The Jam of 29th Dec--- Good Byee 2008

The jam of 29th Dec--- GOODBYEE 2008

I am back and so was the jam ---WITH A BANG-- we do that usually right hehe ,
The jam was there although i had to vanish for a lil while..apologies please.... and yes i was late as my usual (see friends i confess here publicly)but i take here to fill in the space which i was missing for so long....

Well for all curious or not so curious of where i vanished leaving my MFM, let me share a piece of my Bon Voyage coz it represented one big world community to me like MFM... its the place called Auroville near Pondicherry--where some zesty people had taken up to convert a barren land into a forest in some 30 years ,;where humanity thinks of living in harmony, not only with the people but with nature;truly an ideal city in the making -- yeah if all of them you just think work selflessly towards the goal; where you can just serve on in any restaurant or coffee bar, where you can build building with your own hands, where the mornings start with the chirping of the birds and the night dawns across the Bay of Bengal---- sounds picturesque right,, its a heavenly experience-- you can go biking on muddy roads and return to watch a community movie at the town hall, you can go to a place called Sadhana forest and sit down with 1000 other people who come from not only different cities but countries , where people play music without understanding the language , but in solace with one language of world and thats music...... where i conclude that our language , cast , creed ,religion , or country are no barriers to understand Humanity but its just the space and respect we must give to each other and to the ecosystem we live in , to be thankful to everything so beautiful that is around us ... i miss Auroville but as for how some of our MFM participants are taking the spirit ahead , far and wide, i return back to MFM ,carrying all the good spirits with me and preaching the goodwill that auroville taught me........

Back to "Aamchi Mumbai and Hamra MFM"-----
Gearing up to the end of yet another year and am not repeating how the jam went this sunday -- It was the usual Big Bang with smiles and cheers of audiences, well lets not say the audience but the participants, its one community where everyone wants to speak, sing and be there.. it feels good and satisfying when people tell us we come here every sunday to listen to you, or when they stand up , let go their fears and tell us" i dont know to sing but could you all sing this song" .... yeah might be they don realize sometimes we ,especially me ,turn out to be the bad singers too ... but the whole point lies in to let your voice , to raise yourself to do what you had like to... it feels good and satisfying when people wanna sing a vande mataram or dedicate a song to their loved ones, it feels good when people from all quarters want to sit down at one common platform to appreciate humanity ,it feels good when people just want to relax and forget all differences and sing along in one voice,, it really feels good to see Music savoured with Meaning.....

so our hearts bind strong to the movement, to the meaning of it, so every sunday binds us all to come there from all walks of Life and let our spirits free, ........

no matter how many jams some of us may miss, no matter how many blogs don reach to you ,, no matter if you have been with us just for one small moment,, but my people i am sure MFM is just one Big Bang Movement now , the spirit of which every soul touched by it takes along...

With the Dawn of 2008 where we stand united again as one community , one people, one Humanity , Let almighty bless us alone to spread cheers and smiles ,not just across nations but across the globe.......

From all of us here on MFM-- all those present,-Pulin, Gauri, Kailash,Gajendra,Bharti,Ishant, Akshay,Rohit, Ashwini,Vrinda,absentees thats Tarun( we really really miss his djembe)Suraj, Vinay,Chintan, late comers(like me ofcourse), all in the family and the lovely people who just join us every sundays ......- A LOVELY GOODBYE TO 2008 AND WE ALL WELCOME 2009 WITH NEW HOPES , NEW DREAMS BUT SAME GOODWILL FOR ALL........

MONIKA VANISHING HERE AGAIN WITH A BANG -- HOLD ON ONLY FROM THE BLOG OR U SHALL BE READING THIS PAGE FOR THE WHOLE DAY...

Snapping down the pictures of the jam that i simply dint describe, but you read it on the faces of evryone involved... right..

our lovely and lively audience yet to get energized by the tunes...

in a row , our girl power has been increasing with Ashwini, Vrinda , Bharti and our krishna just playing the right tones with guitar hehe

Gajendra aka gajjju (stress the j's ) and ishant at their best, while kailash plays his usual silent these days and me thats monika and gauri are just impressed hmmm

our guitarists, Gajju, Pulin and Ishant in sync as Akshay is all smiles.......see we do spread cheers haha

finally our lovely Toddler, sorry dont know the name , but just becoz she requested us the song "aditi" ,yeah in her not so refined language we called her aditi...

hmm lets say MFM is growing from toddlers to kids ,, well he reminded me of harry potter and he just wantd to " rock on" tana nanana

and so is MFM lapped amongst families, cute aditi is all ears to us ;)

after a long break i had a lot to share with the audience.....

since we dint have the group picture, this one is the one with maximum members ,so lets end with it...

no am not gloomy , am just lost , well for a change am serious, appreciate that... hehe

The Jam of the 7th December!

The Jam of the 7th of december, 08


In this jam I had left at the last moment and I had waited for Amar and he obliged by coming, listening to my pleading voice. Si we have a participant returning to the jam after almost and year!!! we both sat in the auto and then are on our way, Gauri is already there and is making panic calls that she is all alone at the jam location. So we rush it. Then when we get there Gauri is nowhere to be found! While Amar calls and I take the guitar out and start to warm up with the guitar to look forward to boring people in the session that shall follow. Then we are pleeeeased to find Gajju and Kailash coming in! what a pleasant surprise! So Gajju starts with the song "Tum ho tau Gaata hai Dil" and I fele that maybe everyone is singing for me, but soon my heart breaks when I find out it is not so!

Amar waits patiently in the time being, holding the leashes of the horses of his crazy energy! soon I sing the old and rusty number "write about it " by lynyrd skynyrd and feel satisfied having sung it! Then Amar starts and we warm up to pacing up the whole Jam in our usual manner, taking each "meaningful" song and then pacing it up so that everyone is clapping and cheering and in tears of madness! Everyone feels great having let out all the excess energy that we carry with us, negative thoughts etc. etc.

so the jam proceeds on, There is a lady whose Birthday is there and Amar becomes the Master pf ceremonies and gets everyone to cheer on the 'auspicious' occasion of her birthday! he sings a nice song on the occasion and we follow.

we also sing some real meaningful songs, Wande mataram, Dil se, Kar chale hum fida jaano tan, which make everyone feel and connect to the sad events which are going on these days. Then I, as usual unable to hold myself, go out and announce that music for meaning is our one and a half hear old platform for us unpracticed, unorganized musicians to get together and say out what we want to say about all that we feel is there in the society as there should not be, through the old and trusty and entertaining medium of music to the people, creating a little platform where we can express ourselves, the inner voices of our souls and let others also do so, where none judges no one and we all welcome any sort of thought and input to the platform. The I also took the opportunity to speak about all the terrorism that is going on these days, and that, fighting and all are just not solutions to wrongs done to one. The answer lies in each one of reflecting on how we lead our lives, and finding peace within. I also took the opportunity to speak about the terrorism that the smart politicians do , without any weapons, by playing games of brainwashing simple people into believing that they must hate the other religion, so on and so forth.

