Thursday, December 31, 2015

Nostalgia and Bollywood Music

I have been owning and driving a car only for the last 4 years. I used buses/autos mostly before that while travelling to work. So while I did listen to FM radio occasionally during my Bangalore and Mumbai days, it wasn't until I started living in Chennai since 2011 that I really started listening to FM during the 1 hour commute to work during morning and evening. In Chennai of course FM meant ads and Tamil film music or people talking about tamil movies, music and musicians.

Right from childhood we were brought up listening to carnatic music and I was even sent briefly for music lessons. We also used to watch tamil and malayalam movies a lot as kid, I didnt study Hindi till I reached class 5 and I think it did take another 2-3 years to even vaguely understand the language. So all the movies and film music I heard till 90s were tamil and malayalam ones and most of them were classical based as well.

Till mid 90s we only had Doordarshan channel on TV and whatever played on it we watched and TV viewing was highly controlled by parents. So all I remember is watching the epics on Sunday and occassional serials in the night initially. Rangoli, Chitrahaar, Ek Se Bhadkar ek were the music based shows I remember very well. 'Bollywood' music was very popular among kids in my age group in 90s as it represented something different more pan-indian, something more cool perhaps though we could hardly sing it fluently or speak the language properly. But in 90s whenenver we had scheduled power cuts daily and that was the time to gather and play Antakshari though multiple languages were perhaps allowed it was mostly Bollywood songs as far as I can remember. Even in school when a teacher was absent and a substitute teacher could be not be arranged some junior teacher would come and encourage students to come forward and sing some songs. Mostly it would be bollywood songs which had come in Chitrahaar recently which some gulf returned kid already a cassette and knew the lyrics!

As cable tv arrived by mid to late 1990s we all got flooded with MTV, Channel V and likes and listening to latest film songs was not something you eagerly waited every week. It was just everywhere and though it was good initially but it was never the same. In 2000s as I moved to college there was no restriction on watching TV ( who stops you in hostel anyway! ) and lot of time was spent listening to film songs on TV after dinner with nothing much to do. It was pre-cell phone, internet, computer games era and old movie re-runs and music was all we had. I had started working in Bangalore and even though it was a Kannada speaking city ( for the record I did make an attempt and did manage to learn the language) I never heard Kannada songs at all. Maybe its because of my friends circle or because my office buses with FM or CD player played only Hindi tracks. Of course bollywood music was something that you had on TV daily those days to kill time once you got back home. That has been the case often until last 5-6 years when internet and social media got us some better things to do.

In my personal  ipod collection which were mostly songs from friends its mostly English, Tamil and malaylam songs and very limited Hindi songs most of which would be from AR Rahman. So while I did enjoy hindi music and had familiarity with songs from 70s to late 2000s I never used to listen to it regularly.

In US, though I did drive quite a bit the FM radio and music didnt mean much to me.All that changed when I moved 6 months back to Dallas, while moving I sought out a friend who had lived in Dallas earlier before moving to Seattle. He told me the weather would be warm and there would be lot of Indians and also mentioned that one of his favorite memories of Dallas was listening to Hindi FM channel - FunAsia. Sure enough within a few days of arriving here I scanned for the channel in my car's FM radio and till date I have not changed the channel even once.

I mostly listen in morning around 10 while doing my 30-40 minute commute to work and in the afternoon/evening between 3 to 5PM when I head back. Maybe it could be because majority of the listeners are in my age group,  though they play recent ones as well there are a lot of songs that get played which are older bollywood numbers ( anything from 60s to early 2000s).  The songs from 90s especially are really like 'Pensieves' and  magically transport you back to that era and stage of your life and open up a lot of lovely memories associated with that time. Many of these songs were the ones we used to love a lot for a while and then slowly got replaced by more recent popular songs as time went by like with most things in our life.
These days there has been numerous occasions when I start my car thinking about something at work, some email for which I need to reply, some task to complete and while being pre-occupied with all those things there arrives suddenly a song  on air which brings a sudden smile and changes/uplifts your mood suddenly and makes you hum along and tap your fingers on the steering wheel and it radically changes your day!

Nothing like good old 90s music to set off that wonderful nostalgia train and bring back that smile!

