Rewinding to Retro

*Well does life get any better
more yesterday than today
How I thought the sun would shine tommorow
But it rained…*

And it had indeed Rained, of headbanging and moshpits, of devils horns and mad rushes of adrenaline, and of Pure Musical Enigma….
Anyone who came for the Ground-Zero Show would have an idea wat and how a mosh pit can be!

I reached just in time for abraXas who was welcomed on stage by a big roar.Some how i had a feeling this night seems to be something many have been looking forward to!And when abraXas started playing i knew why, and realised how lucky i was to be standing right in front to watch one of the best and biggest shows i have ever been to in my lyf!

abraXas ,which means God n Evil as a single entity(Egyptian thingy), brought down the heavens and hell down on Earth and into manipal! A lot of head-banging and Moshing began as a result and things went frm insane to more insane and insane as freaking hell!Ppl started to look on in awe as the Pune based band shook the entire place with their amazing display of pure Death metal! For all those who never understood metal,it might have looked like a lot of noise, but as for the others,we were rooted to the ground ,with the music that emanated from their fingers keeping us hooked… Death metal at its fucking best! The already knowledgeable crowd kept making loud requests of their personal favs of the band’s own compositions like Sweet Suffering and Eyes of Disgrace…and they played them with much pomp along with 4 other OCs like Deviation and also covered HourGlass of Lamb of God!
And then there was Parikrama! I think i have no adjectives in my limited vocabulary that would fittingly describe wat I, standing in KMC greens, witnessed that nyt!The whole crowd seem to go mad as soon as they hit the stage….And when they started playing they seemed to make a direct connection with the hearts of their fans watching them…..a whole new feeling set over the numerous watching in utter amazement! Bliss came over us….we had reached paradise as they went from ” Am i Dreaming” to “Tears of a Wizard”(two songs written fr the LOTR saga) ,Vapourize to finally the song evryone was waiting to hear, “But it Rained”…But these were their Own Compos…Just listening them play all the other Songs, which u could actually sing along and Jump in Recognition was an experience of its own. but then suddenly somewhere in between a Guy came onto the stage with a very unorthodox instument in his hands, for a Rock show that is, and without a hint of hesitation began playing the violon, and it was done! We had seen evrything..Imran Khan, urf Shah Rukh Khan as the Vocalist claimed, began playing wat looked like unimaginable music(An instrumental Called “Open Skies)…and it began filling any kinda void that might have been left aftr evrything we had already seen! Imagine, Just imagine…a Violon Solo of “Saare Jahan Se Acha” right in between Pink Floyds “Another Brick in the Wall”!Mesmerising….but that guy stole the Show, wat! this being a Rock show..with 2 Guitarists, a Bassist, a Vocalist with a Guitar, A keyboardist and an insane drummer..this guys takes it all away in a swift movement of his arm over the Strings of the Violin! Another moment to remember was the Duel between the Violinist and the Keyboardist left evryone Zapped! One of the guitarist who looked like a chinki(atleast thats wat all of us were calling out to him as! ) came close to the audience, letting some in the crowd pull a string or two in between as well! The Bassist looked the craziest of the lot as he brought the enthusiasm of the band right into the audience!
The other tracks covered by Parikrama that night were- Fear of the Dark and The Trooper- Iron Maiden, Yellow and Fix You-Coldplay,Another Brick in the wall- Pink Floyd(Which acc to Archit was covered perfectly with the instrumental at the begining),Smoke On The Water-Deep Purple meets Metallica Version and finally Highway to Hell-ACDC!
Manipal has indeed seen a lot of Rockshows in the past, Parikrama themselves coming here a few years back…but this year, the sheer magnitude of the crowd, their response and overall Feel of the show was like never before! As I finally end the post reminiscencing the amazing nyt, I kinda feel sorry that it had had to come to an end and that I most probably wont be seeing such an event happening in manipal again in the rest of the one and a half semesters left in Manipal!Though I should say, they have indeed etched a place in each of our hearts, that will be preserved for a lyftym! Kudos to that! Cheers everyone!

firstly, i hate my pseudo blog name! and since i am technically handicapped, i request mr.system administrator to please do something about it.

so yesterday it all began. and it began how it always begins. smooth on the surface but a multitude of ripples underneath! ripples that lead to expressions on the organizer’s faces which can compel joker to say, “why so serious?”. if u see any sullen face during revels, then rest assured he/she is someone from behind the scenes!

after infinite tussles over cloud 9 & appy fizz and resounding street plays and absence of ice boxes and graceful classical dances and excess sound systems and beautiful sketches and lack of sound systems(!) and a jam packed lnd session and other such events that contributed to the potpourri, the first half of day one was over and it was time for the night to show us what it was worth!

