody lyrics.
Then again they played "trust" and "skin of my teeth", Fuck man Dave does it so fucking well. There was a crowd uproar singing the lyrics. The song finished with killer lead by Chris. Then next came "toute le mode", Now was the turn to pay real homage to the gods, the crowd was singing in unison, every bloody one was knowing the lyrics, Love you Bangalore crowd for the respect shown to the lords. Next Came "Tornado of Soul", Fuck man!, the real Live "Tornado", Fuck!, Fuck!! Fuck!!!. Mustaine took the lead so fucking flawlessly, I went mad with my head banging with each riff and and each beat, as if time has just stopped.
"what do you mean I don't believe in god?....." Oh man here came the lead .... I must say Dave mustaine is my man he has resurrected the entire band from the ashes...... there came the killer solo by Chris, he is good, I wont compare him with Marty, but he does his job pretty well. So "Pe....aceeeee.... Peace sells but who's buying", I sang every line along with the crowd. Then Dave started talking he says we will come again and we love you all and things like that. This time the climate of Bangalore was awesome, clouds all over and little drizzling and wind blowing, I prayed to god for no rains. I believe Dave has an idea its going to rain, so they played lesser number of tracks than expected.
Next came "The symphony of destruction" the dude besides me again looked at me and pointed his hand in amazement. One more killer track with utmost precision, although the acoustics of the place sucked, but band didn't made people realized that. Then the band went inside and crowd was shouting for "she wolf" and "holy wars", I told one dude, they are not going to play "she wolf". After the encore, they came back and this time they played the song from new album "Washington is next", which is quite speed-metal stuff and I loved it very much. Now came the time, every Mustaine fan will kill for, "The Holy wars", Oh man I was totally mesmerized with the way they played it. What a band man. There are very few musicians who can match the capabilities of Dave Mustaine. I must say there is good reason, why all genuine metal fans respect Megadeth Most. We were waiting as if something else will come, but Dave threw some plectrums and his wrist band and drum sticks towards crowd. I wont say he is much of showman, but his music does all the talking for him. Dave you are my Man. (\m/ *respect)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Discourses on Laws of everything

As usual Lord Sapota and Venkster, the second last devil were making conversation and they landed up in defining basic laws and where does all theory comes from? So here is the conversation between Monsieur Sapota and Venkster, the second last devil.

Venkster, the devil: Yes, but one can always hypothesize.

Monsieur Sapota: i shun from such practice, there is no practical importance of such theoretical formulation. I believe either we should know or we must think that it is an unknown fact or may be it can be proved by some possible method with a interpolation of existing fact, either way it is either known or proved.

Venkster, the devil:But all proof begins with a hypothesis doesnt it..

Monsieur Sapota:well they do, but those are in form of postulates and then some mathematical or theological or some other form of proof or atleast a draft of proof is attached to them.

Venkster, the devil: Sir every form of proof comes from atleast one base hypothesis that cant be proved but is just assumed to be true...even mathematics, for example it is very easy to prove that 2+2 is not always 4, even though we know mathematically for it to be true...

Monsieur Sapota: see all things are proved with respect to some elementary results.
for example summation of integers ought to be an integer, now that is an adopted convention and proved by many real world situation. now once basic abstract form is proved, you move over to new forms. People say maths use some assumptions, but those assumptions are real world scenarios, for example in case of whole numbers, if you add two shirts to two more existing shirt in ur wardrobe, they ought to be four shirt and that is one elementary result and all equations afterwards will assume this one and prove newer entities by building blocks of existing theorems.

Venkster, the devil:Exactly my point sir, but by breaking the scenario, you can break these elementary results...like I said, I can prove two plus two is not four...

Monsieur Sapota:I am not denying that, but that proof has to be satisfied with at least 3-4 method and should justify world scenario, all advance theorems represent some or other real life scenario and then they are proved using many concurrent methodologies, proving things which are absurd is also possible, but that cannot be done with existing mathematical practices. For example, if i write a new theorem on laws of motion, I must obey Laws of Netwon, i must satisfy many quantization of my results. or if i say my new law does not obey Newtonain, then i must prove that newtonian results are wrong in these sets of circumstances. And trust me if you are challenging a law existing from centuries, you better have a proof right from the basic building element, otherwise ur result is wrong.

