A parent of one of Akank’s classmates owns a bakery and wanted live entertainment over Valentine’s day. The girl’s parents invited a few children from the class to form a band. It was Akank’s first chance to play in a band. She was obviously very excited when she was invited to be part of the band. She went to practice a few days before the 14th February. At the end of the practice session it was decided that she will get to play a solo number on the keyboard and sing a song of her choice on V-day. There was also a guitarist ( the baker’s daughter), another key board player, a drummer and a chorus. Akank told me that she herself was the ‘lead singer’. A day before the final show, Akank received a call from one of the band members, and was told that that there would be no solo performances but only chorus singing. Akank was upset that she would not have a chance to sing or play her song as decided earlier. She asked me if she could quit the band. I wanted her to give it a good think before she called it quits. I told her that it would be something to look back at, when she was grown up and belonged to a ‘real’ band. I advised her that the first band experience did not have to be perfect. She would not listen. Then came the stories of how there was no coordination of music in the band, of how no one else but the baker’s daughter had the final say on the choice of songs to be sung, of how the baker’s wife did not recall Akank’s name and called her and another classmate ‘ people’ and of how Akank really had quit the same day of practice but had not told me about it.
She called the Baker’s family the same evening and quit the band – again.
Tweenspeak! 