aditya kumar's weblog

How does the state honor the passing away of country’s greatest soldier?

By declaring a state funeral.

Sounds alright. Just that the President of the Indian Republic, The Vice-President, The Prime Minister, The Defence Minister and The Three chiefs of the Armed forces won’t be able to make it.

Carry it on, somebody send someone to represent the absentees, won’t you? Nobody’s noticing.

Oh and in the rare case, if there is hue and cry, we can always sign the condolence book and keep it at India gate. Of course, the Defence Minister and the three chiefs will sign it first!

In my opinion, this was the only profound way to dishonor the passing away of India’s greatest soldier.

Is it worth it afterall, being a soldier in this country, I wonder.

I see this guy, has this Johnny Depp kind of a beard and a physique that could make the strictest of gym goers wonder what could be wrong with their workout regimen. Only later do I realize, because of his continued conversations on the phone, that he is a Muslim. He is called Aslam.

So we rode down to the river where the Victorian ghosts pray
For the curses to be broken
We go underneath the arches where the witches are and they say
There are ghost towns in the ocean
The ocean…

He is not a strict Muslim, that much I can see. For he does not do his prayers on the floor but on the train seat itself, with a pillow on his lap. And it is at that moment that the words are spoken to me, the sound in my head —

Gunners in the houses and gunners in my head
And all the cemeteries in London
I see god come in my garden but I don’t know what he said
For my heart it wasn’t open
Not open…

Suddenly it’s all very clear. That very moment, those few seconds, I cease to see him as Aslam. Instead, I start seeing him as a misunderstood Muslim. And perhaps more importantly, a Muslim that has misunderstood it all. I have not come across many defining moments in my life but I sure know how it is when one happens.

A few days back I read it somewhere and I think it was Bono who said — “Generally, religion gets in the way of God.” I know exactly what Bono meant when he said that. Certainly, this is not about U2 or Coldplay’s latest or Aslam. It’s about identities lost, perceptions — both right and wrong, failures to connect with each other at the human level and a broken hotline with God, to top it all.

Suddenly, it’s all very clear to me.

Coldplay’s Viva La Vida or Death and all his friends is a brilliant, extremely likable album. Contrary to Chris Martin’s remarks about this being a departure from what we have known Coldplay to be, it is not as much a “departure”. The band still relies on guitar and piano for most of their music but at times, drums, violin and electric guitar take the front stage. Though the music is still growing on me, “Lost!” is one catchy tune for it’s drums.

Now, this is surelynot a brand new Coldplay we are listening to. This is, in fact, the good old and brilliant Coldplay that has comprehensively delivered a great follow up to “X&Y”. Lets just say, old habits die hard.

Listen to “Viva La..” as a follow up to “X&Y”, or rather don’t over-analyze I say, just listen to it and you won’t be disappointed. More on this later.