Here's one big Beatles fan

bangalore: it is the timelesness and universal appeal of those famous four musicians from liverpool, the beatles that draws fans to them, even today, decades after they split. amit saxena is one such die hard fan right here in bangalore. and with a major beatles revival happening the world over, his passion for this group is rather timely. how he got to become an avid beatles follower is quite a cool story.as a child amit lived in nepal and was given a beatles cassette by a british family who were his neighbours. after that his father who was in the ministry of eternal affairs, moved to five places but the saxenas never got to listen to the cassette. it was quite by chance that amit finally heard it when he was in the 11th standard. thus began the beatle mania. his search for cassettes and cds is on till date especially for offbeat albums and individual albums by lennon, mccartney, ringo starr. it keeps him on his toes and he's always on the `prowl.' as a college kid in delhi, amit, with his limited pocket money, would scour the music shops in palika bazaar and janpath and get songs recorded on blank tapes. ``i thought i had a pretty good collection but knew better when i went off to the us to do an mba in marketing and finance.'' it was in the us that amit was introduced to bootlegs which are studio recordings smuggled out. bootlegs give you an insight into how the song evolved, how many takes had to be made, the comments and conversations made by the singers and band...he even joined groups that would discuss the life and work of the musicians. amit's collection expanded to a myriad of other memorabalia like movies, books, biographies. he hasn't ventured into collecting posters and pictures though. ``it isn't fair to ask me which of them is my favourite beatle,'' insists amit. ``i like them all. each had his own distinct style as when they worked together, it was magic,'' he says. sure, paul mccartney and john lennon were dominant but it it was the chemistry between all four that made the group such a legendary one. ``the beatles were able to raise human emotions and initially their songs were simplistic and basic that everyone could relate to. it got more progressive and sophisticated as time went by and addressed philosophical issues,''he observes. amit exhanges emails with other fans and has met some of his net buddies in the us. he's made it a point to go to the annual beatles fest in new jersey. visiting mccartney's home in liverpool which has been turned into a museum and abbey road studios in london where the group recorded their songs are two dreams that amit saxena would want to come true. what if he ever got to meet them face to face? ``well i would be too awe struck to say anything,''amit saxena says sounding like a lovestruck teenager.