Rehna Tu

When times get hectic, one rarely gets to think about, well may be not happier, but less hectic and more languid and idyllic times. In fact, one shouldn't be indulging in such sighing and dreaming anyway. Yet, like I mentioned before, all it takes is one song to trigger your memories.

Radio One in Bangalore, for all its flaws, used to play Rehna Tu from Delhi 6 very regularly. I recently listened to it and suddenly found myself missing traffic jams on Mysore Road (when the song would invariably play and ease my tension), Grissy, discussing the intricacies of Rahman's music and music in general with Vivek, Aishu, Bhavi, Shore, Asma, Gupta, Amber and hell, several other lovely people who let music and its moods dictate their lives more often than not. I missed the rush of sitting next to someone you barely knew in class and having a long winded discussion with him/ her about life, love, relationships and random philosophies feeling wonderfully refreshed later on. I missed the randomness and closeness that life at law school made one accustomed to. I missed sleepy 5th year evenings in Bangalore, Chetta Maggi and that Nora Roberts book which I freely admit I have read several times and really like. I even missed Radio One's 'Maximum Music, maximum choice' and Indigo's terrible yet catchy music. After some contemplation on where life had taken me, I pulled myself out of my reverie and pushed off to the library to study.

Rehna Tu is a lovely song which moves between the sad, romantic and other worldly. Its mellow pace contrasts beautifully with the anguish in Rahman's voice. And the Kamas (I think) bit at the end adds yet another layer of contrast and complexity, ending the song on this haunting and wistful note - you can't but sigh after listening to the song. Like all Rahman's songs, it is incredibly layered and complex and yet simple in its soulful message (as opposed to those monstrosities he created for Slumdog and Raavan). At any rate, the song seems to have become inextricably linked with my last few months in Bangalore, its mildness somehow suiting the mild pace and weather of the city.

I am not sure how to conclude this post now. The 'me' in law school would have sighed over the song for hours together while the 'me' in IIM rapidly shuts out these external influences and concentrates on the task at hand. In several ways, it is a very good development. And in some other ways, it is a little sad. I hope at the end of my two years here, while emerging as a smarter and stronger person (with quant skills!), I will be able to retain that appreciation and love for these things that have so moved me in the past. And well, I've already spent too my time over this entry - the library beckons!

Rehna tu, hai jaisa tu....

Flying

Written on 16th September:

I am sitting in the duty free area of Mumbai's interntional airport on my first alone-alone international trip. Cool no? Just recently, when I landed at the Bangalore airport, as I hurried to the baggage claim area with a delighted smile on my face, I caught a glimpse of the immigration counters and suddenly longed to go abroad. Not that domestic travel isn't stimulating - but every now and then you get that desire to go somewhere truly far away, with a completely different culture. (actually you can ge that in India. Ok ok, I'm a wannabe firang) And that wish actually came true. Of course its only to Singapore. You don't have the satisfaction of flying at least 8 hours and seeing full-full phoren people..but still you go through immigration and end up at duty free, so you kinda get a feel of the thing.

The que for the the shuttle to the international terminal in the swanky new Mumbai airport is very very long. I stood in it for at least 45 minutes and at one point attempted to get an auto to go to the terminal. The airport guards seemed to have prepared for such an eventuality though and prevented me from doing so. However, I wouldn't miss the shuttle ride in the night for anything. If you love planes, like I do, you will love this ride. The domestic and international terminals are sort of opposite each other and the shuttle skirts the runway while taking you to the international terminal. You see a sea of lights in every colour possible..blue, red, yellow, green...an expanse of black dotted with pinpoints of light. It is quite an amazing sight. And of course you get to see planes taking off and landing. In the dark, the wing to wing lighting of the plane actually makes it look like a disc shaped object - very UFO like. It was quite a surreal experience. The best part was seeing Boeing 747s and Airbus 340s in their hangars. You realise how big the place is when you see it parked in a plane shaped building, where you get to admire its awesome wingspan and marvel at how such a massive thing gets off the group. A note to my engineer friends - science is rather cool at times!

Right now, I am drinking beer at watching an incredibly bad movie at one the numerous bars in this airport. I have finished my first term at IIM A :)

This is what I wrote at the airport when I was rather high on two cans of draught beer. I ended up spending a lovely 4 days in Singapore and have come back to what promises to be an insane 3 months. Sigh, the too-short pleasures of a holiday.