Hyderabad Blues

4 days outside kgp - and life was very much fun.

just 14 hours before boarding train to hyd, we were not sure whether we could perform in the fest. various impediments such as acad load on Vinod and practices on short notice had already made us apprehensive about the outcome of the event. then Yogesh made it clear that he could not come. the afternoon before we had to leave for hyd, Vinod also had no choice but to leave us looking for some other singer. at 7'clock in the evening we were pondering whether to cancel tickets or to really put up a show. finally we decided to get some on stage experience, may be at some cost. so we had Kaushik in the band.

as usual, the train got late, but we had just enough time to reach IIIT and get a feel of the fest felicity) before our performance. after the show, we had a chat with Rana, met Ojha (who was fascinated by the sound of fatal tragedy), gathered ample number of fans. though we stood third, we were better in many respects than other bands. agreed, we did not have own compositions, we did not practice as much, and we covered DT largely when the audience was for more heavy stuff (metal/death/black).

we learned many lessons in wildfire show, and some more here.
1. never use a processor in which you cant set a tone, however pro it may be
2. check sound of each instrument on each monitor (esp when you are covering DT)
3. select a songlist more approproate to the performance, rather than what you would really like to perform
4. have an original composition
5. have a balanced songlist - yet to include deep purple /led zep /van halen /metallica /pantera etc
6. have confidence in yourself and your fellow members.
7. have a smaller sound check, preferably, do not play a sound check song.

so even if our expenses were more than the prize money and we experienced "kataoing" at many points of time in various forms (ask Kaushik), the experience was precious, and the trip was worth the effort.

when 6 junkies have some time off, guess what they do - they pass time. after we realized it was sunday and rang de basanti was housefull long time back, we successfully wasted our time munching and jhandaoing. Apro left us for his conference in Chennai in the aftenoon. then we went to Kaushik's home and watched and listened to DT before we came to know that the train back to kgp had to start late by an hour at least. so we watched and listened DT for some more time :D (passing time is always easy)

apart from the lessons , the wonderful outcomes of this endeavor were few phrases - "No!", "Ooooowk", "Heeeeeeeee" + clap clap clap, "h ha h hm h ha", "hagg do... sab milke haggo... hagte kyo nahi". then there were endless pjs and vocalized instrumedley practices which needed no communication, only few tapping of foot were enough to set the band into yet another recital.

so, what's next? we'll see if we can get to play in such events as much has we can, we will come up with some (at least one) compositions, we will practice instrumedley more and we will cover some more bands..... (hmm too many issues at hand :D)

a hectic day

0:00 - practicing with my band in music room, i discover that the bass cannot be plugged in. I open the bass and plug it the hardcore way.
2:00 - practice and bhat is over, i go back to room. i am ecstatic after i discover the missing nut from the bass assembly.
2:15 - i log on to dc, check out whether someone in playing jumble/trivia/gtw. play for some time. unable to decide whether to sleep or not. decide to work on btp till 7.30 class.
4:30 - that's it... i'm too sleepy, btp kata ;), get some sleep for some time.
7:00 - alarm wakes me up but the drowsiness takes me down again.
7:15 - decide to attend class at 7:30. wake up and brush. have breakfast. wake apro up, he is in no mood.
7:40 - reach class. try to concentrate for 2 hours.
9.40 - go to atm to withdraw cash. discover that i don't have sufficient balance. withdraw as much as i can. wake apro up again and take extra cash.
10:00 - reach reservation counter, reserve 3 tickets and cancel another (for praticipating in Hell's Bell in IIIT's fest felicity, happening in hyd 3rd-5th feb).
10:15 - wonder how that got over in 15 mins and have a cup of coffee.
10:30 - attend another class, listen to a seminar. get a bigger case-study (31 pages) for my presentation in next week.
11:30 - feeling the heat, have a cup of ice-tea.
11:45 - reach room. open dc. play gtw. spam in the quizrooms.
12:45 - wash clothes. have lunch. abuse indian cricket team.
13:10 - come back to room. remember that eastern vocals is happening today. hold a practice session in my room with intermittent gtw and winamp.
15:00 - remember that term project seminar has to be given at 3:30. get hold of a notebook and rush to department.
15:30 - fumble the opening of presentation, so hand over to other fellows in the group. then do bigger bakchodi in the notebook - animations and drawings.
17:30 - return to hall, have snacks. goto room, open dc. before starting gtw, kauwa calls and asks about instruments needed for vocals. suddenly remember that i have to accompany others in vocals.
18:00 - go to music room, pack up and go to raman. wait for our slot.
19:00 - makhao the vocals more or less, listen to abuses of people.
20:00 - go back to hall, have dinner. assure hallmates that position is almost impossible in this event.
20:30 - go to room. try to play aoe a couple of times. once my comp hangs once my opponent's comp hangs. decide to quit.
21:00 - open dc. play gtw for some time and then jumble for some time. call up bandmates for practice. decide to have practice at 12.
23:00 - decide to sleep for an hour. set the alarm on but forget to change timing (7.00 in the morning).
0:15 - mohit has to come and wake me up. get over the "halu" state.
0:25 - go to music room. arrange the bass again. feel happy. practice the songs.
2:15 - practice over, get back to room. open dc. play gtw.
3:15 - after being exiled from both the quizrooms decide to write a blog about the day.
3:30 - complete the diary, but feel that there is lot of matter for blog still uncovered.
3:40 - "I am here right now"

before joining IIT, i had heard about students sleeping 3-4 hours a day and working hard for the rest of the day and how-life-is-hectic-at-iits. it had to be three and a half years to make me realize that such days can exist in a real iitian's student life (i still missed the hardwork part - it had a different connotation altogether).

will write more after returning from hyd.