Lover City

Wasssssssssssssssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppppppp my maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattteeeeeeeeeeeessssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!

So hope you are checking out my new look everyday, coz now I’m not just restricted to Thursday Nights, but am almost available every night! It’s like having your favorite artist perform for you night after night after night, with something new every single night! I know, I know, don’t you love me for that 😉 Love you too, my babies 😀

Love can be for so many things, though the common and rather famous ones are the ones for the opposite sexes. Though nowadays, love for the same sexes is also heating up. But love can take various forms – for mother, for father, for friends, for siblings, for gadgets, for movies, for bikes, for cars, for cities…

I’m in love with this city – Bombay. If you ever are in Bombay, or come to Bombay, do yourself a favour. Go to South Bombay. Which comprises Colaba, Napaen Sea Road, Malabar Hill, Marine Drive, Fort, Chowpatty, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Grant Road, Muhammad Ali Road… There is a different world, and I mean world in the truest sense of the word, to see in every nook and corner of this small but magnificently vast city.

The Little Joys of Life

I’ve often wondered at the pace at which we go about our chores, right from the moment we wake up to the moment we sleep. It is always about ME, ME & ME. Hell, even while sleeping it’s ME, ME & ME. I want a **, I want it this way, why am I the one who is left unsatisfied, I’m not in the mood today… Well, you get the drift.

But sometimes, it’s good to stop and listen to others, pay attention to the needs of people who maybe are lesser in stature than us, but nevertheless are fellow humans. Like today, I was coming to office and decided to take an auto rickshaw rather than the usual BEST bus service. (For those who do not know, auto rickshaws are a type of vehicle with 3 wheels and the BEST bus service is Bombay’s local transportation service.) And as usual I was glued on to my iPod, hardly paying attention to what’s going on outside.

The driver made small talk regarding the rains, how they had now come and made everything cooler, a respite from the heat that prevailed in the past week. I just nodded and monosyllabically responded with “Yeah”s and “Yes”s. But he persisted, never minding that every time he spoke, I had to remove one of my ear-phones and ask him to repeat what he said all over again. And then I felt, this sudden calling, this urge, this sense of enlightenment, the same kind when I get when I have to rush to take a leak – I switched off my iPod and struck up a conversation with him.

Cheerleaders and The Foreign Hand

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppppppppppp Pppppppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooopppppppppppplllllllllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah right!!! Rub your eyes!!! Yes, its not a hoax! It’s the real thing!!! You are watching Thursday Night with Ivan Quadras, baby!!! Ivan’s back, and back with a Bong!!! I mean a bang!!! I wish I’d be back with a Bong, but well, you can’t have everything in life…

So wassup people??? How you been doing in my so-called absence from public spotlight??? I know, I know, you must be feeling so many emotions at one go… Joyous and elated to see me again, thrilled on hearing me speak, angry and letdown because I’ve been absent without informing you… I know, I know, that’s what happens in love… I know you all are in love with me… And thank you so very much for all your love…

You just cannot imagine the barrage of emails I received in these days that I was away. Some thought that I had deleted them from the mailing list (i don’t do it people, I love you all equally 🙂 🙂 🙂 ), some thought that I might have run out of material, which they stated is impossible (so sweet), some even went to the extent of thinking I’m dead and sent an angry mail for not inviting them to the funeral!!! So here I am, back in flesh and blood, to rock your pants off your seat!!! So all of you may be wondering where I’ve been so long??? Not spreading my good humor and charm around to make the dull days exciting… Well, to tell you the truth, I had to fight for survival! Yes, me!!! No sooner did my Thursday Night start playing, BCCI, ala Ekta Kapoor, goes out and puts out a new show to kill the competition!!! And what do they put out – Indian Premier League!!!

Frankenstein and YouTube

Hello people,
Welcome to one more episode of Thursday Night with Ivan Quadras!!! (Waits for the applause to calm down) Thank you, thank you!!! Hope your week’s been good and fruitful, unlike mine… I was just waiting for this day coz I had nothing else to look forward to, seriously!!! Now that’s an all-time low, but well, we can’t have all the fun all the time, right??? These jobs in technology get boring after a while. When they show you how technology is changing, how it has changed today’s world, how it has made life easy, how staying in technology is one tough piece of work coz you need to be on your toes all the fucking time, I’d say bullshit!!! Look at me, do you think I can match the pace of technology???

