Now That's What I Call Vaipa Mix Volume 1

One of the most popular pop/rock music compilation cassettes/cds that came out in Mizoram during the late 90s was the Now That's What I Call Music! series of assorted hit songs . I owned one of them which was the Now That's What I Call Music! Vol 3 and my memory not  being what it is anymore the only songs I remember from that cassette are Wet Wet Wet's (hehe) If I never see you again and Shampoo's Trouble. 

If you dropped in on any self respecting Mizo teenage music lover's house you were sure to see one of these cassettes lying around. Speaking about cassettes/CDs ,the Mp3 format has taken out some of the fun of owning music. Back in the day one had to purchase the whole cassette if you wanted to listen to a song by your favourite band and even if you didn't know the other songs you slowly got to love the other non-hit songs too because yuo more or less ended up listening to the whole Side A or Side B; you couldn't even hit the NEXT button to skip a song on tape. (Some high end music systems had the ability to automatically stop forwarding when the next song comes up)

The first cassette that I owned was Metallica's Black album back in 1992 and my mother didn't approve of the mean looking snake on the cover and almost didn't buy it for me but I told her that the songs in the album were about how the evil snake that made Eve eat the apple was punished severely by God. (No I didn't actually say that, I probably instead threw a tantrum and swore to never eat veggies again). 

Another fun thing to do with cassettes was exchanging cassettes with friends - we would borrow and lend each other cassettes and give em back after a week. Some friends who were lucky enough to be the first to get their hands on a cassette which was quite hard to find became quite popular in school! I still remember when Hmingthansiama bought the latest Aerosmith "Get a Grip" album and he brought it to school and we actually made a diary where we made a note of who would get to listen to the cassette next.

Not much fun in exchanging MP3s is it? Hah! 

The pitfalls to owning cassettes was that you would have to often stick broken tapes with cello tape or rewind them using pens (quite a popular post on Facebook a year ago..) and friends borrowing them and never returning them again! I'm still looking for my Magnsasound Slow Rock Volume 3 Cassette. 

Bibliography:
Aerosmith - Get a Grip
Now That's What I Call Music

Note: I only wrote this post because I didn't want to let a good blog title go to waste. Sorry.My previous blog entry was titled Vaipa Mix :P

Vaipa Mix

Vaipa Mix

Back in those days when we joyfully ran down Tlangnuam road after school got over we used to invariably pass by this old Bihari (?) guy who  sold an assortment of "chanas" and "muris" by the roadside.  He would mix them all together with some ingredients we never knew the names of and we called  this concoction "Vaipa Mix". It was quite spicy and also quite delicious and often led to upset stomachs but we were kids and  at that age what did one care about upset tummies! Some naughtier guys used to grab stuff from his cart and not pay him but he never dared utter a single word in fear of harsher treatment. Wonder what became of him..

The Facebook 

The other day I did a quick mental survey and found out that 90% of the people I know who are roughly in their 30s and below have a Facebook account. Facebook is everywhere and I'm pretty sure that the word 'facebook' pops up almost invariably in any sort of casual conversation. Even my cousin who as far as I know doesn't even know how to open internet explorer asked me the other day if "facebook was a good thing". Well even my dad once asked me which one I thought was better - "Google or Bookface?". Did Mark Zuckerburg ever envisage that FB (as it is now referred to by my friends) would grow into the behemoth that it now has become? Let me add him and find out! He originally called it "The Facebook". People who've watched that movie about FB will know.

Musicatto

Music is awesome. Especially sad songs. I find myself listening to sad songs a lot even though I'm not necessarily sad. Maybe it's because they seem to come straight from the heart of the songwriter. It's also sometimes easier to identify with sad songs. I mean if Thom Yorke wrote  a song about how exciting it is to be in a band we wouldn't really identify with it but he wrote about heartache and loss we are right there with him on the same page.  It also slightly saddens me or maybe I should be glad that there are so many awesome songs and bands out there waiting to be discovered by me but even if I live my life thrice over I'll never get to listen to them all. Musicatto was one of the first reasonably well stocked music stores in Aizawl. It was in that building near Canteen Kual. I used to go there after school with Osbourne and Albert to just look at what they were selling. I bought my first Faith No More cassette from here. I still have the cassette.. the store however is long gone.Osbourne too has now left us to play that great gig in the sky. No idea what Albert's upto nowadays.

