Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe's semi-auobiographical film is a good film. It captures a great slice of life growing up during the flower power days. The band, the groupies, touring, all captured through the unflinching, wonder-filled eyes of a teenager who is really too young to be there, but being talented and resourceful means that he probably sees and comprehends more than he should.

But this post isn't about the movie itself. The extra features of the film include an interview with director Cameron Crowe, one of the few directors around with a voracious appetite for music of all kinds, who actually chooses music for a film before he even begins shooting it. He talks of recording mix-tapes of music at a younger age. He would record mixtapes every month of songs he was listening to at that point of time. Occasionally, he would go back and listen to them, and they would give him a good idea of what he felt and what he was going through at that time.

As someone extremely passionate about music, it was something that struck home. So many songs, so many moods, so many memories. Almost everything you listen to has some association. The strains of Simon And Garfunkel's "Bridge over Troubled Waters", which takes me back to C-203. Standing outside my room with my Walkman plugged into my ears, taking in the cool April night breeze - sometime around the mini-project madness phase. My short minutes of bliss before getting back to the insanity of journal-writing. The haunting lyrics of Pink Floyd's "Time"- I-420 , the restless Final Semester of Engineering. My computer in the corner of the room playing the song off a CD (I had a puny 2.1GB hard drive, and no space for more songs), and the realization of a phase in life at its end. Jon Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory" and Devendra's acoustic version of it on the I-block terrace - on the night before my 21st birthday.

Memories trapped in time. I wish I'd been smart like Cameron Crowe.

My usual practice of having a CD and book list on the sidebar is obviously insufficient. It would be great to actually burn mix CDs of music I am listening to. The snapshot in time idea sounds like one that would be nice to adopt.