Estaba viendo las estadísticas de mi blog, muy culeras para ser verdad, pero pues es un blog de culto y solo un grupo muy pequeño de personas lo conocen. El caso es que estaba viendo la grafica del mes de Noviembre y en realidad La Tolonga tuvo un Orgasmo. Y creo que se lo dio el video porno de Sabrina, ya que ese día se dispararon las visitas.

Si no saben como funciona el orgasmo o los libros de biología que les dieron estaban editados por la Iglesia, el grafico de a continuación les explicara el orgasmo de La Tolonga.

I want to go hot and heavy with you,
I’d like to do that for a while,
It’s all because of what I see you do,
When you’re all alone, and you stroke
As you smile, and I’m smiling too
Hiding in your closet, panties on my face
Draped from forehead to chin, your
Fingers they play, and your fingers go in,
And I’m sniffing the musk that you
Made with your minge, and as you climax
Sweet darling, I make my appearance,
You lean yourself back on the bed
Right next to my penis: I hover above you,
My dick dangles down, while the shit
That I shoot sprays from waist to
Your crown, now you’re lumpy and brown.

Hey everybody! Welcome to another edition of Daily Tunage. Today we have some electro for you guys on the inf. category, thanks to a french DJ called Danger. This is the kind of electronic/house music we need these days. I give you 19h11, if you wanna learn more about the name of the song, it’s a custom that this guy made by naming his mixes and tunes as the hours in which he wrote ‘em. Enjoy!

People tend to give sex many different interpretations, spanning from the mere physical satisfaction of masturbation to the deepest feelings when enjoying it with the ones they love. Speaking with people one would be brought to think that roughly all men and women are so good at it and that they all enjoy a very satisfactory sexual life. However, digging a little under the crust of appearances, there is a darker truth that rarely emerges.

Finding – and being – a good lover is far from being a straight forward matter. In my life’s experience as a heterosexual male, I found that women are mostly a plain vanilla sex experience. Before someone starts thinking that I am blaming the category, I shall highlight that in my opinion men and women develop interest toward sex depending much on how they experience it throughout their life. There are of course some exceptions of people unbelievably hot and others hopelessly cold but these are in my experience exceptions rather than a rule.

The bottom line is that sex must be desired. There must be passion and complicity for it to be better than masturbation or a vanilla experience. Although orgasms are important – fundamental for some people – it is not just about getting to climax and having an orgasm. It’s about the interest and pleasure that can be felt by satisfying a partner and by progressively bringing him/her to new highs. This will yield in return satisfaction and enjoyment.

Vários personagens.

Coloca-los num mesmo contexto. Ainda não o fiz. Mas já fiz um teste de esquetes onde citava o texto da Reconstituição, Au Gratan (Ambos de Elisa Lucinda), O Churrasco e o Lixo (Luis Fernando Veríssimo). E mesno no Churrasco e no Lixo tem mais de 1 personagem.

Onde são expressados e caracterizados de forma diferenciada.

Primeira lição. Você não é você.

Demora a aprender. Mas é fácil de compreender. Quando criamos um personagem, de fato o personagem não somos nós. Ou pensa como nós. Por isso vestimos o que o personagem é. Quando faço o homem de o Lixo era de fato quer para os finalmente com a mulher do 612. Mas ao meu ver, que sou um pouco timido levaria mais um tempo para tentar conhece-la. Mesmo que a moral da história esteja: Eles já se conheciam pelo lixo. Mas esta é a armadilha.

Você não é o homem do 610. Você é o interprete. E sua visão por ele não deve encabeçar a encenação. Por exemplo, onde já se viu um Romeu que odeia Julieta e ama a Maria? Ao ver de Romeu, ele esta perdido por Julieta e ama até a ultimas consequências. Em nossa, visão, talvez ele fosse burro. Mas para efeitos de encenação, isso não importa. O que importa é que façamos o Romeu tal como existe, co-existe e acredita ser.

Segunda lição. O personagem também não é você.

Espera-se que ao terminar um personagem. Ele deixe no palco. Senão vai acontecer a sindrome do drácula. O personagem não é você, e tampouco você é ele. Existem diferenças nesta afirmação.

a) Você não é personagem em caracter e ação

b) O personagem não é seu ponto de vista

Terceira lição. Expressa-se cada personagem.

O Eu em si deixa de existir no palco. É como uma dissertativa. De fato, é contado o que realmente é, e não como realmente vemos. O tu e eles é que entram a idéia do personagem.

a) É o mesmo interpretar um personagem como o Martin McFly (De volta para o futuro) como Xander Harris (Buffy, a série)?

b) É o mesmo dinamizar uma cena em que é dança e outro é bailar característico?

c) É o mesmo interpretar um velho rancinza, e um adolescente chato?

De fato que as letras (a,b,c) são de longe dificeis de serem respondidas. Cada qual podemos definir pontos em comum:

a) São adolescentes, vivendo experiências extraordinárias, possuindo papeis ativos e são normais.

b) São tipos de dança, um confere a dança como coreografia primária (Ballet, tango e etc) e  segunda confere uma expressão corporal temporária.

c) Os dois são seres humanos, possuem o mesmo temperamento.

Mas o que diferencia? O modo de ver de cada um deles. Daí é que se realiza um laboratório e se completa o personagem.

Exercício: A loucura (Texto por Rafael Junqueira)

Num manicômio encontra-se três loucos sentados ao redor de uma mesa na sala de recreação. Todas as portas estão seladas. E os três loucos pretendem fugir.

(Você deverá fazer os três loucos, são pessoas diferentes)

- Então? Vamos hoje? Louco 1

- Vamos agora. Louco 2

- Agora ou daqui a pouco? Louco 3

- Agora. Daqui a pouco foi ontem. Louco 1

- Passamos por aquele guarda dali. Louco 2

- Não. Aquele guarda é perigoso demais. Louco 3

- Então vamos por aquele outro. – Louco 1

- Aquele é mais perigoso que outro guarda. Louco 3

- Por qual guarda passamos? Só tem 2. – Louco 2

Os três ficam pensativos.

- Você podia enganar um, e eu o outro. Enquanto você escapa. – Louco 1

- Certo. Concordo. Louco 2

O louco 1 e 3 distraem os dois guardas. Enquanto o louco 2 escapa.

- E agora? Só sobrou nós dois. Como faremos para enganar os guardas? Louco 2

- Esperaremos amanhã pela volta de nosso amigo. Louco 1

- É verdade, havia me esquecido disso. Louco 3

Dicas:

• Crie o personagem
• Elabore o que é louco
• O comum do louco é …. ?
• O que cada louco passa?
• Crie a cena: Entrada de cena, permanência, saída de cena.
• Qual é o estímulo de cena?
• Faça as perguntas de Constant Stanislavski – O quê? Por quê? e Como?

Fonte: Aulas na escola Zaira Zambelli (http://www.cursosdeteatro.com/)

Michelle Thompson suffers from Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome – a medical condition that can give her 300 orgasms a day.

Michelle says she constantly craves sex and can climax anywhere at any time *** (She had to give up work in a biscuit factory because the vibration from the machines set her off.)

Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome has ruined Michelle’s love life – men finding it difficult to keep up with her.

Having worn several out with overuse she has finally found happiness with her next-door neighbour.

