Mumbai -III (Mood Indigo)

Pirates, was the Mood-I theme this year. And to highlight the same there were skulls and skeletons hanging all around the IIT campus. About 100 meters from the main gate at the end of a narrow turning, at a height of a lamp post were hung 4 skeletons with tattered clothes almost falling off them.The lane to which the turn led had green street lights. To make things worse that was the lane which led to our room! Fortunately I have never been so terrorized by the concept of ghosts so I managed to remain sane throughout the stay. There were skeletons all over the SOM (management building). The most intriguing spectacle was the 'rangoli' depicting the poster of the movie 'Pirates of the Caribbean' made to fit the floor of a room! It was flawless. All this set the mood of the event.
            The event was a roller-coaster ride which took us through the innumerable activities taking place all around the campus.The first two days were witness to elimination rounds of all the events. We chose the english bands and Mantra ( The Hindi bands). Bands are usually the same everywhere. 1or 2 vocalists, 2or 3 guitarists,one on the drums and one more on keyboard. One or two dudes doing multitasking here and there with 2 instuments each is a common scene. So what is so great about band eliminations in Mood-I? Well, I must tell you what we saw in some extraordinary bands. There was this english band of 4 guys and 1 girl. Their song for elims was 'Music is my Aeroplane'.In this song there is a piece in flute followed by vocal and then saxophone. The lead singer in this band had the saxophone hung around his neck. He was holding the flute in his hand and had one mic in front of him mounted on the mic stand.Now the female singer started singing and at the correct beat he picked up with the flute. After the flute he had vocals so he started singing into the same mic. As he was singing he had to be ready with the saxophone and release the flute from one hand. So he loosened the mic from the mic stand, bent down with it (still singing), kept the flute on the floor,came back up,tightened the mic (still singing) and then played the saxophone! Incredible! All this and not a speck of effort on his face.This is the standard you get to see at Mood Indigo.
        Other interesting events were the painting competitions, juggling demonstrations, adventure games, street dances, the limca records, Mood-I's most wackiest (an impromptu speaking competition) and concerts. The concerts among all these are truely memorable.
        The first one was the classical night, a performance by the famous ghazal singer Talat Aziz. His ghazals took us into the 60's when the expression of love could be best understood through the tender lyrics of ghazals. The OAT was full and overflowing with an enthusiastic crowd which clapped with the rhythm of the 'Tabla'. What was more appreciable about Aziz sahab was the ease with which he would explain a simile from the Urdu ghazal in equivalent english. Hats off Aziz ji! The second concert was by 'Alms for Shanti' (a band) and Raghav Sachar. 'Alms for Shanti' frankly, was merely the drummer's performance because nothing else could be heard in it. A 'rock band' they call it. I could feel my heart pumping vigorously aching for some relief.  The ensuing performance by Raghav Sachar was enthralling. This man has outstanding talent. He plays about 25-30 instruments in all. He sings in both male and female voices. Trust me both these voices sound authentic!
          The last concert was on the Christmas eve. It seemed as if the whole world was waiting for this performance. It was none other than the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio. In this concert we danced till we dropped. Or should I say, we rocked the floor! We forgot about the exhaustion of the previous 4 days when we hardly slept and ate meagerly. We just danced to the beats. As a souvenir hot air lanterns were released in the air. They signified the end of a very eventful Mood-I 2009. Cheers to all the organizers for their success and keep rocking!