Music Club Story
I still reminisce the day Teja wrote his version of the story. We read it out in the Jam room, put it up
on the blog. And that’s the only story that was ever written down. Stories were told though…I still
remember the day Prashanth told me and Sowmya Kilambi the story of the music club in the train during
my 1st year Saarang. We had tears in our eyes at the end of it, developed a proud feeling that we would
never let go of! Both the stories I personally read and heard in person were legendary.
“We may not remember the days we studied but we still remember the days we jammed!!”
For those who don’t know me, I am Shruti Royyuru, stepped into college on Sept 22nd 2005 and passed
out in 2009. I was in ECE Dept. Once it was decided I’d study in VNR VJIET at the counseling, I decided to
find out more about the college from my immediate School senior, immediate College senior and very
good friend – Nikhila Srikanth. It was then I first heard about the music club “Crescendo”.
She happened to know each and every member of the club personally and also follow the shows
regularly. There I was listening like an eager child about – Sylvester D’Souza a.k.a Syloo, Vidyadhar
Raghavan a.k.a Viddu, Sandeep Mocherla a.k.a Sandy, Anoosha Yerram, Vineeta, Osho and Dum Dum. I
went home filled with fantasies in my mind, thinking wow, these guys are so cool!
The day I entered college on Sept 22nd 2005, there was a technical fest going on in col – Vector. Bad
day to enter college, I know! Seniors
roaming free everywhere. Back then, there wasn’t much restriction
on ragging. So I was shit scared! The next day I faced thoda ragging, my seniors in bus made me sing.
That evening, we were left early and while sneaking away from seniors out of college, my bus seniors
caught me and told me I should stay for a show happening later that evening. But the scared me ran out
of college. As I was running out, I caught a glimpse of the stage and a red drum kit.
The next day my friend Srilatha told me the show was great! Hey, she stayed back because she was the
A.O.’s granddaughter and no one could touch her! Poor me had to run out of college to escape from
seniors. :D
In Dec, I skipped college one day. My friends came and told me seniors announced in class for music
club auditions. Srilatha and I decided we’ll go for the audition. We practiced hard! Very hard! On the D
day, we went to the old music room beside the Audi, figured we were the first ones to reach. Till then
all the seniors I came across were mean. As we entered, these bunch of seniors in the room were very
friendly. Least did I know, these guys would be my friends for life!
Syloo came up to us and said ‘Please. Come in. Sit”. I thought “Wooow! What a lovely senior”. :D
Gradually lot of my batchmates poured in and soon we were ready. I was the first one to audition. I sang
the song “saath samundar”. Viddu and Vineeta were the judges. Sandy wore a Kurta that day roaming
around as usual with drum sticks in his hand. Syloo was passing around the paper and handling people.
Anoosha was watching all of us with keen interest.
I was cut off in between and Viddu asked me to sing a softer song, I then sang “Aao na”. I sat back and
watched other batchmates sing. That was the first time I came across Kilambi. She sang “Zara Zara”.
Syloo then announced for western music. I was least prepared. But I thought what the hell. We can give
it a shot. As usual the only song which came to my mind was my heart will go on. Everyone else sang the
same song. LOL!
Few days later, we were participating in Antakshari I think, Viddu and Anoosha came up to us( I think it
was Kilambi, me and someone else) that we should meet them next day or something like that. We were
then told that we were in and they explained about Saarang. And oh, Nikhila told me about Saarang too!
So I was all prepared. :D :D
We then started practicing for Saarang – Ab ke sawan, Yaar apne ghar jaao and Aashayein. The seniors
were so friendly! All of us got friendlier! :D As saarang was approaching on a holiday we were asked
to come to col to practice. That was the first holiday we were asked to come. So Navya, Kilambi and
I planned to go together. As we were walking to the Jam room, passing the basket ball court, seniors
called us. To rag! L They were Kilambi’s seniors. Door se do awaazein sunai diya! Mudke dekha, toh it
was Syloo and Sandy asking them to leave us! Full flat all of us became. Seniors saved us from ragging!
Hehe. We then practiced happily in front of Audi near the stairs.
One fine day when we were practicing in front of Audi, suddenly two guys walked in – one taklu and
another with full curly bushy hair. Everyone was so excited to see them! That was when we were
introduced to Rama and Prashanth. Two of the four founders of the music club. J That was the first time
we heard them jam(we were writing down Aashayein lyrics as per Viddu’s instructions by listening to the
age old cd player)…Kilambi and I toh fell full flat! The whole college echoed with only our music. It was
an unexplainable intense feeling.
