The story of a Rock lover growing up in India

"Its a long way to the top,
if u wanna Rock n' Roll" _ AC/DC


I sat watching a CD I had borrowed from a friend one afternoon in the summer of 1998.In the video a man with long curly hair,a burning cigarette hanging down his lips charged across the stage while still playing the guitar that hung around somewhere near his knees.Another guy with a slightly bigger guitar but with lesser strings joined him as two beams of light followed the two around the stage.Back then,I could not distinguish between the leads,the bass or the rhythm sections on an audio track.But what I was hearing was something I had never heard before in my life.A tingle ran across my spine as I sat there watching Guns N' Roses Guitarist SLASH and bass player DUFF cast a magical spell over me that would stay intact for years to come.
Like hundreds of other rock influenced kids,I too some day wanted to play the songs like my heroes did.It was high School when I got my first guitar.And hence began my journey that no wonder took me close to my dreams,but not without introducing me to a few hard secrets of this life.
I have been around rock music enthusiasts from all age groups across India for almost seven years now.While new bands were being formed by young musicians on one hand,some of the older bands were breaking up over personal and musical differences on the other.Some bands dis-banded due to other reasons while some achieved commendable levels of both success and popularity in the underground scene.They all had the talent,passion,dedication and enthusiasm.But what was the real single most defining aspect in each of these bands' story of existence?The answer,STRUGGLE.
In India,every youngster is expected to make some sort of an academic breakthrough in his or her batch/school/family or social circles.Nobody cares if you can get the exact Lamb of God double bass on the drums or can play Megadeth guitar solos note to note.
Squeezing in jam sessions in between class hours and tution classes.Saving up on pocket money for Thermocol sheets to block out those window and door gaps to sound proof jam rooms enough as to not "disturb" the neighbours' evening soap operah.Fighting to keep the "desi idol" and "dance india" obsessed masses and event managers interested to bag in some live shows.And when all goes well to try and explain to the sound guy at the show who has no clue how to balance the guitar,drums and bass sounds.Who offcourse is trained in strictly vocal oriented sound engineering and specialises in working with tone deaf hindi movie song singing locality bahus,betis,jijajis and uncles who have been convinced by family that they are the next Mohammad Rafis and Lata Mangeshkars.
Major International Rock and Metal bands touring India was also extremely rare till about five years back.But ever since it eventually did happen,a much larger section of the masses have been grasped by the hypnotic charm of the music.Guitar legend Joe Satriani Live in Calcutta in the year 2005 was my first live concert Experience.I missed out on Roger Waters,Mark Knopfler,Deep Purple and Aerosmith since they toured Mumbai and Bangalore while I was still doing high school in Calcutta.But ever since shifting base to Bangalore in 2007,The Scorpions,Sepultura,Megadeth,Machine Head,Sattiricon,Sahg and Iron Maiden Concerts have given me that once in a lifetime opportunity to feel the feeling of being around the gods.
HardRock and Metal music has always had its share of critics.Critics who declared this music to be unnecessarily loud,a symbol of hatred,violence and everything else that qualified to be called wrong.If their verdict was to be accepted blindly by all,then a few questions cannot just be left unanswered.
how does such a large section of the world population still get their life's inspirations from this music?how does this music empower its lovers with that immensely satisfying scope to rid themselves of all stress and anger?How does this music have such an unbelievable impact on the youth who struggled to express themselves otherwise?
I had looked around at the forty thousand strong gathering around me at the IRON MAIDEN Rock in India 2009 Concert and asked myself these questions.
I never had the real answers till the curtains went up,the lights came on,a flash of lasers and then...
They rushed in from backstage with all my answers.I smiled as the show opened with the song "Aces High" in which I sang along Bruce Dickinson as out came from his mouth the words,

"...Run.Live to fly.Fly to live.Do or die.
Won't you run?live to fly,fly to live,Aces high"