Lifestyle

David Gilmour – On an Island Album Review

“This earthly heaven is enough for me…”

I know it’s a little late to do a review on this one, but since David Gilmour’s music is undoubtedly timeless, I guess I can be excused. 

With his trademark guitar tone and his naturally aged voice that articulates his wisdom, David Gilmour seems to keep the soul of Pink Floyd alive in every song that he composes, and the tracks on On an Island are no exceptions.

The opening piece, named ‘Castellorizon’ sets a very deep, dark, psychedelic mood with samples of sound flying about until it reaches a peak where Gilmour’s guitar enters with a scream. Beautiful. This track leads into the title track, ‘On an Island’, which is an absolute classic. The calmness in David’s voice, backed by the melody and the guitar solos, gives this track an epic feel that runs throughout. The song is richly layered in backing vocals, and is an awesome piece of work.

Gilmour then digs deeper into serenity with ‘The Blue’, which is a very slow-paced mellow tune that relies on sustained notes to carry it through. The album then enters ‘Take a Breath’, where Gilmour unleashes a more rock-style distorted guitar sound. This track has a sense of assertiveness thus making it heavier than the other tracks.

After this, Gilmour breaks into a saxophone solo backed by strings, in a song named ‘Red Sky at Night’. I suppose the track title alone would tell you what to expect from this one. Magical.

David then brings things back up with ‘This Heaven’, which has a bluesy touch combined with strings that create a very unique musical experience. The track ends off jam-style with an improvised solo fading out.

The next track, ‘Then I Close My Eyes’, brings serenity back. Gilmour plays a host of instruments here. It is interesting to see how he uses different elements in the right proportion to create a meaningful unified sound.

This is followed by the last two tracks of the album, ‘A Pocket Full of Stones’ and ‘Where We Start’ which ease into a mellow mood again.

Overall, the album is a pleasant journey, beautifully laid out with with a set of songs that really make you feel like you’re on an island. 🙂

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Moral of the Story

Here are two stories that make us realize something very valuable, which can be applied to anything that we do.

Wrong Prediction

Two friends were sitting by a river which was flowing in great speed. They spotted a bundle of wool in the water moving with the current. One of them said that he would reach out to the bundle and take it so they both can share it. But the other man disagreed saying that it would be risky to jumpy into that speedy water current.

The first man, out of greed, jumped in and tried to pull out the bundle out of the water. Due to the current, he found himself in a tough spot. The other man suspected that his friend will not be able to succeed in, and asked him to leave the bundle and swim back to the river bank.

The foolish man in the water then replied,”I left it already but it is not leaving me because it is not a bundle of wool, IT’S A BEAR!!!!”

Sometimes, we realize that our prediction is wrong only at the point of no return.
Brilliant Masters and Their Intelligent Helper Boys

Two rich men were chatting together and the topic shifted to their helper boys

The first guy said,” My boy is a fool, he just doesn’t comprehend anything“.

Hearing this, the other man said, “Fool’ is not a strong enough word to describe my boy.”

Then they decided to illustrate their helper boys’ idiocy with an example. The first man called his helper, gave him, Rs.10/- and told him to buy a brand new car for him and come back immediately. The servant calmly nodded and received the money and headed out.

The second man called his boy and asked him to go to his house and verify whether he is there in his house or not and come back immediately.

Both the helper boys met outside and talked among themselves.

The first helper boy told the other,”See! How foolish my master is. All shops will be closed today, as it is a Sunday. How will i buy the car?”

The second helper boy then said,” That’s nothing. See how stupid my master is. He has his mobile phone with him; why can’t he just make a call to his residence and check if he’s there?”

Your decision may be right, but your reason could be wrong.

Spotlight

TAFE Corporate Communications Receives PRCI Chanakya Award – Corporate Citizen of the Year 2013

The Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) is a national corporate body of professionals from the fields of corporate communications, public relations, advertising, and media. 

Today, the PRCI kicked off its 7th two-day Global Communications Conclave 2013, where TAFE’s Corporate Communications team received the PRCI Chanakya Award for “Corporate Citizen of the Year”. The Chanakya awards are presented every year to PR and Communication professionals who have achieved  exceptional records and contributed greatly to their field. This award recognizes TAFE for being an inclusive organisation by working with society and supporting the farming community as a responsible corporate.

The award was presented by Mr. H. S. Brahma, Election Commissioner of India, to Mr. Vijayakumar Browning, G. M. Corporate Communications, TAFE.

We, at Corporate Communications, truly hope that this recognition is just the beginning of many more awards to come our way!

News

The Magical Suggestion Box

A suggestion box that was recently kept at the entrance of the machine shop at our Sembiam premises is proving to be a good tool for idea generation!

Visible to all, the suggestion box is an initiative to bring in cost saving  ideas from the workmen. Since the day the box was introduced, suggestions have been pouring in, and also have been growing in number. Apart from cost saving ideas, a lot of suggestions have been coming in on topics related to Kaizen and other topics. 

Due to the sheer convenience of this box, everyone collectively feels that the box should  be a permanent feature in the premises.

All that the employees need to do, is put their suggestion forms into a pouch which is fitted against the box. Different pouches are kept to seggregate the different topics for which suggestions have been received. The simplicity of this box has made it a grand success!

 

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A Small Poem on TAFE

Here is a short poem about TAFE which expresses how TAFE serves the agricultural community and the rest of the world, by being a friend to farmers worldwide, thereby enriching lives and empowering dreams.

The Poem:

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News

Fire and Safety Training Held at Head Office

An interactive Safety Training was conducted in the Head Office on 18th Feb 2013 by Mr. Rajendran, Chief Fire Officer, Amalgamations Group.
 
Mr. Rajendran delivered a very interesting briefing regarding various types of emergencies that could occur in office, public places and in residences and as to how one should take preventive and reactive actions.
 
In the seminar, he also explained in detail about Fire accidents, about safety norms to be followed in case of fire and he also explained the roles of various teams for controlling the fire in office.