Indo-Asian News Service

Mumbai, February 6

Vegetarian soft rock star Bryan Adams says the first images that come to his mind when India is mentioned are the country’s elephants and the large number of vegetarians.

“I like paneer, tandoori with vegetables, aloo gobi and many other dishes. I’m a vegetarian, I hope to relish some great Indian dishes on my visit and, if time permits, even visit many Indian restaurants. I do have Indian friends in Britain and, yes, I also visit a lot of Indian restaurants.”

The Canadian singer, who is performing in New Delhi on Saturday and Bangalore on Sunday, is no stranger to India having visited it earlier in 1994 and 2001. The winner of 10 Grammy’s is also interested in Indian spirituality.

On his last visit, he was photographed wearing a garland of ‘tulsi’, or basil, leaves, and standing alongside a popular astrologer in the garden city of Bangalore.

He was quoted as saying that he wanted to bathe in the Hindu holy river, Ganges. Adams will perform in New Delhi for the first time, fulfilling a desire he has expressed on several occasions earlier.

Apart from going on record to say “I look forward to visiting India all the time”, the last time he was here Bryan Adams said: “We have been planning a concert in Delhi and Kolkata for a long time.”

The singer, whose main musical influences are the Beatles, Janis Joplin, Steve Marriot and Joe Cocker, is likely to croon all his hits for Delhi’s citizens, including “Heaven”, “18 Till I Die”, “Everything I Do” and “Summer of 69”.

When asked where he got the inspiration for his hits, Bryan Adams said: “It’s the idea of creating something from nothing.”

“It’s impossible to work if you’re stressed out, so I try and eliminate as much stress from my life as I can — then I let the river flow.”

The most memorable moment in his musical career was when he passed his first audition.

Bryan Adams, who has travelled across nearly 50 countries for sold out shows, said his favourites were a concert in Madison Square in New York, in Wembley, London, and the Berlin Wall concert.

When asked if he would collaborate with Indian musicians, he said: “Yes absolutely. Some kind of collaboration was actually planned previously with Indian artistes. It all depends whether our voices would gel together, but is not a bad idea. If I spend more time in India I might even write a song on India. Every time I come to India I find something new and exciting,” he said.

“I find India quite an exotic place and most of my fond memories are of the concerts I did here,” Bryan Adams said last time.