My Guns N’ Roses t-shirt

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Welcome to the jungle
We got fun and games
We got everything you want
Honey, we know the names
We are the people that can find
Whatever you may need
If you got no money, honey
We got your disease
- Welcome to the
Jungle by Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses are coming to town, in May, to play at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse.

I have a Guns N' Roses T-shirt, bought at a G N R concert in 1987, on a freezing New York winter night, at the Madison Square Gardens - the Chinese merchandise seller informed me, "‘Gun en Loses'..velly velly loud... but T-shirt velly velly soft…we have four caalaa - bleck, gleen, led and gley - you tek ekstla large, fit you nicely, in bleck."

The black "velly velly soft" tee had the band logo on the front, and all the songs from the iconic debut album Appetite for Destruction printed on the back. When Axl Rose jumped up on stage, swaying like a sinewy belly dancer, with Slash by his side, I felt an electricity like never before - and to be the proud owner of their tee, as a twenty-something-year-old, felt unreal. Obviously, coming back to India, the T-shirt caused quite a sensation, the band was just taking off, and nobody here had really heard their music.

And today, to think, 35 years later, the two men, Rose and Slash, singer and guitarist have reunited, and reconciled are on a world tour, and India is on their comeback radar after 12 years.

But back to the issue at hand - my "Gun en Loses" t-shirt - reduced considerably after a first Surf Excel wash, the "ekstla large" reduced to a medium. Five washes later, the song titles down the back, reduced in alphabets - Sweet Child of Mine, became Sweet C o M. It was then I realised that the label read - Made in China. Still, it was a collector's item, and came out of my closet only on concert nights - it has over the years been rubbished, revered, respected at various music venues - but like Donald Trump, no one can ignore it.

At a Maroon 5 show, a tattooed teenager looked at me "….Hmmm, cool t-shirt, but wrong band, dude".

At the Mahindra Blues, a month ago, I had to withstand some amount of sarcasm, "Hope he realises this is a Blues festival". I donned it for Ed Sheeran, I overheard a kid say, "uncle's at the wrong concert". At a Dua Lipa, millennial gig, my neighbour Natasha, accompanying me, said with some trepidation, "Bruh, your tee is out of place here, like an ageing rocker."

"I am an ageing rocker, wearing an emblem of a band that's withstood the ravages of time - unlike the lady musician up on stage who will be forgotten before the year is out, Nats!" I said. She just gave me an eye roll.

And so to the Mahalaxmi Racecourse - SoBo's beloved Racecourse. Many threats to make it into an amusement park, a parking lot, a shopping mall. Thank god, it's now Mumbai's hottest venue for rock shows. As a true blue townie, I'm good with rock shows this side of the sea link. GNR will play here in two months, as did Green Day last week, and most of the aforementioned bands.

And so this morning I took out the revered, respected piece of clothing - in preparation for May.

All it said was ‘Guns'. The N Roses' floating around somewhere in my washing machine, the t-shirt had also shrunk till the belly button,

Come to think of it, the t-shirt looked a bit like Axl Rose, out of shape, but I'm guessing not out of tune. Forgive me, Axl and Slash, I may have to wear a Coldplay t-shirt to your show, or maybe a Bryan Adams one, or maybe I can get my "darzi" to add a piece of black cotton to the bottom. Hmm, see you in May guys. With or without my "Guns en Loses" t-shirt.

Rahul daCunha is an adman, theatre director/playwright, photographer and traveller. Reach him at rahul.dacunha@mid-day.com