Tag: music

Attending the Passenger concert in Bangalore 2025

The author shares his experience at the Passenger concert Bangalore 2025. It was intimate, cozy and lovely.

I attended the Passenger concert in Bangalore yesterday. 

I still can’t believe it.

I attended the concert only to listen to “Let Her Go” and nothing else because that’s the only song I knew of Passenger.

And it was so awesome, probably one of those days you can’t forget in your entire life.

But there were some difficulties along the way.

For example, the security people won’t let me take my backpack inside the venue.

And I almost got angry.


But my sister asked me to send the bag through the Uncle Delivery app, so that I could attend the concert.

I had never used Uncle Delivery but I was surprised to see it was so easy.

After a few minutes of walking here and there, I entered the concert around 8:15 pm I guess.

And the concert hadn’t begun.

So I was able to see the beginning of the concert and the full concert.

It was an experience you couldn’t forget.

It was not as good as the KK concert that I attended many years ago, nor was it as high in energy as the Martin Garrix concert I attended last year I think so.

But the concert felt intimate and sad in a good way.

And if I had to give the concert a rating it would definitely be a 4.9 out of 5 because they didn’t let me take my backpack inside.

And if you ask me what I learnt from this experience, I would say I learnt to follow my heart.

One of the songs Michael Rosenberg (Passenger) sang was about dreams. 

And I think it was a good song and a song that is appropriate for Indian audiences.

Because in India we are encouraged to follow what society wants of us and not to follow our dreams.

Anyways, another thing I learnt from this experience is to take responsibility for my actions.

If I had been more cautious I wouldn’t have brought my backpack to the concert even if the terms and conditions mentioned a big backpack and my backpack was reasonably small.

So a lot of people had come to the concert. Couples, single people, groups of friends, etc. And I felt very good when I saw them.

One of the couples in front of me seemed so lovely.

The girl looked like she was ill and the boy held her close.

It was so lovely.

The people were so happy.

The weather was so good, no rain, moderate temperature.

And that’s all that matters.

When I was listening to the “Let Her Go” song, I was recalling my memories of my friends. And it was lovely.

And if you ask me what advice I have for people who want to attend a Passenger concert later in the future, I would say just relax and enjoy the concert. It’ll be an intimate experience. So make sure to bring your friends also.

And what review would I like to write for Passenger?

Here’s what I’d say-

“I loved the concert. It was intimate and cozy and lovely. I will remember it for the rest of my life. I didn’t know most of the songs except “Let Her Go” and I feel very satisfied that I witnessed Michael Rosenberg sing “Let Her Go”. The security didn’t let me take my backpack inside though. I mean at least they should have checked the bag and allowed me to take it inside. But I loved the concert. I’d give a 4.9/5 rating.”

Thanks for reading this line. It means a lot!

I love electronic dance music (EDM)

What is your favorite genre of music?

I love EDM because it gives me pleasure and satisfaction.

I know it’s basically for dancing in the club and it’s not for strong emotions like sadness or calmness.

But I like it.

I’m a person who doesn’t like stimulating music. And EDM is not so stimulating as love songs or sad songs.

I love EDM because of the values it’s built on.

Values like-

  • Freedom
  • YOLO (you only live once)
  • Friendship
  • Love
  • Peace

Yeah so basically EDM resonates with me.

Thanks for reading this line. It means a lot.

Writing, music, and my mom

What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

I write poems and listen to sad songs(when I’m sad) to cope with negative feelings.

Honesty my repository of activities to do when feeling negative feelings is pretty small.

When I say negative feelings, I mean anger, hopelessness, sadness, apathy, fear, shame, etc.

Emotions

Here’s what I do when I feel these emotions –

Anger–

First I remember the words of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa who said ” যে সয় সে রয়, যে না সয় তার নাশ হয়।” It means in English,”He who tolerates, is able to withstand, He who does not tolerate, gets destroyed.”

Then I stay away from the person I am angry with.

Then I start listening to sad songs and writing.

Hopelessness–

When I feel hopeless, my mother is my savior. She talks to me all the time.

My mother (মা), maa, is my best friend.

Writing doesn’t help in this department. Nor does sad songs.

Sadness–

I listen to sad songs. I guess I write only poems when I feel sad.

Apathy–

Apathy means not feeling like doing anything or “indifference”.

In these case, I ask myself,”What am I interested in learning/doing now?”

Usually it’s some computer skills unrelated to my academic studies.

But it gets me out of my negative feelings.

Fear–

I call my mom because I have no friends.

No sad songs or writing helps though.

Shame–

Shame, self-hatred, etc. are horrible feelings which I feel when visiting some of my relatives’ places.

It’s truly horrible.

They make me feel like I better hide under a rock and disappear for the next 20 years.

They compare me to my cousins and uncles.

They say things that has utter insensitivity to my mental health issues. They don’t understand and they don’t want to understand mental illnesses. Period.

I don’t visit them much. That’s how I cope with shame.

Conclusion

So that’s a lot of combinations of- writing,music and my mom.

I hope I never outgrow these three gifts of my life. May I always love writing, music and my mom (মা).

Well this script is Bengali, our local Indian language in Kolkata, India.

Thanks for reading!

