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Itanagar was rocking! Slammed down three meals on our long Good Times flight to Guwahati, got into a chopper straight from Babewatch (exact model, as our captain informed us, minus the babe of course). Most of our luggage made it into the chopper except for Rajeev’s monstrous hardware bag and Rzu’s bass. Most frightening thing on chopper ride: big red handle next to captain with caption ‘Jettison luggage’. Eeep. Can guitars fly?

Received at deserted Naharlagun heliport by warm reception committee, complete with white silk scarves and all. Packed into some stylish transport and lugged to the Donyi Polo (sun & moon) Ashok hotel. Nice. Really nice folks – took great care of us throughout. Getem and Gyaani and Newin and Bomar and Gomar and everybody else – thanks dudes!

The gig was in this enormous field next to a school I think – the Rajeev Gandhi stadium was otherwise occupied. Huge sound/light set up. Very impressive. The sound guys, from Guwahati, were also pretty much on the ball – sound check took very little time and we were all pretty happy! The rain, of course, arrived then and damped things a bit. Getem’s band was opening for us, and things were delayed with the precipitation.

Nice crowd. We got on with a wild intro to Brigade St., and the roar that came after was good to hear. Things went a little haywire in between, with Rajeev’s monitors crapping out all of a sudden – perhaps some wiring issues complicated by rain. But good gig overall – signed dozens of autographs – on CDs, little bits of paper, arms, t-shirts, etc. Gave away a whole bunch of CDs as well. Hope there’ll be folks singing along the next time. What a gig to end the year with.

And what a YEAR it’s been. Haven’t stopped gigging from end-May.. from Glasgow and London to Delhi and Calcutta, Chennai and Bombay to Itanagar, it’s been such a great ride. Here’s a big thank you to all the folks who wanted to hear us badly enough to keep us flying. And one more to our families for keeping those home fires burning for all us way-ward musicians.

A very happy 007 to all. What with new double-O status, it should be killer. If we play our cards right, we should do even more gigs this year. Playing in clubs doesn’t always get you diamonds, but at least you’re not pushing spades. Hearts are meant to be won. And the joker must always rule.