C'est la vie... OR is it?

Ever felt you were in the wrong place at the wrong time?
I wake up with the feeling everyday..
Its a weird deja vu involving me living the same day over and over albeit wearing different clothes..
Picture me standing me in a spot, with the days and nights whizzing past me while i go through a series of clothes and hairstyles..
Did you get what I'm talking about?
OF course not..
We have no time to analyze our own life, let alone bother with someone else.
We're all running around in a little exercise wheel, i mean they don't call it a rat race for nothing..
Wake up, work, try to make the most of your evening, sleep, do it all over again..
Wash, rinse, repeat..
some people manage to fit a drink in there somewhere and call it a life..

Is this really why we evolved? to become a slave to ourselves? to live a life of routine and monotony? To earn money to be able to spent it on items and material goods the idiot box says we need?

We work hard, um, hardly work? nope, i think its work hard,
so yea, we work hard, to save up, to go on holiday/vacation, to get away from our work related stress..
Or let me put it this way,
We work hard, to party hard/get drunk/buy the best appliances to divert our mind from the fact that we work hard!!

Some of us do enjoy our job.. You lucky lucky bastards.. Hidden inside every one of the rest of us however is our dream job..
Me? I have a list of dream jobs, none of them practical.. Don't ask, don't tell..

Anyway, since this was originally supposed to have been a rant, I'll cut it short and abruptly end here.

What i play as a musician..

I've always feel suffocated in bands and i attribute a lot of it to my early years in music.. In college, due to an abundance of musicians, no one bothered to form a band. or rather, very rarely did a particular group stay the same till the next show..
Thus having played in various bands all through college, each one of us was exposed to different and diverse genres.. Me? I've played everything from Guns n roses to chuck berry to Satriani to well, Sean Paul, Hendrix, clapton, metallica,

So people will/should understand and excuse me from being difficult to work with..

I've compiled a simple list of musicians and bands that i wish to cover/play the style of..
Anyone with a list that matches mine is welcome to join forces..
OR maybe i'll just form a band a la flight of the conchordes..

The List...

Blink 182
Green Day
Rage Against the Machine
RHCp


Creed
Joe Satriani
Tommy Emmanuel
Andy Timmons
Toquinho


Van Halen
Guns n Roses
Kansas
Journey
Mr. Big / Paul Gilbert
Winger
Queen
The Who
Ac/Dc
U2
Jimi HEndrix
Metallica


Fourplay
Screaming Headless Torsos
Dave Matthews
Kings of Convience
Porcupine Tree
Jamiroquai
Police / Sting
Incubus
Eric Clapton
John Mayer

Do you know who you really are? Are you, you? Or are you someone else?

Who am I? The most under-hyped question of mankind.
We often drift through life subduing our true personalities in order to fit into a mould created by society. We go about our short life accusing each other of pulling on masks when the truth is, we all are the same. No person, however important they may be, behaves the same with everyone. We all are different around different people.
Even the most hardcore, seemingly emotionless person will have a soft corner towards someone.
Who are we really then? How do we recognize our true personality. The lines defining our masks are definitely blurry. We all have a central character, someone we wish other people perceive us as and we try to live up that..
And when DOES the mask wearing begin? when we first open our eyes? when we learn to talk? first mix with people other than family?

My point is simple..
In our ambition to be accepted or even recognized, we all pull on masks to the best of our ability in the process of which, we forget who we really are..
The rest of our life is just changing those masks over a faceless body as the need arises. We lose our true selves as soon as we are introduced to certain objectives and ideals we're supposed to live up to.

How can we change?
We can't.. If any of you remember your mental state at your time of innocence, congrats.. That is however, tougher than it seems. For as far as we can remember, values of prejudice, malice, jealously, hate and selfishness have been instilled into us.. Unwittingly by parents, teachers and even friends.

What now?
Try to have a definitive personality that does not waver? Not possible. You can however try to recognize all the influences in your life and weed out the negative ones. One of the biggest negative influences in India being that of racial prejudice.
If someone asks you to behave a particular way, take five minutes to reason with yourself if that what is being asked of you IS indeed practical. You are not sheep.
Well not all of us are anyway.

To sum things up, I'd like to say, Being yourself isn't as simple as people make it out to be. We often have to do things to appease other people, its perfectly human and natural. Just also learn to make up your own mind about things and not take someones word as the bible truth..

We should definitely learn from the experiences and mistake made by others, but sometimes that process tends to bypass the lesson you were supposed to have learnt from it..
You don't 'know' fire's hot until you've been burnt by it..

Knowing ourselves as consumers.. Do we adhere to herd mentality? Read on..

