My Two Bit Gyaan On “Gaan”…Part II

If you have not read the Part I then you have missed the preface to what I am posting now

Nowadays I am trying to cope with rejection which is nothing new but whenever I am hit by a fresh wave of “no-you-are-not-so-good” reaction, the dejection that builds up like a gnawing pain in the pit of the stomach, stays on and on and on…like a solid entity….an unwelcome insurgent who is hard to shove out and harder to acknowledge as one of the many. Perhaps that’s a wrong description of rejection but that is what it is with me.  Now, it is not why rejection for which I shall be devoting a separate post subsequently. It is how to wade through the aftermath of rejection that holds your body, mind and soul on ransom that needs to be removed jnto. And that is what brings me to the million dollar question: what do you do when you are suffering from a bout of depression triggered by continual rejection from the four corners of your world on efforts that were very dear to you? The smarter generation goes for an extra hour on the treadmill or hit the punch bag a hundred times more to be relieved of the pent up frustration coiling up within. The wiser ones sit in padmansana and resort to om chanting or pranayama to detoxify body and mind. The hard-core doers and go-getters give it an energetic  toss out of their system. The morbid take recourse to brooding and the incurable optimist remains hopeful of a serendipitous find around the bend which will topple over the extant disgruntling arrangements to replace it by a more equitable, pleasureful experience.

If you ask me what do I do, I will not be able to give a satisfactory answer because of the simple fact that I do not have any. I moo around, crib occasionally, enter into a shell and stay there for a long time and then at the end of all the futile exercises emerge out of my comfort cocoon accepting the fact that I am no good in this world. During these times there are certain /particular song that gets stuck onto my mind repeating itself like a monk’s incessant chant. And in doing so, it makes me concentrate at one point  or the other on the why of it. Why or what is it that the lyrics of the song keep coming back again again to me in a whirling motion and stay on and on till I conclude that this is a song which is very much part of me or my life at this point of time because of this very reason. It also underscores the process of mood influencing a choice. A choice that would have been hard to make and harder not to make.

Coming back to the song. It’s again my favourite lyricist Yogeshji. The music composer, Salil Chaudhury, deceives with the sweetness of his melodies , which as a singer is extremely difficult, if you are not a classically oriented performer, both Indian as well as Western. His jumping notes and even the straight ones are hard to pull through. Talking about the singer, Mudah, is definitely not my all time favourite. But the deeply embedded reverberating pathos in his voice makes most of his songs a compelling listening experience. I have tried singing his songs but it’s easier to hide one’s flawfull singing behind karigari than hitting a straight note straight. And to give the devil it’s due, try imagining someone else singing these songs. You will fail as none can sing out pain in bass as he can.

I struggle to transliterate the Hindi lyrics into English. So, I would just go by the essence if the ditty:

My eyes have dreamt zillion dreams

Knowing not whether they would come to pass

Yet I dream…

My heart tells me be not sad defeated by sorrow

The songs that I have penned from the heart

One day may be sung with pain or happiness

Knowing not yet I dream…

Picturized on the yesteryear hit duo Anil Dhawan and Jaya Bhaduri from the film …Oh I forget the name of the film, but it’s one of those realistic mainstream cinemas used to be made in the 70s and 80s on low budget for the middle class audience torn between dreams and deprivation. 

Listen to it. The value of the song does not lie mitali e in the words, the music or three rendition. But somethings beyond which may be broadly, and vaguely so, compressed in one word – the effect!!! 

And that brings me to the moot point. What makes a song tick – it’s lyrics? It’s composition? Or its the way the song has been sung? Or in today’s terms put together with all the techno-effects packed into it ?

I am sure it’s none of these and all of these plus the chiaroscuro of light and darkness, pain and pleasure, the omnipresent sense of void and being , juxtaposed into a single oneness. And therein, my friends, lie the worth of a song and it’s timeless overture.

https://youtu.be/bblHYBckf8g