a very harassed event head for the chaotic symphony(thats what was written on his badge!) aka battle of the bands for those who thought i was talkin about an orchestra on stage, could be seen running all over the place in his workshop uniform( one wonders if that was just for the over worked look)  and he will murder me if i dont  say this, on two hours of sleep!! when better sense prevailed, he decided to go change but not before telling every single person present there to “call him if anything went wrong” like a thousand times!! and this was 2 hours before the show.

the show began on schedule, just an hour late, that is on schedule!! oh.. before i begin, a disclaimer- m not an expert on the music that was played last evening. so m just writing from an average audience’s point of view. dont murder me for not writing about it with utmost sincerity to the music. m sure others will be filling in for that( read sweetestrose )! anyhow, so, first up was zehen. our very own eastern band with a violin et al. they sang mostly their own compositions n were pretty good. they got second place( was i supposed to say that later?) so u know how good they were! btw random trivia about the band- did u know that the lead guitarist was in a band called ” the public band” in school. the best part is the reason, it was cuz all the members were from army PUBLIC school :I . moving on, then came amethyst ( there was nothing purple about them) stood first.very good music.not mit.i am biased.not saying anymore. then came exiled!!! they were my personal favourites. apparently this was their 10th performance in 30 days! i remember seeing them perform in my first year, and have they changed! in my extremely impartial opinion, the crowd really did enjoy exiled the most! right after exiled,came apocrypha, another one of our favourite home bands. the lead vocalist never ceases to astound me! dont know how she does it, but she is too damn good at it!to sum up the entire mit lot, was stonecraft.great, yet again!

the next couple of bands are kinda blurred. mostly cuz i was busy eating then n so was the rest of the crowd.the rolls were pretty good btw, only problem-60 bucks . just as i was contemplating heading back to the front, i heard tashan mein n my feet automatically retraced their path! so after the dinner break after stonecraft, came nervewreck!!! i had heard ppl joking about other ppl who did head banging during soundcheck. but well, yesterday that didnt seem wrong at all!i’ll be honest. i hadnt heard of any of the songs that they played. however i enjoyed every moment and i was compelled by the music to move my head in a particular fashion which has resulted in its loss of motion today. i did not want them to stop and i dont think the crowd wanted that either! but well, all good things come to an end( bad ones also do, but its the good ones m talkin about in this context ) and so did the first day of revels 2010! and was it a success!!

Kya hum gantantra khel ke liya tayar hain ?

The Topic for Hindi Debate

Oh My gosh, Its Holi tomorrow! Thats one hell of a Pre-Revels Event i should say!

When ppl kept saying this time Revels is gonna be really colourful little did they know that its would be true in its actual sense!But i guess its gonna be a holi  played in a whole new mood, with the festive mood already over us thanx to Revels!

When i heard monday was declared  a holiday my first thought said!Goa??Gokarna? then i realised..Dude its Holi! Fuck then Manipal it is! whos gonna miss Holi in manipal! Its on of those times when KC is at our disposal and by the end of it all it will have a sorry look! Our own way of payback to the college!

I was surprised nothing was said abt this in “Malaria Today”,but it should be i feel dont u think? Btw when is the next issue coming out? Ruchita?

Holi in Manipal has its own Traditions…..

1)Its always seems to be played more in front of the Girls hostels than the boys.

2)Every Guy needs his shirt to be Ripped off and it should b worn again in watevr way possible.(wish this was compulsory for girls as well! )

3)Bhang at parmesh Mess and near Hangyo CTF.

4)Bike Rallies by Bhang high Maniacs all through Manipal, splly at KC

and many more, not so significant, but prevalent activities…..

Lets Hope this Holi Brings us just as many colours into our lives! Happy Holi in Advance everyone….Play Hard, But Play Safe

Cheers!\m/

Alright, so while everyone is bursting with enthusiasm about Parikrama and Abraxas performing, not everyone really knows what to expect. I thought I could probably give y’all a fair idea. Okay, so to start off with, If you’re thinking of giving it a miss thinking its going to be all screamy, metal-y, not-your-type of thing, don’t be mistaken. Parikrama has some great music, and they often fuse classical instruments like the flute, mridangam and the tabla with the conventional instruments like the guitar, drums etc etc. You’ll enjoy it, IM TELLING YOU! Take my word for it.

My favourite songs:  Vaporize(watch out for the violin solo, kickass!), But It Rained(one of the most popular ones too, try watching their live performance on YouTube), Am I Dreaming and for the LOTR geeks, Tears of the Wizard.

Abraxas won Campus Rock Idols last year, if i’m not wrong. They’re a metal band, and some of their music is up for  listening on myspace.com  I personally like: Eyes of Disgrace. Try and check it out.