Venkster, the devil:Nahin sir thats where you are wrong, all "proofs" of yours are built upon certain basic laws in which we believe the world to behave, but none of these laws have been proved, and hence we can always create new basic laws that run outside this world to disprove anything...

Monsieur Sapota: dood, all basic laws are proved.
Pythagorean, newtonian, la placian, de moiviers or Einstenien, all laws are proved.
there are no basic laws which don't have proofs.
Why do u think calculus or vectors were invented or for that matter all those advance transforms were derived?
if new laws are invented they are first held until they are mathematically or in some way proved. No law is approved without a proper proof and i have not seen any exception to that.

Venkster, the devil:Nahin sir all basic laws are only proved at the macro level, everything breaks down at the micro or super macro level and you know that...

Monsieur Sapota:micro level? why would i prove some laws at level where there is no requirement for them. Newtonian laws are no good at quantum level? and quantum laws are no good at macroscopic level. There is an objectivity associated with each science and the scope of proof is limited in that sphere. As i early said all basic laws are proved from practical understanding and everything else is based on those basic blocks.

Venkster, the devil:Sir but even those basic laws break down under different conditions, which brings me back to my first point, that some basic hypothesis has to be made (which cannot be proven), for example, most basic laws are based on the theory of space and time, but both of these break down at the super-macro level...

Monsieur Sapota:all laws are provided to be true under set of circumstances, even the velocity of light changes, but under severely different set of governing factors and is rarely observed(~10 raised to some mind boggling small number). All laws of time and space are not absolute, you can make hypothesis, but what are the ground works for it. I mean you just go randomly and make your hypothesis and then say i will find a proof and my proof will contain new hypothesis designed by me only? no i don't think that works fine for me. All law are primitives of some other law and the smallest of the laws are proved by observations and results and practical applications.

Venkster, the devil:Nahin sir thats what I've been trying to tell you...all laws are primitives of some other laws and the smallest of laws are something that have been assumed to be true...

Monsieur Sapota: okay, lets say for example that all basic laws are assumptive. where are those assumptions derived from?

Venkster, the devil: From some things that just cannot be proved...for example the basest of basest, gravity...

Monsieur Sapota:but gravity is not a hypothesis its a fact, and if you don't remember there has been thousands of experiment to prove its constants value and the the laws governing gravity i.e. Universal law of Gravitation has been proved by Newton in mathematical terms and results are tallied with respect to actual values.

Venkster, the devil: Sir it has been proved only through experiments, there is no effective theory as to why it exists...

Monsieur Sapota:yeah, there is no theory of its existence, but its not hypothesis either. As far as i know huge work on existence of gravitation has been done, but no concrete findings have been made. in fact all major scientist of applied mechanics and classical mechanics has devoted substantial time to the existence of gravity.

Venkster, the devil: So then since no concrete findings have been made, it still is not proof is it, but there are a million and one formulae based on gravity and its essentials...sir my point is this, that any proof works only within a given environment, it fails outside of that, therefore nothing is absolute...

Monsieur Sapota:i am not making claims to absolutism either. The reason is not found, but its existence is verified. And formulas are used for application and not for the cause. Finding reason for something is quite different from stating it exist. For example to find gravitational force between two objects a formula is derived, now the value of constant is calibrated with experiments. gravity may or may not be absolute, but exception to the newtonian gravity laws in STATIC mode is not known (atleast not until now), so in static scenario its absolute, but for dynamic it behaves differently, so all laws are subject to certain scope, where they hold true.

Venkster, the devil:So then since everything is defined only within a certain scope, is it not possible to find a scope where there may be no definition?