Never judge a book by its movie

The other day I was telling a friend how much I missed curling up at night with an exciting book and reading it from the beginning to end at one go. While the internet has been mostly useful I also blame the internet for taking away my "bookworm time". Yea pathetic excuse I know. I have three books lying unfinished. One of them is Gabriel García Márquez's Love in the time of Cholera. This guy doesn't do 'easy reading'. I think I'll have to make do with watching the movie based on the novel. Reminds me of a joke - Guy takes his dog watch a movie. Friend was surprised and asked him if the dog liked going to the movies. Guy says.."Well he thought it was okay but he liked the book better". I still love the look and feel of an old dog-eared musty smelling book. I bought an old second hand edition of Great Expectations just because I liked the way it was bound and the way it smelt. Book lovers of the world unite!

Love will tear me apart

It's not easy being an eligible 30+ lad with excellent marital prospects. Every move I make is closely scrutinized by hopeful young belles and their match-making mammas. If I speak so much as a couple of sentences to a girl, I have to contend with that gleam of hope and acquisitiveness in her eyes and that could get very unsettling. And I hate to disappoint them so.

Who am I trying to kid? Im a single, lonely, teetering-on-the-hill man who has found to his chagrin that romance is not as forthcoming as it once was. Most of my old flames have gone and gotten married. Two of them even got married on the same day. Talk about double whammies. I've met girls who claim to like me, but when the crunch comes, Im still here- alone except for an aquarium with a few fish donated by well-meaning friends. Had a cat too but after a couple of nights sleeping with HIM, I felt uneasy so I gave him away to a little girl"

So what's wrong with me? Im a relatively nice guy with regular features. One girl even proclaimed that she loved my hooded "drunk-looking" eyes and my "nibble-able" lips. (check profile pic for proof of authenticity). Now I wonder, was it just physical, what that girl felt for me.

And there was I, standing on her doorstep with my heart in my hands. And thats the saddest part. I dont trifle with emotions like some guys do. I've been told that I should play hard-to-get to pique a girl's interest, but I don't want to do that. Im a simple guy. I like you, you like me, lets canoodle, and thats it. I don't understand the point of "I like you, I pursue you, you pretend not to like me, I pretend not to like you, you pursue me, you like me", by the end of which I'll be so confused by the whole rigmarole anyway that I'll probably end up liking your ex boyfriend and pretending not to like him.   

Sometimes the errant thought gets into my head- is it because I'm half and half? I try to reject that line of thought because its unworthy of the few kind souls who have deigned to date me. But I do think about it- do some girls go, "Rootless, nomadic Hybridmos"? It's true in a way-  but not in the way you'd think. My family moves around a lot and so, while i call Mizoram my home, technically I don't have a place that I could truly call home. Which is why I want someone that I could come home to, someone in whose homey embrace this "hunter, home from the hill"  (chicks dig poetry) could lay his weary (and extremely embraceable) body down.

So here I am, a romantic failure. I've been told, "We don't do that in these here parts" when I tried to hold a girl's hand. Been given a chilly reception when I crossed the country to be with a girl. Been laughed at when I serenaded a girlfriend about to go home (Admittedly, the song was "I00 miles, a 100 miles, a 100 miles" but it was rendered very feelingly). Been told by a girl that her intuition tells her that I was subliminally pulling away from her and that I was just minorly infatuated with her. Chick-speak for "Leave me alone, el creepo!" :( 

But it's okay. I've come to accept that the spirit of romance is dying out in the female species. And I'm alright (he's alright, he's allriiight). I just gotta get out of this prison cell, and one day I'm gonna be free, Lord! I now leave you with this little song from Glee. Not that I watch it, being the He-man type. And not because girls will start to identify with me for referring to Glee (chicks dig Glee). But just because, well, just because. (He-man types dont explain themselves)

Wherever We May Roam

Heavy metal band Metallica's hit song "Wherever I May Roam... where I lay my head is home.." might be quite an apt song to describe the change of residences I and my parents have undergone through the years. Of course one can only imagine how incongruous it would be to see my father belting out "Wherever I may roam.." from the pulpit.

As most of you might know my dad (and mom) are employed by the Mizoram Synod Presbyterian Church - the largest Christian denomination in Mizoram. This entailed that we shifted our places of residence quite frequently due to my father being sent hither and thither for higher studies and his various postings under the Synod. Since the time I was born we have moved house at least SIXTEEN times. That's sixteen times in approximately 30 years! Most of you would not move house even once in your whole lifetime.