Read in a newspaper article last week – a group of American teenage girls got together and ganged up one of their friends and beat her black and blue. Why??? So that they could post the video on YouTube!!! What!!! Yeah right!!! I’m not drunk, and I’ve read the report right. And for your info, the battered girl has a damaged eye, a damaged ear, head injuries and other injuries. All for a video.

Now before you start thinking that I’ve started wearing tight-constricted drawers, and started carrying placards of “We Are Decent Citizens”, let me assure you that I am as unholy, decadent, liberated, debaucherous & rebellious as most of you. Alright, alright, more than you. But what I’d like to point out is – Is technology moving faster than we can get hold of it? Have we like the fictional Frankenstein created a monster in our quest for ultimate glory and excellence, that is now beyond our control?

Alexander The Great

For those who came in late,

Here is where the Phantom Legend began. Oh Alright, out with it!!! This was my first Thursday Night Show for which I had created quite a lot of suspense and excitement by billing it as a surprise… Before this, I used to send a daily staple of jokes, which is still on, hence the reference to the jokes in the fourth paragraph. So don’t mind it, dear newcomer…

Well, Well, Well… So this is the surprise… A mail… What did you thunk??? A bedecked white elephant with 2-foot long ivory teeth will come out of your screen and salute you??? Keep dreaming… So why is it called Thursday Night with Ivan Quadras… Because, you are spending a Friday morning listening to my crap, paying attention to the golden words that drip like honey from my mouth… Alright, there’s a history behind this, oh yes, there is – just like all other things about me!!!

Long ago, when I was like a small band that played the underground circuit which goes from club to club for gigs in search of people who’ll appreciate them and also serve them free beer, I used to send mails to a few of my buddies. I had not much work then, the circuit was small, and quite predictably I used to work late nights, and used to call these shows of mine – Thursday Nights with Ivan Quadras!!! They had my personal musings, and most often, some technical tutorials, mostly on Lotus Notes, which used to rock the pants off my viewers!!! Yeah baby!!! But as the work increased, and so did my fan following (thank you, thank you), I became the international star and started playing to a larger audience, with larger shows, much grandeur, the lights, the ladies, the action!!! Alright, not the ladies, but you get the drift don’t ya???

Insensitivity and Lovable Lingerie

Good Fellas & Rock-n-Rollahs,

Waaaaaassssssssssssssssssssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuppppppppppppppppppppppppp PEOPLE??? (Waits for the screams and shrieks to calm down)!!! How you been doing? (Crowd screams “GREAT”) Alright, it’s good to see all of you (Note to all who share space with my female fan following, kindly pick up all those who have fainted and fallen and take them to an airy space where they can breath easily. And DO NOT try to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. They’re MY fans, they’ll come to soon)

I know, I know it’s been a long time, but I’ve been touring all this while and have been kept very very busy by my travails, exploits and my pretty cheergirls 🙂 This past few weeks have been full of action (wink, wink) and drama and glory and fame and adulation and praise and love and cheers and lots of things!!! And I want to thank you all for that, because you give me all these things, which pushes me to carry on, to go on, and keep writing to you!!!

While on the personal front, all’s going hunky-dory, I see a lot of disturbances in the nation and the world in general. From the Gujjar riots to the Gorkha shutting-down of Darjeeling, from the IPL shenanigans to the Euro Cup extravaganza, from the brutal murder of a 15-year old in Noida to the senseless and remorseless chopping (I couldn’t use any other word) of a lover in Aamchi Mumbai, we’ve read, seen and heard lots. So I won’t repeat what others must have already done through opinions, edits, columns, letters, placards, posters, bra-burnings, etc. OK, so not the last one, but it seemed a worthy addition 😉 What I’ll touch upon is as usual, the Ivan take on the issue.