~ By Veeransh Mehta, 21EC10086
Mixtape
Hotel California:
The one song that has my whole heart. I vividly remember the time I performed a musical mime on stage with my pseudo-family in Encore for the Fresher’s induction program. The music flowed through our veins, and the lyrics seemed to capture the essence of that moment perfectly. Every time I hear it, I'm transported back to that stage, bathed in the spotlight, sharing the magic of music with my fellow performers. "Hotel California" isn't just a song; it's a time machine that whisks me back to the moments I spent with my seniors and batchmates during the rehearsal, the performance, and the after-party.
We also performed the musical mime on the small stage of the A1 hall - SHIT DRUNK, in front of alums who were visiting KGP for the spring fest. The smiles on their faces, reliving their own experience, of 7 years ago, when they too performed a musical mime in the Freshers induction for the very first time in Kgp history in the hallowed walls of Netaji, was invaluable.
Shape of You:
I performed choreography to this song back in the summer of '22. It was a breath of fresh air after the monotony of online classes. This song represents the joy and liberation I felt in that moment, a reminder of the beauty that emerges when we let loose and dance to the rhythm of life. This song also serves as a reminder of all the fun interactions I had with my batchmates in my first year, even though we were all at our homes in different corners of the country, just trying to make the most of our freshers' experience. This song brings me closer to the cherished times when just logging on to MS Teams was all of the workload.
Perfect:
My first week on campus in August '22, one guitar, 20 friends, and my voice that, I must admit, wasn't perfect (actually extremely bad if I were being completely honest). We all gathered by the TSG lakeside, and sang my heart out to Ed Sheeran's "Perfect." The harmonious melodies melting my heart and soul encapsulated the beginning of my college journey, a time when friendships were forming, and life felt, well, perfect in its imperfection. This song reminds me of the raw beauty of those early days on campus.
On all our get-togethers, this song is always sung along by every soul present.
Bohemian Rhapsody:
"Bohemian Rhapsody," the Encore special, our go-to song at every party. The echoes of "Mamaaaa... Ooouuuu ouuuuu" would reverberate through the room, and each one of us would sing it at the top of our lungs.
All of us would gather around, make a huge circle, and just vibe to this song. The core memory of the graduating batch party, singing this song with all my heart, at 6 in the morning, after partying, dancing and crying, with all my friends, seniors and juniors, is not I never can forget. It's a reminder of the wild, unapologetic fun we had and how music brought us together in a way nothing else could.
Enchanted:
Judge me all you want, but "Enchanted" is the song I'm obsessed with.
Each beat of the song makes me feel a range of emotions, the description that Talyor Swit has set teleports me to the imaginary scenario of the situation described in the song, but the main characters in the imaginary figment are me and crush in kgp, the place of the situation being the corridors of the main building. The lines “Please don’t be in love with someone else. Please don’t have someone waiting on you” run shivers down my spine as they are the unsaid words I could never confront my crush with. From listening to it while running the road of 2.2 to blasting the song loudly in my room, this song has been my constant companion. It's the soundtrack to countless moments of self-discovery and connection with those I hold dear. "Enchanted" is more than just a song; it's the anthem of my college journey, the background music to the most memorable chapters of my life.
Kajra Re:
Picture this, you are meeting friends with whom you have worked for an entire year but have never met. You have spent countless hours with them working on projects and playing online mafia with batchmates and seniors. Well, my first 180DC family interaction was all that and was completed when the seniors called us at sup dup, gave us glasses, and blasted out some amazing beats on the speakers, at midnight. The entire night was a wild one, with everyone dancing and singing those age-old Bollywood songs. Amidst our fun, a guard came up to us and instructed us to go away - that Sup Dup isn’t a place where you can be doing this. The night was almost ruined, but because our hearts and bodies longed for more fun, more dancing, and more time. So we shifted the party to the backside of Gymkhana. The Kajra Re song plays on the speaker and I’m pushed to the centre of the circle, and expected to dance with my full energy. I give it my all, exhibiting all my dance moves with everyone around me cheering and hooting me to go on.
What a night!
