Tis' love!

I am in love again! Or so it feels like. I started the violin recently and it feels like a new lover, forever creeping into my thoughts when I least expect it. I wake up and my first excited thought is "Yay! I can't wait to play my violin". I rush through my day, cook, clean and head to work and all the while, at the edge of my mind is this picture of my violin, titillating me, beckoning me. I wait impatiently to head back home from work, much like the school girl waits for the bell to ring that she may catch a glimpse of the boy she has been crushing on. I pick my kids up and sigh! I can't get to my violin immediately. There is homework to be done, food to be fed, dishes to be done, bath time, bedtime and all the while, I see it from the corner of my eye. It is a siren, this violin - there has been much agonizing over starting a class "I have kids, I work full time, blah blah blah, I really need to make the time to practice " All my arguments flew out of the window when I held it in my hands, produced that first note (which BTW, is still the only note I produce but I thrill as if I played a complete concerto flawlessly), felt that solid strength in my hands, the thrum of the bow sliding on the strings. This feels like that first flush of love, where all I want to do is sit with the violin and play endlessly (thank God I don't have the time to do that or I am going to bore people around me senseless with that one note "Sa"). Will it last, this love affair of ours? Are we going to grow old togther, my violin and I? Or is our love going to die a silent death, unnurtured after the initial burst of passion is spent? Only time will tell...

Top 5 musical memories

I had to do this - I have been listening to some old songs lately and they trigger off memories long forgotten but very dear.
1. This one - Kissa Hum Likhenge, takes me straight to the fall of '98, when I was a brand new arrival in America, striking it out all on my own with a few hundred dollars to my name and never happier. I made some great new friends, had a blast of a reunion with my old, very dear friends and fell in love. It all seems coated in pink, lots of laughter, endless cups of coffee on college campus, late night movies and late night walks, all topped off by a really fun New Year's night!
2. Love Story - sigh!!! Like this song needs to remind me of anything at all to be special, but it does. Memories of that first love, my girlishly adolescent first crush, the shiny eyes, the anticipation, the dissection of every word, every look, the mooning, the sheer fun of it all. Oh to be fourteen again and in love...
3. Sindu Nadiyin Isai - Ah Bharathiyar! and to hear it, I only hear my parents, singing in duet on full moon nights, when we traditionally picknicked late into the night on our terrace. Stomachs replete, hearts even more so, contently dozing off on mats and listening to their voices blend in and out, weaving, dancing, the sounds of the ocean accompanying....ah, home!
4. Strings (Utho Beta Aankhen Kholo, Sar Kiya Yeh Pahar) - Okay, so this one is completely special. Lots of songs bring me back here, to this house in Chidambaram that was tucked away in a corner of the street. I made the best friendships of my life here, laughed a lot, cried some and had some of the best times of my life here. Cheers to you guys for all of those moments!
5. Satrangi Re from Dil se - This totally takes me back to this hike a group of us went to ages ago. Lonely place (like we were the only people around for miles and miles), lots of snow, lots of scary talk and one of the guys ( you know who you are) could not stop singing "Mujhe Maut ki godh mein sone dee...." loudly. Quite scary and all...

There are tons of songs like this that transport me back to certain places and people. Can you share with me some of yours?