The Discovery Of a Metalhead

Before joining engineering college, my association with music was limited to Bryan Adams, MLTR, Eagles, Bollywood stuffs and yes, also with some of those pop shits that they used to play on MTV. In hostel we used to hear diverse range of melodies from all different rooms, but particularly it was predominated by Bollywood songs, rock and metal music, with negligible amount of pop stuffs. Even though I was in some sort of metal environment, but never took it seriously until one particular evening. 

Immediately after the ragging days, the entire fresher’s came to their true forms. The cigarettes switched hands very frequently and the heavenly fluids already started to purify the blood inside our body. Most of the hostel rooms were already blessed with music systems and everyone really enjoyed to play the music  little louder. Sabine was a metalhead and we didn’t know him quite well that time, as he joined hostel just few days before the fresher’s night. That particular evening, few of us simply strolled through the hostel campus and encountered Sabine on the way. We planned to go out to buy some cigarettes and Sabine wanted to go to his room first. I think that was for the first time I visited his room and as soon as we entered the room, Sabine switched on the music system and my goodness, terrible kind of noise started to come out the speakers, as if it was about to burst in a while. Someone asked "What the hell are you playing dude? Please change the music"

Being a die hard metal fan, Sabine got depressed with those words. He then tried to explain us about the beauty of metal and about the spirituality behind it. He gave us metal gyaan for the next 10 to 15 minutes and finally he asked us to do something. He switched off the lights and asked us to lie down on the bed. There was complete darkness inside the room and then Sabine switched on the music system.  He asked us to close our eyes and feel only the music, as if nothing else existed in this world. Sabine increased the volume and what the hell? I was enjoying it, I was really enjoying it. He played some of the classic Metallica tracks that evening in loud volume and I listened to them with both my eyes closed. Couldn't realize how the noise turned into melody for me. It pleased my ears and relaxed my mind and body to a great extent. 

After that evening, something happened to me. I felt quite happy and confident, as if I was in love.  It started that time and the bonding became stronger and stronger day by day. In fact, no other kind of music soothed me that time other than those metallic melodies. The entire four years passed so fast listening to Metallica, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Black Sabbath and many more. Those days on every gathering and especially after the influence of heavenly fluids, hostel metalheads usually used to play video CD’s of the Metal Gods performing live on stage. Watching them we used to discuss and wondered "How it would feel to watch them live, to be part of such a concert?" 

Someone usually used to reply "Forget it, there’s no way we could experience them live in India" It felt bad but we had to believe the fact. But the world is really becoming smaller and smaller day by day. Years later, I think it was early 2007 and I was working out here in Bangalore. I got the news that Iron Maiden was coming to Bangalore for a concert. I was totally shocked and extremely delighted with that news. I just couldn’t believe even after I bought the tickets. That was some kind of a concert, totally mind blowing and out of the world. 

The crowd was extremely huge, as metalheads not only all over India, but all across the sub continent were at Bangalore that night. For the first time I witnessed something like that, some 50 thousand fans and most of them dressed in black. When they played the famous track "Fear of The Dark", my goodness it was magical and I couldn't hear Bruce Dickinson's voice at all, as the entire crowd was singing altogether. That particular concert changed the entire metal business in India and since then, hell lot of metal bands from all over the world performed out here in Bangalore. Few of my other memorable concerts were that of Metallica, Sepultura, Megadeth, Cradle of Filth, SuidAkrA and Amon Amarth. At present I'm just waiting for tomorrow's Bangalore Open Air, yes Saturday 6th of July 2013.