Its almost the end of the year, the perfect time to make the year-end lists. So I thought I’ll start with a list of the best music that I heard for the first time in 2009. I have tried to include an audio or a video sample for all the music in the list to help you discover new music too.

Lets start with the first part of the list with new music released in 2009:

1) Dev.D – All Songs: It was almost overwhelming to have 18 amazing and diverse songs in one album. I loved all of them and still do but my favorites are Dhol Yaar Dhol (sampled here), Nayan Tarse and Ek Hulchul Si.

2) Delhi-6 – Many Songs: Again, this album released close on the heels of Dev.D and had mostly good songs with Dill 6, Arziyaan and Dil Gira Dafatan (featured below) being my favorites.

3) Oren Lavie – Her Morning Elegance: A friend suggested this video to me which was fast becoming a YouTube sensation and for good reason. I liked the video & I liked the song more.

4) Miles Fisher – This Must Be The Place: Another song I notice because of the video was becoming a rage. This cover of the Talking Heads song pays a tribute to the movie “American Psycho” through its video. I like the electronic feel of the song and the video is good too.

5) Wake Up Sid – Kya Karoon/Iktara: Two awesome songs – one more than the other – from a surprisingly good soundtrack. I like Kya Karoon slightly more though.

6) Owl City – Fireflies: Another song suggested by a friend. Although the band was totally new for me, their music is very similar to one of my favorites, The Postal Service. Owl City is also a fan of them so its understandable. Really good, surreal, electronic pop!

7) Sara Lov – Fountain: Discovered this gem of a song on Amie Street. Fine lyrics, a haunting voice and soothing music make this a great slow, mellow song.

Now, the second part of the list with music that released earlier but received the honour of being heard by me only this year:

8 Stars – 14 Forever: Stars released their EP, Sad Robots late last year but for some curious reason, I missed it. I did get around to it this year and especially liked this song. Its a light-hearted, fun, summery song.

9) Feist – I Feel it All / Mushaboom: Last.fm recommended Feist to me based on my music library and they were right. I like the dreamy quality of her songs. See it for yourself in the Mushaboom video.

10) Anoushka Shankar & Karsh Kale - Oceanic, Part 2 (Feat. Ravi Shankar): This song is a classic example of how music doesn’t always need words. Fantastic piece!

So here you have the best music I heard in 2009. What were some of your favorites this year?

Some of the best birthday memories I have are of me returning home from school to find my sisters lovingly putting things into place for my birthday party and doing everything they could to make the day special for me. I wish I could go back to that time.

I can’t usher in this birthday with the same fervor that I do every year but I am doing the best I can.

So, Happy Birthday, myself!

Here’s wishing that the year ahead will bring happiness for me and my family.

Disbelief, shock, despair and overwhelming sadness are some of the emotions that me and my family have been going through for the past 10 days now. I lost my sister on 1st November.

So half my management course is over already. That was fast, now wasn’t it? And we have an ongoing 10-day vacation before the elective terms start. My original plan was to spend large part of this vacation in Bangalore catching up with old friends but thanks to the incessant rains and the accompanied flooding, my plans were ruined. I hate it when that happens.

I am still trying to salvage the holidays by doing as little as possible everyday. We also found a way to convert our apartment into a theater every night with the help of a projector. Take a look at my movie reviews page here. I’ve watched all the movies for October 2009 in the list since the vacation started and will continue watching more movies till the vacations end.

So, a lot happened since the last post. Here’s a gist: Term 2 ended. I took a four vacation and visited home. Term 3 began. All hell broke lose. Term 3 ended. The world was beautiful again!

In the five day break last week, I tried to make the most of the beautiful world and I chose to mostly do nothing to enjoy the days properly. I did, however, watch a cult Hindi movie, Gunda, which was nothing short of a classic. Scene after scene of pure unadulterated, unintentional comedy.

And on Saturday, not only did I find this clip on you tube of a hillarious scene from the movie Clerk but my flatmate, Amit, also ordered the movie which is finally available after years of wait. Yay!

Moving on, the weather has been phenomenally good in Hyderabad for the past den days or so and the greenery in the campus looks livelier than ever before.

Term 4 began today and the usual grind has started.