I read on Twitter recently – Some days are Music & Melancholy. For me that’s most days .

I’ve always had this vast collection of songs . Before I got my iPhone , they have always been there on my laptop or my handset and before that on my Walkman. But lately , I’ve been going overboard tweeting out lyrics of songs that ‘make my heart sing‘ & I have created a playlist for almost every mood – Be it #MondayMotivation or #MakeBelieve even.

Gradually , my playlist has grown into a mix of life’s most amazing, heartbreaking and memorable moments captured in someone else’s well crafted words , set on melodies that play in your head long after the music fades away.

Roberta Flack’s ‘Killing me Softly ‘ takes me to my 15th Birthday , Alanis’s ‘Head over Feet’ and ‘Hands in my pocket’ teleports me to my hostel room . There are those precious moments when  Gulzar’s poetry , RD Burman’s Magic & Lata’s soulful renditions saved my soul . One ‘Tujhse Naraz Nahin Zindagi’ or ‘ Roz Roz ankhon tale ‘ at a time.

There’s ‘Raabta‘ for every inexplicable connection , ‘iktaara‘ for every happy dreamy day , ‘Patakha Guddi‘ for that rush of adrenaline before the start of something new , ‘Jane kya baat hai‘ for every sleepless night  , ‘Hazaron khwaishein’ for the dreamer in me  & ‘Mitwa’ that’s essentially the story of my life .

Music & Magic. Sigh.

In the movie , Begin Again , the brooding Mark Ruffalo and the enigmatic Keira Knightly connect over one set of earphones and an earful of songs. As they exchange stories he tells her  ‘ you can tell a lot about a person , from the songs on his playlist‘ . Trust movies to create moments that are so real , they feel surreal. I can talk songs all night over coffee and almost each one on my playlist will have a story behind it. Chances are I would whine about mixtapes , recorded CDs and then there’s no knowing which way the conversation would flow .

Music , Magic & Mixtapes. Sigh .

Yesterday as I watched ‘Meri Pyari Bindu‘ – a story about childhood friends , Abhi and Bindu . As their friendship turns into unrequited love , they drift apart to meet again. Eventually they accept each other & their destiny with all its glorious flaws as credits roll to ‘Maana ke Hum Yaar Nahin’ – a song that if they package to sell , people would queue up to buy .

A mixtape of songs that defined every turning point of their life weaves the narrative together . Losing family , chasing dreams , falling in love or heartbreaks. The movie didn’t really leave a mark but something about the idea and the way music and melancholy met in equal measure touched me.

Don’t we all have songs that take us back to the most definitive moments of our life? Songs that trigger memories that are for keeps , songs that uncover wounds that no one can ever see .

What better day to talk about them but on a very ordinary Monday?

If you had a playlist titled ‘Story Of My Life’ which songs would it have…let’s get talking. Also connecting my post to Mel’s #MicroblogMondays after eons.