We climbed the last little hill on the Anjaneri Mountains and sat near edge overlooking the miniature city. Every one of us three was a little exhausted but high from the climb, I brought out the sesame, jaggery, Peanut bars from the bag and handed the packet to my friends. As we munched on the sugary treat, my friend played the Gardener by The Tallest Man on Earth. We didn’t look at each other until the music stopped and lost ourselves into the country feel with the twangy guitar. The lyrics poured out as we felt the cold mountain breeze on our faces, watching the small birds flying in circles and tweeting to the wind and Letting out a collective sigh and watching the clouds over the mountains with that tiny feeling of accomplishment which comes after a trek.
The gift of music is the best gift you can give anyone, I don’t think I have really known a person unless they shared their music with me. It’s a real vulnerable thing that a person can do, to share their music with others, it may sound silly but I think that music is the most personal part of a human being. You can enjoy popular music and stay away from the judging and smirking looks of your friends, but sharing that thing you listen to when you are happy, sad, In love or even feeling depressed is the most real thing in the world to me.
I have had the fortune of meeting people that have introduced me to all kinds of music, Indian classical, Bollywood, Hip Hop, Indie, Metal, Country, Western Classical, South Indian pop. I get a glimpse of the person when they share their music with me and by listening to it the following week I feel like know them just a little bit more.
The best thing about music is that, it’s like a little time traveling device which you can use again and again.
That one song from Kendric Lamar reminds me of a Goa trip with my friends, sitting on beaches till 3-4 in the morning eating ice cream. Cruising the wonderful little roads on Goa on rented mopeds, getting caught by the police because someone forgot their helmet AND the ID back in the hotel, eating the delicious sea food with beers with a view of clean pristine beaches. Buying Hippie stuff like that obnoxious oversized bright orange T-shirt of Bob Marley that got designated as a house-only the second I came back from Goa.
That one track from Gojira reminds me of the crazy fun metal event we did in Nasik, Head banging to Zygnema, the moshpit where someone sliced up their elbow but were still happy and rushed back inside the second they had tied a handkerchief to it, The meal after the event where we ate the worst kheema in Nashik at three in the morning, sleeping in the office with the AC cranked up and the pungent smell of socks and shoes in the air.
Listening to Closer reminds me when Hookah’s were the big craze in the city, trying out various hookah spots, and then going out of the city to Khalsa Punjab Dhaba for Dudhi shev bhaji which is now sadly just a shell of its former glory.
A Song from Oh Wonder reminds me of my days in Mumbai, where we formed groups and learned how to make films , we had our meetings in malls, where we sat in the food court and decided to make something stupid but have fun with it. It reminded me of how many times I had fallen on my ass on shoots, The smell of sweat from the people in the local trains, The after shoot Joeys pizza which became a tradition, Neon lights and palm trees from the first music video that I made, The Sunday Matterden movies and the crumbling puff from Iyengar bakery across after the movie.
Leonard Cohen reminds me of a friend with darkness and hurt inside of them trying to emote it through their writing.
Songs from Sid Sriram remind me of last month when my friend came to India for his vacation, Eating that savoury Kheema Pao at Durga, finishing that bottle of Glenlivit among the four of us, laughing and coaxing each other to confess our deepest secrets, Long talks in under lit and dank areas of Nashik, Pretending to work in CCD with our laptops with a extra long extension cable, Missing the rendezvous and realizing you are not going to meet them again for at least six months.
I live these moments every time I listen to those tracks that people around me introduced me to. I can travel the highs and lows of my twenty something years in a span of three-four minutes, which is the most amazing thing about music to me.
So if you want to gift anything to anyone, first gift your music to them, share the tracks which mean a lot to you, make memories out of these tracks, don’t be quick to judgement and dismissal when you are listening, explore new artists and new forms of music. Let music be an active part of your life rather than a device to drown out your thoughts. Add music in your life, and that will just make everything a little easier.
Alok Bhat 