Anish Nadh’s Blog

I had to step in to play the church organ today, after much hesitation. No organist was available today, I had one day to prepare and I did an “ok” job at it. After church, Andy and I hung out and went church hopping to Bethel. I happened to meet Kiran Jason Samuel there. He’s one of the pastors there now.  After church Andy dropped me at Hebbal, I decided to go on an adventure. Get back home by bus! Though I had money for auto (₹270 by auto from Hebbal to home), I got into a bus.  Hebbal to BEL circle flyover beginning - ₹10 Walk from BEL circle flyover beginning to Lotegollahalli flyover - priceless (about 250 steps)  Lotegollahalli Flyover to BEL circle - ₹5  Bel circle to Shettihalli Cross - ₹15  Shettihalli cross to Shettihalli circle - priceless (Hitchhiked on a Zomato delivery bike)  Shettihalli circle to home - priceless (1000 steps)  45 bucks I was home, and I stayed on a call with Andy and didn’t feel the time passing by! 

It rained today, after noon!  It wasn’t as heavy as the meteorological department had predicted! Yellow alert was given to Bangalorians! Though the rains bruise and drops a few small avocados and the fruits on my terrace garden, it saves me time! I need not water the plants! The rain takes care of my hour long chore. The rain also cools the air so there’s some relief to my skin as well. Hope it rains again. The earth could do with some cooling. 

It’s very important for me that my friends succeed! When they do, I succeed too! We are a pack like a pack of wolves. We hunt together! The pack needs to have the strongest and most dependable wolves.  Things have worked for us many ways! I want my friend Solomon to do well in the stock market, we learn things together. Another eg. Cherian’s successful company was able to hire me to do a small job for him during the pandemic and that paid the bills for me. So when a friend does well, you do too.  I’m not being dependent here, but he was in a spot to help me out because of his success, while I was able to provide a small service in exchange.   Here are some red flags to spot some hyenas among wolves. I’m listing out a few here.  1. They are not happy when their friend succeeds. They try to bring out the cons and try not to be encouraging. One needs the ability to identity the “unhappy friend” from one who is trying to stop you from making a huge mistake.  2. They...

New role as a blogger. My friend Cherian’s Edge 3D technologies uses industry standard 3D scanners for their BIM (Building Information Modeling) projects. The company is focused on being global industry leaders with clients all over the world. It is currently headquartered in Dubai, as it is well connected with Americas, Europe and Asia.  This will be a huge leading curve for me to pitch my writing skills to educate, inform and reel in potential clients for the company. Looking forward to this new challenge.

Got myself a pair of Flying Machine with Denzil. The sales girl was mildly flirtatious while I was browsing though their catalogues. She tried pushing in the more expense products! I saw through this and wondered how “simps” would survive this level of sales. I politely told her, that these were way above my budget and I’m done choosing mine. Then she told me she would get an incentive if there was a sale for over 10k. She’s some hustler!  

Kindness in your eyes,  I try to understand your truth, your lies,  Two birds, different feathers! We are never meant to be!  Maybe we’ll, never see the day   To do all the things we say!  We’ll just lock our jaws,  And remember a different time.  You’ve inspired a poem,  I put that into a song!  Before you go, I want you to know, Im sorry, if I couldn’t be  The man inside your head.

Arjun felt around for his phone on the table side, and snoozed it, without even looking at it. He had an interview that day! The Alarm went on again after exactly 9 minutes, which he snoozed again, but was woken up instantly by the aroma of coffee that filled his room! Mom was there, yelling at him to wake up, complaining and picking his clothes that were thrown carelessly. She prayed loudly, making sure Arjun heard her, to send her son a wife soon so she can be relieved from all these tasks, while arranging his books on the table, lifting his socks on the table with a pinch, searching for its pair!  This was his wake up call, if the alarm didn’t work, his mom was backup!  “Arjun have your shower, Arjun come for breakfast, Arjun do this, do that!” The human timer was spot on! No app or any organizer would work so relentlessly or efficiently!  Years passed, the alarm rang. Arjun woke up instantly, did his chores, went to work. There was no human timer anymore to be found!...

I used the urban company app to book the home cleaning services. I booked the service for Tuesday. Right now my house is a huge mess, with me trying to reorganize everything. I signed up for the platinum cleaning plan. Floors, bathrooms will be scrubbed, windows wiped, taps shined, furniture, fans and everything is supposed to be cleaned. I’m hoping the cleaning crew will do a good job! 

