Campus news
Underground incorporated's “School Reunion” blast!

Underground Incorporated, one of the upcoming organizers of the Underground Scene, and one of the biggest ever-growing web-based forums in Bangladesh, once again made a hit with their original idea of staging a “school reunion” gig. Partnered by Arman, Barshan and Maimun, UG Inc's show, though not very publicized, still definitely drew the crowds! Though usually their timing is impeccable, this time though, that quarter left much to be desired. However, once the wheels were in motion, the flaws were few!

The first band up was a Sunbeams band called Elysium. Well they certainly lived up to their name, so to speak. Happiness and mirth were the very obvious drives of both these band members and all of the audience who were listening to them. With Ayman on lead guitars, Ayhim and Tahsin on rhythm guitars, Zeeshan on bass, Khalid on drums and Ghalib as vocals, this band gave a truly enjoyable first slot performance, which is definitely a rare case! Their cover of Artcell's “Leen” was superb, and though perhaps their “Wickerman” lacked somewhat in vocals, musically it was flawless!

Next up were Encore, a South Breeze band. Performing “Megalomaniac”, their own composition “Onek Dur” and Open Your Eyes”, vocalists and guitarists Zeheen and Amid along with bassist Yamin and drummer Zulyad, totally had the crowd signing along, and the best part of their performance was that they were completely at ease on stage, and putting nervousness on the sideline, they gave one spectacular performance!

Then came on the band that most of the audience were impatiently awaiting. Bonny Prince, another Sunbeams band, walked on-stage, amid cheers and shouts of “Bonny” coming from the many fans who were cluttered around the edge of the stage. Giving a fantastic performance of “Sober” and “46 + 2”, this band started off the “moshing” which was aided along by following performances. Certainly talented, Faraz (drums), Aymaan (guitars), Zahin (guitars), Abaan (bass) and Azhar (vocals) gave everyone one amazing performance, which was a must watch.

The punk band of Dhaka City made another appearance today, as yet another Sunbeams band. While most other bands mix up punk songs with alternative, Baahsznought remains a purely punk band. Doing covers like “Blitzkreig Bop,” “Geek Stink Breath,” “All Systems Go,” Crazy Amanda,” and their own, “If I Pay You Cabbage, Will You Service Me,” this band seemed to go all out just to have FUN. Infected by Shayer(vocals), Faraz (drums), Farhan (bass), Rushdee (guitars) and Omar's (guitars) enthusiasm and wonderful music, the crowd were all cheers. To aid this further, bassist Farhan left all mouths gaping open by doing a scissor kick right in the middle of his performance!

Deafened, a Maple Leaf band came on with some magnificent Korn covers. Considered good before, now considered the best, the response to this band showed what “head banging” is all about. Doing covers of “Somebody Someone,” “Right Now,” “Twist,” “Y'all want a Single,” and “Blind,” vocals Reehan with guitarist Orin, bassist Zeeshan and drummer Labib, gave an astounding performance, which, though not their best, but could be considered one of their best performances.

The sixth band up were Overture from ESS. They covered “Dread and the Fugitive Mind,” “One,” and “Master of Puppets,” and what left the audience spell bound was the fact that their performance, though expected by many to be “not so good”, turned out to be one of the best performances of the night! Vocalist Shuvo, guitarists Hasib and Faisal, bassist Nabil and drummer Nafees went all out and gave their best, and the audience received them with applause and cheering throughout!

The second ESS band, Sworn Sin were next up, with “Necroshine,” “Tornado of Souls,” “Symphony of Destruction,” and “Brothers of Metal.” With Samaun as vocals, Riton and Wafi as guitarist, Tahmid as drummer, and Khaled and Shayan as bassists, managed to keep up everyone's spirits and aid along the avid head bangers, even though there were some minor technical problems regarding one of their guitarist's processors. Even then, the band carried on, and put up a splendid show.

Next up were another of the favourites, Soothsayer (Mastermind)! Their performance was probably one of the best performances of the evening. With a large crowd already prepared for some raucous cheering and wild head banging, the Sayers were received with pleasure. Starting with their own songs “Chetonabodh,” and “Shesh Kobita,” and with an awesome Artcell medley in between, and finishing with “Wickerman,” Raseen (vocals), Majed (bass and vocals), Imrul (guitars), Sameer (guitars) and Daiyan (drums) gave an electrifying performance, one which their fans will remember for quite some time to come. One fact which must be mentioned is that the sound quality for this particular band came out so well because the mixing was done by the band's pervious drummer, Arman.

