Trying to imagine now what the '90s were like, it doesn't quite seem like a black-and-white era. But the colour picture that comes to mind is definitely low definition. TV sets were still these bulky boxes, not sleek flat ones fixed on a wall. Sachin Tendulkar was the blue-eyed boy of the Indian team, while Virat Kohli was a child playing tennis-ball cricket in his shorts. And take-no-prisoners rock and roll was the true sound of the underground, unlike trap, techno or whatever other electronic genre that people these days are lapping up. The indie scene was certainly still in a nascent phase. But it had the vitality of youth that was largely unsullied by corporate interests, with two bands leading the way towards the end of the decade — Zero and Pentagram. They were the ones who gave a generation of Indian musicians the belief that, yes, we can make a career out of independent western music. There's no need to turn towards Bollywood. It can take a hike.

Things have come a long way since then, of course. Indie artistes can make for big business in India these days. But the headliner at a typical festival would be a big-ticket DJ, and not a true-blue live act. That's exactly what two members of Zero and Pentagram — Sidd Coutto and Randolph Correia — are out to change with a new act, which ironically is called Laptop. Why ironic? Because the idea is to largely shun gadgets, and thrash out music on just Correia's guitar and Coutto's drum kit to re-introduce the verve and energy of genuine live music, something that seems to have taken a back seat these days. The duo were mainstays of the music scene in Mumbai in the '90s. Now, they are out to show 21st century kids how things were done.