play on..

music is a trip. it transports me. across time, to the past and throws me into the future, flings me back into the past, before settling me back into the reality. it has the power to do different things, mean different things, at different times.

lyrics, emotion, groove..when it comes together perfectly the result can be mindblowing. i have been moved to tears by music. music also uplifts me. iv danced like no ones watching, sung along/screamed my lungs out, wept like a little baby, laughed to my hearts content, shared moments, shared connections, marked out events and incidents in my life with special tags.. all by music.

for me, music is all about associations. associations with a time in your life, with people, with feelings, with specific activities (some nefarious ;)), with possibilities..

thats the power of music. it makes you feel things, it makes you get up and move for no reason, it shakes you up, it gives you WOW moments, it takes your breath away, it opens your eyes..it opens up doors, and shows you emotions that have been kept away in a dark corner of your soul. it brings those emotions and memories in your face and forces you to feel/watch/touch them again.

i share a special music bond with niyu. we appreciate similar music, have similar tastes (well, almost..all except her susheela raman phase..which i simply did not get!) and we enjoy and trip to the same stuff.. and on a day like today, i miss having her in the same city, and returning to the same home.

i miss our random quiet, but tripped out music listening moments..where id say "dude i have something for you to hear.." and it would kill her because i never told her WHAT i had for her to hear..and she had to wait till i actually made her give it a listen. and by then the suspense had already killed her ten times over :)

i miss jumping madly like a couple of monkeys high on coke, to some awesomely tripped out beats or rhythmic cycles.

i miss finding hindustani connections in not-so-hindustani-music. and figuring out taal cycles and the likes.

i miss being hyper about music we wanted to share. the excitement and energy was something else.

i miss blaring our music in our room. driving amma and anna mad. but they never complained. not too much, at least. in their hearts they were probably just thinking "what have we given rise to? will this ever settle?"

sadly, it did. its all settled, not by choice but by circumstance. distance and logistics being the biggest separating factors.

i cant remember the last time i listened to music at full volume and bounced/jumped non stop till the end of the cd. i cant remember when we hung around in the room sharing our insights about a particular song or album and feeling all enlightened about having discovered a special nuance in a gaana.

some things will never be the same i guess.