The Immortal Banny

“I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave
Your presence still lingers here and it won't leave me alone”

When I was studying in class IX, I was introduced to rock music by one of my cousins. That was quite a big jump for me as then Ricky Martin used to be the god of music for me. Like all others I also used to go to the nearby audio cassette shop and inquire about the release date of Max 6 [the max series by Sony music used to be collection of current hit pop songs, and I had bought Max 5]. But then when I heard Hotel California for the first time, there was no looking back for me. Ricky, Brian Adams, Marc Anthony flew out of the window only to give place to Eagles, Pink Floyd, Deep purple and many more. The cassette shop owner used to get troubled big time, when I used to ask for Scorpions or Dire Straits albums. And my journey with rock music started then…

Surprisingly I never liked any of the female rockers, I tried listening to Alanis, Sheryl, Janice Joplin; but none of them sounded interesting. Then I realized I really don’t like listening to female singers. I actually never liked any Hindi female singers also other than Shubha Mudgal, that too because she has a powerful voice. When I finished graduation, Heavy metal had taken the place of Classic rock and still I was searching for a female voice that I can relate to. And then I got it… I was watching Daredevil at new Empire theatres, Kolkata and the end credit song was sung by this gothic rock band called Evanescence and the lead singer was a girl. By the time I found about the lead singer and more about the band, I had already shifted to Bangalore. And one evening sitting in our college computer lab, I got hold of this song called ‘My Immortal’ by Evanescence and the name of the singer is Amy lee. This song still gives me Goosebumps whenever I listen to it, and also reminds me of my one and only friend from the beautiful city of Shillong… Baniaikynmaw… Banny...

What a coincidence, you guys won’t believe that my ITunes playlist is actually playing this song at the very moment I am writing these lines. Anyway, Banny has been and will always be a very special friend to me. I remember the first conversation I had with her was when I asked her to give some Khasi rock songs to me [ Which I never got, by the way]. While sitting in comp lab Banny always used to hum to the songs I used to play [ Since I had my own speakers and which eventually was the only set there]. Be it Leann Rhymes or Deep Purple, there were very few songs which she didn’t know. And when it comes to John Bon Jovi, Banny used to go mad. Coming back to my immortal, it was two days before teacher’s day in our second year and I was having a hard time getting people to perform and after a full day’s search, when I was sitting tired at comp lab and trying to relax by listening to my immortal, I could hear banny humming to the song. That was it… I convinced her to sing the song for the teacher’s day celebration, and what a voice she has. She was no less than Amy Lee that day and the applause she got after that was minblowing.

After college I didn’t get a chance to meet Banny till this September as I was in Mumbai and she was in Chennai and Bangalore. But trust me whenever I listened to that song, I could see Banny standing at the podium with the white kurta and singing away to glory. I could see her smiling, jumping, singing, and saying in frustration ‘neee’. Miss those college days, love you a lot Banny.. . and these lines are for you...

‘When you cry I’d wipe away all of your tears…
When you'd scream I’d fight away all of your fears”