Thirty two yr old Andrew Carr has managed to keep his end up so far (he and Michelle making love around 10 times a day) but it’s early days yet – they’ve only been at it for 6 months.

Source . . .

*** ‘constantly craves sex and can climax anywhere at any time’ – Jeez, I think I’ve got this Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome

Here is the album review I promised on my twitter yesterday!  Before I start, once again I want to thank you all for supporting my blog, both my music reviews and my personal entries.  I really appreciate all the views and I hope that you’ll keep it locked here because I ain’t stoppin’! Thankyou.

You already know what I think of Russian Roulette, and the other 3 songs we’ve heard already from Rated R.  Generally, they portray a darker, edgier side to Rihanna, both in the production (deeper, more menacing beats) and lyrical content that includes a bit of cursing, a lot of swagger and references to pain, trials and tribulations.  ”Russian Roulette”, “Wait Your Turn” and “Hard” are more or less indicative of the album as a whole.  In contrast to her previous smash Good Girl Gone Bad, it’s a lot less uptempo.  The songs are mainly midtempos and ballads, which may alienate a lot of fans who want her faster, danceable material (though “Hard” and “Rude Boy” cater to these needs, and do so well with swagger lyrics – the latter seeing Rihanna come on to a ‘rude boy’ as if she were the guy who is gonna “put it on you”).  However, the slower material allows for two major things: one, to prove that Rihanna can actually sing.  Okay, she’s no Beyoncé, but she holds her own a lot better than many people might expect.  ”Russian Roulette” and closing standout “The Last Song” don’t employ lots of vocal runs, but they emphasise strong, clear vocals that prove Rihanna’s got a voice as well as a body – btw. the artwork for this era is immense! – and also go well with the more emotionally searching and vulnerable material.  Two, it allows for Rihanna to delve into her pain, and although it’s never made explicit that she’s referencing her love, abuse and love lost with Chris Brown, songs such as “Stupid In Love” and the epic “Cold Case Love” immediately bring that whole affair to mind.

Not every song is concerned with love lost.  ”Te Amo” is about a girl who’s infatuated with Rihanna, and its undulating beats have been beefed up slightly on the album version to make it more hypnotic and possibly (along with “Rude Boy”) the song that would have slotted in nicely on Good Girl Gone Bad.  ”Rockstar 101″ is backed up by Slash’s guitar work and like “Hard” and “Wait Your Turn”, it demonstrates Rihanna’s confidence in herself – something she perhaps wants to emphasise.  She is fierce!  However, compared to some of the other tracks, “Rockstar 101″ falls somewhat flat, as it doesn’t have as much depth as the emotionally-charged midtempos, nor does it ring as true as the harder-knocking songs.  It does demonstrate that Rihanna is not an urban artist – she’s a pop singer who encompasses a range of music. On this album, she combines elements of rock, pop, R&B and melds them together to create a dark album that works for the most part.  And credit goes to her for trying to improve on each album – like Good Girl Gone Bad, the amount of filler on the disc is fairly minimal (in contrast to her first two records) and she’s tried to do something different that has evolved as she has as a person.  So I must applaud that.

A couple of the ballads such as “Stupid In Love” and “Photographs” (which benefits from will.i.am’s synthed beats that kick in midway) are perfectly solid, but pale in comparison to the best tracks.  These are, in a nutshell, first single “Russian Roulette”, “Fire Bomb”, “G4L”, “Cold Case Love” and “The Last Song”.  These all work because Rihanna is putting herself out there vocally and emotionally.  The producers do a fantastic job (praise must go in particular to Justin Timberlake and The Ys’ work on “Cold Case Love”, which shows a gradual building of beatboxing, standard beats, guitars and strings to an epic climax that fades out by itself and underline Rihanna’s pain at a love misfired – “Release me now ’cause I did my time”) more or less throughout, but Rihanna herself carries the songs.  ”Fire Bomb” has been compared to something by Kelly Clarkson, but in my opinion it knocks much harder and is a compelling contrast to expectations – most people would expect a club banger from the title, when in fact it’s a slow pop/rock ballad which essentially says “if I’m going down in flames, you’re coming with me”.  ”G4L” is one of the darkest songs which shows Rihanna pledging to be “down 4 life”, ride or die until the end.  The off-key tweaks at the beginning signal something mysterious, and the lyric “I lick the gun when I’m done ’cause I know that revenge is sweet” is one of the best opening salvos I can remember.  The track brings to mind the tiny gun tattoos on the sides of Rihanna’s breasts, demonstrating that even if she may be a sweet person on the surface, she’s also a strong and determined one – her attitude is reflected in her music as much as her body art.

“The Last Song” was the track that stood out to me most from listening to the 30-second snippets, and it doesn’t disappoint – it’s a perfect closer to the album, not only in name but in texture also.  It employs a soaring guitar and heartwrenching lyrics, chronicling the realisation of a breakup.  ”The sad song ends up being the last song you’ll ever hear.”  Rihanna’s spare vocals almost seem to cry the lyrics throughout the track, and the buildup throughout the song until near the end where all the instruments fade out is done perfectly.  Rihanna said that she wanted Lil’ Wayne and Kings Of Leon to like her album, demonstrating her desired blend of urban and rock. The album is definitely a mélange of styles, but apart from “Hard”, I don’t see enough hip-hop for Weezy to connect with, and the rock elements are nowhere near as indie-pop as Kings Of Leon.  However, the soaring guitars provide something edgier and deeper within the context of a pop album, and the hard-hitting beats and synths knock plenty – the combination of which provide something quite extraordinary and special within itself.  Rihanna should be proud of this record.

Rated R has a focused aggression to it that rings truer than it did on Good Girl Gone Bad. Despite the lack of uptempo smashes, it’s a fantastic record that hopefully will have as much repeat-play value as her previous record.  Whether it’s because of her personal struggles, maturity as a young woman or desire to experiment musically (probably a combination of all three), Rated R shows growth.  I pray that her label doesn’t re-release the album, since it’s perfect as it is and comes across as something sincere, rather than designed to make money as a light pop confection.  Why I’m impressed with Rated R, beyond the simple fact that most of the songs are solid or better, is because it’s cohesive.  All the songs work together to make the album more than the sum of its parts.  It has a big emotional impact, and it sets a musical mood (dark, edgy and yet heartfelt) that doesn’t let up throughout – in her own words, from “Hard”, “that Rihanna rain/reign”.  I didn’t know if she had it in her to best Good Girl Gone Bad, but even if it doesn’t have as many number 1 smashes and addictive beats, Rated R is a musical step forward that I personally value that little bit more.

A free concert ends a year of celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of Swansea becoming a city…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: city streets. The blog is also related to: best cities.

