!972-73: CULTURE VULTURING AND ALL THAT Extract from my autobiography: No Sex, Some Drugs and a Lil-bit-o-Rock ‘n Roll.

!972-73: CULTURE VULTURING AND ALL THAT

Like some retiring Tata / Birla Tycoon, Shekar had decided that as we were no longer students, the mantle of ROT Magazine should pass on. Shabbar, Pervez’s younger brother, was selected to edit and publish the college rag which we had started.

Both Shekar and I had taken up jobs in the Advertising Profession. Shekar joined a fledgling Ad Agency promoted by the state Government – MC&A. I joined Aiyar’s Advertising. Both of us initially joined as copywriters but we both branched away – Shekar into Print & Production – his experience in printing ROT had helped. I went into Media & Research.

In 1972, the entire Advertising Industry had just been born in Bangalore. About 20 small units mushroomed, almost all in small two-bedroom houses, to fight for about 25 Crore Rupees of “Billing”. It was Bangalore’s “Cottage Industry”. Not many who were in the job actually knew much about the subject. As I told my daughter years ago: “Why do you want to go into Advertising? It was for guys like Shekar and me who had no other talent than Bullshitting!!” But she retorted: “I will make the money you did not and I will achieve the fame you did not!” Well, eventually she did.

In those days, smoking tobacco was not barred anywhere even in Offices. Executives in the Ad business were expected to be a harassed lot – relieving their work tensions with Cigarettes and Strong Coffee in frequent doses.

The new Ad agencies were even more liberal. Not only was Tobacco Smoking accepted, so too was smoking Grass (Marijuana). Copywriters, Art Directors, Photographers, Research and plain commercial artists and all such creative scoundrels were expected to use “Grass” for their so-called creative output.

That is when Shekar and I met Vijay Issac. He was the Senior Copywriter at MCM, another Ad Agency close by. He would be found walking slowly around the office, dressed in outlandish clothes of his own design, wearing a pair of dark round rimmed glasses, deep in thought and forever either rolling a “Joint” or smoking it up. We only had to follow our nose to reach his office.

It was really the quintessential time of the Ad Agency Business. MCM was handling the newly set up Bangalore Diary, which, besides delivering Milk had a whole range of Milk Products to be publicized and sold. Vijay Isaac’s brilliant idea was to paint up a Mobile Marketing Van like the bus in the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour. So, the bus finally arrived in bright psychedelic colors. The Minister had been invited to inaugurate it.

He was quite perplexed by the color of the bus. He was more perplexed by the Slogan Vijay Issaac had coined – “MILK – THE GROOVY FOOD”.

“Maariya, (Friend)”, the Minister asked his aids around him, “Ithu Yennaiah, Entha banna odedidheyah? (What is this Color Scheme?)” The aides turned enquiringly to the MCM executive, who had the presence to reply “Sir, this is Modern Surreal Art”.

“Aamelai (then),” continued the Minister, “Ithu “Groovy” Yennu?  “Groovy” ge yennu artha?” (What is the meaning of “Groovy”)?

Vijay Issaac was, of course, in Shekar’s place having a “boom” with all of us. So we were startled when a convoy from MCM landed outside the gate in “Government of Karnataka” cars!

I do not know how Vijay explained the word.

We were all in an actively cultural society. There were plays in English and Kannada. I had the opportunity to watch the best of Girish Karnad. There were Seminars / workshops and mock conferences – one of which “Mythri” was a huge success. RETORT, the magazine that we launched ROT against, had with the help of Rotary Club and other social organizations, put up a mock – UN Assembly. Some of us took part as the delegates of Columbia, Venezuela and Bolivia. We had a single point agenda we spoke about – Legalize Marijuana.

Of course, the Chod Gang and Rot magazine did not want to be left behind. For a start, Shekar thought up a “Variety Entertainment Show” at the Ravindra Kalakshetra. It could seat 1,500 and had a large stage. The booking fee was only a few hundred rupees. There was no sound or lighting this had to be done by hired professionals. It was at Karnad’s play – Hayavaadahana, where we met Paresh & Srinivas, two budding Theatre Enthusiasts who had specialized in Stage Craft. They had divided the stage into two parts – a front stage and a “shadow projection” back stage. There were no props, but by sheer stage lighting all the panoramas like cities, villages, rivers, winds etc. were created. Paresh and Srinivas offered to contribute the whole Stage Lighting and Sound as it would be a learning experience for them.

