From the other side

As my second European adventure comes to an end, as in the past, there's a bit of sadness about missing out on so many of the amazing things that Europe has to offer. This time though, with things having changed in my personal life than the last time, I am quite looking forward to going back. :)

Europe is truly diverse. I am totally amazed to see how different people are just across the mountains. But then, I wouldn't want to make it a boring travelogue, would I? If at all I do try to write one there would be people making justice to it more than I possibly can.

So let's keep all that blabber aside and let me share a nice little incident that made my day. Last week, I went to the famous music and books shop in Madrid called Fnac. I was looking for some classic spanish music to buy. Buying music?? Sounds strange eh? I know! Imagine how embarassing it would be for Indian passport holders to return to India and show a pack of CDs and say, "Hey I bought this". Exaggeration hasn't lost it's charm yet in this world and it comes in handy at such times. I would use it a bit of that to equate the crime of this order, especially buying a software, to nothing short of surrendering the Indian passport. Buying music would still not be considered a crime probably but if I stretch the liberty too far and buy a software then I will have to pay for my sins upon my return. Luckily enough, it was just music that I was looking for and not a software. Scared that I was for being mocked by friends, relatives and well-wishers for buying music I decided to do so only after I was fairly convinced that I could not get it on rapidshare, torrents, free websites and borrowing CDs from acquaintances. So here I was trying to find some classic Spanish music in the music section on the third floor of the shop. Being a huge shop that it is, I could faintly hear some familiar sound coming from some corner. I chased the sound which took me to the CDs section. What music was being played would be a spoiler right now and it would be nice if I let the cat out of the bag just a couple minutes later.

What makes our moments? For most people, I guess the answer would be some sort of a nice coincidence, a nice connection or a very vibrant expression of emotions of some kind. Like when you see a cute kid just trying to do something with a toy in train it probably does bring a smile. When you see old women sitting at a pub enjoying a beer on a Saturday night it does bring a smile. The things that make your moment are of this kind. Out of the world incidents to make one go euphoric aren't an everyday affair. But we certainly need to feel happy about something or the other everyday.

This moment was one of those kinds. After about 3 months in Madrid I had spotted probably about 5-7 Indians. Not that I was craving to socialise with Indians or was missing the company of my clan but the last thing I would have expected was to hear something Indian somewhere. But what really made my moment was it wasn't an Indian conversation. It was our very own A R Rahman. And more importantly, it wasn't Jai Ho that was being played but it was 'Kehna Hi Kya' from Bombay. It took me to the old times when I watched the movie as a kid. I remembered Manisha Koirala dancing in that white dress. As an Indian it was nice to hear Rahman being played in the music section of the biggest shop in Madrid, a section which had a collection of Albeniz, Rodrigo, Bach and the likes. It was probably a suggestion from the owners of the place that people with such eclectic taste of music could find Rahman appealing. As an Indian that made me proud. Just as the happy and proud Indian in me started tapping to the tune of Rahman's magic that the cellphone rang. It was my girlfriend on the line, calling from India. I was waiting to hear her reaction so I didn't say anything. In a minute she would just yell out of excitement, "Oh my god, they're playing Rahman" She couldn't believe it. Thousands of miles apart, it brought a smile on her face too.

There's nothing particularly great about this coincidence but most often it's things like these that make our moments and make us happy. And before I forget, Jai Ho Rahman! :)