My stay @ IIT Guwahati (1st year)

I was never a bookworm and didnt liked studies from my school days. Infact I didnt knew about IIT's even when I was in 12th standard. My father always used to hate my frnds, and the reason was quite obvious...none of them looked like a 'seedha saadha padhai waala bacchaa'.....Infact none of my close frnd cleared JEE exam and in my case the only reason why I was able to clear it was my father.

'Unka dandaa naa hota to shayad mein kissi private college ke bahar cigraattte pi raha hota.'

Anyways I now thanx my father for having that 'danda' over me, which was hugely responsible for my success at the JEE extrance examination. After all I lived some of the best days in my life here at IITG.

I came to IITG with no further aims. Though of studies in the beginning but then soon I found an excuse to run away from studies i.e. 'Professors chutiyee hai'. Music was my destination next and guitar was everything for me in the initial days of my life here at IITG. Playing guitar in my room and jamming for hours in the music room with frnds was daily routine. Then came 'Manthan - IITG intra batch cultural festival.' I can still remember the enthusiasm which Manthan brought with itself in the hostel. Some were showing enthu for making name of our batch in front of seniors and some were showing enthu for making name in front of the gals [:)]. Anyhow after preparation of abt 1 month the result was that we were proved as the worst batch in whole IITG and our batch still possess that title I must say. However that hardwork of 1 month didnt go waste for many as many of us including me, as we got a pass to Subansiri-IITG girls hostel. That marked the end of the 1st semester where I found many many new frnds and someone whom I started liking for some reason or the other.

After vacation for 1 month we all were back at IITG. Everyone had results in thr hands, few people who never used to study were somewhere in the high 8's. Some who tried everything were somewhr in the low 6's and for people like us who were by that time deeply in love were arnd 7. 1st semster results proved eye opener for many but not for people like us, who were already been blinded by many things. However the saga of romance continued and finally came the proposal from my side. Everything well settled, infact I must say too well settled [:)]. Music was other area I was fast progressing. By the end of the semester I saw my 1st electric guitar.

That brought an end to my 1st year of stay at IITG, infact which proved to be the 'THE BEST' days of my life. IITG brought a whole new experience for me, sleeping at 4 or 5 in the morning was normal. Infact I dont remember a single day during my 1st year when I slept before 12 in the night. I found many new frnds and the love of my life. I progressed satisfactorily in music, atleast my frnds back home gave me a few words of encouragement. However one side whr I was loosing out constantly were academics. My cpi fell from 7 to 6.75 i guess. My attendence then in the classes was smwhere arnd 10% (or may be that is more [:)]). Anyhow I was then enjoying the whole new experience in the life, I was enjoying the company of people out thr, I was enjoying the atmosphere thr......BUT BUT BUT.....

Music and My Guitar : How it all started (Part 1)

Well if you ask few things I can't live without, apart from my parents,love and friends it will be guitar and music that will make to the list.

But I was never a born musician. There were friends of mine (Amit Chandra alias Candy and Navneet Singh alias Noni) from school days who used to play old country stuff along with Lucky Ali and K.K. but I was always a part of audience then.

My first real introduction to music was done while I was preparing for JEE examination(25th December 2002). By then Candy and Noni had moved from the world of Lucky Ali to Metallica, Iron Maiden, Aerosmith and the likes. One day after my coaching classes as I entered Candies house I found a lot of noisy stuff going inside. Actually they were listening to Fly Away (Aerosmith). At that stage I was just like any other normal person without a bit a of knowledge about music. I couldn't even play Sa,Re,Ga,Ma on guitar or infact any instrument. I asked them 'Whats the big deal in this song'. They laughed at me and asked to sing the song for them, as they were planning to form some rock band. Well I unaware of the world of music, scales, pitch etc etc started mummering the lyrics of the song in my own tune and pitch. I can still recall the way the laughed at me after I sang the first line of the song 'Gotta find a way'. Actually I sang something 'Gaataa find a way' in old dehaati style.

Well that was my first encounter with the world of music. They gave me a CD full of rock songs and asked me to listen to it. Slowly and steadily, don't know out of what reason I liked the songs, specially Smells like teen spirit(Nirvana). As Candy and Noni were looking to form a band they turned to me. They initially thought of training me as a drummer and for about 15-20 days I was official drummer of the band . Candy being as Vocalist/Bassy/Guitarist and Noni with Vocals/Leads. Anyhow they soon realized the mistake they made by making me a drummer and Candy took my place and I moved to bass guitar.

...to be continued