Beyonce made an Anthem  Calling all the Single Ladies in the beginning of her song, bringing them to attention, then telling the men in their lives, “if you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it”.   “Whoa uh oh!”  the problem with this advice is,  she is down with test driving the merchandise which cheapens it.   Let me let you in on a little secret… Guys and Gals,  pull up a chair and perk your little ears up.  When you want to get a car you test drive it, because it’s a car, and you use a car.  Notice I said USE,  you USE a car, I know the correct word is drive, and ride,  but I don’t want your minds to fall over in the gutter on me.  So how do you keep your sanity and stay holy in this world of Fornication, Masturbation, Pornography, Bisexuality, Homosexuality, Metrosxuality, Bicuriosity and everything else in between.  Oh I am so glad you asked.  You see The bible says that, “A man that findeth a wife findeth a good thing…”  OK Ladies so what is that telling you?  Number one,  if you are out hunting for Mr. Right then you are Wrong!  It’s Ok to make yourself available,  dress yourself up,  but don’t put yourself in situations that will simply get you in trouble.  As a minister I have heard several  excuses when someone ends up pregnant like….”I don’t know how this happenend”.  When I hear that I don’t know whether to give a short class on human sexuality, or chuckle at the vision in my head of the unlucky couple somehow slipping on a magically appearing patch of ice, and his and her pants simultaneously falling down and their genitals falling into each other as well.  What an amazing set of circumstances.  People ask me all the time,  “do you date?” and I answer,  “No”. But I also give them this explanation… As an unmarried woman,  my father, as long as he is living sits as the priest over my life,  if a man would like to date me,  then he must let his intentions be known to him.  We can talk on the phone but if he wishes to take me somewhere, my father must talk to him first.  Well Not long ago this happened, and after exchanging numbers I talked with this man for about a week on the phone then he asked me out so I gave him my fathers number.  Him being a Christian found that to be acceptable, so my father spoke with him,  and immediately told me to cut off all communications with him.  I asked him why, and my father told me that the man was married, and was going through a difficult divorce.  This information was not known to me,  but my father gave him a man to man talk, and  got that information out of him.  Now have I always submitted to my father this way?  No,  when I was in the military I wasted a lot of time dating knuckle heads who only wanted one thing and thankfully I wasn’t a whore but I still wasted a lot of time with them going to clubs and ruining my reputation drinking, smoking and crazy stuff like that.  So now I wait for the right man to come, and when he does I will once again let my father decide, and then we will court each other by spending very little time alone with each other instead I will bring my sister along as  a Chaperone or have other friends along.  I will invite him to church and we will meet in very public places like parks and restaurants.  This is what my brother and his wife did for about a year.  After that was done they stayed apart for about two weeks and fasted asking God for his guidance concerning marriage,  then they talked to their pastors.  Finally my brother asked her mother, and father for her hand in marriage, which is the proper biblical way to do it.  They have been married many years now and have had very few problems,  they did not practice premarital sex and they and I believe in the vows when it says to the groom “Now you may kiss the bride” .  Their is a reason for that folks.  If you save that special kiss and embrace, and all that goes with it for marriage,  it makes things go so much better.  It is a trick of the enemy to send people down the slippery slope of Pornography, fornication and masturbation before marriage because these three things alone are some of the biggest marriage killers.  They train you before your marriage to be intimate with only yourself,  and total strangers or vile images in your head.  When you are with your spouse,  your brain will not know  how to make love,  it will only know  how to do what is saw in the images that are seen in magazines and movies.  Your spouse can’t turn you on because he or she isn’t an acrobat and can’t stand on their head or have 50 climaxes.  Your spouse can’t compete with the man in the picture because he is not built like a horse.  If you practiced the sin of fornication or premarital sex with your spouse you are then tempted with adultery as fornication with others has created soul ties with other people which according to scripture…. you lay with them, you are one with them, then you are married and tied,  you have to ask God to divorce that person out of your marriage, or a constant comparison will occur in the bedroom. You will have a real tug of war on your hands,  your spouses soul  tie on your heart pulling one way, and the ties made previously to another, or several others pulling in the opposite direction, creating a deadly love triangle.  With the premarital sex,  the honey moon is a joke and a waste of money,  couples end up arguing the whole time due to the  guilt of wasting time, and money,  because they know they are doing nothing,  but what they been doing all along,  who do they think they fooling.  Then there is the abomination of bisexuality,  homosexuality and bicuriosity this is an abomination because the bible said it was.  He destroyed the civilizations of Sodom and Gomorrah because of that sin,  it goes against the very nature that God has set in place.  The bible said in the last days that men would be lovers of their own flesh instead of lovers of God (paraphrased).  God’s revulsion for sexual sin and homosexuality is repeated all throughout the book of Roman’s read it in your free time.  In conclusion,  I just want to say,  to all the singles in the struggle,    from one single to another,  just know that you are complete and whole if you have a personal and real relationship with God.  Having a mate will not complete you only complement you!

~Anointed

- by Prasanna Singh :: May 30 2007

It’s a hot and humid Tuesday afternoon – John, Ludo and I meet up at Ruby and hitch a cab ride to Sealdah station. Taxi-rides are pretty uneventful in Kolkata, but not when you are traveling with two crazy members from CASSINI’s DIVISION who spend their time bugging each other. I get my first taste of Ludo’s “Astronaut – Ass” mantra, and it leaves me totally perplexed! But what leaves me more dumbfounded is when Ludo gets down somewhere near Moulali to buy cigarettes from a shop that sells car batteries!!! (An honest mistake, I know!)

The journey hasn’t even begun and yet the signs are ominous – this is going to be one helluva mad-cap journey!

Rahul and Sookie are already at the station by the time we reach. The Rajdhani is on time and we find our compartment. Unfortunately our seats seem to be scattered all over, so after stuffing our luggage on board, we spend the initial part of the journey keeping to ourselves.

I spend my time reading the manual of my digital camera, but I don’t make much headway since the instructions are all Greek to me.

Sookie busies himself by making himself mammoth cup after mammoth cup of coffee.
John gets down to stringing his bass guitar.
Ludo chats with a few co-passengers who are excited to be traveling on the same train as a pony-tailed rock musician.
Rahul? Oh he’s busy reading. He finishes 2 magazines before dinner-time, and then promptly starts reading a collection of fantasy short-stories, absolutely oblivious to the leg-pulling going on between the other three.

And in between all the above we do a lot of munching and crunching – the stewards on the Rajdhani spend a whole lot of time feeding us. We burp our way through the initial part of the train ride.

We also get together in between the munching and crunching to discuss the current rock scene in Kolkata and also about Someplace Else. This is never a cheery topic, and despite the recent success of Cassini’s Division (** touchwood **), Rahul reminds the other band-members that it will always be a struggle for bands in Kolkata, regardless of them being “THE HOBOS or LOS LOBOS”!
And so the journey continues…

Dinner is soon served – and it’s chicken curry. However my advice to all of you

would be to avoid it all costs the next time you travel by Rajdhani. Not unless you wish to spend a night of stomach clutching and loo running!! Seriously – by the next day 4 of us are feeling quite miserable and we blame the chicken for our plight. But that is another story.

There isn’t much to do after dinner, so I decide to go to sleep despite it being only 10 PM. The others spend their time in more productive ways no doubt. My last memory before I conk off is that of John meditating on his bunk and Ludo swigging away at rum concealed in a bottle of Coke.

May 31st, 2006
Morning. The train is running late by a bit. Ludo is still sleeping. The others are up however. Well actually, it seems like Rahul, Sookie and John couldn’t sleep a wink, so they were technically up the whole night. Rahul is also worried that his guitar might have faced irreparable damage after spending a night under John’s and Sookie’s guitar flight cases. They debate about that for the next 10 minutes till morning tea is served.

After tea I pass on my METAL HAMMER magazine to Rahul, the pages of which he starts flipping through gleefully. Sookie busies himself by brewing another killer cup of coffee. After a nice breakfast I suddenly experience one of those weird Manipuri mood-swings and start yelling and swearing in Bengali, much to the embarrassment of John.

