The Best Entries From The #HotelJNU Contest - Listen, Enjoy, Share!
The below WhatsApp forward has been going viral since early this week. Some say it is a mischievous Eagles fan’s take on the JNU. Some, though, are freaked out about how accurate this satirical take has turned out to be.
All credit to Shefali Vaidya, the author. We hear an official audio-video version is also coming up and can’t wait to see it.
And do not miss the contest announcement towards the end. Do have a look and participate! Prizes worth Rs 15,000 await winners!
Hotel JNU - The Shock Ballad
On a dark Delhi highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of beef pakoras, rising up in the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a candle march
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There he stood on the campus
The bearded comrade yelled
And I was thinking to myself,
“This must be JNU, Commie academic Hell”
Then he scratched his beard and showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...
Welcome to the Hotel JNU
Such a leftist place (Such a leftist place)
Such a leftist face
Plenty of sedition at the Hotel JNU
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here
Their thoughts are totally Marxist, but they want a Mercedes Benz
They got a lot of ugly, hirsute comrades they call friends
How they shout in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some shout for azaadi, some for India’s death.
So I called up the krantikaari comrade,
And said, “Please show me some national pride”
He said, “We haven’t had that feeling here since nineteen sixty nine”
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...
Welcome to the Hotel JNU
Such a leftist place (Such a leftist place)
Such a leftist face
Plenty of sedition at the Hotel JNU
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here
Kiss of love on the campus,
Mahishasur worship so nice
And he said “We are all just freeloaders here, living off the tax device”
And in the professor’s chambers,
We gather for the feast
Free food, cheap rooms
Oh, how we love this subsidized beast,
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the India I was before
“Relax,” said the Comrade,
“We are programmed to receive.
You can enrol any time you like,
But no one ever leaves!”
In case you missed it, the above is a satirical version of Hotel California by The Eagles.
The Contest
We’re rolling out prizes worth Rs 20,000 for the best audio/video rendition of Shefali Vaidya’s take on Eagles. All you have to do is record your performance - be it just your vocals or your band participating along with you, post it on Youtube/Soundcloud and let us know immediately! Or just post a comment here in the comments thread.
There will be three prizes: Rs 10,000 for the best entry, and two Rs 5,000 prizes for the next two best entries.
Do please give it a shot and participate! Deadline: 21 March (Monday) 2016, 9 PM IST.
Note: The winners are Trisha Udumudi (first), Sneha Keshari, Ankita Lal and Mehul A Jain.
Here are the best entries from the contest. Do send yours in soon!
1. Ayush Sengupta
2. Sujay Kaushik Ravi
3. Mithal Girls
4. Sneha Keshari
5. Bwoy Blunder
6. Sughosh Varadarajan
7. Jayanand Vijayan (karaoke)
8. Ankita Lal and Mehul A Jain
9. Trisha Udumudi