Shriya Week 16: Beats and Bops
Songs are like a time capsule.
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Every time I play music from my phone or computer, I close my eyes for a few seconds, and, just like that, I’m taken back to memories from the last time I was listening to the song. It just happens . . .
Whenever I randomly hear “Cheap Thrills” playing as the hold music for customer service or in the grocery stores or even in an auditorium, I’m transported back to moments in the car with my family from back when I was in elementary school. Every Saturday and Sunday, the song would be blasting from the radio as my mom, dad, sister, and I drove down Paseo Padre on our way back home from Coyote Hills after a tiresome yet refreshing hike.
When “Dhan Te Nan” plays on the Indian channel on Saturday mornings, I’m reminded of how it used to be THE song that would be playing from my oldest cousin’s laptop or our old television each night in apartment 131, where we lived with my aunt’s family for a few months when I was 4. Each night, when the song played, we would drop whatever it was that we were doing and assemble in front of the t.v. to wholeheartedly dance to the music while disturbing our downstairs neighbors with loud bangs and thuds (hopefully they knew by then that we were just dancing and not hurting ourselves).
“Ajab Si” playing in the background transports me to the dinners when me and my cousin would sit in the back of the hall while creating songs with erratic beats and made-up words. Some of these songs are ones that we still sing today whenever we see each other.
“Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si,” in my appa’s voice, reminds me of the nights in our apartment in India when my dad and I would take turns recording ourselves on the iPod, me singing nursery rhymes enthusiastically while my dad would melodiously sing his favorite songs by Kishore Kumar and Mukesh.
All this to say, each song has a story, a memory it holds that transports me to a fond moment in my life. Specifically for me, the music I’ve grown up around has been predominantly Hindi and Tamil, and some of these are songs I no longer listen to. Yet, the moments that they represent are so special to me.
As I close out on my last blog of the year, I would like to thank you all for this community, and I would love to hear from you about how music holds memories and stories in your life!
Hi Shriya! It's nice to see that music also serves as an auditory time capsule for you, and with this blog I was able to get a lovely glimpse into your memories. I too have some songs I no longer listen to, but cherish for the specific times of my life they are associated with. There really is something special about music: even in times when I feel listless, music has the power to cut through and make me feel and remember in a way words cannot. The loving descriptions you string together show how closely you hold your family and your culture to your heart. It's these descriptions which are always present in your blogs that always, genuinely, make me smile, and I'm glad I could read your writings this semester.
ReplyDeleteAs for how music holds memories in my life—it's silly, but whenever I hear "The Flower Duet Theme" by Patty Gurdy, I will always remember staying with my best friend in India and practicing that song with her...have you ever heard two preteens belting out French opera? It's something you don't forget in a hurry.
Hi Celina, first off I would like to say that I have the exact same feeling when I hear “Cheap Thrills”, and I get pulled back to the 2010s, when car rides would almost always involve it being played—if I switched channels, then I might even hear it multiple times—and every store had it playing on the speakers. Every era of my life has some music attached to it, and when I hear that music, I instantly get reminded of that time. Ironically, the “Symphony” song (I just wanna be part of your symphony) that’s everywhere now holds the memory of my elementary P.E. class, since it was one of the 4(ish) songs in my P.E. teacher’s playlist that was played on loop throughout the class period. Seeing how different songs have an important memory of yours attached to them is really enjoyable as it lets me think about the same in my life, and I can think fondly upon the past. I really enjoyed your blog, and I hope you have a good summer.
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