After an hour or so of my torture we finally reach New Delhi.

Delhi! Whew!! What can I tell you – man, it’s burning HOT in our capital city. And hello??? NO humidity you say? Woh! My 1st 10 minutes here tell me that it’s almost as bad as Kolkata.
Anyway, we all bundle into a cab and head for Patparganj (located on the other side of the Yamuna river) – the residence of Rose and Lena (John’s sister). On the way we ask the cabbie to take us to the nearest booze shop. But the guy can’t seem to stop grinning as he informs us that liquor shops in Delhi DO NOT OPEN BEFORE 1 PM!!!!!

WHAT???? What kinda weird debauched system is this???? We are so stunned (well me and Ludo at least… Rahul keeps on saying “I told you so, I told you so”) that we don’t utter a single word during the journey. I am already starting to miss good ‘ol Kolkata – at least things are a lot more NORMAL back home!

We finally reach our destination – we are tired, and sweaty, and hungry. And our stomachs don’t feel good either (courtesy: last night’s chicken curry dinner). Anyway it’s great to be inside the comfort of a well-furnished apartment. Lena and Rosamma are both at work, but they have left a load of instructions on a piece of paper for us – food in the kitchen, eggs in the fridge, don’t use the 2nd tap on the left, turn on the A/C, yadda yadda yadda.

They both make their appearances after an hour or so – and Lena brings along some beer and wine and a bottle of whiskey for me. God bless her. I am introduced to the 2 ladies as “the fan from Kolkata” – and I don’t know whether I should be proud of that intro, or whether I should behave like a dancing bear and show them some stunts! Anyway!

After some much needed rest we all feel re-energised. Ludo and Sukanti go out to meet a friend of theirs (Mainak). Rahul seems to be in a major artistic mood and he spends the entire evening strumming Rose’s guitar and making notes in his diary. I finally get over my initial shyness and start behaving like the crazy Manipuri that I am, much to the delight of Lena and Rose. John doesn’t know whether he should shut my mouth with scotch tape or run away. The whiskey is definitely not making things any better.

We end the day with some more astounding Delhi facts – courtesy Ludo and Sookie… it seems that cigarette shops in this city all shut-down by 11 PM. But not so the ice-cream wallahs – they roam the streets at night selling their wares to the ice-cream starved citizens of our capital city, and people actually seem to buy these icicles even at the ungodly hour of 1 AM!!!

Boy what a weird city this is.

1st June, 2006
The bus to Dhanaulti is in the evening, so we have a lot of time to kill. Unfortunately the oppressive heat discourages us from going out for a city stroll. So we spend the day inside – and Rahul plays his new conceived tunes for the other band members. Needless to say, they sound awesome. He also jots down some real cool lyrics for these tunes in the wink of an eye – and voila, a new Division song!!

The band gets into the thick of things now, and come up with some other cool tunes for possible new songs. They also discuss strategies for their new album. It feels really nice to be a part of these discussions – especially when they ask me for my, AHEM, opinion!

We also spend a bit of time listening to the songs on my mp3 player – the guys like the new BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and DISTURBED song on it. We talk about LACUNA COIL and LINKIN PARK. And also about one of Sukanti’s favourite bands, SLIPKNOT.

Meanwhile John is walking around the house in his socks the whole day, something we cannot understand for the life of us. I assume that it’s some kinda fetish thingie… can’t be anything else.

We go out in the evening for some provision hunting – namely mineral water and medicine (avomin for me) and cigarettes too. I also need some whiskey and John needs black-nail polish. So me and Ludo and John go hunting for those as well. After much rickshaw hopping and “astronauting” we find our stuff. And by the end of our little outing Ludo has labeled all the shop keepers of Patparganj as “astronauts” … poor Delhites!

John and Sookie make a few phone calls and find out that our bus is to depart at 8:30 PM and not 6:30, as we had been initially informed. We also get a few calls from RSJ who are delighted that the band has arrived in tip-top shape for the Sunday gig at CLIMAX – part of RSJ’s much publicized month-long “Pub Rock” festival happening in Delhi.

Anyway, the time for “Destination Dhanaulti” approaches. We set off for the bus start-zone. It’s a nice bus and besides us there are members and friends of the bands Advaita and Vishnu… a few others too, whose band names I don’t remember. We manage to get front seats – Sookie and Ludo initially sit in the cabin beside the driver. After a quick roll-call the driver revs up the engine – and we are OFF to Dhanaulti.

I spend the initial part of the journey sleeping and occasionally swigging whiskey from my hip flask. Ludo swigs away with me as well. Everyone seems pretty excited – old pals meeting up and swapping manly jokes in the rear section of the bus, others are busy smoking the night away.

We stop at a nice dhaba for dinner in between the journey – and after dinner the bus driver (who is pretty much drunk) decides to make our journey more exciting. For some weird reason he decides to start the journey without half the passengers who are still at the dhaba having their meal! After much shouting and cussing he drives back to pick up the rest of guys. And then after another restart he has to stop again – this time John has left his cell-phone behind at the dhaba!

2nd June, 2006
It’s way past midnight and yet none of us can sleep – mister bus driver is driving as if he’s being pursued by a T-Rex. The bus swerves dangerously from one lane to the other, barely avoiding lorries and other buses approaching from the opposite lane. We also notice the guy nodding off at the wheel!

Everyone is on the edge of their seats now – I keep on remind myself that this ain’t no scene from Keanu Reeves’ “SPEED”!!

Anyway, after much hollering and swearing we wake up the driver’s assistant who has been ‘till now, sleeping like a baby! Asshole!! And we also force the driver to take an impromptu tea-break. In fact we all need a tea-break as well, after that hair-raising experience!

The rest of the journey goes on peacefully – Ludo wakes me up at around 3:30 AM when we are passing through Haridwar. I personally am not a fan of places of pilgrimage, but in this case it is absolutely awesome viewing this holy town in the early hours. The air is getting slightly nippy too, a sure-shot sign that the mountains are close by.

We arrive at Dehra Dun at the break of dawn. I love the look of this town – reminds me a lot of Shillong, one of my favouritest places on this planet.

Anyway, the first part of our trip ends at Dehra Dun. We are asked to board another (much smaller) bus for the 2nd and final leg of our journey. And this we do… up and up we go – the air starts getting cooler with every passing minute. And I am mesmerized by the view of the mountains and green around me – it’s great to be up in the hills again!

Most of the passengers are either sleeping or staring groggily at the mountains like zombies. Actually, so am I!!

There is a huge box full of milk packets on the bus as well, and a few of these packs suddenly decide to make this sleepy journey more exciting by leaking all over the front of the bus. In no time we have milk all over the floor and the bus starts to smell like a diary product. Anyway this hiccup, we finally reach Dhanaulti – as the bus parks in front of Andiji’s “Evolving Restaurant” I get my first glimpse of our host Andy Baines – a tall gentleman with a huge mop of “dreadlocked” hair and an extremely warm smile. Ajay Ramola, his assistant shows us our rooms – I decide to bunk in with Rahul and John for the time being.

After a quick wash-up we all decide to go have brunch – it is almost 11 AM, and the band is supposed to be playing in the evening. After a hearty helping of aloo parathas and double omlettes we all head back to our rooms, where the others decide to catch up on their sleep. I decide to take a warm bath instead but am horrified to see that none of the locks on the bathroom door work!! And ditto in the other room as well. To soak or not to soak?? Well I choose the former with much trepidation!

