MELODIOUS MEMORIES

I was jumping around the room with my earphones plugged in and one of my favorite songs playing when suddenly I saw my mom standing right behind me with a somewhat frustrated expression. ‘Not again!’ I thought to myself, took out the earphones and gave her the well-rehearsed ‘please-don’t-take-my-earphones-away’ look.

This was a hundredth time I had done this. I would just roam around the house with my earphones in my ears and not listen to anything that mom was trying to say to me. But then, it wasn't really my fault, was it? This is what music does to all of us.

I, often, am fascinated by how music has a fairly similar impact on every living being! You get so engrossed that the world doesn't exist anymore. It instantly takes you away from the regular hustle-bustle of life into a completely new world, one which is almost surreal. Yet, strangely enough, it does not estrange you from the reality. Music reaches out to the heart, touches the soul, rips off the masks and pretenses off you and lets you be who you really are! It speaks where words fail.

For me, it has always been the perfect solution for all my problems. No matter how stressed or exhausted, lonely or depressed I feel, music has always been the one to make me feel better. It is something that can instantly soothe your heart, something that connects your body to your soul.

The different types of music depict different moods. Classical music represents silence, stability, patience. It is a purely melody-oriented form of music, something that comes from the heart and goes to the heart. Rock music, on the other hand, is a rhythm-oriented form of music. For those ears, which are used to the peaceful melody of classical music, rock music may sound harsh and loud. But the beauty of it lies in the different rhythmic patterns that can make you dance like an idiot in no time!

One of my favorites, surely enough, is the Indian classical music. Classical music has a very old and rich heritage in India. Coming from a family where one would wake up to the melodious voice of some well-known singer singing Raag Bhairav or, for that matter, any other Raag, it is surely something that I hold dear to my heart. Even as a child, I probably had more cassettes than toys and I would prefer listening to music over anything. Music is not only what every person in my family enjoys but it is something that brings us all together. The endless discussions that we had while having dinner, the various musical concerts that we attended and the different fights that we had about how bad or good a singer was; all these things were a part of my childhood. As I grew up and got exposed to all the other genres, I started listening to them too. Often I would be rapping – even though I did not know the words properly - and my Granddad and Dad would give me a ‘you-have-gone-mad’ look. They never objected, rather they encouraged me to listen to all forms of music, but it might have been different for them to see me screaming some English song at the top of my voice! Soon enough I started to make my Mom and Dad listen to all sorts of songs that I had and they would very patiently do so. There was not a single day that we didn’t talk about music.

We have so many ‘musical’ memories that I can’t imagine my life differently. These memories are the ones that I would cherish forever not only because they are about music but because these were the times when all of us would come together, be together and feel together!