Anish Nadh’s Blog

 I got an opportunity to work with Vineet who is recording his EP. I got the guitarist’s part and I think I nailed it! The video team was very professional and they were on schedule. Padma made sure that all of us were well fed. The rehearsals were quite hectic we went through each of it meticulously. I’m hoping the video comes out good! 

 I did a lot of back and forth. Bank work with my parents, researched painting, met a few people to talk about it. I think I’ll settle with Asian paints Royale. Now I have to sample a few and settle on the design and colour. Dad just wants white. There also needs to be made a list of repair work and installations before we paint.  Today I’m off to work with the amazing Vineet Vincent. It’s an acting gig. I have to just act like a guitarist and play the exact notes as on the recording. So it’s my fingers who will be the real stars or just me grooving to the music. Fingers crossed. 

 This was the first time I was selling my mutual funds. I was quite hesitant at first but I had to get some painting work done at home and buying paint on credit seemed to be a ridiculously stupid idea. So I sold it! Now I have to make money again. This is free interest money but somewhere there’s a painful pinch that I sold it. It is what it is. To make matters worse I made double withdrawal and I took the as a sign from above to maybe pay off some of that vehicle loan I have. Now life seems a bit more easy. 

 I went to church and never set foot inside. Just sat outside, talking to friends and went for breakfast. Andy had helped buy Dog Man from blossoms for my niece. She seemed to be missing her parents so I spent a lot of time with her, we watched some YouTube together and I helped her get rid of some sneeze goo. After this I got a call from a potential guitar student. I’m hoping to find more students, so I don’t have to dig into my savings for expenses, anticipating a student drop this exam season. 

 Ordered some Jetros burger today for family. My mom did not like it. My niece and dad shared one, and Sebin Ujwal and I had 4 between us. The burger blew my mind. I like mine with extra peanut butter! I can’t wait to have it again! 

 I used the Swiggy instamart feature to order some groceries. I also made a payment online. The delivery person arrived and insisted that I pay the amount again as the online payment has not got through. He took cash from me. He also pointed out that it’s a glitch on the app and Swiggy will refund the money. I spent a lot of time to get this resolved online and nothing is done in my favour. Maybe the delivery guy was desperate for some cash! I feel bad for him! 

We decided to paint the house, so I had been talking to people about what paint to use. Everyone are recommending expensive paints, Asian royale but I don’t think I’m going with that. I’ll just try the emulsion paint and be done with it than spending a ton of money on this. 

 I went live playing piano today, after my classes. I could just play without any worries. I even tired and improvised some songs I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am still working on my other piano assignments and that’s not fun. It’s a lot of work! 

 I took my EV for a spin! I was quite worried if the charge will run out, I started the trip at 80% and made it back with 45% charge! That’s not bad eh?  I went to church street, Blossoms, picked up some comics for my niece and then off I went to Fanoos. I ordered a sambo roll! It was quite satisfying. I also packed some for home! I also met Andy and hung out with him.  The bike ride was quick, I beat the traffic and was back home in 35 minutes. 

 I’ve been behind my piano assignment submissions and I really have to do something about it. I’m so caught up with other things that I’ve ignored this. So from today I’m going to put this into practice.  1. I must practice everyday, no matter what. 2. I cannot sleep without recording an assignment.  3. Piano practise time must be without any interruptions, and flight mode should be maintained.  4. Practice and submit assignments for 2 hours each day until I catch up with deadlines. 

 Yesterday was quite eventful! It was conformation day at church. I got invited for a few lunches, but I chose to be with Denzil’s sister’s confirmation celebrations. Nivedh and I sang a Purify my heart and after that I came back home relaxed for a bit took a Power Nap and went to the Agape party. Our hosts were Rajesh chetan and Sharon chechi. We had a good time singing songs and catching up! 

 Ujwal, Sebin and I were at the Taaq gig that happened at Fandom. We drove to Jethros, had a beef burger with extra peanut butter and bacon first and then to Koramangala, Fandom! The show didn’t blow my mind as expected, the mix wasn’t great. The band also did just 2 songs that I knew. The acoustic session was drum heavy! I’d love to catch them at a different venue maybe. 

 I missed gym this entire week. I was going through some aches and pains. But I get uninterrupted sleep for my sleep duration and I think that’s helping. My music lessons are getting hectic. I need to keep this going because exam season is coming up and there will be a sudden drop in students. I hope god is kind. 

I said No,  To sugar, but I gave in once a week I said No,  To laziness, but I gave in once in a while  I said No,  To staying up late, but what about the day before?  I said No,  To fossil fuel, but that’s just a joke  I said No,  To toxic friendship, but they are around  I said No,  To alcohol, but I did get to taste it last week I said No,  To a dirty house, but that’s a work in progress  I said No,  To loans, but here comes a new purchase!  I said No  To love and that’s keeping me sane! 

 I taught my niece some mathematics today. We learnt measurement and conversions on various standard units. I even lost my temper with her today, I was actually irritated about another student online at the time and she happend to have made a silly mistake. I felt bad for yelling at her. So I apologized to her. I must learn to control my anger and not lose my cool with her. 

