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!

Painting the future..

  

Change. A term many are not comfortable with.  The changing moods. The changing wants. The changing dreams. The changing people. And the upheavals, the plans to resist the change. The futile attempts to hold on to the one thing that has worked hitherto. As I transcend into the new year, I feel the status quo changing. Everything around me seems to have a new tint to them. As I let go of my past haphazardly, I feel a need to protect my dreams. For I feel they will be swayed away with the changes. Mauled and mutilated as all my hopes have been. But hopes can grow back. The dreams are what define me. So here I am. Beaten black and blue, trying to protect my Dreams. And have finally decided to let the struggle go. And so far it has been working for me. With the conflict gone, I have been able to see the world with rose glasses. Have been able to look at the aspects which earlier were not visible. New bonds earlier non-existing. New places to visit. New cuisines to taste. Infact, am discovering new traits in me previously dormant. Have begun to look at the future with new set of colours. Not just in sets of Black, white and gray! Colours so real that the future shall be more than merely a make believe. Colours so vivid that the memories I shall make henceforth shall be more recent than an aged sepia photograph! And these are the memories I really want to cherish. It indeed is true that one must preserve the old photographs. But here I am, planning to frame the photographs, and hang them on my wall!

As I transcend into the new year, I have finally found the Joy. The Joy of the laughs we share with our friends. The Joy when we watch a movie and actually feel one with it. The Joy when David Gilmour pulls up the solo for comfortably numb! The Joy. Found only in the small things. And I finally have found the capability to appreciate the small things that have been all around me all my life. The small things, thus far of no consequence, now filled with life. And its these small things I want my future to be painted with. Not some far fetched treasure. Not some hollowness. Not some lie. 

As I embark on this journey to my future, I want to borrow these words from the immortal Sahir Ludhianvi:

मैं ज़िन्दगी का साथ निभाता चला गया

हर फ़िक्र को धुंए में उडाता चला गया |

बरबादियों का सोग मनाना फ़िज़ूल था

बरबादियों का जश्न मनाता चला गया |

जो मिल गया उसी को मुक़द्दर समझ लिया

जो खो गया में उसको भुलाता चला गया |

ग़म और ख़ुशी में फर्क ना महसुस हो जहाँ

मैं दिल को उस मुकाम पे लाता चला गया|