Coldplay: Fix You

Can't get it out of my head. Not as romantic as you would expect from Coldplay I suppose.

Lyrics taken from coldplaying.com

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

High up above or down below
when youre too in love to let it go
If you never try you'll never know
Just what youre worth

Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears streaming down your face and I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face and I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Things To Do

I've procrastinated coming up with a List of Things To Do, which really is a bit too much, I know. I do apologise to anyone who expected an interesting post. But with the concentration levels of a goldfish it really is hard getting things like these done. Here goes:

1. Apply for US Visa
2. Get cars repaired
3. Read the Economist
4. Read World Soccer (They Should've called it World Football dammit)
5. Finish GMAT English exercise overdue
6. Pick up NSCI club membership card
7. Reply to Inland Revenue letter about p45
8. Apply for International Driving License
9. Copy music from Vishal's DVD's
10. Obtain No Emigration Check stamp from Passport Office
11. Take up Amateur Photography lessons
12. Reply to emails from 2006
13. Call up (list of people)
14. Do GMAT online tests
15. Plan holiday post-GMAT
16. Get laptop repaired
17. Read (list of books)
18. Come up with a Business Plan to start a Smoothie factory
19. Get Camera repaired
20. Invest money in Mutual Funds
21. Figure out how to file Income Tax Returns
22. Get iPod repaired
23. Burn CD's for Shaina
24. (catch up on) Sleep
25. Find time to Work on this list

And that's exactly it. I just never get most of these done due to either one of three thngs -
A) I can often live perfectly fine without doing them.
B) I can often live perfectly fine without doing them Now.
Most likely
C) I am out.

Which gets me thinking about getting things done. I always get stuff I enjoy done quickly. Took me a lot of time and effort but I found exactly the camera I wanted even though in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter as long as the important people are captured by it. In general I spend too much of my time going out and meeting people - leaves me with no time of my own to finish things like these.

Does it make me happy? Yes.

Should I be spending less time doing what makes me happy and getting these done? I suspect so. In the end, it really is about balance isn't it?

Damn, bad timing for Manish to call me downstairs for a cigarette.

Net Worth?

Arranged Marriages are always a different experience depending upon the family in question. I can't say I know anything about it but it's interesting to discover how the world (or at least India) functions. Whereas there is a lot of effort and it is a difficult process, I would at least expect the Selection process to be something like this -

1. Shortlist respectable family with eligable son/daughter
2. Based on personal values weigh the pros/cons of the eligible person.
3. Make boy meet girl.
4. ....

However what has surprised me is the introduction of wealth into this whole equation. Don't get me wrong, I'm not naive and know that money plays a part but it amazes me how blunt and direct a part it can play. The surprise to me is how the Net Worth of the family is taken as a criteria, and how this differs from community to community. As a general principle the boy's family is always better off than the girl's - something common across most communities.

For example, someone I know has her family completely ignoring any family who is worth less than 1000 Crore (roughly 250 million USD). First off, how would you know exactly how much someone is worth considering that a lot of money in India is siphoned off abroad / hidden to avoid tax + (although this is gradually changing) people don't often spend even a tiny share of how much money they have - probably due to fear of being noticed by gangs / Income Tax. Secondly, question in my head is what is a few million USD here or there? Surely a few hundred Crore Rupees should suffice given in my opinion that spending doesn't really change too much when a person is that rich - it all boils down to personal habits.

Another example is the Marwari community, particularly the Aggarwal clan, where the practise of Dowry still exists. The Aggarwal clan is known to be fairly open in their demands for Dowry, and matches are made based on how much Dowry is on offer. This does sound a lot worse as families discuss prices, bargain and ultimately the couple is herded together once the Dowry is agreed. Interestingly enough here apparently (?) from the girl's family one needn't be that rich - if one can afford the required Dowry that is all that is needed.

At the end of the day ancient values and methods are still core to modern day Indian families. The method might be updated, and the couple in question may personally not care about any of these things. Ultimately, money can be a factor in decisions which have life-long repercussions. Just ask me.

Roger Waters Concert: Mumbai

The last concert I saw was a Pakistani band "Jal" along with this South Indian chap Sivamani, who plays fairly experimental drums + other instruments. Quite a riot as far as concerts in Bangalore go. Still, not the same as David Gray, Foo Fighters or R.E.M (my last three concerts)

So it was quite a pleasant surprise to read about Roger Waters (ex-Pink Floyd) coming to Bombay, and the concert tonight was one of the best I've ever seen. One must note that although I like Pink Floyd I've never been the greatest fan, mostly due to lack of time to sit and listen to them properly which is needed with this band. So given that fact, it is even more impressive that I really loved the concert even if I knew only about 4 songs played.

It had everything one would look for from an artiste performing live - great energy and crowd interaction, stunning visuals and a brilliant set. Oh, and a giant pink pig shaped balloon (?) which had scribblings all over it which was released into the wild / atmosphere. Bizarrely, even a 15 minute interval in the middle!

The animations and psychedelic videos were very impressive, and perfectly matched to the lighting and on stage fireworks. Even more impressive was the bits when they were just (apparently) experimenting - the one bit that stood out was on of the chorus girls doing a solo bit which was extremely intense and difficult. He played a mix of songs before the interval, then after the interval played the entire Dark Side of The Moon and a few more mixed songs in the encore.

Which brings us to the only two things that were lacking - first was lack of "concert ambience" usually associated with a Pink Floyd / rock concert. It was just too civilised - not enough obsessed people screaming and pushing and just generally being a bit loony. Hell, the crowd didn't even really demand an encore, the band just came back on their own after about 3 minutes (of presumably a pee break?) Second was the political expression - mainly the anti-war and anti-Bush sentiment in both animations/pictures as well as this song which he recently wrote (Leaving Beirut). Whereas I am quite against these things myself, I just prefer leaving my music and politics separate or at least not make a mention of it more than once or twice. I realise it's "cool" to be anti-establishment but honestly even mention of Bush or Iraq just lulls me to sleep given how over-mentioned the topic is.

The only song of note that I thought was missing was "Hey You". My favourite Floyd song is "Wish You Were Here" and singing along to it just gave me goosebumps. Which served as a reminder of how much I miss walking around listening to my Ipod and just forgetting the world.

It's Official!

It's been a month.

Yet, I score 40 on the Goldberg Depression Questionnaire.

Score Interpretation
54 and up Severely Depressed
36 - 53 Moderate - Severe
22 - 35 Mild - Moderate
18 - 21 Borderline depression
10 - 17 Possibly Mildly Depressed
0 - 9 No Depression Likely

Oh well, back to soccernet.com