Monsieur Sapota:scope without definition: hmmm, that's interesting. may be some time space theory of some distant stars or blackholes or may be quasars have such set of parameters, but here on earth(since all laws are formulated here), scope is so well defined.

Venkster, the devil: You'll be surprised sir but even on earth there are conditions that have yet to be defined...for example at the deepest points of the ocean...

Monsieur Sapota: at deepest point in ocean Gravity holds true? what else does not hold true there?

Venkster, the devil: Not about gravity, was just giving you an example of places where things might not be the same as in the real world...

Monsieur Sapota:yaar, time-space law bends at places which can bend light, at sea bottoms that does not happen. The scope is not just about geographical parameter, but they varies with directions and set of parameters like heat, light and many such things. Now the real world scenario is: for a calculation of 10 raised to 10, 10 raised to -10 is minuscule and ignoring it is apt for all practical purpose, now you know that is not limitation of law, but it is limitation of masses to adhere to such complex system. Most of theories tend to make assumption in order to make calculation simpler, otherwise deriving a law to fullest is very much possible, but not feasible and fruitful for practical purpose.

Venkster, the devil:But then practicality is set by the very world we live in, so something that is practical to us may not be practical to someone under a completely different set of conditions...

Monsieur Sapota:haan, off course practicality is nothing but limiting case of theory, since theory gets derived from it. As i pointed out set of circumstances are nothing but the part of scope of theory, assumptions made, constants declared and things ignored

Venkster, the devil: Hehehe so we're agreeing that not everything can be proved completely, so some things have to be postulated??

Monsieur Sapota: we were not discussing that, we were discussing that basic laws are not just hypothesis(okay that's what i say).

Venkster, the devil:Basic laws are not just hypotheses (not hypothesis) so long as they are within a certain set of conditions, hence the statement cannot be generalized...

Monday, March 10, 2008

David Herbert Lawrence's Sons and Lovers.

Classic Literature has its own taste, it is slow, difficult to comprehend, full of emotions and some times full of verses. It has a unique elegance, a fine tuned beauty, which is smooth and matured. Plots, Problem-solution Scenario and discussion may sound stupid some times, but for the times in which they are set, they are just perfect. Sons and lovers was written too early in previous century and considered to be swan's song of D. H. Lawrence.
Book is difficult to start with, as most classics are, however once you overcome that threshold and become comfortable with authors writing style, it is not easy to put down. Reading these books is no easy for the simple reason that the author uses highly appropriate words, which are hard to find in common writing. the language is too much polished, metaphors are very well placed, there are all forms of literary beautifications, which makes book difficult to read in a go. The book require careful attention to understand and more than that appreciate the beauty of literature. D H Lawrence, unlike other classic author do not dwell much into fancy lands, he is very practical in his approach to writing, he presents very careful psychological analysis of all emotions behind all the actions. Sons and Lovers is quintessentially a love story, but with huge amount of intelligent ground work, however it is rich in its presentation of contemporary society in most lucid manner.
Relationship between lovers has been discussed in full length and in the spirit of love and emotions, without any melodramatic approach at any place. Mother and son relationship is depicted to its best, love-hate-judgment-fear-apathy-pity, all feelings are illustrated coherently. Love making and finer details of life are sketched precisely, never ever in the book any exaggeration of a situation is encountered. Books takes a non-conservative approach of describing conversations and mental state of characters very accurately,in contrast event are discussed with lesser details, but are given sufficient space and time. Central characters are more or less simpler and author never makes any hero out of them, they are ordinary men and women, just living their life as it comes. But even all these simple characters have complex psyche and they show extreme sensitivity towards minutest of action. There is quite a level of understanding between the characters, they utter less and understand more.

