Music, Lyrics and Religion

I just googled ‘music and lyrics the movie’ and there were over 36 million resulting pages/articles. Now that’s impressive by any online standard. During the movie there is a scene where a cheesy teeny pop star by the name of Cora using a seated statue of Buddha as her main background/stage props. The image of Buddha has all of a sudden become this chic commodity, something that Europeans have embraced for all the wrong reasons.

The image of Buddha has been used in many contexts in the recent past that includes bars, music, films and even as a sign that divides the male and female toilets at a restaurant in Germany.

We don’t come across ‘Jesus bars/pubs’ or the head of Jesus being used as an ornament in a garden. But why are eastern symbols, especially of Buddha’s used in such weird ways? I really don’t know the answer to this. As a man of the world, I know that some people like to receive attention even at someone else’s expense. Moreover, I know that this is a day and age where most men lack originality so they get caught up in trying to be creative by using a widely respected belief totally out of context.

I was watching the music and lyrics movie with wifey today and as mentioned above, one of the scenes had a massive statue of Buddha as a prop on stage for a cheesy rock concert. Once the statue turned, out came a lass clad in mere rags from the back of the statue. Imagine if the prop was of Lord Jesus and if a woman wearing a bikini sprung out of his back? Will this be accepted by the pontiffs around the world?

Then again, we live in a democratic world and freedom of expression is a right that anyone can exercise. How ever what people tend to forget is that this right has to be exercised responsibly without undermining or hurting someone else’s belief.

Buddhism is not a religion, it’s a teaching, hence there’s lack of control and more chances of it being misused for pleasure of another. A person who sees differently can always misuse someone else’s belief. Maybe that’s why Hitler used the Hindu symbol ‘swastika’ as the symbol for the Nazi party of Germany.

The love for ancient symbols is one way of trying to find one’s origins. For some others it’s a way of being creative. What ever it is, man’s love for curiosity and stupidity hangs on a mere thread and his love for attention will not slip away to the doldrums that easily.

For a pessimist, this movie would be an utter humiliation but for the optimist in me, the Google search I did gave me some hope. In a day and age where curiosity creates interest, having 36 million people search for a movie that has a scene with a cheesy singer with her background prop as Lord Buddha is promising because if 1% of those 36 million searches for Lord Buddha, that makes it 360,000 hits for Buddhism.

The elephant's grave yard

It's a funny world...this corporate life. It's a big money making machine that get's you involved in the process and changes your whole outlook. Sometimes it even changes your personality. Why the sudden anger towards the corporate world you may ask. Well it's not a sudden thing but something that has been brewing for a long time. Even while I'm having this thought, there’s a twat in clutches walking around the building saying 'he's milking it', which means he is using the opportunity to gain undue advantage.

The corporate world is such that, the people who do work their heart out never get appraised properly where as the plonkers who are a bit mouthy tends to go to the top. Well...I shouldn't generalise I guess, but I thought the companies in good old blighty would be forward thinking. Sadly, that's not the case. Having worked for a couple of reputed companies so far, (not trying to boast by the way), I'm yet to meet a manager who knew what he/she was talking about. They are all good at talking but hopeless in planning and managing.

My current organisation however is an elephant’s graveyard. There is a myth that all elephants go to one place to die. If anyone wanted a picture to go with this, my current organisation is it. There are people who should be at home watering their plants, instead they're bothering everyone here by poking their fingers into things they know nothing about. And then we also have the ones who couldn't make it to the top during their younger days, now trying to make their mark.

Oh this life is hilarious. Coming from a third world country, how much did we struggle to create sales. We had only 5% of the total population who could spend on what we sold. Out of the 5%, another 2% were spoilt so much for choice. There were some elephants who were left in these companies too. But they were all political elephants.

As they say, beggars can't be choosers. I chose this path and I have to live with it or work around it. Until I start my own graveyard that is. Let's see where I'll end up in my quest to find my grave yard.