Also Notable is when Amar gets everyone to stand up and say prayers for the souls which lost their lives in defending us against the terrorist attacks, so that we can peacefully stand here and play. That is a moment of great realization and touches me deeply, and Im sure each one us as well!

There are many song requests, some out of line from the theme of peace and unity etc, but we entertain then as well, not making the whole jam too focused on one single issue. so around nine thirty , Amar and I pack up to leave, While Gajju, Gauri and the other guys continue to play on for a while. Gajju's guitaring is great.

All in all, the jam is good. Although personally I feel somewhere we loose our focus on on vision and mission of creating and articulating peace and harmony and unity on this platform, it still is good in these ways:

It gets us out of homes, together at a place where we express ourselves, both artistically and spiritually and make happiness for ourselves and well as for others, at no expense of any resource other than our hoarse (After the jam) voices and a broken string or two, and it gets us to meet people who have similar intentions and thoughts and creates a sense of purpose for all of us. It surely does creates happiness for the people who come there, many come week after week and become 'regulars'! This is how all of us got together!

Although, I reflect and it is apparent to me that before MFM, could turn into a movement, it was and is really much less than that. From my experiences now, it becomes apparent to me that movement, to be really a movement, gets people, involves them activities and such which makes a significant , increasing and positive change in each individuals lives. Ill share more later, but these thoughts for now.

Pulin, Tarun, Kailash, Gauri, Gajendra, Amar and me are among the jam makers, Chintan and Monika are missed! Where's Vinay? He is in Allahabad!

So that was that for this jam! The first jam I get to attend after coming from Vrindavana!

Cheers and A Merry Christmas and a Happy New coming year!

The Jam of 9th November, 2008 : Back to Basics

Alright everyone,
The blog copy-writer got another right to publish this Sunday essay here in an attempt to clear the lag in publishing the articles.

Up came the Sunday and we were off to the venue usuale where we jam i.e. The bandstand amphitheatre. Chintan And Devesh were the first ones to reach the venue following in the regulars Ali, Abu, Shadab and Pradeep who did turned up and they did their bit by listening to the songs and humming to the tunes like disciplined boys.
The jam started quite well. The charm and spirit was brought in true forms by singing some of the really heart-rendering numbers.

There were many onlookers and participants who sang in chorus, cheered the band and requested many songs. People approached us with dedications and sing alongs, The audience was swinging in moods with piped tunes.
Also our honest and humble regulars Ali and Shadab were present pelting out high energy numbers.
They came later - Pulin, Tarun, Kailash, Bharti and Ishant, Guitarists and percussionists all in their usual high energies ushering in the jam.
Even the crowd was full of people from from all walks of life, who came to enjoy the sunset and gentle breeze at the Bandstand.

At a point of time it seemed that the jam was all low energy, but suddenly a guy from nowhere sprang uplike a gladiator, snatching the guitar from guitar lords and started fusiling some good vintage melodies. Well, back to back came in strummed melodies of Kishore Kumar songs and the audience including the jammers was awed by the talent of the guy. This guy ( name I forgot) single-handedly took the jam in another horizon.
Pulin, Kailash, Devesh, Ishant stroked their Guitars -on the rocks only to add the beauty and serenity of the bandstand amphitheatre. Tarun was on Djembe playing magic with his fingers and neither Chintan stayed back in creating phenomenal rhythms with his percussion.

But even this time no pics for display …. Sorry for the Inconvience caused but can`t be helped. Missing a lot of our friends who didn`t turn up for the jam well atleast we hope to see them in the upcoming jam.

Thus another jam came to an end with the end of evening and I sign off like Betaal from the shoulders of Vikram.. eeeehehhehehehehehhehehe
This is Chintz a.ka. Chintan saying goodbye to all hope to meet you in near future…..

The Musical Harmony : The Jam of 2nd November, 2008

Hello to all readers,
The B-Log Scribbler is back with some Back – Log. Oh Gosh! When was the last article written on this page? Well whatever! Let it be. Well I’m gonna narrate another Sunday essay, but this time with some added spice. The jam could have been usual, but not this time. We had some new recruits along with our longtime patrons.

The main attractions this time were guitarists from the popular Hindi rock band called “8th Note” – Ashutosh and Mangesh. The 8th Note is a soft rock band with good originally composed songs and hit singles featured in Native Noise online Album. Again another good guitarist joined in for the jam, Devesh from the band Urban Nomads. To this Guitaring trio, in came Chintan – the Rhythm Breaker with his Duff. The musical quadrature thus formed started pelting music soon.

The jam kick started of on a good feel with some meaningful songs oozing out from hearts of Ashutosh and Mangesh. They sang their originals and some really good songs from bollywood and other artists. In came the singing brigade comprising Ali, Abu, Shadab and friends. They swayed their throats with music played alongside.
The Music and songs were going on and the musical evening was star-studded with some friends ushering in and completing the Orchestra. Pulin and Ishant, the Guitaring Duo came in with fresh input of synergy and music. The guitarists were on strumming high and fingering the most melodious tunes out their respective guitars. Then joined the Rhythm Maestro- Tarun with his Djembe, playing the rhythms and patterns on his African instrument. Kailash, too came to fill in.

The audience was awed by the music and the natural display that the seashore brought with the downing sun. In came the requests for songs and melodies to be heard till the last note.
Well throughout the evening we had cheering crowd and some of our regular jammers turning up for the music and fun. We did miss Gauri, Gajendra, Monika, Suraj and many others who are a part and parcel for Music for Meaning and Cause.
And Sorry Guys for a technical problem due to which no pics are here on display.....
(Somebody please bring a camera next time).................
Hope to see them in the next jam. This is Chintz a.k.a Chintan signing off - a goodbye for now until I bring in another Sunday essay. Till then adios

The Janmashtami Jam of 24th August : Back in the Mood

Greetings to all and a very Belated Happy Janmashtami ...., though its time to wish Happy ganesh Chaturthi as well in advance.
DEAR READERS, I sincerely apologise the delay from my side to upload this text ... actually i don`t want to give any excuse but things were not going well with me ....

Anyways , this was going to be just another sunday, i thought ----- but what it turned out to be - an 'Unforgettable Musical Evening' spent amidst favouring weather and good music ... was just due to Kailash, Gajendra, Pulin, and their friends who came along with them to support the Musical evening and the Blessings of Lord Krishna. Though they were a bit late , but no complaints because they really brought the 'High energy' in the jam.

Early at 6.30p.m , we ( i and my Brother Monil ) reached the amphitheatre where we met a common friend ( sorry i forgot his name again ) - who is frequent supporter of MFM. Well then in came the 'Singing Brigade' - Shadab and Abu followed by Ali --- who kickstarted the band with a low key. Well all the efforts were futile since only the bings and bangs of duff can`t create meaningful melodies. Then came in the 'The Great Guitar Saviours' - Pulin, Gajendra, and his friend , and the trio strummed and strummed till their guitars started pelting out Melody waves soothing to the ears of nearby onlookers and attracting huge sum of crowds. Even Kailash didn`t
stayed back in playing Guitar riffs and playing awesome songs.

