“ACT, it is eight ‘o clock. If we don’t leave by 8.30, we won’t get the bus at 9. If we don’t get the bus at 9, we won’t reach the office before 10.30”
“So what?” I ask Nikhil Menon.
“So nothing. I’m pretty sure when our boss said 9.30 is the office time, he meant AM not PM”.
That’s the last of what I see (or hear) from Nikhil Menon. For the day that is.
After the alarm call that I didn’t subscribe to (and hence, can’t unsubscribe), he goes picks up his electric guitar from a commotion of wires and settles on a chair with headphones plugged in. The only signs of his existence from then on, are the fingers on either hand that run over the strings with the appetite of a serial rapist just out of jail.
His head sways in rhythm. And he uses headphones. So we have to assume he is playing something great.
“Nick, hey Nick. Can we go?”
“Where to?”
“Office”
“Oh. Yeah. Okay”
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Halfway through the sleepy bus ride from Ennore to Alwarpet, I wake up to see my seatmate; eyes closed, and head rocking to some obviously superb tune. And here I thought he forgot his mp3 player and shaving set at home.
Wait a minute, he doesn’t shave. Wait another minute; there are no headphones in his ears either.
That is when I see his fingers strumming over something imaginary. Maybe that’s what they call the Air Guitar. That’s also when I found out for the first time; Nikhil Menon has a delusionary disorder. He plays guitar out of nothing. And some great songs too.
He is currently Joe Satriani; playing ‘The Journey’ from Strange Beautiful Music.
Do not disturb.
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Office is a chat heaven. When the boss stops his talk, we gtalk. But after anurag_maverick signed out for having his power lunch, I am alone again. I look at Nick, for some company. His headphones are plugged into the Dell. Damn.
His head says, “Lonely nation”. It’s from Switchfoot, the San Diego band. Duh!
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Lunch is from a Tamil mess. A Tamil Mess. And no, that is not a repetition error.
Chris Martin, Coldplay lead guitarist, asks me from across the table.
“Who’s the guitarist in that Malayalam album, Alone?”
“I donno Nick. Why?”
“I’d like to be some indigenous artiste for a change. I’m homesick”.
That’s a start. Lovely. “Why Nick”?
“The food sucks here”.
Shit.
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We go out to interview a teacher.
“What a useless fellow. What does he know about Swedish Rock?”
“Yeah Nick. Nothing”.
He is surely Opeth boy Mikael Akerfeldt now.
Yeah, I’ve learned some things too. At least, I now know Moshpit isn’t an African shrub.
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Suburban trains in Chennai run a contest for the first person entering and leaving the train at every station. We always lose.
Me and Tommy Emmanuel were having Coke, sitting on the floor of the train.
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11.25 PM
Me and Kris watching the same comic clip on Aditya TV third time that week. We still laugh.
Nick… oops, Alex Skolnick, was behind closed doors, merrily playing some song we will never hear.
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2 AM
I had him for my own. No strings Attached.
Nikhil Menon. In flesh and blood. Finally.
He was asleep. That is.
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3 comments:
[I like this]
Is this final or u will jump to some other provider... I feel vox looked more colourful.. lot of options to decide
@ Aneerudh: Commenting is a pain there man
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