The touchstone has lost its touch

anindya bose, erstwhile member of parash pathar, who left the band way back in 1998, might be joining the band once again. he had approached piklu, percussionist of the band, with the proposal. though nothing has been finalised yet, the question remains why anindya, who has his own band now, decided to join parash pathar once again. “after all, i was one of the founder members,� said anindya, “i couldn’t keep myself aloof, when i heard that the band’s in troubled waters.
here’s lies the story. in the last few gigs parash pathar failed to entertain the audience. at sanskriti 2002, the arts department fest of jadavpur university, lead vocalist ayan, arrived much late than the scheduled time. in iit spring fest even after the sound check, they couldn’t perform, since ayan was missing. as the grapevine goes, he had overdone his ‘rock’n’roll’ excesses.
soon after this the band went into hibernation. however, band-insiders inform that ayan suffers from chronic ulcer, which was the reason of his absence from stage at iit spring fest. rumours started spreading that the band has disintegrated. subesh roy, band manager said, “rumours will always be there. we’re coming back on may 7, and will prove that we are still the same family.�
however, both rishi and samidh, lead guitarist and bassist of parash pathar, confirmed that they have left the band and are now playing full time with hip pocket. “to do music, one must know what to do,� said rishi, adding, “and parash pathar doesn’t have any fixed focus.� he admits, “of late i realised that i was making a fool of myself doing nothing productive as a musician. over the last four years we’ve been playing the same songs, and hardly gave a thought for new compositions.
� samidh, however has other reasons, “i’ve to look after my family business, and parash pathar demands more time than hip pocket.� moreover, raja, keyboardist of the band, had already been playing with usha uthup and frankly admits, “ushadi is my first choice. i only play with parash pathar, if the dates don’t clash.�
in such a situation it’s hardly probable that the much hyped rabindra-rock album will see the light of the day. the recordings which started at studio om from january 15, 2002 was suddenly stopped. in the mean time none of the band members informed mahua lahiri, proprietor of asha audio, the producers of the album, about their plans for a break. it’s only after calling up subesh, that lahiri came to know that they are taking a break, to sort out certain internal problems that the band was facing. “i agreed, since it’s quite justified,� said lahiri, “it’ll improve the quality of their work.
subesh also confirmed that they’ll start recording from march 15. but it hasn’t started yet. “the band hasn’t informed me anything about it,� said mahua lahiri, “if rabindra-rock is dumped, we might come with another set of originals.