The Harmony began and it did wonders with the hearts of many who came in listening to tunes of warmth and love. The songs spread the message of love and peace among the listeners and they got deeply connected with the sway of melody. Whole heartedly, the audience melted in the crisp environment created by the music played. The requests came in from - Anika and Asgar ( a lovely couple ), Samir, Arisha, Megha, ShreeGanesh, Rakesh, Anita, Nazneen and her mother Mr. and Mrs. Joshi and many others (well sorry i don`t remeber all the names) . Here, i would like to mention a group of friends who call themselves - 'SERVER' -may be this is what they meant to say.... who supported us throughout the jam ...i sincerely look upon them that such guys do come again to lend their valuable support to the movement.

All ages, all creeds, all strata of society filled the amphitheatre in huge numbers - relieved their minds out of stress and strangulation that they had been all through the week.


now well its time for Snaps..
well this this time fortunately we managed to take pictures of the scene.......
Thanks to Yashwant Singh and his efforts to bring 'limelight' on us .....
here it goes

..

thats Pradeep on left side
clockwise on Guitars Kailash, Gajju, Pulin and gajju`s friend

( i forgot his name)

well here is the hearty crowd

the master is full on teaching music with yashwant onlooking them

Shadab ( in white) imitating Dev Anand , Monil (in red ) wondering why is pulin shying away

All the Smiles forever !!!

Hope to see the same serenity in all jams lets bring ourselves together . this is Chintz a.k.a Chintan signing off for now .. just to be back again CYA. TC.

The Jam of 17th August : The Musical Jam Without its Jammers.

Hello people,
Your blog scribbler is at your service again. Actually while writing to this post … I was listening to a very good song composed by Strings, which holds meaning today for all of us. Maybe people with intellect might understand the hidden meaning but ironically, I did not. The song of few lines goes like this:

“Mil gaya woh....
jo chura ke…. Hai ...
meri akho se neendiya.....
le gaya tha ………

dur ek gao hai ...........
waha thandi chao hai........
bahti nadiya hai ..........
jaana hai nadiya ke paar.....
kare mera intezar .......
mera bichda yaar …..”

well well well …
the Sunday comes again … and the MFM is back with a bang at this weekend. This time, the punctual duo - Suraj and Vinay stroked their Guitars -on the rocks a bit earlier than usual but only to add the beauty and serenity of the bandstand amphitheatre. The jam started quite well with Suraj and Vinay singing in their usual vibrato and falsettos. Then the regulars Ali and Pradeep did turned up and they did their bit by listening to the songs and humming to the tunes like disciplined boys. The ‘Mulundkars Deadly Duo’ – Yash and Chintan did turn up excessively late, but only to add the most awaited spice in the jam. Yash started making ‘Gaussian Noise’ with his guitar and neither Chintan stayed back in creating phenomenal rhythms with his percussion.

Among the onlookers, was the Sukhwinder Singh the “Papaji” who was back with the same energy level that he showed up at the last Sunday jam. He sang ‘Lal meri pat’- with the best vocal chords that he can. In addition, some regulars were seen cheering the band ( the names I do not know). Vinay -the guest of honor –also did turn up(After a long break ) with dangerously melodic medleys and compositions to which the audience gave a hearty applause. The jam was in usual high spirit .

Ive realized that being there is always good..it benefits no one else but oneself. Jamming out there by the sea side is a good for all medicine!
So lets hit the rocks with our music and hope to see all of us with a fresh zeal and enthusiasm.
This is Chintz a.k.a Chintan signing out for now ..... just to be back with a new sunday review next time ....

The Friendship Day Jam of 3rd August : The Musical Evening that was 'Engineered' to perfection.

Happy Friendship Week to all of u !!!!!
Well a missed Sunday and a 2-week long desperation for jamming, lead 2 engineering students to rush towards streets of bandra , that’s Chintan and Yash. ( We are recently working on taking MFM jam spirits across from Bandra to Mulund Town. Hitherto we had random jams in Mulund. So interested people are welcome to carry this forward. )

Nevertheless, if the jammers are engineers, What do u expect? Even the crowd was full with aspiring engineers, doctors and people from from all walks of life, who came to enjoy the sunset and gentle breeze at the Bandstand. We were just trying to play 'on the rocks' initially but were hesitant whether to continue the ‘Musical Session’ or not …. As it seemed that the rain will start any moment then. But thanks to the rain gods , they showered no rain but only mercy and the sky was made clear after a little drizzling here and there. We made up our mind to continue the musical session. Yash - ‘The Guitar Hero’ started tuning his guitar, playing some good chord progression. Chintan started ‘The BANG BANG’ theory with snare drums and duff. The only listeners at that time were ‘The Bubbly Trio’ – a feminine group of three young engineers – Poonam, Asiha, and Sameera, came to to enjoy the jam but were disappointed by the sparse presence of MFM Rockers. “Never mind at least we are here” was our say….

We started of with some cool numbers like ‘Fake tales of Sanfrancisco’ and ‘Wonderwall’ sang by Yash -which they enjoyed much to their heart. Now- the session that had started on a low key affair, was centre of attraction for many and in came the onlookers in huge numbers…… As more enthusiasts came in we started off with hindi numbers like ‘Dil haarey, anjaane and rubaru ‘.
WE introduced ourselves and the concept of MFM to the people around us and had a brief coversation with them. Suddenly, a sikh guy named Sukhwinder Singh ( true to his name ) popped up from nowhere and requested that he wants to sing some Punjabi sufi and folk numbers. He brought the charm and spirit in true forms by singing some of the really heart-rendering numbers with full explanation of the lyrics that he sang… It was awesome to be in his company. Also our honest and humble regulars Ali and Shadab were present pelting out high energy numbers. They were in there usual sing-song-ding-dong.

We, here at MFM, come together for the sole purpose of bringing happiness and peace to the hearts who listen to our songs. And we feel a tinge of delight when we accomplish that task. Such was the experience when we touched the heart of Samir with our song “ Kal ho na ho” - title track. He turned up to be real life Shahrukh Khan and enjoyed the song whole heartedly and such was his exit – arms fully stretched and walking melancholy away. And yes we feel that we made atleast one person happy. But there are more others to come.

There were many onlookers and participants who sang in chorus, cheered the band and requested many songs. As it was the eve of friendship day, many a group of friends approached us with dedications and sing alongs, One such group was a pack of girls who were aspiring doctors from Nair medical college – constantly supporting us. The session ended with Rajesh and Akash requesting ‘ Allah ke bande’ – the last song that concluded the jam…
The jam was high and so were our spirits.
But we missed Suraj- our full time punter, Tarun, Pulin - who made the vanishing trick at the venue, All time supporters Monica, Gauri, Bharti and the strummers Kailash, Aditya, Gajendra na last but not the least Vinay.
Come on guys ... lets hope to see each other on coming sunday...
This is Chintz a.k.a Chintan saying "sayonara" and will be back with a new happening sunday essay ..

