A Musical Connection ?!

Think of the criteria for lasting relationships (by relationships, mostly I mean those platonic ones…you know, with our daily acquaintances, friends, etc.). One might probably come up with things like interests, understanding, goals, and who knows … maybe even food. But there is an observation that I have been making over the past few months. I have been seeing the importance of musical tastes and the influence they could have on a relationship.

No, I am not saying that the rock people are the ones that rock, or that blues listeners are by nature melancholy. Neither am I trying to imply that metal cannot go well with hip hop. Believe me, I am not trying to be the Linda Goodman of musical relationships here (giggle … that sounded ridiculous !) All I am saying is that the chances of getting along with another might be slighter better when the other listens to (or at least enjoys) similar music. But hey… that’s my personal observation. Or should I say experience ?!

After all, there certainly is something about sitting and listening to something together. There is a silent message conveyed…a silent conversation between two humans…a silent mutual soul satiating moment. I can go to the extent of saying that it’s almost like watching the moon (or a beautiful sunset) together. Now who would deny experiencing that weird sense of peace in watching the moon with somebody…whoever it be !

Although every experience is something very personal, there are some experiences that make more sense when with another person. Enjoying music is one such thing. Which is probably why I felt what I felt.
But then again, it’s just me…

Living in a time-dead world

Scenario 1: So you’ve mustered up some courage, gathered your guts and organized them. You now walk up to them, give yourself a shake-over (just like a cat out of water), and look into their eyes and say ‘I love you’. (pooofff !!!!!) … (blink blink) They look back into your eyes and say ‘I love you too’.

Scenario 2: You are feeling blue… and you are not exactly in a position to admit it, much less the reason for it. And in order to maintain your fake normal spirits, you continue that conversation with friends. Just then, one of those friends keeps their hand on your hand…a soft, gentle touch.

Scenario 3: It’s time to leave… (be it for your home next door, or the neighboring town, or abroad, or just wherever). You don’t want to leave, neither can you stay back. And right when you are at the doorstep sooooo not wanting to leave, they ask you to give them a hug.

Scenario 4: Bells chiming (in your ears for sure), people yelling around you, somebody speaking out some lines (or are they rites??) in your face. At the other end of this chaotic tunnel, you close your eyes to all the bygones, bask in the bliss surrounding you, and at last, your lips meet theirs.

Scenarios 5: You are in your physics lab, and have just received news of the results being out! And not just any results… but the Mumbai University second semester engineering results! You bite your fingernails (maybe toenails as well) until there are none left… you are crying even before you’ve seen the results. With trembling knees, you walk (or should I say ‘are pushed’) towards the bulletin board where THEY have been displayed. You wait for your friends to drag you to check your results. Tearfully, you find your name on that semi-crumpled poorly printed paper(scrap). Numbers, grades, marks…bla bla… then a ‘P’…. or is that an ‘F’ with blotted ink appearing like a ‘P’? IT IS A ‘P’ !!!!!!!!

….and so many more!

Ever wondered how wonderful it would be if time were to stop at exactly that moment, and stay stopped forever?! I mean…who needs the next moment anyway! Who wants to turn away from them only to attend some boring class!
Or who wants to free a hand so as to drive back home only to get back to work!
Or who wants to have that door shut behind, only to wait till you meet next!!!
Or who wants to open their eyes only to find out they have a real long day tomorrow!
Or who wants to realize that they are 1 of just 11 that passed in a class of 80!
Simply put, who wants to let go of all the goodness, only to return to the mundane! Who needs to !!!!
Instead, if time were to stop, so would all the fears, the insecurities, the inhibitions, the unwanted! Granted there can be a better life even after that breath-saving, heaving-a-sigh-of-relief moment. And I am no pessimist myself. Yet, just for the sake of argument, what if…

Flytalk

And as he sprinkles his molten rays on me, I look back at him, smiling coyly and say without uttering a word “I’ll be back… Save some light for me then as well…”. He replies back flashing his embers at me, with a passing cloud as his messenger, and says, “I’ll be here for you for as long as it takes… It is I you have to come to”. I am almost stunned by his arrogance… stimulated nevertheless. And all I do is stare at him with a glazed look in my eyes… a look that suggests nothing more than nothingness. Embarassed by his own self, he turns orange and purple and now gives me a sheepish grin… But now it’s almost time for him to make his rounds. But the fear of losing me is bothering him. So he has given himself some solace by leaving the stars behind to keep a twinkling eye on me. All I now need to do is wait patiently to get to him… Yes. We will meet again…

Bachelordom

Here is where differences melt and bondings grow
Here is where either everyone or no-one is a bitch
Here is where home is really home
Here is where lightness is felt, where freedoms are born
Here is where gossips thrive (hell yea!!)
Here is where food is worshipped as never before
Here is where new elements are created… Weed, Booze and Sizzle
Here is where hearts gallavant, and sometimes get defeated
Here is where visions are made, touched, and also forgotten
Here is where life happens and miseries end
And finally…
Here is where He is King and His is the Kingdom !

