time travel

did a little clean up of sorts. actually because i was hunting for cds niyu asked to be sent to bombay for her. yeah she sent me this long list of things, which demanded a mini treasure hunt with myself, to locate and put together. anyway, while looking for her talvin singh cd (which i ultimately didnt find. argh.) i found a sony cd, in a cracked plastic case, with my lobsters handwriting scrawled from edge to edge of the jacket. the playlist includes:
- my vision - jakatta feat. seal
- days go by - dirty vegas
- mundiyan to bachke - punjabi mc
- bhangra nights - husan (radio edit)
- shiny disco balls - who da funk
- chase the sun - planet funk
- rapture - ilo
- bhangra knights - bhangra knights
- played-a-live - safri duo
- phenomenon - ll cool j
- hypnotise - notorious big
- changes - tupac shakur
- california love - tupac feat. dr dre
- bonnie and clyde '03 - jay z feat beyonce knowles
- sunset - nitin sawhney
- aisha - khaled

and i immediately knew where it was from. music can transport me back in time. i have strong associations with particular kinds of music. various trips in life. various songs or sets of songs that saw me through a particular time in life. this cd belonged to the summer of 2003. between std 12 and college. the end of the drudgery that was school and the beginning of sweet freedom (or so we thought!). and i was immediately transported. i could almost recollect the past like a set of frames from a memory.

pondi. linen pants. green shades. hip hop. walking on mg rd, pondicherry. sleeveless vests. hippie clothes. cycles. fried rice and butter chicken. discman connected to computer speakers. blaring music in the aurobindo ashram. expensive dinners. shopping. bikes. beaches. bus rides. spinn. lots and lots of partying till we dropped. spinn on wednesday night. spinn on saturday night. spinn on friday and sunday nights also. endless afternoons spent on brigade rd. coffee day. lack of money. sitting at a coffee shop and ordering water. swearing we'd be friends for life. all for one. wide eyed and hpeful about the future. apprehension about college. glad to be leaving schol behind. friendships forged by habit. newness of love and happiness. bliss like iv never known before. freedom, innocence, simple pleasures.

it was the summer that changed my life in more ways than one. nothing was ever quite the same.