The Music in Our Lives

So I am feeling a bit low. And suddenly my ipod plays me this Kabul Express song, “Keh Raha Mera Dil To”. And I can’t help feel better. By the end of the song, I know it’s a minor miracle. I am out of my bad mood. It’s as if the music has uplifted me. And I take out my laptop to write this piece down, as the music continues.

Of all the things in the world, the sound of music must be the sweetest thing in the world. Of all the things in the world, I cannot imagine a life without music. It’s amazing how it can just transport you elsewhere. Lift your spirits on a gloomy day. Soothe an aching heart. Inspire thoughts of love. Make time fly away.

There’s this awe inspiring scene in Shawshank Redemption where Andy plays the Italian Opera on the prison loudspeaker, sending the entire prison into a stunned silence. The prisoners had forgotten the magic in the music, but Andy hadn’t. For him it represented hope, it was in his heart and soul, the one thing that they could not take away from him. This is one of my favourite scenes from this very inspiring movie.

Red: "I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free."

One of the first things that I do when I visit my home in Mumbai over the weekend, is to turn on my Sony DVD system and play Guru’s 'Ay Hayrathe'. I don’t know why but I just love listening to this song when I am at home. The soft sonorous sounds fill in the air. Like a bubble rising slowly. And as the sound permeates through the air around me, my body seems to absorb the waves of soothing music and I feel great peace. The funny thing is, I don’t enjoy this song elsewhere as much as I enjoy it at home. Maybe it’s the joy of returning home after a long time.

The beautiful thing about music is how there's a song for every occasion. I mean I love waking up to rock in the morning. A dose of nice soft music eases me into sleep at night. A of course there's some nice foot tapping music on boring afternoons at work.

True, music can make you laugh. Make you cry. Make you dance. Make you dream. Even overcome pain!

Haven't you ever had one of those times when you have this splitting headache, and you put on your headphones and soon you are so immersed in the music that you forget about your headache?

Can you even imagine a world without music?

I am really grateful to all those wonderful musicians out there, big and small, who through their music have given us some beautiful moments to enjoy. Long after you are gone, your music lives on. And thanks to you, I am never lonely when I am with my music.

And so it's a silent Sunday night. 12:45 am. And as I end this piece, as if my reading my mind, the Ipod has started playing “Ay, Hayrathe….". And here I go lose myself again....