Friday Drunk Audio

(with apologies to the Dictator, original founder of the Friday Audio meme)

Rabbi Shergill’s Bilqis (Jinhe Naaz Hain…).

Back-story (feel free to ignore):

Found this track via a twitter feed [1] ( h/t to whoever originally linked – some others like Nitin have mentioned it as well since then) that associated the song quite appropriately to this excellent blog post by Neo-Indian [2] .

Without being preachy, the song manages to pack a powerful punch on the face of those hollow, meaningless ‘I love India’, ‘proud of my country’ etc flag waving patriotism during January and August. Also love the way the national anthem is played on guitar riffs.

(lyrics, details, context of the song etc can be found here and links therein)

A must listen.  So do listen. And since it is Friday and remaining sober is not an option – Get Drunk. Then listen again. Then weep because the reality is so depressing and on that note get more drunk.

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Speaking of drunk: an unrelated link to my new hobby – brewing.

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[1] Bongo also hits himself for not noticing the release of Rabbi’s second album over a year ago, having adored the debut ‘Bulla Ki Jana’.

[2] Easily among the top two funniest on the desi blog-scene – now that gawker has stopped writing …hint, hint.

I-Day

Not sure, when it originated, but there is this recent, post-internet tendency to wish ‘Happy I-Day’ to everyone. Back when we were kids, we just watched the flag hoisting ceremony at Red Fort on DD and enjoyed the rest of the holiday (albeit with a bit of pride instilled in us).

Anyway, as I drove (more accurately, was being driven) about 20kms through the streets Kolkata this morning, I was struck by the paucity of unfurled flags, flag banners, streamers etc. Except for one sad, half-torn streamer tied across the electricity poles at the Gariahat crossing, I did not see one flag.

Perhaps I have gotten too used to the chest-thumping, in your face, we-will-put-a-flag-everywhere-you-can-imagine, kind of patriotism they display in the US on 4th of of July (and to a lesser extent on Australia Day down under), but still it is curious.

Could also be that I was there too early, flag hoisters aren’t possibly early risers or I was in the wrong part of the town.

(For clarification, I am not commenting either way about the lack of flags – just making an observation).

I assume patriotism will be on display on the cable channels through the day ……… although most ordinary folks seem to be looking forward to shopping deals and the release of Bachna Ae Haseeno.

Speaking of which, I will pay good money to anyone who lands a good slap on the face of Ranbir Kapoor. Can’t stand the guy.

UPDATE: Looks like the early morning theory is right. I was on the streets around 7am. I can now see more flags, banners and (FSM save our ears), loudspeakers being put up.