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Diving into the Ocean.

Indian Ocean‘s Melancholic Ecstasy reminds me of a long car-drive from Panaji to Mumbai.

I was a bonafide student of REC Warangal then, for three whole weeks. However, the admission procedure was followed by the announcement that classes would begin a month later, and I took off to my uncle’s place in Goa. Ah! Three weeks of pure bliss. No thoughts about the upcoming tryst with seniors ( they had asked me to get a bottle of Feni, and I was thinking of the best walkaround ), playing around with my uncle’s new Pentium ( The only thing I could use with confidence was MSPaint) and of course, hanging around Panjim.

And one fine day, I found Indian Ocean. The album. The first album. And as I keep reminding everyone around me, I found it in a freakin’ Paan shop. I had heard Desert Rain before, but had never got around to buying it. I also found a hardcover copy of Stephen King’s Tommyknockers and three copies of Sandman#50 and coaxed my aunt to buy them for me.

That was the afternoon I was going to leave Goa and come back to Warangal. I had decided on the official story about the Feni I was supposed to bring back ( “Uhhh, Udattada, I had bought a bottle for you guys, but my aunt was packing my suitcase and she found it hidden under my Jeans. She threw it away.” ) and I was aware of the fact that, yes, this was it, this was where I Boldly ride into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell. (that was the general opinion about REC seniors )When I bought the cassette, it was a welcome diversion from thinking about …er…you-know-what. So I explained to my uncle, in very deep detail, what a great band Indian Ocean was, and how Desert Rain really blew my mind and stuff like that. He got exasperated after a while ( any driver would, I guess, when he’s got two kids, my cousins, hollering in the back and a naive nephew going on about a band ), so he said – “Why don’t you put the cassette inside the deck, so that we can all listen to it?”

Oh no, I thought. What if he listens to a track of just guitar and tabla and says something stupid like “Where are the songs?” What if my cousins hate it and start screaming louder? What if the cassette contains a different cassette altogether, like Raja Babu or something? Yeah, I was that paranoid even then.

So I gingerly push the tape in. And Village Damsel starts off, with a bass track that’s joined by the guitar, and then the tabla and the drums. A few minutes later, my uncle is smiling to himself, tapping on his steering wheel. My cousins, both of them, are quiet. My aunt, who has been sitting quietly all along, says – “This is good.” Winding roads, villages, pass us by. My worries disappear. By the time it’s ten, and we pull into some hotel, I realise that we’ve been listening to the tape for about 3 hours ( auto-continue )

The next morning, just before I am about to board the train, my uncle says something like “Why don’t I pay you , so you can buy the tape at Hyderabad, and I keep this one?”

I believe that was one of the situations I have handled very diplomatically in my life. I didn’t know how rare the cassette was, or whether I would get it in Hyderabad or not, but no way I would let it out of my site. I gave my uncle the exact details of which paan shop I got it from, and also that I saw two more copies of the tape. For good measure, I also pointed out that I wouldn’t be coming to Hyderabad for quite a long time, it being the Senior-Junior Interaction season in REC, after all.

Whew.

Of course, I didn’t see the cassette again at any shop. No one else I knew did, either. I used to keep getting worried about the tape being spoiled, and always kept hoping that HMV would re-release it. But those short-sighted corporate morons just didn’t seem to care. Kandisa came, blew me away. At least more people knew about Indian Ocean now. I passed out of REC, joined this company, and carried out my first, and only e-transaction, opting to buy a cd of Desert Rain for 400 rupees. ( I learnt two months later that Kosmic music was re-releasing the album and selling it for 200 rupees only, but I didn’t mind. the one I got was a classic Indie-label album)

This Tuesday, I went to Lifestyle music world, just to scope out the new stuff. The rock section was in pathetic condition, so I decided to check out the New-Age/Instrumental section.

And it was there. HMV’s reissue of the first Indian Ocean album. For only 99 Rupees.

“Hallelujah!” was the only thing I could think of saying then. The rest of the stuff ( this stuff ) came later.

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23 thoughts on “Diving into the Ocean.”

  1. Yes, they’re a cool band. I saw them live a year back and they’re great fun.
    And what did Udatta have to say about the missing bottle of Feni?
    )This makes me feel very very ancient. Udatta was a fresher when I left RECW. :o(

    Reply

    • What Udatta Said:

      “What???!!!? You actually told your aunt that your seniors wanted feni?? Dumb-ass!!!! Now you’re in for it…”

      In case u didn’t know, Uddu and Cash were both one year senior to me. Baap log. :-D

      Reply
  2. Anonymous says:

    eeeeeee

    i dint know that the fss fss, paranoid you could ever have made the mistake of purchasing something like Raja Babu :p

    Reply

  4. okay, i’m going to find as many indian ocean songs as i can.

    i have fond memories of goa – the lush vegetation, the local culture, the weather (i went during the monsoon), the state of decay (which i think is a characteristic of cities in most tropical climates. here in the US, new orleans is a prime example. the brightly colored buildings in the old town of panaji remind me very much of the carribbean influenced architecture of new orleans’ lower garden district), and of course, the arabian sea.

    unfortunately, i did not get to explore most of the south, as my time and funds began to dwindle. next time, though.

    thanks for giving me a part of the sountrack i’ll carry with me to listen to on those long train rides through the indian countryside.

    (also, why are you so wary of e-transactions?)

    Reply

    • Not wary, just that e-transactions need a credit card, or at least require me to mail a cheque or a draft, and I am too lazy to apply for a card or to get a draft/cheque made.

      This particular site called beatsofindia.com was offering the Indian Ocean cd as VPP, as in, I had to pay the postman the money when the package came in, which I did. :-)

      believe me, Indian Ocean is terrific. Check out the mp3 links, if you haven’t already.

      Goa is an amazing place. A great place to stay after one has made a pile of money and wants to retire. aaaaaah…now that’s a thought.

      Reply
  5. Anonymous says:

    Feni

    Ha,

    Now the truth dawns. There was no Feni. Count+=1000. The doctrine of Hindu rebirth dictates you be born a cashhewnut next time around…..

    Uknowho.

    Reply

    • Re: Feni

      There was no Feni. There is no Spoon. So what’s new? ;-)

      Anyways, about the rebirth funda – is this a vague way of telling me something like “once a nut, always a nut”??

      Woken up yet? :-D

      Reply

  6. I heard Indian Ocean live in IIM, Ahmedabad (LKP Lawns) in 1997. I got blown away by their great fusion music.

    Now just where exactly in Panaji did you get the Cassette? I was in Panaji for 3 years and maybe able to know the place u r talking abt.. :)

    also it’s not strange to find indipop/hindi cassettes at Paanwallah.. have u heard of the Paanwaalh being the 5th P in Indian economy, where u get almost everything? :)

    Reply

    • Ok, this is what I remember about the Paan shop. It was next to a hotel, some famous sweetshop in Panaji. Very close to the fish-bazaar.

      I don’t remember any names or signs. We had stopped because my aunt wanted to get some sweets for the journey.

      I haven’t been able to catch Indian Ocean live. :-( Lucky you!!

      Reply

    • Definitely worth the buy. The version of Village Damsel in Desert Rain has slight variations from the original, particularly in the vocal bits…you can almost feel the band evolving.

      You can listen to the tracks at the site indianoceanmusic.com, and then decide for sure. :-)

      Reply

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