Aaalrighty,what else? Pre-Revels wise: Fashion Show auditions happened last night at Food Court I think.

What’s happening tonight? No idea. Munchkin won’t reply to frantic texting about it either. Which is very suprising if you ask me.

Oh well, I sign off now,  Toodles!

“Closed ambitions,

circuit t.v.

Annihilations,

can you hear me?

Don’t think I’m in love with you baby

This ain’t your time

Would love to see you baby

Vapourise before my eyes ”

- Vaporise By Parikrama

Malaria Today has hit Manipal, and so has Sunday. Now that you finally have a holiday, and aren’t getting How about some reviews now? Hit up the comments section, flame us (them), give us a rave, whatever you like. And…we’re still waiting for the story behind Malaria Today…yesterday. Maybe munchkin should stop munching and start sharing.

REVELS, the cultural festival of MIT (Manipal Institute of Technology), is being held from 3rd March to 6th March 2010.

REVEL, in actual sense means “To have great delight in”. In MIT and the Entire Manipal University it’s a much awaited break from the regular din of college and classes. A time when u can let your mind wander and let your imaginations fly, discover your talent or just have great masti!

REVELS this time is coming with the Theme of “Rewinding to Retro”. It’s an Innovative idea, through which people are given a peep into the yesteryears, to the much loved and missed ’70s and ’80s.With the Site up and active and the registrations open, the dawn of the 3rd is closing in, beckoning us to 4 days of immense fun which we will reminiscence for at least the next 4 decades and if possible more! In reality Revels is considered as a Festival of its own. People going shopping for revels, preparing for it, the entire college being adorned & decorated like a to-be-wedded-bride, Posters being put up, the Council on its toes and the Volunteers scampering around, and a walk around the campus fills you up with ecstasy and you just cant wait for the excitement to unravel!

It’s clear. Mood is set!!!

Colleges from all over Manipal University as well as of the rest of the country will be participating in this national level Cultural fest where students will compete to win Glories or retain their past Glories of their College! Dance, Dramatics, Singing and sports like Football, Cricket, and Hockey etc., are just few of the many Competitions that will held in these four days! The Special attractions of every Revels is the Fashion Show, Battle of Bands and the War of Djs and of course! the live concert of The Indian Rock bands “Parikrama” n “abraXas”!

With the Pre-Revels Events already under way and Auditions for various events in Full swing, the build up to the Fest is just exhilarating and keeps you asking for more!

Its thats time of the year again my friends, so get your mind out of the closet and let it Groove, put your Party Hats and make a Move, Coz if u are not in Manipal now, U have no idea wat you are gonna Lose! \m/ Stay Tuned For day to day Updates From Revels’10! Cheers mates!

Buzz In Motion is the Official Revels Online Entertainment Competition . So start entertaining us.
For Further details Click here

Yes! Malaria Today is out and in circulation, much like the Jerome’s beloved counterparts. If my calculations are right,  Revels seems to be 3 days away. However, any wayward soul happening to pass by the IC last night would have thought otherwise. Pre-revels event, Battle of the Bands ke auditions were on in full swing and the crowd was fabulous. For once we didnt have faculty members as judges, which IMHO is a very good thing. The judge was the guitarist from the band ‘Slain’ if i’m not wrong. He seemed like he was having fun, hopefully. Now i’m not too sure on whether the girl in red next him was a judge as well; she could’ve have been. Who knows.

Crowd response was enthusiastic, and the bands surpassed typical standards(for more info on that, check out the newsletter) With Stonecraft and Exiled being the top 2 bands, securing a firm hold in the finals, bands- Zehen and Apocrypha’s fate depends on outside participation. I personally think, there should have been more than 4 bands selected, what with a brilliant performance by “Band 14″ (wish they told us what they werecalled) who had people playing the tabla and the sitar, it was a refreshing change. But with most bands playing metal/alternative rock, i guess it was a tough choice to choose the best in the huge range of genres. Still. Should’ve picked them. Oh well, thats just me.

Press Conference today! Bad news this morning about a batch-mate, mood dampener, but i guess it went off well. I’m still yet to be updated on how it turned out *keeps fingers crossed*

So, I’m supposed to be updating this regularly(strict instructions from someone little known as Munchkin). Lets see how that turns out.

P.S: Ask the media category head who Munchkin is. She’ll be more than happy to elaborate.

Toodles!

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease caused by a eukaryotic protist of the genus Plasmodium. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, there are approximately 350–500 million cases of malaria, killing between one and three million people, the majority of whom are young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Ninety percent of malaria-related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, but is also a cause of poverty and a major hindrance to economic development. Read more