Of iPods and mofussil buses
When I moved to New York, I enthusiastically did everything I thought a ‘New Yorker’ should. I bought fall jackets and winter jackets, four umbrellas, and 25 pairs of shoes (the Mayor’s office threatened to deport me if I didn’t comply), joined a gym and promptly stopped going there. The only thing I resisted was the iPod. I felt it was too rude, too self-absorbed – you might be a M86 bus headed my way, but f*&^ you! I clearly have better things to listen to. Besides, one couldn’t just buy an iPod and be done with it. It was as bad as acquiring a fashion consciousness – it needed a life long commitment to accessorizing.
But I finally gave in. It was one of those inexplicable impulse buys, the kind you often indulge in when you’re feeling guilty about something that has nothing whatsoever to do with the object being purchased, but which at that time seems like the solution you’ve been waiting all your life for. In my case, I believed a lack of personal music was what was keeping me from the gym. If only I had an iPod, I could get myself a whole repertoire of “good” music, as opposed to the kind supplied by my gym (made by artists overdosing on crack or caffeine or both – ‘jumpy’ is the only way to describe it). This was followed by some very clever circular reasoning – I didn’t spend enough time listening to music, anyways (conveniently ignoring the fact that I am hooked to my headphones for at least 8 hours a day at work). An iPod at the gym would be the perfect way to ‘catch up’ on all I’d been missing. It would
a) Help me get over the trauma of being on a treadmill by deceiving me into thinking that I was engaged in a “fun” activity of some sort
b) Relax me, may be even help me to day dream and get way over my tiring work day
c) Improve the mind (a boilerplate clause in anything that involves a sum >$100)
And what’s more, a, b and c would be accomplished while one was burning away those pesky calories! Why hadn’t I thought of this brilliant idea before? I told myself that I shouldn’t chide myself too much, after all schemes of such brilliance do not materialize on a daily basis. I was merely grateful that it had come when it did.
Only after buying the damn device did I realize that it wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought. I’m usually anal about naming my songs correctly – movie / artist name, followed by song name. Clearly, what works for Mr. Gates, just won’t do for Mr. Jobs. I was going to have to manually fill in random bits of information just to have any shot at having a decent play list. Even this wisdom was acquired the hard way.
The first thing I did after transferring all my music (mine and just about everything I’ve ever borrowed or stolen from friends) into my iPod was to take it out for a walk. I congratulated myself on finally becoming a true Manhattanite.
The glory was short lived. After the first song got over, I found out that listening to an iPod sans play lists is like listening to music on a mofussil bus in Tamil Nadu – in short, random shit, followed by more random shit. If anything, my iPod was way worse than a Cuddalore to Madras bus. At least those guys only played Tamil songs. My iPod played Bach, Kadhal Virus (remember “Baila More”?), and Bally Sagoo in alphabetical order.
The weirdness of the music made me feel nauseous, again reminding me of those bus rides, when I routinely used to revenge myself on the pitiful DJ-ing capabilities of the staff by puking on them (musical sensitivity apart, I used to get motion sick very easily). Of course, random bad music used to happen in the good old days, circa 1980s. Some how these buses were always at least 10 years behind the current music scene. The only reason I know any songs from the 70s is thanks to all those bus rides I’ve taken from Cuddalore to Madras and back.
By the early 90s, they’d graduated to truly atrocious stuff (at least going by what was invariably being played at the Mathuranthakam bus depot) – composed exclusively of “gaana” pattu (for non Tamils – one way to describe this bizarrely redundant term is to say that it’s the closest we have to indigenous hip-hop), which offered advice on everything from friendship and marriage to debt management. Thank goodness, by that time, I didn’t have to travel by bus that often. We’d moved to Madras, and most of my bus rides were confined to the 47A, 26 and 47x (replace x with whatever alphabet the state felt was the name for an express route). And the only music these buses offered was impromptu stuff provided by assorted gentlemen from Pachaiyappa’s (yes, more gaana stuff).
I figured if I could have survived all those 5 hour bus rides with drivers from hell (one of whom alternated between honking and playing ‘orambo orambo, rukkumani vandi varuthu’), then I could survive a 20 minute walk with the mp3 device from hell. Just as I was thinking this, my evil device played ‘orambo orambo, rukkumani vandi varuthu’ (Note to self: never steal music from friends you do not intimately know, and even then, never, ever do a Ctrl A / Ctrl C / Ctrl V). It didn’t occur to me that this time around, I had some control over the situation. I could have turned the damn thing off, but I never realized I had such power. Like in those buses, I maintained a stiff upper lip, thought dark thoughts of the friend(s) I might have gotten the song from, and waited patiently for the next song.
Since that first traumatic experience, I’ve learnt to create play lists, but the devilish thing will still throw the occasional curve ball, showing me up as not quite the anal type I pretend to be (clearly, some damn songs are still “checked” – sometimes am tempted to delete everything and start afresh). When these particularly atrocious songs are playing, I nod along, just as thousands of other New Yorkers do. I’ve struck a semblance of peace on this - God only knows what dark secrets are on their own iPods. Some sleepless night or while we wait for our laundry, am sure we will all manage to get our iTunes the endless amount of information it needs to bend to our will. Till that glorious day or night, I’ll just have to survive these blasts from the past.
