Music bridges generations.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images
Music was always a part of my growing up years. My parents would put on the radio every morning and we all listened to it as we went about our routine. We usually ended up listening to Hindi and Kannada songs from yesteryear movies and some latest ones too. My father also owned a record player and I was introduced to most classic Bollywood songs through this. Later, we switched to audio cassettes.
We also watched movies together, be it in theatres or on television. So, naturally all these formed parts of shared memories.
Whenever we watched song shows on TV, my mother would share some trivia about the song, movie or the actors. Watching these shows after she passed on was hard as I felt that something was amiss.
Recently, my husband and I attended a show by Kumar Sanu, a leading Bollywood singer, especially in the 1990s. He has sung some of the biggest hit songs of that time. I was very excited to hear him sing live. But nothing prepared me for the emotional ride I had unknowingly signed up for.
As the show started, all the blockbuster songs put a smile on my face and I was enjoying myself immensely.
When he sang ‘Saason ki zaroorat hai jaise’, I was transported to the time when we lived in Madhugiri, a small town in Tumkur district, and my mind brought up a long forgotten image; of my sister looking at the various colours of ‘Aashiqui’ hair ribbons in the shop down our street and finally picking a beautiful red one. ‘Jab koi baat bigad jaye’ is a song she listened to every night on the tape recorder before falling asleep. One morning, my mother had hit the play button as she was doing her chores and this song started playing. My sister woke up around then, thought that she had just fallen asleep and went back to bed! At the show, I recorded his performance and sent her the video immediately, and said that I wished she were with me. A very real and raw ‘I miss you’ moment.
After this, it was a wonder I did not bawl out when it was time for ‘Dil ne yeh kaha hai dil se.’ ‘Dhadkan’ was often telecast on a particular channel and every time my mother or I would put it on, the same part would be playing and she would complain that we were watching the same scenes over and over again. But we still watched it for the songs. And at this instance, she was no longer around and it broke my heart.
Luckily enough, ‘Yeh kaali kaali aankhen’ lifted my spirits again. My daughter is a big fan and can sing pretty much the entire song including the rap part. When I showed her the video back home, she was thrilled and asked to be taken the next time he performed.
Hopefully I’m creating some beautiful shared memories for her too.
swathy.rao25@gmail.com