P.S. : Sorry folks - for the late post and no pics this time , again .....

20th July, NAVBHARAT TIMES COVER THE JAM

I was in very high spirits after the amazing jam we had last sunday. To every action there is a reaction ans after every high comes a low. But realx guys it wasn't the same low as that of 6th July which made us all realise how we were straying from the true purpose of this jam. It was just that most of the members were coincidentally absent this sunday. We missed G.G., Vikas, Vipul, Chanakya and many others who were all very mysteriously absent this time. But there was Nidhi, Ravish, Haider and Manav.
And to our surprise there were two guys form THE NAVBHARAT TIMES waiting for us to cover and study the jam. So our efforts are being recognised and appreciated and we have just started. The shaping up of the jam seems to be going great guns and the idea is spreading like a wild fire here. This feeling of watching your dream unfold into the real world is simply inexplicable. And now this media coverage will spread the jam spirit further.
The people coming to SRS now recognise us and a few actually come over every sunday to expand this ever growing jam band as Suraj bhaiya says. Hats off to all the people who have made this little dream unravel day by day into reality. We all have made it possible together and lets go stronger, faster and higher now.
We started the jams with a flurry of songs mixing up the popular songs with the meaningful ones and enjoying, entertaining as well as spreading good messages through music and sharing our voices. We people were few this time and so the volume level was low. The energy levels though were high. Nidhi and me, we had to keep our voices high and worked very hard as there were few who were sharing voices with us. But that just didn't seem to bother us at all and we carried on relentlessly for about two hours and the media guys were busy capturing the action as well.
I can always feel a force with me now which lets me express myself unabashedly. Well its all about taking an initiation and taking the lead when the people around aren't in a state of mind when they can express themselves and join the cause with liberty.
That is when we should take a lead and then our energy reaches the people around and they then participate more freely then. the result is a great chemistry that gets set up between all the people involved in the jam. This energy reaches the ones around who observe the jam and wish to join it but are hesitant and helps in breaking the shackles that stop them from participating.
No pics this time all our photographers were absent but hey the pics landed up in the NAVBHARAT TIMES.
Signing off.........RAM RAM

The Jam of 20th July : Little High - Little Low - Little Hay - Little HO !

Greetings to all ....
Well the precious Sunday arrived again, and we were back heading towards streets of Bandra. The fresh air and wavy winds, the sea-sight and rocky bed pulls us every sunday there in the lap of mother nature - to enjoy every moment and kindle the joy in our hearts.
Actually, this sunday - a meeting with Mr. Kekoo Gandhi was organized - so that Mr. Gandhi can give us his valuable vision, guidance and thoughts on carrying our activities ahead and have a light chat with all core members. But only Suraj managed to make it. He must have had a hearty chat with Mr. Gandhi sharing his own views about MFM. ( sorry Suraj - none of us were able to come ).

Then after that Suraj and Pradeep headed towards bandstand to begin the jam. In came and join Shadab (a regular of MFM) and Abu (his friend) he brought along. Both were in their high energies singing every song with almost correct lyrics. The jam kickstarted with some cool numbers sung by Suraj which was followed by introduction of the band to the masses. Suraj explained the motto and vision of MFM to keenly hearing crowd. There were many supporting persons - like a group of girls - who were screaming and cheering Suraj on their top of their voices. Then came Chintan followed by Tarun and Kailash. There were song requests coming in from all. Then suddenly from nowhere - a guy named Pritam came up with a request to play some cool numbers to play on guitar. He was awesome as he sang along and played good riffs on guitar. He added spice in the jam and went on playing nice songs ahead. Pradeep _the art-o-maniac ... was on high this time - he actually persuaded the crowd with his antics to cheer and clap with the songs. In absence of the high energy Cheer-leading girls Monica andGauri, Pradeep was on the sole task of encouraging the mass. Even Kailash was in high spirits. He sang and played the single 'PAPA KEHTE HAIN' - and made the crowd dance to his tunes.

The audience was in good ambience and responded well. A girl from the mass called Anita came up with the request of a song but could not sing it. Nevertheless she was full of energy and opted for playing the Jambe. There were many others who joined in and I can`t remember all the names. Nowadays, since the ever-growing band has been lime-lighted in the media sector - every now and then - MFM activities are now highlighted in every media format- some or the other.
This Sunday, a guy from TIME OUT magazine named Amit turned up. He had a Brief Chat with Suraj and other Members.

After the jam Suraj met with a guy called Satish ( if I remember well ) who was well spiritually inclined. Suraj had a hearty long chat with him and shared his views. Satish infact had sound knowledge of leading a spiritual life and narrated some great anecdotes from Ramayana and Mahabharata... It was great listening to his 'GYANA' which i term it as 'TATTVA GYANA' - the eternal knowledge. Suraj was awed and interested in his thoughts. He was much engrossed.

Well troughout the jam we missed our friends Vinay, Pulin, Gauri, Aditya, Monica, Gajendra, Ali, and many others who are regulars with the jam.
Hope to see them on the upcoming sunday .. this is Chintz a.k.a chintan signing off..

P.S. : sorry this time again there are no pics of jam. Due to some technicalities the pics could not be retrieved. Inconvenience caused is regretted.

6th July, I got to overcome the blues

The junoonis were ready for the third trip to MFM JAMnagar. Finally Gaurav Anand joined in this time over and Ravish(a college junior and a guitar student) too came over for the jam. Remember Gautam, the 15 year old guitar maestro, he had introduced me to a guy Mukund some time ago. Mukund too came alongwith a friend Puneet and both played really nicely throughout the jam. Some students namely Varsha, Asheesh, Gaurav(baut gaurav hain yaar), Chanakya(the regular boy). And is baar to Poonam didi ne bhi join kiya. She is the one who made possible the first jam(the one in G.P.W., Faridabad). She is a huge supporter and motivator for us, so simple and yet so strong.
The area around the fountains was all wet so we decided to jam inside the mall, the same spot where we jammed last sunday. Vipul, Ravish, Mukund and yours truly began playing with the rest of the junoonis keeping enery levels high alongwith us. We played "Kabhi Kabhi", "Laree Chooti", "Sajni", "Dooba Dooba" and may other nice numbers. Puneet was inintially reluctant but then the Junoon made him give up his hesitation and he took the Six String and played with vigour(A demo of power of music that was).
The crowd response seemed pretty weak this time but why were we so concerned about it. We should have carried on keeping in mind the purpose of the JAM. Why did we want to pull people towards us? Why weren't we letting the cause act as the bridge between crowd and us, and were instead ourselves acting as the show-stoppers and the crowd-pullers? The previous two jams were all about music and recreation but still that was the start and now its the time to give shape to the VISION. The first two jams it didn't hurt but this time it hurt as at least i felt as if i was a showpiece meant to just attract people. The purpose of the jam is strong enough a force to bring people together.
The energies in the jam were high but that purpose was missing and that was when i felt those BLUES. Although we did come across a guy, Arun who loved this activity and spoke heartfelt words for us. He called up his mother on the phone and we sang "Maa" for her over the phone. He was delighted. That moment really lit me up. That was the moment i felt "Jo hota hai ache ke liye hi hota hai". So I got a little boost. But, then the jam was interrupted by a Mall Official who was acting on someone's complaint. Then again the same guy, Arun stepped in to defend the jam. That was really great of him and such are the moments that reinforce one's faith during difficult times. Infact, we were allowed to Jam again. But, it was almost the time to leave so we packed up and decided to move and return with some heavier doses of Junoon. That was a sign from heavens for me to set our ACT straight. And who doesn't have a bad day in the office some time? So I decided that next time over it'll be more than just recreation and fun.
Time for some Pics