By the time evening approaches the gang is as fresh as daisies. I’m pretty much amazed that anybody got any sleep though – the sound system has been blaring non-stop since noon and it’s been driving me bonkers.

Anyway, we hop over to Andy’s joint, where Ajay hands out our entry cards for the show. The venue, by the way, is in the back-yard of Andy’s restaurant – a nice comfy area which seems capable of hosting 100-150 odd people – but not more. The previous edition of “Dhanaulti Rocks” was held on a grander scale, but none of the bands seem disappointed with this year’s venue as a whole. We stand around and check out the guys from Vishnu who are going through the motions of their sound check.

The sound… hmm. 1st impression – not too good. Me and the band have a quick cuppa tea and head back for a pre-show meeting in our room. Strategies are chalked out and a rough song-list for the show is assembled. Everyone is pretty relaxed, and the general consensus is that if the band can play good at a pub the size of Someplace Else back home in Kolkata, then the sound over at Andy’s shouldn’t be much of a deterrent for a good show. And I have to agree with them.

We soon hear Bobby Cash dishing out his country songs to the Dhanaulti crowd from our hotel room. Rahul decides to go check him out and we all follow him down to the venue as well.

Bobby Cash! Wow! I never really liked him much but after watching his performance tonight I have to admit that he’s one helluva artiste and an extremely talented guitarist as well. It was a fascinating show. At one point during his performance there is a power outage, but he’s totally nonchalant and continues playing despite.

Vishnu is up next. And they don’t waste any time in churning out their collection of Guns ‘n Roses covers, with a few Iron Maiden ones in between. Pretty cool show they put up.

We take a quick rain-check before their show ends – the guys go back to their rooms for a final round of preparation – and it’s a pretty funny sight watching them get dolled up before their show!!!

John takes out his “FAMOUS” McLaren jacket from his bag. And despite the constant leg-pulling from Sookie and Ludo, he decides to wear it on stage anyway. And he also busies himself with painting his finger-nails black and applying kohl to his eyes. His objective seems to be to look as gothic as possible during the show.

Rahul can’t decide whether to wear a sweater on stage, or his “99.9% Evil” tee-shirt over his sweater. In the end he chooses neither and puts on his “Wasted” full-sleeve jumper.

Sookie takes a quick rush to the loo and comes out grinning like a Cheshire cat after a few minutes. I presume he’s been downloading.

Ludo takes a few more swigs from my hip flask – and cracks a couple of “Chewing-Doing” jokes which irritates everyone no end.

Finally we are all ready – the band that is. We carry the equipment down to the venue and wait for Vishnu’s cover of IronMaiden’s “Invaders” to get over.

I help the guys put their toys on stage and select a strategic point for myself so that I can shoot pictures of the band in peace. The crowd has kinda thinned after the Vishnu show – I see a few excited (and possibly drunk) American tourists jumping up and down in front of the stage. Vivek Mattoo, a fan of Cassini’s Division joins me as well. This guy is a true member of the CD underground army – he’s from Simla but works in Noida, and he’s bunked a day’s work just to see the band play live. I tell him about the band’s new sound and he’s absolutely on tenterhooks, waiting for the show to start.

And then the music begins!!!

The band initially plan to dish out a few covers (as an unofficial sound-check) becoz they aren’t too sure about the quality of sound. So they start off with Dashboard Confessional’s “VINDICATED” but I cannot hear Sookie’s lead AT ALL! And the vocals sound like someone is singing in Paris and not in Dhanaulti. But the song goes down well with the sparse crowd.

R.E.M.’s “IMITATION OF LIFE” is up next – the band sounds a bit better now (after Andy has done some knob-twiddling no doubt) – so plan-B comes into picture – a full-fledged assault of Cassini’s originals for the crowd!!

Drown, Only For A While, Higher, Stay… they all come in quick succession. By the time they play “Stay”, the crowd has increased considerably. I smile smugly and yell back to the band “Kheye gachhe, crowd kheye gachhe” (loosely translated from Bengali to English: the crowd has fallen for you stuff hook, line and sinker!)

And then the highlight of the show – the 1st ever rendition of “Satyr9” at Dhanaulti. The crowd are thunderstruck and don’t know what has hit them – and then the moshing starts!!

I have already decided that I won’t be indulging in any head-bobbing activities – so I hide behind a pillar and busy myself by snapping away merrily.

The band complete their white noize assault with “Fake”, “Void Void”, “Caesar”, “Glow Worm” and “The Urban Phenomena”. The crowd up front goes completely berserk!! I see the members from Vishnu and Advaita and Orange Street staring intensely at Rahul and the gang from the back rows. I really can’t say what’s going on in their heads.

But the bottom-line – Cassini’s Division bring down the house on Dhanaulti Day #1. The crowd don’t let them get off stage until they play an encore – so they go into another round of “Satyr9”, which turns out to be the night’s biggest hit.

The crowd cheers as the boys come off stage – and I get a few pats on the back too from the crowd (they obviously think I’m their manager or roadie or groupie or WHATEVER!!!!)

It’s been a highly successful show despite the patchy sound. The band has won over the Dhanaulti crowd with their unique sound and undoubtedly added a whole bunch of people to their fan list.

3rd June, 2006
We stick around for a jam session between Advaita and a few other professional musicians, but hunger strikes us real bad and we leave after a few songs. It’s way past midnight too, and we had been promised a car by Ajay Ramola to take us back to Delhi as soon as our show got over.

Unfortunately there is no car and we aren’t sure what to do. Shampa, a friend of Vivek’s, suggests we stay back and hitch a ride to Delhi in the morning. And ultimately after much discussion with Ajay we decide to do just that. We need the sleep anyway – the bus journey the previous night still has us pretty much KO’d.

We go back to our room and chat a bit with Vivek who is absolutely bowled over by Cassini’s performance. We get to talking about music and good ‘ol Kolkata for some time, until Vivek goes back to his room. John on the other hand has gone A.W.O.L. – and everyone is worried about his whereabouts. Rahul and Ludo even plan a search party for the lost member, but Sookie is snug between his sheets and is in no mood to budge. What to do… me and Ludo take a few more swigs from the hip-flask. And wait.

Finally John arrives, and it’s past 3 AM!!! He tells us that he’s been to the potato farm looking for leopards… I don’t know whether to turn into a leopard myself and eat him up like a potato!!!! Anyway, we go to sleep becoz we all want to be fresh tomorrow for our long journey back to Delhi.

We’re all up and raring to go back after a good night’s sleep. We enquire about our car back for Dehra Dun, and are told that all arrangements have been finalized – the plan is to go to Dehra Dun and from there we board an A/C vehicle back to the capital.

Me and Ludo decide to go skulking around the back-roads of Dhanaulti before we leave – it’s really an awesome hill station and I sincerely wish we could have stayed longer. I guess maybe at the next Dhanaulti show. After a cuppa tea we head back to the hotel to get our stuff and along the way we meet the Delhi band Manthan. Nice chaps they be. Anyway, we say bye to Andy and Ajay and Vivek and Shampa and get into our vehicle. And off to Dehra Dun we are!

