Skip to main content

Music

I have been meaning to do this post for so so long that it seems cliched in my own head. I feel like I have read this somewhere before, like I have written this before. I am not sure if its just my brain playing tricks or if this thought has been done to death before. In any case, I am taking the chance of being repetitive because I need to get this on paper.

Music. Five simple letters that have the power to change everything.

There is this one song that always makes me happy, no matter where I might be. Then there is another that always makes me cry. Another that reminds me of my first boyfriend and then another that reminds me of my best friend.

Each time I listen to a song I am taken back to the first place I heard it. For example, 'the last kiss' always takes me to 10 D. 'Years in the sun' always takes me to Sacred Heart Convent School - Raghav's farewell. 'Mr Lonely' transports me to my house in Saket on a particular day. 'White trash beautiful' transports me to a time in my life a few years ago. 'Jane Do' takes me back so many years that I don't even remember  how old I was back then.

Music connects me with people, it has a strange way of enveloping my relationships, such that I cant even tell the two apart. Some songs make me cringe only because I heard them in a place that I was feeling unsafe in. Some others instinctively make me feel safe because my brain mistakes them for people that made me feel secure. Take for instance Ghazals. Those always remind me of my mother driving a car in Ludhiana and me in the passenger seat. Or 500 miles, that always reminds me of this one particular road trip from Delhi to Ludhiana with my parents.

Interestingly most of my strong relationships have a layer of rhythm somewhere hidden underneath. So if  I don't have a musical memory with someone it is safe to assume that I haven't had enough meaningful moments with them.

And all this coming from a self professed 'musically challenged' person. You have got to give it to music. There is a powerhouse in every song, in every lyric, in every thump. There is something spiritual about so many instruments coming together to make simple words memorable. Something magical about the way a good song never goes out of fashion and a good rhythm is never forgotten. 

Comments

  1. Anonymous8 February 2011 at 11:20

    Sweet

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8 February 2011 at 13:30

    Very true....I completely agree with you that a couple of songs always remind us of certain moments and certain people in your life. Music has this uncanny power to poke at your wounds and also to heal them at the same time.Carpenters bring back all sad memories while Richard Marx gets me all mushy.The Beetles, Pink Floyd and Eagles transport me to another era altogether.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9 February 2011 at 00:02

    i always wonder.. music takes us back to the memories etched in our brain but isn't music inspired from similar memories? So isn't music basically using one man's memories to influence others'?!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Zoya Brar9 February 2011 at 10:38

    @ Anonymous 3, thats a good point, well worth considering. However, even if that is the case, it doesnt take away from the power of music. How many things can transport one man's experience so powerfully to be able to influence another's?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous9 February 2011 at 12:01

    Where words fail, Music speaks...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Zoya Brar10 February 2011 at 12:06

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. you actually know me!!!!19 February 2011 at 05:21

    anonymous 3 is bak!!.. well, there is music for practically every situation one faces that is important for him... And every song has an inspiration from somewhere... So don't you think one man's experience has a lot to offer for sumone else...??? you can take your own life as an example...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous20 February 2011 at 08:47

    Yes, thats true.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous6 February 2012 at 01:52

    My thoughts find resonance in your writing ZO :)
    Brilliant it is!!!!
    -Ural

    ReplyDelete
  10. Zoya Brar6 February 2012 at 02:04

    Thank you Ural..! Nice to see your comment on my blog :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Could I have imagined you?

Every year, I think about you. Not too many times, but consistently, a few times. And each time I am not sure how I should feel. There is a vague sense of loss, a subtle tinge of abandonment, a painful realisation of independence. But mostly, there is just a numb nothingness.   Who were you? I am not even sure I remember your face. Your smile, yes. Your eyes, too. But in pieces, in context. I can't imagine your reaction in a new situation. I can't see you as you may have become. I can only see the frozen moments that I have embalmed in my head.   I wonder if you feel the need to see me. If you imagine what it may feel like to talk to me now. If you wish you had known me all this time. If I am even a real person to you. If you have convinced yourself that I don't exist.   Perhaps it isn't as simple as moving on, as erasing, as avoiding. Maybe it's an intense removal, a complete denial. I don't hate you. I don't love you. It's an absence of anything ta...
25 comments
Read more

Well kept secrets - Part 3

Why am I writing all this? What is the point of saying these things aloud? For many reasons. One, to remember. So I can always go back and re-experience the first joys of motherhood. Second to heal, forgive and forget. For those moments that were traumatic - to be able to let go. Third, to inspire more sharing. Pregnancy and labour came with so much advice and so many stories - from every woman I knew. In contrast, the weeks and days and hours after the baby arrived seemed like an empty vacuum. It's almost as if all this is a well kept secret. (I am not sure if its just me that this was a secret from, but I was caught by surprise by the first few weeks of Rumi.) And so, as I dealt with all my emotions, and physical sensations, I decided to break the silence in my own tiny way. RCH was different from Peace Arch. In many, many ways. Among these was that they didn't allow our 'Doula' to stay with us at night. And in a way we thought it was okay. There was only one couch ...
6 comments
Read more

Brainless heart

Instinctive desire Animal sanity Human need No rationality Taking every risk Making every move And then  Regret Reckless desire Left uncontrolled Effortlessly moving  In opposite directions Pulled together Ripped apart Stupid emotions Brainless heart
14 comments
Read more