The Assam Regiment...

My father was in the Assam Regiment and I stumbled across a reference to them as part of the UN forces in Lebanon:

The Assam Regiment's 15th Battalion is India's contribution to the United Nations' peacekeeping force along the Israeli border -- Israel's listening posts were stitched across the brown snows of Golan high above us -- and its soldiers, from the seven northeastern states of India, have turned out to be among the most popular of U.N. units for two simple reasons.They help with much of the veterinary work among the poor farmers and -- shades, here, I suppose, of the new high-tech city of Hyderabad -- they repair all the computers in local schools.

More in this article by Robert Fisk here. That's a great compliment from a war correspondent who's seen many, many armies from up close. So, to all the rhinos doing a great job in India and overseas: Tagra Raho!

(It so happens that I am currently reading Fisk’s disturbing book, The Great War for Civilisation about which more a bit later.)

Yoga vs. Kung Fu

When people think about India v/s China, they rarely look at it this way!

Well the Kung Fu guys won but only by cheating. Wonder why they are speaking French though...

Related posts: More on the Wagah ritual, The face off at Wagah

Pink Floyd lives (almost)

I went to see a show yesterday called The Pink Floyd Experience. This is a New Zealand mob of 9 musicians and singers who play the music of Pink Floyd in a three hour concert. They actually try to do more than play the music, they also try to recreate some of the imagery and theatrics associated with PF in their concerts and films esp. ‘The Wall’.

I love the music of PF. But why did I not enjoy anything else about the concert? to me it seemed that here was something going on under false pretences. They were playing the music and had appropriated the imagery of the great PF but it was obvious that they were NOT PF. The music was recreated almost note-perfect but again the discordant note was that they were not PF! If they had been playing covers of PF music- their versions- then I may not have felt this dissonance; this would have been another band interpreting the music and playing it in their distinctive way. As it happened it sort of felt like someone peddling me plastic imitations of my favourite flowers.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved the music. These were very competent musicians, technically. They also tried to stretch the show by incorporating the ‘experience’ being skits of people on the verge of insanity and also the whole fascist imagery from ‘The Wall’, marching hammers and all. But they never once mentioned or paid homage to the band they were making their living off! Not even to mention Syd Barrett who died recently. It was almost as if they were embarrassed to draw attention to the fact that they were not the real thing.

I guess these are weaknesses for all ‘replica’ shows. There is a replica band for Abba, who were wildly popular in Australia and of course there are lots of Elvis impersonators, so this may be a trend. For me though, it is clear that I will be watching videos of the real band (on a large screen and the music turned up) rather than going to another of these shows.

Related post: An air guitarist’s dream!

The Good Ol’ days..

Wouldn't this be a great way to celebrate the 'good ol' days':

Auwwa, auwwa to you, Bang Bang!

Horn OK Please

Here’s a lovely clay animation of a Bombay taxi driver’s day. He’s working hard to save money to buy an air-condtioned taxi...

Description: "HORN OK PLEASE" is a film directly inspired by director Joel Simon´s journey in the heat and frenzy of Mumbai, India. It follows a monotonous day in the life of an Indian taxi driver whose goal is to earn enough rupees to buy the air-conditioned taxi of his dreams... The film was made over a 10 month period by Irish and Indian animators and Joel simon, a Belgian director. It´s a combination of claymation and hand drawn backgrounds. Here´s some of the awards it has won: 24 FPS 2006; New Delhi, India – Best Animation Studio Film Award FICCI BAF Awards 2006; Mumbai, India – Best Animated Short ECU Festival 2006; Paris, France – Best Editing + Best Animated Short Belfast Film Festival 2006; Northern Ireland – Special Commendation Cine Jeunes de L’Aisne 2006; France – Best Animated Film Kerry Film Festival 2006 – Best Animation

Must see!

An air guitarist’s dream!

All those skills learned playing air guitar can be put to use now! A scientist in the Australian government organisation CSIRO has demonstrated a shirt that has sensors that respond to the motion of the arms, to play music!

See the videos here and here.

CSIRO Research engineer Dr Richard Helmer is interviewed about the wearable guitar which works by recognising and interpreting arm movements and relaying this wirelessly to a computer for audio generation. It then shows him demonstrating it.

Now if they could only get him to look as if he was enjoying himself!

More on the Wagah ritual

Apparently the BSF has decided it will do away with it!

"What was performed earlier was not the correct drill but a kind of drama enacted on both sides of the border," said IG, frontier, Arvind Ranjan, while justifying the toned-down drill.

He said various body movements, including vigorous shaking of head while gazing in the eyes of jawans of the opposite country were unwarranted movements which had no place in the routine drill.

Ranjan said since both countries were trying to a forge friendly relationship, they decided to do away with these 'provocative' gestures.

A video of the ritual from Michael Palin is at YouTube

Related post: The face off at Wagah