Image credit – https://unsplash.com/photos/silhouette-photo-of-woman-and-girl-on-shoreline-y1wVavuxZtE?utm_content=creditShareLink&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash

The Story of My Favourite Singer 

This is the story of my favourite singer Christina Grimmie. 

Christina Grimmie was a singer, YouTuber and many things. She was also a contestant and top 3 finalists of The Voice Season 6. 

She was also a strong believer in Jesus Christ. Her strong faith was commendable. 

And she was my role model. I looked up to her and wanted to grow up watching her succeed. 

But on 10th June 2016, she was murdered and died from gunshot wounds. 

Story of Christina Grimmie

I found her youtube channel on 5th June 2016(approx. date) and I watched her “Must Be Love” music video and I fell in love with her. Next, I watched all her videos and became a fan.

But on 11th June I was scrolling through her best friend Sarah’s Instagram profile and I saw someone’s comment about someone being shot. 

At first, I was confused. So I googled Christina Grimmie and click the news tab. And I saw the news that Christina Grimmie was shot by a gun.

I was devastated. The next few days I followed all the updates and one day I broke down and started sobbing. I cried and I asked my mom why God did this to her. She was such a good person. How could God do this?

We(me and my family) decided that we would go to church and do something to pray for Christina Grimmie’s soul’s peace. 

So on 19th June 2016, we lit a candle at church after asking permission from the Father and we stayed for the evening prayer that day and something happened. Since then I started believing in God for the first time. 

I listen to Christina’s songs sometimes and I also share them on my social media profiles. I also try to attend the yearly concerts that are conducted by the Christina Grimmie foundation(NGO for supporting gun violence victims) every June 10. 

Conclusion

I know this was personal and not related to mental health or consciousness or anti-casteism, but this could help you find peace of mind. 

Death is not real. When I remember Christina I remember her as a beautiful soul who is with God. We are immortal. We are souls on a journey of self-discovery. So we are never going to die. We are eternal.

This is because death that kills something forever is a concept that doesn’t make sense. How can I, who is the eternal soul, die? God is there!

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please check out her YouTube channel and comment- 

In your life, what made you feel like God is there?

Why I Love EDM (Electronic Dance Music)

In this blog post, I will write about EDM(electronic dance music) and why I love it.

I used to think that it wasn’t possible to explain why one loves a certain type of music. But I will take the risk and try to explain it because I love EDM so much.

Reasons Why I Love It

Here’s a list of reasons-

  1. It makes me feel free
  2. When I hear it I feel connected to other people
  3. It has the perfect balance between feelings and dance
  4. The beats automatically make me want to move and dance
  5. Remixes give new life to original songs
  6. I love the “noise”, it helps me focus when writing
  7. It feels positive

So that’s why I love EDM.

When I was in high school, I loved listening to remixes of Hindi songs and from there I started listening to David Guetta’s songs. That’s how my love for EDM started.

Now my favourite artists are Avicii(RIP), Martin Jensen, The Chainsmokers, Jonas Blue, Martin Garrix, etc. in no particular order.

Why I love EDM in a few words would be “the noise where feelings meet dance”.

There’s another reason why I love EDM. That’s because of hope.

When I listen to EDM, I am immediately transported to a place where there’s hope. I don’t know how to describe it but it feels like the end, the final place, the destination and so on.

It’s the goal I want to reach and listening to EDM temporarily transports me to that goal.

Maybe you feel the same way or differently about your favourite music. It’s just how I feel.

What do I intend to do with this type of music? I aim to listen to it more, learn about it more, learn music, learn music production and DJing as a hobby and learn to appreciate it more.

Conclusion

To sum up, EDM is “the noise where feelings meet dance” for me. And that’s why I love it.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please comment- What is your favourite genre of music? How does it make you feel?

Music Could be Good For Your Mental Health

In this post, I will write about how music has helped me in my mental health journey.

So I was diagnosed in 2015 and I have been going through treatment for depression, bipolar disorder and social anxiety. 

Music has helped me immensely. 

Apart from listening to music, I found huge benefits from practising music. I got admitted to a singing class and I love it. I love the practice, the sound, the Sargam, etc. 

Although it’s not my main career, I love it as a hobby.

So I have always loved music but the problem was with the consistency of practice. I was not practising regularly. 

3 years ago I started harmonium classes and continued them for a few months. Then I joined singing classes online earlier this year and continued for 2 weeks.

I was not prioritizing it and not practising daily. But with that fixed, I feel much more confident.

I feel more peaceful and in a flow state when practising music. 

So basically I am practising with vocals and keyboard and I am trying to learn the fundamentals first. 

I can’t sing well though and I am trying to improve. It will take time and though I am impatient, I will learn patience along with the mastery of music.

The main things that I want to highlight are “flow” and “peace”. 

Flow is when we become so focused and feel bliss in a task that we forget the passage of time. And peace is when we feel peaceful.

Everybody’s mental health can improve with bliss and peace in my opinion. 

It’s a different matter that learning music may not be everybody’s preference. But it’s a good path to choose if that’s one’s priority.

For me practising music has helped me feel more peaceful and in the flow and is good for my mental health.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please comment on which song makes you feel peaceful?