PicoBlog

The weather is playing hide and seek here in Hyderabad. The day has been an alternating thread of rain and sunshine suspended from a sky teeming with clouds of various hues. The afternoon saw a short burst of November rain. Just before it set, the sun crept out gingerly from its cave, before the final flourish for the day. The red evening light reminded me of a song that is an old favourite. It has been playing in my head, the last few days.

I remembered especially these lines -

“ Kyun is kadar hairaan tu
Mausam ka hai mehmaan tu

…Tu dhoop hain jham se bikhar”

These are lines penned by the lyicist Prasoon Joshi, for the film Taare Zameen Par. The words have been set to music by the composer trio - Shankar- Ehsan-Loy. The song is picturised on an art competition, which is a climax of sorts. Watch the full song on Youtube.

Dhoop. The long ‘oo’ sound in this word allows for a certain langour. Many of Joshi’s songs have sunshine in them. I listen to this song often, before important events, or when I set out in the morning for a walk or a cycle ride, slightly wary from the previous night. It is a kind of ‘wake up’ song. With a simple melody that soars in multiple crescendos it follows the ‘verse-chorus’ progression, a staple for music in Hindi Cinema.

The lyricist grew up in the hills, and the romance of that childhood has left its impression on many of his songs, which are filled with this specific metaphor of sunshine, but also other imagery from nature. This is the prism he uses to refract the light of human relationships into colour, in his poems.

For those of you who do not understand hindi, I will try and give some explanation of a few lines from the poem. The songs starts with a call to open the doors, put the curtains aside side, and unfetter the wind, but together (Let us). Come with your kite, the poet says, and the next line I particularly like, for the metaphor he uses - bring your own colours, we have to decorate the shamiyana of the sky.

Then he asks, of course, Why are you surprised?
You are a guest of the weather.
The world has been readied for you
Recognise your own self

You are sunshine, scatter with intent
You are the river, o oblivious one,
flow there, fly there, where the heart
is content, that is your destination.

The rest of the song holds this same momentum, and the music ends with the teacher and the dyslexic student Ishaan locking eyes, after seeing each others’ paintings. The song refers to the discovery of the child’s authentic self, a discovery catalysed by his art teacher (played by Aamir Khan). The art competition and this song, underline an important moment of transformation for the misunderstood child, as well as a tribute to the relationship that is forged between the teacher and his student. It is a poignant moment, when they look at each other (in this otherwise sentimental narrative).

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