Dad - Beta mujhe tujhse kuch baat karni hai.
Son - Haan Baba boliye.
(The son is about to get married. The atmosphere is intense and it all sounds like deja vu.)
Dad - Yahan nahin mere saath chal. Kyon, ek baap apne bete se akele me kuch baat nahin kar sakta kya?
("No", I say to myself, "this cant be! Has Indian telly finally got so permissive they are gonna show a Dad admit that storks dont bring babies to life!". I rub my hands gleefully for the moment of truth to arrive as the two walk into an empty room and the dialoguing resumes)
Son - Kya hua baba? Aap aise kyon dekh rahe hain?
Dad - Teri hansi beta. Tu hans to raha hai, lekin khush nahin hai! . Yaad hai beta tujhe jab saara din kaam karne ke baad hum thak-ke ek saath apne kamre me baitha karte the aur puraane cassettes se puraane gaane suna karte the. Rum ke saath.
("Rum ke saath?", I mutter to myself, "looks as if finally we have a model Dad":-P)
Son - Haan Baba sab yaad hai. Par hum do nahin teen hua karte the. Kabhi hamare saath Kishore sahab hua karte the to kabhi Rafi sahab to kabhi Mukesh sahab
Dad - Main to teenon ke gaane suna karta tha par tu? Tu hamesha Mukesh ke gaane suna karta tha.aur Mukesh ke gaaane sun sun ke tune apni life waisi hi bana li
(Holy cow. Mukesh & Kishore? Indian Dads sure have a knack of flattering to deceive. And here I was imagining an "American Pie" like situation)
Dad(going on) - Beta wakt kaisa bhi ho. Mood jaisa bhi ho. Lekin apne andar ke Kishore ko kabhi marne nahin dena. Sukh dukh to beta aate jaate rehte hain lekin Kishore ka mood hume asli khushi tak le jaata hai. Tere andar ka Kishore kahin kho gaya hai beta. Sabke saath hota hai. Lekin tujhe woh milega. Lekin thodi der ke liye tujhe apne andar ke Mukesh ko bhoolna padega beta.
By this time I've forgotten all about storks and babies. All I can manage to do is - laugh like there's no tomorrow. But the laughter dies as abruptly as it had started and I find myself pondering over a question I had debated zillions of times before.
Can Music be categorised into'Good' and'Bad'?'Good and bad' not as in quality but as in the'desirable and non-desirable' feeling it can evoke? Do we wake up every morning and start humming a'happy' tune because we want to be happy? Do we ignore an otherwise outstanding tune/song because it evokes a feeling of sadness? Do we choose our music depending upon the mood we want to be? Can we choose our music depending upon the mood we want to be?
I have been at this crossroad thousands of times. Everytime I have taken the same road. And never once have I had reason to regret my choice.
But probably that also explains why "asli khushi" is still a distant mirage!
