The really AWESOME weekend, Part II: Back to the Summer of '69!

Bryan Adams. Live in Concert. A dream come true for many. Not so much for me, but certainly something I was looking forward to. And as the title suggests, it was awesome!

My growth curve since I started listening to English music was something like this:

Venga Boys --> Enrique --> Limp Bizkit --> The Rasmus --> Bryan Adams -->

Metallica --> Pearl Jam --> Pink Floyd

This is over a period of 15 years or more, so don’t be judgy :P. This is by no means the whole extent of my musical journey. I’ve only listed bands which were like, my favorites. Also, since we’re on the subject of musical tastes, I’m a huge fan of instrumental music and film scores, which I haven’t listed here.

So, anyway, my point is most of us have listened to Bryan Adams’ music at some point or the other. And a live concert is too good an opportunity to pass up! But as concert day approached, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to go, with my cast and all. I was also unsure about the match. In the end, I went to both :D.

Harry and I took an auto to Palace Grounds, where the concert was scheduled to take place. There was a bad traffic jam, it took us ages to get there. The name “Palace Grounds” evoked images of royal gardens with a beautiful palace in the backdrop, but it turned out to be a dusty enclosure with an entrance line a mile long. I limped along and finally managed to enter the venue.

Shiamak Davar performed the opening act. It seemed quite funny to me, an Indian “singer” singing popular English songs with a dance troupe performing “arty” poses on the stage.
Disappointing start? It would only get better!

Finally Bryan and his band started playing. What a performer! His enthusiasm was contagious, and before long the crowd was singing along and tapping their feet. He performed all the songs one could expect him too, that too with the energy of a teenager (he’s 51 btw, I just checked).

Good lighting and the really cool screen behind the stage gave the concert that extra feel.

The crowd obviously gave the most enthusiastic response when he played “Summer of ‘69”, which was quite brilliant. He almost went off the stage twice before chants of “We Want More” brought him back. He ended with a solo performance with a harmonica and all. I don’t remember the song’s name, but it was beautiful music.

The concert left me with a very good feeling. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to last long. It’s surprising how heavy the traffic can be at 11 pm when something’s happening. After looking and negotiating we finally found an auto. Four people stuffed in an auto with blaring Kannada music. That was enough to make me forget the Bryan Adams’ feel, but it was an experience in itself :P.

Of course we were starving by the time we got back, and resorted to the ever reliable chai-biscuit to contain our hunger.

But it was an amazing night, and an amazing weekend.

--

There’s not much point in trying to describe how I felt during the show when I can show you what I saw :D.

(Video Link)

The really AWESOME weekend, Part I: Glory, Glory Man United!

Manchester United’s Official Restaurant and Bar. There are only four of those in India. And one of them, right here in Bangalore!

I’d been looking forward to visiting the place right from day one in Bangalore. In fact, Harry and I had even made plans to go watch United’s FA Cup tie against Liverpool (it was our 3rd day here, and we had to join Juniper the very next day), but due to some miscommunication we couldn’t. Since then we’d been waiting for a match big enough that it warranted our spending money to watch it.

The day finally arrived. February 12, 2011: The Manchester Derby (Perhaps the most important derby of recent times, with a direct impact on the race for the title)! We’d marked our calendars long in advance, but with my foot broken and all (read this) I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to go. But as the event drew closer and its magnitude hit me, I decided that I would go, no matter what.

We reached the bar around an hour and a half before kickoff. There was a queue for entry, and most of the good tables were already taken. When we finally entered, a shiver of anticipation ran down my spine (and I was limping, of course. My leg was in a cast, remember?). The place was basically one huge room with cool names for every corner and ante-room, like “The Dugout” (That’s the only one I can remember :P). The walls were lined with cool United merchandise: jerseys, portraits, etc. The lighting was obviously the right shade of red. The main screen was huge. Like, HUGE. Unfortunately, the tables with the best views were already gone. We had two options: either we could sit in the dugout (outside the air-conditioned premises, with traffic noises, but a great view of the screen and pretty awesome seats), or on couches near the bar, where two smaller LCD screens were installed (comfortable seats, but we’d have crane our necks to watch the match properly). After much deliberation we chose the bar couches. We were soon joined by our companions for the evening (Ujjawal, his elder sister, and Pratik).

Highlights of old matches were being shown during the countdown to kickoff, and the crowd was getting excited. People were drinking beer, the atmosphere was quite festive. The ambiance started building up. I had a tremendous positive feeling that day. There was no way in hell United would lose! UNITED *clap, clap, clap*!

