Vasant - Spring with the Guitar!

Unable to survive without a guitar, I forced myself to buy one just a few month after landing in Wichita for my Masters. Thought I had a few good sessions and a few good jams, I never really found a reason to go all out and spend useful time on the guitar.

At last, came Spring 2011 and with it, Vasant. An Indian event to celebrate the onset of Spring that included Indian dance, song and food. It was the thing I was waiting for. We were supposed to have had 2 events in 2010 but both of them didn't happen due to poor management. Finally when there was a complete make-over for the Indian student association, we could bring together all the ideas to organize this event.

Till 2 weeks before this, I was not part of anything. But suddenly over night, I got involved quite deeply to say the least. It all started with a casual visit to one of the dance studios my friends were practicing at. I noticed one of them constantly walking towards the audio system, playing the song, running back, dancing and then, running back to pause the song. I said I'll handle that part and I just had to be cued as to where I was supposed to pause or play.

That simple start to my involvement grew in size to a point where things almost went out of control! After practice, they were discussing points about mixing the tracks and arranging them together. Once again, I said, I can handle that part as I've been dealing with audio composing/editing/mixing from quite a few years. They immediately agreed and I started mixing the songs for them. It was very easy to do. Then one day, the 'leader' of the group, Harindra (though there was no real leader) asked me if I could re-create a certain piece of music that sounded like a music box. I did it for him and he loved it. From then on, I was called the "DJ" of the group.

The next 2 weeks that followed were filled with fun, laughter, music and dance. It was customary to hang out after every practice at any of the 24 hour restaurants. We had only 2 options, Denny's or IHOP. We used to alternate between the 2 and this would continue almost till 5 AM. Each of us had a 'trait' that the other could make fun of.

This end of the story was going fine. But then I thought this is all about dance and I had nothing to do with dance! I was surprised the idea took so long to strike me. Why wasn't I performing? I have performed before on stage, then why not now? I got the answer the moment I asked myself the question. I have no singer...

In the one year I've been here, I didn't find a single person who I felt was a good enough singer. Performing solo guitar on stage is not my thing, and I don't believe the general audience would enjoy it either because they wouldn't understand the technical aspects of the instrument. Guitar solos are for specific audience, the kind that know what is being done on the instrument, not the impatient students and boring families!

I asked the 'leader' of the dance group who was the Cultural head for the event to find me a singer. Within a day, he gave me the number of a guy whose name he didn't even know! I stored his number as 'Singer' and spoke to him a couple of time till we could finally meet. Finally it turned out the 'singer' was none other than Assad, a Pakistani guy I met a few times and we shared quite a few mutual friends.

Just about 4 days before the event, I finally had a jam session with him. His voice and talent was just mindblowing. I was happy that I was going to perform for sure because with a voice like his, any song was possible. We jammed a few Pakistani bands that were featured in Bollywood movies and the results were quite good. Time was short and we had one jam session so far and it was already just one day to go.

The day before the event, we had another short jam session and were not yet decided upon the songs. Finally the day arrived. We rushed to the Theater for rehearsals and eliminated the tough ones and reverted back to the simpler songs. We also had to eliminate a small piece of lead guitar as I didn't have enough confidence to play it right on stage.

In between all this, I had to remaster the final mix for the dance group and they were constantly having changes in their arrangement. The final mix was not exported till the last day. Moreover, my cousin who was also performing a solo dance asked me to mix her song. It was relatively much easier so I could finish it in a very short time.

By now, my involvement was getting quite hectic. I was helping the Cultural head with all the arrangements at the theater as very few volunteered. And then, came one more little involvement which I was glad I agreed to. There was a flute player who was performing solo. He asked me if I could join him for a song called Runaway by the Irish band The Corrs. I immediately agreed and this was just about 3 hours before the show!!

We jammed a little bit and found that it was coming out pretty good. But at the moment there were a lot of other things to handle. There were not enough people taking care of arrangements and a few of us were forced to over work. I ended up being there even when people were having lunch in another building. I was also incharge of the audio tracks along with the sound guy for the night.

Things started getting hectic and I still hadn't changed for the event. People were walking in and getting seats, waiting for the show to start. I thought it was high time I got ready and rushed home, changed and came back to the venue. By now, the show had started and the guests were talking on stage and giving away awards.

