WHEN I FELT LIKE A ROCK STAR!!!!

It all started on a December Saturday afternoon, when I received a call, offering me a chance to join my college Music Band. The feeling was something different; my 1st year in senior college & I was directly asked to join my college music band – no auditions, no nothing!!!!
My friend Prasanna & I, went to the college the next day, for the meeting. It was there that, we were told that, we are going to participate in the biggest college festival in Pune – VERVE.
Our team was formed & we started practicing. It was a new altogether, with only 3 seniors with us. Prasanna was playing the Tabla & rhythms & I was in charge of percussions.
Everything was so new to us. Spending the whole day together, surrounded by nothing else but music!! Sharing lunch, cracking jokes & also practicing a little bit!!!! Some ego & other problems did come in our way, but we managed to keep it going.

ROUND -1: ELIMINATIONS

It was the 1st round of the competition. Out of many colleges, the best would go to the semis. The tension was getting on our nerves. There were those last minute huddles , those last minute revisions of notes, who played which piece, at what point was there a cut, etc.
Our turn came. Our 30-minute time started. We started our performance, with our sequence of songs decided earlier. But as we started – HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM!! – the monitors (speakers) on the stage were not working. We couldn’t hear what we were playing!!
But everyone kept their cool & we performed all the songs only on our timing of beats. At the end of the show we got a huge applause. Our performance was a hit.
But we came all nervous & anxious into the green room. We thought, this was the end of the road.
Then came the wait for the result. This is the hardest & longest wait ever. All other teams had gone, only their representatives were present. But our whole team was waiting there.
At last the results came out. We came in the 1st position. There were hugs & handshakes all over. Our confidence got boosted to do even better in the semis, because, now the competition had got tougher.
We practiced hard. Our real test was to play the song ‘ Aa Dekhen Zara’ from the film ‘Rocky’ – a R.D.Burman score/track.
Being a R.D. track, the song had different & difficult rhythm patterns, various notes, an out-of-the world composition. But we managed to get a little close to the original.

ROUND 2 – SEMI-FINALS:

Now, this was the real stuff!! A huge stage, a huge audience of young collegians in front & all lights on you. You have to get your act right!!
We were the last to perform. So in our huddle we told each other, lets give them a show, that will rock them. & we decided to perform ‘Aa Dekhen Zara’ as our finale.
The show went as per the plan & it went well. The crowd was swinging to our beats. The finale came. Just the announcement of which song we were going to perform next, received huge cheers.
We started the song on cue from our keyboard player. The song had different & difficult rhythm patterns. It was upto Prasanna & me to make the song a success.
Our practice paid off. The song was performed par excellence.
At the end of the song, the cheers from the crowd were deafening. The song was a big hit!! The crowd started chanting our college’s name.
While playing the Congo, my right hand had started to bleed, but due to such high adrenaline & the crowd going haywire, kept me going.
For the 1st time in my life I felt like a ‘ROCKSTAR’, as the crowd’s applause grew & grew.
After securing the 1st position in the semis, we went into the finals.
But due to some nasty behavior of couple of our team members, we ended up 3rd in the competition.
But in all it was a hell of an experience & has surely changed my attitude towards people & life!!!!