Tarita’s upcoming single explores the bittersweet reality of growing up

The phrase “growing up” sounds deceptively hopeful, as though becoming older is simply a matter of moving forward. Yet growing up can also mean watching the careless, wonder-struck version of yourself worn away by the demands of adulthood. Somewhere between dragons and deadlines, we leave behind this version of ourselves, and most of us are too busy adulting to notice until a song makes us stop and sit with it. Sindhuja Sankaran, a psychology-professor-turned musician who performs under the stage name Tarita, talks to us about her upcoming single, The Death of Peter Pan, which deals with this grim ambush of nostalgia.

“We all hate adulting, but we all have to”: Tarita on her upcoming single

For Tarita, music has never really been a side project. It has followed her through college bands and choirs and years spent studying and working abroad. Since returning to Chennai, she has dived into the world of cover and tribute gigs, performing with her tribute band, Squirrels in the Attic. Even while building a career in psychology, she kept making space for music. “Wherever I went, I made sure that music was a part of my life,” she says.

The Death of Peter Pan began nearly two decades ago, when Tarita was in her early 20s. She kept an old recording of it, but it remained tucked away until she began writing songs regularly again. “I think it was a stress relief thing because work was getting really intense and I knew that music always relaxed me,” she says.

What began as a challenge to write one song every week eventually brought her back to the song. She dug up the old recording and played it to collaborators and musicians she had performed with. Their response convinced her to release it. “Everyone was just completely blown away by the song. So I was like, okay, I guess we’re releasing this next,” she laughs.

The song moves from dragons, mermaids and childhood fantasies to the more mundane responsibilities of a job, family and a wedding ring. “It’s about how all the little things that happen as we grow up and become adults are what make us who we are,” she says.

Perhaps that’s the joke in releasing this song two decades later, proof that some part of us never really finishes waking up as the adult the chorus insists we’ve become.

The Death of Peter Pan is coming out on September 13.

Email: anoushkakundu@newindianexpress.com

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