I WOULD SIT WITH A GUITAR AND GIRLS WOULD FLOCK: PAPON
Singer Papon recollects his days in Delhi University’s Motilal Nehru College
Dilli dilwalon ki hai. Dil yahan hai…” says Angarag Mahanta aka Papon. When the singercomposer took to stage at Purana Qila, for the recently organised ASEAN-India Music Festival 2017, the adrenaline rush of Delhiites was pumped up to the extent that the security encountered a tough time managing the crowd!
Did Papon prepare a line-up before performing? “I don’t have to prepare to perform in Delhi… People [here] like all kinds of music not just filmy stuff; and me being from Delhi, I connect well. Delhi audience has always been good. I was really looking forward to this because I haven’t played a big open-air show in Delhi for a long time (sic),” says the singer who is popular for his numbers Jiyein Kyun (from Dum Maaro Dum) and Moh Moh Ke Dhage (from Dum Laga Ke Haisha).
Just a mention of Delhi is sufficient to make him nostalgic. “Assam is where I belong, but Delhi will always remain special because all my formative years — when I left my parents and started my own life — I stayed in Delhi. I was here for more than a decade. Matters of the heart, college, everything was in Delhi yaar...,” he says.
His faint smile compels one to ask the reason, and Papon opens his heart: “I came to Delhi to study architecture. But I used to hang around... Then I went to join English (Hons) in Ramjas. I got admission, but all my friends were in South Delhi. So, I decided ki ab padai likhai hogi jo bhi hogi but I’ll also be in South Delhi, and went to Motilal Nehru [College]. Later, I dropped out, and couldn’t finish studies.”
Such was the importance of friends in his life. “I skipped most of the classes in Motilal Nehru. There was a staircase near my classroom, and I would sit there with a guitar and all the girls — senior or junior — would flock around and I would bask in the glory. Those were the days… canteen in south campus, going to drop someone. That was my college life,” he says as his melodious voice gets overwhelmed with memories.
I stayed in Delhi for more than a decade. Matters of the heart, college and everything was in Delhi yaar PAPON, SINGER-COMPOSER