The best thing about music

ज़िंदगी  का सफर, है ये कैसा सफर 

कोई समझा नहीं, कोई जाना नहीं !

है ये कैसी डगर , चलते हैं सब मगर 

कोई समझा नहीं, कोई जाना नही...

What did you first think of when you read the above words in Hindi? Most likely you didn't read them, you actually sang them. That's a thing about music, it sticks with you. One takes forever to learn mathematical equations or other stuff, but it's so simple to remember the lyrics and the tone and the rhythm and the pace of so many songs. We remember these songs so well, in fact, that we can start singing them even in our sleep. 

Doesn't it make you wonder why it's so easy to remember songs? Why is it that music stays with us so comfortably when all other words are shortly forgotten?

I've been wearing spectacles since eternity - I can't even recall when I started wearing them. In those days it wasn't very common for kids to turn up wearing glasses in class and expect to appear cool about it. People with glasses were deemed to be nerds, and being a nerd wasn't cool. Since I was the first one in my class to have glasses on, I was the nerd in my class (and it has since then been my destiny - ah!)

The funny thing is - I don't remember anything about those days, except one thing - on my first day to school with glasses, I remember being very scared and embarrassed about it. I was trying really hard to hide my glasses (yeah, I know, funny). From walking with lowered head to hiding my face up my sleeves, I remember trying to run away from the new situation that had come in my life - which was going to be a disaster. 

Some of my friends started laughing at me. They were passing comments about me (I don't remember what they said exactly), but I remember crying afterwards. This public embarrassment was really too much for my poor younger self to bear. I used to cry a lot on returning home - it felt bad. I felt dejected, ashamed. And I felt like I will lose all my friends. 

Today I can't understand why I should be feeling so bad about it. In fact, now I absolutely love my glasses. And I can go on talking about my obsession with my glasses but that might take a whole new post. However, there is one interesting lesson I learnt from that incident. 

I don't remember anything about those days, except how I felt when people teased me about my glasses. That's how close feelings are. They remain with you for eternity. In the long run, facts don't matter. Only feelings matter. These words of Maya Angelou describe my thoughts the best. 

I have realised that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

But what does all this have to do with music? 

Everything really. 

We were wondering what is it in music that makes us remember songs by heart? This is the answer. Music appeals to your feelings, unlike many other things that we are exposed to. Music invariably invokes feelings about something, or someone, that make you associate that music with that situation or that person. How else can you explain the obsession that so many people have with music?

Why is it that we remember old times spent with friends while listening to nostalgic songs? Why do we think of our significant others while listening to romantic songs? Why does listening to the national anthem invoke feelings of pride towards the country? Music isn't just a combination of sounds, it is much more than that. 

Music brings you closer to your feelings. And that's the best thing about music.

Music has such a huge impact on me that I often start crying, or get lost in a sea of emotions Sometimes that feeling can be intense. This is what happened with me today. I had not written anything on my blog since about a year. But I don't know how music played the role in making me write this in the middle of the night. It has that power, it can make you do wonders.

I was listening to songs and all of a sudden, I started missing my blog. This is something that can't be explained in words, but for a moment there was a time when I was prepared to do anything. And then I knew it had to be then or never again! So I got up and penned down my thoughts. Tomorrow morning when I wake up, I might regret doing this, or I might feel good to have started again! But I know that if I don't write this now, that moment will not come ever again. 

It feels glad to be home, finally!

And now let me leave you with this wonderful piece of music - tu na jaane aas paas hai khuda!