Hyd Diaries: 5 - The Aeroview A-Capella band..

One of the first things we did after moving to 7D was to install a custom made stereo system to tickle our eardrums and burst others'. By 'custom-made' I just meant that the components were bought from multiple 'used goods' shops. The base unit was a 'Pioneer' car stereo (with the 'Pioneer' written in yellow!!) which was later fitted with a pair of speakers which produced a lot of 'noise' rather than 'music'. But for trained musicians like us, who had varied tastes from Altaf Raja to Aerosmith, it was the perfect accompaniment. We crooned with Eric Clapton and Sonu Nigam at will.. it was pure bliss!!

I think we had a multi-genre collection of music with us, something to suit every occasion. We had some golden oldies like Mac the Knife and Blue Velvet, Babylonian Chants from Bob Marley, The best of Chris Rhea, George Micheal's Faith, Hits of Altaf Raja and a collection of romantic hits like Smile and 'Nothing's gonna change my love for you'. So you can imagine the fate of our neighbors. But it wasn't the stereo system that made waves, but the vocal chords of 'Aeroview Acappella Band'.

There is a reason why we formed an acappella band.. we believed in music in its purest form - straight from the mouth. So almost every other night and especially on Saturday nights, the band used to practice. All practice sessions were sponsored by 'White Mischief'. Our specialty was that all of us could sing in totally different pitches and notes at the same time. Yes, as we believed in equality of band members we considered it disrespectful to ask anyone to tone down their voice or turn down their volume dial. So it was more like fusion music - noise meeting chaos. As we grew popular in the apartment, people started responding to the music.. what more can you ask as budding musicians? After all, without response from the crowd, how can we rate our music and try to improvise perfection!!

So as a token of their appreciation, somebody pasted this notice on the apartment notice board. It said "Please wind up the concert by 10 so that everybody can sleep smiling". There was also a 'smiley' face drawn beneath the message. As a band who are committed to listener delight, we decided to honor their wishes. So the next night we started our session at about 9, right in the balcony. We had a few timepieces kept on the wall, with alarms set for 10. So as we were straining our throats to some trendy Bollywood song, the alarms went off. Hearing multiple alarms at that time of the night, people from all the apartments came out. We suddenly stopped singing and stood up with our index fingers pressed against the lips. Everyone got the idea and we had our share of fun too.

Next day, there was an addition to the message on the notice board - 'Thank You'. This is one of those special memories that adorn the main wall of my past, like a large painting... this one is definitely for keeps.