There was a time till around 10 years ago when playing in a college festival was a pretty big deal for an indie band. The biggest acts in the country, say of the stature of Parikrama, would headline these events, and the crowd — comprising, for instance, engineering students generally so bogged down with coursework that they had little opportunity to let their hair down — would go frenzied with excitement. We personally remember catching Indian Ocean live in Kolkata’s Jadavpur University back in 2006 and the energy level of the packed audience was such that, for a moment, it seemed as if a riot would break out.

But things changed gradually. The indie space broadened its scope to include multi-act festivals like NH7 Weekender. More and more venues started opening up to the idea of hosting live bands, giving them increased avenues to showcase their craft. And eventually, the advent of the electronic music boom hammered the final nail in the coffin of rock and roll at college festivals, because the likes of Nucleya now replaced Parikrama as the preferred headlining outfit.