The obvious advantages of moving house often is that I'm not stuck with the same silly view from my bedroom for my whole life. I mean having to wake up every morning and having to see that stupid silly Reiek mountain for the rest of my life could be so very boring! Jokes apart it was a good way to make new friends and see new places at the expense of people contributing 1/10th of their income to the church. (Keep that 1/10th coming in folks!). It also enabled us to receive decent education outside Mizoram, something which many middle class families could not afford in those days. In the early nineties the only kids from Mizoram who could afford to study in Bangalore were those whose dads were doctors or engineers or related to a politician! We also got to live in relatively nice houses provided to my Dad by the Synod.

The other side of the coin is that I had to keep making new friends and I kept losing track of the friends I'd made. Sometimes I'm slightly envious of my friends who talk about their childhood friends with whom they grew up next door to each other their whole life. And when one keeps moving we don't have long lasting memories of the places we've lived in. And last but not the least the most annoying thing is the packing/unpacking/repacking of stuff that we need to shift from one place to another. I'm quite an expert now in packing 12 piece dinner sets so that even if dropped from 10 feet high they wouldn't break.

Anyway early this December my father was sent packing (pun intended) from his post as the principal of the Aizawl Theological College to Nagpur to take charge of his new post as the General Secretary of the NCCI (A Christian Organization). So poor old me and my creaking bones had to make the trip home from Bangalore to Aizawl to help out and help out I did! For proof check pic below -

We sent some of our stuff via plane from Aizawl to Calcutta via air and I had to go to Lengpui Airport and coax and cajole the Air India cargo staff in allowing us to send all our suspicious looking parcels via the Air India flight to Calcutta. Exciting stuff! My brother took charge of the consignment in Calcutta and sent it on its merry way via truck to Nagpur. We're thinking of starting a new business as movers and packers. The less said of the the journey from Aizawl to Nagpur the better it will be. Tempers get frayed when your total luggage weight exceeds the allowed luggage limit on the plane by 200 kgs!! Luckily we met (a) few friends at Lengpui Airport who helped us out in weighing our luggage with theirs. Hey DDB Thanks!

As I'd mentioned before the quarters provided to us are usually quite lovely and the place in Nagpur was no different so the soothing environment of the General Secretary's quarters helped in easing our minds so much so that my brother promptly decided to quit his job in Calcutta and move to Nagpur. It even has a bloody lotus pond complete with fishes in the frontyard. Groovy!

Pic below of House and Pond with my niece and her new found friends (Remember what I said about making new friends!)

The day we moved into the new place my dad told us with a smile on his face that we probably shouldn't bother unpacking since the NCCI office would be shifted from Nagpur to Delhi in 2013...

Unrelated Note: I changed over to the new blogger profile and it has totally messed up the fonts . Google, I am disappoint! (Yes Google owns blogger in case anyone didn't know)
Unrelated Note 2: Figured it out. The editor needed to be upgraded. I love you Google!.

Meizial Meizial Meizial!

Meizial ka zuk hmasak ber tum chu 1993 vel kha ni ta in ka hria, ka cousin in a zuk lai min fawh tir ve zuai a, pa ka in ti ve lutuk . Khatih lai khan pawl riat ka zir mek a mahse high school leh college ka kal lai kha chuan zu lo ang tluk ka ni in ka hria. High school kal lai chhung zawng kha chuan a belhkahwmin bawm hnih vel ka zuk ka ring.

College kal lai khan kar khatah tlawn 10 vel hi ka zu ve chauh maithei. 2003 khan hna ka thawk ve tan a , pawisa te kan lo hlawh chhuah ve vang te pawh niang ka zu hnem ta angrem khawp mai a. Rilru hah vang em em pawh a ni lo, thian ten an zuk vanga zu ve pawh ka ni chuang lo meizial zuk hi a nuam ka lo ti ve hrim hrim ti ila a dik ber awm e.