Children in need

It's a big show tonight. Everyone's collecting money for the kids. The last time I switched on the TV, I heard Terry announcing some staggering amount which was collected within the space of a few hours. Everyone's been chipping in with their pounds and not pennies tonight. Gary Barlow had organised a massive do at the Albert hall and ended up being on stage with former band mate Robbie Williams. All young and old seem to be getting together for a common cause tonight.

It’s an interesting time in good ol’ blighty. For 364 days of the year everyone hates kids but once a year everyone collects 365 million quid for them. The mood in the country has definitely swung towards the better, at least for today. They keep on show casing kids who looked after their parents and kids who have had trouble during the year gone by. These kids are the hero’s of the night. The money collected apparently is spent towards making these kids happy for a day. Nothing against the kids but this money collected, which is similar to the GDP of a small African state could feed millions of kids world wide. I know it's not the time to talk about the distribution of wealth but one tends to wonder about this vast disparity.

For a society that sends a greeting card to their parents once a year and calls it mothers day or fathers day, this is a big deal. I just wish if these people could be sent to the so called third world countries to show how kids treat their parents. They’ll be amazed to see the bond kids have with their parents. Those so called third world societies are very rich in culture and treat their elders and look after them. In a similar fashion, the parents look after their children and devote their whole lives to these kids.

For this new breed of blights who follow celebrities instead of a religion and think death is a good career move, they certainly could learn a thing or two from the rest of the world.

This is it!

I was never a fan of pop music nor any type of fake, made up things that tried to rid people of their hard earned dosh. I do enjoy a bit of reggae music, light banter and a bit of the west end type of stage plays. Never did I realise that I was a fan of Michael Jackson's; until yesterday that is!

It was my sister in law's birthday and wifey and I decided to take her to MJ's movie 'this is it' as she was quite a big fan of the man. I was never keen on watching this as I always thought that this was a money making stunt by bitter investors who couldn't make their money from the O2 concerts.

I always thought that MJ's story was one which was blown over proportionately. However, I realised that the man was indeed a true entertainer. It's a bit sad that I only realised this after the man's death.

The movie/documentary starts with a few interviews with some of the dancers who had come to take part in this concert from long and far as Australia. Some of them were in tears when they were speaking on camera and then it struck me that these people didn't know that MJ was dead at the time of these recordings. These were recorded before the death of MJ and the dancers were still in tears, such was the aura of the man. Imagine how distraught these dancers would've been after hearing the fate of their long time idol!

During the movie MJ gets involved in almost every aspect of the project. Starting from the music to the nitty gritty bits in various rhythms etc...The man certainly knew his music. All men taking part in rehearsals looked as if they were living a dream and creating part of history and all of them looked as if they wanted to be there. Money would've been a factor for them to be part of this gig but I know for sure that it was not the main motivational factor. If I'm to go by Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, this was the moment they achieved 'self actualisation' or 'realisation'.

The 50 year old Michael Jackson was a far cry from what he was during his youth but he was a different man on stage. He commanded as if it was his own. He reminded me of a man possessed by music and I felt the enthusiasm and the passion that was running through this man. It was as if he had brushed aside all the criticism and risen as the great phoenix itself. The man was moving as swiftly and gracefully as an Olympic level ice skater and singing as good as any pop star alive today. This man had obviously been living and breathing his music, he know every step, chord and beat in his music. He epitomised the true meaning of the word 'passion'.

The movie ends with a song that we all never got to hear whilst the 'king' was alive. Generally when a movie ends and the names begin to appear on the screen, one by one, everyone tends to get up from their seats and walk down towards the exit slowly. But for the first time in my life I saw a movie theatre full of people, seated until the last note was sung and the last frame was shown. We all celebrated the life of a man who was surely a king to many people. Michael Jackson is physically no more but I have a feeling that we will not stop hearing about him anytime soon. He has left such a legacy and I'm sure the man will live longer in every one's hearts. If we were to take Shakespeare's greatest line literally; "all the world is a stage and we are mere actors", then this is the time do it, this certainly WAS IT.

What is love?

