Jim Ankan Deka | Music, Photography and More

Road to Mudumalai National Park (photo - Jim Ankan Deka) "If you want to see tiger, go to a zoo; not a tiger reserve!" Says Nitesh, one of the officials of Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu. It was a bright sunny day when we reached the entrance of Mudumalai National Park. We already had rooms booked at The Nest Inn, a small but clean resort in Masinagudi (one of the five ranges of the wildlife sanctuary). The 180° panoramic view from the resort was actually astounding. The cool green background reminded me of my hometown in Assam of North East India. After checking in, we thought of going through the travel guidebook. First destination on the menu was the Moyar River, a tributary of Bhavani river which originates from a small town called Moyar along the Masinagudi. The moment we reached the river, which was actually very close to our resort, we got the stench of human excreta. What we thought to be a clean forest and animal destination, ended up becoming the lav...

Ashok Singha and Jim Ankan Deka (Rock Hammer audition) (Photo courtesy - INAC ) I was all exited when I got a call from Shiney George of ' AOM - An Open Mind ' an event management company in Bangalore, as an invitation to participate as a judge for the Rock Hammer competition, a rock contest for upcoming rock bands of Bangalore organised by INAC - Indian National Autocross Championship. The prelim rounds held on April 18 and finals on April 29, 2012. The prelim went pretty well and I was accompanied as a judge by another musician from Bangalore, Ashok Singha. In the finals, four bands from Bangalore were selected to play and share the same stage with the Delhi band, Parikrama. The contest was supposed to start by 4PM after the first round of the AOM-Indian National Autocross Championship at the Palace grounds ends. But due to some technical error we, along with the bands and Parikrama had to wait till 8:30PM for the start. All the four bands - Paper Sun, The News, H...

I was invited as one of the judges along with my brother Ankur Deka at the Alcheringa festival of Indian Institute of Technology , Guwahati in Feb, 2012. We judged two music contests - 'Raga High' and 'Rhapsody'. We had the privilege of meeting some of the renowned musicians, film-stars, directors and theater personalities. Some of the photos of the festival below. Matan Shmuely ( drummer of the Death Metal band from Israel ' Orphaned Land ') and Jim Ankan Deka   Noam Rubinstein , Fyodor Makarov and  Yolana Zimmerman of 'Ish Theatre' a theatre group from Israel performing the play "Odysseus Chaoticus", based on clowning and mime at Alcheringa, 2012 Jim Ankan Deka and Ankur Deka (judges for Raga High music competition) Alcheringa, 2012, IIT, Guwahati Soulmates, the blues band from Shillong performing at Alcheringa, 2012 A view from the IIT Guwahati guest house Bong Bratz, the band from calcutta winning the 2nd...

It was quite a thrill when I got an invitation to the Spring Fest 2012 (IIT Kharagpur festival), as a guest and judge for the events 'Lake Side Dreams' and 'Sargam' from Jan 21 to Jan 23. Though I have been to West Bengal before, never had a chance to visit Kharagpur; that to the famous campus of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. The three hours journey from Bangalore to Calcutta and Two and a half hours journey from Calcutta to Kharagpur was not something I was looking forward to. Moreover, had to wait for almost three hours in the Calcutta airport for another guest from Delhi as we were supposed to go in the same car. Yashovardhan, the student delegate, who came to receive us, was quite respectful and entertaining though. The four days stay at the IIT guest house and moving around the campus helped me in understanding that IIT Kharagpur is really one of the oldest and respected institutes of India and it was definitely a privilege for me to have ...