This book is definitely a must read for anyone, who appreciate good literature. They have named it one of the finest of last century. The book is impressive, not full of surprises, well narrated and a classic in every sense.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Saga of an Unfortunate Night

Witnessing one over the other tragedy is no big deal, There is a common Hindi saying, "Upar wala jab deta hai tau chappar faad kar deta hai(Literally if God giveth then he giveth to the extent of tearing your roof{makes no sense in English I know})" and to add "Upar wala jab leta hai tau gand faad kar leta hai(Literally, and if God taketh then he doeth to the extent that it tears your arse apart)" And Sapota certifies that he has not seen any exception to the above two corollaries.
Sapota left the office at about 23:00 hrs in utter fatigue, because he was working since morning 9 and was repeating this since last two days. And when you know that you have to wake up early in morning, you can't take a relaxing sleep. So that was like one hard whip after another. Anyway sapota has never tried this one particular road to return back, so lets try this one. Sapota drove along the dusty shady road thinking that it was a clever shortcut, but then he realized bike is coming to halt, Sapota turned the key in reverse direction, believing that fuel knob is adjusted in wrong direction. But when inevitable is bound to happen, nothing can prevent that. Bike stopped and sapota knew this is the end.... of the fuel(what were you thinking?). Sapota tried hard to start it, but for christ sake, how will a bike start if there is no goddamn fuel in it?
This place is shady, it has a particular faction of people living in here; there is also an extremist political outfit in this place; these days Pune is no more safe; there is an unrest related to hindi-speaking residents and I have 150 Kg bike with me. Sapota cursed all the devils in the hell and started trudging the bike along with him. Sapota was silent and walking as fast as he can, he made one or two unsuccessful attempt to start the bike. He felt suspicious about anyone he met in the way, "yes this could be one, get ready". In the way some civilized old man asked about what happened, I told him about the empty tank, so he re-inquired as to how long will I walk? Sapota started pondering, "home is too far, I just need to cross this messy place and get till cantonment and i will be safe enough". So the walk continued, sapota believed that this will be longest walk of his life, but the bloody phone rang. Sapota picked the phone, since ring tone is loud enough to attract all undue attention, but sapota cut the phone short to avoid speaking much in hindi(my folks don't settle for English). Phew... finally the cantonment, Sapota loves cantonment, it is nostalgic to see them.
Now a historic attempt of trying to extract the last drop of gasoline by tilting the vehicle horizontal, and yes it started, hurrah!!! but this is an unfortunate day, it just drove me out of Cantt, but this place was nearer to civilization and part of busy Highway, So Sapota was relieved as if this is Mt K2. Now what? make a call dude, So did I, "Get me some petrol, I am near Sappers crossing".
This is 00:00 hrs at night and the temperature is less than 15 Celsius and sapota is perspiring heavily. Sapota knew this is going to take them a loads of time to extract petrol out of their bikes and get here, so sapota started to use the greatest invention of last century to his benefits and started making random calls to pass the time. Even after calling all nocturnal animals on the planet entire time couldn't be killed. Every vehicle passing by was glancing at sapota as if he will just throw hand grenades towards the vehicle. Finally the petrol came, Sapota was cursing the bike for its fuel inefficiency and his miscalculation and this time sapota thought he will make clever resolve of not depending on his fuel calculations any more.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Sloth and Gluttony

Why is sleeping or Eating a sin? Sapota believes that eating is the next best thing since sleeping. Nothing could be as invigorating as a nice sleep and delicious food. The very reason one is alive is to eat and if you don't sleep after a nice meal, you will get sick. So, for the very fundamental reason Sleeping is the best hobby, time pass and a great exercise. They say healthy mind resides in healthy body and for that you must eat good and sleep well. What could be more entertaining and desirable than a beautiful bed. Bed is such a loyal friend, it never complains and its always there no matter how u treat it.
Can you think of a nice morning without a stomach full of tasty breakfast, no one can? All great deals are closed over dinners and all dates begin from dinner. Eating is like sex, more u do it more u like it. So the conclusion that one eat to live is like a artist without a passion for art. So one must eat n eat and sleep n sleep; Its the best thing to do, so why even bother to consider anything else.

Sapota would like to quote from Holy Lord Thin Lizzy, "Now some men like the fishin and some men like the fowlin And some men like ta hear a cannon ball a roarin, Me I like sleepin specially in my mollys chamber"........