Mukund And Powerhouse(Nidhi)

Gaurav Anand(ek photo mein akela yeh hi aata hai tabhi single photos hi dikhenge iski)

Asheesh(left mein so raha hai) , Gaurav and Gaurav(G.G.)
gaurav hi gaurav hai yahan par to

G.G. and Me

13th July: The highest energy Jam that was b'RAIN WASHED' by rain gods

After the 'HIT RADIO SHOW' at studio, Radiomirchi 98.3FM with RJ Sharanya .., we packed our bags and were off to Bandstand. We were quite a bit early this time. With Suraj, Pulin, Kailash, Monika, Gauri, Tarun, Chintan and last but not the least Aditya turned up for the jam right away after performing live at the "Radiomirchi jam" .

Well we started off with some very good songs like 'Kabhi Kabhi aditi......' and so on... Gradually the band picked up some tempo with Pulin, Aditya, Gauri, and Monika singing in some really cool numbers. Tarun introduced the band and Monika cheered the crowd- injecting them the required enthusiasm. Pulin, Kailash, and Aditya were the Guitar Trio strumming on and on while the Jambe Maestro Tarun and Rhythm Breaker Chintan were drumming with high adrenaline power. Nothing seemed wrong after the onlookers were not just the ones... but they started actively participating in the jam with songs like 'Sayonee' and 'Maeri' coming in .

After a while , people from all strata, whether young and old were clapping to the rhythm and cheering up the band to perform with some of their requests. Nevertheless the band was in its peak form when some 20-odd Malayali or Telugu speaking (i don`t which South Indian language they spoke) persons who were from a common fraternity, joined in and requested to play for some cool Malayali number. It was a rage for them and the rest of the crowd. The song-and-dance sequence followed in when they started a hit malayali number "Ippadi pode pode pode, ippadi pode pandale....." (i dont know the meaning neither the lyrics). Again they broke into wild dance and sing format.

All this was going on well, but i think our guitarists pulled in the wrong string at the wrong time and may be they might have played the "Raga Malhar " by mistake..that it started raining so heavily, now the jam has to be stopped abruptly. Chintan, Aditya and many others were drenched from head to toe while trying to save themselves from "THE RAGING RAIN" with instruments while others were half wet. Gajendra then turned up late but brought with him the new energy reviving the band spirit. After the some time Gajendra, Monika, Gauri, Kailash, Tarun and many others continued with the jam while Aditya, Chintan, and Pulin decided for an exit due to some previous commitments and time constraints.

But the rest continued jamming till late evening . The time had came at about 8.30pm when the jam ended.
Hope that the jam must have been in its usual Spirit of bringing the people together and spreading the message of oneness.
This is Chintz a.k.a chintan signing off now..
will be back with few of jam pics

11th July : MFM springs in HINDUSTAN TIMES

Finally, there we are,MFM gets coverage in a news paper daily called HINDUSTAN TIMES.-(Mumbai edition) on 11th july 2008. This article is written by Mauli Buch and photographed by Pradip Guha. It has inputs from Suraj, Monika, Gauri, and Chintan and 'mentions' about the motto of MFM.

The photograph of the jam in the article has its location at Bandra Bandstand...Suraj with all core members like Gauri, Bharti, Tarun, Monika, Pulin, Chintan and Gajendra as well can be seen.
This jam happened to be the most adventurous jam with its highs and lows. But finally things turned out well with supporters joining in the mutiny against the MUMBAI POLICE (hey no offenses please) .

29th June, The dream goes on and i see an angel in it

We were eagerly waiting for sunday, 29th june after the great start of the sunday jams last sunday, 22nd june. This jam was vital as we had to keep the fire, that was sparked last sunday, alive.
The guitar threesome of Manav, Vipul and Tarun seem to be totally junoon-struck now and they're very keen on carrying on the torch of MFM jams as far as possible. And the threesome along with Vikas, G.G., and yours truly were ready to carry the dream forward. We practised for a little while and then left for SRS mall and started jamming at around 7:45 p.m.
There Akhil(a drum student) alongwith his two friends who also are music lovers(sorry guys forgot your names) and Bharat(another drums student) were waiting for us. It was there first time in the jam and i hope they join it as regulars in future. And this time we even had a 15 year old guitar maestro, Gautam playing in the jam as well. Gautam and i composed the song "Give peace a chance" written by Suraj bhaiya. I felt really nice for this boy. The concept will help him a lot in this tender age as he is very receptive to the idea and is very humble and down to earth despite being a real genius on the guitar. I hope he too becomes as regular as this jam can feed the hunger of music and people can utilise this common platform to express the divine power of music that comprises their thoughts and views as well. Chanakya joined the jam again and so did Vipul who brought his bhaiya along too.
And it was so nice to see Arvind again for the jam and he was not alone, his friends Ravi, Sanjay and James too were along. All these guys are music lovers and are very keen on joining the jams regularly.
I addressed the little gathering of friends around about the idea and the purpose of the jams as well as about the power of music and then we started with a nice, sweet song, "dil haarey pukare" by "jal". Then we sang my favourite "dosti" followed by "tu hi meri shab hai", "yaaron", "pal" and many others. Another keen guitar student, Deepak alongwith his friend, Varsha too joined in. Many people from the crowd joined and sung along enjoying every bit of the action.
Sanjay sang a great self composition which goes like "Chhod de apne aap pe bharosa, kar Masih pe bharosa" which had beautiful words and sweet music and he sang it so well "direct dil se". Sanjay composes christian songs and plays them alongwith his group in a church in Dabua Colony in community music events that are very similar to the concept of Music for Meaning. The song he sang for us was one of those beautiful songs and according to my interpretation it says that we should let go of the materialism in our lives and live the way God has sent here for. We should believe in God as he already has plans for us and we should lead our lives free from all worries of future enjoying every bit of the present of the beautiful life created by the Almighty.
Nidhi alongwith a friend too joined in. She is so effervescent and energetic, really raises the energy levels around. She'll be a regular i'm sure.
And G.G. and Vikas were all into the jam as usual cheering the people, singing and dancing with van unmatched vigour. These two guys have been the pillars of the foundation of MFM in Faridabad. And its greta to see them enjoying music so much.
The cloud cover had started pouring. So we went inside and then found a staircase on the first floor of the mall apt for the jam. We started singing again and we had a stupendous response from the crowd there. the crowd built up while we were playing and the place was all jam packed.
A little baby girl, she was an angel, joined the party and enjoyed with us all. Kids, I feel are the closest to God. Because as we grow up in age we get more and more spoiled by the materialism and the false divides and differences in our society that are all but creations of the corrupt human himself. The kids are the ones who are least hesitant and least indifferent towards the outside world. They dont know the definition of "WRONG", which is definitely not the one that has been fed into our minds while growing up, drifting us away from our fellow beings and above all from ourselves. The sight of that kid living every moment of her world unabashedly moved me.
The response to the jam was more than we expected. People came and enjoyed a lot and several promised to join the jam every sunday.
In the end Arvind gave some valuable inputs for the jam. It was very nice to see him participating whole-heartedly in the movement. He alongwith his friends took it so naturally, infact they are all very involved into such community events in church. And James had come despite being very ill, I was overwhelmed with this commitment towards a cause. You rocked guys. Keep on rocking in the free world. God bless all.
Time for some pics.