One hot summer day...

I wonder what it would be like to have a superfluffy cloud to be your powder-puff on a real hot and itchy day…and a few droplets of sweet rain squeezed out of it on your prickly red back would simply be (sigh)…. icing on the cake ??

Dee Eff Double Yau

And who ever thought Dallas would invoke a Holy Moly from my lips !!!
But the 6AM taxiing and subsequent take-off on this AirTran flight from the DFW International airport instilled such a love for Dallas in my heart that it shocked me ! I suppose it part due to the fact that it was 6AM (midnight in my world), and the rest due to the sweet daylight playing tricks on me. Or was it really some deep, numb, exasperatingly mushy, heart-felt Lloooovve ?!
The pinks, limes, and lavenders of that morning made the trees look greener. In fact, I think it even gave the trees a multiplied effect. I mean, seriously ! Since when did Dallas get famous for its foliage ?! But I must say, the sight was real beautiful ! The 6 Ds of the airport, the tiny specks that we otherwise refer to as cars, the tightly packed parking lots reminding me of chocolate bars (only…these were colorful), an earthworm of a train here and there…I felt like a 4 year old, gawking at all of this, trying to identify the structures I recognized (which were – alas- not very many). And for a change, the scene was really comparable to the light drizzled spectacle, otherwise visible only during a typical night landing.

The bottom line is, I LOVE YOU, Dallas ! (of course I mostly mean Plano here… )

Solid ground to awesomeness…

It’s a different destination everytime, a different start, a different hue in the air, a different horizon, a different skyline.
Yet, the feeling always stays the same; the same skipping of a heart beat, the same tightening of the muscles before a joyride, the same mumbling of short prayers, the same pang of inertia that comes with a shock, the same thrust off the earth.
And then sublimation. Lips slightly apart and eyes wide open, absorbing the earth’s grace and involuntarily counting the network of veins through her skin while flying away from her, watching her react as she meets the ever so charming sky, and finally resting those awe-filled eyes on the soft cushiony clouds… These first few moments of a flight, a temporary feel of heaven (no matter how times before, no matter how exhausted, no matter what!)…
Such is the script written for every flyer…for every take-off

Bon Voyage…

11th Cloud

So I am sitting in the back seat, listening to Pink Floyd’s Coming Back To Life; its soundwaves sending a shiver down my spine, as they roll off my eardrums.
Oblivious to anything and everything around me (except the song itself and my own throbbing pulse), I involuntarily rest my head against the window. The next instant, I see myself standing in Palace Grounds (Bangalore) at the Roger Waters Concert in 2002, with a sky-high wall of speakers and amplifiers right behind me; each strum of the acoustic guitar sending a thick line of electric current from that box to the ground to my feet to my heart – creating the effect of the best orchestra ever. Why would one need any grass or weed to get a high just then ??? The notes flowing out of that guitar was all I needed, as I swayed like a lunatic; with my office bag on my left shoulder
I was staring straight … Into the shining sun
Yes! I could see the blazing noon sun – at night – along with the moon and other stars. Such is the unreal reality synthesized by that song…
(Sigh)….back in the car again! But staring at the shining sun nevertheless…

Canning it by each dusty speck...

I do not consider myself an early bird (I am no wormoholic anyway); it's probably due to this, that to me, there are very few phenomena that carry in them the same sensuality as that woven in the citrus golden glow of a setting sun; a sun attempting to pierce my soul through the corner of the window, a sun the expanse of whose aura is filtered through the venetian blinds, gently kissing the hard wooden planks of my wardrobe. This fascinating image calls for an expression that usually comes forth when pondering about the intimidating enormity of the universe,
when living that moment of sheer exultation at being told those words you've been yearning to hear,
when sobbing through a movie that is reminiscent of one's long gone childhood,
when imagining the molten lava flowing through some forgotten land destroying everything in it's path,
when experiencing the ultimate pleasure of one's life,
when savoring that last whiff of air just before death.
Such is the force exerted on me by the limp rays of a setting sun...

The fleeting existence of freedom

Amid the monotony of events that defined the pace of that evening, I saw a lucid exception -
a burst of color,
a buzz of activity,
the dazzle of a diamond,
a flurry of floating flakes,
a skyful of glittering specks,
a multitude of racing thoughts,
the streak of a rainbow,
a demanding driver,
a red sea of flashing tails,
the glow of tomorrow's sun,
a skyscraper ablaze in neon,
a gush of emotions
- only to realize it was a solitary raindrop clinging onto a sheet of glass;
the same raindrop that endured the deafening claps of thunder and the electric bolts of lightning,
that escaped the obese grey bubbles of gloom,
that hurled itself through layers of air, smog and noise
and chose to taste its heaven on the windshield of my car...