Firebrand (Sunbeams) made their entrance next with vocals Niloy, guitarists Yameen and Nabeel, bassist Zubaidur and drummer Shahir. Covering “Pretty Vegas,” “Pride,” “Paranoid,” and their own “Jhor,” and “Ogni Shikha,” their performance was probably the best. In my opinion, tied in first place with the Sayers, the audience were definitely torn when trying to decide who were the better of the two. Firebrand have definitely improved since their first introduction into the underground scene.

The grand finale was given by The Crayons (Sunbeams), with Faraz on drums (for the third time), Farhan on bass (for the second time), Ayon giving guitars and vocals and Altamash giving guitars. “American Idiot,” “Hash Pipe”, “Meant to Live,” “Black Balloon,” and “Everlong,” was their song list, and they did full justice to the songs. Though by then the crowd was too tired to muster up enough strength to head bang, the cheers were loud and long.

An excellent show overall, though with slight drawbacks here and there, but overall definitely worth spending your money on. Once again, UG Inc and their partners have showed the world that they're good, and here's to hoping that we find them organizing more and more shows in future!

By Rohini Alamgir

I personally feel like screaming out loud and throwing vases at walls whenever my parents say “of course you can't go to Cox's Bazaar/Ashulia/your friend's house at night/every other bloody place on earth…alone or even with friends. Why? It's not safe, honey! You'll die a horrible death, honey. Somebody will kidnap you honey. Although if you really want to go out, you could accompany us to our office picnic tomorrow.” Yeah, the office picnic…the most insanely boring old people thing ever with as much excitement and adventure in it as you had listening to your geography teacher in 5th grade!

I wouldn't say all of us, but there are a lot of us who have this passion in them to see the world, to explore. Basically, some people have been unlucky enough to be born with a traveler's heart in a country where setting a foot out of your house at night is considered suicide by many. And if you are a girl, well, it is considered suicide by all. Logically and practically speaking, the whole over-protective nature of parents is probably fair and just, considering the fact that children do die horrible deaths in this country, and the fear that they have in themselves is something that we obviously are incapable of understanding. But more so than anything, this is our life. And yes, people can be warned about dangers, but people can only learn from the mistakes they make, from their own experiences. If our parents totally forbid us to do anything risky, exciting in life, then we're left with no experiences to learn from, only dire warnings to be scared of! I realize that in our culture, being 18, an adult, definitely doesn't help as our parents can hardly understand the fact that we're not in our diapers anymore, but the fact is, that is the age when our life starts, when we have to learn to take independent decisions, to control our lives properly and effectively. And if we are never allowed to take those decisions, how are we going to face the world in the future, when we have nobody to tell us what's right and wrong?

I personally love traveling, and every single day I dream of taking off with a backpack and exploring my country, every little bit of it. There's so much beauty right here in Bangladesh, and even after being a Bangladeshi, all I know of Bangladesh is the dirt of Dhaka! Of course my parents don't let me go out of Dhaka with friends, or even with one of those traveling groups, because God forbid, what not is going to happen to me. Obviously, for somebody on the road, a lot of horrible things may happen, but that doesn't stop people from living their lives! A lot of things may happen to me right here, as I'm sitting in front of my computer typing this. This building may collapse, and we all know that's a definite possibility!

For guys, I guess this problem is a lot less, but for girls, well I at least don't know any girl who doesn't face this problem in her life. Even university going girls, who really are matured enough to take care of themselves, are at times not allowed to go on field trips with their classmates and teachers, which is plain bizarre! If this is what people call protectiveness, they're wrong; this is called suffocating someone till they die out of living a prison-life!

I'm sure by now, any parent reading this article must be preparing to burn the paper, but honestly, I really don't have anything against parents. My own parents stop me from doing the one thing that I dream of doing everyday because it's risky, and I've never gone against them because I love them and respect their decision. I know I'm old enough, even by law, to take my own decisions, and even after that I've never run away from home. The whole point of this article is to let all those teens out there know that you've got to take a decision too. Because at the end of the day, this really is your life, and you'll only get one shot at it. And to all parents, I know you love your kids, and if you love them, please let them be happy. I'm very sorry if I've spoken anything wrong here, or angered any parent in the process…I was just trying to express my thoughts.

By Fahmina Rahman