Monthly Archives: February 2016

New York City – Gates to Trance Heaven

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I’m a New Yorker. Not born here, but bred here. I love everything about this vibrant city, I equally hate many things about this complicated city. However, one thing I can never complain about is the diverse music scene here — whether it is blaring in lounges, clubs, upscale bars, house parties in the city, Queens or Brooklyn. Yes, I will speak for those three specific boroughs because I’m usually laughing and dancing in spots around there.

I’m a huge trance music fan. When I say huge, I mean YUUUUUGE in Sanders term – I am absolutely taken with everything about this genre of music. I love how listening to Mir Omar’s podcast, Gareth Emery’s EFL or Anjuna Deep’s podcast at work keeps me motivated. I love how Above & Beyond, Eric Prydz, Gai Barone music keeps me healthy emotionally. I love how Armin Van Buuren & Araab Muzik makes me want to put on some fresh heels and simply dance away.

I have been to EDCNY festivals few times, I have seen Armin Van Buuren, Above & Beyond, Andrew Bayer perform magical 5 hour long sets in Madison Square Garden, I have been equally mesmerized with Gareth Emery and Eric Prydz live sets in Terminal 5 recently. The immense diversified crowds, the energy that emanates from the surrounding is just awe inspiring. There is barely ever any negativity, just PLUR.

I respect trance music, I appreciate pure trance even more. I love losing myself for those few hours watching these DJs spin the best they got — to which my emotions can relate to, can dance to without any inhibitions. I jump at the first instance when a ticket for one of my favorite DJs goes on sale and I feel so fortunate to live in a city so pivotal that these DJs need to include in their tour dates. I am blessed and I’m a bubble wrapped in excitement when I dress up and head to these venues to just lose myself in the magnetism of trance music. My mind is completely entranced and my heart is in ecstasy for that period of time and that to me is unquestionable freedom.

It can be at times difficult to explain with mere words what these legendary DJs mean to my life, my philosophy, my temperament, my ambitions and my optimism. Unadulterated happiness, my dear friends, has not one specific definition.

 Eric Prydz – Terminal 5

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Birth of my Wings

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As a child, I had the privilege to travel to quite a few cities with my parents. Dhaka, Medina, New Delhi, Athens, Al-Khobar, Calcutta, Dubai, Orlando, Michigan, Makkah, New York, Toronto etc. My memories from those days are as clear & vibrant like it was just yesterday, packing multiple suitcases & trotting from one airport to the next — I will forever be grateful to my father and mother for planting that travel bug in me at that tender young age.

I embarked on my first solo journey by hopping into a greyhound to Charlotte when I was just 19. I barely had money — I just had a duffel bag packed with many colorful Gap t-shirts, a gloss, nail polish, a nokia phone, a sony digital camera and jeans. I was too damn excited to commute to Port Authority from my home in Queens and take that 18 hour long bus ride down south. Roundtrip on greyhound was exhausting at best but I was a young girl with guts & I’d go wherever my heart would take me.

My travels abroad or in the continental USA had however diminished significantly in those critical years of my 20s. I did go on trips to Montreal, Ann-Arbor, Boston, Washington DC, Lake George here and there but now that I look back, I wish I had planned extensive trips to the mid-west, the west coast, Middle East, Africa or Europe. But regrets aside, I hope to partake in many adventures with different cultures now. I plan to embark on a trip to South Asia in spring and I’m looking into a multi-city tour in Europe for later on this year. Should I visit Dublin, Paris and London first or should I take a 5day trip to Iceland instead? Maybe a long week trip to Berlin & Italy? Decisions, decisions! yet, I can’t wait. The in-depth research, the planning, the bubbling excitement to leave my comfort zone to venture out & be in awe with the nature, the inhabitants, the cuisines, the art, the hustle & bustle in different metropolis. So much to see, to love, to learn, to be wary of.

This year marks the Birth of my Wings. Fly me.

My sister & I in front of the magnificent Taj Mahal, Agra [1992]