The event was christened “Nutshell” with the bye line “Come on NUT, shell out five bucks yaar”. This meant that at Rs. 5 there would be a maximum gate collection of Rs.7,500 only. Every cost had to be met within this. Paresh had created the Shadow Screen stage. Shekar and I watched with interest and admiration how the team set up – working through the night and most of the next day. There were no computer controlled light mixers those days. Behind each spot or flood light sat one of the team – manually operating it and changing the color filters.

The show opened with a closed curtain. Muthu, the Bob Dylan man, came to one side of the stage to sing “Blowing in the wind”. Shekar had half an idea of dressing up in a Gorilla Suit, Monkeying across the stage and grabbing Muthu off his seat, mid song and dragging him across to the other end of the stage. This part of the script was not supposed to be known by Muthu. But it did not happen, perhaps we did not get the Monkey Suit. Or perhaps, we did not want to offend the future Ambassador to Uzbekhistan.

The curtain lifted to a pitch dark stage. A deep chant of OM followed by some Sanskrit slokas came on as the Dawn sun appeared on the screen. As it got brighter, it revealed the silhouette of the most lissome Renuka Rao, then all of a blooming 19 years old. She sat in a classic yoga pose. As the forestage also got brighter, it revealed another young group seated also in a yoga pose. The girls were Meera, Pushpa and Smitha. The guys were Bal, Sam and Parvez. Suddenly, the music changed to a fast disco beat and all got up to dance and jive to the music. Renuka Rao, danced behind the screen, her sensuous curves highlighted by her tight jump suit, Paresh’s Team creating multiple, multi-color shadows of her body swaying – larger than life.

Renuka Rao was the ruling Diva of those days. Tall, dark, with flashing large eyes, sharp features and a perfectly proportionate figure. She often wore Jump Suits as she rode a very masculine 250cc Jawa Motorcycle - usually at 100 kph. To the male population of Central, St. Joseph and other colleges, she was known as “Dynamite”. She was formidable. And she still is – if you have not worked it out, I refer to the Most H’nble Member of Parliament, former minister, present firebrand, TV show favorite – the still formidable in both size and personality – Mrs. Renuka Choudhary!

The curtain abruptly closed – in fact the whole event was rather abrupt surprising the audience at each turn. There was no MC. Next Babu Joseph and Ramesh Shottam – the two Human Bondage members who were around, came on to do a few songs with an acoustic guitar and a Jew’s harp. They played a kind of Ragaa-fied fusion version of “Route 66”.

The curtain opened again to present Prasad Bidappa’s Fashion Show. Today, crowned as the Sultan of Style, Prasad was at that time just stepping into his Fashion career. He had been told there were no funds for clothes, make-up and models, but Prasad had got a dozen of the prettiest girls from Jyothi Nivas College, trained and choreographed them to come on stage and model – their own clothes. He even helped with their make-up. The girl’s Green Room was placed “out-of-bounds” to all the rest of us and we had to enviously watch an androgynous Prasad Bidappa freely flitting in and out of the girl’s Green Room. Later Prasad also convinced all of them to give these same clothes to the boys to model them in the “Mock” Fashion Show! Prasad also played a part in my “Multi-media” version of Herman Hesse’s “Siddhartha”.

The interlude between the two Fashion Shows were two local Anglo Indian Bands which played, fancifully named “Slaughterhouse Rebellion” from Tannery Road and “Fatherland Front” from the City Station Railway Colony. They almost did not play with one band accusing the other of stealing their drum set, while the other rebutted that they had stolen their drummer! Shekar & I solved it by telling them to both play the event on the same gear and break each other’s head after they got off stage. The show ended with all the hairy guys wearing skirts, minis, hot pants, bikinis etc. in the “Mock Fashion Show”. Dressed in full “drag” and drawing more gaffs from the houseful crowd. It was a true ROT success – totally meaningless and pointless!

