PAGE 250/366: That KoRny Encounter.........

KORN is in the town!!!!! Yeah, you heard me right. KORN.

The band that inspired millions of young lads like me, the band I would kill to watch. I’ll be honest however; if given a chance then I would for sure choose Rage Against The Machine over KORN. A Rage Against The Machine reunion is out of the question, so I guess I am happy with KORN.

KORN haven’t been the same in recent years, especially after “Head” left the band. The energy is still there but the “feel” is missing.  KORN for me symbolized angst, but lately they have mellowed down and so did the music. They don’t make the kind of free for all “Headbanging” and “Mosh-pitting” music anymore, but I’ll still take KORN as well, after seeing Meshuggah, Freak Kitchen, Enslaved And few other bands, I couldn’t have missed this one for anything.

Though I am more into bands like Meshuggah, SiKth, Miss May I, Parkway Drive, BMTH, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and Slipknot now, I however still have huge respect and love for KORN. After all, everything started from them.

KORN!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are friggin KORN after all.

Everything started with KORN, from my baby step into learning music to a giant leap into making a band!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, KORN is the first band to inspire me to put together a team of few musicians and create a band, the rest of inspiration from other bands came way after KORN. Now I reckon you probably didn’t know that I have a band!!!!!! Okay, so yeah……. I do play in a band or rather sing in a band, a very small time band. Recorded few songs and played quite a good number of gigs in town, however not as much active anymore.

I’d just leave it there; we can probably talk about my band some other time. Let’s get back to business and let’s get back to KORN!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, all set to see KORN in person, see them sing in from of me. Friggin excited!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all, I haven’t been to concerts in like ages, so I am kind of anxious about it. The last I remember was going to GIR to watch Meshuggah and that’s been like years.

The show was scheduled to start at 4pm, and it was already 4.30. Still waiting for a friend, who was supposed to go with us. So you could imagine how restless I was. Waiting for someone is not an easy thing to do, especially when you are in a hurry.

I was so friggin eager to get to the venue; I must have called him more than 10 times in like 20 minutes.

Godddddddddddddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!! Why is it so friggin hard to wait on someone????????????

Finally, he decides to show up, and we are all ready. Now the big question. How will we go there? First, my car’s been pretty fucked lately and auto doesn’t go till there, so we decided to take a cab instead.

Dead silence inside the cab, bar little sarcasm coming out from my mouth directed towards my friend. I can be that mean sometimes!!!!!! I was kinda pissed to be honest; I was afraid we’d probably miss a good chunk of the show.

We reached the venue at 6pm. To my surprise a huge crowd was still outside. I could hear a band performing, and I knew it had to be Boomarang. So, we didn’t even bother to go in. We stayed out for a while and then entered the scene once it started getting dark. Concerts are much better at night.

Inside now and I can feel the atmosphere, it’s great to see people dressed in black, coming together for one purpose. ROCK!!!!!!!!!!! After a long time, I felt like I’m home.

The smell of weed and beer all over, did I tell you we all got a Budweiser beer vouchers with every tickets??? We did and sad none of us wanted to drink!!!!!!!!! On other days I would have just avoided places like this but I do make exceptions when it comes to concerts and stuff.

After a while, KORN graced the stage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY FUCKIN GOOD LORD!!!!!!!!!! Pinch me!!!!!!

I am going like friggin crazy!!!!!!!!!

They started off with “Narcissistic cannibal”, and trust me; they won me all over again. Fieldy, Munky, Jonathan Davis…. I so friggin love them. But I kind missed Head and David Silveria. I have been guilty of not listening to KORN much ever since “Head” left. So, I didn’t even know few of the new songs they played, but who gives a fuck!!!!!!!!!!!

Just going wild on each song, whether I know it or not. I couldn’t care less about the lyrics, just the music and presence of KORN was enough to get me high.

Headbanging, getting inside the moshpit, beer spilling all over me…. Proper insanity!!!!!!!!

The best part however, my friend, well, he’s not a KORN fan, but came because he’s never been to a concert. Honestly he didn’t know a single shit they played. But when they started “Another brick in the wall” oh yeah, he knew this song and I could hear him singing that!!!!!!!! He just got out of control!!!!!!!! Funny to say the least!!!!!!

After a mix of old and new songs, KORN ended the night with the all time favorite and never failing to create a moshpit regardless of the timing song “Blind”. This is a song very close to me, as this is one of the two songs that we used to play, the other being “Y’all wanna single”, which sadly they did not play.

I was kinda emotional and just couldn’t stop myself from missing the good old days.