The Angel

James in green T-shirt(Body bimar hai to kya hua dil to mast hai); myself playing guitar and mere piche photo leta hua Chanakya

The Guitar maestro, Gautam

Strumming In Harmony L to R: Tarun, Sanjay, Vipul, Gautam and dur kone mein Manav
(The world's our stage)

Thats Nidhi in white with her friend besides her
(Miss High Energy)

The Indian Ocean Jam

I was in Gurgaon last week and had the oppurtunity to jam with the guitarist from Indian Ocean - Susmit Sen . It began with Susmit sir playing some of his compositons while all of us sat listening. It was quite a kick! We sang a few random songs and then suddenly one of us started with "Badshah in Jail". Susmit obliged and there was no looking back then. We played and played and played and sang and jumped and screamt and bounced and jumped. What a night! Susmit sir kept playing IO numbers back to back and we sang our lungs hoarse. We closed the night with Kandisa...

MFM Jams in Faridabad! 22nd June-the Dream comes true!

So finally the junoonis have marked the beginning of the routine every sunday jam in Faridabad as well.Here I'll share the first sunday jam which wasnt planneed or organised but just happened, the Almighty had laid out the plans for it.
I practised with three students, Tarun, Manav and Vipul who have begun playing the guitar really well now for sometime and we left for SRS mall along with my roomies and friends G.G. and Vikas (remember the support staff in the previous post) and reached there at around 8:00 p.m.
The very purpose of MFM as well as the MFM music school is taking shape now. I believe it is the dawn of a new era here, where I can imagine the unifying essence of music reaching every heart and spreading harmony and positivity around.
I can feel it now, the musical revolution that was sparked off when we planned to bring MFM to Faridabad and begun with the opening of the music school to start and support the propagation of the concept.
The junoon is rubbing off on all the students and now it'll reach many others with the beginning of the jams now.It was like the first passout batch of the school getting ready to jam who'll soon be joined by others forming the evergrowing MFM jam band.
It was a very satisfying moment for the teacher inside me to see three of my pupils walking the path i wish to see them on.I always believe that the music of a Musician gives him a great power that can heal wounded hearts and mend broken ties in the society.So the concept came very naturally to me and i thanks Suraj Bhaiya for this Enlightenment.
Lets start the action now.We started with my favourite, "Dosti" and then "Khudi" by "Junoon". These songs with their message of friendship, hope and faith really fire me up. Some other students, Vinny, Vipul, Chanakya of our school too joined the jam and Vinny and Vipul did a great job keeping high energy levels really drowned in the junoon. And our manager saab G.G. and Vikas too were doing great singing,dancing and cheering up the crowd. It was great to see them all enjoying the jam so much.
The people came, few stayed and most took notice but left but we were unfazed. I see those dreams where one day this junoon will strike many a hearts. and a few did stay with us and the feeling was very nice, the energies of the people around in harmony. and we just belted out one song after another keeping levels high. One of the guys, Arvind from the crowd sang with us throughout the jam and another one, Rishi too joined the party.I could see smiles all around(cloud no. 9). People fromall castes adn religions who hardly have time for each other stood there together enjoying the song and dance act. SANGEET KE RANG MEIN RANG RAHE THE SAB.
We had a dance performance too from a guy there who spread many cheers around. i could feel an unknown energy surrounding the jam which was radiating and reaching the people out there.
The jam was all masti and music was what people wanted so i could hardly interact with people. Although Vikas and G.G. did manage to interact with a few people. But i felt even this all masti routine served the purpose nicely as it did manage to bring smiles on the many faces around.
And what can be better than the joys that we managed to scatter over there. There must have been many people bogged down with troubles, many with pains in their heart and we could bring joy to them for a few moments at least.
Time for some pics.

Vikas and Tarun(taking requests)

The foursome on guitars L to R: Manav, Vipul, Myself and Tarun

Yeh Vipul (mast chora) guitar ki khair nahi is drummer ke hath mein

Rishi and Arvind, the two guys who sang till the last note from the guitars

MFM @ Faridabad: The Jam Spawns

Two great pieces of news! Sulabh , who connects to the concept of the movement really well, just made a post on the MFM Faridabad (http://mfmfaridabad.blogspot.com) chronicle about the little concert we did back in march in the women's Polytechnic, thanks to Ms. Poonam, a highly spiritual individual and who really appreciated the concept of MFM, of voicing 'simple sense' to the youth through participatory musical gatherings, or the 'MFM jam' and allowed us to play in front of a great group of students at the Polytechnic.! Do checkout the post! although this jam was not the open, democratic jam like the jams we do here, it was more of a performance , as we were not allowed to have people participate with us in the singing. we were also on a stage with a mic and all, so that also is not too conducive to have people come and join in.

Moreover, these guys (Sulabh, Gaurav Garg, GG, Vikas, Nidhi and the rest of the gang) have started a jam there from this Sunday as well! and with good response! Sulabh is soon going to make a post of it on the mfmfaridabad chronicle! so lets soon check out how the jam went!! eager eager!!

cheers!

Welcome June! The Grand Jam of 1st June 08

So No more visiting! Come Sunday and I get a "We're Jamming" SMS from Tarun (Great coordination!) and I left Borivali to make a halt at Andheri collect a newly bought Guitar (So the guitar has been bought!) (!) and was at Bandstand in time, venturing into the battlefield alone! Got some heart warming welcoming glances from an elderly couple and I was eager to get on! Suddenly find Deepti (great to see her after a long time) zoom in (with her great bubbly energy!) with her mother and we were ready to go! For a change we started with a bit of 'intrumental' playing; the guitar (new) was sounding great and the sound of guitar over the murmur of the sea and drifting in the sweet moist air as always makes me see the beauty of this whole thing about jamming by the sea! OK!

