From the Archives
This reflection was originally published on 3 April 2010 as a Facebook Note and was last edited on 6 May 2021. It has been lightly refined and republished here for clarity and readability, while preserving the original thought, feeling, humour, and intent.
It was during the final year of DMET, when I had just started learning to play the guitar.
I am not sure how I sounded in those days, but this bunch of batchmates made me feel like a professional musician. They treated me like a celebrity and made sure I was always taken care of.
In fact, I used to get stuffed with Coke because someone in the group would somehow notice that Patti’s glass was getting empty.
And before my glass of Coke became empty, it would get filled up again.
Come on guys, I miss you all.
Tutu, Balda, Vohra, Deepak, Shivi, Sunil, Pandey, Gohil, DK — they were my early and only audience. What a wonderful lot of admirers they were.
They probably never heard what I was actually playing, because they were too busy getting intoxicated. I, on the other hand, was an excessive passive smoker in those days, staying around these guys while they smoked, laughed, sang, and enjoyed themselves.
Somehow, I loved being with them.
I kept playing whatever few notes or chords I knew.
Tutu was a wonder kid when it came to tunes. He could pick up the right notes and immediately catch you if you went off track.
I remember him playing bass with us in the band. He fretted it out, picked up the notes, and figured out the trick to play the prelude piece of Saagar Kinaare. I still play it almost the same way even today.
Later, I struggled and picked up the prelude for Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas.
I used to play for these guys till the early hours of the morning. For me, it was also a challenge to play in dim light without looking at the guitar’s fretboard.
It had been only about six months since I had seriously started playing, and I was fascinated whenever I saw guitarists play without even looking at the instrument.
The band group of my seniors was a treat to watch. Bernard was a genius. He is now in Miami with Aalborg, if I remember correctly.
Those were the days when these guys would fill up my glass of Coke and request me to continue strumming notes for them.
At times, they even used to bring along extra stock. I realised that only later.
But I enjoyed every moment of playing the guitar for this amazing bunch of friends.
Tutu used to ask me several times:
“Abe, daaru peeta nahin, phir itna der bajata kaise hai?”
I do not have the answer to this day.
Final year DMET memories from 1990 — on a boat in the Sunderbans Delta, with guitar, songs, and batchmates.
In 2010, I had written that I wanted to make a new composition for the 1990 batch.
The last one I had composed in memory of late P.D. — such a wonderful person he was — was called How I Wish You Were Here. The lyrics were written by Vohra.
I composed it using a simple chord progression that I had learnt from Amit Dutta of Shiva fame.
Some memories remain alive not because they were grand, but because they were shared with the right people.
A guitar. A dimly lit room. A glass of Coke. A few friends. A few songs.
And a feeling that still remains.
Say cheese and keep smiling.
Srinivas
Patti, for all of them