Time Machine
Songs are my time machine. They take me back in time. When I listen to a song, I go back to those days. It was the summer of the third standard. 1983. My youngest uncle (Ganesh mama) had come visiting from Kerala. My middle uncle (mohan mama) had also landed in our house after his assignment in the middle east. The house smelt of wrigleys chewing gum, tiget balm and axe oil. Ganesh mama kept playing a small sony tape recorder (we still have that thing). Mohan mama had bought a bunch of cassettes of Malayalam hits from the Gulf. And he kept playing from the time appa went to office till the time he came back (they were a little scared of appa i think or maybe out of respect). Those songs. It stuck in my mind. Every. single. one. of. them. To. This. day. they are stuck in my head. Alliyambal. Ganam. A few Ayappa songs. All the blockbuster hits of the season. Even today, if I hear them, i know those songs and I go back to third standard. Summer. The sun in my face...