Man(ia)Fest

Yep, the fest is drawing to a close as I speak and life on campus shall hopefully return to the daily drudgery that it normally is. Been quite a decent one this time, with the high being the rock show for which once again I exhibited my broken leg on stage and the low point the total and blinding incompetence of the people organising the show, who did everything in their power to jeopardise the show...

OK, now will someone please help me understand if Parikrama have signed some contract or something with someone? I mean, let's face it, whichever rock show there is on whichever campus you choose to think of, it's an odds-on chance that Parikrama are the band playing there! Quite strange. I mean, this time, the Organising Committee almost had this metal band from Bangalore (Kryptos) coming down here and we were quite chuffed when we heard about that...but as I have mentioned, the OC has more than its fair share of nincompoops, so the moment they realised that Kryptos was not some gay band that played Indipop, they called that move off and tried to rope in some crappy Paki band called Paani...or was it Jal...oh well, something like that...

Anyway, the curse of a metal fan is not something to be taken lightly and the band in question discovered this to their own detriment when they encountered what we were told was a "visa problem". Our joyful sympathies didn't deceive them though I believe ;-). Anyway, be that as it may, this resulted in Parikrama being, once again, the act that I shall be witnessing here... I believe this makes IIML the seventh campus at which I will have seen this band perform...*sigh*

Anyway, the title of the post is Man(ia)Fest and I'm quite sure that I should at least attempt to show why the "ia" is included there. So, whether you like it or not, here are some incidents that I thought were absolute gems

Incident 1 (during the sound check for the rock show):

Me: Dude, raise the volumes for the lead guitar.
Sound Engineer: No, this is the maximum volume.
Me: Shut up! The speakers on my computer are louder!!!
SE: No, the problem is in that black box that the guitarist is using.
Me: You baboon! That is the distortion pedal. Metal is supposed to sound like that!!! Now just raise the volume!!!
Guitarist: I can’t hear myself man. I can’t hear me. Please…
A (a member of the OC who is also a guitarist who used to play in a band earlier): Dude, why don’t you guys just start playing?
Me: Because you moron, if the guitar is not audible, we can’t do a song!!!
A: But you just start at least. Then we’ll figure out…

This ended an hour later when SE with some help from some of the chaps from the band, discovered where the volume control was…

Incident 2 (During a practise session for the show):

OC: Guys, the chaps from XYZ Institute are complaining that they can’t sleep because they’re put up in the room below this room. So please reduce your volume or stop the practise.
Us: Err…but the show is tomorrow. We need to jam. Do they have a problem with the guitar or the drums?
OC: How should we know that? They have a problem with the noise overall!!!
Us: Firstly it’s music!!! Anyway, we’ll see to it…

Us (downstairs with the chappies in question): Hi guys, we’re the chaps jamming upstairs, so…
Chappies: Really? Hey thanks! We’re really enjoying it. Can we come up and watch you??

Us (next day to the OC): WTF was that all about???
OC: Well! They are our guests, so we assumed that they should sleep so that they can wake up early tomorrow…
*Ouch*

Incident 3 (At the party where the DJ was some chappie from Bombay):

Somebody on the mic: So, do you want to say something to the crowd?
DJ: Yeahhhhhhh! Hello Mumbai!!!!!!!!
*and how many joints do you think it took?*

Incident 4 (Once again at the rock show):

Vocalist doing a mic test, after the guitar volumes were finally adjusted.

V: Lower the mic volume. Vocals should be lower than the guitar.
SE: Lowered.
V: No no, lower it further. This is metal. I need to be able to hear the guitar over the vocals!
SE: Lowered.
V: No!!! I’m still too loud for myself…*Oops*

OK, I don’t really know of too many other events (apart from the rock show and the party). Point is, who cares really? For me, that is all a fest should be about. Rock music and partying…anyway, am really tired now and I don’t want to miss the rock show and the party…

Parting shot:

Why the Hell is it that the closing ceremony for a fest happens before the rock show begins? I mean, does that mean that the rock show is not a part of the fest? Or does it mean that the closing ceremony does not close the fest? Or does it just mean that the authorities like going to bed early? ;-)