As Saarang was round the corner, we decided to shift base to the most amazing place to Jam – Sandy’s
Garage! It was just like how they’d show in Hollywood movies. Jam in the garage. So awesome! We
skipped college, jammed for a week I guess. I used to carry a first generation Motorola phone back then
with an antenna and all. Lol. Syloo and Viddu called it Gadget! Those were great days! Prashant used to
come there as well almost every day. We all got so friendly so close. During one of the conversations,
Nishant happened to describe Bindaas park to us and scared us about ragging. L L
Then came the D day, the day we were boarding the train to Saarang. It was Sandy’s mom’s birthday.
They made her cut a cake and all. Somehow we didn’t get ragged in the train. Well, we were three girls!
Hehe. We kept talking talking. Listened to Prashanth’s story. Viddu then taught us chi ku li ba. I made
the entire boggi play Chi ku Li ba. By next morning, Syloo named me “Goddess” – Chi Ku Li Ba goddess!
The smart Viddu even made us practice Aashayein seconds at 3 in the morning! Unbelievable!
We reached Chennai in the morning, entered IIT for the first time. It was just like BHEL. So much
greenery! We were then checked into our hostels. And Day 1 of Saarang began. It was so much fun.
Meeting near SAC, hanging around till 3 a.m. We sang on stage at Bindaas park on Day 3 I guess. Sandy
missed a beat during ab ke saawan and felt terrible about it. Sharat was near the stage and gave such
an awesome encouragement with chi ku li ba sign. I participated in western music – sang complicated.
The boys were late for acoustics. Syloo came in such short shorts, his whole leg could be seen. Prashant
came without brushing. It was so hurried. We went to the beach early in the morning. Smuggled dosa’s
at Tiffany’s. (That was Osho. :P). Viddu and Osho described how shit looks like to people while they were
eating, ultimately, they couldn’t eat further. We had a memorable time.
The most awesomest moment was during Salsa. For the first time all of us were on the dance floor, for
salsa. And while doing a dip, the muscle man Syloo threw Sowmya on the floor. Poor her! Hehe…
While getting back in the train, we were all asked to express. Convey one good thing and bad thing
about one another. Talk about each person. Experiences. It was a good platform to open up.
After coming back we obviously had a Saarang hangover. We then started preparing for the
Convergence show. This was the show Viddu forgot lyrics for that sukumari song on stage! Poor
Sri vidya. Hehe. All the guys sang Ek din aayega and Prashant went on stage to sing Tum. Awesome
performance. That was the end of first yr in the music club.
Second yr was very exciting as we became “Seniors”! Sowmya Kilambi and I were eagerly looking
forward to the juniors who were going to step in. After all, hum toh seniors the! The college decided we
will have to give a juniors show. One fine Wednesday, we all sat down and prepared the song list sitting
in the Audi. The next morning, I just got into my bus..on my way to college when I received a phone call
from Viddu. Sandy had met with a tragic accident the previous night and I heard the worst – he can’t
drum for the next six months. We all met in college in the morning itself. We were all worried about
Sandy and also, the show that was coming up. We didn’t have a replacement for Sandy. Syloo knew
chumma drums. That’s it!
Nishant ensured that everything was going to be fine. He showed us pic of Sandy’s leg. It was very tragic.
Sandy had to go through a series of operations and it would be six months before he can even walk, let
alone drum. Gradually, we met to meet Sandy in the hospital. There he was, lying on the bed, with the
same old smile, happy go lucky attitude, cracking jokes even the hospital, animatedly telling us how the
accident happened. There were so many people with him, so many visiting him.
It took us all some time to realize that no matter what we had to carry on with the show for which, we
had to alter the song list. We had to find a new drummer. We somehow had to manage a 45 min show.
This was a turning point for all of us. It dawned upon all of us that we need replacements for every
instrumentalist in the club.
Gradually we all put our heads together and then entered Varun, Dushyanth, Praveen, Sesi Kiran and
Ravi Kiran. It took us time to compose another song list suiting the current members of the club. In spite
of all the odds we all kept the tempo going, our soul aim -> making the show a success! We did have ups
and downs all the time while practicing. We practiced very hard!
A day or two before the show, we were all in the Audi and by mistake I broke a HUGE glass near the
stage(Steps to the stage). :P Viddu and Syloo considered it a good omen. They said, for one show
previously, Rama broke a Pepsi bottle and the show was a huge success. This gave us some hope. We all
kept our fingers crossed.
Ultimately, we sang viva song for the show, I drummed for one song, Syloo drummed for couple of
songs, Praveen did a mindblowing job on the vocals, we all sang pal as well. As usual Viddu’s voice
screwed up one day before the show and to cover up for In dino, we girls joined in! Just imagine! We
shot video of the entire show, before and even after affects as well– only for Sandy! Soon after the
show, we all went to Sandy’s house and showed him the video. In the video we all had lot of things to
say to Sandy. He was overwhelmed!