I walked in the park today! 5000 steps, all the other days last week it was just waking with Denzil, waking around during  VBS with Andy, though I did not miss the 5000 step mark, I missed the park. I missed hanging from the tree, but today felt good after the walk. 

I’m writing this blog after a long conversation with Aishwarya. So the boys and I were on discord and Aishwarya  joined us, after Vridhi introduced us to her. She wanted to sleep and Andy asked her to stay for 5 minutes and we extended the time to two hours. Poor thing! It was so much fun taking to her and listening  to the boys cracking her up and being part of it! 

 Today I went to watch the band that was interested my services as a banjo/guitar player! This band is so well organized everyone knew their jobs well! From the frontman to the stage crew, everyone followed the protocols.  I also had fun conversations with Naresh, Sanjay and Jomon. I’m yet to decide if I want to audition. I’m hoping I make the right decisions. 

The Farmizen app connects consumers with the farmers directly! All the products are certified organic and pretty damn good. Sometimes it goes on offers as well. Last night I ordered sugarcane cubes, Alphonso mangoes and coconut sprouts! All the products came packed neatly this morning. Some products are ridiculously expensive but I have purchased organic. sapotas for 65 a kilo! They also have a subscription model, to ensure you have regular supply of fruits and vegetables! 

Street band playing,  Dogs barking,  Car honking, People yelling,  Mechanic tinkering, Water trickling,  Clock ticking, Eyelash batting,  Silence. 

 I started my day early at 6:00 am, finished a class by 7:00. Then it was time for chores, Toffee’s food was warmed, plants were watered, assignments were written, food was ordered, few  offline classes were done, suddenly it was 12. I relaxed for a bit, took a nap and started work at 4:00 pm. I worked till 8:30 pm! Then it was me on bed with a chess marathon, I reached 3rd in my category, perhaps it was because I played too many games! I’m still on bed wondering if I should play another chess game! 

Usually mom prepares meals for Toffee puts them in smaller containers and freeze it. My task would be to thaw, boil and serve it to him everyday. But this time, I had to prepare the meal myself. So I went out, got some carrots, sweet potatoes and also chicken feet! Now toffee can have chicken feet biryani everyday. No spices and salt! I think he will enjoy it. 

My parents left to Kerala this morning. So I’m on my own to make my own food! I’m planning to take help from my friend Denzil who has a wealth of information on meal preps! I’ll be adding a lot of fiber in my diet apart from the usual carb and protein load. I also have added responsibilities pouring water for my plants and feeding Toffee!  I slacked a lot, the last week when it came to my living space, though I got a lot of work done like fixing the car sorting out some gardening stuff etc. Monday onwards I need to be ready with my new routine. Now off I go, making lists that I can check soon! 

I just said “yes” to something! A new responsibility. I’m going to be auditioning for a new role in a band. I’m be a busy traveling musician for a big band if I make it. So, I want each of you reading this to say a prayer for me, that I have the strength to do this and grow. 

Rohan Daniel was upset that Andy and I liked and wished his ex wife a happy married life on Facebook! We took this opportunity to prank him again he always walks right into our pranks! This one is almost a scam!  We were on a conference call, Solo, Andy, Rohan and I. Our conversations lead to us putting a bet. Rohan convinced us that bets are for losers, we had to do insane dares! So, I dared Solomon to take a house in my lane, knowing very well that he has paid an advance to the house right in front of me. This was an easy win for Solomon. Andy took Solomon’s side and Rohan and I were betting against Solomon getting the house here.  Both teams agreed that a 10k is pledged if the loser does not do the dare, the winner would keep the money and the pledged amount is returned to the winner. Rohan fell right into this trap, I took the role of the mediator who would hold the cash, while morally supporting Rohan and taking his side.  I convinced Solo and Andy to transfer 10k to...

 I’m always disappointed with the car service after the hand over. I serviced my dad’s car a day ago. Last night, while returning with Denzil, we heard a peculiar scraping sound coming from the rear end of the car. We were unable to figure out how it was happening. We stopped a few times on the way. I also planned to check it with the car mechanic the next day. Then we were stopped by the police asking us about the sound and they pointed out that it was coming from under the bumper. To our surprise, Denzil noticed a plastic covering the suspension was off its rivets and it was hitting the ground and thus the scraping sound.  We found a thread with the cops, tied up the plastic and drive back a little slower. Now to get this thing fixed!  Update: 2:00 pm. New rivets were added to keep it all together free of cost. I also got the emission test done. 