Within 15 minutes of our journey I start to feel woozy – it can only mean my body is succumbing to motion sickness!! I promptly decide to spend the rest of the journey with my eyes closed and listening to my mp3 player. So I miss most of the bullshit that takes place during the ride back. But I do have the good presence of mind to open my eyes occasionally to take in the beautiful scenery around us. Uttaranchal is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful states of India. The sight of mountains all around is awesome!

We drive through Mussorie and reach Dehra Dun after a few hours. Another change of vehicle – this time a Mahindra Scorpio is at our beck and call… boy, the band sure knows how to travel in style!

We continue our journey – near abouts Meerut Rahul starts jumping up and down in the car – he’s spotted a forest full of “weed” growing on both sides of the road – a proper cultivation in the truest sense of the word. We stop for one of our customary tea breaks and Rahul wastes no time in getting a leaf sample, which he presses between the pages of John’s notebook.

And the journey continues. The weather is unexpectedly pleasant – it’s been raining throughout the state. We pray that it is raining in Delhi too.

Lunch, somewhere near the borders of UP and Uttaranchal. And boy, can these guys eat! Barring Rahul, the rest of the band members have appetites that would rival Bhima’s or Kumbhakarna’s. And this has rubbed off on me as well. We all gorge on a repast that would surely have fed a minimum of 10 people. I feel kinda sick after our late lunch – I never seem to learn that gluttony is a cardinal sin, but I still pray to God that I don’t end up puking in the car on our final leg of the journey.

Anyway, we are off once again – and apart from the customary tea break in the evening we seem to be making good ground. The guys spend their time listening to a lot of music – hindi as well as hip hop. (yes yes yes , not alternative or metal!!)

We finally reach Delhi. It’s past 10 PM. I am absolutely pooped. Thank god the weather is cool. And it’s great to be back at Lena and Rose’s apartment where the toilet is clean!

June 4th, 2006
The early hours of Monday. The band and I have freshened up after our long road trip and have had dinner and yapped a bit with the ladies of the house. We are all tired but the band decides to have a meeting. I stay awake despite my deadly drowsiness. It is one of the most important meetings Cassini’s has ever held and I am honoured to be attending it.

It’s about 2 AM when things wind-up. We have a long day ahead and need to sleep.

Morning. RSJ has been phoning the band non-stop – tonight’s gig at CLIMAX looks like to be a major one indeed. Everyone is excited – and we have also been reading reports in the Delhi newspapers about the band – some are favourable and some extremely ambiguous, but in general we all seem pleased and excited that the band is getting some positive coverage.

Nikhil Kaul, a reporter from RSJ is supposed to be our liaison agent for the day. He comes over to meet us at around about noon. The plan is to shift the band to a guesthouse close to the venue, so we pack our stuff and follow our escort Mr. Kaul.

Our 1st stop is in a field adjacent to the RSJ office premises. We are left standing in the heat and totally at our wits end, while Nikhil goes hunting for an official RSJ vehicle that would take us to the guesthouse. After a long wait he finally returns and we all bundle into a Tavera and head off to our next destination: Chittaranjan Park.

Chittaranjan Park. I’ve heard tons about this place, but have never been here before. It is supposedly a “little Kolkata” in the heart of sprawling Delhi… and the moment we enter this locality I fall in love with it, as do the rest of the band members. All around us we see houses with Bengali names on their address plates. And signboards in Bengali as well. It seems like we’re driving through Salt Lake, and we feel totally at home.

Of course, like I mentioned – Chittaranjan Park being almost a carbon copy of Salt Lake, we take ages to locate our guesthouse (For those of you who have ever visited Salt Lake, you’ll know what I mean). We end up driving in circles for the next 10-15 minutes desperately seeking the guesthouse. The driver and Nikhil are as lost as we are. Anyway after a loooooong search we finally locate the place. Nice cozy room it is too. Nikhil takes his leave but before doing so he informs us that the car would be picking us up at 4 PM, becoz our sound-check is at around 5ish.

We order lunch and watch a bit of TV. Towards the evening a friend of Sookie’s drops by – Amartya. I’ve met him at Someplace Else before, so it’s cool to see a familiar face in big bad Delhi. He loses no time in asking me what appears to have become a customary question, “Are you Sukanti’s younger brother?” – I believe I’ve been asked this question so many times this trip that maybe it would be a good idea to actually become his blood brother. Officially. In a court of law thingie.

Anyway. We spend some time listening to his weird quirky yarns. It helps to kill the time at least, becoz as usual, our transportation to Climax is nowhere in sight. Phone calls are made to Nikhil and Shivani (RSJ Assistant Manager – Events & Promotions) and they re-assure us that the car would be arriving soon to pick us up.

The band starts their usual pre-gig preparations – the theme tonight seems to be “all black”. So everyone decides to wear black tees. John borrows my “Shadows Fall” tee and it looks kinda cool on him, even though I say so myself! They also decide to play an all-original set – another move I find sensible.

The car finally does arrive. We say goodbye to Amartya who promises to be at Climax by 7 PM (that he didn’t turn up at all is a different story altogether!) – and head off to rock Delhi!!

Climax. My 1st impression of the place is like “WOH MAMMA”!!!

Speaking strictly in a Kolkata context, Climax reminds me of a cross between ROXY, B.E.D. and SHISHA (all happening night-clubs back home). It’s truly a swanky joint and extremely upper class. But holding a rock gig here??? Pardon me, but I am pretty skeptical – especially when I notice that the stage is outdoors.

We take our equipment inside and pile them up in front of the stage. The RSJ staff comes up to greet the band, and we meet the lovely Shivani as well. I’m smiling inside, becoz I’m sure the RSJ staff are thinking, “Who the hell is this guy with the Queensryche tee? And why is he with the band??”

Them Clones is on stage doing their sound check – and we get a taste of tonight’s sound system – pretty much what we had expected, state of the art gadgets and crystal clear sound all around. The band looks happy, and frankly, so am I.

About tonight’s gig – Cassini’s Division are the opening act, followed by Them Clones and Mumbai rockers Vayu. I personally am excited about Them Clones, becoz I admire them a lot and I love their sound. Of Vayu, I have absolutely zero idea about them, but they seem like seasoned performers, and any band which can make it from metal crazy Mumbai must be good!

We roam around Climax (looking for the bathroom) waiting for our sound-check turn. In between I get to meet the grand old man of Indian rock, Amit Saigal. I exchange a handshake and a pleasant hello with the dude and I get the same bewildered look from him as well… “who is this guy with the band anyway???” But I am positively chuffed.

The guys finally go up on stage for their sound-check. Pretty elaborate it is too, I should add. But everyone seems pleased with the way things are going till now.

And now, the long wait. The gig is supposed to start at 8 PM, but this being India, nothing really ever does start on time. So we wait. And we wait. The crowd slowly starts to trickle in. We go to the gates becoz we have a few passes for friends and acquaintances. And we find out that this night-club has a dress code as well – no jeans or sneakers or sandals!! Eeegad!!! Bloody murder!!! Luckily this rule has been relaxed otherwise hardly anyone would be allowed entry!

Outside we meet Lena and Rose and Abhishek Tiwari – another Delhi-based fan of the band. Also outside is Ludo’s pal Mainak and Tukan.

Inside its pretty crowded now. And it’s a pretty hep crowd – totally unlike what I am used to seeing at my favourite pub Someplace Else back home. I’m not sure whether these people are here to listen to the music or to just socialize the night away. But I keep calm anyway – no point in getting agitated even before the show has begun.