Comments (15 comments)
[...] DoZ on ipods and mofussil buses. A strange and funny mix. The first thing I did after transferring all my music (mine and just about everything I’ve ever borrowed or stolen from friends) into my iPod was to take it out for a walk. I congratulated myself on finally becoming a true Manhattanite. [...]
DesiPundit » Archives » Of iPods And Mofussil Buses / March 14th, 2007, 1:32 pm / #
yeah, an mp3 player requires maintenance. i keep a teeny weeny 256 MB player with around 50 songs, all of which i love and keep replacing with new good ones. Gives me a guaranteed 2-3 hrs of music without repetition.
Frankly i wouldn’t know what to do with an iPod…
Anonymous / March 14th, 2007, 2:44 pm / #
You are Hilarious DoZ and I so know the kind of songs they play at the marakkaanam bus depot (I still cannot get the “vidavidamaa soapu seepu kannadi” song that I heard there over and over again out of my head inspite of having had a decade’s respite). Good luck for future sojourns with your ipod!
curiouscat / March 14th, 2007, 3:21 pm / #
Brilliant, exactly my sentiments!!
I bought one during Thanksgiving sale, and till date ‘m struggling with playlists and other crap.
Stone / March 14th, 2007, 4:26 pm / #
After receiving an iPod shuffle for free, I stopped using my regular iPod and opted for a smaller sized one–it’s simpler, and I realize that I don’t need to carry my entire music library with me everywhere I go.
Good luck with yours.
Vi / March 14th, 2007, 10:45 pm / #
It is a 1 time job to fill artist and album information. But once you have it, you can create cool smart playlists which automatically update by itself. This way you can have fresh music everytime. Yes it also lets you discover those music that exist in ur library but u dont like. I usually if i find such music, which i rarely do, i just give it a 1 star rating to mark it for deletion when i sync back. things are simple with iPod, unlike other MP3 players, why do u think iPod is popular!
Dinesh / March 15th, 2007, 7:08 am / #
curiouscat: I know that “soapu seepu kannadi” song! I think it was the first “gaana” song I ever heard, and didn’t know what to make of it. If you heard it in Marakkaanam, it looks like the damn thing must’ve been a chart topper :S
Stone: Thank you.
Vi: Two mp3 players? Yikes! I barely know what do to with one. If I had two, I’ll likely spend all my time listening to bad music, convinced that all my good music must surely be in my “other” iPod.
Dinesh: Thank you - this rating idea is a good one to get rid of crap. It frustrates me no end that you can’t do anything on the machine, but have to wait till you get home, and you invariably forget just how much you hated a song by then.
DoZ / March 15th, 2007, 11:40 am / #
am I feeling deja vu here?
impulse buy!?! ask me!
I beieve in living in preset, if you can please yourself with throwing some money in a mall, it’s worth it!
venus / March 17th, 2007, 11:57 am / #
[...] DoZ finds that her iPod is “way worse than a Cuddalore to Madras bus“. [...]
DesiPundit » Archives » Blast from the past / March 17th, 2007, 1:15 pm / #
shoefiend / March 18th, 2007, 5:41 am / #
Seems like everyun has missed out on the most imp thing I liked in ipods… Podcasts is what I am talking abt… I used to travel by train from NJ to NYC for commute every damn day before and the podcats from cnn, wall st journal and other stuff were real interesting and gave me a great news update.. podcasts are not confined to news alone and u can try to pick up other stuffs too incase you wanna listen to them. Am sure… it will be better than the mofussil bus all india radio news
B / March 18th, 2007, 10:01 pm / #
Shoefiend: Thank you.
B: Oh yes - I love podcasts. But since I don’t have a long commute, I can’t do podcasts on the iPod - I find it very distracting to listen to some one speak, than listening to music when walking around.
DoZ / March 19th, 2007, 9:01 am / #
Thank you. I needed just this little push to NOT buy an iPod and stay with my tinchy 128MB thingy. In any case, I’ve never walk-jogged long enough to finish the 40-odd songs it holds.
J.A.P.
J. Alfred Prufrock / March 28th, 2007, 3:24 am / #
J.A.P: You’re welcome. Yes, this thing is more trouble than it’s worth.
DoZ / March 29th, 2007, 11:00 pm / #
DoZ, as a girl, I guess you never had the opportunity to enjoy tinny MGR songs and sonorous Sivaji dialogue from a radio whose output volume belied its size, and augmented with a steady background of knife against pelt, in preparation for the once-in-two-months assault of metal on scalp. And I feel a littal bit like Thuppariyum Saambu but the bus numbers make me ask, did your dad work in ICF?
As for an iPOD, I don’t use it for music mainly because of the extremely dissonant experience of having Thelonious Monk followed by Tupac Shakur. Instead, I use it for reading audio books of titles which I otherwise wouldn’t read. It’s a great way of consuming non-fiction, although I love the beauty of words too much to do the same thing for fiction.
Rahul / July 16th, 2007, 4:01 am / #
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