  Hey there, brave souls of 2024! As we buckle up for another wild ride around the sun, let's take a moment to reflect on the rollercoaster that was 2023. Strap in, tighten those seatbelts, and let's roll! Lesson 1: Adaptability is the New Superpower I was worried about not being able to play music as best as I could once upon a time. I’m old now, my once iron fingers are now rusty (sigh!). So I asked Steve Vai, virtuoso musician extraordinaire about how he dealt with these thoughts (coz he’s super old now and he is not slowing down).  He looked deep into my eyes nodded his head and said one word “Adapt” and he went on and on about it ….aaand that information went over my head. But that one word “Adapt” gave me a lot of strength. We have to be strong and resilient and adapt to whatever the situation is.  Lesson 2: Unleash Your Inner Chef (or At Least Try) Parents, remember those elaborate recipes you saved during the lockdown? How many did you actually attempt?  Kids, encourage

 I went to KR market to explore the place and see what is being sold there. I went in a metro, but I was feeling super productive as well. I edited the Exodus newsletter Noize and checked assignments and scheduled classes during the journey. I have a long day ahead I’m just settling for my nap!

 My parents arranged a prayer meeting at church, to celebrate 40 years of marriage. I drove them to church early morning and also got them back. People had very nice things to say about my dad. After that Ujwal, Sebin and I went out, we came back with lot of tinkle story books for my niece.

 Denzil, Roy, Solomon, Ujwal, Sebin, Andy and I meet up at my place to make sausages. The initial plan was to make hot dogs, but since Andy delayed to bring the buns, the pork sausages were done. We also bought some grill chicken to stuff the bun! But it ended up being an amazing food extravaganza, thanks to chef Denzil!  We also played Uno with 5 bucks and I won the maximum games. I’m skipping dinner because it was a hefty meal. 

  New year brings a sense of fresh start to most    us. We somehow want to get out of the rut and start to form new habits. We get gym memberships we never use. Remember, the kids are watching!  Children learn from parents and teachers, they pick up habits, mimicking their idols. I am a better musician because I want to be accountable to my students. Here are some things that I did the last few years, since Covid! Journaling :  I wrote a blog    every single day, this was where I began, to form a habit. As of today I have 800 odd blogs that I have written each day. I was not creating masterpieces, I just did it anyway. Eating right :  I also reduced a lot of eating out and ate more at home, included a lot of fiber in my diet. I have noticed a big change in my mood after sorting my gut health.  Exercising:  The work that I do restricts me on a chair. I started with some push-ups on a wall and gradually professed to the floor. I also walked 10000 steps everyday.  Learning:  I am picking

 I couldn’t get enough work done! I started with cleaning my place and taking out the trash, then one thing piled up after another! I ended up washing all my clothes, got my car washed, checked assignments, sent my assignments, and suddenly it was 3:30 pm, now I had clothes to pick and fold. Classes began at 4:00 and went on till 9:30 I also found 30 minutes to teach my niece maths. I ended my day doing an Instagram live. 

 I celebrated my 39th, invited all my friends some old some new. Andy, Solomon, Denzil, Jude, Sharmi, Abhilash, Ujwal, Thejo, Gladys, Priyanka, Jonah, Jinerson, Lini, Amanda and my family showed up. It was fun when Solomon got out his cards for some tricks. I ordered ghee rice, chicken curry and kabab. The food was amazing.  When friends come over to celebrate it’s a reminder that you are not really alone. 

 I am working real hard on my music. I enrolled myself for Piano, Guitar and music production lessons. I want to release an album this year! Looking forward to working with some friends as well in this. Though I don’t have a destination in mind, the journey is just epic! God bless me! 

 I finally decided to make a lot of changes in my lifestyle. I was aging and my body did not agree with lack of sleep, long bike rides, band practices, substances, alcohol! I wanted to call it quits. This was January 2019, right before Covid  was announced. I exercised, watched my diet, said no to alcohol and any substance that dimmed my senses. I still am a work in progress, planning, executing and failing most times but with a few successes! Tomorrow I turn 39! I think I did pretty well with the cards of this life delt to me!  

 Shalini got in touch with me and asked if I would be interested in joining her band, Ginny and the Bottle. We did a few covers and mashups with Sudhakar on drums, soon replaced him with Ralston and Chetan and Ashwanth joined on sax. We did play a lot of gigs together but I found it quite tedious to take classes and do the band, I chose to call it quits. 

 This was the first band where I contributed significantly, music wise. I got really creative with the electric guitar, working on compositions. My experience with the other bands helped. I found it really challenging when the band was getting carried away with odd time meters, I was the melody guy. I committed to playing singable tunes. My favorites were the songs Blank, Kill Me and Ordinary love. I was going through a break up and I channeled all my dark energy into this band. We split after Mahesh saw opportunity with another band. 

Mahesh was also writing songs and we thought instead a if being a cover band we must focus on originals and be a band. Ravi joined in to play bass and introduced us to Ashwin. We jammed and played a lot of shows and took every opportunity we got to play our own music. Johansson also joined the band as the sound tech. I felt this band was all about front man and his songs. The band was named Mahesh and the mix. 

 I started a duo act with my friend Mahesh, called Acoustic Remedy. We played our first gig comprising of a lot of cover songs for a wedding planning company Knotty Zeit run by a student of mine Leonard. We charged 20k for the event and we did a lot of shows together, playing JW Marriott brunch shows and more. 

Saahas left to the USA to study music at MI, Hollywood. So, now the band was without a vocalist and Jason did not want to continue as a band. We even played a few gigs when Saahas came back to India for holidays with Alok on bass, replacing Shalini, who got busy with Lagori. I decided to form a band with my friends, Ravi, Mahesh and gang. 

Allegro Fudge also gave me a chance to be on some magazine covers and articles. I also did an exclusive with Bangalore Mirror. To someone who was just beginning a music career, it was something great! I leveraged my popularity here with my classes and I made great progress building my school.  

 Allegro Fudge gave me a lot big opportunity to travel. We played shows in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kerala! The most memorable ones for my will be the ones at Chennai! The audience were great! They weren’t talking over the show, instead they were great listeners! I’m so grateful that I could travel and start at some of the big hotels in the process.