That was a major part of my second yr. As months passed by, Sandy was getting better and then came
audition time! As usual it was in the old music room, enthusiastic bunch of juniors came to audition and
then came Kalyan, Teja, and Prashanti. I still remember one guy during the audition – Karthik! He was
singing with itna feel that we couldn’t even hear him! It was very funny. We then started our practice for
Saarang.
Ever since Prashanti entered the club, Viddu used to ask her why she was so white! Lol. Kalyan always
called us Sir and Ma’m. He was the good kid junior. Teja never spoke that much in his first yr. He was
silent and shy, did as he was told.
As months passed by, Dushyanth and Varun were getting much much better on drums. They were
improving like crazy! We then decided on the song list – This was my personal favourite song list – Lukka
chuppi(our version) and mera bichra yaar. It was awesome! As we were improving from our difficulties,
we didn’t quite include the juniors so much in Saarang this time. Mind you, we did an awesome job at
Saarang although Viddu’s throat screwed up BIG TIME! I was very satisfied! As usual, we all had fun at
Saarang. But this time we did have any guys showing us his legs or not brushing and then coming on
stage nor did we have anyone fall during salsa. Lol.
When we came back, we then had Sinti! Sinti was being held after 4 long years. So it was big this time.
And we were opening for Naresh Iyer – the upcoming sensation. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a video
recording of this show so we never knew how it went. We don’t even have proper pics of this show.
It was in such a hurry burry. But we assumed it went good because the crowd was cheering well. But
Naresh Iyer’s show was mind blowing. We all danced like crazy that night. Next day was Sonu Nigam!!
That was so awesome! Viddu and I managed to get backstage. It was amazing!
Over all it was a memorable second yr but then we realized the final yr’s were leaving. We didn’t quite
have a full fledged guitarist now! Syloo and Osho was our only full fledged guitarist. Sesi and Ravi were
still picking up. But we did have drummers. We had to have some way out….
As my third yr started, we were in for a world of issues. For starters, our instruments were getting old.
We needed replcaments! So the first half of the yr, we were roaming around for quotations..to get
them approved..etc. It was fun though, we used to roam around in Ravi’s car. As the juniors show was
approaching, we got to some serious jam sessions. Viddu had a lot on his head. He had to co-ordinate
with everybody. The instrumentalists-tell them the chords, ensure everyone goes on beat, make sure
vocalists are doing fine, seconds are to perfection. On the whole, he was holding the club together.
We practiced day and night, everybody worked their ass off. Sesi was having trouble at home but still
made it to practice sessions. John joined the club as well. He was trying his level best to pick up as fast as
possible. The juniors were being helpful. They weren’t much involved in their first yr unfortunately. So
now was their chance.
By the time we were due to perform, we were good. Everyone knew their parts. Sesi, Ravi and John
were doing tremendously well! Ultimately, we sang Churaliya, happy days and some other songs. :P We
received a great response from the crowd.
Then it was auditon time. This time we were looking forward to Auditions all the more because the
backbone of Crescendo at that time – Viddu was leaving. Anoosha, Uppu and Dushyanth were majorly
worried for the future of the club as well. This time we received a bunch of mixed juniors. Some brats
and some good people. :P
After lot of auditioning and re-auditioning, discussions and debates entered Himamshu, Sapan, Keerti,
and Renuka. Himamshu was being the smart ass. Sapan- the shaitan inside and innocent look outside.
Renuka - the happy go lucky. Keerti - the ever sweet and smiling! We were very glad with the juniors this
time. They looked very promising.
We then started our practice for Saarang – we were doing Modalinadu and kyun aaj kal. During Saarang,
the juniors had to face lots and lots of Ragging! Poor them! Seriously!!!! I still remember I used to argue
with all the seniors to reduce the level of ragging. Anyways, as usual no one heard me and continued
to do their thing. This was the year Osho stole the most number of Dosa’s at Tiffany’s I think. It was
Hilarious! This was also the year Ravi, I, Sesi, Viddu and someone else visited Ascendas and ate at Pizza
hut and kfc. We enjoyed a lot at Saarang. Me and Bass danced on road like stupid Crazy out of Jungle
ppl. But it was awesome! Bass will agree with me.
We all came from Saarang and as usual had a hangover. I remember Sapan asked me “is it like this
always? I’m still in Saarang mood”.
We were then gearing up for Sinti. We wanted it to be the most awesomest show of all because we had
a variety of musicians at hand. Viddu had a tough time bringing the show together. Our song list was
varied – Chand Sifarish, Taare Zameen par, khiladi Khoona(My first and only telugu song) Remix’s..we
opened with Chandralekha and dil se. I still remember Uppu was struggling to make it to jam sessions as
he was handling other issues. We the juniors wanted to surprise seniors by bringing one song together
but unfortunately, we couldn’t quite succeed due to varied issues.
