30 years ago, this day

It's 30 years today since Indira Gandhi fell to assassin's bullets, when an era also ended.

I was in the classroom in St Xavier's College, Thumba, Thiruvananthapuram, where I was doing my undergrad course in Chemistry. Around 11 am or so, a group of Kerala Students Union members came into the class to tell the professor that classes need to be suspended, as Mrs Gandhi has been shot at. There was hushed silence as we eagerly sought more details of what had happened.

There were not many details. The students themselves had got to know about it from someone in the State Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. Those were the days when terrorists managed to break through the security and strike at prominent personalities. And then, it was just four months after the sensational Operation Bluestar when Mrs Gandhi ordered Indian Army into the Golden Temple in Amritsar to flush out the militants.

Classes were suspended and we all streamed out discussing among ourselves what may actuallly have happened. Then, someone broke the startling news that her own security guards had opened fire at her. That was unbelievable, too shocking to be true.

Our effort was to get a transistor and tune in to BBC. There were two classmates who stayed in hostel, within the college premises. One of them, not sure if it was Stephen or Thomas, got a radio, to the staff room. I was the radio buff, so they handed it over to me to tune in to BBC.

We listened to 12.30 pm news. BBC announced that Mrs Gandhi had been assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards. We were all stunned to silence. She had been riddled with bullets pumped into her from very short distance. She was taken to AIIMS but she would have passed away immediately.

She was walking from her house to be interviewed by Peter Ustinov. She was shot when she was at the wicket gate by the guards. Beant Singh was killed by the ITBP guards and Satwant Singh was arrested.

After listening to the news I left for home. Quite puzzlingly All India Radio news at 2 pm did not say that she had been assassinated. The news only said she had been admitted to AIIMS after being shot at.

We later realised that President Giani Zail Singh was in Zimbabwe at that time and was flying back. Vice President too was not in the capital. Apparently the news was not officially announced on AIR because of the power vacuum in Delhi. Her son Rajiv too was away in Kolkata and got to know of the news from BBC.

The news was broadcast only in the 6 pm AIR bulletin. We then started hearing on foreign radio stations that riots had broken out especially in Delhi.

Next thing we looked forward to was who will be the next PM. Rajiv was elected unanimously. Pranab Mukherjee who was the natural choice was edged out.

Next came Rajiv's address to the nation. And the infamous reference to riots.. to the effect that.. When a big tree falls the earth is bound to shake.. But then few understood the enormity of the backlash against the Sikhs that unfolded.

Indira Gandhi was definitely a strong PM India had. She meant business. And things moved, though we may disagree in which direction it was. She was variously described as a dictator, tough task master, visionary, nationalist etc..

India hasn't had a PM like her since then. Of course the world too changed in many ways later.

The New Basement Tapes "Nothing To It"

Maybe you want to listen with your eyes closed first?  Especially if you don't know anything about this project . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Okay, so if you didn't know the story behind this project, and you just heard it on the radio while driving down the street, would you say that it was a great, radio friendly song?

I don't know that I would.  I mean, it's fine.  Somewhat hummable.  A little ragged.  But is it a standout?

Now imagine that you know all about the back-story. 

These are lyrics written by Bob Dylan in the late 60s.  Never recorded.  Dylan recently gave them to T Bone Burnett, who then assembled Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Taylor Goldsmith (of Dawes), Rihannon Giddens (of Carolina Chocolate Drops) and Jim James (who sings here) to record an album's worth of these songs.

Do you hear the song differently, with that knowledge?

That's what makes a track like this so hard for radio.

If you have the context, then it is a fascinating song.  But on it's own, it's not a great sounding single.

And most people who hear it, are not going to know the story behind it.  There more likely to say, "What the hell?" and move on to the next station.

Or am I wrong?  Does the song captivate you, even without knowing the story behind it?

Baking Adventure

Good Evening,

I know that I said I would review the new books I got over the summer and I haven't. However I've been a little busy, and when my mind is need to relax I like to bake or cook. It kind of keeps me busy and over worrying about things. I got Sally's Backing Addiction book in the beginning of the summer and loved all the colors in the book. The book is more than an eye catching cover, and a book that actually has a picture of what you are baking, but it is also easy to follow. I decided to try her take on an old classic, the chocolate chip cookie. Yeah, I know not much of an adventure, however my last batch was flat and I wasn't real impressed, it really bothered me. I mean come on, I should be able to bake a good batch of chocolate chip cookies.

I'd been following Sally's blog for a few years now, and had been book marking her recipes. Mostly deserts that I'm sure that would make my work clothes not fit. However, I noticed she had a book and got real excited when I could get it. I already talked about how gorgeous the colors were (I know I'm easily amused!). However I loved how she had little tid bits, and help throughout the book, it was so organized! Not only was it easy to read, but the directions were real simple and straight forward. I wouldn't have thought of putting the dough in the fridge before baking them, but I think I found a recipe that will be a classic in my household and I can not wait to try her other stuff. I haven't bitten into the cookies themselves yet, but I have tried the dough. I will be bringing them to a friend's house for the weekend and will be testing them, one of them has as bad if not worse sweet tooth than me. He will not spare my feelings if they taste bad! He will be my guinea pig.

Her blog: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/

Her book: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/sallys-baking-addiction-cookbook/

Sarah McLachlan & Randy Newman "When She Loved Me"

Some thoughts on last week's Yard Sale . . .

