R-O-F

Today, I was reminded of the little music group that I used to be a part of during graduation days in Pune. 

Having lived my life in Muscat with Baba as my only musical conscience, it was pretty easy for me to tell the melody of a violin from a cello by the time I was eight – but I couldn’t define what rock or pop was for the life of me, and I had never heard of Coldplay, well into 17 years of age.

I met the most delightful people in those years. They taught me so many things – introduced me to the world of Western soaps, rock music and EDM- lending their iPod to the girl who listened to Radio Mirchi on her Sony Walkman. Some of them are close buddies, till date. 

I came across this song by a Kerala-based band, Thaikkudam Bridge and took an instant trip down memory lane. As a part of the first batch of students of a completely new course, our college was located in the then desolate Viman Nagar – now a rather popular part of Pune town.

Apart from eating roadside Dabeli and Kulfi, there was little to do to kill time – and a common ear for music brought us together. We had a drummer, a keyboard player, three boys playing the guitar and a bunch of rotating vocalists.

A lot of the college building was still work in progress, so we found ourselves a desolate room with a power point and called the band ‘Renegades of Funk’ (I promise I had nothing to do with that). As it happened, we tried different music, most of it worked and we became – how can I say it – quite loved!

Performing at college fests, vocals competitions and battle of the bands became a regularity. I sang a couple of Coldplay numbers for them on stage – my most favourite being Fix You and Yellow. I know that in the recesses of my external hard drives, I have the recording of one of those shows.

A lot of memories from those days have faded, but I remember the excitement before a gig – the hours and hours of jamming, Krish strumming on his guitar while Diksha sang Picture by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow and everyone just drifting into a zone of their own. Amit had the most wonderful voice, and every time he held the microphone up to sing ‘Desperate for changing, starving for truth’, it would feel like the Lifehouse lead singer was here in person. Such good times.

I felt a sharp hit of nostalgia when I heard this fantastic Ilayaraja medley by this band and I simply had to write it all out. Whether you understand Malayalam/Tamil, you won’t be able to resist the allure of melody – that’s what music does.