लहू में नाहाई वह बूँदें

साल की पहली बारिश
बूँदें कल गिरी थीं सुर्ख ज़मीन पर
समा सी गयी थीं जैसे वह बूँदें ज़मीन में
सुकून मिला था धरती को कल
अरसों बाद प्यास जो बुझी थी

भीगा तो मैं भी था इस बरसात में
खेलीं थी मुझ पर भी वह बूँदें
आ गिरे थे सपनों पर, जो झुलस रहे थे अब तक
धुल सा गया था मैं
और घुल सा गया था खून इन बूंदों में

कभी लहू को पानी में समाते हुए देखा है तुमने?

Have you ever let the droplets play their music on your soul? 

Have you ever come out of the cozy shelter or your umbrella?

Have you ever let the drops pour life in your burning dreams? 

Felt the rain so closely that you can see your blood getting absorbed in the rain?

Bhristi Pore, tapur tupur...

Tapur. Tupur. Tapur. Tupur.
Wet Roads. Umbrellas. Full of Colour.
Cool wind flowing by. Imagine.

मौझ्वा करे क्या जाने, हमको इशारा
जाना कहाँ है पूछे, नदिया की धरा
मर्ज़ी है तुम्हारी, ले जाओ जिस और
जियरा रे झूमे रे ऐसे रे जैसे बनमा नाचे मोर

सावन का महिना, पवन करे सोर
जियरा रे झूमे ऐसे, जैसे बनमा नाचे मोर

This gorgeous and soulful melody weaved by Laxmikant Pyarelal in the words of Anand Bakshi conjure up the magic of Rains.
Rain. A weather romantics awaits. A weather which brings such incredible melodies to life. A weather which itself sings the song of life.
Just a few days back, I decided to take a walk on the Marine Drive. And it was raining heavily that evening. Raining from the heavens. O, what an evening it was. I was walking alone, but felt like someone has been walking with me on that road for ages! And this song had been reverberating in my mind!

जिनके बालम बैरी, गए हैं बिदेसवा
आये हैं लेके उनके, प्यार का संदेसवा
काली मात वारी घथाये घनघोर
जियरा रे झूमे ऐसे जैसे बनमा नाचे मोर
सावन का महिना, पवन करे सोर
जियरा रे झूमे ऐसे, जैसे बनमा नाचे मोर

It felt like deja vu. It felt like I have been there ages before. I felt lost. Yet I felt that I knew the place inside out. I could see my footsteps all over the road. The road wet with vivid memories of a similar rainy evening. The green grass. The dripping leaves. The Moist zephyr soothing the senses. I felt like I was living the imagination, the dream of some poet praising the rain through their colours.

रिम झिम गिरे सावन, सुलग सुलग जाए मन
भीगे आज इस मौसम में, लगी कैसी ये अगन

पहले भी यूं तो बरसे थे बादल,
पहले भी यूं तो भीगा था आँचल
अब के बरस क्यूँ सजन, सुलग सुलग जाए मन
भीगे आज इस मौसम में, लगी कैसी ये अगन

With Kishore Kumar singing in the background, Pancham And Yogesh stirring the heavens to pour magic, it feels that the rains have washed the soul of all the earthly dirt and left only pure love. As I kept walking through the path trodden at some point of time in history, I felt like a child. A child searching for a piece of paper. So that he can build a boat at set sail in the dreamy rain.
And how can the description of an rainy evening be complete without Gulzar. And this was another song playing that evening when I was having a walk through the lanes of my Dreams. A Lata ji song with Pancham touch to it...

अब के ना सावन बरसे,
अब के बरस तो बरसेंगी अँखियाँ

जाने कैसे आब के यह मौसम बीते
बीतेगी जो तेरे बिन,वह कब बीते
तेरे बिना सावन सुनने
तेरे बिना अब्ब तोह यह मनन तरसे

The Contagious Joy...

क्या हुआ तेरा वादा
वह कसम, वह इरादा
भुलेगा दिल जिस दिन तुम्हें
वह दिन ज़िन्दगी का आखरी दिन होगा |

An enchanting song from the movie Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahi, one of my favorites...superbly composed by Panchamda and Beautifully rendered by Mohd. Rafi. Am sure most of you have heard it. But just yesterday as I was humming this tune...I observed a magic being weaved. I have seen this happen a million times before, but this time, I actually paid heed to the power of music.

Close your eyes and for a moment, picture yourself in a crowded train, a jam-packed bus, as a part of that crowd, the crowd in which some unknown voice was humming that tune. The voice fades away, but the tune remains. And it ends up on your lips. And it goes on till you infect someone else with that contagious hum.

Am sure everyone of us has had been a part of such a moment, at least once. I have. Almost everyday. Yesterday, as I hummed the tune, I passed by one of my friends, not much exchange of words, but he carried over the tune. And after some time, surprisingly I found another friend, around five blocks away humming the same tune. A cycle that was started by just a simple tune and it has touched by so many people, am sure not without making each of them smile for a moment. We all have heard of six degrees of separation. I feel this is much shorter, with everyone being separated just by a hum...a tune...a song...the music.

They say that music heals. They say that music has the power to stir up emotions within us. They say music can help us feel the beauty of nature. 

I believe music is pure Joy. And music helps spread the joy around.

So go on...

Hum a tune...

Sing a song...

Pass on the music...

Spread the Joy.

The Contagious Joy!