Given my penchant for all things silicon (wink, wink) and technology, this is _NOT_ a post about RAM, ROM or the likes. In fact, to clarify the winks, it is also not about politically-incorrect or physiological enhancements that keeps both practitioners and quacks of cosmetic surgery minting the moolah.
Back in college, I used to be the proud owner of a shady portable CD player that someone had given me. It was one of those dollar-shop things that America-return people used to pick up for their lesser Indian relatives and friends. In times when iPods were expensive (and mostly unheard of in the hands of engineering students in government colleges) and other MP3 players were scorned upon by elders who believed that listening to music while studying was uncalled for and if it had to be listened to then sitting in front of the computer was the way to go - the CD player was a prized possession. But, do realize that a CD player alone does not solve problems, and these were those problems that could be solved only if you had audio CDs and audio CDs were expensive back then and still are a little pricey. The alternative was to burn your own CDs - blank discs were close to 30 bucks a pop - with a CD writer. And, I did not own a CD writer. Luckily, for me an uncle had an external CD writer which he did not use and wasn't much attached to. This found its way into my possession and I started burning music - with my financial resources (read pocket money), I was able to make a grand total of 5 discs. One of which got corrupted for some arcane reason.
Disc One had an assorted collection of Joe Satriani and was the one that played only the first six tracks out of the thirteen that I managed to cram. The notable ones that I remember are Summer song, Always with me always with you, Lights of heaven and Until we say goodbye.
Disc Two had assorted Metallica tracks. This one was particularly dear to me since I started listening to metal with Metallica (specifically Master of Puppets and Sad But True). In addition to these two, there was Creeping Death, Nothing Else Matters, Ride the Lightning, Fuel, Unforgiven ( I and II), Enter Sandman, Sanitarium and others that I cannot now remember.
Disc Three had the entire Scenes From a Memory by Dream Theater. This was off a disc of MP3s that I had purchased in National Market (this by the way has been the only music that I have purchased from National Market - ever!). I'd just started listening to DT and somehow this album was the one that I liked the most. Very recently, I took this off my iPod when I realized I spent an inordinate amount of time listening to this album from start to end. I am quite sure that the sectors that had Overture - 1928 were the most ghisaoed.
Disc Four had a bunch of mixed tracks - Sounds of Silence ( Simon & Garfunkel), Jamica (Harry Belafonte), All you need is love (The Beatles), Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd), Coming back to life (Pink Floyd) and some others that escape my memory. This was one that played a lot on that player - one notable listener was Tho, who claims that he fell in love with Simon and Garfunkel after listening to this CD. He now even has a Simon and Garfunkel T-shirt and I, guess, most of their work.
Disc Five I have no recollection of burning but it had random Iron Maiden tracks - Fear of the Dark, Wasted Years and Number of the Beast. This was an unmarked disc - the others had the track listing written down in a painfully neat list on the face with permanent marker. Dickinson & Co. somehow never got that respect and effort back then and it remained a blank CD that I used to recognize by the Imation logo and a scratch at a particular location.
There were other tracks that I and Bhayak used to incessantly listen to on the computer. These are numerous and I cannot remember them except when I listen to them. The discs used to be the music that I used to fall asleep to when I was traveling between Surathkal and Bangalore. There are tracks that I associate with people and events that transpired over the four years in college - Sweet Child of Mine and Yellow with a girl I used to like; Comfortably Numb, Wish you were here and Coming back to life with sitting alone and retrospecting; Spitleaf with sessions on the Edge in Final Block; When the levee breaks and Kashmir with Bhayak waking me up at odd hours of the day; Christmas in July with playing NFS - Hot Pursuit; It must have been love with belting Tho for listening to yucky-love-songs; The blood and tears with the first inter-collegiate fashion show that I watched in MIT, Manipal - to name a few.
Even now, when I go to Surathkal to recruit people or for some other arcane reason I carry all these songs on my iPod with me. I got to Garuda; down a few cold ones and find my way to the beach in the night, walk along till Shanbogue, sit on my rock, check the sky for a moving satellite, walk to the statue and then through the campus to the STEP beach gate while listening to these songs. There are new gates and new locks and new walls and fences to climb over but all I need to do is close my eyes and see what used to be.
Back in college, I used to be the proud owner of a shady portable CD player that someone had given me. It was one of those dollar-shop things that America-return people used to pick up for their lesser Indian relatives and friends. In times when iPods were expensive (and mostly unheard of in the hands of engineering students in government colleges) and other MP3 players were scorned upon by elders who believed that listening to music while studying was uncalled for and if it had to be listened to then sitting in front of the computer was the way to go - the CD player was a prized possession. But, do realize that a CD player alone does not solve problems, and these were those problems that could be solved only if you had audio CDs and audio CDs were expensive back then and still are a little pricey. The alternative was to burn your own CDs - blank discs were close to 30 bucks a pop - with a CD writer. And, I did not own a CD writer. Luckily, for me an uncle had an external CD writer which he did not use and wasn't much attached to. This found its way into my possession and I started burning music - with my financial resources (read pocket money), I was able to make a grand total of 5 discs. One of which got corrupted for some arcane reason.
