Sing along

There is something about music that is very fundamentally rooted in all of us. Please spare me the horror of having to explain what the 'something' is about music, because frankly, I have no clue. If I were to sum "Something" up in 2 words, my 2 words would be: ''Inexplicable shit"

I see people who listen to listen to a lot of music. Some listen to so much music that I haven't even heard about half of what they listen to, let alone, hearing half of what these folks listen to. 

There are a few things that stand out about the fellows who have a huge body of music behind them.

[1] Their parents have a good taste in music. 

[2] Their immediate surrounding is filled with people who are crazy about good music.

[3] They have a thing for finding/mining for good music

[4] They watch crazy amount of movies. 

Now, here's the deal. I fall in 3 of the 4 categories mentioned above, and yet, if you mention some good piece of work to me, I in all likelihood, will have a blank look on my face. I might even have the audacity to shrug my shoulders, given my predicament. But I am not here to describe shame and my reactions to shameful situations, or rather the lack of it. What I write this piece for, is to throw light upon reason number [4]. 

It is the MUSIC BEHIND MOVIES!!

I love movies! It is one of the vices I acquired after coming to college. You are bound to develop an Achilles heel for something in college. For some, it must be pot, for some, it might be porn, and for a few, it might be both, sometimes even together. This is about the guys. About girls..... I have no clue. I guess I should ask them. But later..  

I like watching movies. I like talking and discussing about movies, until, someone tries to champion me by describing every intricate detail of a scene from a movie. Specially so, if I haven't seen the movie myself. How the hell do these folks just pop out of nowhere and start their relentless rant about a scene from some movie they just saw and found amazing? Too much digressing. Coming back to the point! What I do look forward to the most is the soundtracks in the movies. Specially if the soundtracks are instrumental. No cacophonous accompaniment. 

It goes without saying that the music gives a completely new dimension to the stuff on the screen. Specially in case of Indian movies. We build movies around songs, instead of it being the other way round. So by default, all our movies(barring the exceptions, of course) fall under the 'Musical' category. But again, no complaints here. Since we have such an abundance of songs being produced, there is always a good chance of listening to good music. 

Moving to the movies that lure our attention from the west, which are the 'in-thing' in today's time, it is a completely different ball game. 

Somewhere back in 2000, I consciously noticed the soundtrack of an English movie. I actually was so hooked to the track that I let the entire credits roll right in front of my face. The movie was Terminator 2. And what a soundtrack!! It still has a ring to it inside my head. 

The reason that things are completely different in the case of non-Indian movies, as we all have noticed, is this. The lead characters in an Indian movie do the following to fit a song into the scheme of the movie...

They abandon the scene in which they were a moment ago

They catch a flight to the most scenic and expensive place imaginable, severing all ties to what was going on in the last scene.

And then, they start DANCING! Of all things? Seriously?

Mind you.  The song-and-dance is our version of a decent substitution for a sex-scene. Don't you notice how happy the hero and heroine are? And how can one forget the flowers that the fellows keep shaking throughout the song?

Just in case the viewers are having a bad day, there will be a bunch of at least 20 extra dancers who, magically know the steps to the dance. It's like The Matrix. The extras come pre-programmed with the dance steps. So next time someone wants to shoot the extras, bad luck! These buggers even dodge bullets. Damn! Then again, no complaints. I know more people than I can count, including myself, who would love to, and even have danced to the tune of many such songs.

Nothing dramatic on the other side of the ball park. Western chaps are supposed to be suave. Or, we just place them on a pedestal for some reason. Their music is very subtly interlaced with everything. No dancing. So no choreography required. No extras required. No expensive tickets to scenic places required. Besides, they are already shooting their movies in the places our folks consider 'scenic'. Wow! So much savings! Where these folks must be saving about 100 crores in unnecessary expenditure, our movies celebrate on crossing the 100 crore barrier. 

I must deserve some kind of an award for my ability to digress! Back to music. 

Some years after The terminator 2, some fellow called Hans Zimmer came into the scene. And how he did! Each of his tracks gives me goosebumps that can only be rivalled by Rahman's "Vande Mataram"!

Then started my movie-frenzy. Although nothing has ever come close to "Vande Mataram", I have had the fortune to listen to a lot of good music from the movies I have seen. 

A close friend of made a very valid point some time ago. The general public doesn't know many composers apart from Hans Zimmer. True. Surely not many I can name. But one fellow stands out like a sore thumb. Ennio Morricone. The DUDE behind "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly".

Another thing. Apart from the credits of movies, another place one could, and will come across good music is movie trailers! The best of old and new songs get recycled into trailers.

Enough phirangi  talk. Back home, there are more titans than one can count. Anyone remembers the movie "Dil toh paagal hai"? It had THE best music of its time. And the person who gave the music for the movie is a pappaji(Sardaar). Where is Uttam Singh(The Sardaar)?? 

As an ending note, there is only one thing I'd like to say. 

                                           No! No! Honey Singh! Only good music please!

Misplaced

The most number of times a guy takes bath in his life is in either of the two cases stated below.

a)when he's in a relationship with a girl he doesn't want to disappoint or 

b)when he's a ready-to-be-sold-product of a factory we all call an engineering college. As I am not very well versed with the former case, allow me to stick to the the latter.

