Manipal University, an institution teeming with life, enthusiasm, youthful spirit and indeed, talent, from every sphere of life, has an undeniable reputation for being one of the most vibrant and happening educational centers in India. It has been on that inevitable course ever since its inception way back in 1953 with the establishment of Kasturba Medical College on what was but a desolate hillock. Today, Manipal is home to not only one of the most prestigious med schools in the world, but also an engineering college that churns out CEOs of corporate giants, much renowned architecture and commerce colleges and a cool School of Communication to boost.
A university of this magnitude, is bound to have a gigantic talent pool, and it is the University’s responsibly to provide students with the opportunity to hone their aforementioned talents; a feat in which Manipal University has almost been successful, but their efforts lack noticeably in one respect. The University, in its 60 years of existence, has never once set up any form of establishment to support, encourage or promote music or musicians. I’ve been around here only for a year, but that was long enough to witness the overwhelming musical talent that’s been kept fettered by the shackles of apathy on behalf of the University.
There are people out here who can play. And I mean REALLY play. This University has seen guitarists who can shred like Jeff Loomis, drummers who blast out double bass patterns, the likes of which Dave Lombardo would be impressed by, bassists who ride grooves like Flea, keyboardists and violinists who can play Beethoven’s Hammerklavier pieces with their eyes closed, saxophonists who…well, you get the picture! With people of such stature present here, one would imagine there would be a sound proof, non-reverberating, fully equipped jam room in the University or even anywhere in the city, which is provided for by the University. But guess what? There isn’t. These musicians didn’t even ask for it. What they did ask for is any room…hell, even a shed with a drum kit for that matter, where they can let loose and practice their respective instruments.
And what did the University provide them with?
This pathetic excuse of a room that’s never once been maintained by anyone and is always overrun with all sorts of bugs and cobwebs.
The drum kit, as you can see here, which has barely two cymbals, both of which have been battered and beaten to The Ninth Circle of Hell, had been drummers’ best bet for practicing before any musical event. The kit itself isn’t even owned by the University. It belongs to a fourth year student who’s about to graduate and take the drums away. The amplifiers that you see belong to other students as well.
Last year, salvation appeared in the form of Studio 51, a silent jam room, which was initiated by Narayanan Gopalakrishnan and Ankit Basu. It provided the musical enthusiasts with exactly what they needed: A place to jam. But both of them worked outside Manipal and tried managing it from there and that eventually proved to be too taxing for Narayanan, who was forced to close it down because of how incredibly difficult it was for him alone to manage it.
But consider this: if the University sets aside a room and furnishes it with a drum kit, it’ll be a win-win situation for everyone involved because this time, it’ll be an entire committee managing it rather than just one person, and they’ll have better control over the place. Several attempts have been made in the past to persuade the University into agreeing to this cause, but they were all filed by very few people and the petitions proved to be weak. The administration told the students to practice in their respective hostels if they had to. Guitarists, bassists and violinists can manage just fine, but what about drummers or keyboardists? Are drummers to remain content with using their ridiculously large books as drums? And what of those bands consisting of guys and girls? By asking students to “practice in their rooms”, they’re essentially forcing Manipalites to form exclusively single-sex bands. People often ask why there are so few girls who perform on stage. Is it because there aren’t female musicians out here in Manipal? Hell no! It’s because they don’t get a chance to practice with the guys in their band and thus end up not performing.
Studio 51 provided us with exactly the solution to this problem, but was incredibly difficult to be managed by a single individual. I propose that we all come together and ask the University to provide us with a jam room equipped with a drum kit, just like the one Narayan had established, which can be charged for as they see fit. It’ll provide students, both boys and girls, from all across the board with a much needed place to practice for the perpetually ongoing musical events that take place throughout the colleges within the University. Sixty years is a long enough time to have waited for such an initiative. Perhaps the administration is unaware of the extent to which students need this. Let us take charge and bring the scenario to their notice. It is the one thing that’ll make this already great institution a true haven for students who wish to hone their myriads talents along with achieving their academic endeavours.
Here’s hoping for a more musically vibrant Manipal.
Cheers!
Rahul Basu
2nd Year Computers and Communications Engineering, MIT.
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