THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The six of them are as different as chalk and cheese. If one is funky, the other is shy, the third pensive and the rest fit somewhere in the middle. But together they are ‘Bimblotica’, as fresh as the word can be.
The girls- Charutha, Krishnakala, Gopika, Anju, Anita and Niliya - have added a new page to the history of their college- College for Women Vazhuthacaud- where the past reclines as majestically as its century-old buildings. Theirs is the first music band to have born in the college. They have named it Bimblotica, a frequently used term in their friends’ circle but which in their own words ‘would assume a larger meaning in the days to come’.
It is in an unkempt room, tucked below two huge trees on the campus, where the group has their meeting. The keyboard, guitar, drums and the girls are there during off hours to finetune their melody and rhythm. The rock and pop band was not born in a single day, it took weeks to develop though it all started from a silly talk during a walk home in the rains.
The group would point their fingers at Niliya if quizzed about the beginnings.
“I always wanted to do something in music. I wanted to start doing it now, in college, so that after I leave there is something of mine left here. The band was a slow thought but once it gathered strength in me, I shared it with a couple of them, who I knew, and the rest of the members were approached to join us,” Niliya, a third year Malayalam student, says.
Krishnakala, a second year Economics student, was already known in the college for her mastery over the drums. Gopika (English II year) was good at Kathaprasangam and not bad with vocals too. Anju (English II year) was a dancer and sang well. Anita (Psychology II year) created magic with the keyboard. Niliya had always wanted to sing, though a scratch in her throat had stopped her music lessons some years back. Charutha (History II year) played guitar well and immediately nodded yes when Niliya approached.
“I didn’t know I could sing with them as dance was my forte. But the others gave me so much confidence that I am part of the band now.
It is a life-changing experience. On the stage and after the performance, the appreciation we receive from friends, teachers and family is incredible. It makes our college days fulfilling,” Anju chips in.
It was WITS (Women’s Innovative Talent Seekers (WITS ‘12), a two-day literary festival organized by the Department of English in the college that hosted their maiden performance. “We did the theme music for WITS and launched our band,” Gopika beams.
If you want to listen to the song, you can log on to www.wits12.com and enjoy it.
They also gave a 25-minute performance at the closing of WITS which ended in a huge applause. “Till then our parents did not know what we were up to. They had their reservations, considering ours is an all-girls band and our hanging-out in the name of music and all. But once they heard us, they have become our biggest supporters,” Niliya says. The group has composed a fusion item and two other songs for the performance. And each day they keep trying, making and re-making more.
Ever since the first performance, they have received numerous queries from college-mates wanting to join the band. “As of now, it will be the six of us. We do not want to hand it over to anybody or include more,” Gopika is clear.
But very soon Niliya might leave the college (unless she is back for a PG course) and Anita might be off to distant lands to pursue music.
Then what? “We will keep it going as far as we can. Though we started it in college, we want to own it forever,” Niliya says.
Though they do not say, Bimblotica must mean fun, music and friendship or else these girls would not have found their true joy in college life, which many only long for.