iWorld
Human Bondage’s founders reunite for multi-city tribute tour
BENGALURU: India’s early rock legacy returns to the stage this January as founding members of the seminal 1970s band Human Bondage reunite for a three-city concert series titled Tribute to Human Bondage, presented by BLR Airport with Air India Express as official travel partner.
The tour opens in Bengaluru on 16 January before travelling to Goa and concluding in Mumbai, offering audiences a rare revival of the raw, rebellious sound that shaped India’s formative rock years. The concerts bring together Human Bondage founder members Henry “Babu” Joseph and Ramesh Shotham, joined by jazz vocalist Radha Thomas at select venues, alongside contemporary jazz-fusion outfit the Rajeev Raja Combine.
Bengaluru serves as a symbolic launchpad for the series, marking a homecoming for a band deeply intertwined with the city’s early rock movement. Human Bondage, active through the 1970s and 1980s, remains a touchstone for Indian rock aficionados, known for blending Western rock and blues with a distinctive local sensibility.
Rajeev Raja, frontman of the Rajeev Raja Combine, said the collaboration was deeply personal, citing Joseph’s influence during his formative years as a musician. Henry Babu Joseph described the tour as an emotional reunion, revisiting cities where the band originally performed during its early years.
Beyond nostalgia, the series positions live music as a shared cultural experience, foregrounding musicianship, improvisation and collective energy over digital consumption. The concerts aim to introduce younger audiences to rock music in its most elemental form—unfiltered and performed live.
For BLR Airport, the collaboration reinforces its positioning as a cultural hub that supports live arts beyond transit spaces. Air India Express said its association reflects the airline’s wider engagement with India’s cultural ecosystem, including its ‘Tales of India’ initiative, which showcases indigenous art across its aircraft fleet.
Tribute to Human Bondage is powered by BrandMusiq and managed by StreaminLive. Tickets for the Mumbai show on 17 January at Fandom are available on SkillBox.
iWorld
OpenAI hits back at Elon Musk’s lawsuit ahead of trial
Company calls claims “baseless” and accuses Musk of trying to disrupt a rival.
MUMBAI: When the stakes are measured in billions and egos are involved, even Silicon Valley titans can turn a courtroom into a battlefield. OpenAI has issued a sharp public response to Elon Musk’s ongoing lawsuit, accusing the billionaire of filing the case to harass a competitor rather than address genuine concerns. In a strongly worded statement shared on its official X account, OpenAI described Musk’s allegations as “baseless” and suggested the lawsuit is an attempt to disrupt the company as the case heads toward trial later this month in Oakland, California.
The response comes after Musk’s legal team recently amended the complaint, proposing that any damages potentially exceeding $150 billion should go to OpenAI’s nonprofit entity rather than to Musk personally. OpenAI questioned the timing and motive behind this change, calling it a late-stage attempt to “pretend to change his tune” on the nonprofit structure.
The company further labelled the lawsuit a “harassment campaign”, arguing that Musk’s actions are driven by personal rivalry, ego, and a desire for greater control and financial upside.
At the heart of the dispute is Musk’s claim that OpenAI has abandoned its original nonprofit mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. A co-founder who left in 2018, Musk is seeking governance changes, including the removal of CEO Sam Altman from the nonprofit board, and the return of certain financial gains linked to Altman and President Greg Brockman.
OpenAI has firmly rejected these allegations, maintaining that its current hybrid structure, a public-benefit corporation overseen by a nonprofit parent remains true to its long-term goals. The company has also previously accused Musk of anti-competitive behaviour aimed at weakening its leadership.
As the case prepares for a jury trial, this public exchange highlights the deepening rift between two of the most influential figures in the AI revolution and raises broader questions about governance, mission, and power in the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence.
In the high-stakes game of AI, it seems the real drama isn’t just inside the models, it’s playing out in courtrooms too.
