Beatboxing Means...

Joel Turner, Champion Beatboxer

Beatboxing? What's that??

Its a response your likely to get when you say something about beatboxing to anyone in India. To say that people are ignorant about it would be lying. They are downright clueless about it!!

Beatboxing or vocal percussion is a technique of producing sounds of musical instruments through using one's throat, tongue, wind pipe, lips, teeth and anything which can be made use of to make different sounds. Sounds as varied as Kick drum, snare to vinyl scratching can be reproduced by a beatboxer. Basically its making musical sounds with your mouth. Modern day beatboxing or vocal percussion originated out of the Hip-Hop culture in the USA, where amateur rappers in the absence of musical instruments, depended on beatboxers for providing them with music. It was only after that beatboxing became a full fledged art. Amateur rapping crews always had a beatboxer with them to make up for the lack of any musical instruments.

The first to take beatboxing apart from conventional Hip-Hop were Doug E. Fresh, Buffy and Wise. They were the first pioneers of beatboxing and established it as an art. But till date beatboxing remains mostly underground. Several beatboxing championships in Europe and US have made it popular, though. Famous present day beatboxers are Joel Turner , Rahzel, Felix Zenger and Roxorloops.

The scene in India is however depressing. Not only do people don't know anything about beatboxing, they frown upon anyone who does it in public. Its considered rude if you do it in front of someone. Most people will either laugh at you or just shake their heads and some will write it off as mimicry.

But India does have its share of beatboxers and a niche audience which enjoys it. But lack of recognition, absence of forums for budding beatboxers to jam together and no platforms to showcase beatboxing talent is what is hampering this art from becoming big in India. Communities on Orkut provide a place for beatboxers to meet but they are limited to online interactions and beatboxers aren't able to jam together. What is needed is a pan-Indian association of beatboxers with city chapters so that beatboxers from the same city could meet under a single banner and take beatboxing further.

Hoping that happens, I sign off, Cheers!!!

BEAT BOXING RULES!!!

P.S: I'm an Amateur Beatboxer too!! So I know what I'm talking about!! Please Comment!

Thats T-PAIN!!!

Hi !! Am back after a long interval. Dad thought that I would concentrate on studies, if I didn't have the distracton of the INTERNET. Well, sense prevailed and he put me back ONLINE. What have I been upto this whole time?? Well listening to Hip-Hop, thats what!! Which is why I've made a list of my three favourite Hip-Hop songs I've heard recently. They are:

1.Lollipop- Lil Wayne feat Static Major

2.Kiss Kiss- Chris Brown feat T-Pain

3.Low- Flo-Rida feat T-Pain

4.Baby by Me - 50 Cent feat Ne-Yo

Enjoyy and Comment!!!

Me and My Homies!!!

Eating out (Literally!!!)














(l-r) Tarrannum, Zoya, Me and Ankita












Dhananjay, Jiten
Meenakshi, Praveen
Me, Bhawana, Deepali
Kishen












Me, Ankit and Neha













Me, Anuj and Shreyas











Mohamed Noman, from Afghanistan












Me with cousin sisters: (from left) Shari, Seema,
Sandhya, Me, Soumya











Me with bro(right) and cousin bro(left,with the cap)

Remembering The Last Frontier

My classmates were a heterogeneous group. We never hung out together, considering the fact that we were 15 in all (11 girls, 4 boys). The girls had their groups and had earmarked their spots in the class which hadn't changed from 11th. So we boys occupied the remaining seats. I sat alone in the back seat of the first row. I did so in 11th too because I thought there wasn't anyone on my wavelength, so I chose to sit alone..

Of the girls the chatterboxes and the loudest ones occupied the third row. They were Ena, Rini, Sana, Shagun. They were a gang but rarely hung out together. In 12th they solidified their group by making a symbol with first letters of their names. It looked like a ancient Egyptian symbol and to me it was both stupid and hilarious.

Shagun was the second loudest of all after Ena. She would scream, shout, and laugh loudly, which I thought was very infectious. The prominent thing about her which I remember were her pearl earrings (fake or real, don't know). They were really big and I simply adored them. Even now when I see someone with pearl earrings, it reminds me of Shagun.

Next to her was Sana, the class hottie! Every guy wanted to be with her and my science section friends wanted me to introduce them to her. They would often ask me whether I had "hit on her" to which the obvious answer was NO. Okay she was hot and gorgeous, with a foxy smile and twinkling eyes but I was never attracted to her. She was just another classmate and I made no attempts to hit on her. Later we became casual friends and nothing more.

Behind them was Rini. The princy’s daughter. I found out this little fact when I was hanging a chart made by her which had her full name 'Rini Templeton'. She didn't have any airs about being the princy's daughter, but sometimes received some extra care from the teachers. This angered some of my female classmates, though they didn't show it. She was skinny and tall with cat-like eyes, which I thought (and still do) to be among the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. She was an ace sportswoman and gifted with a deep slightly husky voice. She claims that I'm her first 'guy friend' and she's the only one with whom I enjoy a prolonged friendship till date. Once again I never hit on her even though my friends said I should.

