The Tribute!

It was yet another boring day in I think, the year 2004. I was in my 12th standard, desperately trying to solve more problems day and night. In one of those instances, having got fed up of life I turned on the tv to take a break. Vh1 was on. They were playing the song "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden. I was watching, transfixed. I didn't know whether I liked the song or not. The video was weird- it showed a battle between Spanish conquistadors and the American Red Indians. Then I totally forgot about it. A few days later I started humming a new tune in my mind. I wondered what tune it was.....it was Run to the Hills! I immediately went online, downloaded the song. I listened to it again and again. I thought the guitars were a bit too harsh on my mind(I was a tender boy then!) But no....I had tasted blood and I wanted more! I read up Maiden's bio and stuff and downloaded 3 more songs- Number of the beast, Trooper and The Clairvoyant. At the outset these songs were not that great to me...i listened to them on & off. But later, I got addicted to the Number of the Beast! I checked out the song's lyrics and Oh my God! Crazy chilling lyrics man! I learnt later that Steve Harris wrote the song after he had a bad dream or something. I was like wow! This song rocks! I listened to it everyday when I was in the 12th standard. During the board exams, before I would leave home, I would listen to it and go! It was like a kind of sloka to me, but I didn't hum it! Here is the intro to the song Number of the Beast, straight out of the Bible....if this doesn't chill you, I dunno what will!:
"Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea,
For the Devil sends the beast with wrath,
Because he knows the time is short...
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast
for it is a human number, its number is Six hundred and sixty six."

And thus a hardcore maiden fan was born! I was mesmerized by their lyrics, amazed by their guitaring skills and abilities, loved the singer's voice- oh man was I bowled over or what! I started getting my hands on all their good song and ended up downloading whatever song they had sung! Wasted Years, Fear of the dark, Rime of the ancient mariner, Afraid to shoot strangers, I loved every song!

And now fast forward to my 2nd year in engineering college. By this time I had collected 3 Maiden audio cds as memorabilia - 2 as gifts and 1 was their latest album which had released in 2006(AMOLAD) In March '07, Maiden was gonna come to India. Imagine the state of my excitement! I bought the tickets a month earlier....planned everything in advance...even booked the goddamned train tickets! But no.....this was not my lucky day. The excellent administration in my engineering college actually postponed my bloody mid sems. So I had no choice but to cancel my tickets. It was one of the saddest days of my life. The gods that I worshipped had come to India and I coudn't even go pay homage to them. The future looked bleak and without promises.

Fortunately, I have a very quick rollback time. Forward scene to the current position......now in my 5th sem and swatting flies with the same rigour as the previous sems. I heard that Maiden might just come to India next year again.I mean again! WOW!!! This time I better hope my midsems are not anywhere close by....this time I'm gonna make sure I'll meet the Gods Of Rock....once and for all!

Up D iRons!

This is just a tribute....you gotta believe it....!