Disc One had an assorted collection of Joe Satriani and was the one that played only the first six tracks out of the thirteen that I managed to cram. The notable ones that I remember are Summer song, Always with me always with you, Lights of heaven and Until we say goodbye.
Disc Two had assorted Metallica tracks. This one was particularly dear to me since I started listening to metal with Metallica (specifically Master of Puppets and Sad But True). In addition to these two, there was Creeping Death, Nothing Else Matters, Ride the Lightning, Fuel, Unforgiven ( I and II), Enter Sandman, Sanitarium and others that I cannot now remember.
Disc Three had the entire Scenes From a Memory by Dream Theater. This was off a disc of MP3s that I had purchased in National Market (this by the way has been the only music that I have purchased from National Market - ever!). I'd just started listening to DT and somehow this album was the one that I liked the most. Very recently, I took this off my iPod when I realized I spent an inordinate amount of time listening to this album from start to end. I am quite sure that the sectors that had Overture - 1928 were the most ghisaoed.
Disc Four had a bunch of mixed tracks - Sounds of Silence ( Simon & Garfunkel), Jamica (Harry Belafonte), All you need is love (The Beatles), Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd), Coming back to life (Pink Floyd) and some others that escape my memory. This was one that played a lot on that player - one notable listener was Tho, who claims that he fell in love with Simon and Garfunkel after listening to this CD. He now even has a Simon and Garfunkel T-shirt and I, guess, most of their work.
Disc Five I have no recollection of burning but it had random Iron Maiden tracks - Fear of the Dark, Wasted Years and Number of the Beast. This was an unmarked disc - the others had the track listing written down in a painfully neat list on the face with permanent marker. Dickinson & Co. somehow never got that respect and effort back then and it remained a blank CD that I used to recognize by the Imation logo and a scratch at a particular location.
There were other tracks that I and Bhayak used to incessantly listen to on the computer. These are numerous and I cannot remember them except when I listen to them. The discs used to be the music that I used to fall asleep to when I was traveling between Surathkal and Bangalore. There are tracks that I associate with people and events that transpired over the four years in college - Sweet Child of Mine and Yellow with a girl I used to like; Comfortably Numb, Wish you were here and Coming back to life with sitting alone and retrospecting; Spitleaf with sessions on the Edge in Final Block; When the levee breaks and Kashmir with Bhayak waking me up at odd hours of the day; Christmas in July with playing NFS - Hot Pursuit; It must have been love with belting Tho for listening to yucky-love-songs; The blood and tears with the first inter-collegiate fashion show that I watched in MIT, Manipal - to name a few.
Even now, when I go to Surathkal to recruit people or for some other arcane reason I carry all these songs on my iPod with me. I got to Garuda; down a few cold ones and find my way to the beach in the night, walk along till Shanbogue, sit on my rock, check the sky for a moving satellite, walk to the statue and then through the campus to the STEP beach gate while listening to these songs. There are new gates and new locks and new walls and fences to climb over but all I need to do is close my eyes and see what used to be.
9 comments:
Good that you mentioned the entire phrase there -"engineering students in government colleges" - we were just the ones with no ACs in our hostels and no more than one chaddi for the entire week.
Definitely, a walk down the memory lane.:)
Dhole, is that you???
Nice post Subbu.
wow too much nostalgia! i remember that portable cd writer. and your CDs and levee breaks on bhyawq's 5.1 speakers. and God, spitleaf- in a literally endless loop- i had enough spitleaf from your room for a lifetime. i think it was in 4th block, when your room was next to chikkadis, two away from mine.
and the last paragraph...
What memories machi! I remember you had these CDs from Shankar Prasad's brother labeled "From One Geek to Another". I also remember you looping "Take away my pain" in 7th Block during those troubled times.
Sir Sir. Very much.
And that's my bandook. :D
@shatry: yeah some trip i was on last evening.
@bhayak : those one geek to another were courtesy mukka. Remember the whole Articulate Geeks (A geek, an geek and the geek). You were LOG (lump-of-geek)
@dhole: Pistol se kuch nahin hoga bete. Hum goliyon se nahin, goliyan hum se darthi hain! Kya haal hai aapka?
Crap, then am pointing it in the wrong direction :P
Am good, what's up with you?
I am good - as far as a software engineer in Bangalore goes.
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