But on the whole, it was a great show. That was the parting show for Viddu, Anoosha, Uppu, Dushyant
and Varun. On stage, everybody lifted Viddu. Poor all the guys. :P We sort of cried after getting off
stage. That was the end of a beautiful yr. All seniors and juniors were worried, what next? How are we
going to handle the club?
One of my friend’s told me, “You will realize who your true friends at the end of your final yr”. It is true.
I did too. As a part of my personal experience, I can ever forget my first and final yr. I guess that is the
case with most people.
It was in my final year that I matured, I learnt how to control my anger, how to connect to people, how
to take responsibility on my shoulders, handle it, how to get over lows. All my juniors helped me a lot in
this case. They helped me grow as a person. But this was the year I learnt no one gives a rat’s ass about
you. Stand on your feet and be strong. This was the year I didn’t anticipate what was coming for me….
Lot of factors came in to picture. First, we weren’t quite ready as a club. We had to gather ourselves
together, make this happen!
We got a special new member in the club who made it with a grand entry – Avinash Napa. I was in Delhi
when all the music club members decided to meet up with him because on the crescendo community
in orkut, he wrote – “Hello Beautiful girls and amazing guys”. We then thought, what an OA candidate?
Everybody decided we’ll teach him a lesson. Poor napa had high fever when we asked him to meet us.
They bombarded him with all sorts of questions which made him so nervous. Somehow, he landed up
in the jam room when I was back. That was the first time I met him. He was so quiet and scared. I felt so
sorry for him. I went and spoke to him. Turned out he was my friend’s cousin – which was a + point. :P
Slowly, we got to know him. He turned out to be just the opposite of what we expected.
Murthy was part of Dance club in his first yr. All of a sudden, he started showing interest, he sang well
too! So we took him in…He became very friendly with all of us very soon.
Viddu was of great help in the initial stages. Himam, Napa, Sapan, Murthy and Renuka picked up very
fast. It was surprising how the club pulled themselves together. We were gearing up for the juniors
show which was at SAC this time. Viddu came up with this brilliant arrangement on Awaara Bhawre. We
did great songs like Don, Socha hain, Pichle Saath Dino mein, Ninnai kalavarintha, Badal pe paon hain,
another famous telugu song which Murthy sang. :P it was a great show. We all worked our asses for the
show! It paid off end of the day.
Next was audition time! Three girls and two guys stepped in – Apoorva, Sudeepthi, Prateek, Nithin
Prakash and Shruti Harsha. They reminded me of my first yr. The cycle was repeating. I was very
protective of them. I didn’t want them to go through utna severe ragging as their immediate seniors did.
Unfortunately, they were ragged more than I anticipated. But they didn’t mind!
Preperations for Saarang started in full swing. Everybody was involved in Saarang. We came up with
brilliant arrangements for Awaara Bhawre and Azaadi. Prashanth and Sandy came to visit us during jam
sessions for Saarang and they were amazed! I was impressed too! D.Ravi was most helpful during that
time. He gave us moral support, he was our backbone! Saarang went well, lots of ups and downs, the
shows were great! Juniors were ragged of course!
We came back from Saarang and then got a proposal from MBA guys to do a show for their fest in Feb.
We weren’t prepared at all! We put up some falthoo thing with simple songs that involved everybody in
two weeks and put up the show. Surprisingly, it was the biggest hit ever! It was massive! People loved
us! The audience was dancing, singing, they were awesome! We never had such a crowd. Our seniors –
Syloo, Sandy and Osho came to see the show. They performed as well. I still remember Syloo’s speech
after playing, I cried as well. His hands were shivering. He was playing the guitar on stage after 2 yrs!
We then had Sinti. For sinti, we got some stupid sounds! We gathered up a decent song list – bandeh,
kuch khaas, we wanted to do clocks as well, practiced hard but we didn’t do it at the last moment. We
did couple of telugu songs – Om shanti and one more song which Sowmya and Teja sang. It was an
awesome song list! We carried on with show in spite of the ridiculous sounds soon before Bandeh, some
of the juniors pushed me off the stage. I wondered why. I was fighting with them. They then, started
playing but it was not Bandeh. It was their first own comp- Din Dhale. It was beautiful. I cried so much
that day! I still remember sitting in the audience and looking up at all my juniors. I was over whelmed!
That was my last show, the last time I could perform, the last time I could be a part of the club and not
an alumni. I am honored to have been a part of the club.
I thank all the people I was associated with in the club. I learnt stuff from each and every one of you. You
made grow as a person and given memories I can reminisce for life. Thanks to my seniors to have taken
me into the club during auditions. Else, I wouldn’t have experienced a wonderful college life.
All of us had ups and downs in the 4 yrs. We fought and screamed at each other. But when I look back
today, all I can remember is how I enjoyed, how we played and how we all worked towards our sole goal
– MUSIC!
