The Making of the Song 'Banjaraa'

(((This story won me the 1st prize in a National competition in IBM

                    ...wait...did I say 'story'?)))

“Naa re”, said Ambar, “D- minor isn’t working…man”.

 It was November. Ya…24th…so…25th…yes it was 25th November’06.We had booked the studio for the 27th, to record the last song of our new album. This one would be a pure romantic unplugged melody. But, we weren’t getting the chords right.

Overconfidence was eating on us. We shouldn't have booked the studio before having completed the song. However, we had taken it up...so we had to do it to complete the project.

It was 4 a.m.; and as usual, Ambar and I were at my terrace. My cell phone contained the lyrics. Our jackets helped a great deal as we sat there with a guitar, in an Assamese winter night.

“When I saw you for the first time……….” we kept trying. Lots of changes. Lots of crap. But finally, the product was ready. ‘Banjaraa’ was complete.

 “Yes…!!”, we said together. We loved this song. Also, I had written this for someone special and unlike the other songs, it was lending vocals to it too. So, it was all the more close to my heart. It was 5 now.

“You loved that part na”, said Ambar, and sang ‘Aankhen bujhaaun to dikh jaati hai wo, Kholun to jaaye kahaan….’ “Yes bro, that’s the USP of this song. One voice. One guitar. One lovely piece of lyrics. Peace of mind. Piece of art”, I said in my poetic style.

Just then my cell rang. 9164724280. “Don’t know who’s this. Just a moment. You keep humming that long…”

“Hello…I am Ambar’s uncle. Just a moment. Bhaviji …Lijiye baat kijiye”, and he handed the phone over to Anisha Aunty(Ambar’s mom).

 “Yes Aunty…”

 “Son, Ambar wanted to meet you once. I don’t know what he had to say…” , and she started crying.

Ambar’s uncle got back the phone. He said, “How could you do this? He was your best friend …right?

Did he not deserve a word from you before he died last night?”.

I turned. Ambar wasn’t there. My phone fell flat on the terrace. The call got disconnected. In a second the cell beeped. 1 message. From Ambar.

 “Hey see…Job done naa?..I’m leaving, but Shloka must rock…we must be the best band in the country…tell Arghya...cheers…I’ll be there with you guys…always”.

 I fainted.

(It's been 3 years now. Banjaraa never got recorded. Shloka now has a changed lineup and a changed name. We can still feel his presence when we jam. For us, he hasn't gone anywhere. He is right here...in our music.He is the reason why we call ourselves 'DIVINE Raaga')