Down memory lane with music

Ruk Ruk Ricky Ricky rukta ja, tu baat jahaan ki sunta ja....... 

I heard this song after all these years, and those beautiful memories of my mother playing a cassette titled 'Love Notes' by Lata came to me! I wonder how as a child I would listen to all these songs and feel them too. Other songs from the cassette included, Agar tum na hote, Mujhe aisa mila moti, Din pyar ke aayenge sajaniya, Zameen Aasmaan nahi milte. These songs are hardly ever heard on radio or TV anymore. But, they are evergreen with their music and lyrics. After watching Zindagi na milegi dobara recently, where there's a mention of Doordarshan and the simplicity of the 90's a thought crossed my mind. How we miss old days, old times and the simple life where everything was valued. When we shared clothes, toys, chocolates (which were few even then), crayons with our siblings and cousins! Meeting cousins twice a year and laughing like we never had, running up the terrace and throughout the colony, playing hide and seek and hiding even behind the scooter, under the mattresses, in the store room filled with grocery and waving goodbyes till the bus went out of sight. Waking up to the sounds of Aakashwani and birds chirping loudly, with the familiar morning rounds of the toastwala with his huge tin trunk and us, children all groggy eyed and brushing our teeth and splashing water on each other.

I had intended to write about the music I heard and felt during my childhood which isn't that old really, only from the 90's! There are some songs that I heard only on cassettes then and only recently got to see their videos or the movies they were from. One of the most striking songs that i remember is, Bada natkhat hai re krishna kanhaiyya, ka kare yashoda maiyya! My heart always felt heavy after listening to it. I am surprised by how the lyrics touched me when I was barely 9 or 10 years old. Dhoop jagat hain re, mamta hai chhaiyan- how these lines affected me and in such a powerful way. I remember there was a marathi bhajan that my mother played too often- Bharjari ga pitambar dila phaadun, draupadisi bandhu shobhe narayan- I didnt know the story back then but the song explained something so beautiful that stirred strings. It was impossible to forget it. Another song that made an impression on my mind was Sharan Budhhala aali- it narrates a story of Amrapali embracing Buddha's teachings in beautiful words and I remember listening to it so many times. At Vipassana, I came across Amrapali's story depicted through a series of murals and this song came up in my memory. Its beautiful how songs stir up memories, long lost dreams, forgotten stories and anecdotes engulfing the listeners. Truly believe now that Music washes away from the soul, the dust of everyday life!