When we travel, our brains are subjected to new stimuli of all kinds. This could potentially put us into learning mode – once you get into that mode, the brain absorbs stuff like a sponge. It works out differently for different people – some people remember routes even though they’ve gone to a place only once, some remember things they saw in vivid detail, some remember smells and some remember sounds. It is instant teleportation.

For example, an Indian travelling to Europe for the first time has many things to be astonished about – the cleanliness, lane discipline on the roads, the weather (sorry Bangalore folks, I don’t think we can boast about it anymore), to quote a few. 

Going by the above definition, it is clear that any new experience can trigger this sort of plasticity in the brain. Which explains why some sights, sounds and smells can take us back to the place where we first experienced them – travelling through time and space. In this blog, I’ll take you on a journey through a few songs which take me back to some places.

2015

I’m sitting in a bus with large clear windows looking out into beautiful green European meadows. There are bales of hay rolled up and arranged all over the fields. The landscape is largely empty except for the occasional cottage or chalet. 

So you take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?

I look ahead and see the smoothest roads where our bus is cruising at over 110 kmph – no jerks, no bumps, just a gentle swaying once in a while. It would be a perfect time to sleep, but I generally don’t sleep during drives. I love staring outside and letting my brain zoom out. 

So you don’t know where you’re going and you wanna talk
And you feel like you’re going where you’ve been before

I’m looking forward to the destination but I’m also busy enjoying the journey. That’s where “Talk” by Coldplay takes me every time I listen to it – that road to Cologne in Germany where I first heard it in 2015. 

2013

There is a certain contentment in getting the opportunity to sit on the desk where I am right now. It is an old building on Old Airport Road, Bangalore – the office of a 120-year old company. One that formed a key part of my childhood memories and one that I still loved – Britannia. In the room were 10 other interns from other B-Schools who were also trying to make their mark. I was loving every moment of the internship. I was working on the cutting edge field of “digital marketing” (the year was 2013), travelling to Britannia’s factories, reading articles on the internet, munching on Jim-Jam and Bourbon biscuits all day. The only challenge was that social media marketing was really new at the time and no one knew what direction to take.

Where to, where do I go?
If you never try, then you’ll never know

I can clearly see the faces of the others in the room – a couple of them really chilled out, a few stressing extra hard to bag that PPO, others concentrating hard, trying to remember the theory they learnt in B-School and applying it in real life. 

How long do I have to climb
Up on the side of this mountain of mine?

In the background is “Speed of Sound” by Coldplay, while I put together that Powerpoint presentation that would ultimately get me a pat on the back from the CEO.

2008

I’m walking along the corridor of my hostel at NITK Surathkal. The year is 2008, it was the first year of engineering and everyone was still settling in. Some people were getting consumed by their newfound freedom – living away from their homes for the first time. One way to express this freedom was to play songs loudly on newly bought speakers! 

So much more aware
I’m becoming this
All I want to do
Is be more like me

Two songs dominated the airspace – both by Linkin Park. One of them had become so ingrained in our heads, that we even used it as a background track for our ethics class project presentation on animal cruelty. 

I’ve become so numb
I can’t feel you there

This one is “Numb” by Linkin Park (the other one was “In The End”) – a timeless song that I still listen to whenever I get too bogged down.

2014

A customer enters the Nautica store looking for a new t-shirt. I walk forward terrified – I’m not the best salesperson and I know it. I somehow bring out my best and the customer ends up buying for a bill value of above 5000 – our targeted AOV (average order value) was 4200. I’m delighted and the song that plays in the background at the time becomes a soundtrack of triumph for me. 

My God, amazing how we got this far
It’s like we’re chasing all those stars

I would have heard the song more than a hundred times while working at the Nautica store – while folding clothes, arranging them color blocked on the shelves, setting up the back-store stocks according to size. But that one moment of success and exhilaration embedded the song, “Secrets” by OneRepublic into my memory. 

2017

I’m scrambling around the makeup counter. We call it the G17 – a gigantic fixture right at the entrance of our Sephora store which houses the Sephora Collection brand. I’m making sure that all the lipstick shades have testers opened and ready to be used. I remember every single grid by its code name and am in the zone!

I never miss a beat
I’m lightnin’ on my feet

There is a huge line of people waiting outside the new store. We’re about to open the first store in the city and there is a lot of excitement in the air. 

‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate

We’ve spent the last 3 nights sleeplessly working to get this store ready for this grand opening. Our store team steps up and starts dancing to “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift. This is a tradition – one that we’ve done for each of the 16 stores we opened in those 4 years. The song marks the beginning for the store and the end of a sleepless but exciting week for us!

I really enjoyed recounting these memories for this blog. Hope you enjoyed joining on this journey with me. Let me know which songs take you on a journey in the comments below! Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button to get weekly blog updates.