What would Forrest Gump do?

At the end of it...

• Your legs are too weak to even make their way into the warmth indoors
  
• Your fingers hurt so bad that you worry they might fall off because of frostbite
  
• Your shirt is soaked in sweat that has forced its way out of you despite the 5 degree Celsius temperature outside.
  
• Your whole body trembles due to the exertion.
  
• People never get tired of ridiculing you.
  

Yet...at the end of it, the “runners ecstasy” that comes with completely a 4km run non-stop makes everything worth it!!

I have lost count of the number of people who have asked me the question, “What’s the big deal about long distance running?”
I always reply saying that it is something that has to be experienced and once u get a whiff of it you are never going to ask yourself that question.
But occasionally I act snooty and say stuff like Runners, we are different. :)
On a different level, I think it has got to with the sole fact that unlike other sports there is nothing to distract you in long distance running (never mind the walkmans!). It is just a test of pure will power. And that’s what makes ‘everything else just a sport’!

And just cuz I’m feeling all good-old-times-where-are-they types, this is big hey to Subbu, Rabbi, Vidya and Paki. These were the guys with whom I trained for and ran the Mumbai half-marathon in Feb’04. (Actually there was one more guy who had flown in from B’lore the day before just to run. Talk abt enthusiasm . I don’t remember his name though!) And we kept ourselves inspired with a really cool paragraph that one of us found somewhere,

Every morning in Africa, a Gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It does not matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up you would better be running!

Some adrenalin rush it was!
Who is up for some more? :)

BTW...Happy New Year!

Play that funky music, brown boy!

A couple of days ago I was minding my business when a friend of mine came up to me and gave me a flash drive filled with songs of his liking and asked me to check them out. As I eagerly dug into them hoping to find some obscure Sabbath or Zeppelin masterpiece that I probably forgot about I realized that he was in fact a closeted pop-lover who never came out :P. His entire collection was filled with Avril Lavignes, Celine Dions, Kelly Clarksons, Elton Johns and the like.
Nevertheless I kept the collection and in the next few days discovered quite a few songs that I had once listened to passionately but until then had completely forgotten about. As I dug up more and more pop/techno/non-rock songs from everywhere I realized there are a few songs that have a very very high repeat value for me. These are the songs that I could listen to over and over again and probably never get bored. And then I thought to myself, “You know what...there are people out there who would love to read a list of your favourite non-rock songs”. Then reality hit me hard, just like the way the truck hits the kid’s bed in “Enter Sandman” video. I realized I was kidding myself. Still to re-quote one of my favourite quotes “To inflict such misfortune upon mankind isn’t my style”...so whether you like it or not and just because you are here and also because I like writing useless stuff about music, you are doomed to read...

“Ro’s amazing top 10 list of non-rock songs (with very high repeat value)”
in no particular order
except that the numbers are ascending :P

1) I want you - Savage Garden:
From what I know this was the song that put Savage Garden on the map. The melodious chorus is excellently complemented by the almost rappish way Darren Hayes sings the verses. Their next album was also quite good and I remember liking all the songs. But somehow “I want you” remains up there. The lyrics are fun to sing along to...but one thing that always puzzled me was as to why he sings “shaggy yeah” right in the middle for no reason! This song's got a cool video too.

2) Kiss from a rose - Seal:
I don’t know of any other song by Seal except this one. But I think I can safely say this is his best song. Seal’s melodious voice, excellent lyrics and captivating music gives this song a very ballad sort of feel. All in all one amazing song...and very well complemented by Nicole Kidman in the video! :)

3) Jam - Michael Jackson:
Michael Jackson was the first artist whose albums I collected, back in the pre-mp3 cassettes and cds days. I would love to listen to any MJ song any day but ‘Jam’ has to be my fav and one of his best. I could never understand what he sang without reading his lyrics and singing his songs phonetically was good fun (“...aint yet, too much, it aint too amuchforme to JAM”). Michael Jackson was called the king of pop...but I would say he (or whoever wrote his music) also pioneered a lot of unconventional (techo-ish) sounds too. And the video of Jam has Michael Jackson dancing and Michael Jordan dribbling in it. Was enough for me to get hooked onto it for life!

