Would You please Erase Me?

A string of violins cut through the dawn’s silence and settles into a rhythm with drums and congo . And even before the guitars join in on the fun, I instinctively knew what song is to play. This was the music which had accompanied me in so mny journeys home for a few four years of my life. This was the song which I played on my Walkman as the bus paced off the roads in early winter mornings and tore through the mist as I headed home for breaks.

It was “Raah Pe Rahte Hain’ from Namkeen!!

And as I stood today listening it and watch a plane flying past me, I wondered how much have I changed in the past couple of years and how the song has changed for me.

Depicted by the movie, ‘Raah Pe Rehte Hain’ is a quintessential truck driver’s song. And that in itself would have sufficed – magically woven lines relevant to the truck driver Geru Lal, RD’s music which betrayed a hint of easy movement, nothing kinetic but a languorous approach to a rolling hill and Sanjeev swaying gently as he sat on the driver’s seat with an expression that suggested the triumph of realism over romanticism with merest whiff of remorse as he occasionally peered out.

But just the so beautiful lyrics turn the truck driver’s ditty into a song of life; into the seeming conflict between the reality of the past and hopefulness of future. This song in a way plays with this paradox to let you find your own balance. And somewhere at the end of the song you realize why this film would have been named Namkeen.

“Raah pe rehte hain..yaadon pe basar karate hain,
khush raho ahal-e-vatan, ho, ham to safar karate hain.”

I'm a rolling stone. Forever in motion. Just gotta remember what Dylan wrote,
“How does it feel
How does it feel
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?”

Life’s a long road and while we may plan for future and look ahead in hope, all that’s tangible, all that has shaped us and all that gives meaning to our life is our past. That’s what’s real, that’s what you feed of. A casual look at that first line might give you an impression of another nostalgia drenched, sepia tinted view of life but, in reality, that first line is imbued with a sense of practicality. There’s no romanticism in past, it’s harsh and brutal. However, this past is what you live on, the future is what you live for. So, the journey continues.

“Jal gaye jo dhoop mein to saaya ho gaye,
Aasaman ka koi kona odhaa so gaye,
Jo guzar jaati hai bas usape guzar karate hain”

Life’s just some marathon, is it not?!.. When sun scorched you, you found a sliver of shade to rest in. In your deepest moments of low, you found hope springing eternal. Don’t seek out help from others, your own journey is your lesson. That which will sustain you lies within you.

“Udte pairon ke tale jab bahati hai zameen,
Mud ke hamane koi manzil dekhi hi nahin,
Raat din raahon pe ham shaam-o-sehar karate hain.”

In full flight, when the earth below you flows away as you speed ahead, who has the time to pause and look back? And why should you? That’s the time for the relentless march ahead. Of spending every waking moment on forging forward.

It isn’t a paradox really. You don’t drive using the rear view mirror but you can’t drive ahead with speed without it as well.

“Aise ujade aashiyane tinkey ud gaye,
Bastiyon tak aate aate raaste mud gaye,
Hum thehar jaayen jahaan usko shehar karte hain.”

Heyy and now I can almost recall a poem from my course by Robert Burns. In his most popular poem “To A Mouse” he says,

“The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leaves us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy.

Still you are blest, compared with me!
present only touches you..
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!”

It doesn’t matter if I reached the destination I set out for. I have traveled far enough and where I stop dog-tired is the destination worthy of my efforts.

And so ends the song that never fails to evoke memories of holiday trips home and so mny other memorable journeys in last two years. Seems like I've traveled great distances in two years and reached nowhere...but that is may be I was worthy of this alone. But more importantly, it means a lot more a dozen years later in life.

So, Keep traveling; keep eking out a ‘guzar’; and when you tire and stop, look around – it’s your destination which was just within your grasp.