So after that we sing the by now 'standard' opening : 'Write about it' and 'Simple Man'. Then I make some frantic calls so see why no-one's coming (from the gang I mean) and then we jump in to speak about the concept and start playing, Deepti cheering up everybody and the jam catches momentum! We begin and then Gauri floats in and I say oh great! Plenty of participation and some people saying 'sher-o-shayari'; a notable instance when a girl from the audience, not wanting to come down to the stage, opened up to render a song when given so much encouragement from the crowd, It was a very nice incidence in the jam.

Then we sang 'Bandeh' and spoke about reflecting a bit about our habits and the energy footprint and making a bit of effort about carrying that jute bag to the market instead of gathering all those messy plastic bags.
And then all the ganag poured in gradually (mmm..late attendance register! !) Gajendra took over the guitar duties along with Pulin and a friend (oops cant recall his name).

Kekoo came in with Pradeep as well and he was really glad to see the jam in its glory! He joined in and we continued till it was 10!
All in all a great jam and great to see things happening so well, great coordination, though missed Chintan, Monika (who takes over the 'Jam leadership' often..! ) and Aditya's great playing!

So there's music for meaning for us, with its lively spirit, music for particiaption, music for oneness, music for forgiveness, music for tolerance! The jam goes on with forces

Here are some pics Could shoot towards the end of the jam:

The Jam of 25th May : "In the words of a visitor"

"In the words of a visitor" here has two implications: one that i was almost a visitor to this jam, and the other -Aditya , who's now in Mumbai, was amazingly blazingly nice to make a writeup of his experience of the jam(all by the great arrangement of Vinay!). And amazingly encouraging words are they! But before I let those precious words be seen, I will obviously do my customary ranting!

The Sunday I had gone to ISKCON Temple's Youth Forum to be part of their activities, attended a great lecture, did some dancing(They have a 'Kirtan' which is just like our jams) over beats of the Mridanga and Kartaals and had the hounour of doing some 'Seva': Serving food to the people who came to the lecture. Then I left rushingly to get some sleep and then head for the Jam, But back home I felt rather low and undecided about the jam-Tarun was in Gujarat and I had not brought my guitar back from Bhopal, so I thought maybe the stars are not aligned for the jam and since I had arrived unnannounced (I guess nobody knew I was in Mumbai), it was a chance to see how the jam was being coordinated..err..mmm..

I liked the idea that everyone had decided regarding the coordination: "everyone is coming by default-but people who are not coming phone in"

And great to have Sada Vinay Jee in the jam!

Before I go ahead, some news is that when I was in Bhopal, with the enthusiasm and drive of Naveen (our self appointed band manager!) we jammed by the Shahpura lake- and with great results, a lot of people came over and joined in, although with my earlier memory of jamming in another city, chandigarh that is, I was not really expecting such a great turnout! People just loved it! lots of people wanting to know if the jam will go on the next sunday as well!

Now, in the great words of the " second visitor" (Aditya that is) (no one remains a visitor in the jam for long! we're all soon part of the jam family, like it or not!)

I was standing outside the Andheri station at 6:15to visit a friend there, waiting for him to come and pick me up last sunday when it suddenly stuck me that visiting the MFM Jam is a huge possibility!Boy! how on earth could that slip off my mind? SO immediately i scrolled through my phonebook and dialled Vinay's number, finding much to my surprise, our Dear Dharmendra Pa Ji answering the call!! Whoa! Vinay was too much in a cinematic mode so th best thing to do was to ask him for aapka Suraj's number and call him up to know the JAM's whereabouts.The phone rang and Suraj picked up, a bit confused when I tell him my name but relieved and happy when I remind him which Aditya this is ( ;) )I'm surprised when Suraj says he was skeptical about the JAM happening but now that even I'm coming, said the JAM should go on and that he'll make it to our favorite spot opposite Camp Juice Corner in a short while as soon as he's bought a guitar, without which the JAM is quite impossible. Now this is Suraj an this is what we talk about when we talk about his enthusuasm for this initiative.When he says 'The Jam must go on', he truly & deeply means it!So we hang up on the mutual promise of meeting up at the same place in about a hour.It's 7:45 and i suddenly realize that it's a bit too late and that I should start for the JAM and so i say the byes and leave for the JAM in an auto who promises to take me there in not more than half an hour irrespective of the evil traffic that engulfs Mumbai on a busy Sunday evening.I was growing impatient by the patient. Impatient due to 2 reasons:reason a :: The last (and only) time i jammed was more than a month ago!reason b :: It was an electrifying day!So here i was sitting in the auto waiting to meet the legends of MFM rock with the clock now showing 8:50.Oh yes, my dear friend and Classmate from NIFT, Anshuman Srivastava was also intrigued by this idea and my descriptions of the JAM that he too was excited and eager to join in, was already there before me and sitting there with Vinay (Dharam Pa Ji) and Aapka Suraj.So finally I reached only to find the Jam in full swing with the numbers ( I don't remember but i guess it was some song by strings). The stage was set.The mood was there.Everybody was seated.. and those standing, on their feet and hands in the air.The Hellos happened and as soon as this song finished, Suraj and party requested me to wail out Toota Toota ek Parinda. So Suraj plays and Aditya Sings and so does everybody else and this is where u realise that its not your voice or his voice.. It's our voice. Its Unison. Period.The Jam proceeds and suddenly there's a new instrument in my hand. The Bongo!It's painful if u have'nt played this Beat Instrument in a long time and for my delicate fingers.. ouch!!But with Suraj and the other cheerful and Energetic lads backing u up.. the pain does'nt feel and every good song ended up with a Guitar-Bongo combo JAM which was amazing fun (though i got a swollen index finger for three days)!!

P.S.: I did not buy the guitar, just the belt and we mamanged to strap it over kailash's guitar, which was the lone guitar of the jam! "Kailash Meri belt wapas kar! hahaha!" and I DID bring a Bongo to the jam, which I was playing alone, with Ali watching in despair, (before anyone turned up) and got a a very nice and sweet "please could you stop playing this for a while" from an aunty (while she might have wanted to say "could you please stop banging on those 2 cylinders which make noise of the most exquisite nature like a madman?" haha!)

P.S. 2: And thanks Aditya for Christening our crazy guitaring as "energy"! We often compromise nmusical presentation for the sake of the engulfing energy and that has become a habit!

