Blue Frog

I picked the Perfect day to move my lazy arse and travel in the rain till Lower Parel from New Bombay!

What an amazing, soul-filled, mind blowing show. I felt like I was in heaven. The minute Raul Midón walked on the stage for a second I think I underestimated the voice that was going to float out of his mouth. Grossly underestimated! The guitar, the strumming, the lyrics, the trumpet improv, the voice, the voice, the voice and the guy! He was a great entertainer.

After a point I did not remember the yummy French fries I had eaten two minutes ago or the silky smooth mojito in front of me, the whistling girl or the pony tail whiskey drinker. My eyes and ears were glued to him. It is a pity he couldn’t see the brilliant smiles that were flashing across the room but like he said in his lyrics – he could hear the smile on our face!

My favorites of the night, which I am still replaying in the morning on You Tube are:
- Sunshine
- Don't take it that way
- Everyone deserves a second chance
- State of Mind

Chakare, Chellam!

Still.

The feet mildly tap the ground.

Carpeted floors and off-loaded shoes maintain the silence.

I am trying to focus on the words that my fingers are being instructed to write. But the high-pitched voice of the female tamil singer and somber, sultry voice of the male singer distract me. The headphones are vibrant with the rhythm and I am annoyed by the continuous distraction this is posing.

This is why perhaps, somewhere during the last decade, I stopped listening to tamil music. I can get through many English songs without missing a beat, while working, but tamil songs have something else and I know what it is.

For some reason, these tamil songs to me seem like they have more depth. In the love songs, in the sad numbers, in the dapankuthu. Some of the Hindi and English songs do have them but I can’t recall many with this kind of intensity.

May be it is also that when I see the Western civilization as a whole, largely their concept of love is very fluid. They get over emotions quickly, they change partners often. If it doesn’t work with one girl/guy there is always another. But I know down in South India, amidst that conservative society, to fall in love is quite a feat! In the movies, the hero has a tragic flaw and it is not always about status and money as it is mostly in the Hindi movies.

May be I am biased. The lyrics, to me, seem much more powerful in tamil than in English or Hindi. Each emotion has a parallel word and sweet nothings sound much sweeter in tamil.

Revisits

I walked in to the same place I have been before. The unforgotten aroma of coffee beans, the slice of chocolate pastry, the same semi-burnt sandwich reminds me of the days of burgeoning friendship. Will she remember me? Will the conversion from cheap talc to expensive perfume deceive her real memories of me? Will the pointed noise from my stilettos drown out the earthly banter of my old sneakers? Will the spa-treated hands slip away from ours, tampered by the harsh sun?


I will walk skeptically

But I will not let go.

I need an answer

And I need it now.

I will show you forever

And I will show you how