Question. Have you ever felt so emotional that you’d just shed tears, when you see or hear something that inspired you for so many years???

If YES, then you would probably know what I am talking about. I would be honest here; I just couldn’t stop my tears on this one. Seeing KORN was a dream come true for me and it brought me back old the memories that I had almost forgotten. I miss my peers!!!!!!!!!!!

After two hours of nonstop headbanging, shouting and screaming, KORN bid goodbye to everyone. Sore throat, stiff neck and aching body, not to mention the thousands of INR, at the end of Page 250/366 it was all worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, lived one my dreams and in fact dreams do come true. At the right time and a right place.

See you again soon, till then take care and stay safe. Au Revior.

CHAPTER 36/52: Elation And Frustration, Two Sides Of A Coin

I reckon y’all know how the few days been for me this past week. From the driving session and the near accident to long hours of driving, rain and nostalgia, bet you know about this shit (Oooooopsssss… If you read the previous blogs, then you surely would!!!!).

It’s been a mixed bag of emotions for me this past week. From excitement to panic, from anxiety to nostalgia and from annoyance to anger. Pretty eventful week as far as emotions are concerned. The ending to the week however, was just as much not up to scratch to say the least.

Saturday, well not much in the day for me, just went to an uncle's, friend’s dad to be precise, retirement thing. Kinda nice to be there, the weather however sucked a big time!!!! And I mean it. It was so friggin hot and humid. Took away all the fun, I managed to have my bit of fun though.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you the best part. My friend was supposed to give a speech, rather a thank you note to his parents. And guess who wrote the message for him. 
You gotcha!!!!! I did.

Kinda proud of myself.

And one more thing, he asked me to write it down for him. Great!!!! Right.

The hectic day ended and pretty tired, so just slept. Good day, but as they say, all good things must come to an end, so did this day.

Sunday, hmmmmm……. A big day, mainly for two reasons. First, we had a friendly match against a B Division team here. A pre-season friendly for them and for us, a chance to play with a professional team.

Second, Liverpool’s match with Arsenal in the evening. Nuri Sahin’s debut for Liverpool, pretty much freaked out about it.

Buzzing with excitement!!!!!

Been waiting for this day the whole week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the match…….. We reached the ground, with a fair bit of excitement, but mind you, we were not full strength team. 5 of our first team players could not make it because of their prior engagements.

Our captain, well he was out of town because of his job and so was our central midfielder. And the rest were busy.

Looking at the team, things looked pretty fucked!!!!!! And I mean it; we were kind of bracing ourselves for a thrashing.

The whistle blew and the game started.

To my surprise though, the first half wasn’t all too bad and it ended 1-1, though we could have gone 2-1 up had it not been for a freak miss by our striker, who just couldn’t put the ball in the open goal.

That left everyone gasping, including me.

In the second half however, things just got out of hands and we lost the match 4-2. Thoroughly disappointing, we could have done a better job. To tell you the truth, we didn’t play that bad either.

And you know what?????????? I friggin scored a GOAL.

And to be honest, it was a great goal, one of the best I’ve scored so far.

But that didn’t take away the frustration of losing. Our 12 match unbeaten run came to an end. Everyone’s gutted, not a single word was spoken once the match got over. Deep down inside however we all knew that we played with a much depleted squad and we did well enough, but a defeat always stings and so it did.

As a team I reckon everyone sees a day like this and we are no different from everyone else.

But as said before, all good things must come to an end, so did this one as well.

At home now and preparing myself for the match I had been waiting for the entire week.

So, glued in front of the Tivo, ready with my Liverpool shirt. Hey, did I ever tell you that I always wear Liverpool shirt when I watch them play. Watching it alone, I always do it, and it works just fine for me. I’d rather not watch a match in a crowd, honestly it hurts more when my team loses and people taunt me with that. It’s something that I can’t put up with. Frankly, I was never good at it anyways.

Very excited!!!!!!!!!!!!Bring it on Gunners!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sadly however, things did not go the way I had expected and Liverpool lost the match 2-0. Fairly disappointed.

What’s wrong with Liverpool????????????????????????????

Just like a friend says “I love Liverpool to the core, but sometimes it’s the most frustrating thing in the world.”

Probably right on that, just as much I love Liverpool, it's always frustrating to see them lose, and lately they have been doing it just a bit too much for my liking.

Two games and two losses, not a very good day for me. Frustrating??? Yes it friggin was, and it still is. At the same time however, I couldn't help but feeling happy about the goal.