Well...that certainly is an age old question isn't it? What is this thing called love? I sometimes feel that we are so engrossed in our own little worlds that we tend to forget the true meaning of this four letter word that expresses one of the purest feelings in the human world. Why do they call it 'falling in love'? I know it's a bit of a cliché, but then again... is it? Love is not something that you critically evaluate nor will it ever have a critical path. I'm sounding a bit too 'project managementish' now. Seriously, the more I think about it, the more confused I tend to be.

Love was easy when I could recall someone's telephone number by heart. Love wasn't complicated when I knew I called only her. Love was easy to understand when I was 16. I would be lying if I didn't say that love wasn't exciting then. Love had more meaning when I held her hand and looked into her eyes. Love was a journey that I longed for. Love never took the upper hand. More importantly, love was simple when life was simple.

But when the six letter 'change' replaces the four letters of 'love', things tend to go in different directions. After all, change they say is the only constant in this world. Who am I to contest it? But there is a tiny inkling still persisting in my mature heart wanting to recall that telephone number. The outcome of this will not agree well with the social norms of this so called mature world. That's just how it is. The 6 digits that I remembered by heart have become longer as change has worked it's way through the receivers line and made it an international call now.

I have enjoyed life and seen the world in different lights. The lessons love has taught me still lingers on in my ever pounding heart. Nothing will be forgotten. Life will continue and so will love. Yet, once in a while when everything stops, the mind likes to revisit the glory days and bask in those pleasant rays of hope. This is the only true illusion in life. Love...

Waves of Good bye

I wrote this sometime ago after hearing a story of a friend, who's fiancée had been swept away by the tsunami waves in Srilanka. A tsunami had just hit a set of south pacific islands and many more 'Annas' would have been swept away.

This is a tribute to all those who lost their lives and for the souls who lost their loved ones.


There she was, in her best Sunday attire
Prettier than the bright morning sky
Walking down the isles of Galle with my child to be
Was my lovely Anna in her own Lankan way

Swaying to the beautiful tunes of the morning sea
The trees sang a song of their own that day
A lone pelican kept on looking at the sea
Praying for some morning prey or for all of us ashore

The waters were calm, yet they had some bite
Anna was playing with the fresh morning waves
Her sweet ways reminded me of an angel who had lost her way
All I had was glad as I admired my bride to be all day

Suddenly the wind had a howl and the sea a roar
The sky turned grey and the birds flew the other way
The children cried and the music died half way
As Mother Nature sent her seas to take us away

Many save me's, and I love you cries, were heard side by side
Anna's eyes twinkled like a dear fearing a hunter's arrow
She kept her hands on our future and waved her last goodbye
As I watched the mother of my child being swept away forever

The Kingdom of Mercia and the lankan connection

It's just been revealed that a lone man going walkies in the midlands (some where in Staffordshire I think) with a metal detector has just discovered one of the most valuable and the largest collections of Anglo Saxon treasure! Amazing isn't it? Experts have so far established that there were at least 650 items of gold in the haul, weighing more than 5kgs (11lb), and 530 silver objects totalling more than 1kg (2.2lb) in weight. Copper alloy, garnets and glass objects were also discovered at the undisclosed site. This also includes warfare paraphernalia, including sword pommel caps and hilt plates inlaid with precious stones.

And guess what? almost all of these precious stones are said to have come from that tiny island in the Indian ocean we all love. Yep, from our beautiful Srilanka, known as Ceylon then or maybe by a totally different name, who knows! The important thing is, our stones have been discovered on English soil and we're part of one of the biggest archaeological finds in UK history and maybe world history.

I can just imagine all the visa lawyers tip-exing their clients' application forms now. For the question where they ask, do you have any relatives in the UK the answer is now going to be, yes the Anglo Saxons. Do you have any means of proving that? Yes, please speak to the British Museum. Do you have enough financial means to support the course you're attending? Yes, please refer the valuation given by the museum but I hear it's a seven figure sum. For all holiday maker visa applicants one of the most popular questions on the visa form is, where in the UK are you going to visit? The answer is now going to be, Staffordshire.