Aerosmith impressed by warm welcome, rich Indian heritage

New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) Members of the American rock band Areosmith that performed for the first time in India Saturday are impressed with the traditional welcome they received, making them 'feel like rock stars'. The 'Boys from Boston' played to a crowd of 25,000 rock fans at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore Saturday. Speaking to TV channel NDTV, the boys - Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Krammer - shared their experiences in India. 'For one thing we didn't know when we got off the plane. We know that we will get captured in the cameras but we didn't know that the hotel will have two horses...white horses... nine guys with traditional drums, jumping around... It was so... It makes me feel like a rock star,' Tyler said. Asked why did it take them so long to come to India, Hamilton said: 'Ten years ago... we were actually asked to come here and play in Bombay... is it Bombay or Mumbai... We literally couldn't afford it... It would have cost us so much to come here... So, we couldn't afford it... I don't know... I think it's the sign of the growing Indian economy now... This is happening and this is gonna be a part of it...'They, however, are charmed by India the exotic too. 'When we get to see (India) unfold like an onion...You know it starts with the snake charmer and the elephants like the blacks and the blues and they open up to find a soul... Look at India...,' said Tyler.'The oldest instrument on the planet is the Veena... 4,000 years ago... and when you hear it, it sounds like a human mourning... And I always believe that the first song ever sung... was... 'aahah'.' Though this was their first trip to India in their 33-year-old career, they picked up a few phrases in Hindi soon. Queried on their knowledge of the Hindi language, Tyler greeted the questioner with 'Namsate...yeh...' and added: 'We like to eat Mughlai Paratha.'Hamilton added that as so many Indians speak English it was time for them to learn some Indian language. © 2007 Indo-Asian News Service