Friday, December 05, 2008

songs of time and travel

We're a bunch of Idols' fans... So we were watching the Indian Idols on television, and the song from the movie RACE played at some point. And my brother in law remembered Malawi. Yes, it was the Malawi soundtrack :P (We went off to Malawi in March for my brother's wedding).

Especially Pehli Nazar. We had a CD in every car after that. In my brother's car, in my car, in my brother in laws car, in my sister in laws brother's cars. You get the sense of it. Dad had a CD in the home entertainment thingie. It was all over the place. So much so that some of the songs still remind me of my ride to work along the M4, the look of the ocean (remember, I learned how to s-l-o-w down so I could enjoy the view) and navigating the twisty ride along Ridge Rd, of course. Come rain or shine, RACE was a permanent soundtrack for weeks after the Malawi trip. I had the best of the collection. Abdur Rahim made certain of it with the added remixes and whatever else he could find to download ;)

This year went by oh-so-quickly. (Well, come to think of it, so did 2007). Sometimes I feel dizzy just thinking about it. But the songs remain. We heard some other songs today. Songs that remind us of other travels. Like Cape Town. And India. And Egypt. And London. Lol. Oh yea... Kelly Clarkson, Roxette, Savage Garden, Natalie Imbruglia, Enya, UB40, U2!!! A maze of hindi soundtracks stretching the imagination from Yeh Shaam Mastani to Teri Deewani.

There are songs that remind us of childhood. And songs that remind us of school. And songs that remind us of bittersweet days of uni. Awkward moments and exhiliarating moments. Songs for rainy days and songs for scorching summer. Moments in freezing cappuccino drugged days, and moments of hearts gladdened by the quality of togetherness. Some songs played on the Hiveld graveyard shift, others in peak traffic. Oh there are those peak traffic songs for sure! Those save sanity at the bleakest moments. Or they perpetuate insanity enough to survive the chaos, especially when power failures threaten any remaining sense of humour.

Its so easy for something you can't live without to become second rate trash. This goes for songs and dresses :P

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now I got yeh shaam masetaani in my head all day!

JT

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

With the whistling part too I hope?

Anonymous said...

it could be so wise if we could actually have a song for every reason, season, mood, phase and all the happy and sad moments...
unfortunately so.. not many of us are willing to have memories.
but i love to have em.
one great song from not my time, but what i had learnt as a kid was 'champi maalish... sar jo tera chakraey ya dil dooba jae aja pyare paas humarey'
and the other one 'mere sapno ki raani kab aagi tu' darn.. good old days!

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

omg! seher... lol

thanks for sharing, those are absolutely awesome! my dil is drowning in the memories! hummmhummmhummmmmhum... :)
and then some... with mere sapno ki raani... *me looks around for my dad*

if i mention the words he gna start singing right here :P

we're intensely emotional beings to yea, at some point theres always a song that binds us for a time for whatever the reason!

Anonymous said...

heheh... the same is with my dad. good lord i have learned so much from him in terms of the songs...
it really tickles me thinking wow.. we make such marvelous memories every step of the way.
one song i just thought of
'kabhi bebasi ne maara kabhi bekasi ne maara, gila maut se nahi hai, humain bekasi ne maara'.. absolute gem!!!
haeeee.. i have drowned!!!

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

lady! ur a gem of the golden oldies hey! ur blog is really cool, too... if ur into awesome contemporary shayarrih, u should read my darling Lubna-ji's blog :P

Look out for http://charouchick.wordpress.com

*charou is local SAfrican slang for 'indian'*

Anonymous said...

=D thank you lady.. your post just hit the right chords!!!
and thank you for the blog compliment.. though i m kinda divided into two in terms of that... Nostalgia [eternitycallsus.blogspot.com] and Rants [2short2sweet.blogspot.com]... =D drop in anytime and make yourself at home!

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

ta. will do ;)

Az said...

Songs are like scents...every one can drudge up a memory in almost the same way your computer can search for files with a single keyword.

Unfortunately, some of the memories may be bad....but then there are those that we never want to let go of...so when those songs play and those fragrances or scents fill the air...like the smell of Eid...its like you just want to hug the moment and those intangible objects that brought you the memory :D