Rhymes Without Reason - Part 1

Sanjay a.k.a 'SunRun' was sitting in his room blasting hip hop music on his 1600w system. It was cold Saturday morning for Chennai. Valentine's day was approaching with no luck in his pursuit of cupid's arrows, let alone lady love. He thought of making it big rhyming words like 'here' with 'beer'. "Rap is always misundersood in India. If only I could prove them wrong!" was a constant thought that kept hitting him. The dust laden wind was sneaking into his room through the open window. Sanjay was lost in his music that neither the dust nor cold breeze unnerved him. By the afternoon, he had had his meal of sambar rice and Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP album. Things were starting to get busy for the Saturday evening.

Being a 20 something living it up in Chennai, there wasn't much he could do on a Saturday. The second home of Elliots beach gave him an outlet to hang around with his gang. Raj a.k.a 'Roller Blades Raj', Sanjay's best buddy had come to meet him. They hung out at the beach in the chai shop, catching up on the things happening with the Chennai rap scene. "Machi, you should've watched the Dood Gang da. They killed that show the other day. It was awesome" peeved Raj. Sanjay listened silently before chiming in "Appdiya, I thought they were just poseurs man. I'm not feeling their lyrics". "Lyrics are not worth anything da, its the attitude, swagger and their style on stage" argued Raj. This back and forth continued until they ran out of money to buy more masala teas.

They decided to shift base to the catamarans that are docked by the local fishermen, usually unused in the evenings. Rueben a.k.a 'Ooroor Kuppam Gundar (OKG)' noticed Sanjay and Raj approaching the 'Perusu' catamaran. 'Perusu' was donated by the local church after the tsunami of 2004. He approached the catamaran "Vaanga da pasangla. Enna, inikku aavadhu ethaachum productive? songs? recording demo tape?". Rueben was two years younger than Sanjay & Raj but way ahead of them in terms of vocabulary of the English language. He was the go-getter, the trend-setter and the goonda of the gang. Living in the Ooror slums, born into humble beginnings of fisher folk, he went to a private school near the beach with sponsorship by the local church.

The gang settled down in 'Perusu', and waited for the sun to set. The sunset of Chennai at Elliots beach was an event to remember. Couples sitting around near the shore, kids playing with the waves, hawkers trying to make a quick buck, fried fish and corn being roasted with sparks flying around. All this when the sun was slowly saying goodbye to go shine some light on the rest of the world. Sanjay always believed the metaphor in the sun never setting on people, but on places. He smiled "You see how the color changes from bright yellow, to orange to bright red? That's the sun saying 'My job here stops now, I got another place to shine light on' ". The other two stared at him. "Has he gone totally nuts?" wondered Raj. "Dei, I think we all need some KF to bring some 'sunshine' into our night. Lets go grab some beer" said Reuben with a twinkle in his eye.

"We should do something big man. Like write a song" said Sanjay. Raj & Rueben nodded in agreement. They set out thinking about a name. Sanjay pulled out his pen and mini-pad which he carried around in his wallet. He scribbled some lines in the little sunlight left. Rueben pulled out his mobile phone and switched the light on. They had decided on a name for their hip hop band. "Dai, kelambu kelambu. Police raid is coming to Rasyya's house again due to some drug dealing bust. Escape now or face mama's questions" screamed a fisherman who they never bothered to find the name of. The mean streets of the kuppams in Chennai unfolded with random events of domestic violence, rowdyism and drugs. Sanjay and Raj hopped out of 'Perusu' and started jogging to the Cozzee corner of the beach, a popular hangout among the youth of all classes. "Dudes, chill man. This is my area. We can slowly leave" said Rueben, cool as a cucumber because of his connections in the slum. Raj was having none of it and continued jogging. Sanjay started walking slower while Rueben caught up with them. Their mind was set on one thing for that night "Partying".

With empty pockets and speeding bikes, they set out to make the night eventful. The 'Besant Nagar B-Boyz'  were going to party, to spend some time forgetting their middle-class life and enjoy the high-life illusion that beer provided them with. Sanjay's little note was safe in his wallet. Could it be his ticket to a career in fame and fortune?

"Livin like a super star, take it that i won't get far
Make it big with fancy cars, buy a house that's up in Mars
Karma always makes me laugh, always choose the harder path

I'm the pick of the pack, the rest of the west is whack!"

To be continued..