Some of the readers of my blog may be well acquainted with the band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR). But when I was a student in Class 11, I listened to pop and soft rock numbers of the day, such as Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, etc. I had not listened to the music of CCR and was not familiar with their song ‘Proud Mary.’
Some of the boys in my class (in other sections) played the electric guitar. For our inter-school cultural event, it was decided all of a sudden that a singer was required. As someone who had taken part in fashion shows, western dance, and other events for inter-school cultural events, (in the same unprepared manner) somehow, I was the one zeroed in on to sing ‘Proud Mary.
I was aware of the legendary status of CCR, and rather than back out of it, I went along with the suggestion to sing it, suggestive of a recklessness I was prone to in my adolescent years.
I listened to the song a few times and picked up the lyrics.
On the day of the event, I went up on stage in front of God-only-knows how many schools, and the band of boys on stage started their drums, guitar, etc. I belted out Proud Mary and suddenly, in the middle of the performance, the boy who was on the drums played with such vigor that the drumstick broke into two! It was only fitting that we had all decided beforehand that the name of the band was ‘Sad Scene Bad Scene!’
High school is a blur of such events – fashion shows, western dance, sports events, and other inter-school cultural events. We also went to Gudibanda, near Bangalore, on our Class 11 trip (from Chennai) and to Ooty in our Class 12.
Sitting at my desk and typing this out after two crazy years of the pandemic, I’m happy for the good memories.
