Ganapathy Bappa, Masum and the Indian Ocean

I was soooper busy this last weekend. We did soooooooo many things. Here is a quick list...Saturday, we lazed around a little bit before we joined our friends to go watch the Texas Rangers game against Oakland at the Arlington Ball Park. We (Rangers) sucked and it was pretty darn humid so we left after the sixth innings and went to another friend's house where we spent sometime chatting before we headed home at 1.00am.

For Sunday we had way too many things lined up...first was of course our darling Vinayaka chathurthi had to be celebrated...I made modakam and cauliflower fry, a friend made cabbage fry and dal, and Girish made sundal (channa dal)...Friends came over and we prayed and had lunch and lazed around till it was time to head out to Arlington once again and this time it was going to be fun!!!

Why fun? Ok I have a dear friend who is also my rakhi brother called Sameer and another dear friend called Mudassar and together they have started a band called Masum and have composed and written their own music. It is really beautiful. If you guys get a chance visit their website. So anyway back to the point...Well Masum was going to open for the Indian Ocean, a band known for their fusion music and interesting themes. They are not your usual cup of tea...but they are brilliant.

So our whole gang got there on time (for once). Moni had reserved seats for us and we got the best location in the auditorium. Pavel (the lead guitarist in Masum and also one of the main band members) climbed down the steps from among the audience to start the show and the rest of the band joined in with their most favorite single "Tumhari Yadein" (a clip of which is on their website), and cpontinued with two more original composition (including "ek Suraj naya") and a cover for Strings hit OST for Zinda, "yeh hai meri kahani." The crowd went crazy and these guys were perfect. Everything was great and all of us were beaming with pride...after all they were like an extended family to us. I pray that these guys make it big as they are really talented and they simply deserve the best...

Alright, then the main show was going to start, Indian Ocean, I had heard their song "Ma Rewa" once and was not completely sure I liked their genre of music...but was going to sit for one song before I headed home. I was pretty sure that I was going to get bored and would leave before the end of the show. I had honestly and truly gone only for the sake of Masum! But...Indian Ocean stopped me. Their music was brilliant, energetic, and superb. We all stayed back, all of us who were making noise about heading back home and playing cranium waited till the end of the show. You should listen to their songs, it is different, it is beautiful, soothing, interesting, and has a story behind each and every composition, a story that will really interest you...

Their show was over and as usual we all bought CD's and stayed back to get it autographed and then of course get photographed with the lead band members, Rahul Ram, Asheem Chakravarthy, Sushmit Sen, and Amit Kilam. We got so many photos with them and they were so kind and obliging.

Happy we all left the auditorium and drove over to the nearest IHOP for a very late dinner at 11.00pm and guess who joined us there??? Yup The Indian Ocean! So after dinner we got to hang out and chat with them. Amit Kilam even immitated Himesh (hillarious) and sang Kandisa like Kumar Sanu might...It was fun. We hung out and had a fun time. What was amazing was the fact that these guys were not really our age (except for maybe Amit) but their sense of humor and attitude jelled well with us, it felt like we were old friends hanging out...I mean they did not have any celebrity attitude and hence we did not have any inhibitions. We are happy that we went for their show...If they ever play in a city near you...Please go, you will not regret it.

And before I sign off here are some photos!!! Not very Great Pics...but you get the point!!!

Masum on Stage unplugged!


Sameer and Mudassar before starting Zinda


Indian Ocean Live in University of Texas at Arlington


Us with the Indian Ocean after the show