I still reminisce the day Teja wrote his version of the story. We read it out in the Jam room, put it up
on the blog. And that’s the only story that was ever written down. Stories were told though…I still
remember the day Prashanth told me and Sowmya Kilambi the story of the music club in the train during
my 1st year Saarang. We had tears in our eyes at the end of it, developed a proud feeling that we would
never let go of! Both the stories I personally read and heard in person were legendary.
“We may not remember the days we studied but we still remember the days we jammed!!”
For those who don’t know me, I am Shruti Royyuru, stepped into college on Sept 22nd 2005 and passed
out in 2009. I was in ECE Dept. Once it was decided I’d study in VNR VJIET at the counseling, I decided to
find out more about the college from my immediate School senior, immediate College senior and very
good friend – Nikhila Srikanth. It was then I first heard about the music club “Crescendo”.
She happened to know each and every member of the club personally and also follow the shows
regularly. There I was listening like an eager child about – Sylvester D’Souza a.k.a Syloo, Vidyadhar
Raghavan a.k.a Viddu, Sandeep Mocherla a.k.a Sandy, Anoosha Yerram, Vineeta, Osho and Dum Dum. I
went home filled with fantasies in my mind, thinking wow, these guys are so cool!
The day I entered college on Sept 22nd 2005, there was a technical fest going on in col – Vector. Bad
day to enter college, I know! Seniors
roaming free everywhere. Back then, there wasn’t much restriction
on ragging. So I was shit scared! The next day I faced thoda ragging, my seniors in bus made me sing.
That evening, we were left early and while sneaking away from seniors out of college, my bus seniors
caught me and told me I should stay for a show happening later that evening. But the scared me ran out
of college. As I was running out, I caught a glimpse of the stage and a red drum kit.
The next day my friend Srilatha told me the show was great! Hey, she stayed back because she was the
A.O.’s granddaughter and no one could touch her! Poor me had to run out of college to escape from
seniors. :D
In Dec, I skipped college one day. My friends came and told me seniors announced in class for music
club auditions. Srilatha and I decided we’ll go for the audition. We practiced hard! Very hard! On the D
day, we went to the old music room beside the Audi, figured we were the first ones to reach. Till then
all the seniors I came across were mean. As we entered, these bunch of seniors in the room were very
friendly. Least did I know, these guys would be my friends for life!
Syloo came up to us and said ‘Please. Come in. Sit”. I thought “Wooow! What a lovely senior”. :D
Gradually lot of my batchmates poured in and soon we were ready. I was the first one to audition. I sang
the song “saath samundar”. Viddu and Vineeta were the judges. Sandy wore a Kurta that day roaming
around as usual with drum sticks in his hand. Syloo was passing around the paper and handling people.
Anoosha was watching all of us with keen interest.
I was cut off in between and Viddu asked me to sing a softer song, I then sang “Aao na”. I sat back and
watched other batchmates sing. That was the first time I came across Kilambi. She sang “Zara Zara”.
Syloo then announced for western music. I was least prepared. But I thought what the hell. We can give
it a shot. As usual the only song which came to my mind was my heart will go on. Everyone else sang the
same song. LOL!
Few days later, we were participating in Antakshari I think, Viddu and Anoosha came up to us( I think it
was Kilambi, me and someone else) that we should meet them next day or something like that. We were
then told that we were in and they explained about Saarang. And oh, Nikhila told me about Saarang too!
So I was all prepared. :D :D
We then started practicing for Saarang – Ab ke sawan, Yaar apne ghar jaao and Aashayein. The seniors
were so friendly! All of us got friendlier! :D As saarang was approaching on a holiday we were asked
to come to col to practice. That was the first holiday we were asked to come. So Navya, Kilambi and
I planned to go together. As we were walking to the Jam room, passing the basket ball court, seniors
called us. To rag! L They were Kilambi’s seniors. Door se do awaazein sunai diya! Mudke dekha, toh it
was Syloo and Sandy asking them to leave us! Full flat all of us became. Seniors saved us from ragging!
Hehe. We then practiced happily in front of Audi near the stairs.
One fine day when we were practicing in front of Audi, suddenly two guys walked in – one taklu and
another with full curly bushy hair. Everyone was so excited to see them! That was when we were
introduced to Rama and Prashanth. Two of the four founders of the music club. J That was the first time
we heard them jam(we were writing down Aashayein lyrics as per Viddu’s instructions by listening to the
age old cd player)…Kilambi and I toh fell full flat! The whole college echoed with only our music. It was
an unexplainable intense feeling.
