Snug soirees

A large room where the boys loll around with their sarangis, keyboards, drum kits and tablas, and there8217;s always space for guests and more equipment. This is to fusion band Advaita what a villa is to most other people8212;part of a wishlist. Especially since Advaita8217;s creative space is a 12 ft x 12 ft room at C.R. Park, Delhi where band member Anindo Bose grew up tinkering on his tiny keyboard.

The double doors that open from the elegant drawing room into the pad shut out the world. Since a room with a view comes with its attendant noise, the windows that once looked out at Outer Ring Road were padded up in 2005, one year after Advaita was formally born. 8220;I had been saving up to soundproof the room and didn8217;t have to borrow the money, either from my parents or a bank. It was also the time my parents realised I was serious about making music my profession,8221; says Anindo. The walls were stripped of posters and all furniture removed except Anindo8217;s original keyboard.

If you8217;re looking for fusion deacute;cor to match the band8217;s Indo-Western sound, you8217;d better look elsewhere. There is no embellishment if one discounts the yellow paper lamp that the boys picked up after a show in Nepal. A table that holds the recording equipment, speakers, computer and card reader, stacks of CDs, cables and more cables, stretches across one wall. Anindo8217;s double keyboards fit in snugly against the adjoining wall, leaving enough elbow room for three people8212;five if the remaining cables, guitars and instrument cases are removed from the carpet. This is where the nine Advaita members squeeze in every week, often jamming into the wee hours, arguing and experimenting. 8220;This space is comfortable and intimate and generates positive vibes among the musicans,8221; says guitarist Abhishek Mathur.
Still, it would be nice to have a room where the boys could loll around with their sarangis, keyboards, drum kits and tables8230;