Later at night, keeping the entire day aside I watched a movie that a friend had suggested a while back. “The Butterfly Circus”, short movie, just 20 minutes of runtime, however deffo worth watching and pretty inspiring as well.

If you haven’t seen it, then I strongly recommend that you do, just as soon as possible and be ready to be inspired. Just like I was.

What began with huge excitement and looked set to end in a frustration, rather ended in somewhat inspired mode, all thanks to The Butterfly Circus. That’s the end of chapter 36/52, not much in it, however enough drama for me to write and share it. Thanks for listening. I’ll see you very soon. Till then stay safe and take care.

Au Revior!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PAGE 242/366: Rain, Nostalgia, Traffic Jam And A Stupid Question.

Been meaning to write something for a while but I haven’t had the time. Kind of busy with life lately and it’s a welcome change for me. I have started going out more than before and sometimes a bit too much for my liking to tell you the truth.

I had thought about writing this like 4-5 days back, but as you can see, I had been slightly occupied with things a bit more important.

I am sorry, if I kept anyone waiting, though I doubt if there is anybody eagerly waiting for my blogs. A sad truth. Who cares anyways!!!!!!

So moving on, I might probably have to go back and refresh my memory on how I want this one to be like. And remembering things is not my forte.

Will try however.

Hmmmmmmmm……. So the day started with rain.

Rain. It’s something that I never fell in love with. I like it when it rains, however just as much I wanna love it, it rather leaves me with a bit of nostalgia every time. I don’t know why it happens, but whenever it rains, everything seems so gloomy.

I was never friends with rain either. It’s always happened, whenever I wanted to enjoy it, I end up being sick.

So I stopped it, honestly I had to.

That’s when the love hate relation between rain and I started.

There is one more reason why I don’t like rain.

Nostalgia, the feeling that follows rain. Not an easy one to deal with, especially when you don’t know who and what are you exactly missing or longing for.

I always feel lonely when it rains and it’s depressing sometimes. To make everything worse, being with friends doesn’t help much either.

Strange?? I know it, but that’s me.

So, we had to go out in the rain, had some important work to do. Had to buy few stuff and send it to a cousin of mine. His order list was rather long so, it took us a long time to finish with the shopping. It took friggin 5 hours!!!!!!!!!!

But the job wasn’t done yet. This is just the halfway line.

Now we gotta send everything to my cousin through cargo. The next stop…. Airport.

Here we go…… 

Seatbelts. Check. Rearview mirror. Check. Side view mirrors. Check.

Driving en route for the airport now. Music on.

Still raining and I am still not okay, though I didn’t let anyone know about it. I am pretty good at hiding my feelings, however constantly annoyed with everything around me.

Oh… And yes, I forgot to tell you. The worst part about rainy seasons, whenever it rains here, water clogging on the roads. The result………….. Traffic jams!!!!! One of the most annoying things.

The worst thing about traffic jams. The constant honking. Yes. People here don’t have enough civility or should I say, road mannerism.

People here are a bit too trigger happy when it comes to blowing horn.

When someone honks from the back, it freaks me out. I proper hate it.

Question. To everyone addicted to horn blowing.

Will constantly honking in the traffic open the road? If yes, I would never stop doing it. But sadly, it doesn’t. Then is it really important?? I don’t think so……. And I reckon I am right on this one here.

It usually takes about an hour, but today, it took us friggin 3 and a half hours just to reach there.

3 and a half hour drive.

My back and Arse hurts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally at the airport.

Another hour in the airport. Sorting things out and running here and there to get the cargo done.

Finally……………

Everything done at the airport and on our way back home. Another hour in the car. It’s driving me insane.

While in the car and stuck in a traffic jam, it annoyed the shit out of me to see the vehicles on the other side just running freely.

Hmmmmm……. Another question. A stupid one though.

Why does it always happen, whenever stuck in a traffic jam, the opposite side of the road is always free. Why???

Did this question ever tiptoed into your mind? Deffo not worth losing sleep over, however worth giving a thought.

Rain finally stopped. Thank goodness. Now I am a bit better.

But another hour and a half inside the car!!!!!Ughhhhhhhhhhhh. Shoot me.

After like 2 hours, at last, reached home. Soooooo friggin tired, I could just lie down and sleep for 16 straight hours.

Well, today, no stories to tell, no lessons learnt, just a normal day however slightly on the annoying side. A day worth remembering though, of course as one of the most annoying days.

Really tired!!!!! So I guess I’ll just stop annoying you and leave you in peace. Till the next time we meet again, take care and stay safe. Au Revoir!!!!!!!!!!!!!!