As Saarang was round the corner, we decided to shift base to the most amazing place to Jam – Sandy’s
Garage! It was just like how they’d show in Hollywood movies. Jam in the garage. So awesome! We
skipped college, jammed for a week I guess. I used to carry a first generation Motorola phone back then
with an antenna and all. Lol. Syloo and Viddu called it Gadget! Those were great days! Prashant used to
come there as well almost every day. We all got so friendly so close. During one of the conversations,
Nishant happened to describe Bindaas park to us and scared us about ragging. L L
Then came the D day, the day we were boarding the train to Saarang. It was Sandy’s mom’s birthday.
They made her cut a cake and all. Somehow we didn’t get ragged in the train. Well, we were three girls!
Hehe. We kept talking talking. Listened to Prashanth’s story. Viddu then taught us chi ku li ba. I made
the entire boggi play Chi ku Li ba. By next morning, Syloo named me “Goddess” – Chi Ku Li Ba goddess!
The smart Viddu even made us practice Aashayein seconds at 3 in the morning! Unbelievable!
We reached Chennai in the morning, entered IIT for the first time. It was just like BHEL. So much
greenery! We were then checked into our hostels. And Day 1 of Saarang began. It was so much fun.
Meeting near SAC, hanging around till 3 a.m. We sang on stage at Bindaas park on Day 3 I guess. Sandy
missed a beat during ab ke saawan and felt terrible about it. Sharat was near the stage and gave such
an awesome encouragement with chi ku li ba sign. I participated in western music – sang complicated.
The boys were late for acoustics. Syloo came in such short shorts, his whole leg could be seen. Prashant
came without brushing. It was so hurried. We went to the beach early in the morning. Smuggled dosa’s
at Tiffany’s. (That was Osho. :P). Viddu and Osho described how shit looks like to people while they were
eating, ultimately, they couldn’t eat further. We had a memorable time.
The most awesomest moment was during Salsa. For the first time all of us were on the dance floor, for
salsa. And while doing a dip, the muscle man Syloo threw Sowmya on the floor. Poor her! Hehe…
While getting back in the train, we were all asked to express. Convey one good thing and bad thing
about one another. Talk about each person. Experiences. It was a good platform to open up.
After coming back we obviously had a Saarang hangover. We then started preparing for the
Convergence show. This was the show Viddu forgot lyrics for that sukumari song on stage! Poor
Sri vidya. Hehe. All the guys sang Ek din aayega and Prashant went on stage to sing Tum. Awesome
performance. That was the end of first yr in the music club.
Second yr was very exciting as we became “Seniors”! Sowmya Kilambi and I were eagerly looking
forward to the juniors who were going to step in. After all, hum toh seniors the! The college decided we
will have to give a juniors show. One fine Wednesday, we all sat down and prepared the song list sitting
in the Audi. The next morning, I just got into my bus..on my way to college when I received a phone call
from Viddu. Sandy had met with a tragic accident the previous night and I heard the worst – he can’t
drum for the next six months. We all met in college in the morning itself. We were all worried about
Sandy and also, the show that was coming up. We didn’t have a replacement for Sandy. Syloo knew
chumma drums. That’s it!
Nishant ensured that everything was going to be fine. He showed us pic of Sandy’s leg. It was very tragic.
Sandy had to go through a series of operations and it would be six months before he can even walk, let
alone drum. Gradually, we met to meet Sandy in the hospital. There he was, lying on the bed, with the
same old smile, happy go lucky attitude, cracking jokes even the hospital, animatedly telling us how the
accident happened. There were so many people with him, so many visiting him.
It took us all some time to realize that no matter what we had to carry on with the show for which, we
had to alter the song list. We had to find a new drummer. We somehow had to manage a 45 min show.
This was a turning point for all of us. It dawned upon all of us that we need replacements for every
instrumentalist in the club.
Gradually we all put our heads together and then entered Varun, Dushyanth, Praveen, Sesi Kiran and
Ravi Kiran. It took us time to compose another song list suiting the current members of the club. In spite
of all the odds we all kept the tempo going, our soul aim -> making the show a success! We did have ups
and downs all the time while practicing. We practiced very hard!
A day or two before the show, we were all in the Audi and by mistake I broke a HUGE glass near the
stage(Steps to the stage). :P Viddu and Syloo considered it a good omen. They said, for one show
previously, Rama broke a Pepsi bottle and the show was a huge success. This gave us some hope. We all
kept our fingers crossed.
Ultimately, we sang viva song for the show, I drummed for one song, Syloo drummed for couple of
songs, Praveen did a mindblowing job on the vocals, we all sang pal as well. As usual Viddu’s voice
screwed up one day before the show and to cover up for In dino, we girls joined in! Just imagine! We
shot video of the entire show, before and even after affects as well– only for Sandy! Soon after the
show, we all went to Sandy’s house and showed him the video. In the video we all had lot of things to
say to Sandy. He was overwhelmed!
