It’s sheer magic that songs can weave. They can affect, influence and change my mood as nothing else can. Sometimes a party number will suddenly uplift my mood and make me break into an impromptu jig; at other times a ‘slow’ song will let me slip into silent mode. Sometimes it happens the other way round: my mood may be such that I would want to hear no songs but party songs and have a blast; at other times I may be in so solemn a mood that only soothing songs make for good company.
My association with songs has been for as long as I can remember. I have always been very attached to my old radio and it still has its own proud place in my living room, even after 23 years! I still remember putting on the radio in my old house and draping clumsily my mom’s old dupattas as saris and dancing on my bed to the songs played on Vividh Bharti on that radio… and of sleeping peacefully at night listening to the songs on that very radio. When we moved into our new house, that old radio moved with me as one of my favourite companions.
Here it became a symbol of rebellion for me, as it remained my true buddy in teenage. It was a witness to the fights that ensued every other day between my father and me over my listening to the radio. He suddenly developed an aversion to songs after we shifted in the new house, while I, being in the age that I was, was audacious enough to go against his wishes and continue playing songs! It was songs, after all, that gave me company when I was alone in this new home, and filled the void that was left in my life because of shifting away from my joint family. The turbulent days of teenage were tided over peacefully when at night I put on my earphones and just flowed with the songs and floated away to sleep. The medium had changed from radio to the mobile phone, but the magic of songs remained irreplaceable.
Unique charm
Despite being a music-lover, I never had any playlists in my phone, simply because the joy and ecstasy I felt on suddenly hearing my favourite song on the radio when I was least expecting it, was just immeasurable. Every song brings with it a unique charm. Some inspire you to work towards your goal, some remind you of the happy times spent with friends, some just tell you to let your hair down and party away, and some teach you to forget all worries and just live without a care. Then there are some songs that hold a special place: I call them ‘the untouchable songs’. If played, they take you into a trance, a parallel universe altogether — from which it becomes difficult to pull yourself back. Hence they are best left untouched, to be played only when you really want to get into that zone.
Songs have no language, they just communicate through music. And we understand what they say because music is the language of nature itself. Everything in nature has its own song, its own rhythm: our heart, the chirping of birds, the swaying of trees, the gurgling of the rivers, the rustling of leaves, everything has music within them — for those who care to hear.
It would be my idea of bliss to sit under a sky carpeted with stars, with the vast ocean spreading its arms wide in front of me, and my favourite music echoing my inner peace…
unnati_a@ymail.com
