Now that it's been over 24 hours since I'm back from the Garden City and have little to write about on the mutual fund front (like always), I must put on record my whirlwind visit.
Friday the 13th began with the realisation that not a single thing has been packed for the trip and I can't simply wake up at 5AM. I nonetheless made it to the railway station well before time and after a few initial hiccups (try RAC tickets), began a 24 hour long journey.
Got friendly with these utterly adorable elderly men and sang some few dozen retro Hindi songs late into the night. Who'd even guess that I'm a "bad ass metalhead" headed to an Iron Maiden concert!!!
Reaching Bangalore (why does this sound so much better than Bengaluru), I had a first hand experience of what my mates in B'lore couldn't warn me enough about. "Yaha ke autowaale nanga kar dete hai" which literally reads "The local auto rickshaw guys strip you naked". Before one thinks that the B'lore auto drivers have some strange penchant for less clothed passengers, the sentence should simply be understood as these guys fleece you naked!!!! Oh, well!
Touching base at Barnita's place, I saw how absolutely kooky but totally wonderful Faheem and Barnita are. Gobbled my first masala dosa in B'lore after over a decade. Bliss! And while Shalini confirmed that she can't meet up any time before early evening, drastic plan changes were made as I headed to Shreyas' place.
Killing some time at Shreyas', I left for Shalini's. Shreyas told me just the thing to do to avoid being taken for a ride by the autowaalas. Awesome pun! :P "Make them feel like they rule the world," said Shreyas. While Shreyas took care of the initial crowning, I tried to take care of the rest with my broken Kannada. "Oota aaitu?", auto dude asked; "Oota maadbitte", said Biprorshee. (Had food?...Yes, had food!). Auto dude merrily grins, "Saar, you from Baambaya and you talk Kannada? Very goodda!".
While at Shalini's, Mukherjee aunty couldn't stop saying how I was the naughty, cute kid of the neighbourhood and how different I seemed now. Indeed, considering the last time she saw me was when I was 5 and had a massive crush on her daughter. How naughty, how very cute!
A daal-chawal lunch (the way I love it), quite a few laughs with aunty, Shalini and her totally cute cousin Mithai and I headed back to Barnita's with Gunjan who by then had announced his arrival as well.
Plans were made, pub prospects were discussed till eventually we decided that we are headed nowhere and will be killing time at home trying to get drunk. I didn't even finish my first drink and I was woozy in the head already. Gunjan left sometime late in the night and I crashed on the floor to the tunes of the black metal blaring on Fa's computer.
16th morning and I wake up to find it is 8. Run!!! No shower, just change clothes. Call up Shreyas. Call up Gunjan! Get out. After all the chaos, I hugged Barnita bye bye and thanked both of them for a wonderful time. Aah sweetness!
With the inevitable confusion here and there Gunjan, Shreyas, Shreyas' mate and yours truly reached Palace Grounds at around noon.
The venue seemed much better managed and the event better organised than the previous two. Seems DNA did learn the right lessons. Gates opened fashionably late but no one was complaining. People were seen lazying around and once inside, one could see water kiosks (Thank you thank you thank you DNA), food stalls, alcohol stalls and some such.
The turnout was not surprisingly low. The initial madness like 2007 was pleasantly not seen. People continued to loiter around while we guys cemented our place in the front. Yet another front row...wooohooo!!! We took turns to go have lunch, pee, smoke and the works. We were by then joined by Abhirup and his Pune mates.
The opening bands began around 3 and carried on till 7 (including Lauren Harris excluding Parikrama). By late evening, we guys pretty much had it with the growl fest. Almost every band was more or less a death meets new age meets thrash band. What utter boredom when every song seemed same and every vocalist trying too hard. The UK bands were strictly ok. There's only so much death metal I can stand. The last band called "Brandon Ashley and The Silver Bugs" even had cheerleaders with pom poms on stage. I kid you not, this has got to be a first in rock history.
