You see, these here, these are Roses, blow your head off, these will; this is Capricorn, a little lighter, but speedier, and these are dots, micro-dots. I've got purple and gray. The purple are from California; fuck if I know where the gray ones are from."

Ian has a shaved head, pierced nose, pierced ears and pierced upper lip. He is from Brixton, 6,000 miles from Goa, India, and he's talking fast, too fast, but he's got a lot to say and a vast amount of intoxicants to sell. He is sitting on a chai mat -- a straw ruglike tatami laid out by one of the many Indian vendors who make their living at Goan rave parties. They brew coffee and iron kettles of chai (tea) over charcoal grills and display trays of honey, cream and ghee (Indian cooking oil) pastries.

"These white doves are Es." Ian is gradually emptying the numerous pockets of his faded army pants and removing more and more drugs: tiny ziplock baggies of charis (unpressed hashish) and marijuana, pills, tabs, powders, bindles, bits of who knows what wrapped in foil. "I've also got Elephants, those are a little better, from Amsterdam. Now these pink ones, these are fucking brilliant, made in Japan, like Sony. Fuck you up good, these will. I've also got speed: sulphate; it's a little brownish 'cause it got wet. This here is nitrazepam methylmorphine. Have you ever tried ketamine?"

Nobody knows exactly when the first Goan rave took place. Where subcontinental hippy culture ended and rave culture began is hard to say, since the two subcultures share a disdain for the mainstream and a fondness for hallucinogens. According to Manfred, a Zurich DJ who has been doing raves in Goa for four years, the first true rave -- as opposed to the old-school beach party around a bonfire where everyone passed the chillum (Indian-style hash pipe), dropped acid and listened to Floyd -- was back in 1987, when the legendary DJ Rey "brought the Hindu god Shiva to the dance floor" by playing acid-house cassettes brought over from England.

Rave season in Goa lasts from September to March, and for much of that stretch there are parties every other night. The locales vary -- Ajuna, Disco Valley, Japora or Badam are the most frequent venues -- depending on which police official or civil servant can be bribed at the lowest price; baksheesh (bribery) is an Indian institution. The organizers are ad hoc consortiums of chai-mat vendors, bar owners, drug dealers and land-owners looking for a quick rupee. At every one of these affairs you see the same old Crown or Macintosh amplifiers and beat-up Ritchie mixing boards; the output, a meaty 5,000 watts, is usually doubled by BGW preamps. No one uses turntables. (If you've ever had to haul hundreds of pounds of vinyl to a club or a friend's house, then you understand the impracticality of lugging albums around the world, not to mention the excess baggage surcharges airlines will impose.) The DJs who work the Goa raves do so with cassette or digital audio tape. A trio of Sony Professional Walkmans or Sony or Aiwa digital audio tape players are the Goan equivalent to the twin direct-drive Technics turntables ubiquitous to most nightclubs in the Western world.

To find out where the parties are, after dinner -- and Goa has some of India's finest cuisine, a legacy of having been a Portuguese, rather than English, colony -- hit Tito's, Primrose or Hilltop, the three best local bars, and ask around. It's not a matter of knowing the right people, and there is very little of that hipper-than-thou vibe and logistical complexity that permeates so much of European and American rave culture. "We've all come from thousands of miles to party," says Jackie, a 21-year-old English girl. "We could have stayed at home if we wanted to be snobby and posh."

The parties don't really get going until 4, and it's around dawn that the energy levels, various ingested chemicals and rising sun make for a high-octane, good-karma cocktail that will surprise even the most skeptical, hardened, jaded club-goer. Good Goan raves last until 2 or 3 in the afternoon; great ones go on for four days.

---

"If you need anything, talk to me." Ian arranges his wares on the dirty tan mat as though he were dressing the window display at some kind of alternative Tiffany's, one where, instead of silver and diamonds, the velvet jewel boxes would contain tablets of White Doves or lines of speed. "I'm the man with everything, except smack. I don't handle smack. The locals do that. Did you see my tattoos?"

It is impossible to miss them. Two massive, insect-like creatures -- anthropomorphic praying mantises? The monsters from the movie "Aliens"? A "Godzilla" marketing tie-in? -- are coiled on each side of his spine. They cover his entire, otherwise pallid, back.

Ian's decided to become my best friend because somebody told him I was a writer and he is going to set me straight -- or get me bent as possible -- and make sure I get the real, neurological story, which he insists requires that I buy one of the items he has arrayed before me. The 500 American, English, French, German, Dutch, Australian, Japanese, Israeli and Indian kids dancing under the Day-Glo paint-splattered tarpaulin, sprawled on the chai mats and embracing on the sand are, apparently, already satisfied customers of Ian's; from a money pouch secured by a tiny brass and steel padlock (this mini-lock is the only thing about Ian I would call cute), he removes a wad of green and white 500 rupee (about $16) notes thick as a water-logged Tom Clancy paperback.