When I was about 6 years old, my parents got me a small keyboard! The Casio SK1. This had a lot of buttons in it. This is where I discovered music. Back then when my friends played with toy cars and dolls, I played with this keyboard. I was not sent for lessons, but I was allowed to experiment and explore the sounds. This being a sampler keyboard allowed us to record our own voice or any sound and sample them. I took a lot of time exploring this.  The keyboard also had Mozart’s Toy Symphony as its demo. Back then I didn’t know what the tune was, or who the composer was. I had no option but to listen to the same track over and over again. I discovered harmony, rhythm, selective listening! This keyboard lasted through the years until I was about 13 years and it just stopped working. 

Well, I’m quite close age wise to the boomers myself, but over the past few days I have been talking to an uncle of mine, my mom and a few other seniors. We have been talking about inclusivity and how we as Christians have been accommodating to people from other religion. We also recalled how my grandfather walked me to the temple to show me the elephants there and how we gave away palm leaves to the temple elephant  regularly once a month. There was a certain fascination to the giant animal. The temple also provided us Christians with their grounds for conducting annual church games and even now they live in harmony. The conversations lead to my uncle, who is from a Hindu background, he explored Christianity and now agnostic who told me about how there is a speculation that Jesus had travelled to India through the silk route, where he continued to learn and teach before returning back. It was quite interesting to know this different perspective and I did some reading online about ...

Back 2016 I was one of the top 10 finalists at the All India finger-style guitar competitions. There were 20 of us competing for the guitar that came all the way from Germany. Many guitarists came from all over India and I was quick to notice the attitude of a few musicians, some really did not like sharing their “tricks”, especially the ones from the North East. The rest of us from other states didn’t bother to warm up or practice before the show. But the brothers green the North East, found a corner and was always practising. I was wondering why they were being so secretive and not welcoming. The idea of this competition was to bring musicians together to share ideas, network etc. But these guys took the competition literally, perhaps their tribal warriors in them kicked in and they just wanted to obliterate us, with their guitars, of course! They were exceptionally talented, but very competitive. They would not talk to you! One of them even went to the lengths of covering their hand...

I’m seeing great progress with my piano reading skills. I’m glad I found the right teacher. I’ve always chosen my music teachers wisely. Each of them had their way of teaching. None of them had a structured course, but I like a progressive structure with my lessons.  I have mentioned this in my earlier posts, one needs to completely surrender to the teacher, after finding the right one. 

I’m writing this blog before I crash! Today Andy, Denzil and I went to Orion mall. We had Ramen at youmee! It was so delicious. I took the one that came with Buffalo meat! It also had tossed peanuts on the side.  After youmee, we were so full except Denzil, who claimed he can have one more serving of ramen. We drove back home and I crashed, woke up again to write the blog! 

Along my walk, by the wayside grows a jasmine vine. I always come back with a handful of flowers. I spread them on my bed and enter my dreamland. 

Denzil was to be picked up at the airport on Monday, after Easter. So Andy and I planned a “warm welcome” at the airport. Expectations were high, since the last time he arrived, we had posters with his face on a politician’s body, we “welcomed him” with a garland and a shawl. So everyone were expecting us to over do it this time. Denzils parents were supportive and we did not suspect a thing.  We planned a big flex board this time, along with fire crackers outside his home. He was coming back after completing his masters at the Netherlands.  I heard my door bell ring as were planning this over a call. I peeped curiously through my window wondering who it was! It was Denzil!! 

Cherian came back to Bangalore from Dubai and we caught up. We caught up over some drinks with Ashwanth and Nithin. Cherian also played some music that got back a lot memories when we were kids trying to learn the guitar songs.

How soon the days are passing! One day after another,  Losing a few of them boomers, New borns are arriving as well! Time, is spiraling as an infinite spring,  It is the only perpetual thing Autumn, winter, summer, spring.  I don’t see my time slowing,  I will also soon be gone!  One thing for sure I know  I will leave these words for you. 

Today was Palm Sunday. People were making crosses using palms, and I didn’t quite feel like making some. After church we went to Uncle Kitchen for some food, I had chicken kabab, rice and dal. It was heavenly! I came back home and took a nap and spoke to Andy and Solomon. Solomon is moving from Coimbatore to a house opposite to mine, we spoke about him moving here and we spoke until 8:30 pm. I have an early morning class at 6:30 am and a lot of piano submissions. Looking forward to it!

I went to mosque road with my nephews to mosque road last night. I went easy on the intermittent fasting last night. The place has evolved in to a good street of sorts during the Ramadan month. We had lots of sheekh kebabs and semia. We also had some sweets there. It was so much crowded. Then all the food there, I enjoyed driving from home and back.