Heavy Metal's True Godfather

The grand wizard of classic rock. A poet of hope for the heavy metal masses. Possibly the single most important vocalist in the history of heavy metal. Easily the most talented one. The man whose trademark tales of dungeons and dragons and wizards, of sorcery, war and heroic glory and the underlying good versus evil theme may have single-handedly inspired every major heavy metal act. All these accolades and many more that don't come to mind that readily have been garlanded upon Ronnie James Dio.

The world of heavy metal is divided into two parts, the first being the part that respects and reveres and looks for inspiration from the man that is Ronnie James Dio, and the second one, which in turn respects and reveres the first. 
This is the man famed for popularizing the mano cornuta or the corna, known commonly as the Devil's Horns, the gesture which to this day is used by the hordes of metalheads who throng concerts.
How many musicians, irrespective of genre can brag about recording and touring consistently in six different decades?
How many people can get over 40 artists of arguably the biggest heavy metal bands of the time (the eighties) to collaborate (This project titled Hear 'N Aid raised a cool USD one million to fight starvation in Africa). 
Dio has played in over eleven bands, notably the iconic Black Sabbath, and the equally popular Rainbow. He has also lent his vocal talents to at least a dozen (Queensrÿche, Deep Purple and Rough Cutt are a few that spring to mind) other bands in the industry.

During his Rainbow days he along with Blackmore (of Deep Purple fame) pioneered classic metal with albums like Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and Rising.
In his time in there, he helped Sabbath break out of their creative slump and was instrumental in formation of two of Black Sabbath's massive monoliths, Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules. Just another feather in his cap.
His first solo offering, one of metal's all time classics, Holy Diver was a brilliant amalgamation of Ronnie's immense vocal prowess and brilliant lyrical and compositional skills that married heaviness and melody in a never before heard of way. This paved the way for him to become of the biggest live acts of the eighties.
Currently playing with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice as Black Sabbath reformed, under the moniker of Heaven and Hell, a reference to Sabbath's biggest album in the Dio years, he proves he's not one to let age get in his way, especially after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.
All this together makes sure one cannot deny that Dio has had an immeasurable effect and incredible influence on heavy metal.
Hopefully the legend kills his dragons and gets back to enthralling metalheads worldwide. 
So, all hail Dio. Heavy Metal's True Godfather. Period. \m/ 

My travels to Hell and back

A campus far far away from the city. Really far away. Bang in the middle of nowhere. Hell, we could be Courage The Cowardly Dog's neighbour. Go ahead, try locating us on Google Earth. Hint - look for smoky grey cloud not too far from Yelahanka, which emanates from the smokers-hut opposite our college. The way to our college - the Doddabalapur Highway, resembles the track from Death Race, you know, with all the accidents, car-wrecks and everything. The public transport system along the road is crappy, with only one bloody bus route, route 285 - jam packed with people all across the spectrum.    Its worse than most heavy metal concerts.Crowds pushing you every which way and ever so ready to lynch, so many heads around all you that all you see is a sea of black, unrecognizable food articles lying all over the floor, people pushing you ever so violently to make it to the front and get off the bus (See Moshing in Wikipedia) and finally when its your turn to get off people barging in without any consideration, brutally elbowing their way in, yeah, Route 285 has got its own Wall Of Death. Go ahead and Google Wall of Death (just in case http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wall+of+death). Yeah, uh huh, heavy metal concerts though surprisingly similar, are a complete push over compared to Route 285. Once outside the bus you look at the sheer volume of people it carries on each and every trip. Its at these times that you tend to marvel Tata's engines begin to respect this industrial giant and their R&D division.

Okay, so you've braved Route 285 and reached the stop right outside college. You notice what looks like some sort of prehistoric swamp. Civilization for us is the Photocopy shop outside college. Then again, considering our location having power throughout the day is something to be thankful for. You step out of the bus wondering where to go. You walk past an entrance similar to the one in Jurassic Park. Walking a little bit ahead, you see the dome shaped guard house and decide to walk in. The guard stops you demanding for ID card. Yes, my college unfortunately is among the many targets of terrorists around the world. You turn back and walk through the other entrance. No one stops you. A bloody Abram tank could pass through this particular entrance and the guards about twenty feet away, manning the main entrance wouldn't notice. So much for security.

 Once inside the campus you walk past a slum where construction workers live, for around five minutes. You tend to notice that the college is kinda small. Not much space for whiling away doing absolutely nothing after bunking classes. You see three buildings. The college buildings. Most of us walk towards the main building, it being where most the branches are supposed to be located. This alternative way into the college is something of an off-roader's dream track. As in a really bad dream. Bad bad dream. You'd think rally cars have a tough time navigating through the muddy path filled with large puddles, pit-holes, what seem to be quicksands, assorted gigantic plants sprouting out of the ground right out of nowhere, like I said - Jurassic Park. Well its a short walk, so you suck it up. Walking into the main building, you'll notice two pictures, one of the great Sir M. Visvesvaraya and the other of our founder. It then occurs to you that no one has known what the expansion of the initials in his name are, and it will continue to remain a secret lost forever to the sands of time. Chuckling, you walk towards the lift to reach the classroom. Yeah, this is how on an average day I get my arse to class, just so that I can lug it back home after getting screwed over by every other lecturer. Ah, how fun college life is!