Hun rei lo te chhung khan nikhata tlawn 2 vel zu thin kha tlawn 10 ah ka kai chho ta thut ta a. 2007 thleng a ka zuk ber thin Wills Navy Cut kha 1995 a ka pocket money a ka lei hmasak ber khan bawm khat (10 awmna) hi cheng 12 ni ta in ka hria. Taksa pawn a tuar tan ta reng bawk a – chawlh hmanga Aizawl a ka haw chang te hian step a kal te kha ka harsat a thawk te hi a hah hma thei thin khawp mai. 2007 khan Wills Classic Milds ka zu tan ta a, packet khat (20s pack) hi Cheng 94 an chhiar a thla khatah hian cigarette man ringawtah cheng 2800 vel ka seng ang .

Ka sum hmanral atang ringawt pawh hian meizuk bansan tumna rilru lian tak chu nei tawh tur chu ka nia mahse bansan tawp hi a lo har em ani. Chawi ei kham te hian zuk hi a nuam em a , a bikin vawksa hmeh zawh a chaw ei khama kuhva hring thial suah suah pah a han zuk heuh heuh hi chu a van han nuam tak em.

Tihtur neih loh chang a in a awm mai mai TV/Movie en lai te hian meizial hi ka ban reng bawk. Vawi 3 vel chu bansan ka tum tawh a. A aiah sweet/bubblegum te ei kan tum a mahse a daih rei tak tak lo. Sap hovina “cold turkey” method an tih mai anga quit hi chu a lo har ngang mai. (Cold turkey quit chu vawilehkhata thil tih thin tih tawp thut) .

Nicotine patch hi hmang ve chhin ila a tha angem te ka tia mahse vawikhat chu Bangalore a medical dawr lian ve deuh ah hian Nicotine patch an neih leh neih loh ka zawt , a zuartupa pakhatin kan nei lo , chu chu enge , condom ami te ti mai mai sia ka buaipui zui ta em em rih lo.

Tichuan 2010 kumthar ni atang vel khan engtin tin mawni ka nghei ve tan a mahse nghei han tih ah Monday to Friday hi ka zu lova mahse weekend hi chuan ka insum zo ngang lova ka zu leh ta nge nge thin. Tiang khan thla thum erh awrh chu ka ti chhova mahse hun a lo kal zela thil hrang hrang vangten rilru hah chang a lo awm khan weekday zuk loh te kha ka thei ta ngang lova a ngai te in regular tak chuan hei ka lo zu leh chu a ni ta mai sia!

Kum lamah te pawh kan lo upa ve deuh tawh a (han ti ve ringawt ila) nupui te pawh kan la nei duh anga, fa te pawh kan la nei duh ngei dawn sia meizial kan zuk reng chuan fa neih lamah te pawh buaina a thlen thei dawn tih hria in tunlai tak hian bansan duhna rilru lian tak ka pu ve tan tawh. Thian te pawh hian i zu hnem e min ti fova a zahthlak lamah a kal tawh chuvangchuan theihtawp chhuahin nghei kan tum ve tawh ange!

1-0 to the Arsenal (aka the laziest blogpost ever)

• Wash my 2008 Official Arsenal Home Jersey ✔
• Download English Premier League Fixtures File ✔
• Put up English Premier League Fixtures (EPL) Poster ✔
• Pay Cable Fee ✔
• Purchase sports mags with stories about previous EPL seasons ✔
• Inform manager that I might suddenly fall sick during the weekends all throughout the year ✔
• Update Facebook/Orkut profile pictures and profile names to reflect the fact I'm a hardcore Arsenal fan ✔

Yep my English Premier League checklist is complete. Now all I have to do is wait for the annual football extravaganza to begin. It kicks off next week on 21st Aug but Arsenal will start their campaign the next day with a tough trip to Anfield to play Liverpool. At one point I was half heartedly thinking if it would've been possible to fly to England but I looked up the prices of tickets and found out that unless I rob an ATM I wouldn't have enough money to make the trip. The other options were either swimming all the way or via ship both of which I don't have time for.

Anyway unless if you ain't been paying attention I have made it quite clear that I'm a huge Arsenal fan. Yes it was all because of Dennis Bergkamp and his exploits in the1998 World Cup. I was too young to remember the '89 English Premier League (or the English First Division as it was called then) but I like to pretend that I watched on tv Michael Thomas' last minute goal in the last game of the season against Liverpool which won the league for Arsenal (but I didn't).

Fast forward to the 2003/2004 EPL season and this time I was able to watch Arsenal's famous undefeated season when they didn't lose a single game and went on to clinch the EPL title for a third time under Arsene Wenger .

