Anish Nadh’s Blog

It has been raining here in Bangalore so, it was a good idea to make a garage in our backyard to protect our vehicles from getting wet and rust creeping in.  What was thought to be a small project is more demanding now with expenses going over ₹ 70,000. Things are getting expensive. Labour is not cheap. I’m feeling the pressure of fuel prices ringing slowly. 

I made it to top 15! And I know Siddharth is going to win it. I’m gonna be meeting a lot of musicians at the event! And I’ll get it be at the farm from 7th to 13th! A well deserved break as well.  I’ve not been practicing! No pressure. I’m also going to make a log of my practice chunks starting Now! 

 Had a fun time at church today. Potluck, where we bring home cooked meals and just show up at church and share it with each other.  There were varieties of biryani, chapatis and rotis with curries ranging from veg to non-veg. Quite a filling Sunday.  Note: This didn’t post yesterday due to technical difficulties. So reposting this on Monday 

My friend has these 2BHK apartments for sale in Bangalore. And I help him reach potential buyers. It’s quite hard to sell apartments now because the real estate business has been stagnant after the Corona pandemic.  The problem is that owners don’t want to sell the apartments at throw away prices and buyers are looking for deals. This is really a test of patience. The potential third wave scare is just adding to all these issues.  I see this as an opportunity to learn different legalities like RERA, CCOC, Katha. I’m also understanding buying behavior and reasoning of different people. I love sales! 

People like to talk and they seldom put it in action. So I found a way to deal with or not deal with them. Simple, watch what they do not just what they say.  They will promise to call you or do a certain thing but end up not doing what they promised. But if you had spent time watching them you will sometimes see that they stick to the word. So always watch what they do.  Same applies to you. Do you do what you say and deliver as promised? Watch yourself.  

You could’ve have a long day,  Or even a better one. But you always look forward to, Tuck inside your bed.  ‘Tis a home inside your home,  Your only true comfort place.  Sink into the wonderfulness  Even dreams are made here!  Then comes miss mosquito!  She doesn’t just need your blood! What’s more annoying?   It’s that bloody BUZZ! 

A relationship  Waking up early  Watching my health  Exercising regularly Having health insurance  Investing money in my 20s Practicing music everyday  Understanding how people feel  Learning to drive  Being in touch with family

Today is the last day to submit the entries to GGG 2021. I’ve been working on it, and today I’ll record the two videos that will be submitted. Durga, my student who is also participating has already submitted her entry!  This is a great opportunity to meet and interact with guitarists around the globe. Also this event is judged by Konarak Reddy, Julia Lange and Antoine Boyer. I’m looking forward to the guitar workshops they bring and I have also volunteered to help out with the event. 

Pineapple! Who ever discovered that this spiny fruit can be eaten deserves their name to be on the books.  I remember eating this the first time at my dad’s family home. It wasn’t sweet as I would’ve liked it. It made my tongue itchy.  After we moved to Bangalore, I noticed the pineapples sold here were more yellow than the ones we got in Kerala and they served it with salt and chili powder. The combo worked! It was sweet, tangy, salty and spicy!! Perfect.

I stayed off red meat and chicken for 3 weeks and I had chicken today! I was able to resist the temptation of craving meat for 3 weeks and todays lunch was the ultimate reward!  Sticking to the duet plan and staying consistent was hard but in the end of it all it was quite rewarding. Maybe I’ll come up with another challenge again. And that must be waking up at 5 am!  Let’s do it! 

He enjoyed solving the problems in the math text book but needed constant reminders to do his assignments. Tv and Freefire took away his time. And gradually he lost interest in studying.  His dad paid for his “engineering seat” in the reputed HRSA college. He didn’t have basic math skills to even think of solving the engineering math problems. He dropped out of college.   Years later, he saw his peers in good working environments. Many were getting cars and getting married. But he was just jobless living with his parents.  He blamed his parents for not teaching him well. He blamed his teachers, friends and colleagues for what he became. A failure. 

