Music has always been a great companion….

My love for music started when I was 3 years old. In our home, we used to play Tagore songs, Lata Mangeshkar classics, Sunil Gangopadhyay’s guitar and Manna De’s melodies among others, in our good old HMV gramophone. Besides that, we also had a Philips cassette player, where all these numbers were replayed. Due to an upbringing in such a pristine environment of traditional Indian music, I never had an opportunity or will to develop a penchant for Western Music.

In times of stress, joy, relief and sorrow, one of the major relievers for me has been Indian music. I cannot list down the songs that I like most because they are just too many in number. I have always been amazed by the pathos, romance and poignancy of Tagore songs, the sensual stimulus that it creates, and its heart-touching lyrics, which can transcend you into a different zone altogether. Over the years, there have been some truly outstanding Hindi movie songs as well by Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, and Mukesh. My favorite has always been Kishore, although Hemant babu’s brand of music and voice in the movie Khamoshi was just phenomenal. Songs like “Tum Pukar Lo” and “Woh Shaam Kuch Ajeeb Thi” can arouse even the most stolid of minds. Among Bengali non-Tagore songs, my favorite has always been Manna De, although Shyamal Mitra and Manabendra Mukhopadhyay were also outstanding artistes in their own right. With lights switched off in your bedroom, and mellifluous voices of these great and gifted individuals filling up the melody spaces, you just forget all grief and temporarily get shifted into a different planet.

Over the last decade or so, there have also been some truly great Bollywood numbers. Sonu Nigam has just set a new level for himself and for the music industry. Alka Yagnik also had a tremendous voice and Shreya Ghosal has the potential to be the next Lata Mangeshkar. The ease, with which Shreya sang a tough song like “Mere Dholna” in the movie "Bhulbhulaiya" along with M.G Sreekumar, was truly awe-inspiring. It was special to say the least and I would certainly rate it as one of the best songs ever sung in Hindi films. Such high quality artistes force me to stop, listen to and relax at this soothing brand of music. I have also been deeply moved by Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia’s flute and Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma’s santoor. Both of them had performed twice at IIT Delhi, and both had a mystic charm about their instrumentals.

I sometimes wonder what kind of nerd I would have turned myself into if I had not loved music as much as I do. I would never have been so free-minded, expressive and romantic (my fiancée says so) otherwise. I would always be indebted to my parents for having helped me to develop the ability to appreciate good quality Indian music. Music has always been a great companion alongside and has acted as a huge boost and inspiration for me under all situations, especially when I am down and out. Thank you, Indian Music.