Anish Nadh’s Blog

Paganini, they call him the devil himself on the violin. Why call him the devil? Why make the association? Maybe he was temperamental, that made him so unpredictable they didn’t like his attitude, he was disagreeable, they were awestruck by his performance.  He was so skillful on his instrument, the envious critics spread rumors that he got his skills from making a deal with the devil! Devil or not, listening to Paganini, I only see a hard working man, repeating phrases and exercises, inventing techniques that can challenge anyone even this time of the century. A true virtuoso. 

 Saturday! It’s here finally! I woke up late, and everything is not on schedule, I see myself postponing work to later. To keep myself organized, I made a “to do” list, with specific things to do. Maybe I should also include a time limit for these activities.  I am not motivated to work today but will drag myself to do it anyway! It’s all about being consistent and getting work done. 

My student Durga and I are participating in this competition. The prelims are done online. We are working hard and have decided to practice every day!  This competition is all about meeting other guitarists and getting a glimpse of what is happening around, technical and theoretical advances, workshops from the judges, sharing ideas etc.  Kudos to Konarak Reddy fondly known to all as Kuki (cookie), for organizing this event for many years. Love the energy he brings to the table! God bless him. 

My second Covid -19 vaccination was due, I decided to go back to baptist hospital for my second dose! I left at 7:45 and I was the only person there to get vaccinated. Being there early helped save some wait time. I was surprised how quickly it ended.  Also, I’m going to begin working on the Global Guitar Gita guitar competition. I need to prepare and upload two videos on YouTube. Must add this guitar thing to my routine and start practicing. 

I got a suit tailored for myself. I just assumed the tailor knew what he was doing and the result was just awful. The suit jacket fitted a size bigger than what was meant for me. Mistakes will have to be made, money will have to be spent, time and energy will be wasted, if one is not prepared in planning.  What I could have done was to just look around on the internet, done some preliminary research. I could’ve also spoken to a few “suit bearers” for insights. I could’ve communicated better and insisted on a fitting session during the initial stages. Lesson learnt, but an expensive one indeed!

I have identified 2 types of people. When there comes a dire situation, one type likes to stay a victim and not do anything about it. They want to stay in that misery and love pity eyes, stay in bed and whine.  The other type will always get up after a fall! No matter what happens, even if it kills them. These people get work done.  I think we all have these two types ingrained in us. So, who do you want to be? 

 Continued from part 1  I texted Gaurav asking for his time to talk about this music business that I wanted to start, knowing he was very busy with his schedule, I even offered to pay for his time. Gaurav was so very kind to not charge me and he asked me to meet him at a Raghu Dixit show happening at Manyata Tech Park. He had some time to kill after the sound check and he was willing to spend time with me.  I reached Manyata on time, in fact, earlier than agreed and was stopped from entering the green room. I called Gaurav and he asked the bouncers to allow me in and I walked into this luxurious makeshift tent kind of thing. They had a fridge with water and cold beverages, food on the table, a lounge area with coolers. Gaurav first checked if I wanted to eat something or drink, I politely refused. While Danish Sait walked in! I had judged a talent show with him at MS Ramaiah, now he was famous and had a huge fan following. I assumed he would ignore me. Gaurav said to him, “Hey meet Ani