Sound of Music

Death they say is a great leveller. Obviously someone forgot to mention music. The ability of music, as a medium, to forge bonds is grossly unexplored.

It’s amazing to see how a diverse set of people resonate to the same wavelength whilst discussing music. Now come to think of it, music has always figured at some decible or the other in my discussions with almost all the people I’ve bonded well with. And interestingly, what consciously begins as an introductory understanding of each other’s tastes, besides of course proving to be an ingenious trick that melts the ice, leads into the sub-conscious realm of mapping datapoints to trace the persona of the other.

And so, if you were an ardent messaiah of say the Dave Mathews band then you can could bet nine on ten times that such a person would lend himself wholly to interests that would include a keen understanding in the genres concerning fusion, jazz/folk rock, poetry and off-beat cinema. Also given his taste in fusion/jazz, it'd lead for a connect to the way he'd chose to dress; unlike the twiddley rapster, hip-hopping to stocatto beats in baggy pants almost falling off his hips, this would be your guy who could best be described as the outcome of a cross between the well heeled dapper and the free-spirited hippie. Not for him are the pleasures of loose and oversized clothing. He'd rather have a pair of courduroys and a contrasting Tee, that sports an environmentally friendly message in synch with his 'activist' image as he goes about proclaiming the perils of non biodegradable plastic. Throw in a pair of sandals and a he's ready to take off to the next book reading meet across the corner someplace; for all you know, it'd be his very own! And so, voila, you'd figure he's well read and informed too. That'd open up a whole new vista for an engaging conversation...and a treasure trove of even more nuggets of singular information to be collected, organised, analysed and interpreted.

Having connected the dots thus, you almost have the person all carved and figured out without even so much as really having begun! Suddenly the both of you are bound by an ensuing crescendo of companionship as you find yourselves connected by the umblical chord of a common interest in music.

Long life heuristics.

Your taste in music most definitely defines 'who' you are. Elementary Watson...but of course!

That apart, I don't really know what it is about music that makes it great company to have especially when you're at the wheel negotiating your way through the endless traffic on your way back from work. Listening to the chattersome RJ play your favourite track/s on the radio is almost like a prayer answered. Humming along with the tune you find yourself smoothly cruising a nostalgic bend as you revisit memories that spawn a springburst of emotions - happy, melancholic, sad or sometimes even sombre. Flashes of
- a friend you've lost touch with,
- the warm satisfactory gaze of mom as she watches you devour that
amazing chicken dish she prepared especially for you, when you visited
home last,
- the comforting feel of a secure relationship
- a touching movie scene,
- a strained relationship now gone sour,
- a faint wallow of self pity for the life you could have, but dont, and
all because of a few wrong choices

all these and so much more come alive across the windscreen of your mind. And as you watch life whizz past you into the incandescence, you are left at the crossroads of an oxymoron. One minute you feel like you've moved a step behind from madding crowd as you take stock of what makes you feel the way you're feeling. And the very next minute, it's like as if you're leaving everything behind into the fading limelight of the evening as you zip through almost detached yet stronger in resolve to reclaim your life for what it's really worth.

And having experienced that million dollar feeling, you realise you've forged another key bond. Only this time it's with yourself!

A Song That ...
(stolen from alaina*marie the super*star)

~ You wish you wrote: No Such Thing- John Mayer
~ Reminds you of your best friend: too many to list here
~ Makes you cry: A Lifetime- Better Than Ezra
~ Makes you laugh: Jerusalem- Dan Bern
~ Reminds you of what you want: Banana Pancakes- Jack Johnson, Sunscreen
~ Has the best lyrics: Soar- Christina Aguilera
~ Sums up your teenage years: The Way We Get By- Spoon
~ You used to hate but now love: Somebody Told Me- The Killers
~ You like to wake up to: California- Phantom Planet
~ You like to fall asleep to: Follow Through- Gavin DeGraw
~ You like out of your parents record collection: any John Mellencamp
~ You sing when you're alone: Almost Perfect- Ingram Hill
~ You love which is from a movie: I Wonder- The Diffuser
~ Makes you think of stars: Somewhere Only We Know- Keane
~ Makes you think of the sun: All I Wanna Do- Sheryl Crow
~ Makes you think of the night: Cause A Scene- The Format
~ Makes you think of sex: Secret- Maroon 5
~ Makes you think of being alone: Mr. Jones- Counting Crows
~ Reminds you of Summer: Pieces Of Me- Ashlee Simpson~Reminds you
of Winter: The Beautiful Letdown- Switchfoot

Ohh Calcutta!

I'm in Kolkata at the moment (been here a week now on work) and boy, I'm in love with this city! It simply just grows on you from the very word 'go'. Now, I know why they call it the 'City of Joy'; everything, simply everything about this place is so 'sweet and happy,' right from the food (yummilicious!!!), the big lovely smiles that stare you in your face right out of every roadside hoarding, the Bengali language, the foot-tapping and ear-catching music scene (even the cabbies have great taste in music here...have you ever heard of a cabbie listen to jazz...!!!; mine does and ohh boy he knew so much!), the amazingly-affordable standard of living and but of-course the beautiful soft-spoken and genteel people or Bhodro-log (colloquial term - for the classes)...man, I'm in love all over again! Only this time, it's with a newly discovered city :-)

Talking of cities, you know what, I have a theory about them...


I have always believed that there is an irresistible magnetic lure about cities with a coastline or by a waterfront. And this makes them addictive.

I believe that such cities and the people therein have a quintessential character to them. And that, I believe has something to do with the element water. Acting like an oxidising agent, water it seems breathes life, energy and a sense of purposeful restlessness into the city it surrounds or is contained in. The flow is almost contagious in that you're instantaneously propelled into it as you pulsate to its beats. And before you can even say 'splash', you're gently bathed by the shower of its all embracing claim over your identity.


Then - and this is where the beautiful assimilation process begins - insidiously yet magically you find yourself woven into the cultural fabric of that city as you become an inseparable part of the breathing mosaic of its life.

...now just you think...Ganesh Chathurthi, the Kala-ghoda cultural fest and the Banaganga music festival in Mumbai, the Kali puja and jazz festival in Kolkata, the kuttcheri season in Chennai, the Karachi music and arts festival...all these are great cities (and the many more, I haven't yet visited) are characterised by a distinct identity and culture; and diverse as they may be, besides being geographically spread out, the one thing in common to them all is their proximity to water.
Some winding flow of thought that, now ain't it... ;-)

Incidentally, this post also goes out to my pal Sutirtha Sen and his lovely family who hosted my stay in Kolkatta and made it so memorable for me. In my week long stay at their home, I've been served rich dollops of the experience that is Kolkatta in myriad portion sizes that came my way in the course of my long animated discussions over breakfast and dinner with his folks about issues that ranged from politics and local culture to football (Mohun Bhagan rules o'er Sao Paulo anyday) and the weather to pretty Bengali women (hmmm, is it the fish they eat?) and finding me a one such for a bride! I for one am not complaining...'cause aamhake Kolkata (and all that it has to offer) khoob bhalo lage.