I was relatively not concerned about music till my teens started. I used to stay with my uncle in Bombay for schooling, and we moved every 11 months to a new rented place (if we couldn’t get the contract extended). The previous tenant had left some of this belongings in one of the drawers of the table. There were some joke books, and audio cassettes. One of them had Guns ‘n’ Roses. That is how I started to love music.

In the free time I had post shifting, I spent time listening to GnR and then Bon Jovi. Quite naturally, I had to keep the volume low on the cassette player because all that was being played was ‘people yelling and screaming themselves hoarse’. A cousin sister of mine introduced me to old Bollywood songs. Now you might ask me, why one needs to be introduced to said songs when one is already in India where such songs are aired aplenty on the radio waves? The answer is simple, that I took it for granted and didn’t appreciate them. I was particularly indifferent to most of them, but did enjoy some of the romantic ones. We did have a station on the FM frequency back then that aired English songs, but I remember very little of it. Some songs by Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, N Sync were on loop when they were new on the scene, but there was no love for them.

For quite some time, there was nothing of note about for my love for music as I stuck to mainstream Indipop and Bollywood. Come college, and I heard friends rave about the music video of Linkin Park’s ‘In the end’.  While the video itself didn’t catch my fancy, I was in awe of the lyrics and music. I had found a band that finally ‘got me’. I listened to more of their songs, and I formed a routine with them. Every day, I would plug in my earphones, turn on my LP playlist while we took the bus to college. My friends had grown accustomed to me nodding or shaking my head as I would get lost. I have since moved on from LP, and have even stopped listening to most of their old tracks. It’s just that I have lost that connection.

Now that we have earphones, let me tell you that they are mortal enemies of most parents I know, my mother. I don’t entirely blame her for that. You see when I leave the house for a walk, or to buy groceries, I plug in my earphones and become oblivious to everything that is behind me. I am bothersome of what is there in my line of sight, but should something happen from behind, or someone calls my name out…I don’t even know that is happening. A couple of times mom has had to chase me and grab my shirt to get my attention and then give me something that I forgot. In my defense, I do tell her to call me on the cell instead.

A friend of mine asked me to check Pink Floyd out. After listening to some of their tracks, and hitting random on his player my love for rock came back. Soon I was listening to Pink Floyd, AC DC, Iggy Pop and much later Bob Dylan. Do you watch Supernatural? Apart from being a wonderful show which had story arcs across seasons, about a family of hunters who hunt down monsters. That show is also responsible for introducing me to different artists and their tracks, as it uses them in the first sequence. House M.D. is another show which I love, not just for House and how it has parallels to Sherlock Holmes but also for using the song ‘Baba O’Riley’ which had me listen to more of The Who. Two Bollywood songs of late that have been on repeat on my playlist are Yaaram from Ek thi Daayan and Mann Marziyan from Lootera.

Since I listen to Eminem as well, I leave you with this song by him. Lyrics of note are:

Or for anyone who’s ever been through shit in they lives

‘Til they sit and they cry at night, wishing they die

‘Til they throw on a rap record, and they sit and they vibe

We’re nothing to you, but we’re the fuckin’ shit in their eyes

That’s why we seize the moment, and try to freeze it and own it

Squeeze it and hold it, ’cause we consider these minutes golden

And maybe they’ll admit it when we’re gone

Just let our spirits live on, through our lyrics that you hear in our songs

And we can

 

(Come on) Sing with me, (Sing), sing for the years

(Sing it) Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears (Come on)

Sing it with me, just for today,

Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away

 

(Come on) Sing with me, (Sing), sing for the years

(Sing it) Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears (Come on)

Sing it with me, just for today,

Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away

Written for the Write Tribe Festival of Words 2, Day 4 Prompt: Music