Soon the dance programs would start and I was supposed to play the tracks from the laptop that was connected to the audio system. The first performance was a dance by a 5 year old girl. I took a good breath and clicked on play. The song started playing and the girl was sitting. She wasn't moving. Why wasn't she dancing? I looked at the screen and the song was playing. But there was no audio. She was still waiting, looking around expecting the song to play. The curtain closed! I panicked like crazy. I looked for all the options that would have caused the problem with the sound. The connections looked fine. The volume knobs were proper. Everything looked fine but there was no audio feed in the mixer! I was stunned and then checked on the laptop and discovered it was on mute! I cursed myself for not having known that from before and unmuted it.

There was an order to open the curtains again through the wireless transmitters and we played the song again. This time it played fine and the girl danced well. After that things looked smoother. But suddenly there was another glitch. There was a guy pestering me to add a last minute change to his song and asked me to connect his flash drive. I finally did it for him as I was slowly getting pissed at him. For a strange reason, when I pressed enter on a song, some other song started playing on the system. The girls who were ready to dance were looking around confused. I was surprised. I closed it and played the song again. Once again, some other song was playing. I was angry now. I had to open the song in another player and it finally started playing and I was really pissed by now. Nothing seemed to be going right for me and I had 2 performances within 10-15 min. I asked a friend to handle the system and left from there.

I went down to meet the flute player who's performance was next. He started with his solo accompanied by a karaoke track. It sounded really good. Finally he introduced me onto the stage. I stepped on and looked out and wanted to wave. But I could see nothing. I was practically blinded. The lights were glaring into my eyes and it was hurting. But that wasn't supposed to be my problem. I had a chair waiting for me there so I just sat on and adjusted the microphone onto my guitar. I didn't know if I had to do a small sound check. With the lack of monitors on stage, we had no idea what the audience could hear. The audio guy had to look after that. I just played a chord or two and indicated upward to ask if it was ok. Obviously I couldn't see anything so I didn't know what the response was. I just started playing, praying that the sound was alright. The flute kicked in after a sequence. And we went on very smoothly. Every transition, every change in tune was done as if it was well rehearsed. We just had to have a glance to know that the next part was coming. It was great all the way to the ending where another single glance was enough to communicate that it's done. We got a pretty good applause. And we left the stage.

I then went back up to see if things were going smoothly. Everything finally seemed to be falling into place. I had to go back down to prepare for the next performance with the singer. Suddenly he asked me where the lyrics were. I said I placed them on the same table where the guitars were placed. Clearly, they weren't there. I rushed back to the audio room to see if the papers were around. I didn't find them. I looked in my bag. Not again! I was approaching a bursting limit now!

There was about 10 min left and he said he'd rewrite the lyrics for just one song as he felt pretty confident about the other 2. So armed with the last minute lyrics and a lot of tension, we hit the stage, second time for me.

I felt a lot more confident but a lot more confused. It was weird. I somehow couldn't keep myself as calm as I was before. We started with Dil Harey and it sounded pretty good. I just had a very minor screw up which I'm sure nobody noticed. Then came Toh Phir Aao. I started off with a wrong strumming pattern and suddenly had to correct myself. The rest of the song was pretty good after that. Assad's voice was flowing effortlessly and it felt good to be playing with such a quality singer. Then, finally we brought some interactivity into the crowd and got them involved with Tum Ho Toh. Apart from a tiny screw up of a chord and messing up the ending (assume that I didn't want to leave the stage so early!), everything went really well. Apparently it sounded so good that some of my friends found it tough to fight off tears. I was quite stunned and happy at the same time.

As we went off stage, I knew the audience liked it. If the volume levels were good, it HAD to be a great show. We were about 95% perfect. Couldn't get better.

After that, I remained backstage to watch my friends perform their dance for whom I mixed the tracks. They did a pretty good job too, with some really smart on-stage improvisations. Overall, the show ended much better than how it started. It felt good to have been a part of such an event. The decision to be involved had paid off.

AFTERMATH:
We were all so happy and excited and received many congrats from many people. After a very long photo session which involved some really crazy antics, we finally went to get some dinner. I hadn't eaten anything all day long. It was the first meal I was going to have. I had to buy 2 meals at Denny's to satisfy myself. We were around 20 odd people creating havoc in the otherwise silent diner at 3 AM. It was all still crazy. The excitement didn't wear off for a couple days after that.

