Navratri had begun. Nine days of non-stop dancing and the tenth day cool down - Dussehra. People wore exotic dresses. And even more electric were their dandiya sticks. The practice to dance in all manner and style, and on all songs, had begun a few months back. Some practised even harder to win prizes. Well - Navratri brought out MJ and Elvis in all.
But me and my friends were on a different kind of mission which began a few months back - selecting a music band.
My friends , one old uncle and I went in search of a band. The exploration took us to Dhobigadh where most of the bands took birth.
The first band we auditioned had all the ingredients, and all the so-called instruments. Guitar, drums, organ and dhol. And one singer who kinda looked dazed. They started playing for us, and how hard and loud they played in anticipation of getting selected. We watched, hands in our pockets, concentrating hard as if we knew all kinds of music, especially the one which was screeching out of this band. They watched us watching them. Sweating, giving an occasional smile when the sweat was wiped off. And generally trying hard to impress us. But we were hard to impress and acted as such. What with our vast knowledge of music. In between this cacophony, our old uncle would shout, which to him was an encouragement but the band members kinda looked scared.
The audition went on for about 20 minutes and finally and thankfully it ended. Uncle was impressed but again it needed very little to impress him with the music sense he possessed.
The band looked at us hopefully but we showed no emotion. After all, we were the elite selectors. I looked at the band name. The name was printed on a long dhoti hanging somewhere on a tree under which they were playing. It said “Lucky Star “. Well - good luck! We thanked them and left without committing or without any ceremony. First time we had an opportunity to show that we had the greatest musical sense to select a band or a musician. We further demonstrated that attitude by discussing something vague but making the band think we were discussing their performance.
This complex selection process took us to a few more bands. Each band seemed to perform harder and louder if not better. I suspected a spy had been sent by these bands to the area where “Lucky Star “ or other bands performed. He would probably have quietly watched the proceedings and come back and reported about our high level selection process. And in turn, this band obliged by playing the way they were playing in order to get selected.
It was midnight by the time we retired and regrouped to discuss the evening’s proceedings. We had auditioned 8 bands and we were exhausted. I wondered about the state of those bands. I thought about it and felt bad about selecting just one and rejecting others - but not that bad too since we had a limited budget to work with. This budget was funded by the people of the society where we lived. We went door to door, sometimes at odd times, to collect money. Some gave willingly, some handed it to us as if they were expecting a Bruce Springsteen band.
The long night of our discussion continued over a couple-of-five- drinks. Uncle didn’t drink so we had his quota. We needed deeper thinking. Finally we voted and selected a band called “ Blue Thunder “. Lucky Star wasn’t that lucky I guess. I kinda liked that the best among the others.
Anyways - Blue Thunder got the maximum vote. Uncle seemed to be happy. Probably expecting a thunderous sound. The Blue Thunder was a band of three - Organ, singer and one big water drum which surprisingly sounded damn good.
It was 4 o’clock in the morning when we finally wrapped up. In a few days Navratri will begin. We had done our bit. Now it was up to the society people to assess and enjoy as best as they can.