Bandra Chalo!: The Jam of 6th April 08

Happy Navratras to all! So we jammed the Sunday gone by, With a lot of the old people on board again..Vinay, Me( Suraj that is!), Tarun, Kailash and Vijeeth and it was great guns! ..but Missed Chintan, Monika, Gauri, Pulin.
It was great to have Aditya Dipankar ( http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=9125229749940862084) come all the way from Bangalore to jam with us! He is great on the guitar and rendered beautiful numbers like 'Teri Deewani', 'Dooba Dooba'; 'Hey Bhagwaan' and 'Im in Mumbai Waiting for a Miracle' two beautiful songs from Raghu Dixit's self titled new Album! and not to forget 'Khudee' by Junoon
Just the day before, Id gone out with my roommate, Madhur, to the Juhu beach
and we'd taken the guitar along..and we had a great nice session of playing, mostly for ourselves there, squatting on the beach, when we gradually broke out into playing in our frantic frenzy style...and made some friends there, and talked to Tanya, one of our few appreciative audiences about the concept and asked her to be there at Bandstand for the Sunday's Jam; It was great to see her in the jam!

We started with "Write about it" from Lynyrd Skynyrd and I just feel so connected to that song..It makes we wish the whole world were a village, living at a pace which shows respect to the pace of nature..see this article on 'Appropriate technology' : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology

We moved on to our by now tried and trusted and rusted intro of the concept: "aap thodee der ke liye bhool jaiye kee aap kitni badi gaadee chalate hai, ya kitne chote ghar me rehete hai" and "for once forget all the judgements in your mind and become one on this platform of music" etc etc.
and then we moved on to playing some popular stuff, 'mae ree' (Tarun wont let one jam go until I wail out that song) and then we moved on to taking some requests, which Vinay and Aditya were pleased to play. We had Anil Swami who took to the djembe intermittently and it was great jamming with him!
We had great participation, with some real original compositions by some real people from the earthy, dhoti-kurta facet of India, accompanied by our unruly team of guitar toting (and drum bearing), disorganized, wanting-to-wail-out-a-message-to-the-world team of 'musicians'!

We finished with Vinay playing 'Baadshah in Jail' by Indian Ocean, Aditya Playing 'Khudee ko kar Buland' by Junoon and me with 'Laal Meri Pat' and 'Sanu Ek Pal Chain naa Aawey', done in our own "we are our own music" style!
Thats what Music For Meaning stands for me in a big way, a simple small scale platform to bring out creativity from all across-from the untrained, rusty folk innards of India to the refined Gharanas to us 'Moderns'; to become a fuzon melting pot enabling small community events-a platform for unhindered social interaction.

Here's the pic-story!:

The 'Band' is sprinkled like pepper in salt!

oyeee! attitude? noooooo! thats some real 'song acting' (=acting out a song!)

This Guy who incidentally collects stuff nobody wants lying around, lying around (repetetion is intended) (which somebody throws) has ART inisde him! Khai ke Paan Banaras wala!

This guy from (a Village who's name I forget) in Bihar had some real neat compositions..about mata pita kee seva nahi karoge tau chaar janam tak dukkh paooge and some real nice bhajans! Incidentally you see me (jee haan aapka pyaara Suraj) standing encouraging company to the little uncertain performers!

Swami (On the Djembe) was a one from the audience who played with us! Vinay (stooping over the guitar) and Aditya (Arm over the guitar) give great company!

Cheers! Tarun finally makes it in this pic!

No Windup pic this time! Sorry! from all of us at MFM..take the cares and keep the faiths and be Good and May God bless all!

Resurgence of Hope: Bandra Beckons

Monika called for an early start of the jam, lets be there by five thirty for it gets late by the time we pack up,she said. So I engaged express gear, had a mysore plain dosa all done in ghee at my favourite restaurant, with guitar lying silently by my side. I reached bandstand sharp at five thirty. While en route from bandra station to the promenade, the autorickshawala who did the courtsey of locomoting yours truly, gave me oodles of gyan about lending money and applying your mind in some cases. He was one major music lover and would not let me get off before I rendered and cramped in the auto version of 'ik hasina thee'.

At the peomenade alone and wondering what to do..to wait or start my customary wailing of my signature song 'simple man' I remembered to call Kekoo, told him that most of us were gathering that day. Then when i sat down to write something, Mark, a Pastor as I later discovered, came up and asked me what I was upto. He told me of the miracles that started happening in his life when he 'surrendered to the kingdom of God'. A very nice man he blessed me and promised to come and check us out later as we played. Prashanti and Pulin, silent witnesses to this episode were lying low, camouflaged as the audience. Some time later, swiss time miss Monika came, only to be reminded by me of the Indianness in her swiss time.

After some customary greetings and all we begun, with the song simple man, and the energies grew. We went on to play mae ree, and when we had a nice crowd, introduced the concept. We picked up issues..said stuff about not judging each other and forgiveness which was well recieved with specific incidences in the jam to relate to. Most of us think our lives are working exclusive of the community and the society and we fail to relate that all that happens to all effects all.

As an old uncle came down to sing some beauts from the retro zone..there were cheers all around..we picked up tempo and the jam erupted when people could not contain their energies any longer and we all stepped down to dance. Vinay came somewhere towards the end of the jam and took to playing Bandeh by Indian ocean which I had played already and much more nicely (hehe) , Pulin was in good mood and swing as well, with Prashanti taking to the photo duties. Monika, her usual bubbly self got everybody cheering with her energy.

Kailash and Pulin did some songs as well, though we missed Tarun. The jam goes on, it brings people together, it gives belief to all of us with the meaning in our music. It gives us an outlet to say out what we want to say, it ignites the musician hidden in many people..the jam's a good thing! We talked to Kekoo after the jam, and he gave his inputs regarding forming a core group of people who work on MFM and its growth. With all his love he promised that he will continue to support us on MFM...he is God's hand to us!
Here are the pics:

Words of Wisdom: I listen to Pastor Mark

Pulin 'Strikes a Chord'

Great Guitar fingers! there is potential there, Kailash, Prashanti and Monika



We 'Roll with it'. I sing and dance while Monika cheers everyone.

This guy came up and did a great job, while his girlfriend cheered! great to have people contribute to our frog's croakings!

Chakk De Phatte. All the way from Sada Punjab. This guy has become a regular contributor and sings with a lot of heart!

'Maei ke Laal Jaikishan' , Thats our desi Michael Jackson.

Vinay entered late and started hoarse screaming!

The Return of MFM - 10th Jan 2008

Well well well...to begin with I would like to apologise on behalf of all MFM members for being very very late to post a blog here...
For all those of you who thought that MFM and its members have disappeared we are back...We have returned...The return was not all that a full fleged rocking jam and we couldn't manage to gather a large audience we still managed to capture the hearts and bring back smiles on the faces of those many regulars who have been coming sunday after sunday waiting for us even in our absence...
The jam started off with Yogi who sang all alone for a while until Pulin and Monika joined in...I was late though...We our regular songs, introduced MFM and for sure - played people's requests...It was fun and more importantly the mark of a new begining of MFM which will keep going on and on and on...
Hope to see you all wonderful people soon back there...Same time..Same Place - 6.30pm, Bandstand, Bandra[w]...
sorry, no pics....