Remembering Strawberry Fields

This piece has been written by Shaneel Mehta (Batch of 2025). The illustration has been made by Mantrana Mahi Agarwal (Batch of 2029).

The title of this article may exaggerate the amount of times I have attended SF. Sadly, the

only experience I have of SF is the 25^th Edition, when I was part of the committee. But the effect of SF on me started a while before law school. I am sure a good amount of us came starry-eyed when we came to NLS. For me, it was necessary to imbibe every piece of historical college culture before joining. Whether it was the campus tour videos, or the multiple creative and quirky NYP videos uploaded on YouTube. One major part of this college culture which fascinated me as a 1^st Year, was SF.

Strawberry Fields is an annual rock festival which NLS has hosted, since the year 1997. The festival was first started by a group of NLS students. Rahul Cherian, who led the first committee, passed away in 2013, and since then, a prize in his honour is given to the winner. SF slowly became one of the most important rock festivals for up-and-coming rock bands in India. Rock music in India, has historically always had a marginal status as compared to other genres of music. Most bands, did not have any backing or platform to showcase their talent. SF consisted of a “battle of the bands” where bands from across the country would compete with each other.

SF served as a launch pad for many Indian rock bands including Motherjane, Thermal and a Quarter, Demonic Resurrection, Bhayanak Maut, and Kryptos. Further, some of the notable headliners include Parvaaz, Inner Sanctum, the Down Troddence, Parikrama, the F16s and the Yellow Diary. SF has historically been an important festival for rock bands throughout India. Within the NLS alumni network, SF seems to be one of the most memorable events on campus. Alumni from the Batch of 1998, who had their college reunion in August 2023, proudly presented themselves as the Batch responsible for starting SF and Legala, another college event that no longer exists. It is ironic when you realize that even our present Vice-Chancellor is from the Batch of 1998.

The 25^th Edition of SF, was overall a success, although it could not quite achieve the levels it sought to. As part of the organizing committee, I remember how the 25^th edition was very important for all of us. We had just come from the lockdown, and an online SF. The plan for the 25^th edition was massive, and the intention was to conduct the biggest SF in history. However, getting sponsors for such an event was difficult, especially post the pandemic. Further, there were a great amount of scheduling conflicts and long drawn negotiations that had to be done with the college administration.

The actual three day event was one of the busiest times of my life. In true NLS fashion, the event clashed with a memo submission and a project submission. Despite this, the most stressful part of those three days was negotiating with the administration, who threatened to cancel the event midway, because we exceeded the time given, and they had found one alcohol bottle in the field (a surprisingly low number).

Despite all this, we conducted SF and had headliners such as The Yellow Diary, Ailaan, Space is All we Have, Till Apes and Seedhe Maut perform. This probably was the last SF ever, with the administration completely shutting the door for future events. With changes in committee structure, and more administration oversight into functioning, getting permission for another SF even in the future, seems like a distant dream. Having been part of one of the student-faculty committees that emerged during the protests last year, I can say that the administration no longer trusts students to conduct events of that scale. With drastic changes to the campus, the NLS Field with the iconic SF stage, no longer exists.

SF was a part of NLS culture, something our seniors had handed down to us. It was an important event for indie rock bands throughout India who needed a platform to showcase their talents. It was an event that gave us, albeit short, an escape from the academic rigour. For me, SF was a reason to look forward to coming to campus as a first year. Despite how unimportant and wasteful events like SF may seem to the administration, such events defined the NLS experience.

It is important to go back to the lyrics of the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever” from where the name was derived,

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to

Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real

And nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

Here, the Beatles capture themes such as childhood innocence, and escapism. These themes encapsulate exactly what SF was to all of us, an escape from the toxicity, the competition and the myriad submissions. Sadly, like many other things in the recent past, it seems like SF too, will fade away.