That video footage of a small time operator Eric Garner being not only handcuffed and overpowered, but also choked to death by the cops on a sidewalk in New York City, will continue to haunt me for a long time.  The man was screaming ‘’ I can’t breathe…I can’t breathe’’ for God’s sake!  I could never imagine that the police force of one of the most industrialized and advanced country in the world could act in such a barbaric manner.  The fact that the deceased was a black man is not just an incidental inconvenience.  Clearly the massive unrest that one saw on the streets of Ferguson in the state of Missouri in the wake of shooting down of another small time but unarmed offender Mike Brown, you could have been forgiven if you thought that you are back in the dark days of the sixties when the black folks would regularly fight pitched battles across various cities and towns of the United States against the predominately white law enforcement authorities for the implementation of their civil rights.  Of course it’s hard to judge sitting thousands of miles away here in India, but the U.S. as a society has to travel a lot more distance before it could completely deal with its deeply troubling and complicated legacy of racial tension.

Since Indian television sucks most of the time because of the low brow soaps with regressive plotline and shocking aesthetics, not to mention the news channels that are behaving like lynch mob in order to garner maximum eyeballs.  I now devote a considerable part of my nightly prime time to music.  To me listening to quality music is not just a pastime but a rather spiritual experience.  When I shut off my eyes and let the melody and rhythm wash over me, the effect is therapeutic to say the least.  Hindustani music is in my blood and bones but I have also acquired a taste for English music and Jazz.