Ena was the last one. She had the most unique name and personality in the whole class and probably in the whole school. She was a chatterbox and loudspeaker packed into one. She would laugh out loud even at silly jokes which was irritating at times. She used to indulge in some harmless flirting with me at times but apart from that no serious romantic vibes were ever exchanged. On the whole, she was a fun girl to hang out with.

The middle row was once again occupied by girls. These girls included Deboshree, Chhaya, Shilpy and Subuhi ( I'm not mentioning Prajna because she was there only for a year). Of the four, except Deboshree (Debosh to me) all the other girls were new to the school, joining in 11th class. They were good at studies and the teachers liked them. Apart from this one other thing that united them was Achaar (pickle)!! They could gorge on it endlessly if they had the chance.

Of the four, I mostly talked to Chhaya and Debosh, occasionally to Shilpy and rarely to Subuhi. Debosh was an easy person to talk to. She was a patient listener and someone with whom you could talk for a long time without getting bored. A very kind soul, she possessed all the qualities you would normally attribute to nice girl. In 12th, however she developed this weird habit of asking me for spare sheets to write on almost daily. She'd take them with a promise of returning them to me the next day. But unfortunately, the day never came. To this day, I wait in hope of getting my sheets back!! Sigh!

Chhaya had a brilliant mind but she wasn't quick-witted as Shilpy or Ena. This meant you could poke fun at her and she wouldn't retaliate with a smart one-liner; instead she would just avoid you or simply say 'Chup Reh' (keep quiet). My ridiculing her almost stopped in 12th, but I would pull her leg every time she brought her King- sized umbrella to class which looked like it could shelter 10 people under it easily!! Apart from this, we shared a good friendship till the end.

Shilpy and Subuhi were both beautiful girls but completely different from each other. Shilpy was tall and slightly dark, while Subuhi was short and and very fair. Shilpy was a very charming girl, with a great smile and a endearing personality. Boys wanted to be with her, but she chose to steer away from them, which according to me made her more appealing to the guys. A great person nonetheless.

My memory of Subuhi is very bleak, maybe because we interacted very less, but when we did she came across as a nice person with a gentle and soothing voice. Also she had this sad face which according to me added to her beauty.

The first row housed Malay, Rohit, Joshin, Priyanka, Isha and of course ME!!. This was probably the only row which had the least fun in the whole class.

Malay is the kind of person you could dislike within 5 minutes of meeting him. He is a faker in every sense of the term. His 'Wannabe' attitude was more funny than irritating. The guy posed as this 'Super Stud' who could wrap girls around his index finger and play with them. But the poor chap didn't realise that his zero personality, bad looks and a weird addiction to Protex chewing gum was more of a turnoff than anything else!! On the whole, a completely avoidable person.

Rohit was our resident fat guy. He changed his hairstyles like a Bollywood heroine would change her saris in a song. From Salman Khan's 'Tere Naam' look to really spiky hair, he did it all. He was a serial boaster, boasting about everything and anything. But deep down, he was nice person. I will forever be grateful to him for providing me with 'Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince' to read as soon as it came out. Hope he does well!!

Joshin had this uncanny ability to make you laugh even when he doesn't mean to. The guy was simple, down -to- earth and very helpful. A great artist, he would draw amazing pictures for our bulletin board. Joshin was a shy person when it came to girls which meant that the girls would poke fun at him endlessly. But we all loved him and the class seemed incomplete without Joshin and his crazy antics.

Isha and Priyanka were the only girls I talked to on a daily basis, mainly because they sat bang in front of me. They claimed to be good friends but they had nothing in common between them. Priyanka was this beautiful girl who wore dangerously low skirts to school and believed for two whole years that I was somehow trying to win her 'Love'!! That, of course, was a load of CRAP because: (a) She was already seeing someone and (b) She was an airhead, busy most of the time preening herself to perfection. After school ended, we rarely talked and now I think she's in Australia

Isha was an ordinary girl who did all the things girly and was no different from your average 12th class student. Not very bright in studies, she was good at creative stuff and took to decorating the boards with great interest. Towards the end of school, her friendship with Priyanka broke down because I think Priyanka accused her of 'stealing her man' or whatever. We haven't talked for a while now but I heard she was doing okay

As for me it is, for my classmates to decide what I was like in their experience. Leave your comments with your name for me to read them. Thanks for reading. Cheers!!!!

Money Woes for Britney Spears

Not long ago, Britney Spears had been crowned as the 'Queen of Pop'. With numerous hit singles, millions of albums sold and hugely successful tours, she was on her way to be enshrined as one of the greatest pop vocalist who ever lived.