That was a major part of my second yr. As months passed by, Sandy was getting better and then came
audition time! As usual it was in the old music room, enthusiastic bunch of juniors came to audition and
then came Kalyan, Teja, and Prashanti. I still remember one guy during the audition – Karthik! He was
singing with itna feel that we couldn’t even hear him! It was very funny. We then started our practice for
Saarang.
Ever since Prashanti entered the club, Viddu used to ask her why she was so white! Lol. Kalyan always
called us Sir and Ma’m. He was the good kid junior. Teja never spoke that much in his first yr. He was
silent and shy, did as he was told.
As months passed by, Dushyanth and Varun were getting much much better on drums. They were
improving like crazy! We then decided on the song list – This was my personal favourite song list – Lukka
chuppi(our version) and mera bichra yaar. It was awesome! As we were improving from our difficulties,
we didn’t quite include the juniors so much in Saarang this time. Mind you, we did an awesome job at
Saarang although Viddu’s throat screwed up BIG TIME! I was very satisfied! As usual, we all had fun at
Saarang. But this time we did have any guys showing us his legs or not brushing and then coming on
stage nor did we have anyone fall during salsa. Lol.
When we came back, we then had Sinti! Sinti was being held after 4 long years. So it was big this time.
And we were opening for Naresh Iyer – the upcoming sensation. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a video
recording of this show so we never knew how it went. We don’t even have proper pics of this show.
It was in such a hurry burry. But we assumed it went good because the crowd was cheering well. But
Naresh Iyer’s show was mind blowing. We all danced like crazy that night. Next day was Sonu Nigam!!
That was so awesome! Viddu and I managed to get backstage. It was amazing!
Over all it was a memorable second yr but then we realized the final yr’s were leaving. We didn’t quite
have a full fledged guitarist now! Syloo and Osho was our only full fledged guitarist. Sesi and Ravi were
still picking up. But we did have drummers. We had to have some way out….
As my third yr started, we were in for a world of issues. For starters, our instruments were getting old.
We needed replcaments! So the first half of the yr, we were roaming around for quotations..to get
them approved..etc. It was fun though, we used to roam around in Ravi’s car. As the juniors show was
approaching, we got to some serious jam sessions. Viddu had a lot on his head. He had to co-ordinate
with everybody. The instrumentalists-tell them the chords, ensure everyone goes on beat, make sure
vocalists are doing fine, seconds are to perfection. On the whole, he was holding the club together.
We practiced day and night, everybody worked their ass off. Sesi was having trouble at home but still
made it to practice sessions. John joined the club as well. He was trying his level best to pick up as fast as
possible. The juniors were being helpful. They weren’t much involved in their first yr unfortunately. So
now was their chance.
By the time we were due to perform, we were good. Everyone knew their parts. Sesi, Ravi and John
were doing tremendously well! Ultimately, we sang Churaliya, happy days and some other songs. :P We
received a great response from the crowd.
Then it was auditon time. This time we were looking forward to Auditions all the more because the
backbone of Crescendo at that time – Viddu was leaving. Anoosha, Uppu and Dushyanth were majorly
worried for the future of the club as well. This time we received a bunch of mixed juniors. Some brats
and some good people. :P
After lot of auditioning and re-auditioning, discussions and debates entered Himamshu, Sapan, Keerti,
and Renuka. Himamshu was being the smart ass. Sapan- the shaitan inside and innocent look outside.
Renuka - the happy go lucky. Keerti - the ever sweet and smiling! We were very glad with the juniors this
time. They looked very promising.
We then started our practice for Saarang – we were doing Modalinadu and kyun aaj kal. During Saarang,
the juniors had to face lots and lots of Ragging! Poor them! Seriously!!!! I still remember I used to argue
with all the seniors to reduce the level of ragging. Anyways, as usual no one heard me and continued
to do their thing. This was the year Osho stole the most number of Dosa’s at Tiffany’s I think. It was
Hilarious! This was also the year Ravi, I, Sesi, Viddu and someone else visited Ascendas and ate at Pizza
hut and kfc. We enjoyed a lot at Saarang. Me and Bass danced on road like stupid Crazy out of Jungle
ppl. But it was awesome! Bass will agree with me.
We all came from Saarang and as usual had a hangover. I remember Sapan asked me “is it like this
always? I’m still in Saarang mood”.
We were then gearing up for Sinti. We wanted it to be the most awesomest show of all because we had
a variety of musicians at hand. Viddu had a tough time bringing the show together. Our song list was
varied – Chand Sifarish, Taare Zameen par, khiladi Khoona(My first and only telugu song) Remix’s..we
opened with Chandralekha and dil se. I still remember Uppu was struggling to make it to jam sessions as
he was handling other issues. We the juniors wanted to surprise seniors by bringing one song together
but unfortunately, we couldn’t quite succeed due to varied issues.
