Hold that leak!

Sunday morning, a lot of people woke up to find social media in a flurry over the hashtag #HoldTheDoor trending — and having no clue what it meant! But of course, it had to do with the latest Game of Thrones episode that had been leaked a day earlier... so #HoldtheDoor not only mystified those who live in a world sans GoT, but most fans as well! Sketch group Put Chutney even showed a live reaction to the episode on Facebook yesterday!

As for those lucky earlybirds who caught the torrents, they are still in a state of denial, posting videos and statuses featuring the late Hodor’s epic line. *evil laughter* It was nothing short of revelatory and heart-breaking – we lost Hodor; and another direwolf.

The plot flits between Sansa Stark preparing to take back the north with Jon Snow, Arya Stark’s typical teenage confusion and indecision, the Greyjoys fleeing the Iron islands, as well as cameos by Little Finger and Daenerys Targaryen (oh, Jorah! You have forever been friend-zoned.) But the majority of the episode focuses on Bran Stark and how the Sight led him to be discovered by the White Walkers. In the epic battle that followed, Hodor dies as he buys time for Meera Reed and Bran to escape; the last words we hear from him (his younger self) are “Hold the door.. hold the door.. hold door… HODOR!!” How do we bounce back from this now?

We listen to this inspired Indian version of the Game of Thrones theme, to cheer us up! Fans can’t get enough of Mahesh Raghvan’s classical cover, with the piece having gone viral, and garnering over a million views... it’s small consolation for Hodor’s death, but then again — we make do!

In a quest to present Carnatic music in a way that will appeal to younger and modern audiences, Mahesh has been Indianising western songs. “I run a project called Flair, where I fuse Carnatic music and electronic music. As part of my project, I started Indianising western songs. I want to promote Indian music and present it in a nice way,” says 25-year-old Mahesh, who is based in Dubai but hails from Mumbai.

It all started when Mahesh released the Indian classical version of Adele’s Hello, which got over 3,97,000 views. He followed it up with the desi versions of Star Wars: Imperial March, the Game of Thrones theme and Rihanna’s Work. “Yes, it started with Adele’s Hello, which went viral and I decided to continue doing this,” he says adding, “The main feedback I get from people is that they find it funny and some of them even like it better than the original.

“Right now, I have just done four covers, but I am working on more. I have also released an album called Flair Carnatic Music 2.0 which has pure Carnatic music fusion.”

Mahesh started learning Carnatic music when he was four. He later got a degree in audio production and pursued his Masters in Music Technology. “I am a singer and a music producer. I compose for games and apps. I also develop iPhone applications. I involve myself with everything that has got to do with music and technology. I use new and advanced technologies like GeoShred on the iPad and Seaboard to compose. These were designed for Western music but I want to work on Indian music on it and bring the focus, that’s another aim of mine.”

Mahesh also teaches music production part time and plans to start a course to teach other musicians how to Indianise Western covers. “Right now, I am working with Indian ragas. We want to teach others how to Indianise western music. We are planning a crowdfunding campaign to cover the cost of production... It’s just to offer the course at a discounted rate and will be hosted on my website. We plan to teach people how to Indianise the songs on traditional instruments. It’s for musicians to learn basic  techniques and go over the basics... So if they have a western song, they can convert the notes to sa re ga ma pa and Indianise it.”