A walk to remember

A hot Sunday afternoon back in Vijayawada.  Everyone at home was taking a siesta. Power cut. Not having anything to do, I decide to take a walk. It had been some time since I had gone around the house. In fact, I did not remember the last time I was in our backyard. Its high time, I decide and step out.

Fond memories started pouring back (minus the spiraling and music, though). The portico. The place where we used to hold a "skating" competition. Pour a lot of water on the smooth slab, take a run up to it and slide on your knees. The one to slide the maximum distance wins. Bruised knees, wet clothes and angry elders are just collateral. Cheering cousins and a chest swollen with pride upon winning are all that mattered. That was "skating", during which I broke a part of one of my teeth (yes, still visible).

A pic of my home I had taken sometime back.

The backyard. The legendary mango tree was no longer there. Being the fat kid I was, I could never climb up the mango tree to hide during hide-and-seek. I was terrified of that tree as it was always dark there and all my friends used to go hide on top of it. When it was my turn to seek, I would wait for them to get frustrated and come down the tree and then catch them ;)

The park opposite to my house. I had probably spent half of my childhood in Vijayawada (before I was sent to Vizag) in that park. The park to us, was a place to make money. Marbles, cricket, 7 stones, everything was played for a small bet. On my day, I would take 5 rupees in the morning and come back with 50 rupees. In the evening, I would throw a grand party of bhajjis and pakoras to the friends. It was from here, we broke 2 windows in my own home, often entering into a quarrel with my own granma (who used to drive my friends away when I had a fight with them, even when I was the culprit. Miss you granma. RIP.). Incidentally, the park is now named after her.

The park! No longer a cricket ground. It has been turned into a big garden with slides and swings now :(

Finally, the circuit! You see, I was always fat as a kid. My parents did everything to make me lose weight (quite unsuccessfully, though). During one such phase, I was supposed to do a 20-round brisk-walk on the road that went around our neighborhood. My grandpa would stand in the portico and count the rounds (to make sure that I did not cheat). When I complained that it was boring to do it alone, I was told to take one of my friends with me (the poor chap. He never forgave me for that). Bah! They though they had cornered me. They were not aware of a shortcut which effectively cut the total distance to less than half. Me and my poor friend would pretend to walk seriously while passing my house and when we were out of sight, take the shortcut, wait at the end of it for sometime (to avoid suspicion due to the ridiculously small "lap time"), chat and gloat over our brilliance and finally finish the lap when we thought enough time had passed to make my grandpa think that we had finished the lap. Muhahahahah (sly psychotic laugh)!!

Sigh! Call it cliched but I miss my childhood. I am glad I took the walk. To remember. Literally!

\m/usic

Without it, the world would be a very sad place. Without it, there would be one less medium to express. Without it, there would be one less art. Without it, 60 years would probably be a really long time to live.

Music to me, is priceless. I am sure it is so, to all of us, in one way or another. It is probably one thing where everyone's taste is quite unique and yet, totally justified. I am yet to find a person who would say, "Nah! I don't listen to music". Someone with a really weird taste (again, weird according to ME), with whom I do not have a single song in common: yes, but someone who does not listen to any music: NO! There is always something to fill in the "Music" section of your Facebook profile. And what's more, everyone of us is passionately possessive about the music we like. We vouch for it, we evangelize it, we sing it aloud and we sing it to ourselves. And somewhere, at some corner in our hearts, we want, wish and hope we could make music like that. At least, I know I do.

My life was never the same after "Rock On!". The music just struck a chord in me and I was possessed by this irresistible urge to learn music. Any instrument. The guitar, I decided. After coming home, I realized that I was not alone when Karteek and Giri confessed that they were going for it too. Well, if we are going to do it, why not put some sense into it and form a band? After much discussion, I settled for drums while Karteek was up for guitar. Giri did not want the keyboards and he was going to learn to play the drums too. Well, it was some start at least. So we googled for the best music school in Bangalore and found some good reviews for this place called "The Unwind Center". We called them up and registered. We would start the classes in two weeks.

After 6 months, I graduated. Karteek picked up the guitar wonderfully while Giri left it midway in pursuit of other priorities. I myself was not bad and every evening, our flat would resonate with the sound from my drum kit. I would carry my drumsticks everywhere. I was a part of a band formed at work and I got a couple of opportunities to perform on stage. Karteek bought an electric guitar and an amp to go with it. We were all set to jam regularly. All this, while I was constantly trying to lose weight. Slowly, it became too much of an effort to practice regularly. And now, after almost a year since I had given my first performance, my drum kit now, is a mere structure to hang wet clothes while Karteek's electric guitar caught dust in its stand (he is doing better than me, though. He still plays his acoustic).

One of the pics of my drum kit which I took long back

Five peice. DB. 18k! N its and entry level one!

My hands tap to the beat involuntarily whenever I listen to a song I could relate to. Guilt would swell within me. I still remember every piece, every crash and every roll for "Nothing Else Matters". First the gymming, then the work, and now my GMAT prep: all of them managed to play a villain in my romance with the drums. Maybe I just let them. Let them make me and my drum kit feel like awkward friends who meet after a very long time. And now, I am even contemplating unassembling it to make room for a study table.

Zildjian drumsticks. 600 bucks!

One day, we shall do a cover of "Nothing Else Matters". Me, Karteek and hopefully, 2 others for the vocals and the bass guitar. Even if it has to be before our friends and family alone, we will do it. Even if it has to be in the dramatic way of "Rock On!", we will do it. I know we will. Its probably going to be the loser in me vs the wannabe in me.

I am sure it will be an interesting battle.