My pal Abhishek Majumdar finally arrives as promised, and I am delighted to see him – and as promised, he brings along a few of his pals as well. I also am happy to see Hemu Adhikari, an orkut pal of mine. Tall guy he is, and a nice “Cannibal Corpse” tee he is wearing too (or is it “Cradle Of Filth” – my memory!!!).

Amit Saigal and the band finally get up on stage. Mister Saigal says a few words and formally declares the start of the PUB ROCK festival in Delhi (lucky city, I’m already jealous!!). He introduces Cassini’s Division to the crowd and lets the festivities begin!! And begin they do – the band dish out “Drown” to the crowd. And it’s an excellent rendition as well, I might add. “Drown” is followed by the usual suspects: “Only For A While”, “Higher”, and “Animals”.

However, something doesn’t really seem right here. The crowd isn’t really getting involved or anything. They’re sitting on the ground and applauding after each song. And there are a few shouts of appreciation from behind as well. But not a single indication that there might be any headbanging or moshing happening tonight. I feel pretty disappointed.

Anyway, the show goes on – the band play “Stay” – and that perks up the Delhi crowd! I can see some of them bobbing their head now.

“Satyr9”. Awesome start to the song, and the crowd seem to like it a lot – the excitement on their faces is pretty visible.

I’m looking around however and I still see no signs that any moshing might take place. But at least the crowd behind the bar is jumping up and down with excitement. Unfortunately the crowd in front of the stage seems to be hard-core heavy-metal fanatics (I have read a lot about this underground group – they only listen to metal, the heavier the better!) and though they seem to be enjoying the music, they don’t show any signs of getting up.

And then… disaster! Rahul’s mic suddenly starts to fade out during the rendition of “Fake”. I don’t know whether he or the other band mates even realize this, but it’s definitely sounding bad, almost as if he’s whispering on stage. Lena frantically rushes off to the sound guy who raises his hands helplessly. After the song I shout out a few swear words about the sound. And a few guys in the crowd do so as well. Thank God. Coincidentally the AAJTAK camera-man starts to focus his gadget on me after my swearathon, which is a wee bit embarrassing – and I also get stared at by the pretty AAJTAK TV reporter. Stare, mind you, NOT ogled at!! I decide to mind my language for the time being – looks like Delhi can’t handle my weird Manipuri act.

Anyway, what to do, CD continue their Delhi onslaught with “Void Void” which goes down exceptionally well with the crowd. As is expected. And then follows the crowd puller “Caesar”.

Unfortunately, another gaffe enfolds here as well.

For some weird alienistic reason, one of the RSJ guys (a pony-tailed dude in an Arsenal tee) decides that this is the right time to tighten up a screw of one of Ludo’s cymbals… yes, in the middle of the song. So Ludo is rendered playless for a few minutes, which is absolute madness. And the guy also manages to disconnect Sookie’s guitar as well. So there you have it – for the 1st time ever, a semi-nude version of “Caesar”! I’m boiling mad by now.

The rest of show goes on without anymore sound or equipment hitches – “Glowworm” and “The Urban Phenomena” are appreciated with a good amount of clapping and cheers. But no calls for an encore, unfortunately – this crowd either did not enjoy the show or they happen to be the most decent crowd ever to have been present at a Cassini’s gig. I am absolutely bewildered!! But anyway, I guess I can’t complain – it was definitely a sizable crowd, and there was no hint of the intimidation factor that I had heard so much about. Delhi rock lovers are considered to be the toughest people to play to in the country, so in hind-sight I would have to say this was a pretty good gig by Cassini’s Division – but it didn’t rise to their Sunday “Someplace Else” heights, thatz for sure.

The band seem to be disappointed with their performance though and they vanish from Climax with Chintan Kalra and Dilip Ramachandran (both of PARIKRAMA fame) – I guess they need time to reflect on tonight’s performance and over-all crowd reaction. So I let them be.

I stick around and check out Them Clones who are now on stage are busy wowing the crowd with an all original set. I like this band a lot and it feels good to see them playing live after almost a year.

I spend the rest of the evening hobnobbing with Lena and Rose and the rest of Cassini’s support line. And with the crowd of Delhi socialites – they are an interesting bunch of people, the likes of whom you don’t really get to see in Kolkata. The crowd has magically decided to stand up now and all those scary metal-heads who were initially sitting are now head-banging with gay abandon to each Them Clones song! Well duh, Them Clones are a Delhi band after all, so I guess it’s very natural that the Climax crowd loves them so much. Sniff. Reminds me of the Sundays back home at Someplace Else when Cassini’s Division plays to a full house. Sniff.

After Them Clones, it’s now the turn of Vayu to get up on stage. The Cassini’s gang co-incidentally decides to make their re-appearance at Climax again with Dilip and Chintan. We stick around to watch Vayu who are a classic rock covers band. And they give a really tight performance with loads of classic rock crowd-pullers. Their front-man 2Blue is quite the showman. He even tears his tee off and offers to give it to the woman (or was it a hetero-sexual offer this? Don’t really remember!!) who screams the loudest during their show. I wonder if he really did give his tee away. I didn’t stick around for that scene, thank god.

Anyway, personally I feel Kolkata’s very own Hip Pocket is a much better classic rock covers band than Vayu – but Vayu certainly does put up a very impressive show, they seemed to go down with the Climax crowd extremely well.

SO, the 1st Pub Rock show ends and it looks like it’s been a major success. As in Dhanaulti, here too members of the audience come over and pat me on the back and shake my hand and tell me how much they loved Cassini’s sound. One bloke even comes up to me and says that he has my number and would be calling me up to book Cassini’s for another Delhi show in October.

It’s past midnight now. All I wanna do is eat dinner and go to sleep. I have a flight to catch at 9 AM in the morning and I am in no mood to party whole night. Unfortunately the night is still young – and no one really is concerned that it’s already a new day, Monday –

5th June, 2006

We have a quick pasta dinner and I manage to get the band to pose for a few snaps with the Them Clones guys who are sitting at the table adjacent to us. Dilip from Parikrama is also around and he wants to take the gang to his pad to hear an uninterrupted acoustic version of “Caesar”. And Chintan is coming along too. So that means I have to tag along! Oh dear! I’m more worried than sleepy now becoz it looks like it’s going to be a looooong night.

We follow Dilip back to his flat in South Delhi and I must say it’s an extremely well furnished place. Chintan and a few of their friends join up as well. So after the customary jokes, the band get down to business – Rahul plays and sings them “Caesar” and a few other tunes like “Simba”, “Rumble” and “Mister Mishra”. Our hosts are absolutely delighted with their mini performance. Chintan and Dilip dish out a lot of words of encouragement for the band, and it really is wonderful to see such established musicians speak so highly about this “controversial” Kolkata quartet. They even call them the “FUTURE OF INDIAN ROCK” – now that, my friends, is the mother of all praises!

Unfortunately I ain’t in much of a sociable mood – so I sit quietly in a corner sipping away at my peg of Absolut feeling sleepy and worried drunk. Worried that I ain’t gonna get any sleep and that I’m gonna miss my morning flight. Anyway. It’s a pleasant party notwithstanding and I do enjoy myself even though I generally keep mum. If either Dilip or Chintan is reading this then I apologise for my weird behaviour. I’m generally not that bad a bum or party-pooper. Well most of the time at least.