I failed to wake up again. My 6:00 am students cancelled classes and I just couldn’t sleep last night. My sleep cycle must be all over the place, must get that in sync.  I went to bed early, lights off, no devices and still I was awake till 1:00. I ended up watching Red Notice on Netflix! Let’s see what can be done. I have classes till 11:00 pm tonight, and  I’m going to a Taaq concert at Christ college tomorrow. Need enough sleep. 

I want to start my day early after waking up, but I end up staying in bed and sleeping in, thanks to the extreme cold weather! Tomorrow, I’m going to wake up at 5:00 am. This can only happen if I sleep early! I will need at least 7 hours of sleep. That means sleeping at 10:00 pm  Let’s see how productive my day gets! 

This one I had today, was perfect for my palette! Crispy, yet soft and melt in the mouth coupled with fresh coconut white chutney, washed down with a cup of tea! I didn’t like the peanut chutney.  Caution, they add generous amount of butter while cooking and after so make your food choices wisely! 

I was introduced to Wim Hof’s eleven minute breathing exercise by my friend Mahesh. I have been doing it almost all days since a month. I have started taking cold showers even though the water is ice cold!  My body feels different in a good way. It may not be good for everybody but after breathing I feel I’m super charged and after the shower I feel alive and alert! This has been going great for me.  You can try the guided breathing here . 

It was an old well. He was told that his grandfather had dug it up all by himself, who also had a way to find the underground water source by balancing a coconut in the palm of his hands.  Now the well had all sorts of green moss in it, with ferns growing on the sides. The sides were coming off but were reenforced with some iron rods and cement. The pulley, pail and rope used to draw water was replaced with an electric motor that pumped water to an over head tank installed on the roof of his house.  He thanked the almighty for his grandfather’s ancient wisdom and hard work on the well that had quenched the thirst of many generations and even the generations in the neighborhood! 

I played music at church for Children’s day today and it was nice, playing keys after a long time! We’ve all heard somewhere, someone telling us “be like children”, “be child like”. What I like about these kids was that they love singing, and they learnt the lyrics and can memorize and retain the pitch! They were musical and my peers didn’t even match their musical intelligence! It was all a good vibe! They will always show up for things they enjoy!   I’m looking forward to learning more from them. On that note, a very happy children’s day to you!  Yes, you! 

I’m glad I remembered to write this post thanks to the “To Do” list I made on “Reminders” on my phone!  The list contains things I must do every day. Though I’m allowed to skip a few of the tasks, blogging is not to be missed.  I seriously have a fear that I’m gonna miss the blog post one day! Thanks to technology and the Reminders app this time was not a miss! 

I have classes starting at 6:00 am on Fridays. I prepared myself last night, scheduled an alarm at 5:30 that played Angelina. Sleepy early.  I was surprised I woke up five minutes before the alarm went on. And I enjoyed waking up early. I didn’t feel sleep deprived! Gotta keep this going! 

He was always fascinated by fire. He learnt how to light a matchstick when he was just about three. He drew the matchbox shelf, picked up a matchstick stick and gently scraped on the side of the box with the bulb side of the stick that had the chemicals. Playing with fire was banned.  He skipped a heart beat as the sparks sparkled at the top of the stick. He was afraid but felt accomplished.  There were stacks of dried coconut palm leaves, criss crossed to make thatched roof, grandma’s side hustle. There he was with his match stick. A small spark, lit up in flames! He didn’t worry about the beating he would get later! He was just fascinated and bathed in the heat that emitted from the inferno.  He lights cigarettes now. He does not use the fancy lighters filled with gas. He still uses his matchbox and keeps one close to his heart. 

Sleep quality is a very important factor and I had to get a new one! My brother-in-law Robin highly recommended a change to an orthopedic mattress.  I’m pretty sure a mattress will add to the sleep quality, I also threw in a blanket! This is going to keep me warm during the cold Bangalore winters! 

