Shirish and Zico, two totally cool people, take me out to this bar called Someplace Else. Its like stepping onto the Holodeck in Star Trek. Instantaneously we are in a very nice bar in a normal US city. The woodwork and the marble are very nicely detailed. The talented band is playing 70/80s rock covers. Everybody is dressed like a normal American, has a normal American haircut, drink normal American drinks. Cops and Baywatch are playing on the TV. But if you look carefully you notice that they are all Indian; and they are probably talking about cricket.



So we talk about cultural evolution. Bollywood movie producers know that the easy money is in copying a Hollywood movie, remaking it in Hindi and adding masala (singing, dancing, action, romance, fighting, clowning). Its easier to go to the dominant entertainment culture for the new sensation; always harder and riskier (financially) to extend and grow your own (Indian) culture. Its like this in all arts in any part of the world. Its easier to jack mainstream hip-hop for the fresh edge then to fiddle around in your own subculture. Some Bollywood producer was talking about this, stating that he didn't want to do a Hollywood copy. There's a wide range in cinema here, and plenty of good stuff. Of course I kind of want to go see the trashy "2 dudes in the 10th century !"--I figure I can follow the plot even without Hindi. (Amazingly it was shown on the flight back to the US). This law of innovation (its easier to copy the dominant trend) applies, as I said, to all arts.

The amazing thing is that the entire planet is watching US TV and movies, and the closest most people in the US get to watching a foreign film is ... uh...James Bond.

I fully admire Ganesh--truly a modern deity. He has kept updating himself -- now he's the space age, teched out cosmic elephant boy (I'll get some pictures up) -- where Shiva and Vishnu wallow about in their past. Shiva, give him credit, has put out some nice full color T-shirts.



Then we go to Tantra, the ritzy club. The valet parks the car for us, and we luck out and meet some girls who are going. The club won't let us in without dates or without proper shoes (Shirish is wearing sandals, but one of the girls has been going here for 8 years and throws a good fit for us and gets Shirish in anyway. But he has to agree not to go on the dancefloor ! So he dances just on the edge of the dancefloor, 3 feet away from us. Security walks by from time to time to make sure that he's not really dancing and hasn't crossed the line. By 3 am they have forgot about him.) The dj plays good hip-hop, disco cheese, some bangra (when the sikhs show up and pack the dancefloor), an Indian/Hindi remix of "I got the power!" that totally devistates me, Sean Paul remix (taking the original off of Diwali riddim --an Indian drum loop-- and putting it onto a standard tech-house rhythm and re-exporting back to us here in India) and by 2am some good techno and then into the Goa trance. But basically, just your usual silly fun disco night. fashion: Sarees and hip-hop gear.

The club got hostile when I casually pulled out the camera. No pictures ! What club doesn't want pictures taken in it ? Isn't that the point ? Maybe there are gangsters and society people here. I met some big shot who books all the DJs for Mumbai, Goa and Bangalore. Strictly commercial stuff, nothing for me here. Unless I want to work the Indian party scene and make easy money--beats working ? He also executively produces Bollywood soundtracks and manages exotic dancers.

And then back onto the wide, British-engineered streets, driving around in the dust and the dogs.