There’s music - for all of life's problems

My early interaction with music was awful. It was the 90s when movies stretched well above 180 mins, and songs were 40% shareholders. “Mom, I want to pee!”, said 7 y’old me in the theatre. “Hold it tighter, let the song come, and then we’ll go.” I gave her that “stepmothers are better” look. She gave me that “go find one and don’t bother me” look.

The song came, and we walked some 1000 steps, strolled on our way back, refilled my Pepsi and popcorn, and landed back on our seats. Guess what? The song was still playing. The length and breadth of those songs suffice for quick naps in today’s age.

I’m no music aficionado but then came “Kaho Na Pyaar hai!” Hrithik Roshan’s debut. And it had the songs I remember humming to as a 9y’d old. “Ae mere dil tu and Na tum jano na hum”, the man who lent his voice to the songs is Lucky Ali.

Followed by his independent albums comprising Sunoh, Sifar, and many others. His ballad-like renditions were soul-stirring. He’d shoot most of his videos abroad. Watching those videos was our virtual foreign trip, with his voice as our tour guide. Pure talent, high quality.

There were many other pop songs and videos during the 90s that were way better than the commercial Bollywood music that was prevalent. The 90s were about Lucky Ali, Shubha Mughdal, KK, Mohit Chauhan, Colonial Cousins, Remo Fernandes, Alisha Chinai, Falguni Pathak, Shaan, Sonu Nigam, and others. They pioneered the pop-culture and styled our fashion and fantasies.

I fancied a career just modelling in those videos. The lyrics were simple, yet so profound. Most of the 90s music reeks of nostalgia. Sometimes I YouTube those songs when I’m reminiscing the good old days, and sometimes I accidentally bump into these songs on the radio and am transported back to the innocent times. Either way, it’s a novelty.

My sister and I used to vibe on music. We’d lay in the bed, skip our siestas for our love for music. We’d watch a complete nonsensical movie because it had good music or background score, most of which included Emraan Hashmi as its hero and Himesh Reshamiya as the lead singer. We plead guilty, but we like it. One time while watching WWE, a female wrestler made her entrance, Victoria, and certain entry music would play as she made her way to the ring.

She had that song “All the things she said” played in the background. There was no Shazam in those days. My sister put me to task to figure out which song was that, and I picked up whatever lyrics I could understand, Googled for 2 hours, and couriered her the song that we both liked. A good song discovery and our week was sorted.

I judge people based on their music taste. I went on this date one time and we were driving across the town. I put on “turn me on” by cheat codes, just to be subtle. You know, not creepy at all.

I was feeling the song, and she suddenly pulled the Aux cable and told me “what crappy music do you listen to”, let me play some “Punjabi” music and improve the mood. I hope she found an Uber that day with a Punjabi driver. A way to a man’s heart must be through his stomach, for me, it’s through ears.

Even today, I have a dedicated notes column on my phone where I maintain a list of songs I’m introduced to, perhaps, not restricted to an entire song. There are structural parts, a certain drop and suddenly the beats pickup, electrifying the goosebumps.

One time a friend questioned me whether I listen to songs for the background music or the lyrics? There’s music with great beats and awful lyrics topping the charts, and plain unplugged vocals topping the charts too, but music for me is not limited to that.

There’s music that makes you want to dance in the rain, there’s music that’d drown your pillow in pain, there’s music that makes you fall in love with someone more, there’s music that you’d relate to when your heart is left alone on the shore, music for your morning jog that helps you run faster, at the gym that makes you pump harder, inside the metro helping you assess your life better, or puts you to sleep when life weighs harder. A lot of music happens within the brain.

So when someone asks me, what’s my kink with music? I just say it never leaves me lonely. It’s the company that I long for, and it only gets better.

Ashish Dewani is an avid traveller and writer. Twitter: @a5hush