"Even after this is black marketed back into sterling," Ian grins and shows a gold tooth, "we're talking serious loot."

Four hours later, Ian dances over to where I'm quivering like a scared child to Syndicate's X Mood trance track. He's got something in his hand, another packet of white pills with Chinese characters imprinted on them.

He shouts over the heavy, heavy bass. "You ready to get seriously fucked up?"

By KARL TARO GREENFELD  

just a little of nothing

I turned back to this humble blog of mine which I have abandoned for so many months; in these testing times for me personally, I have no one to share my thoughts, no one would understand my anguish and my fear, my dis-pare and my heart aches; yet again I have to live another heart break and this came and went in a blink of an eye. For some reason I got too serious about the people around me who comes along and prayed on me; I thought I was the sitting giant waiting for my pray, but little that I know, I was being swallowed and the regurgitated back like a bad medicine.

They say there is no measure or limits for LOVE but yet something that I felt so strong about was to only fall apart for reason I'm not even sure off. I feel worthless in front of their eyes, I feel betrayed by their trust, their words; no matter what I do, things will not change when it's a one way traffic from the start; I should have seen this coming and I have only to blame my self for being blinded by lies, all of it was in front of me yet u choose not to see them.

Now I'm left alone at 4:30 in the morning typing this down; no one can see or feel; I only have you my blog; you should have warn me...

Funny Quotes from Heavy Metal Artist and Bands!!

lots of people think a song without singing is not a song, tell that to beethoven and hell kick your ass!
-EVH

were the kinda band where if we moved next door to you, your lawn would die!
-Lemmy

How about, "True enemies are better than false friends".
-Dave Mustaine

"...the..."
-Jason Becker

"If it smells like fish, eat it!"
-Dimebag

"Whats a chord"
-KoRn

My lyrics sound like a dying camel"
-Varg Vikernes

When winter comes, so does Christmas!

When winter comes, so does Christmas! It’s cold but it’s also fun. You can almost bite the feeling, a feeling of warmness, that sense of joy, just like an ant who has toiled long and hard just to keep itself warm and content during a very long winter ahead. I certainly feel a sense of accomplishment and although we have gone through good and bad times right through the year but the coming few weeks and months are days to feel happy and glee. Soon we will take out our thickest furs and ware our warmest shoes and although you have to brace the cold winter breeze, yet your soul is filled with the spirit of Christmas. A season enjoyed by all, irrespective of religion and believes, it unites our souls in one universal spirit and we share and make merry, we exchange gifts and we help out. As the saying goes “there is no place like home during Christmas”; many who are away from their beloved families will get ready and make plans to visit their near and dear ones. Families are occupied in prepping their house, stitching up new garments, planning for celebrations, young kids shout out with glee as they are almost done with their yearly school activities and it’s time for them to have fun to the fullest and not have to worry about studies for at least a couple of months. Every corner shop has signs and decorations of their fondness of the season; you can hear Christmas bells ringing, carol singing, market place booming with activity. People buying Christmas trees, Christmas cakes fills up the bakers shop e and although it’s cold outside, not snow or a cold breeze can stop people from coming out and visiting their families and dear ones. It’s a time for joy, a time to rejoice and a time to be happy, a time to forget all our differences, a time to put an end to any arguments and make peace with your fellow men and most importantly with one self.
I hope this winter brings out the best in all of us and although I will be missing not being home for Christmas this time around, I will surely remember everyone and what it’s like to be home for Christmas. So until Christmas, enjoy the winter and Happy Holidays.

Metallica in Bangalore

Finally the much anticipated event of the year came by; so me, my brother, a couple of his friends and two of my temporary roommates got ready and headed out to the show. The ever so popular, one of the most influential bands of the last two decades was here in town and was ready to rock the city off their ass. The iconic band “Metallica” who has been churning out classics and ever green numbers for so many years were not only awesome but they were encouraging. A band that has gone through a lot, with changing of band members, their personal struggle with addiction and their recent struggle of not being able to bring out superb albums as they have done in their twilight years, was not only superb on that day but was also all awe inspiring. To see them performing with such zeal and finesse at their age gave me the encouragement to not let go of what you truly believe in and keep working towards whatever your goals are.