People are strange.. To a certain level, most of us are by nature, not very confrontational. That is not a bad trait in the least. Except that sometimes a lazy attitude towards certain issues have very serious long term implications.
We all believe in different perceptions of the same absolute truth.. That we perceive it differently only highlights our human weakness. That we refuse to acknowledge another person's perception of what we believe in highlights our human ego.
Issues like pollution and corruption are common knowledge. Well essentially know what the outcome of our wayward polluting ways is going to be. We've all watched that documentary starring Al Gore. Yet, none of us wishes to take a definitive stand.
We know that the burning fossil fuels are the rate we currently are will lead to the earth being submerged one day. Does the fact that we're not moving towards implementing a solution bring to light our inability at a personal level or the fact that we simply believe we're not going to be around to face the ultimate consequences? I've used the term "implementing a solution" only because solutions to fossil fuels pre-exist. Organizations like Big Oil prevent them from ever reaching a wider audience and its easy to see why.
We taught (*READ: brainwashed) through various sources of media right from the time we can speak to use oil instead of seeking pollution free alternatives. Don't believe me?
What practical sense does it make to own a gas guzzler in a crowded city like Mumbai?
Males are taught to associate power with manliness. Hence the apparent popularity of vehicles like the Hummer.. Why haven't concepts like solar and electric powered cars gained popularity? Why has Mumbai seen the release of the NANO before the release of the minicat by TATA? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_car) Simply because we as consumers refused to make wiser choices.
For the sake of the world, its time to shift from wanting to be "manly men" with bigger and more powerful polluting machines to being men with bigger and more powerful NON POLLUTING machines.

A day (30 minutes) in the Train.. ..

Traveling by the local train can be a thrilling experience. If you happen to live outside India, namely, Mumbai.. Standing on the platform, surrounded by men of all shapes and sizes give you a certain feeling of brotherhood.. A feeling of belonging.. You suddenly feel like a man of the land and one with the people.. That feeling however is soon dispelled when a train arrived and people starting punching each other to get a head start getting in..
The first train gets by faster than i could say "hey get off my foot you *@$%*&"..
Ahh well.. Some fool once said never wait for a train or women, another one always comes along.. That fool should be shot.. He didn't account for the fact that missing trains causes you to reach work late..
Few more trains get by without me even moving an inch closer to getting in any of them...
Some strange physics comes into play as every train draws closer.. There are always obviously more people than there is space, but as the train stops, suddenly a vacuum appears to form at the door of the train sucking every near it inside.. Everyone except me..
I finally did manage to get it though.. And with the rain related delays, only about 30 minutes after I got onto the platform. Not bad..
Inside was a totally different experience.. Got a full body massage, got introduced to a new scent, don't think you've heard of it yet, its called Wet Dog and also managed to learn a Micheal Jackson step.. You know the one where he tilts himself at a 45degree angle to the ground?

Good stuff..

Women in India... A classic cliche..

Now that I'm about to type this, i really wish i was better prepared.. Maybe there'll be a followup later..

L-O-V-E
Makes us all act in a way that goes against everything we believe in.. We do things we usually wouldn't be caught doing dead. Examples you ask? How about a chauvinistic male (the type who picks on 'not so chauvinistic males' for being weak) buying things like roses and candy..
Even the most manly man will subject himself to self confessed tortures like chick flicks, going shopping and waiting at the hair dressers.. And all in the name of love.. How truly wonderful.. Or is it because of the many ulterior motives men have? Hmm... Lets leave that alone for now..

Women.. act funny when they're in love.. They get obsessive and mushy. (for heavens sake women, im not generalizing! just talking about the ones who are like that) *phew.. Dodged a bullet there..
Women stand besides their men, Lie for him (no pun intended), steal for him and well, on occasion also kill for him, or at least some movies seem to imply.
Once a woman falls in love, she pretty much becomes dependent on him being there (mostly). She'll forgo her own self confidence and ego to let him be right.. He'll get away with a number of things that can sometimes even be illegal.. She'll let him cheat on her, beat her up, cheat on her again and beat her up once more.. And no I'm not talking about the rural women we see on the television. I'm talking about your average everyday lady that passes you on the road. It is estimated that about 50% of women in India have at one point physical abuse... Really? I think that number is greatly downplayed.. Only Half? I'm sure its more..
Is it really a matter of dependency? lost self confidence? the fear of being alone? All of the above? Or is it just a role women assume they have to play in traditional Indian society?

Personally, This isn't about "Oh my god how can anyone HIT a girl or woman!!!"
I mean, I'd personally slap the girl in the "How can she slap" video.. (Check my links)
I just think, when a person says he loves you, then has the audacity to subject you to physical or mental torture, You'd want to rethink your options..

All you women reading this, What are your views?
what would you do if you were ever a victim of physical abuse?
Shut up and take it? or leave the guy wondering why he's suddenly single...