Me in rapping mode...

That's me in the green T-shirt. The hunk in cargos is Shounak. We were on stage singing the hit number by Linkin Park, In the end. It was the welcome function for the newbies to the E&C dept.(i.e.,the 3rd sem. people) organised by the 5th sem. E&C guys(me and Shounak being one of these...how proudly I say this, eh?) and the Shounak-Girish duet was the last event for the evening.

Well, we had a crude one-time practice session just about an hour before the function began. Shounak didn't know the lyrics, so someone hastily scribbled them for him on a piece of paper (see the pic, he's holding it). I played rapper and Shounak sang the lead, against a pre-recorded instrumental backing. This backing was the original song with the vocals suppressed, but we could still hear the vocals to some extent(result: the backing was a confused mixture of vocals and beats).

Anyways, Shounak and I jumped onto the stage at zero hour and the music started playing(my heart throbbing all through the prelude...dhak dhak!!). Then, the moment came when I had to open my mouth to rap and I did, without fumbling(thank God!!). I guess we were only a bit less than halfway through when something went wrong and the music suddenly died; I hurried backstage totally embarrassed(I uttered the F-word forgetting that I was still holding the mic close to my mouth, luckily nobody heard it 'cos my voice was low) while Shounak stepped down the stage and went to the console to check what was wrong. After a while, Shounak motioned me to come back. I didn't budge, still cursing the situation in my mind. It was the first time I was singing in front of a crowd in the college and it had bombed. My friends at the backstage tried coaxing me into going back, by giving various reasons(I remember only one now -' The last event is supposed to conclude the function in a graceful manner'). So, I was back on stage, constantly praying that this 'ordeal' ends as soon as possible. Thank God, it went on smoothly this time(although I had to sing parts of the lead Shounak wasn't thorough with...a totally impromptu act). After we finished, we came backstage and heaving a sigh of relief I wiped the sweat off my forehead and palms...and guess what? There were quite a few people who complimented us for our 'wonderful' performance. Now, what can I say?...All's well that ends well.