Long Live The Music!

There is something about the death of a great artist that I find very intriguing. Its hard to pin point (part of the reason its intriguing), and equally hard to understand. Take Jimi Hendrix, for instance. People argue, and often with very good reason, that he was THE best guitarist to have ever set foot on the planet. The fact that he was instrumental (forgive the pun) in inventing/discovering everything there is to do with a guitar is obviously right up there in the list of reasons why. However, at the risk of being shot at, I wonder if its just because of how good he was, and not when he died. Jim Morrison is the second name that comes to mind. Arguably, he was one of the pioneers behind the birth of the genre psychedelic rock. The fact that he had a voice to die for did help, of course. So did the charisma he exuded from every pore. Add to the list an untimely death that baffled everyone and Voila!, we have ourselves a winner. Then there was Nirvana, another great band who became synonymous with teen rebellion and rage in the early '90s. Nirvana would have never made it this far, without the charm and mystery that had become a part of its vocalist, Kurt Cobain. Though I personally feel their music was far from what one would call sophisticated, it had something about it that transcended musical capability. One would tend to think it had at least a tiny bit to do with Cobain's dramatic suicide. An incident that, perhaps, made him more popular than when he was alive.The one thing that the three names I mentioned above have in common, apart from the fact that they all died at 27, is that each, at the time of death, was at his peak. Acme. Pinnacle. Whatever you want to call it. Basically, the absolute best.

More than once have I had this discussion with my friends, and more often than not, I have heard,'If they could do so much when so young, imagine what they could have accomplished if they had lived 30 years longer'. I beg to differ. Tragic though it is, for their music to live on, they had to die. No one talks about Iron Maiden nowadays, do they? Or Metallica? Or AC/DC? These bands, each one spectacular in their own right, are all fighting a losing battle against age and decay. Each one is drifting away from the music they were good at - In 'St. Anger', Metallica sounds like a bunch of Chihuahuas in heat, and 'System Has Failed' by Megadeth would have been better off being named 'More than the System has failed' or something. On the other hand, however, if they do see some sense and call it a day, someone will take their place in the inevitable Circle of Life, only to be replaced by someone else in due course of time. And after all the packed concerts and hit singles, no one will so much as throw a retirement party. It takes nothing less than shotgun shell to the brain, or in the Beatles case, a bullet in the chest from a crazed fan, to make them immortal. Such is the irony. Perhaps, Kurt Cobain was right. Perhaps, it is better to burn out than fade away.

'Abu Dhabi Mall !/?'

There are a lot of things about being in a country and working there, that can get you feeling un-comfortable, to put it mild. You tend to walk out from the airport the very first day with some preconceived notions about the place, and it does take a while for you to realise that they were entirely baseless. However, the fact that you can buy that kickass new phone with a fraction of your salary does help you come out of it. And you do get your occasional laughs, largely because of the fact that asking the simplest of questions to strangers can bring you down to sign language (flapping your arms from side to side in a manner that would resemble a rain dance), in the vain hope that the person you are trying to converse with would understand you just wanna know where the toilet is, rather than their views of the much-talked-about big bang theory experiment. A case in point is the recent encounter i had with a gentlemen i will hence refer to as 'X'.

Friday is the weekly holiday in the UAE, and thats something i ll never get used to (i hope). And it is for that precise reason, that Thurdays are a nightmare for anyone planning use the public transport system, where you are a person who cant afford a car, or one who just dreams of passing the driving test (trust me, the latter outnumber the former by a more than significant amout). It so happened that on a thurday, i was foolish enough to think i'd manage getting a cab at 8 in the night. The fact that 15 people were standing in the queue befoe me certainly didnt help. Nor did the fact that an empty taxi in the UAE on a thursday night is as rare as an Indian politician without a criminal record. So it was only natural that when i saw a bus that was going to somewhere near my destination, i sprinted towards it. I wouldnt normally get into a bus so full of people and the smell of sweat, but under those circumstances there werent two pills to choose from.

Not long after I stepped on that montrosity of a vehicle, I started wondering how I'd know when i got to Abu Dhabi mall. As if on cue, Mr. X got on, and asked me if the bus would go to Abu Dhabi Mall. At least, I thought he was asking me that, considering all i understood of was he said were those 3 words. I recollected reading 'AD Mall' above the windscreen so i told him not to worry, a bit too confidently, perhaps. After a few stops, the crowd in the bus had notably thinned, and my worry as to where to alight had more than occupied my mind. The last thing i wanted to do was to get off the bus and have to wait for another taxi to go back to where i came from. It was at that moment that i decided to shed my reservations regarding the expected language problem and ask the gentleman to my right, whether the bus stop we had just arrived at was Abu Dhabi Mall.

'Abu Dhabi mall? Abu Dhabi mall?', i couldnt have put it simpler. The reaction of that man was something i didnt expect, as he suddenly sprang up from where he was sitting, and promptly got off, turning back to watch the doors close behind him. Where had i seen him before? Dammit, that was X.

As the bus slowly pulled away, i hoped he would realise, after finding out that he was miles away from AD Mall, that i was, in fact, asking him if we were there, and not stating it. Oh, well.