Patricia Mukhim
So NH7 Weekender came and went like it did last year. I got it from the horse’s mouth that the show drew in 35% more crowd this year, although the line- up of artistes in this edition was less spectacular than last year’s. From The Wailers, Megadeth, Kailash Kher etc., we are now down to Steve Wilson, Farhan Akhtar (who actually has no voice to talk about), Nucleya and a host of other lesser known bands. Perhaps Papon and Soulmate were the saving grace for this year’s show. But that is only if you’re there to enjoy good music. Now is that the only reason why NH7 attracts such a huge crowd? Or is it because drinks flow and there are no inhibitions on how much you drink, whether you get drunk or are just simply grooving with the music. It’s a liberating feeling to be in an open field and be holding a mug of beer or any other drink and to be largely among your non-judgmental peers, if you are coming from a society that is squeamish about social drinking. That’s why we now have cars that turn into bars in the evening because young people can’t find decent and affordable pubs to take in their tots.
For Vijay Nair, the NH7 promoter, the event is nothing short of a show stopper. He is a wizard who knows exactly what rocks the people of Shillong. Ah… no not just Shillong now. The suburbans of Ri Bhoi (meaning Umroi and its thereabouts) have also learnt what it is to share the thrills of the towns- folk of Shillong, so this year NH7 distributed several hundred tickets to be given to the suburbans with the rider that they are to be identified by the Rangbah Shnong of the area. Not everyone can afford tickets costing Rs 2000 per couple and Rs 1250 per head for both days. But in a city where the disparities are glaring, there are enough takers for the tickets even if they were to be priced higher. In fact the online sale of tickets happened at least a month ago.
Last year the show went off rather on expected lines. Everyone was happy…the artistes were happy. I tried to interview Dave Mustaine the lead Megadeth guitarist, to find out what angst pushes musicians like him to lunge out at death, war, politics and religion through music. But Dave Mustaine was sulking because he was told not to sing certain dark songs that could push our youngsters overboard and send them to cemeteries to vandalize graves etc. So I missed meeting this contentious musician who was once high on substances and even rammed his car into a parked vehicle belonging to a policeman who was off duty. Jail time sobered up Mustaine but he is the kind of person who subalterns would want as their hero. He is the rebel par excellence – a role model for resistance. This cocktail of toxic behavior and attitudes is what makes Dave Mustaine attractive, I guess. It also shows the huge gap in the kind of music that draws the youth of today compared to the generation before them.
So if there was a bigger crowd this year than there was last year (and this was bound to happen since last year everyone waxed eloquent about how well the show was organized) then what is it that has triggered a FaceBook Post from Vijay Nair where he raves and rants at the Rangbah Shnong who sold the free tickets meant for the youth of his area to people from Assam etc at a subsidy. Nair is also very angry that ‘some’ bureaucrats and police officers wanted free passes. I stress on the word ‘some’ because there were other bureaucrats who paid for their tickers and queued up for their wrist bands like ordinary folks. Nair tells us that he is doing something spectacular by bringing this show to Shillong because he has to invest a lot on sound and other technical stuff to host it. So in a sense he feels we owe him big time for putting up an event that people would otherwise have had to go to Hyderabad or Pune to witness. That he says would have entailed them buying air tickets, pay for hotels apart from paying for the tickets. But Mr Nair that works both ways! You are not exactly going out of pocket by putting up the show in Shillong are you? If you weren’t making profit you would not have returned here. Not by a long shot!
Nair is sore about the rent seekers but he made sure not to ruffle the feathers of those in the Government who made the going smooth for him. The chief executive of the state received praises galore and his office was congratulated for facilitating the smooth passage of the show. You are smart Mr Nair. You could not have offended the Chief Minister and hoped to return next year for a bigger event perhaps. But yes you gave the villagers of Umroi a real dressing down. They don’t really matter in your scheme of things because they can always be paid to get back into your good books. How sad is that, but, how convenient for you.
There were quite a few stinkers on Vijay Nair’s post. One guy said, “Try and organize NH7 in Goa and watch the fun.”Another said that NH7 pulled out of Gurgaon because the rent seeking has become abominably horrifying. The NCR region has more people wanting free passes than there are people who would buy tickets. Shillongites are very honourable in comparison. Nair calls Shillong his second home but I guess that is only as long as he can rake in the profits.
But there are a few issues one has with NH7. Several brands of liquor not usually allowed to be sold in the liquor shops here flow freely at the venue. Bacardi is not the only liquor company selling its drinks here. And there is no excise tax on these drinks and no entertainment tax on NH 7. I don’t know if Vijay Nair enjoys the same patronage elsewhere. The affluent of Shillong who often feel besieged by busyness are also plagued by a daily excess of choices find NH7 an outlet for these souls with pent-up energy. No one has any problems with that! People who can afford have the right to enjoy themselves. But the problem is that the system that is meant to keep the law and order also looks the other way when this event happens. There were thousands of cars at the venue, not all of them chauffeur driven. So one can conclude that on Saturday evening there were thousands of drunken drivers on the road and a couple of pranks as well. Were those guys arrested for endangering the lives of non-drinkers on the same route?
Then there is the case of Farhan Akhtar who while on stage witnessed some unpleasant scenes. I am quoting a FaceBook post to show how enraged Farhan was. He said something to this effect. “At times and shows like these, we ought to help each other. So I have something to say, there are some boys in the front rows who have been behaving badly and groping the girls. If the security guys see you do that again, they’re going to beat the shit out of you, and I’ll join them. You’d better stop that behavior.”
That’s not a very good certificate for NH7 and one wishes this does not become a rendezvous for fornication. This is no moral tutorial. Those who have gone for the NH7 and are having their booze there are supposed to be adults (not below 18 years). Really?
So Mr Vijay Nair, profit is what drives everything in the world today. No one is doing anyone a favour. Of course Shillong gets prouder by the day and more famous perhaps for hosting these mega musical shows but I wonder what the social costs are and if anyone is interested in measuring that. And no, I am not a wet blanket, just an ant in your tight pants.