MY GUITAR DREAMS---- THE START AND THE END(LOL)

The title's apt...that's wht my sis tells...so here i begin my guitar tale...u'd ask...y the
heck would abhineet want to learn a musical instrument???...i mean i never had an interest
in music then y did this sudden dream sprout up, ryt??...well..lemme clear the air a
bit..ryt from the tym i heard music...i wanted to sing just like those ppl on tv...in movies...c'mon...every1 has dreamt of this..ryt???...i know ppl who even took music classes and gave performances just because they had nothing to do.......i was better...atleast i wanted
to sing voluntarily....but i had a problem...i did try to sing(in school, home, anywhere)...but not for long...my singing aspirations were curbed by my music teacher when i was in class5th...lemme recount the incident...here i was...a young kid...all ready
enthusiastically for his first music class...the teacher came...greeted us...showed us that
"sargam" thing...yup..sa re ga ma pa...c'mon try it ppl..hmm...i was called and asked to
sing...wow...i felt i had a job at hand...i wass fairly confident of carrying-it off well
too..but alas...as soon as i started singing the teacher interrupted...he said-"son...u're
not made to sing..sit down"...how could that moron end up my singing dream??...i knew i
could sing...i didn't give up...i tried...and tried(never at school though) but could only
bring laughter to my audience's faces(mostly my mum, dad, sis and a few friends)..i still
remember my friend shashank's comments on hearing my recorded song-"dude...u should sign up for that show-"THE LAUGHTER CHALLENGE...u'll surely be funny"...well..so i decided--"i'll
only sing in the bathroom...and infront of ppl who can appreciate my way of singing or who
are worse singers than me(tarun,sardar,and every amritam-walla")....thus, my dream of
becoming the next kishore kumar ended...i didn't even get to reach himesh reshammiya's
level...that was bad...not even himesh...s***...that sucks...

Anyway...studies came in between...and then the holidays...i wanted to do something creative
in the hols....something which justified my passion...did i say passion??...y not
sing??...naa...i'll better do smthng else which is related to music but not exactly
singing...so i further thought...the harmonium--no--that requires a good singing voice and
looks boring...drumming--there ain't any good teacher...and it makes a lot of noise
too....GUITARRRRRRRRRR----yes---that's gud...i always wanted to do that....hmm..so i bought a guitar...a black acoustic gibson(from calcutta)...i didn't want to be an ace guitarist--i
can't become a jimi hendrix, can i?...but i wanted to learn the basics by the tym i started
my college...so that i could play a few songs to my so-called "audience"...

The teacher...hmm...his name was Arun Kumar Bhattacharya...a Bengali...said that he had 20
yrs of experience in this field...okay...i believed him...he looked lyk a "music"
guy....naa...he was not a rocker..an indian singing teacher to simply put it...always clad
in a red-kurta-pyajama...okay....i started learning the nuances of playing this b'ful
instrument called guitar...well...i worked hard...practised regularly...and even started
playing a few hindi songs..those lyrics...couldn't create the background music though(i
wondered why)....all was good..ppl had started to take my guitar seriously...my friend onu
seemed visibly impressed...now he too wanted to be a guitarist...

In between I had to go to Kota...there i met my friend "Exe"...had played the instrument for
the last 10 months...i thought here's a nice way to learn smthng...we sat and discussed
everything...the songs we play...the basics,etc....then i realised that i was taught in a
wrong way....my teacher had not taught me the western style(using chords)....instead he had
taught me the indian classical style(using saregama)---the way of teaching sitar...man...my
teacher was a "SITARIST" and not a "GUITARIST"....s***...i saw my dreams crumbling again lyk a house-of-cards....when i came back to gaya....i stopped my guitar lessons(not a single
soul in gaya knows how to play the guitar in a proper way..so i had to)...my guitar ended up
as an object of display...i still play the songs which i learnt...but that fire has
gone...maybe...if i'd be lucky..i'd get a good teacher who could rekindle that fire...but
till then i'm content playing the songs which i learnt...it sounds good...trust me...u ought
to listen...

PS---any wannabe guitarist should first do some research and then learn...good luck!!!..

AIEEE COUNSELLING 2009(Counselling blues-part 1)

Well, I've always been told that getting a good rank guarantees you a good college - in any exam.Heeding that advice, i studied a little bit and managed to secure an okay rank- AIR5827 in AIEEE 2009(I was satisfied-but not my parents...as usual...they wanted more from their intelligent son...its another matter that they don't know that their so-called intelligent son hardly deserves this rank on the amount of labor he had put in).Anyway, let's come back...this rank atleast helped me in getting a new phone(got loads of other goodies too)...a Samsung OMNIA-sgh-i900....so i was over the moon....it'll hopefully get me a good college too...so even my parents are over the moon(not as much as me though).