It only grew louder as the match kicked off, with the crowd applauding, cheering and jeering at just the right moments. I won’t bore you with too many details, but when Nani scored the opening goal the noise level went off the charts! It was brilliant! It was dark by this time too, and the feel of the place was beyond compare. Like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

I’d ordered a wrap (called WAG’s Choice lol) and a beer. In the second half, Harry and I ordered a Red Devil each (the bar’s signature cocktail). The food and drinks were good, though kind of on the expensive side. Oh, and the waitresses were pretty awesome. According to Harry, they had a very high CQ, and HQ is directly proportional to CQ. (FYI, HQ = Hotness Quotient and CQ = Chinki Quotient. No offense intended!)

When City equalized and United started to look vulnerable, the despair among the fans was palpable. We tried to rally behind the team by shouting slogans (I doubt they could hear us though :P). Then Wayne Rooney equalized out of the blue with a tremendous overhead kick (he concedes that it was the best goal of his career), and it was like the roof of the place would be blown away. There are no words to express the feel in those moments. It was pure awesome. Uberawestimate. ROONEY, ROONEY, ROONEY!

And then United hung on to take the points. As soon as the final whistle was blown, the celebrations started. The speakers blared out “Glory, Glory Man United” and everyone was dancing around, high-fiving each other. Again, pure awesome! It was almost as if we were at Old Trafford, but of course I don't know (yet) how that feels.

A couple had tequila fireshots, poured directly into their mouths by Berbatov. I’m definitely trying that sometime!

I’m trying hard to imagine what would happen there if United lost a match. I hope I never have to find out :D.

---

Link to Facebook album!

Hello, Bangalore!

Bangalore.

Our Rajdhani Express finally pulled into the station, 44 hours after it had started from Delhi. It took so long, that we could’ve flown back and forth 9 times! The gradual shedding of the many layers of clothes was remarkable. There we were, tired, frustrated, and with tonnes of luggage. We barely managed to fix a reasonably-priced place to crash at. But we’d finally arrived!

We spent the next day looking for prospective accommodations. We must have walked 10 kilometers that day! All futile, though. Eventually we decided to stay on at the place we’d originally landed. There are not many good PGs in Bangalore.

We joined Juniper on 10th January. It was a Monday. We were introduced to our managers and shown where we would be sitting. The foosball tables and coffee machines we found ourselves :P. The very same day, we ended up at UB City (For those who don’t know, UB = United Breweries = Dr Vijay Mallya). As you can imagine, it was fawsome! All the luxury brands you can think of (all out of reach obviously), a tremendous open air food court, and breathtaking ambience.
Anyway, back to Juniper. Our systems were set up in a couple of days, and most of us were given stuff to study. Most of us are still studying (ahem-ahem), and only in the past few days have we started getting actual work. In the meanwhile, most of us have become quite proficient at foosball, table tennis, and spending long hours in the cafeteria.

The atmosphere here is quite chilled out. No restrictions, no logging, flexible hours, friendly mentors and good facilities.

We got our first paychecks on 28th January. Everyone seemed to be quite happy, but once again I felt I got something for nothing. Maybe I’ll be happier next month when I’ll actually have done something :D.

Shifting the emphasis from ‘we’ to ‘I’ :P.
It’s been a month in Bangalore. I’ve been out a few times, watched a couple of movies (finally, a good 3D screen!), made an awesome plan with Gunjeet to watch 3 movies in a day, seen that plan fail because of a Karnataka bandh (believe me, when there’s a bandh in Karnataka, there’s a bandh in Karnataka), missed out on a trip to Nandi Hills, and broken my ankle.

Coming to Bangalore marked a major change in my life. I believe whenever there’s a change in life, big or small, it presents you with an opportunity to change yourself. When you’re in a new situation, you’ll react in a new way. And it’s up to you how you react. I’d made a lot of plans, there were a lot of things I was going to do. Some of those things I have been able to do. I’ve started shaving (even cut myself once), washing my own clothes, and being more confident about myself. Other, perhaps more important things, I haven’t been able to do. I’m still doing some of the things I’ve been doing for ages, and ideally shouldn’t be doing (like watching movies, TV shows, and playing FIFA like crazy). But that’s how life is. It’s never ideal.

So, did I like Bangalore?
Well, there are some things I really liked (for example, the bus service), and some things I didn’t like (I miss home, and Delhi’s winter chill). I’d heard many stories about how awesome Bangalore is, and how NCR is boring when compared to Bangalore, but I think NCR is pretty awesome too.
Oh, and a simple answer: Yes, I liked Bangalore.

Cheers!

--

PS: For those of you who were reading carefully, yes, my ankle’s broken. It’s not fractured, but there’s severe sprain and ligament damage. It’s in a cast, and that’s really irritating.
But wait till you hear how I twisted it. I was running for a bus. Which was just standing there, waiting. When I fell, the driver gave me a look that almost said “I wasn’t going anywhere, you fool”. LOL!