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

The Winter Solistice

Right from my childhood, I have always been a trivia buff. I knew what summer solstice was and what winter solstice was and the date it falls on June 21/Dec 21 respectively ( oh yeah it does vary by a day at times). I had an idea what it was but never quite realized what it meant and why it mattered. The first quarter of my life was in Southern India and the two terms I mentioned above hardly mattered over there as the variation of day was not much. You read in news papers about Winter Solstice or Summer Solstice when the date approaches but it dint really register or mean much to me.

Just for illustration, June 21 in 2015 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu my hometown had Sunrise at 6:00 AM and sunset at 6:47 PM and that's like 12 Hrs 47 min of daylight. Dec 21 in 2015 in the same place the sunrise was at 6:35 AM and sunset was at 6:04 PM and that's around 11 hrs 28 min of sunlight

Of course most of Southern India or India/ South East Asia / Middle east ( other places I have lived in) are somewhat similar there might be slight variation as you go norther but most of the tropical places we don't have too much variation between longest and shortest days. Or at least I didn't really notice it much. Well during my last 5 years in India I lived for 3 years in Mumbai and 2 in Chennai both of which don't have any winter and just have a very hot season and not so hot season

Only after coming to Seattle, I was able to witness 4 clear and distinct seasons and in Seattle for the same dates - June 21 in 2015 the sunrise was at 7:55 AM and sunset was at 4:20 PM and that is 8 hours and 25 min of  winter sunlight. Meanwhile in June 21 2015 the sunrise was at 5:12 AM and sunset was 9:11 PM and that's almost 16 hours of summer sunlight.  The contrast was too stark especially when winter comes. For a month or so in winter there would be no sunlight when you start for work around 8 AM and it will be dark when you get back home even though I would be back home by 5 PM. To add to this it would be mostly gloomy weather with rain and cold winds would keep appearing every now and then and that was indeed a depressing combo. You really missed those warm summer months with those long days of beautiful weather when most people would spend lot of time outdoors. Winter Solstice marked the day when you turn a corner and the world starts getting back to brightness a little more with maybe 1-2 minutes of extra sun a day gradually and in a few months you stop noticing the darkness, the cold winds, constant rains and the general gloom. The winter will still be there for a few more months, but at least the days slowly start getting longer
After my first year in Seattle, I was very sure there is some connection between sunlight and warmth and general cheerfulness and in the next year you would really wish for Dec 21 to come soon and for Feb middle when things start getting better/brighter. Also you sort of understand why they packed a set of holidays and family/social events during this period as the lack of sun does get to you at times

After a few years of that, now while living in Dallas, TX there is 10 hours of sunlight even on winter solstice and there is still sunlight when I step out in morning  for work and when I'm getting back in the evening so it doesn't feel that bad and I'm back to not paying that much attention. Sure it is winter and yes the day does feel slightly shorter but still it doesn't feel so bad as to wish for Dec 21 to come and to just get past the worst!

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Yet another move!

Having a fixed address for a long period  is something I have never had in my life, in essence change or moving has been the only constant. Right from childhood since my parents had transferrable jobs we kept moving between towns/cities and even when within a town we changed houses multiple times. At times I would envy some of my friends and cousins who have always lived in 1 or 2 localities throughout. I would wish always that how would things be if we didnt move houses and we stayed in same place.

But again it was not just my parents who were to blame, when I grew up I was also doing the same thing at even more rapid pace. I lived in 5 different houses in Bangalore in 3 years I spent  there to give you an idea. Post 2008 I have lived 6 major global cities and moving is something that is a norm

Anyways what I want to write about today is not about those missed childhood experiences of a single familiar place or lack of something constant  though my parents eventually settled back in my hometown to the house they built around the time I was born and for last 15 years my hometown / permanent address is same.  So in a way I finally did get that. On the positive side whenever we moved we would meet new people, there would be new school, school mates , new neighbors, new neighborhood which I usually explored alone. It was always a huge fun going out and discovering the place you lived in. I think that's the reason why this movie is a huge personal favorite of mine

Moving in childhood was always easy and huge fun, because I basically did nothing. My parents along with some folks from my dad's office would come in and do all the actual moving. Subsequently during my student days I did stay for short periods in multiple places but all I had to carry was a mattress and couple of suitcases. Even when I had started working my worldly possessions were very minimal and could be carried in 2-3 suitcases.