Formal Nonsense

It's a long walk, from the hostels to Aryabhatta hall, right through the middle of the campus to, the proving grounds/ slaughter house of the college. So you wash yourself, get all clean and tidy, and walk out of your rooms looking all good in your formal shirt, pant and shoes. And of all paraphernalia, that, your attire is the best part. But only, only of you don't have a hideous preference for colors. Let me explain. According to college policy, students up for campus placements should turn up formally dressed, which, in a slightly twisted way, is a good thing. Forget the fact that one looks a lot more presentable dressed in formals, to anyone, let alone a potential employer. You see, if you can't look good in formal wear, you can bloody well not look good wearing anything. And yes, that line comes straight out of my sister.  And of course, there will be ladies at Aryabhatta. So who gives a shit about whether or not the company chaps are looking good. As long as you look mind-blastingly awesome to the ladies, wallah! What placements??

The Assembly line

Let's get back to the long walk through the campus, the one from the hostel up to Aryabhatta. So you are all dapper and dashing, "Suit-boot pehenke aa gaya launda!", and you encounter a sight. There are two ways from here on. Either that you never gave a serious thought to the sight you have in front of you, or the mere thought of the sight is accompanied by revulsion. 

A moment ago, you were taking confident strides to a future that you saw was bright. The next moment, you see a dozen more just like you. Another moment later, there's an army with exactly the same stuff in their head that you had in your head two moments ago. And if you ever get a bird;s eye view of the whole scene, it will sure as hell look like a flock of sheep going to get reared, or even worse, rear ended, if you know what I mean.

Having said all that I did above, I have no qualms about competitive spirit. Just that when all humans could very well be sheep, that is when things start looking ludicrous. 

The Dream-Snatchers 

They come in HOT! Okay, sometimes, may be not. But the mere entry of the Company-waalas'  sweeps Aryabhatta with a deathly silence, as a sigh of respect, supposedly. I'd bet it is more out of curiosity. Specially the guys in the audience. All we want to be concerned with is if the lady from the HR department is hot or not. In most cases, if the lady ain't good enough to ogle at, our folks decide to under-perform in the company's selection process. And that makes sense. Don't ask why. 

The yuppies from the recruiting company shower the fickle minded college folks with words like CTC, bonuses, work-load/hours, Fortune 500, work-culture, office gymnasiums, steep-learning-curves, Big-data, Big-Bollocks, and of course, COMPENSATION. How could they do without the last word? Otherwise what do we, the students, their prospective employees, get in our hand, except our d**ks? (Whoops, sorry ladies! You don't get anything of your own in your hands.) With that last line, I have guaranteed myself a good beating, in case any beautiful damsel decides to read this.

All the yap by the company yuppies is basically a sales pitch, a very unconventional one at that. It goes like "Here's why you should sell your dreams away and buy those of our organisation instead, so that you can go home with a price-tag stuck to your forehead for preferably the rest of your life."

Now I am really scared, scared of a future when I decide to become a hypocrite.

But that's the way most of us have seen lives go by. More than yourself, your grandmother is concerned whether you will be able to get a good job, then a good girl, then children, so she can call herself a 'great' grandmother. Any other way she can fall into the 'great' category? Doubts...... Great!

I feel I got a bit too bitter there. It is probably because of the books I am reading nowadays, the contents of which are not things the fellows from the recruiting companies would like to see us read. Pick up anything by Robert Kiyosaki, and you would, in all probability lose all your eagerness of being called an employee. 

The lost Knight, in the night.

Now, the company folks want to be rigorous. They might take a truckload of chaps from the college, but they will make sure that they make you feel like a bitch for having taken you on-board. And they will make you feel that way all day and all night long if things are left in their hands. But then again, it is not entirely their fault. They come to a college where there is more intelligence than they can handle, that too in more numbers that they can handle. So they are bound to get screwed themselves too. Never the less, there is a good side to it all. And that is...

The Questions

Wow! Do these blokes come up with questions or what? Stuff you never gave an iota of time or thought to. Yes! Lack of self-introspection is a fault on our part, not in our stars. 

"Tell me something about yourself." 

"What are you passionate about?"

"Why should I hire you?"(This one makes you feel like beating them to pulp.)

Their basic question is "Can you sell anything? Specially yourself?"
Truth be told, it is only after an interview that you feel like finding out more about yourself, because before that, if you look in the mirror and ask yourself the question "Tell me about yourself", the answer is usually "Hmm.....Meh!".

Besides, as condescending "Selling yourself" sounds, Selling is a skill. One of the most important one. One sells him/herself everyday. Asking a girl out? You're selling yourself. Bargaining for marks? You're selling yourself. Getting permissions for some event you plan in college? You're selling yourself. Part of the Marketing team of some club? Again.... 

Someone really needs to start a course called Sales-1001 here!

It's never One-fits-all. 

Now that would suck. Some want to get placed because they HAVE to. Some want to get placed because everyone around them is getting placed. Some want to get placed to secure a back-up option, in case their intricately laid out plans go kaput. Some want to get placed as they feel morally obliged to contribute to their family's income. Some are compelled by circumstances to do so. And some have no bloody clue what so ever as to what is happening.

Finally..

To those, who wanted to be placed, and got placed, my heartiest congratulations.

To those, who did not want to get placed, and still got placed(read "Short-changed themselves"), my condolences.

To those who did not get placed, and want to get placed, Life ain't over. Companies shall line up for you. You at least don't lose anything for thinking that way. 

To those who say "We need a plan of attack!", I say "I have a plan: ATTACK!"

And to those, who proudly say "Do I really look like a guy with a plan?", I say "Respect! Let's just stick to *Doing* things."

**Special mention to all the placement representatives, specially Snehil Gopalka, for their relentless support, dedication and doggedness toward their work at the Training & Placement department. Without you fellows, this post wouldn't be possible!