But this Cinderella story came to a crashing end during the past few years, when things started to go horribly wrong in her life.The downfall began, starting with two failed marriages one which lasted only 18 hours and the other with an unknown backup dancer Kevin Federline with whom she had two children, to temporary moments of insanity like shaving her hair off and breaking the window of a car with an umbrella with the paparazzi around her.

All of her wild ways attracted a lot of legal problems on one hand and on the other she was being forced to make trips to rehab facilities to get rid of her alcohol problems and get a new lease on life.

The legal hassles, bills for psychiatric care, frequent trips to expensive rehab centers and the huge amount of alimony she had to pay in her divorce with Kevin Federline had taken a toll on her bank account. She was wasting millions and in February, 2007 Britney’s father, Jamie Spears estimated that about $61 million had been lost due to his daughter’s negligent ways.

Her various attempts to stage a come back have failed with her new albums failing to make a big impact and her rising cash problems forcing her to cancel tours.But as of now her situation seems to be improving with Daddy Spears hiring accountants to keep his daughter’s spending in check. All these seem to have helped, as Britney now spends about a fifth of what she used to.

As for her scores of fans, they just keep wishing and hoping that their idol bounces back from her problems and regains her lost glory and fame.

Love your Drink ? Go ahead Holster it!

As a long tiresome work-filled week draws to a close, you are desperate for some fun to jolt you out of your monotonous schedule.

Going to the pub with friends to drink and boogie your stress away seems like a nice plan. you reach there and see the waiters waiting the tables with a strange pouch-like thing buckled to their waists. Closer inspection reveals it to be some kind of a holster with, believe it or not, bottles and glasses jutting out of it.

What is that, you ask the bartender, who has his own holster around his waist. That my friend, he says is the Whiskey Holster.

The Whiskey Holster is a blessing for pub and bar owners, who put prompt service among their top priorities for running a successful bar. The Whiskey Holster can accommodate six tall shot glasses and two 750 ml bottles in its pouches.

But the use of the Whiskey Holster is not restricted to pubs and bars. It is a neat contraption for catering drinks at a small party you throw at your home for your friends. Now fetching drinks from the kitchen when you are chilling in the living room won't be needed, with the best of all holsters around your waist.

Also the name Whiskey Holster doesn't mean that you can carry only whiskey in it. With ample space for storing, it is well able to contain the booze of your choice and the glasses required to drink it.

For those who drink only beer and touch no other booze, there is no reason to be disheartened. For beer lovers a one-of-a-kind Beer Belt is also available which can house six cans or bottles of chilled beer for your mobile drinking pleasure !

So boozers, happy times ahead. Cheers !!

IPL- Underdogs Roaring?

The Indian Premier League(IPL) is everywhere. On the television, radio, internet and newspapers. Its in your face with its loud music, louder crowds, explosive cricket and not forgetting those gyrating cheerleaders, all packed into a three hour neat package with a hint of Bollywood. All this making it a full on entertainer.

But the main thing here apart from glamour, glitz and Shahrukh Khan, is of course, the cricket. The IPL brings to the front a never before seen side of cricket, with its highly publicised player auctions, the snazzy promotion campaigns of both the teams and the league and the grand opening ceremony at Bangalore, the cost of which ran into a few crores.

Talking about cricket, the teams throw up an interesting mix of both Indian and International players. It has players of great renown to players mired in obscurity and players retired from international cricket to those who are at the peak of their careers.

After the initial few matches, a clear picture had emerged as to who are the contenders for the league cup and who are destined to languish at the bottom of the points table. The Kolkata Knight Riders, the Delhi Daredevils and the Chennai Super Kings were touted to be the main contenders for league cup, while the rest were to compete among themselves to salvage some pride. Even the costliest team in the league the Mumbai Indians(the team cost around 111bn dollars) failed to make any impact..

But cricket is a notoriously unpredictable game. After about 10-12 matches, the so-called 'Underdogs' started scoring victories against the stronger teams. The first 'upset' was the defeat of the Delhi Daredevils, who until now seemed quite invincible, by Kings XI Punjab by 4 wickets. Next the Kolkata Knight Riders, a much fancied team, suffered a string of losses at the hands of teams from Mumbai, Rajasthan and Punjab. Delhi again suffered at the hands of Mumbai succumbing to them by 29 runs. But the biggest shocker was the defeat of table leaders Chennai to the Deccan Chargers who were languishing at the bottom of the table.

Many claim this is a result of exodus of many players from the stronger teams, going to fulfil their national duties. But at this level of the game, these reasons wouldn't hold strong. To win this league, teams will have to make best with what they have and coming together as a unit to defeat the opposition. A great example is that of Rajasthan Royals, who after initial defeats pulled up their socks and defeated stronger teams to become the leaders at the points table, without any star players except Shane Warne and Graeme Smith.

After about 25-odd matches it has become clear that having big players does not ensure victories and lesser known players do not mean big losses. As the league draws near to its 5th week, teams won't be taking the oppositions lightly and the term Underdogs will mean nothing in a game where every single ball and every single shot holds a surprise of its own.