I had this thought a few years ago. Would I still make music if no body listened to it? Would I still practice and put in the effort? Or was I just a performing flea? I had a choice to play music that the mass liked or work on my own and develop the musicianship.  So decided that I would only make music if it interested me or if it paid me (yes, even the music I did not like personally but the clients wanted that) And I stopped taking up side projects that took away my energy and did not pay.  I’m still struggling to find that practice routine going. Just making lists to check off one by one for now. 

Another day has passed, Another sun has dimmed down.  I’m Just ahead, Of the man I was yesterday.  There are no rules,  No other competitors.  I’m always one step ahead, Of the man I was yesterday.  I have fallen many a times,  But, no matter what happens,  I will always be a step ahead  Of the man I was yesterday. 

I followed Bee Jay Del’s YouTube page that teaches to draw using procreate. The artist Del, would give you specific instructions to make fun drawings and you would explore different techniques related to painting.  He started a Facebook community to share his work and build an artists platform, and people were just posting their own work without any acknowledgment to the creator of the group or his work. There were about 8k followers in the page and people didn’t seem to appreciate his efforts with likes. The posts from him were being watched by thousands and only a hundred responses. According to Del, he puts in a lot of time and effort and the followers were only taking from him, (in fact it’s true). He politely archived the Facebook group and requested the followers to give more than they take.  What are we giving? Do you take more than you give? 

I just finished 100 days of cleaning my living space. The idea was to just keep things clean and organized. It was a big learning experience for me.  It was easy to clean a little bit everyday than choose one day of the week to clean everything. I also found space for every object in my house. I hope to continue this new habit of mine and have added this to my “must do” list everyday. 

Last night I listened to a podcast by London Real, talking to Seth Godin, they briefly discussed about writers block. According to Seth, there’s no such thing as writer’s block. A writer’s block can only set in if you have the pressure to write something good.  I’m borrowing this idea from Seth! I have no readers, I’m going to write bad, with errors and keep doing it till my writing  gets better. I will have thousands of badly written blog posts along with  a few masterpieces in between! 

I have been having serious thoughts about putting out music education material out there, if not at-least document what I have learnt, out there as reels or shorts. But just the thought that it’s too much work is encouraging procrastination.  I will need to do research, make videos edit upload and interact, phew! it’s a lot of things.  So its great to have ideas, but it’s nothing without execution. After I have published this blog, I will need to organize a daily routine, to execute these ideas. 

 I’m now able to do push-ups on the floor. I do 3 sets of 10 each set! It took time, but definitely seeing results, especially on my back. I guess it will take more time to correct the slouched position I developed over the years with bad posture. 

A sense of worry slipped into his mind as he cut another banana tree to harvest bananas. Both his sons were at loggerheads with each other. He was 63 years old and he didn’t know if he would have the strength to carry on taking care of the farm.  The elder one had a drinking problem. The younger one always wanted money to trade bikes and phones. They listened to him, he listened to them too, but the sons couldn’t stand each other.  He chopped another tree down, careful to cut just enough so the stem would just fold in the middle and the raw fruit won’t land on the ground and get bruised. The harvest was great this year. No wind or rain could destroy the young plants. It survived to bear fruits. Nor did they fight each other. He separated the banana bunch from the tree and called it another good day! 

My niece wanted a kite made, she found the instructions to make one on a tinkle magazine that I had bought for her. She had to get that made, and was at her best behavior. So I agreed to do that today, Monday, it is a public holiday today, thanks to Karnataka Rajyotsava.  She constantly reminded through the week. Started looking at instructions and started arranging materials to make the kite. Newspaper, thread, glue, sticks. How could I refuse help to someone so intensely obsessed with this, especially coz she’s my favorite person in there whole world!!  Her persistence to get a work done paid off. Persistence pays.