Band Stand

While their first gig — with Subir Malik on the keyboard,Sonam Sherpa and Saurabh Chaudhury on rhythm guitars,Chintan Kalra on bass guitar and Srijan Mahajan on drums — was a success,Parikrama became part of a movement of counter-culture. They sang what they liked,belting it out on their own,and created numbers like Xerox and Open Skies,that highlighted the band’s rock ‘n’ roll dream. Parikrama had a cult following,which went beyond those listening to music in low-profile bars. Over the years,they performed at places like Cafe Morrison and Haze,which were havens for their kind of music,and participated in a series of popular rock festivals world over.

One of the few Indian bands,performing only in English,and sticking to classic rock,Parikrama never released an album. Theirs was the kind of music,that would not please the A&R (Artistes and Repertoire) managers,who would tell them to go Hindi or go bust. This was at a time when Internet in India was still not popular. “It was a difficult time when the band began. But we sold our music for free on our website and never ran after a record deal. It just made more sense. Also,musical bands have a history of breaking up. It is thanks to the band’s camaraderie and their love for similar kind of music that we have survived for so long,” says Subir Malik,the lead keyboardist of the band,who has played an important role in keeping the band together for this long.