Vijay Issaac, who had seen the show was very impressed with the enthusiasm and organizing ability of Shekar and the Gang. He wanted to embark on his own project. At that time, all of us culture-vultures were on a literary fad. Aldous Huxley, Herman Hesse and Ayn Rand were judiciously carried around in our bags, if not actually read. Vijay and I decided to present and produce Hesse’s Siddhartha. We went to my mother to tell her our decision. As a MA in Literature, we expected her to have heard of Hesse.

“It is an obscure book from the 1920s when Europeans were groping with the concepts of Eastern Spirituality. Hesse got all the character names mixed up between Vedic and Buddhist epics. Why don’t you do something traditional like Kalidasa?” But when we explained that the whole book would be narrated on stage in Dialogue, Monologue, Music, Dance and Stage craft, she promised all the help we needed – starting with the entire multi-media screen play and script.

But Siddhartha was a rather long term project. The Script had to be developed for each media – even for the Stage Craft team – in which again Paresh and Srinivas and their Team helped us. Music had to be composed and recorded. Dances had to be choreographed. And, there was casting and practice for a rather long period. Besides, our immediate energies had to be diverted for ROT’s “THURSDAY”.

Gurdeep Singh came from one of the prominent Sikh or Sardarji families of Bangalore – prominent Auto Tyre Dealers. Very impressed with “Nutshell”, Gurdeep wanted to organize a Woodstock like Festival with several Bands playing. It was to be open air. At first we objected and told him. There was no suitable ground unless we were prepared to de-weed and clean an open space. Notified grounds were charging the moon. You could not price the entry fee more than Rs. 5.There was really no sound of the power and quality we needed for such a show. But he insisted and told us, “Never mind, I am putting in Rs. 10,000 for you all to get things going”. So we did. Tragically, Gurdeep died in a road accident a few years later.

We selected a small hockey field, which belonged to St. Joseph’s College. There was no shade, it was dusty and dry. But it was just off MG Road and very central. On a slight rise at one end, I could put up a stage and the PA Systems. I picked up all the available 12” Speaker Boxes from Ajantha, Mercury and two more sound hirers from Chandni Chowk in Shivajinagar. These I arranged in two huge pyramids 12 feet tall. They were powered by a dozen Valve Tube Amplifiers of World War Vintage. The Pyramids of speakers rattled and swayed dangerously when the volume was turned on, I had to prop them up with bamboo poles!

Shekar had called the event “THURSDAY” after the day of the scheduled show. It was the only day the School / College did not play Hockey. As the day neared, it became clear that there was a lot of excitement among the bands. All wanted to play. The Spartans and Human Bondage wanted payment and special time slots. We did not want to get entangled with all this and decided to appoint outside “officials”. I went to IIT, Chennai and got Kichu / Krishna as MC. My sister Pinny, then in Jyothi Nivas College, was appointed PRO to the Bands, and her totally sober friend, Solomon was appointed Program Director.

The day before the Event, the “People” a truly avant-garde hard rock band from Mumbai, landed up. They had come with an exotic Drum set, imported guitars, several stage amps, and percussion instruments and players. And, the Band had landed up with a huge quantity of very good Hashish. My sister received them and guided them to their accommodation at Friend’s Rest House, near Brigade Road. One of the Band pulled out a small alter and lit up a few incense sticks, before lighting up the first “Chillum”. By the third pipe, my sister had gone fully asleep and abandoned her PRO duties.

The arrival of the “People” was indeed fortunate. Now, we had good gear on stage. The band was led by Neil Chattopadhya, half-brother of Romulous Whitaker, the famous herpetologist. Neil had told me, “Chod I’ll be dropping an acid trip before I start playing”. All the Bands turned up. The only one missing was Nanda from Delhi. We had sent him the cash too. But, instead he sent us 10 doses of LSD. A dozen of us had our first “Acid Trip”.

