Hind Mahasagar ki sair (A trip to Indian Ocean)

Hyderabad has been a city of firsts for me.
My first job, The first promotion, First exposure to corporate culture, The first brush with death and loss, My first monetary independence, my first professional theater attendance, etc etc etc.

Today, there was another first added to this list.

Today I attended my first music show.
And it was a great one.
I went to see Indian Ocean Play in front of a packed house at the Hard Rock Cafe at GVK1, Hyderabad.
The band had a look I would have never imagined, 5 people! But well, life moves on. It has to, right?
So, when I walked in, I was a little confused about what to expect.
I saw a lot of people, outside and inside, cramming up every bit of space inside the cafe.
Then, as a moment passed, I saw Amit Kilam walk right past me, murmuring his Excuse me-s and Sorry-s as he waded through the crowd.
Then came Rahul, who walked right into the smoking box as people stared, shook hands, and said Hi-s n Hello-s.
Susmit was nowhere to be seen(well, he is the lonely serious types, right?).

So as the crowd started getting impatient, the band members took their place on stage.
From the left, Drums(Amit), Bass(Rahul), Acoustic(Susmit), Tuhin(Tabla/percussion) and Himanshu(vocals).

They started out with their (probably) the least known song, Kya Maloom(Kandisa).
And after that, I had no IDEA what happened for the next couple of hours. They played from all the albums, the cart toppers Kandisa, Hille Le and Ma rewa, along with the instrumentals from the first album, and new tracks from the new album(16/330 Khajoor Road - available for free download for another month on their website).

I recorded audio and video, and clicked photos, but what I was doing the most was getting lost, sometimes in the Serenity of tones emerging from Susmits guitar, sometimes in the madness emerging from Rahul. Amit the shy star came out a couple of times from behind his bunker, to play the gub gubi and the clarinet. Also the new guys are worth a mention. Himanshu has picked up the songs well ,and brings his own persona into the songs. Tuhin is good, and a tad bit younger than the rest. The jugalbandi-s on stage that Rahul, Amit, Susmit and Tuhin did were unbelievable.

Amit at his starry best, Rahul at his wittiest, and Susmit calm, composed and lost in thoughts as usual held our attention. Tuhin and Himanshu matched the passion with their performances, making it a night to remember.



!!Aseemda, you were missed!!