Papon: Delhi feels like home to me

Tugging on the heartstrings of his fans in the capital, singer-composer Papon announced during his set, “Dilli mujhe ghar lagta hai.” The crowd attending the North East Festival at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on a wintry Friday evening roared in appreciation. “It’s so good to be back, Delhi! Main ab Mumbai mein rehta hoon and wahan thand nahi hoti. Yahan aake achha lag raha hai,” shared the singer before belting out his first song, Tu Jo Mila.

'GUITAR KO BHI THAND LAG GAYI KYA!’In the middle of his set, Papon’s guitar stopped working for a few seconds. “Lagta hai guitar ko bhi thand lag gayi,” he joked. While his team sorted the issue, Papon thanked the crowd for turning up in large numbers. “Thank you for attending this festival. Main Dilli mein 15 saal raha hoon. Old Delhi se New Delhi, sab dekha hai. So, ek toh Dilli, upar se NE festival. Toh bahut achha lag- ta hai yahan aake,” he said.

Papon sang two Assamese songs before moving on to his popular Bollywood numbers, like Moh Moh Ke Dhaage. Prior to singing Prem’s Theme song from Dum Laga Ke Haisha, he said, “I saw many people make reels on the song. Koi kapde dho raha tha, koi kuch aur kar raha tha – so I’ve started singing this song again.” The overjoyed crowd sang along with Papon till the end of the track while waving their cellphone flashlights.

I USED TO FIND IT FUNNY: PAPON ON DISCRIMINATION
In the middle of his set, Papon shared that people used to laugh at his Hindi. “Meri Hindi pehle badi kharab thi, toh meri Hindi pe haste thay log. In the past, a lot of interviewers have asked me if I faced any discrimination in college because of my command over Hindi, or if people laughed at me because I am from the Northeast. I tell them, haste honge, par mujhe unpe hasi aati thi ki unhe yeh nahi pata ki hum ek hi desh mein rehte hain.” Papon further shared that he would play along with the jokes. “Main unhe batata tha ki hum rhino ke horn pe water bottle taang ke school jaate thay! So, it happened both ways, and it is about how you take it. I used to find it funny.”