Only after my marriage I actually started 'settling down' and started buying household stuff like furniture, household electronics, cooking utensils etc. So when I moved from Chennai to Seattle there was quite a lot of stuff to be moved to my hometown. Again as I had to leave quickly I just left and my efficient better half took care of it all.  We hired a professional movers and packers, but it was still exhausting for her and she was certainly not happy but having never really been involved in a move I still had no idea how hard it was.

Then we settled in Seattle and everything seemed fine for a while we lived in the same apartment for an year and half. Even though the apartments here are equipped with household necessities like Fridge, heater, washing m/c, dryer and dishwasher with time we did accumulate enough stuff.

So when we had to move to another part of the city so that we can be near her workplace, finally there was a 'Move' which I had to co-ordinate. As with most things in US the 'do-it-yourself' attitude extended to even household moves. With a fair bit of planning using internet and more importantly with inputs from a local cousin who enlisted himself as volunteer#1 we decided that we will do it ourselves. Moving on your own is certainly something that needs to be done once in lifetime it certainly was a good experience to remember later

Overall it was simple and straightforward  : hire a truck get lot of boxes and tape and then put stuff in, take it out and before you do that just let the word around in office floor and friends circle. So many helpful tips and inputs came my way.
Essentially there was lot of initial planning and getting boxes to pack and identifying the right truck. With services like U-Haul renting truck and getting any other necessary stuff is very easy. Couple of folks my office team who lived nearby also offered to join and in fact they did most of the hauling.  The previous evening we had to start putting stuff into boxes and taping it up and it was a long night. Next day early in the morning when the store opened I went and picked up a U-Haul truck. It was my first time driving such a big vehicle and the old guy at the store mumbled some instructions and I didnt understand a single word and decided to proceed to the truck. I tried a while but couldnt figure out the gears and luckily the guy had followed me slowly and he explained how to start it. It was smooth sailing until I had to put reverse gear and park in my apartment community and once again a quick google search solved it and the truck was parked and ready. It took us an hour or so to load up the truck and then I set out  on the truck with my friends all whom were new to US and had recently started driving cars. It was really good experience driving the full truck through multiple highways and luckily we reached and parked with no issues. The actual move itself took only like 4 hours and by late afternoon we were ready to unpack. My entire furniture was from IKEA which meant it could be easily dismantled and assembling back was also easy. By evening along with my cousin who stayed back till late evening we had assembled all the furniture. Since we moved from 1 Bed apt to 3 bed one laziness took over quickly since there was lot of space to keep the boxes and my initial plan was to just take out immediately the most necessary stuff on Day1 and then gradually over the week slowly do the other boxes.

But it always never works according to plan, always! Most of the time the things we need will be in the boxes kept in spare bedroom and even though the boxes were marked appropriately almost always I had to open 3 boxes before I found the right stuff  Within a few days we got rid of almost all the boxes and moved everything to correct places but it did take  another 3-4 weeks fully settle down

Our new house was simply fantastic, it was on a hill and there was greenery all around. There was a small stream right outside and the place around had all the amenities you needed. We had sufficient and more space inside and for rent we were paying it was a steal. All this lead to the thought that we had a perfect place and we are not going to move anywhere for a while. Things indeed looked fine for a while and then in another 6 months we had to move again. This time we were moving to Texas about 2000 miles away in another corner of US and this time the Do-it-yourself was ruled out not only because of logistical issues also because my wife's employer was paying for the whole thing.

So this time we got a professional packers and movers, again there was same dread and pain but in lesser magnitude. We had to do some amount of planning on what stuff we will carry with us and what will go in truck and also on how to manage once they picked up the car which was moved by a different company. But the actual work was fully done by the Movers and after 2 weeks of survival in a hotel once we moved in to our current apartment in Dallas we had the movers bring in our stuff which was kept in Storage until we were ready. Getting the stuff in boxes to apartment without any damage is one thing, but setting up the home is another major challenge and it again took us well over a month to make it into our home again!

Given the nature of our jobs and our willingness to be ready to move if needed means those empty boxes will always be there in my storage room. Since we had very little time to find an apartment and most homes look spacious when empty it was very confusing. Only when we started unpacking we realized how small our kitchen is and the pantry shelves are tiny. So I guess its only a matter of time before those boxes come out again