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It’s ranining cats and dogs in Seattle. It seems it was the same in Bangalore too. While I was driving with Rahman‘s fantastical Kuchi Kuchi Rakamma, the Bangalorevaasis were enjoying like Mani Ratnam’s heroines. They got drenched and were still ready for a music mazhai. The A R Rahman Concert happened in Bangalore and I envy those who attended it.

Writes Hindu –

It was six, an hour before the much-awaited A.R. Rahman concert by India Classic Arts. The skies opened up and truly, like the adage, it never rains, it pours and there was a downpour. The props on the stage gave way and the 3D gadget conked out, but the 25,000-odd crowd would not move. Every two minutes, young and old, screamed: “We want Rahman.” Rahman made a two-second dramatic appearance with a huge umbrella and announced: “These showers are godsend. Give me one hour and I promise you, it will be the best performance so far.” And when the performance did begin at 9 p.m., there was much ecstasy, on stage and off stage.

Writes Deccan Herald –

In sober white, and sans the customary long locks, Rahman opened with Yuva’s groovy discotheque track Fanaa.

Prabhu has a detailed post where he writes –

When he started the last song for the day ‘Vandhe Matharam’ we all were standing on the chair. And it poured. It poured extremely heavily. One particular moment, when he sang ‘Vande Mataram’ the rain at that particular moment was the highest all day. Not just me. Many of us felt the same. This time there were really tears in my eyes. The rain and rahmans music washed away the layers of dust that had grown around my heart and made me cry.

It’s still raining here this morning and I’m hoping if the rain would bring along the same music spirit which Bangaloreans enjoyed yesterday !!

If this side of the story is like this, from India’s National Newspaper dt Sat Oct 1, 2005 –

The photographs of young men and women drinking and couples kissing were published to reveal the `immoral’ goings-on at the party. The odd thing was that no one in these pictures was “scantily clad” (as alleged by the police) but the affair exposed the hypocrisy of a tabloid and tabloidising section of the press that regularly publishes `scantily clad’ and suggestive pin-ups of film actresses as a circulation booster.

the other side also has its own qualms, from The People’s Paper dt Oct 15, 2005 –

The moral jury stepped out in Chennai last week to pronounce that five star hotels are ‘holy’ places where police cannot enter. The jury was appalled at the mention of the word ‘obscenity’ and, pray, what bar licence? The conservatives in the city breathed fire, the jury was not concerned. For them, the rest could go to hell. The Chennai Police, they said, had no right to suspend the hotel’s licence.

But in Chennai, it’s not a big deal to find an escort these days. Just hang around the pubs and the discotheques. If not, there are classifieds to fall back on. One ad reads thus: “If you are an independent escort and willing to provide a full service, please contact me.”

Mylapore might be continents away from Malibu but Chennai’s hit the fast lane. To where, is a question the moral jury should decide as it careens between police stations and discos.

By now way this is to compare the quality of newspapers. Just extreme samples from an entire gamut of perspectives. To which extreme of this spectrum you belong, is a priceless question to your value system ?