Most of us have grown up listening to rock and metal bands of the 80’s; Metallica was always one of our favorites. I remember finding the album “And Justice for All” at my uncle’s cassette drawer for the first time, although I have heard Metallica before, at that time I was only a kid and I didn’t understand or knew the epicness of Metallica as a band and the “And Justice for All” as an album. For someone who have listened to Metallica they will surely know what I’m talking about; with its rawness and fast rhythm guitars and crazy double bass drums, one can only imagine the technicality involve during the artistic process while creating this album. This album still remains one of the best Heavy Metal albums of all time and also one of my favorite. A band that has brought out albums like “Master of Puppets” which is undoubtedly the most influential Heavy Metal albums of all time was not only blowing our minds off but was giving as the shivers with the set list they had in store for us that evening. No one was expecting them to be as good as they were and at least for me I had big doubts if they could even give me the same chills I experienced when I heard the album “and Justice for all” for the first time. They churned out classics after classics making the crowd go mad and the crowd only hoped that the night would last forever. It was evident in the way the band was performing; they were out for vengeance; for all the bad press they have received in the last few years. They played out of their skin and in the same time always lifting the crowd to different levels throughout the concert. James Hetfield in particular was super amazing; his voice sounded sober and sounded like he wanted to give his 101 % at any cost come what may. Maybe the cancellation of the show in Delhi had its effects on the band and they were out to please the crowd to their level best, which was only great for the crowd in Bangalore.



Although there was much confusion going into the concert due to the fact that the show which was supposed to happen in Delhi got cancelled, lots of people have flown from different parts of the country to witness this once in a lifetime event. Needless to say the fans in Bangalore were amazing; more than 20,000 fans turned out for the concert; a sea of black T-Shirts filled the concert arena and no rain or thunder could stop us from having a good time. Although we had mud all over our shoes and the grounds was slippery and wet, but this couldn’t stop us from head banging and singing along with the band.

We slipped we fell, we tripped on 5 inch of mud, our throat sore, back aching, neck hurting, but it was worth all the pain. People who never saw them this time must only hope for a better one next time, but I can only say that the first show will always be remembered and one of the best concerts I have attended till date. Kudos to Metallica and thanks for a killer show; and ending up in the words of Chuck Schuldiner – “ support music not rumors” & “let the metal flow”.

Cheers.

Festival of lights and labor!

It’s the festival of lights here in our beloved country of ours called India; fire crackers bursting everywhere, scaring off the poor dogs on the street. Although I love fireworks displays, they all look grand and all awe inspiring to me; but we shun our self from realizing that there are children in India who toiled day and night in the hundreds of these firework industry just to earn their whatever daily means they can. It is estimated that 135,000 children work in the Indian fireworks Industry and the town of Sivakasi in South India is suppose to be the capital of child labor in fireworks manufacturing sector.

Most of us won’t see a stop on child labor, not at least in the near future. With inflation in every sector of the market and fuel price surging, we can only see small scale industries like the fire work industry which comprises of mostly medium size and cottage industry sorting out for cheap labor and sadly children are the victims of this vicious cycle.

Unless the consumers in India stop buying these crackers etc. we can only hope and pray that these poor children are at least provided safe and healthy conditions to work, which is not the case when it comes to the firework industry; the harmful effects of the various type of chemicals which are used in these fireworks have only been debated in various forums and media but not really looked into or even educate these children on the seriousness of their effects.

India as a nation in its 64th year of Independence has only seen issues such as child labor spiraling backwards and eradicating this problem now is not only a government matter but an issue that each and every individual should look into and think seriously of how we can eradicate this problem. It would require a huge consensus between various levels of society and a co-operation from each one of us; if we want to see the fruit of our labor trickle down to the very bottom end of the society we need to remain corrupt free, we need to suppress oppression whenever it tries to show its ugly head and not let greed and mere believes that loud noises can chase off the evil that men do.

2002 RIOTS and present day Saints.

We are at the 9th and a half years post the riots of 2002 and the resulting communal differences in Gujarat which left indelible scars in the minds and hearts of a majority of the Muslim community; few would want to re-collect the horror they witness and the pain they had gone through. Like a bad medicine, one has to swallow it all up and hope that such atrocities should never ever happen again and not even in their wildest dreams ever want to go through such horror.

Death came on swift wings for a whole lot of unfortunate souls; the tyranny of a system which failed to embrace it’s people when they needed it the most; the sheer audacity of man himself to brutally butcher, hack and murder innocent men, women and children. One would say, we should leave these memories behind and move on; it might be easier for an outsider like me who never witness the atrocities which happened in those fateful couple of months and to just let go and carry on with my life; however this is not the same with the so many who have actually lost their near and dear ones and in some cases a whole generation has been wiped out. These evil men had no second thoughts and without any remorse headed out to seek and spill blood and spilled blood they did. A system that propagated hatred among deferent level of society, leaders who gave a blind eye to the wrong doers and at times even being forerunners of the campaign itself.

History can only outline these facts but the real truth is still yet to be unearthed. A few men are supposedly being hailed as great men and being dubbed saints and men who are bringing changes and development to the country and Gujarat as a whole; these men presently are going on “yatras” and the so called “sadbhavana” (Goodwill Fast) are also the very men who where the holder of law during the riots .

We can only speak so much about the consequences that innocent people faced after those dreaded days. Man can only question why it happened but the ultimate judgment will surely come; if not by this world but surely by God.