Music has this strange quality of opening sores. Some pieces of music bring forth such strong reactions from within that I almost look at myself and exclaim,”When did you start feeling so intensely about love, of all things?” A digression: I can’t empathise with all that drama and passion which goes on in the name of love. Not to blame any lovers but I am a *thanda* person. Therefore, when a song makes my cheeks hot, I am surprised. It is a bit strange. It’s almost as if the music has uncovered parts of me that I wasn’t even aware of. These parts remain hidden most of the time. So much so that I am unaware of their very existence. But when I start knowing that they stay silent under my skin, very close to the surface, it is almost as if I discover new shades to me. I am kind of awkward around all these passionate declarations and strong feelings raging in the minds of young heroes and heroines. But so songs feel so right that no wonder they make me uneasy. It’s like the unveiling of a baser person, one whose presence I cannot really feel comfortable with. And all it takes is a mere song, to do that!
When I watched Madhuri Dixit in Parinda, there was such an innocent sexuality to her that I understood what Sartre meant in Age of Reason, when he writes ( can’t recall it verbatim) about the trust and innocence on a woman’s face telling him what sadism meant.
Makes me wonder: all these shades, beautiful and ugly, co-exist within us, don’t they? Like Tyler and Jack in Fight Club.
P.S. diffdrummer, I am talking about the song ‘Hari Chandana’ which I mentioned about in the kerala journal.
P.P.S. Isn’t it interesting (for lack of a better word) that music, which has the quality of making us feel divine also has the power to make us conscious of how human and fallible we are?
dannykk says:
Music is also a distorted mirror. One entirely conjured up by our own inherent desires. The baser self you identified has been with you all along. It just needed a sieve to get right out.
Much before Tyler and Jack, there was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Let him out.
October 22, 2004 — 1:25 pm
vasanth says:
Lakshmi on a roll. Two long posts within the same day?
October 22, 2004 — 1:26 pm
savyasachi says:
I would say that music and love both have this quality. True love, like the greatest music, needs no show and brings you face to face with you – stripped to the soul.
October 22, 2004 — 3:40 pm
trycatchdenz says:
It’s almost as if the music has uncovered parts of me that I wasn’t even aware of.
Wonderfully put, Laks…
Music is the mirror of the soul, indeed…
“Nothing else matters” has that effect on me, always…
Cheerz,
Denz
October 22, 2004 — 4:36 pm
appughar says:
I guess music is soo intoxicating… and sometimes it do exposes our vulnerablites, some of which we might be trying to comfortably forget.
October 23, 2004 — 6:27 am