I wasn't born that time... let alone live the experience of the Woodstock festival. Forty years ago, four men viz., Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld conceptualized this concert that would go down in the history of rock n' roll for generations to come. The likes of Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead to name a few did their bit to redefine the art of live concert music to appease a crowd of die-hard fans!!! 40 years on... the spirit of Woodstock still lives!!! Long Live Woodstock, Long Live Rock!!!

Disclaimer: The image(s) in this post and the link(s) mentioned are owned by Woodstock and shall not be used for any commercial purpose whatsoever.

Last week, during one of those usual meetings, I was asked to do the note taking (fancy me listening to someone and jotting down the proceedings on my note pad). I was going easy for a few lines in the beginning, but as the ideas started pouring in, the brainstorm cloud getting darker around... voices stating their opinions... I had to keep up with the pace, as well as giving my ideas. I felt the pace going down, the handwriting becoming awry (not that I'm a calligrapher least to say). I was asking for the crowd to hold on to their horses as I had left my own way behind :) , just then I realized, the other guy in the room who was noting down the points was wriggling his hand every few seconds... I thought I was the only one around who had lost touch in handwrtiting, in fact happy that there were others as well, sad and questioning the fact that have we become too dependent on typing.

I still remember in boarding school, when I used to write letters to my family and friends. The Rs. 1 envelope were our e-mails (read envelope-mails, its sealed and so is my confidentiality) and the yellow Rs. 0.50 cards were our blog space (yeah right... talk about privacy), ha ha ha... Since each of us had an account at the school stationary store, we were allotted only a certain amount of envelopes and postcards per month. So, writing letters were more to do with rationing the postal assets rather than dealing with the family / friend communication. We weren't any novelists who wrote flawlessly until the end, on the contradictory, our letters were filled with scores of scratches (wonder, what it was like having backspace for letters) and over writings and smudges of ink, not to mention the finger prints all over the cards, when we could actually sign our letters. The joy was in writing one whole sheet or two and sealing the same in the envelope and dropping them in the boxes. Of course, the waiting time for the replies was even more thrilling especially if you had written to a girl (man, those days were long gone). Our exams, class notes were written painlessly without a frown (you know I'm lying, I used to crib, Period!) These days, I hardly see any hand written notes or letters exchanged between people.

Why write when I can type? Why post when I can e-mail? Why wait endlessly when I can receive response in a flash?

Of course, these queries fall short of convincing answers at least at this juncture. But, never the less, we have definitely made the art of Penmanship an obsolete art. To put it plainly, we haven't given it much thought either. Shudder to think, when our own handwriting becomes synonymous with Egyptian Hieroglyphics or the German Enigma Code :(

(I know, I know, now why did I type this post rather than writing it.... so you see... I'm a slave of the digital age just like the rest of you!!!)

The title suggests nothing more than a meet up with my college friends after almost 6 months. That's kinda long for me I must say. But, the best part is I spent two whole days with them and finished the weekend with a dinner. The four best friends I should say. None of us have changed one bit... this June, we'll be celebrating our 10th anniversary... ha ha ha!!! Come to think of it, we were just some out of high school 17 year olds who were clueless when we first met up in June 1999. Times have changed, but we haven't. We're still the old retards that we always were, and fortunately will still continue to be. Ok, now for some brief intro about us (I'll start from left - right)

1. Madhan Govindaraj a.k.a Maddy
About him: The guy with the quick wit, able to get out of situations in a flash... our comic relief.

2. Thirunarayan Vijayan a.k.a Loose
About him: The guy who talks more when asked less, talks less when never asked, at times psychotic.

3. Pradeep Chandramohan a.k.a Mandi
About him: The man with a purpose, our de-facto captain!!! Always cheerful, & at times, schemes with Thiru on getting psychotic.

4. Balachander Srinivasan a.k.a Pongi
About him: The loud mouth... talk, talk & more talk... of course the man with some ideas up his sleeve...

This definitely was an awesome time well spent... we spoke, about the good ol' times and the bad ol' times... I was happy that these guys too hadn't stepped out for a while... & I was there to share the time & space, hopefully should make this a regular affair... Before I wind up, I got to say this... "We are what we were, are & will always be!!!" Cheers guys!!!