At approx. 4 AM we decide to call it a night (or should I say morning??). We say our thank yous and byes to our hosts and head back to CR PARK. The trip doesn’t take too long – the roads are empty after all!

And that my friends ends my part in this journey of mad-cap mystery. I guess I’ll just add that I did manage to catch my Kingfisher flight after just 1 hour of sleep back at CR Park. My last memory of the band is:

Ludo snoring away to Kingdom Come.

John snoring away to Kingdom Come as well.

Rahul underneath his blanket.

Sookie downloading in the bathroom.

The CD guys leave for home in the evening by train. I hope none of them strangle anyone on their way back or is force fed poison.

A week with the band – one of the best experiences I have ever had – I got to hang out with not only 4 talented musicians, but also 4 really good friends. It was one of my best vacations ever, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for taking such good care of me and also for letting me be a part of their world – the nutty, crazy, totally blow-your-mind-out world of CASSINI’s DIVISION.

EXERCISE 4

            Briefly identify each of the following for the example below and then for your own autobiography:

1. your story’s final pivotal event–(climax).

            A turning point that could be the end of my story where something in me died so something could live or be born?

2.  the initial scene

            With what scene was I aware of the problem that would result in the final climax? 

3.         Your problem/desire

            What incited my problem, whether I was aware of it or not?  What did I want  in response to this?

 4.         Adversaries or obstacles

             Was there a person, people or factors that stood in the way of the achieving  my desire?

5.         Interim scenes  (use events/desires from Exercise 1C) 

List at least five other scenes or events that mirrored and intensified my problem in different ways?

                        a.

                        b.

                        c.

                        d.

                        e.

6.         Realization

            What did you realize at the moment of transformation that made the

transformation possible?  Did something in your behavior change as a result of the realization?  

Here is an example. The conflict is over having a second child (it might be stated in mor general terms as: How do I keep the space I need to grow as an individual, yet stay close enough to my husband to keep love alive in our marriage?

1.    Richard told me when we were dating that he wanted a big family. I wanted him and that sounded romantic to me.

2.    We were both overjoyed when I delivered John.

3.    Richard was supportive when I went back to work because we needed the money.   

4.    I got a promotion.  Now I was making more than Richard.  It made me feel in control of my own life for the first time.  Richard was silent about it, except he made jokes about my being head of the family.

5.    John started begging to have a little brother or sister.  I knew Richard had been  encouraging him.  Richard reminded me that our plan was t have a big family.  I said it wasn’t the right time.

6.    I saw there was a chance to become director of the arts center and I knew I wanted this and I would be devastated if I didn’t get it.

7.    Richard joined a Christian church and started taking John on Sundays. I used the  time to catch up on work.  I felt their disapproval.

8.    Richard got a promotion at his job.  It made him more confident and fun at home.

9.    We took a long-planned trip to Europe without John. Unexpectedly it was like a second honeymoon.

10. The director of the arts center announced his resignation.

11. I discovered I was pregnant. I wept.

12. I knew if I told Richard I was pregnant he would never forgive me for not having the child.

13. I became irritable and started to have morning sickness, which I tried to hide.

14. Richard was more kind than ever, which made me feel guilt. I almost told him I was pregnant, but I lost my courage.

15. My friend took me to get an abortion.

16. If Richard ever suspected, he didn’t say anything.  But something had died between us. Trust.

17. I got the directorship.  I knew I had made the right choice. I loved my position and the power that came with it.  This was all my life, what I was meant to do.

18.  Richard and I began to live very busy and independent lives, and he never again  mentioned having another child.

19. Now so many years later when John himself has three children and Richard and I are comfortably retired, but not really close. I still believe I made the right choice for me, but I often wish I’d had the courage to tell Richard and we’d fought it out, instead of  each of us taking a solitary, silent road.

Once you have put these elements in order, turn to your own story and try to do the same.

Atrás quedaron las desesperadas ganas de ver como quedaron las fotos de las vacaciones, ya la gente no se preocupa por si salió mal en la foto y menos por comprar varios rollos para captar lo que más les guste. Ahora puedes disparar tantas veces como quieras sin preocuparte por nada. No conforme con la era digital, ya ni siquiera importa que tanto sepas de fotografía ni las técnicas aprendidas, unas particulares cámaras llevan rato haciendo de las suyas. Las Lomo han llegado y vinieron, no para apuntar sino a para ponerle color, forma y personalidad a tus fotos.

La lomografía es un estilo artístico de hacer fotografías sin pensar en lo que tienes que capturar, es una manera informal y creativa de darle vida al ojo fotográfico. Los defectos ópticos, los colores indefinidos, la sobre-exposición y la sobresaturación de colores son las características de estas peculiares cámaras.

En Rusia, Igor Petroviwitsch Kornitzky y Michael Panfilowitsch Panfiloff, producen una cámara que copiaba un modelo de una pequeña cámara japonesa para comercializarla por todo el pueblo soviético. Panfiloff era el director de un establecimiento soviético de armas y óptica LOMO.

Fue así como en los años 80, nació la primera cámara de la marca Lomo, la LOMO LC-A. Es automática, de gran sensibilidad, y no necesita flash pues capta los colores y movimientos sin deformarlos. Las fotos de esta cámara se distinguen por la saturación de colores, por la aparición de viñeteado y por producir un error de gamma. Los soviéticos, los vietnamitas, los cubanos y los alemanes era los principales usuarios. Muchos hacen referencia a que esta cámara la utilizaban los espías de la KGB (comité para la seguridad del estado) para captar planos secretos y armas.

Unos estudiantes de Viena, Matthias Fiegl y Wolfgang Stranzinger, compraron un par de LC-A durante unas vacaciones a principios de los 90, al ver las fotos descubrieron la ingeniosa cámara que tenían en sus manos. Al poco tiempo estos jóvenes crearon la Sociedad Lomográfica (Lomographische Gesellschaft) para propagar al mundo el arte de la lomografía. En 1994 fue la primera exposición lomográfica en Moscú y Nueva York.

“Tengo que decir que todas mis dudas se disiparon al tenerla entre mis manos y al ir conociendo más detalles, cuando por fin revelas tus carretes te parece increíble la calidad que se consigue” dijo joven al comprar su primera Lomo. Robert Redford, Moby y Michael Schumacher confiesan ser fieles seguidores de las Lomo.

ActionSampler, SuperSampler, Pop9, ColorFlash, Holga, Oktomat, Lomolitos son varios de los nuevos modelos que ha creado esta empresa. Si deseas una de estas puedes econtrarla en la Lomography Shop, la tienda oficial en Madrid, España.

Según http://www.lomospain.com estas son las 10 reglas de la Lomografía:

1. Lleva tú cámara donde sea que vayas, cuando sea que vayas
2. Úsala en todo momento – día o noche
3. La Lomografía no es una interferencia en tu vida, sino una parte de ella
4. Trata de apuntar desde la cintura
5. Acércate a los objetos de tu deseo lomográfico lo más cerca posible
6. No pienses
7. Se rápido
8. No tienes que saber de antemano que has capturado en film.
9. Tampoco tienes porque saberlo luego.
10. No te preocupes por las reglas.

(publicado en la revista “Clímax”)

Ronald Aristimuño

© Marcus Kasabian De Storm/MKDS Network 2010