4) Come undone - Duran Duran:
What a song! This is only one of the couple of Duran Duran songs that I’ve heard of but nevertheless I’m convinced of their musical prowess. With absolutely awesome lyrics, I feel the song gets its charm mainly from the way it’s sung. The mix of the “Can I forgive u for falling apart” part and the “Who do you need, who do you love, when you come undone” makes this song a masterpiece. Heck I feel like listening to it while I am typing this!

5) That thing you do - Fountains of Wayne:
As I found out from the very friend I was talking about at the beginning, I learnt that this is actually a Fountains of Wayne (remember Stacy’s Mom) song and in fact launched their career. FoW had made this song for the movie for a contest and they sure did a good job. The most captivating thing about this song is the casual way it’s sung and its simple yet rhythmic drum pattern. I might even add, at one point of time I even knew all its lyrics!!!

6) The Mission Impossible theme – Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton:
This has to be the mother of all themes. I don’t know how to describe it. If you haven’t listened to it there’s something you are missing. I haven’t seen the original TV series so I have no opinion about it but the music perfectly captures everything the movie is about. Even Limp Bizkit’s rendition is quite addictive! :)

7) Breathe - Prodigy:
Scary guys with heavy makeup + alligators + some very cool techno music = awesome song with awesome video. Prodigy has made some very good techno music and ‘breathe’ is one of their best. I know many people who’ve been repulsed at the thought of listening to techno music when I suggest Prodigy. Agreed its not conventional music which can be played live on instruments but what the heck! Whatever prodigy does, it does good. They have quite a large range of sounds and they do a good job of putting everything together. So yeah...don’t shy away from techno. Just breathe with them.

8) Staying alive - Bee Gees:
“If you can tell by the way I use my walk
I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk”
Tell me how times you must have heard this song pop out of nowhere and immediately felt a need to sing along and groove with it. The typical Bee Gee’s falsetto in which it is sung makes it very appealing and the music taunts you to try and stop yourself from moving! Definitely one of the most popular songs in the world...and deservingly so.

9) How deep is your love - Take that:
They say first impressions last the longest. Applies very well in this case. I loved this song when I saw ‘Take that’ sing it on MTV but when I heard the Bee Gee’s original later it came nowhere close. I found the way ‘Take that’ sings the chorus much more appealing than the original. It has really nice lyrics and Take that’s video of this song (showing a girl torturing and ultimately drowning the four band members tied to chairs) is simply superb.
The above line makes me sound like a sadist! :D

10) She’s got the look – Roxette:
Again, maybe just one of the 2 or 3 songs of Roxette that I know. But I am pretty sure this is their best (and most popular) one. This probably is the first song that I’ve listened to amongst all the songs on this list and I remember liking it so much that I even wanted to sing to some girl I liked at that point of time. However I never could muster up the courage to do it (maybe it happened for my own good :)). Never mind the lyrics cuz they are sung very nicely. I remember having a discussion with Sidney about the different ways the line “Loving is the ocean, kissing is the wet sand” can be interpreted!(The things I used to do :() Nevertheless, a very catchy song that has stuck to be one of my all time favourites.

That’s the end of the list folks.
See how I managed to waste a precious 5 minutes of your life making you read about stuff that is not going to be useful in any conceivable way! Yeah...I have a knack for such things. So don’t be surprised if in the future you’ll be reading about “Ro’s amazing top 10 things to do while you are taking a dump”.
Until then...I suggest you put your time to good use.
Tata

I gotta hole...

...not in my soul...but in my pocket!

I went to the City Hall today to find out about my speeding fine and pay it up!
Everything went without any hassles!
I am now poorer by 127 dollars!

All condolences will be accepted in the form of money orders, checks and cash.
Once the total reaches 127$ you may sympathize with only kind words.
Thank You very much!