Through the 12 hours of “THURSDAY”, from 10 am, the bands kept playing. Our MC got too high too soon and retired, but Solomon kept the show fully in control, ruthlessly slashing out even a prominent band. At about 2 in the afternoon, I noticed it slightly waning. Everyone was huddled wherever they could find a little shade from the blazing sun. I heard a snake-charmer passing outside on Primrose Road. He was a familiar figure in town, I knew he was from Saharanpur in UP. I collared him on the road and asked him to come in and play his “been” or pipe which is somewhat similar to a Scottish Bagpipe. “No money and don’t take out your snakes on stage” I told him.

He came and filled up a good part of an hour – even jamming with Neil and the “People”.

The next day it became clear that the show was indeed a total financial loss. About a thousand audience had come – about half of them gatecrashing over the very porous boundary. Gurdeep could not be repaid. We did not even have funds to send the “People” back to Mumbai, who had by now, blown up all their own cash.

By evening, the situation had become acute. The band had, in fact, been very good with us. Someone suggested: “Why don’t you go somewhere up Tumkur Road and see if any Lorry will take them to Mumbai?” We collected a couple of cars loaded the “People” and all their stuff. At a Dhaba (Roadside Eatery for Lorry Drivers) we found a group of three Lorries heading for Mumbai, we got success.

“Kitna paise deyenge? (How much will they pay?)” asked the Lorry Driver. “You’ll get your cash at Mumbai, but till then you can smoke all the “Charas” (Hashish) you want!” I told him.

A few days later Neil called us to thank us for the lovely journey he had with the Lorry Drivers who plied them with food and booze along the way and did not take anything from them!

It took me months and lots of expense to get “Siddhartha” going. Hesse’s original book had to be shredded into different parts. There were long boring soliloquies and monologues which had to be divided into two. We had decided to have two Siddharthas – one forestage and one behind the shadow screen. One was the individual and the other his alter ego! At each stage, my mother helped me develop the script. I had decided that Suresh & Ramesh Shottam with Babu Joseph – the core of the Human Bondage would compose all the music. The music was recorded at the FEBA Studio – a Christian part of an American Broadcasting Agency. Half way through the recording, the Human Bondage dropped a bombshell on me. They wanted to fly out immediately to Mumbai to Jam with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of the Led Zepplin. I had no choice but to buy their Air Tickets – which cost me a fortune. But it was Prem Naidu of Hot Rain who actually got to jam more with Page and Plant at the Raspberry Rihnorsorous a disco as he was already there for the Simla Contest Finals.

Next came the casting. All the part roles and “extras’ fell into place easily. Meera was to do a cameo of “the girl at the well who tries to seduce Siddhartha” to some exotic lighting and a five minute flute composition by the Human Bondage. It was perhaps, the first “item number” on stage. Meera drew all the ooohs and aaahs for this performance. Parvez got to play close friend Govinda, Pandu played Gautama, Siddhartha’s son from his liaison with Kamala, the courtesan. Prasad Bidappa was Vasudeva, the old boatman, who ferried people across the river and gave them “bol-bacchan and gyan” (a lecture in philosophy). Ozzy Prakash – the only Anglo-Indian we knew who did not carry the typical Anglo-Indian accent, was to be the Narrator. But like any Bollywood production it was the lead actors which presented complications.

Uday Mitra and Ravi Rao, both from Centrals, were selected to play the two Siddharths – both were tall, handsome and had almost the same low baritone voice. But the decision was – who would be in front and who would be behind the shadow screen? Uday, being slightly more photogenic was awarded the front, but many felt it could have been reversed – especially Ravi Rao’s fans of the band – Void – the band that lost (unfairly, according to Void fans) the Estrella Beat Contest the year before. (My band Stoned Package had won a couple of consolation prizes)

Vijay and I knew that Renuka Rao was seriously gunning for the role of Kamala, the courtesan. As Director and Producer both of us were apprehensive. I was quite intimidated by her ever since she gave me a “lift” on her 250cc Jawa motorcycle to Centrals – ripping at 100 kph. The role went to Azra, a very beautiful, fair girl who had never been on stage. In fact, she had only come with a friend who had offered to do Kamala’s costumes. Vijay spotted her, decided and convinced her to do the role.

