Ok this page is not anything special just abt Eagles or their Hotel California, but just a rather simple rambling abt how different songs take us back to various long gone scenes. There are these certian images associated with so many songs, and for me, almost all of them straight out of those 4 years in REC Calicut; and each time a song hits me, those images just spring up out of their memory graves - Damn those undead things. :)

If i think abt Hotel California, or listen to it, the scene that gets replayed is straight out of a Jan evening in 1998 - Im walking along the road towards our hostel, hostel E, and passing hostel F on the left. Now we have these bunch of guys sitting in the porch of F, and strumming out the beginning chords of Hotel california. darkness and yellow lights, and the soft music comes floating down and when the chords end, somebody mimicks the begining taps of the drums by rapping on the guitar base. It was so effective and striking.

Now take this one - Sad But True by Metallica. Same road, but im walking in the opposite direction. Its an idle, idle, idle, sunny afternoon and as i walk past F on my right and D on my left, hetfield's trademark growl rises in volume through a D window, and as i walk right past, peaks into that unforgettable "Im You". It just blew away that heavy idleness into smithhhherreens.

A different one - George Michael's careless whisper. Rock or Pop or whatever, this is a song with a certian genius. back in 1997, we are in this hostel B. 4 of us are sharing this atrocious room with rusted furniture. This guy Suraj has a cassette of WHAM, and i kinda like it a lot. We get the cassette from him, and rig up an ancient walkman on the table, and connects an old speaker onto that. The volume is now a bit up than those headphones and audible till almost 5 meters. Thats the way we used to listen on WHAM, and enjoyed every moment of careless whisper and happy christmas. Later on, Suraj produces Jesus to a child, and soon WHAM gets forgotten. And the old speaker and walkman partnered on to play Jesus to a child so many times in that old dusty room.

There was this guy Prajeeb, who had a small 16W philips player. his room was near to mine, and this is in 1999, our final year, and at E hostel. I dont remember the exact reason, but i had that philips in my room for quite some time, a couple of months or so. That was around the time i moved along the lines of Pantera. Countless afternoons, utterly jobless, i used to play cemetry gates and drag the waters and drift off to sleep slowly - quite surprising, considering the racket that player used to belt out. To be frank, i never liked pantera much then, except as a kind of torture that somehow seemed to benefit my sleep patterns - but later on, i really began to appreciate their stuff.

November rain - this one was special. I really loved listening to this one's beginning, especially in open air, from a distance. My friend lingapps had an old kenwoods, real loud. Weekends he would be travelling, and sometimes i would get "charge" of his room and his kenwood. I would rewind the cassette all the way back, hit play and sprint down the stairs 3 floors, out into the open, cover 100 meters along the backside of the hotel in a flash, jump the perimeter wall, and be on the outside main road, and slow down and walk towards kattangal, the nearby town - just as the song begin floating out of the window now facing me 3 floors above onto my left. The timing was always perfect - being young and fit back then, despite all that smoking, i always managed to reach out there in time to catch the beginnings of the song float down. it was a damn nice feeling listening to that from that distance, walking to kattangal, and then sitting down out there in front on the Tea shop, puffing on a smoke, heart and breath easing down back to normal, as the song moves into "When i look into..."

FiXXXer - this song from the much criticized Reload, is a masterpiece. This reminds me of dark hostel corridors, the song echoing along from the room in the farthest corner. It was an awesome experience, letting those narrow corridors work on the music and pass it on to you, while relaxing against a wall finishing off a cigarette. Anybody who has come even near Alcoholic addiction would just love this song. That line is a beauty, "To fall in love with life again". It goes like "Shell of shotgun, Pint of gin, Numb us upto shield the pins, Renew our faith, Which way we can, Fall in love with life again".

crazy stuff. Songs from Reload are not for those hotheaded hardcore heavy metal freaks, but for the more mature sort, who are willing to slow down a bit, forgive and tolerate a bit. After all, a band has their own life, their own tastes, they grow up too, they change, too. A real follower should be willing to change with the band, or at least tolerate and forgive when the band decides to change. they should not act like "myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground" :)

Which brings me to "High Hopes". This is an awesome song, which brings to mind a blizzard of memories and moments, all sorts of things from past, its so difficult to pin a moment or situation to this one. We had an Open Air Theatre out there in REC Calicut, and the most sharp memory that this song bounces up is that of a packed OAT with that ear-splitting roar of a 3000 plus crowd. When the songs dies down into that lonely and nostalgic guitar flow, the scene itself appear to dim and quieten down and move away and disappear into faraway darkness. A true classic, can really flip your mind if you are say on a joint etc. Amazing lyrics, too.

The ultimate one - "Raining blood" from Slayers "reign in blood". craazy song, this. just lifts you into a bizarre mood altogether. deletes boredom like mad, and capable of changing your whole body language within an instant. especially that powerful rush during that "raining blooooood" scream - devastating on your inertia. Remember that regular walk to our Mini Canteen after listening to this one a couple of times, all charged up, and itching for a smoke. that cigarette used to finish in record time.

Dont have much words to describe this one. reminds me of all those carefree days, wandering around college and hostels, totally idyllic and without a care in this world. especially those "long" weekends when most have gone home, and there are only a few of you left in your hostel. thoroughly jobless, bored yet happy, wandering around with an occassional cigarette, munching on time, without a care abt the future. for the nth time rewind to this song, light that nth cigarette, stare out into the warm sunshine and kill another 5 minutes.