City of Stars

Double Take (1)

Sept 2, 2023
P_______n College of Arts and Science, Chennai .

(Right yes, I've mentioned the date and place because this happened to meeeee!! Yes MEE!! I know, this one shot collection is turning into a autobiographical romantic interlude. I can't help it, I'm sorry. When some people say " your life is literally magical" or "your life is is really interesting with all those beautiful moments", I would really never accept it. But after some episodes in "My Life"，I'm starting to believe that I'm truly blessed to have some magical scenarios pop up outta nowhere. Some scenarios which some have only dreamt of. Okay! This one shot or a short incident or whatever you'd like to call this, is not as exciting as you think it is, after all these build-ups. This is something which I think was cute and coincidental. Ok now coming back to the incident, I don't want to mention the name of the college because I don't know if can mention that. I'm scared to mention it that's the reason.)

It all started with me creating a musical band with some strangers who have a great sync with my musical taste and humour sense. Hence, they are now my close, best friends. We all are first years, fresh out of performing and winning in the freshers talent hunt in battle of bands, with me being the guitarist. Two of them from the group we got selected (the club had selected us) didn't match our vibe so we got rid of them and swapped them with two of our friends who were great singers. So we were a band, not really because most of them are singers and I'm the only guitarist. But we made a real ,good musical band if we are allowed to be called like that.

We got an announcement from the club of our college for an intercollegiate cultural program conducted by the English department of that college. We came to know about this and decided to participate in it. But we were informed that the very same day was the audition and that it was an Acapella (only vocal). Our classes usually gets over at 12:50 PM and the audition was to be held at 1:05 PM. Since all of us are from different departments, we gathered everyone in our band to our usual "atti spot", that is a small stage in the corner of the campus and started to prepare. The genre was about Madras or Chennai. So we had decided a setlist (song list) which ascends from the earliest decade starting from the 60s to the present and ending with 'chancey illa Chennai'. We had less than 15 minutes, yet we practiced well and performed in front of our auditioners. They said that we have a great potential, so we got selected. But they said not to sing the same setlist in the actual event.

The event was 3 days away then, we had to crush our minds so hard for we weren't able to think of any songs which would fit in the categories. Days passed, and it was the day before the event. Still we were on the same page. Even if we get some songs, they don't fit in the previous song which we had already chosen. Different scales, tempo and etc. During that time, I got a message from the event organiser that we will be able to use acoustic instruments which doesn't need an output. So we were all happy that we could use me as guitarist. That was our only strength. It was already late to go to our homes, so we left. Yes, without any idea of songs.

So, the day came.

We had reached the college with nothing but a guitar on my back. We still had 3 hours left so we decided to practice some songs which were chosen overnight by our lead singer. I gave them their scales, bases and harmonies. So we could say that we were almost prepared . 3 hours had got over. We didn't get a proper place to practice so we were standing near a gate at the corner of the corridor. With all the people looking at us weirdly, the student office bearers restricted us from practicing further and told us that the next event is ours. So we had to pack up and head inside the event hall.

There was an event happening, the name is shipwreck, where you act weirdly of whoever the judge tells you to act like. The participants of the upcoming event were told to sit in the front few rows. We headed to the front seats. My friends had sat in the second row and I and one of my friends were left alone without a seat. So we had sit in the front row ,unfortunately or fortunately. A few seats on my left hand side were left empty, to my right my friend sat and behind, the others. Since we were informed that our event was the next, I didn't keep my guitar in the cover, instead I had to hold it next to the seat which was empty. We all were nervous as we didn't really prepare all well. The shipwreck was quite funny as there was a guy performing really well. All of a sudden I felt someone sit next to me. I tore my eyes away from the performance and saw a guy sitting next to me who was quite beautiful. Out of all seats he chose to sit next to my just to make my poor, already-pounding heart to vibrate faster. When I looked at him, he offered me a warm smile.