The pick of the lot to me surely was Bangalore's own "Slain", the first band. Riju had a lot of good things to say about this power metal band and I saw why. While bad sound plagued every band, Slain suffered most and it's a shame because their all original setlist seemed an absolute treat. Watch out for this one.
CRI winners Abraxas' music made as much sense to me as their name. Let's leave it at that. Synaps, another B'lore band were ok. While their Rage Against the Machine cover wasn't really the best one I've heard, the KoRn track was well done. Their OCs made for some pleasant hearing while the front man did a fine job managing the crowd with his "Sit down for a minute please" and "What will you do when I say jumpthefuckup?" stunt.
Now Kryptos is a band I really have respected over the years that I've heard them. Not subscribing much to their thrash/death style, I've always loved their stress on OCs. They made the best of the sound they got onstage and sounded fab. Tower of Illusions was very very neat and now I have a good mind of picking up their last album The Ark of Gemini wherever I can find it.
Once again, I shall refrain from commenting on Lauren Harris though it was rather sad to see bottles, cola cups, and even Gutkha packets and pebbles being thrown at her band. But she really is bad!
Parikrama once again had bad sound to deal with and had a very short set of only four songs. Subir later said how they didn't do a soundcheck and that did them in.
Well, all said and done, at sharp 8, Churchill boomed once again and the veteran heroes of New Wave of British Heavy Metal jumped onstage for the third time in India. We guys held on to the barricade tight and thus began our two hour long screaming, head banging and what not.
The onstage sound this time around was much better than Mumbai last year but there was a sense of lethargy one could sense in Iron Maiden Sunday evening. Now this is a total personal observation but the band seemed in a strange hurry to rush through their set. Bangalore missed the usual entertaining Bruce banter. No, Bruce didn't speak much to the crowd and one song quickly followed another.
However, we got our healthy dose of "Scream for me Bangalore/India" and that more or less compensated. "Moonchild" was dropped from the set and was missed. So my personal highlight this time was "Children of the Damned", yet another monster of a track from The Number of the Beast that Maiden have not performed live for a while now.
There was "Phantom of the Opera" and I know many who were waiting for this song very eagerly. Riju earlier called to say, "Phantom bajaayega to call karna". I did. Minutes after I hung up, I received a text saying, "I owe you a beer". :)
The set was more or less what was played in Mumbai. "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" heard live for the second time in a row. I sure am blessed. The set ended with the 3-song encore act that wound up with "Sanctuary", yet another addition and a promise of a new studio album the next year followed by a "brand new tour" to India. I've said earlier how Bruce Dickinson's word is worth its weight in gold and I believe it in entirety. So I can't wait for my fourth appointment with the barricades whenever it happens.
While the band left and the crowd kept begging for more, I was on the verge of collapsing. "Dehydration" said Gunjan as the rest of the guys almost carried me back. While Shreyas brought my baggage parked at his place, Gunjan's mate Umang booked an early morning cab to the airport for me.
I could barely speak. Somehow I bade Gunjan farewell as I dropped dead at Umang's place. Can't believe I won't be seeing this fellow for quite a while now.
The sleep till 3AM did me good and I can't thank Umang enough for all the help. Although still wobbly, I managed a quick cold shower and tried to sleep the long ride to the airport. Paid a king's ransom (if kings were only kidnapped for 800 bucks) to the cabbie and sleepwalked through the check-in, boarding and rest of the journey back home.
It was back to the grind before you could say "DJango". The Interim Budget being read by Pranab Mukherjee and I'm sitting at the rooftop of Four Seasons Hotel with no clue of what I'm doing.
Shezan's mate in Bangalore Chinmayi hung out with Maiden apparently and Bruce even left her the hat he wore onstage. She was supposed to help me meet the band, which didn't happen eventually of course.
Anyway, Chinmayi called up while Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the session for 10 minutes as one MLA fell sick (the moment the Finance Minister began the part on taxes :P). She screamed, "Rishi, where are you? Let's meet up today and hang out somewhere." I sighed as I told her that the hanging out will have to wait. Till the next time, I again begin to collect dope for "Bengaluru tales"....
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All things bright and Biprorshee
