Be ready and willing to be amazed, surprised, in each moment!
A friend from the US chatted with me on FB messenger the other day. He was listening to songs of Ilayaraaja and was drinking cognac. He said he was happiest when listening to music composed by the genius; and apologized if he ‘sounded’ high. I replied saying that I am perpetually high – on Life!
In fact, I truly am. I totally believe in the line that lyricist Anjaan wrote for Mujhe Naulakkha Mangaade Re O Saiyan Deewane in Sharaabi (1984, Prakash Mehra, Bappi Lahiri, Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhonsle): Nasha Sharaab Mein Hota Toh Nachti Botal! The song is, incredibly, 10.56 minutes long and the line comes at the far end of a memorable interlude by Kishore Kumar. It means: If the intoxicant really was in the liquor, then the bottle ought to have been dancing!
I have often thought deeply about that line and Life itself. My key takeaway from the song, apart from other intoxications in Life that the poet Anjaan is alluding to, is this line – it reminds me that Life is itself so intoxicating, so wonderful, so magical, so beautiful! In fact, when people ask me how I don’t tire of such a challenging Life that Vaani and I are leading (read more here: Fall Like A Rose Petal), I always say that I see Life as a bunjee jump. An adventure. People take up adventure sports, like bunjee jumping, for instance, because it gives them a thrill, a high! But a bunjee jump delivers an artificial high – quite the way alcohol does! In Life, you are forever taking a deep dive into the unknown. In a bunjee jump, you dive with the surety that there is a safety harness fastened to you, so you know with certainty that you will be hauled back. In Life, there is no physical harness. Your sense of security can only come from trusting the process of Life. From believing that if you have been created you will be provided for, looked after and cared for.
If you reflect on this perspective you will discover that this is the way to live intelligently. Those who want Life to be only a certain way are sure to suffer because Life always unfolds in the most unpredictable, inscrutable manner for each of us! So, isn’t it far, far, more commonsensical to just embrace Life in whatever form it presents itself?
Those who learn to look at Life this way, as a deep dive into the unknown, as an adventure, live it fully! They seek no guarantees. They are never unhappy – because they have learnt to not expect anything from Life. They are ready for anything; they are willing to face Life for what it is, the way it is, whatever be the circumstances in which they are placed! So, my little secret of living a Life free from suffering, no matter what, is to be on a perpetual high! Which really means I am ready and willing to be amazed and surprised by it in each moment!
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During the last 10 years of his Life, the man who ruled Hindi film music in the late 60s, all through the 70s and in the early 80s, struggled to get work. Bappi Lahiri’s disco music had taken over and nobody wanted to touch Pancham. Not even Nasir Hussain, who had consistently used RD for all his films that included (and followed) Teesri Manzil (1966). Hussain let his son Mansoor Khan have his way and signed up Anand-Milind for his production Qayyamat Se Qayyamat Tak (1988), which famously launched Aamir Khan’s and Juhi Chawla’s careers. Interestingly, Panchamda got no National Award in his entire career and won only 3 Filmfare Awards (out of a total 18 nominations) – Sanam Teri Kasam (1983), Masoom (1984) and posthumously for 1942 – A Love Story (1995). Observers and chroniclers of Hindi cinema say that RD died a beaten and heart-broken man because he felt the industry that he gave so much to, “abandoned him and moved on with the times”.