It was at that time that the movie “Siddhartha” had come out. It had Sashi Kapoor and Simi Grewal in the lead roles and the movie also had some steaming hot sex scenes, where Simi became the first Indian actress to do a “topless” role. One of our friends (I think it was Akumal Ramachandran) had got in touch with Zul Velani, the director of the Movie and told him about our project. Zul visited us at our rehearsal and also came for the Show.

The rehearsals were held in the old hall of The Brothers of the Holy Cross, a Seminary just next to Bishop Cottons Girls School. The Irish Brothers there were the most liberal kind, allowing many youth groups to use the hall and turning a blind eye to the young people’s small indiscretions – like smoking Grass. Earlier, the Pace Setters used to practice there. In fact, it was Bairam, the Bass player who got us the permission.

After the show, Zul Velani congratulated us and said with all sincerity: “You guys did much better justice to the script than us. We had to commercialize it a bit and do it in a Filmy way.”

“But what about the fuckups, Sir?” I asked him, “There were at least three when the whole audience went up in derisive laughter?” But Zul assured us that this was bound to happen considering we were doing things for the first time.

The first fuckup was in the “love scene”. In our version, Kamala leans back on an ornate “Diwan”, in a state of reasonable undress. Siddhartha moves in slowly, leans over her and freezes in to what appears as a deep kiss, while the Human Bondage’s music and Paresh’s light play go into a three minute long orgasmic frenzy of song and mood lighting. Shekar and I had scoured the whole city of all antique shops to get the “Diwan” – the only prop we used - till we found it and conned the owner to lend it to us free: “There will be photos of it in all the newspapers next day”, we promised him.

The daily practice of this scene had taken its toll on Uday Mitra. “What shit torture is this Chod? I’m supposed to just lean over her and not kiss her!” he told me, “On the final day, I’ve bloody  well decided to really smooch Azra good and proper at the show”. In the actual scene, it started off well enough, but instead of freezing into a pose, the couple were seen struggling, Uday pinning her down firmly, Azra struggling and flaying her legs – only part visible to the audience. Many in the audience had caught on to this departure from the script with great amusement. As the scene dragged on with the 3 minute music piece, several giggles started, then more guffaws, then gut holding laughter, till the audience were rolling in the aisles as the (actually very good) musical interlude reached its orgasmic climax.

When the curtain came down finally after the three minute musical interlude, a furious Azra stormed off stage. It took two joints and five minutes of cajoling before she went back on. But after that she went back onstage and acted like a woman possessed; which also impressed Zul.

The second fuckup was the “boat”. Paresh had in fact, advised us that he would create the illusion of a boat and travelers moving across a river, but Shekar thought we must have something more realistic which could also be used for practice. We got a large door and put large Ball-bearing wheels on it. It was supposed to be pulled by ropes from either end of the stage by two helpers. On stage, it was a disaster. The Stage Help - Stage Right pulled when he should have left, the Helper - Stage Left – did the opposite. The Boat did not synchronize with the projection of a real boat which Paresh had projected on the screen. The apparatus moved in violent jerks till it made both Parvez and Prasad tumble off drawing a huge laugh from the entire audience.

Ozzy Prakash, the narrator, had been dressed in a white dhoti and made up with a white flowing beard. It was made of cotton and stuck on Ozzy’s face with spirit gum. He had to come to the extreme front corner of the stage and read out his parts. None of the actors used mikes – the acoustics of the hall were very good. Paresh from the lighting crew had wanted that there were scenes / parts in total darkness. This left Ozzy with no light to read his script. At the last minute someone gave him a Tea Saucer with a Candle on it. Ozzy had to hold his script in one hand and the burning candle in the other.

“HEY OZZY!” came a shout, suddenly, from the topmost corner of the upstairs balcony, “HEY OZZY! YOUR BEARD IS ON FIRE MAN!”

Without batting an eyelid Ozzy shouted back “THANK YOU MAN”, pulled off the already flaming “beard”, threw it down and stubbed the flame out with his bare foot. Then he turned to his script and continued.

But the uproarious laughter from the full house drowned him out completely.