xZethy & Parikrama at IIMK Backwaters!!

Its that time of the year when B-Schools everywhere in the country are tense with nervous excitement as the placement season starts to kick off. For the most part its a very short affair, but with lucrative offers and pride at stake, the competition is intense and rivalry cut-throat. IIMK’s annual management fest “BackWaters” (http://iimkbackwaters.com/) is therefore the ideal break for frizzled out students across campuses. Spread across 3 days and combining a plethora of both management events as well as cultural events, Backwaters 2008 promises to be a fest like no other.However, thats what all fests say. And they all end up being attended to by ‘geeks’ who have nothing better to do in life than prepare B-plans (that after winning are shredded faster than the prize money is spent), or submit case analysis (that have more of jargon than common sense) or as an excuse to bunk class and sleep.

So why do you think the folks at IIMK thought of stretching it over 3 whole days? One would think that a day of blah-blah discussions and Jerks in suits trying to pretend they have talent for cultural events is one too many for a B-School.But then this isnt your average, ordinary, run-of-the-mill premier B-School with an excellent placement record. This is a B-School that craves for a chance to show the world their expertise in dealing with mundane B-school life. And believe you me, they know a thing or two about mundane, boring routine. Spending a day in the campus would make a Rip Wan Winkle out of the most fanatic of suicide bombers. We often hear about famous prisons being built to keep prisoners in. They use high-technology devices, maintain close scrutiny, keep spies in the midst of the population and so on.

Well, those hollywood assholes got it all wrong. The ultimate, super duper, foolproof way of keeping people IN, is to do it the IIMK way – Make the “outside” so bad that they loose hope of the possibility for fun. Let me illustrate – The campus is incredibly beautiful BUT built high atop a hill, between valleys, far away from civilization, from a decent alchohol serving restaurant (from a decent food serving restaurant for that matter) and in a place where the Monsoon lasts forever (sometimes I feel Heaven outsourced the job to an Indian). Add to the equation a local population who cant speak any language but Malayalam, and you guarentee that 99.5% of the campus stays inside for the best part of 2 years.So when it comes to a B-School fest, these folks have a thing or two to prove. And by God do they do it in style. Besides demolishing the concept of prize money (the average prize money for a B-Plan contest is about Rs.30,000) by offering Rs.1.5 lakhs (yes 150000) to giving away prizes for just participating in contests (see link- http://www.iimkbackwaters.com/onlineevents.html); these folks have taken Management Fests and spun it into something else. And if that werent enough, they allow non-Bschool students to participate also!

Well….that’s all well and good. But whats the big deal? So they have a bigger prize. But any Don Quixote will tell you that size doesnt matter. So they have consolation prizes for people who participate. Must be leftover stuff they couldnt get rid from last year. So they allow anyone to participate. Are they that desperate for participants? Maybe….But I havent told you about the best part.

IIMK is the best location in India for falling in love. Period. It might have something to do with the translucent beauty of the campus or the remote solitude that makes us vulnerable. But if you’re the sort of guy who likes a particular girl and dont know what to do about it, then stop scratching your ass and bring her here. If she still doesnt change her feelings about you, then wait till the XZETHY concert starts. Yes! XZETHY LIVE on Jan 11th.  (you can request a dedication in our JAM IT page). If she still doesnt change her feelings about you, then she’s probably pregnant (and your best friend is the culprit)….I’m just kidding …. of course its not your best friend (more probable that it’s the college janitor).

 

If after xZethy performs, you want to stick around, then there’s always the wonderful beaches to go to, or the desolate forests of wayanad just a few clicks down the road. And maybe if you have the time, you can stick around for PARIKRAMA performing on the 13th of Jan. Parikrama has come a long way since its inception in 1991 by a guy out of NIFT. They’ve just completed a tour of the UK and are all set to rock IIMK this weekend. More news and updates at http://www.parikrama.com/home.html

 

XZETHY on the 11th, Beach sands and forests on the 12th and PARIKRAMA on the 13th. What more could even God want? So take a trip to IIMK this weekend and feel like God.

 

Visit the IIMK Backwaters website for more information- http://iimkbackwaters.com

JAM IT

Lets be honest. We all like listening to music. Some of Love listening to music. Some do nothing all day but listen to music. With all the listening going around and all the debate about “sharing” music files, there’s very little time for listening to new kinds of music or the old “favourites” that remind you of the days when you were young and carefree, hanging out with your friends, ready to take on the world. Or that song you remember the tune to, but you just cant seem to remember the artist. Or that song you love to hum when you’re waiting for the bus, or when you’re traveling to work or when you’re cleaning the dishes. Amidst the hustle and bustle of it all, where’s the time to tediously and meticulously search for the song and then spend another few days of tedious and meticulous searching to find a site to download, then waiting hours for it to download, only to find the connection lost at 99%…..??

Or are you the kind of person who feels you’re not that knowledgeable about music? We dont think knowledge has anything to do with it. So if you are clueless about what to gift your girlfriend/boyfriend on your anniversary, why dont you let xZethy help you make a good impression, with a customized love song? Or bring a smile to your Dad’s face by treating him to a live version of his favourite “oldie”?

xZethy could help you out. All you need to do is tell us about your song. Tell us why you like it. Inspire us and we’ll record the song for you and gift it to you.. FREE. And if you just know the tune, leave us your number and we’ll call you (so you hum it for us). If you know everything about the song BUT the tune, dont worry. Just leave it to us to figure out the song and the rest. So if its a favourite oldie, or you just want a song personalized for someone or any other way we could help out, then leave a post and we’ll see what we can do.