We were busy analyzing each other's performances and trying to grab hold of all the photos and videos posted around facebook. Suddenly I realized a month had passed in all this. I had other things to look out for. I didn't want to care at the moment. It had to wear off like it always does...

Mind Maze, The

Hating to wake up every morning. Its a nightmare opening the paper and reading mood-spoiling news. I still do it. I still read it. The sickness sets in immediately. The mind goes into a maze.

What all should I do today? What all can I do today? Can I step onto the street and come back home safely? I'm taking a risk with this one. What if some stupid guy draped in 'pink' misses his shopping-mall-window-pane target and breaks my head with a stone? What if I meet a friend on the road and some cop comes and arrests us for forming a 'group' on the road? What is happening to the city I only just began to explore and love?

I gotta buy some stuff. I gotta get some vaccinations done. I need to rush to the bank to finish up the financial stuff. I need to meet my friends before I leave the country. I need to meet relatives/family. I need to step outside home for all this. When do I do all this? Life cannot afford to go out of gear because of some stupid 'pink' guys who are lead by lying Pinocchios with noses so big that the point is way too obvious!

I go out to buy stuff. I go get my vaccinations done. I reach the bank amid all worries about closing... oh! And the bank is another whole new problem at hand. We have these 'bankers' to deal with! The T issue is nothing before this. Applying for a loan for the first time? Aha! Enjoy the ride of your life! You ask what documents you gotta bring to finish up the process, and they lazily say, "Ah! Your usual visa, passport copies, stamps, BURP! (no "excuse me" follows), and yeah.. that's it". And you go there the next day with the required documents and the lady at a counter gives you a letter and says, "Get a Rs.10000 registrar stamp on this". Bam! They mention docs but not the money? And here comes the tighter slap. She gives me a draft with recipient as the bank itself and the value on that? "Rs 1,21,583 /-" "Pay that downstairs and come back now". NOW? What do you think I'd carry that amount in my pocket and walk around??? That 'simple' thing cost us a whole day.. how very appropriate when time's happily running out! The next day, another bandh. Tell me something new...

These frustrations piled up so bad, my head got jammed for a few hours! I entered the mind maze. Trying to find a way out. Every turn seemed to lead me only deeper and deeper in but never out. The walls were getting higher, darker and creepier. The self-confidence was ebbing. It was matter of holding on to the last fragments of confidence.

Somehow I held on and things got clearer. Some quick calculations led us to understand why we were expected to pay that amount in the first place. What lessons for first timers!

Reached the end of the maze at least! The cup was there, gleaming in the darkness. Is this another Harry Potter plot? Will this portkey transport me to a darker, creepier, more dangerous place after all this struggle i went through? I just hope not. But it may well be so.. only the next year will tell...

Send off #2

Its actually supposed to be the third (possibly fourth). Yesterday I saw off Chakydhar at the airport. And I'll be following suit pretty soon. Another 15 days for me to take off. I gotta rush and finish up all the remaining stuff that's necessary. The drive to the airport was fun. Taking the new 11.6 KM Expressway on which I never travelled before, we reached the airport much sooner than usual. The ride was definitely bumpy and sometimes scary with the sharp curves and sudden narrowed down roads, but overall it was acceptable. An achievement I must say!

The send-off crowd at the airport was Extreme to be understating. We couldn't stand straight for a few minutes and talk to Chakydhar before his final steps into the terminal. After some hurried talking and interruptions (between which I managed to give him a contact number of my cousin), we decided it was time to move. 5 minutes passed after we met, and we were already leaving. It felt odd. We spoke to Yaseen for so long while he was leaving to the UK. Anyway, once back in the car, we zoomed our way back. A small hint at hitting Hard Rock Cafe was trashed after coming to know of some disturbance on the roads regarding the sickening Telangana Issue (80% of which is highly exaggerated by News Channels!!). No Risk, No Pain. Our motto was simple and we headed home quickly.

That brought my day to a close and set in the emptiness. Things are beginning to happen. After Yaseen, Sudershan and now Chaky, all left, the city of 8.5 million feels only half full. There's a small hope that i'll be back among friends once I take off too. Till then.....