What’s your bridge?
A not so idle Sunday late noon is in progress; me finally closing on the tasks I put off on weekdays. Since I don’t take a nap on weekends (which is another whole topic of discussion) I switch on the idiot box for my weekly dose of Bollywood movies. A song is playing on it and I start crying. No matter what I am doing, where I am, whom I am with, how happy I am; whenever I listen to this song I end up crying. It evokes the memories of a time I will never forget. The song has the power to bring back in one second the time, the place, the faces, the sights, the smells and most important the feeling of sadness and helplessness.
Only this song represents that memory.
In my journey of understanding music, I have realized that it has an incredible power to take us back to any past moment in life in a split sec and allow us to relive it and provide us the feeling of the moment. It can be songs, instrumental pieces, simple humming, whistle tunes and so on.
I had read somewhere that music has the ability to stimulate more parts of the brain than any other stimulus. The parts of the brain that respond to music are located very closely to the parts of brain linked to memory, emotion and mood.
In last two years I have seen someone very close lose memory gradually about her past, about her near and dear ones, about her yesterday, about herself. How I wish I knew the music which can for a short while help her remember her life and herself. I could have tried to build a bridge from her past to present. Perhaps for a moment we would have met her again.
This is an attempt to list down songs that build my bridge.
A lullaby by my dad. It has simple words, lovable tune and my pet name hidden in it. It’s our memory which I will pass down to my kiddo.
Each school year we had to learn a patriotic song and sing it during the PT exam. Now the one about my state holds a special memory coz it was one song where I and Maa both worked to get the entire song lyrics, the tune and then learnt to sing it the right way. Believe me very few know this song in its entirety. The song is Mangal Desha Pavitra Desha Maharashtra Desha…
Most cherished memory of my nursery teacher is linked to a song she taught me. The first song I learnt as a toddler and my fav. song – Do Re Mi from Sound of Music
Our yearly trips to my grandparents used to be spent playing in the big house, getting parijaat flowers for my ajoba‘s pooja, wandering in the village, eating bhel at the krishna river bed and having a gala time with my dada. A song I finally learnt to sing correctly takes me back to my native village and my grandparents. Tears of joy appear every time I sing it.
The song is Ghaal ghaal pinga vaarya…
Few songs represent school and college memories of studying listening to them late in the night, friendship, jamming for fun, breaking the rules and off course falling in loveJ. They are by Bryan Adams, MLTR, Michael Jackson and Shania Twain.
An amateur band fun moment – Songs from Dil Se, Taal, HDDCS, etc. A bad mixer and good practice memory.
My low to staying inspired moment’s song – A Kishore Kumar number featured on Vinod Khanna…Ruk Jaana nahi tu kahin haar ke….
My intro song J- Reason by Hoobastank
A recent trip memory – Julie Fowlis and her Gaelic songs. Inseparable. They played during the tour and every song has a wow moment of the trip associated with it
The bridge continues to be built for me but am wondering what’s your bridge???
Start making a mixed tape of your bridge and enjoy the lifetime ride.