After those three wins the closest we have come to winning the league title again was missing out by 4 points in 2007/08. This season Arsene Wenger has continued as our Manager and with Fabregas ,Robin van Persie, Vermaelen, Nasri et al in the team we could very well get our hands on that EPL trophy again. Yes I'm aware that I've started using the word "we" because except for during the World Cup I support only Arsenal!

As talented as we are we don't have too many good looking chaps in our team so I don't think too many of the female sex will be supporting us. (Actually there might be one that I know of) . That honour always has belonged to the oh so handsome I'd turn gay for them at the drop of a hat Manchester United team . The most good looking chap in our team is Bacary Sagna and he looks like this -

Anyway enough about Cristiano Ronaldo who doesn't even play in the EPL anymore.. uh wait.. ok never mind. Enjoy your EPL Season and if you ain't a Gunner (aka Arsenal fan) then I hope your EPL season sucks!

You are my Arsenal
You are my Arsenal,
My only Arsenal,
You make me happy,
When skies are grey,
You'll never know just,
How much I love you,
So please don't take,
My Arsenal...Away

(Note: Regular readers of my blog (if there are any) will have noticed how much time and effort I put into my posts (very modest there, Amos) but this time around there is a possibility that my latest effort is a copy pasta! Sorry I don't have a lot of free time on my hands nowadays! The only free time I have, I spend on the internet looking at funny pictures of cats )

Adelante La Albiceleste!

• Wash my 2006 World Cup Official Argentina Jersey - ✔
• Download World Cup Fixtures MS Excel File - ✔
• Put up World Cup Fixtures Poster - ✔
• Pay Cable Fee - ✔
• Purchase sports magazines with stories about previous World Cups - ✔
• Inform manager that I might suddenly fall sick during the weekdays - ✔ (If Argentina are playing a game on that day then it will be just a coincidence)
• Update Facebook/Orkut profile pictures and profile names to reflect the fact I'm a hardcore Argentina fan - ✔

Yep my World Cup checklist is complete. Now all I have to do is wait for the quadrennial football extravaganza to begin. At one point I was half heartedly thinking if it would've been possible to fly to S.Africa but I looked up the prices of tickets and found out that unless I rob an ATM I wouldn't have enough money to make the trip. The other options were either swimming all the way or via ship both of which I don't have time for.

Anyway unless if you ain't been paying attention I have made it quite clear that I'm a huge Argentina fan. Yes it was all because of Maradona and his exploits in 1986. I was too young to remember the '86 World Cup but I like to pretend that I watched Maradona's Hand of God goal on television (but I didn't). What I remember clearly is the school notebooks sold in Aizawl which had Maradona and other famous football stars on the covers. I had quite a few of those back in the late 80s.

Fast forward to the 1990 World Cup and this time I was able to watch my first live World Cup football game which happened to be Argentina vs Cameroon but 'twas rather unfortunate that Argentina lost the game. However they made up for it by reaching the final where they lost to Der Germans.

After the 78 and 86 WC wins and the 90 final the closest we have come to winning the trophy again was reaching the Quarter Finals in 98 and 2006. This time around Diego Armando Maradona is our Manager and with Messi,Aguero, Higuain, Tevez, di Maria et al in the team we could very well get our hands on that golden trophy again. Yes I'm aware that I've started using the word "we"; during the World Cup I'm an Argentinian.

As talented as we are we don't have too many good looking chaps in our team so I don't think too many of the female sex will be supporting us. That honour always has belonged to the oh so handsome I'd turn gay for them at the drop of a hat Italians. The most good looking chap in our team is Carlos Tevez and he looks like this -

I could go on and on about those dreamy Italians.. oops I mean incredibly talented Argentinians but I need to go pray at the Church of Maradona. Yes there really is a Church of Maradona. Go enjoy your World Cup but if your favorite team is NOT Argentina then I hope your World Cup really sucks.

No tome mi cielo azul y blanco lejos de mí. Adelante La Albiceleste!

Note: La Albicelesete is the nickname of the Argentina football team. Literally translated it means "the blue and white skies" . Blue and White are the colours of the Argentina national flag. Adelante means Forward.
"No tome mi cielo azul y blanco lejos de mí " - Do not take my blue and white sky/skies away from me.
I just wanted to add something in Spanish to this post so that it would give me this whole Spanish vibe thing and girls will fall in love with me and all that. Sigh! :(