Channel [V] Launchpad performance

Well….. Dec 15th will forever be etched in our minds as a night to remember. 3 days and 2 nights stuck in a train with a horde of pilgrims travelling to Sabarimala and the 6 of us crammed in between lunch boxes, children’s diapers and the great Indian train melee. Donald strumming the electric guitar to the awe of onlookers who cant figure out why the guitar sounds like a box of wires, Marc sleeping like he’s just discovered niravana, Madhavi & Sai cracking PJs’ that could melt a block of ice, Anis glued to his cellphone like a dog with a bone and Ram desperately holding on to a sliver of hope that the girl of his dreams is going to magically appear at the next station.

With just about enough cash to get to Pune and back without having to beg, borrow or steal, the onus was on Don (Donald) to manage our finances or rather make sure we didnt get carried away buying the kind of junk being sold on the train. That said, Don was also the first to start buying stuff which included a “map of india”, a sewing kit among others.

We finally managed to reach Bombay where we lugged around 100kgs of equipment (3 guitars, 1 Synthesizer, Drum pedals and our clean underwear) till we were able to catch a bus to Pune. I gotta admit that the Bombay-Pune highway is one hell of a road. I only wished we had a car of our own to really enjoy the drive down. 36 hrs after boarding the train from Calicut station, we had finally arrived in Pune and stranded in the middle of nowhere waiting for someone to guide us to the SCMHRD campus where the event was being organized.

The folks at SCMHRD were incredibly helpful and made us feel right at home. Here at last was a campus where music was appreciated. Unlike back in our college where the standard response was “Turn the volume down….people are trying to sleep”, here they genuinely wanted to hear us play! And on a personal note let me just add that the female gender of students were unlike anything I have ever seen before (in a mind blowing sort of way).

 The next day was D-Day and we were all pumped up about being the first band on stage. Channel [V] Launchpad is a sort of platform for upcoming bands to showcase their music and talent and the winning team gets a chance to perform for Channel [V]. It was a big break for us, since being in a B-School, the only platforms we get to see are platforms for New Product Development or strategic analysis frameworks. We entered the arena to find a huge crowd gathered for the event. It was quite unnerving to see such a huge audience all geared up for a night of rock n roll. After setting up our equipment for what seemed like ages, we were finally ready for a sonic blast.

 We kicked off our performace with Guns ‘n’ Roses’s Sweet Child of Mine, which had the crowd getting into the groove. Madhavi’s vocals were sharp and full of vibrant undertone as she made Axl Rose seem like a chorus singer. Marc’s lead guitar was deft and quick while the drums tried to keep up with the pace. Don as always was like a machine on the bass. Although the sound engineers screwed up their job as usual, the song managed to sound crisp. We then took the pace down a notch with a rendition of Pink Floyd’s Coming Back to Life. Marc was simply brilliant on the lead guitar while Anis’s vocals was worthy of David Gilmore’s (Lead vocals in Pink Floyd) legacy. After leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind why Marc is the best lead guitarist ever to step foot in SCMHRD (and probably anywhere else he sets foot on), Marc topped off his breathtaking solo with a sweep of his cigarette lighter, which made the audience bellow for an encore.

 Madhavi then geared up the crowd for our next song – School of Rock (from the Original Motion Soundtrack). The crowd went ballistic with the classy lyrics. School of Rock needs a lot of attitude while playing and if its one thing we had, it was attitude. From Anis and Madhavi swaying wildly to the groove, to Ram tossing and flipping his sticks and trying to smash the bass drum, to Don and Marc synchronsing the arms of their guitars, it was a song that was enjoyed by the audience as much as we enjoyed playing it.

We capped off our performance with Angel Dust’s Bleed single. Its a song that is fast and yet very technical. Lots of underlying variations and skip beats. But everyone stepped up to the plate and although we made slight mistakes, it was probably our best song. We managed to keep it tight and clean. At the end of the song the response was overwhelming. People rushed to us to congratulate on our scintillating performance. The best part was that the winning band “BOOM SHANKAR” from S.P.Jain  told us we were better than them. I’m sure they were being modest though.

Boom Shankar: Let me tell you a bit about these guys. If xZethy proved MBA grads could rock, then these guys sealed the deal. These guys are tight. And they love their music. After hearing them play Parikrama’s version of “But it Rained”, I was almost ready to admit that they were maybe as good as us .. Watch out for them people. This band is gonna make headlines someday.

Yes, unfortunately we only managed to finish runners-up. We lacked an original song of our own which probably tilted the favor of the judges. But the response and critical acclaim we received was fantastic. We learned so much from our performance that we couldnt wait to get back to campus and start jamming again. Coming back home the mood was more sombre, but luckily for Ram and Marc, they were able to spot an entire contingent of college girls in the next compartment, right next to the mess car. 50 PET bottles of pepsi and 20 hrs later, they were still trying to figure out an opening line to meet them. Anis was happy he could get back to his phone after the distractions of the rock show, Madhavi and Sai were happy that they still had a bottle of whiskey (courtsey of Ram) to fall back on and Don was already thinking of the next competition to win.

P.S. – Thanks to the organizing committee at SCMHRD for a wonderful reception, help and great hospitality.

xZethy Launchpad clips

Clips of our performance at NEEV 2007 at SCMHRD Pune.

The first clip is Sweet Child of Mine (originally performed by Guns n Roses).

Now for some deep psychedelic rock with Pink Floyd’s Coming Back To Life

Cranking it up a notch with our rendition of School of Rock (From the motion picture of the same name)

 

Ending it with a Hard hitting rendition of Bleed by AngelDust