Now was the time of counselling....the CBSE had made a historical decision - it was going to conduct the initial phase of counselling online and the final phase at any designated centre(i chose Patna-not because it has the most b'ful gals-which it does not...but because it was the nearest centre from gaya)...voila...that meant all the students didn't need to rush to their respective home state counselling centres for counselling.That was really smart of the CBSE.

I started for Patna on the 2nd of july, 2009 at 6.38 am...reached NIT at 10am...here i was(with certificates, etc.-all the necessary ammunition to encounter the wrath of the authorities)...with my dad...in an engineering college...the best in BIHAR(i really wonder if it deserves this tag)...there was the iron-bar gate....with guards and all...hmm...it looked okay till then...we enter the campus premises...there was the cricket ground(had a lush green outfield--it was actually a football field with a cricket pitch in the middle)-my dad had played on it countless times when he was in the PMCH team...they had a fight at the end of one of the matches...just some "YUVA" stuff....anyway...while my dad felt a bit nostalgic(am i using the right word???) my eyes wandered to the canteen-------or was it an open-air table-kursi-waala-chai-ki-dukaan??...tabish would know better..he had gone their for a cold-drink later in the day(which turned out to be a hot-drink) ....hmm...let's talk about the front building....I'm not lying----the building was impressive(maybe the pleasant weather made it look so)...not any giant structure...very modest...but had shades of the British era(as my friend Mojahid aptly puts it-"its just like the one at kota railway station")...red bricks...old design....appealing aura.

That irresistible charm made us enter the building...yeah...we thought we were early but 5 mins later we realised that people had come in hordes....more than i had imagined.There were queues and queues and still queues(lol)...some1 shouted that we had to get our attendance made(what for???????)....and then get a counselling form(had to do the "attendance" stuff again)....i forgot to add that the buildings were hardly impressive from the inside(purani haveli thi...yehi samajh lo).....well...i ended up finishing all the procedures in an hour and half(yep...it took me that long...and trust me that was infact a quick tym---considering the fact that others took 2-3 hrs).You might have as well realised that there was total mismanagement and chaos----no one knew what they had to do(including the authorities)...every1 was baffled....there were no information kiosks..no water-coolers.....obviously no ACs..no fans(err...there were some--but u could hardly label them as fans...worse than hand-fans ppl)....all they had was this toilet which didn't have any water(hehehehe)....so ignoring everything my dad and me ventured in search of the document verification room(if u'd call that a room)....a pen in hand...i marched ahead as a determined soldier does with a gun(let's call the file in my hand as my ammunition-satchel)...
To Be Continued...

AIEEE Counselling Blues-Prologue

Flashback:July 2nd,2009 Event:On way for AIEEE Counselling @NIT Patna
I had learnt "how-to-drive" around a month a month ago,and was quite keen to try my hand on the highway.The drive to Patna from Gaya(around 100kms) on NH-83 for eee counselling,appeared to be perfect for this endeavour of mine.I took the driver's seat(and my dad was on the other front seat) and vroomed off the narrow lanes of our dusty hometown.All was fine for the next 45 minutes-the cool monsoon morning breeze made the drive even more pleasant,the sun trying to make its way through the clouds,the fields back to life with the first rains,everything around me seemed picturesque...but only until that railway crossing..i was confident i would make through the narrow railway crossing,before the truck coming from other side could have been anywhere near it..but,oops..it was a wrong judgment,i took a turn and the rear side gate banged into the truck's bumper..heavy damage,but thankfully no injuries..
The next thing i remember is,my dad driving the car and me asking "the car is insured,right dad?"..heavens..what a relief a "yes" can bring,a smile was back on my face.
U know,i have always believed in "everything happens for good"..so,the rest part of the journey was spent by me,brain storming..exploring the "hidden goodwill" in me banging the truck.Many reasons popped up in my mind..I'm sharing few.. :-)
1)Failures are the pillars of success..right??..a small accident could be a big step in making me a "better" driver..
2)The car is insured..so we had nothing to worry about..the car needed a good servicing..the car would be sent to the workshop for repair n would get a good servicing as well..bonus..something that wouldn't have happened in normal course..long term benefits for car..u see..
3)Car damaged=money spent by insurance firm=increase in inflow of capital into the market=rise in purchasing power of people="glitter of hope" in the times of recession..that's my version of "trickle down effect"..i wonder why i didn't take economics as a subject??..what say guys???
hmm..now,i would refrain myself from sharing more reasons.{before you bang your heads into your computer screens and wonder what is " the hidden goodwill" in the damage done to your computers...} :-)
We finally reached our destination-"National Institute of Technology,Patna" read the letters in white on a blue background.We got off the car and entered the institute,"the process would be as smooth as the counselling procedure at IIT Bombay(which i had attended 2 weeks back)" i thought..having not even a hint of the ordeal that was awaiting us..i found Abhineet at the counselling hall..we had no idea that the counselling would turn into a torture..
..to know how??..keep following our blog..Abhineet would post on that topic soon..