But on the whole, it was a great show. That was the parting show for Viddu, Anoosha, Uppu, Dushyant
and Varun. On stage, everybody lifted Viddu. Poor all the guys. :P We sort of cried after getting off
stage. That was the end of a beautiful yr. All seniors and juniors were worried, what next? How are we
going to handle the club?
One of my friend’s told me, “You will realize who your true friends at the end of your final yr”. It is true.
I did too. As a part of my personal experience, I can ever forget my first and final yr. I guess that is the
case with most people.
It was in my final year that I matured, I learnt how to control my anger, how to connect to people, how
to take responsibility on my shoulders, handle it, how to get over lows. All my juniors helped me a lot in
this case. They helped me grow as a person. But this was the year I learnt no one gives a rat’s ass about
you. Stand on your feet and be strong. This was the year I didn’t anticipate what was coming for me….
Lot of factors came in to picture. First, we weren’t quite ready as a club. We had to gather ourselves
together, make this happen!
We got a special new member in the club who made it with a grand entry – Avinash Napa. I was in Delhi
when all the music club members decided to meet up with him because on the crescendo community
in orkut, he wrote – “Hello Beautiful girls and amazing guys”. We then thought, what an OA candidate?
Everybody decided we’ll teach him a lesson. Poor napa had high fever when we asked him to meet us.
They bombarded him with all sorts of questions which made him so nervous. Somehow, he landed up
in the jam room when I was back. That was the first time I met him. He was so quiet and scared. I felt so
sorry for him. I went and spoke to him. Turned out he was my friend’s cousin – which was a + point. :P
Slowly, we got to know him. He turned out to be just the opposite of what we expected.
Murthy was part of Dance club in his first yr. All of a sudden, he started showing interest, he sang well
too! So we took him in…He became very friendly with all of us very soon.
Viddu was of great help in the initial stages. Himam, Napa, Sapan, Murthy and Renuka picked up very
fast. It was surprising how the club pulled themselves together. We were gearing up for the juniors
show which was at SAC this time. Viddu came up with this brilliant arrangement on Awaara Bhawre. We
did great songs like Don, Socha hain, Pichle Saath Dino mein, Ninnai kalavarintha, Badal pe paon hain,
another famous telugu song which Murthy sang. :P it was a great show. We all worked our asses for the
show! It paid off end of the day.
Next was audition time! Three girls and two guys stepped in – Apoorva, Sudeepthi, Prateek, Nithin
Prakash and Shruti Harsha. They reminded me of my first yr. The cycle was repeating. I was very
protective of them. I didn’t want them to go through utna severe ragging as their immediate seniors did.
Unfortunately, they were ragged more than I anticipated. But they didn’t mind!
Preperations for Saarang started in full swing. Everybody was involved in Saarang. We came up with
brilliant arrangements for Awaara Bhawre and Azaadi. Prashanth and Sandy came to visit us during jam
sessions for Saarang and they were amazed! I was impressed too! D.Ravi was most helpful during that
time. He gave us moral support, he was our backbone! Saarang went well, lots of ups and downs, the
shows were great! Juniors were ragged of course!
We came back from Saarang and then got a proposal from MBA guys to do a show for their fest in Feb.
We weren’t prepared at all! We put up some falthoo thing with simple songs that involved everybody in
two weeks and put up the show. Surprisingly, it was the biggest hit ever! It was massive! People loved
us! The audience was dancing, singing, they were awesome! We never had such a crowd. Our seniors –
Syloo, Sandy and Osho came to see the show. They performed as well. I still remember Syloo’s speech
after playing, I cried as well. His hands were shivering. He was playing the guitar on stage after 2 yrs!
We then had Sinti. For sinti, we got some stupid sounds! We gathered up a decent song list – bandeh,
kuch khaas, we wanted to do clocks as well, practiced hard but we didn’t do it at the last moment. We
did couple of telugu songs – Om shanti and one more song which Sowmya and Teja sang. It was an
awesome song list! We carried on with show in spite of the ridiculous sounds soon before Bandeh, some
of the juniors pushed me off the stage. I wondered why. I was fighting with them. They then, started
playing but it was not Bandeh. It was their first own comp- Din Dhale. It was beautiful. I cried so much
that day! I still remember sitting in the audience and looking up at all my juniors. I was over whelmed!
That was my last show, the last time I could perform, the last time I could be a part of the club and not
an alumni. I am honored to have been a part of the club.
I thank all the people I was associated with in the club. I learnt stuff from each and every one of you. You
made grow as a person and given memories I can reminisce for life. Thanks to my seniors to have taken
me into the club during auditions. Else, I wouldn’t have experienced a wonderful college life.
All of us had ups and downs in the 4 yrs. We fought and screamed at each other. But when I look back
today, all I can remember is how I enjoyed, how we played and how we all worked towards our sole goal
– MUSIC!
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