My Mother-In-Law has a big end-of-summer Yard Sale each year.  She invites a few neighborhood folks to set up in her yard too.  So the event is rather massive.  Between 9 and 3 last Saturday, literally hundreds of folks stopped by.

This was the first year we brought stuff of our own, for the sake of participating.   And it was the first Yard Sale that our kids had ever known.

On the car ride to Gramma's, we tried to explain what a Yard Sale is.  And, speaking the language of children, we gave them an example from an animated film.

"Remember 'Toy Story 2'?  The one where Woody accidentally got sold?  That was a Yard Sale.  We're taking all our old toys and things, and selling them to people who might want them."

And we cautioned them to not bring any of their own belongings into the driveway, because someone could think that their special toy was actually for sale, and walk off with it.

To put a fine point on it, we played that Sarah McLachlan song, where poor Jessie gets left behind and everyone in the audience weeps like babies.

And while losing your favorite toy to a grabby Yard Sale-goer sounds like some kind of thing that only happens in the movies, let me point you to the conversation I overheard at the end of Gramma's Driveway.

"Look at that.  Why would you want that?  521 Main Street?  What good would that do you, unless that was you exact address?"**

This was an elderly woman who was admiring, but confused by the address marker at Gramma's house.

Because, if it's in the driveway, it must be for sale, ammiright?

We did surprisingly well with the Grandparent-set.  We had a lot of baby gear and toys that my kids had outgrown.  And the grandparents that filtered through all day long were happy to pick up that spare ride-on toy or set of blocks or whatever, that they could have handy for when the grandkids visit.

One item of great interest was the Jack-In-The-Box.  It was fun to see who was delighted by it, and who it surprised/terrified.


See the video on Youtube.

It was the exact same model as the one Will Ferrell opens in "Elf."  (And for my Cape Ann friends, it is made by the local company Schylling, where my sister Amy used to work)

Somewhere in the middle of the day, a teenage boy picked up the Jack-In-The-Box and turned the crank.  At the conclusion of "Pop Goes The Weasel" he gave a surprised "Hey!" 

But not because of the pop-up clown.

Stuffed inside the Jack-In-The-Box (no doubt put there at some point by my 4 year old) was a Lego figure.

LEGO WOODY!!!

We nearly reenacted the plot of "Toy Story 2" by accidently sell Woody at the Yard Sale!

Fortunately, just like the movies, it all ended well, with Woody coming back home with us, safe and sound.  And the Jack-In-The Box, the talking dinosaur, the travel potty, the ride-on giraffe, the music table, the wooden trains and dozens of other treasures, headed to their new homes where somebody would love them.


See the video on Youtube.

** Not Gramma's real address

George Ezra "Budapest"

Here's one of those earworms that could have a place on MVY, but . . . I dunno.  What do you think?

The hook is super catchy, but also feels like Ezra is in that same zone as folks we don't play like Ed Sheeran or Matt Nathanson or Jason Mraz---guys who are great in their own way, but a bit commercial for our station.

On the other hand, that baritone ain't exactly what all the tweeners are into these days.

He reminds me a bit of an old MVY favorite who we haven't heard from in a while: William Topley.

What do you think?


Hear the song on Youtube.


Hear the song on Youtube.

5.9 inch Nexus 6 on Android L launch expected in October

In the last 24 hours there have been more information trickling out about the much-anticipated next Nexus phone. (Though Moto G and Moto X created lot of excitement because of stock Android, Nexus still spells magic.)

An earlier post on the next Nexus phone is here.

One of the first things I look for is the screen size, because I read a lot. At 5.9 inch, Nexus 6 will be a giant phone. Incidentally, HTC One Max has the same screen size. A phone of this size will be difficult to hold. I would have preferred a maximum of 5.5 inch. May be reading experience would be better.

That reminds me: When Galaxy Note (now referred to as Original) hit the market end of 2011, an enthusisatic sales guy tried his best to make me buy one. But I found the screen size of 5.3 inch too big. I even remarked to that guy, who would buy such an huge phone!

In Jan 2013, at one of the elctronic stores, when I saw the same Galaxy Note, I was surprised seeing the size of the screen. I asked the sales guy, "Is this really Galaxy Note, the original one?" (By then Galaxy Note 2 was in the market.) He said, yes. I thought the size of the screen looked smaller than what I thought it was. Of course, it was just perception. 5.3 inch in 2011 was huge. The same 5.3 inch in 2013 looked quite normal.

So, though now I think the Nexus 6 screen size of 5.9 inch is huge, may be I will have to revise my opinion a couple of years later, when most phones would be of around 6 inch!

Nexus 6 will have top resolution of 2560x1440.  LG G3, Oppo Find 7 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 have similar resolution. Galaxy S5 has 5.1 inch screen with display of 1920x1080. Galaxy Note 4 has 5.7 inch screen.

Another spec that I look for is the processor. Nexus 6 is rumoured to have Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset, and will pack 3GB RAM.

Some other features are: 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization and a 2-megapixel front camera. The battery will be a 3,200mAh one, and it's said, a mere charging of 15 minutes will give it a life of 8 hours. That sounds simply unbelievable.

Like HTC One M8, Nexus 6 is rumoured to have front facing stereo speakers.

But the best part is it will run on Android's latest operating system, now called Android L, the successor of Kitkat. That will kickoff the Android 5 version.

The launch of Nexus 6 and Android L is said to be in a couple of weeks, in mid-October.

Now, we just wait for more clarity on all these rumours.