My first gig..

Imagine you are in a rock band and you have to play at a major rock gig and the vocalist has a sore throat. Now if you think that is bad, imagine you are the vocalist...

Well this is what happened to me a few years back when me and my college band, Suede, had to play at Campus Rock Idols in Manipal. It was the first major competition we were going to play at and was really important for us. But as luck had to have it, I woke up that morning unable to utter a damn word.... I had the worst sore throat in the history of sore throats!!

This was not the first time I had had a sore throat 'attack' and my mum, as knowledgeable as she is, knew all about them and the ways to get rid of them.. So then began the saga of home remedies.
The first one to bite the dust was the most trusted salt water gargle.. yes, the great salt water gargle that has cured millions and billions of sore throats. But the one that I had was definitely paranormal and a simple salt water gargle was no match for it.
But this first failure did not deter my mum and she soon followed up with a concoction of black pepper and honey. Now this is something which generally did the trick for me for black pepper was the ONE THING that i chewed on before all singing competitions and it had worked wonders. But only until this day!!!

My mum was extremely worried but she is not the one to give up so easily. She was determined to get me up and running in time for the gig which was that evening. But time was not a luxury that day because the gig was in Manipal which is about 60 kilometres from my place i.e. about an hour and half by car. And also, we needed a sound check and some practice before the big event. I was short on time and had to leave home ASAP and so I put on my best clothes and set out.

I met up with rest of the guys and we left to Manipal, hoping for a great event. But the guys were really worried because the song that I was supposed to perform - Coming Back To Life by Pink Floyd - was sounding extremely good during our jams and we believed it was our trump card and I had this damned throat buster. Somewhere along the road Fidel(bassist) suggested that I should try out this new thing called 'Gargle and Gulp'. It was this sore throat relief syrup from Smyle, the ad for which he had seen on TV just a few days back. Thanks to whoever that is that invented the television and not to mention, gargle and gulp biggrinbiggrin

As you would have guessed by now, I had found the remedy to my plight, my saving grace, my elixir... The modus operandi was fairly simple: Take a sip, gargle for 30 seconds and gulp it down.. A piece of cake I must say to tackle the worst sore throat in history... I was feeling better and better every time I had gurgled and gulped.

The show had started, 4 bands had already played and rocked and it was our turn. The guys got on stage with Rohit to sing the first number. He set up the mood with the high tempo 'Highway Star'.. It was really amazing the way he got the crowd going and all this while I was praying that my voice would not play spoilsport. Rohit's song was over and now it was my turn.. It was the moment I had been waiting for a long time.. A chance to sing in front of a huge crowd.. So I did the last gargle and the last gulp and got on stage.. It was an amazing rush to get on stage, to hold the mic, to begin the song, to watch the lighters in the air, to hear the crowd cheer!!! An experience of a lifetime was what it was and I have 'Gurgle and Gulp' to thank for it!!!!