No strangers

dabbu and niladri used to spend the winter afternoons on the latter's roof top - the former strumming his guitar and crooning popular numbers. that's how the two decided to go for a 'band'. requirements included drums and keyboards. the search started and sujoy was roped in for drums. sunando followed suit to play the lead guitar. initially bibek was in backing vocals and took charge of the percussion that niladri used to take care of previously.but then indrajit joined with his percussion. so niladri took up the bass and bibek followed suit with his yamaha psr 300 keyboard. dabbu had a tough time coaxing his parents for an electric guitar. however his adamant fight against his parents that went upto the extent of quitting meals for a couple of days resulted in the blue givson that he plays. and that's strangers for you - another upcoming rock band in the city. but why the name stranger's? "no one knows us in the music circuit," said niladri. "we're strangers here." and these bunch of strange guys sweat it out at 24/1a harish mukherjee road - a ten feet by ten feet rehearsal room. the address is important. with the acoustic drums, it's hard to check the volume. and that has resulted in a lot of hostility from neighbours. once a neighbour even called the police. the entire group went to hiding in the penthouse, shutting up all instruments. it was followed by a meeting called by the seniors of the locality, at the local club shanti doot. finally the two parties reached an arrangement. from then on, the strangers close all windows during practice and don't continue with their rehearsals after 10:30 pm. "the club members really supported our cause," said sujoy. but despite all the constrains they have, achievements are not insignificant. their first professional debut was at c.l.t. aban mela in 1999. biswa banga sanmelan 2000, gaan mela 2000 and the banga sanskriti utsav 2001 are some of the few prestigious shows among over 50 programmes that they had done. their sound is slow rock where kolkata, juli and kargil come alive through their heartful renditions. they have also composed title songs for the bengali serial adda for citi cable and football football for akash bangla. strangers have also come on air in akash bangla. "all this might sound great but we really do have a long way to go," says krishnendu, manager of the band. and though still strangers in the circuit, with saibal dey as their friend, philosopher and guide they are surely to storm the music circuit in near future.