Music

One thing that has totally taken me by surprise in India, is that I can no longer listen to my music. The tried-and-true favorites that I have grown to love over the past few years have abruptly lost their luster. They now fail to spark any kind of emotion or vigor, but rather feel awkward and cumbersome - like wearing your favorite pair of shoes on the wrong feet.

My first reaction was caveman-like befuddlement absent of any surmise, but I now realize the err of my ways. While requesting my usual favorites with a thumb’s blur of clockwise and counter-clockwise movements across my iPod, I had been trying to listen to music from another life. Indelibly printed on each song are the memories of calm spring days, cool winter nights, and familiar faces - these have no place here. I can’t superimpose them onto my life in India, it is just too different.

The solution? Ironically, I have discovered the albums on my iPod that I never really got around to, the “B-Team” of my music collection, are swiftly filling the void. They have proved to be the blank canvases that I so need, ready to absorb the rich, thick paint of my experiences here in India. The question is, will I be able to listen to them when I come home? I hope so.