Bangalore back to being happening?

Realization actually dawns when you least expect it. This time it happened to me on the so called ’Happening’ status of Bangalore. Since time immortal (more so from my college days) I have been listening to how hep and cool Bangalore is as compared to any other city in the country. It was so called the ‘City of Pubs’ ‘City of Happening joints’ and what not. I stayed my formative years in the laid-back environment of Delhi, where the only form of Pubbing known to the student community was to get Liquor from a so called Theka and getting drunk at our respective rooms. All discussions during those drinking sessions invariably focused on how our lives could have been different if we were in Bangalore. But alas, it was not meant to be. And it always looked like not being part of the happening crowd down here.

I landed in Bangalore sometime in 06, as a part of the great Indian IT dream. In fact I was really quite looking forward to it right from the time I knew I got to be here. It finally registered in my mind that my dream of being in the city is just to be realized. I landed on a weekday and the first few days passed in haste, and I hardly got to savour any part of the city other than my Workplace. Come weekend, and this was it. I met up with a old friend of mine and hit the happ spots at MG Road. And there lied the biggest disappointment, or rather the absolute anti-climax of my life. My friend was in quite a hurry and he egged me on to decide what to order starightaway. I am a firm believer of the fact for soaking up of the ambience before getting down to the main business. I was quite harried, and actually made my feeling known to him. Then I got to know his compulsion- based on some recent ruling by the High court and watering joints were supposed to shut down by 11:30. “That early!!” I gawked, which was quite a natural reaction to the circumstances. My whole world seemed crashing down. I didn’t actually believe whether to laugh at him on his sense of humour or cry out in anguish. But finally the truth dawned and least to say I was devastated.

That was it. I tried going to discs a couple of times more post that. But it seemed absolutely ludicrous and moronic to go and start having your share from 7pm. The truth about being the happ city and all was firmly put to rest, and my focus shifted to the one of a solid variety, ala the restaurants.

But this was all before yesterday. Last night I had a friend of mine take me to something called a Fireflies concert. The place was some 30 km away from the city and it was supposed to be a night long extravaganza of Indian music (that’s what the invite said). Yours truly was never too keen going for something of a Indian classical fusion and the whole length of the programme, which was supposed to be till day break was hardly least of the daunting factors. Not having a very happening social life has its few advantages too. I actually decided to go over and check out the place.

The journey seemed more like a Picnic, where in we packed on our quota of Food and Water and you-know-what. We reached the place at around 10 in the night, and suddenly the aura of it seemed resounding across the area. Mind you, we were some good 3-4 kms inside even the Kanakpura main road and it hardly looked like a place promising so much. The place was actually vibrating with energy. There was literally a riot of colors and a atmosphere of serene chaos around. And not to mention the pot-pourri of people from different countries and races who were freely mixing around and made it seem like an event truly without borders. And this, when we still haven’t gone to the Music part.

But what do I actually say about that. I am hardly a connoisseur of music and lesser of a person to even comment or give a feedback upon. There was a band called Oikyotan (literally meaning One sound) but which stood more for music traversing all boundaries. The band specialized in a type of sangeet called Baul which is literally the Bengal’s version of Sufism. The music of the journeyman, called the Baul emanating from a single string instrument has its own mysticism in Bengali folklore. The crowd had a fair sprinkling of foreigners, not to mention Indians who are barely able to comprehend anything in Bengali. But the enthusiasm with which the group was greeted and accepted, it was truly Music sans borders. It was next followed by a round of Sufi inspired Qawwali well interspersed with Sher-o-Sayari (couplets) which made the occasion a more memorable one. The singers or qawwals bought to life the memorable songs of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who is still revered as one of the greatest singers of our generation. The songs on public demand was well appreciated by the audience all over and in a true testimony to the quality of the performance, organizers literally had to plead us to let the next rounds of performance start. We were just not ready to let them go from the stage. The impact of the performance was tellingly described by quite a senior member of the audience (obviously quite under the influence of something) “Tu Cheez badi hai mast mast” which literally translates to the performers being without peers.
The best part of the audience involvement was certainly a round of Dhak (Percussion) performance by a local folk group which started a round of impromptu dance performance by all and sundry. The music was foot-tapping and with the atmosphere around, it didn’t take much of an effort all around. It certainly felt like Durga puja which incidentally is the biggest of the Bengali festivals, has arrived some months early.

There were other rounds of notable performances too, which was equally well received by the people around. But the influence of the heady music and the enormity of the effort of staying up till 5 am were quite evident with us, and that’s where the relationship with this year’s Firefly was to end.

On the long way back, not needing to drive certainly gave me a great time to actually let all the heady feeling sink in, and this article was actually conceptualized then. I actually realized that I indeed had one of the greatest musical nights in my life, which I thoroughly and truly enjoyed to the fullest. Heres to Bangalore for me being again christened as a Hep and Happening City.. may the spirit truly live on.