Ok … so the tests went well, and all is fine in this part of the world, or so the doctors and assistants had to say. These were routine checks that people of my age need to keep going through – stress, 2 D Echo etc .. Most painful part – shaving portions of your chest to be able to stick all those leads that get you wired up with the heart computer. Health matters do not always need discussion or a reveal, so shall abstain from either mentioning them, or if erroneously I do then not to elaborate on them. The Western world has very strict and most welcome ethical rules with regard to this. At times if the patient wishes they can keep the information of their ailment away from their own relatives !! Now with extended family that could have meant similar. But you all know how gregarious I feel on such matters and hence the disclosure. But only for the Ef ! Media .. I do hope you are listening in and not making notes for the next breaking news !!

Music that great leveler, that incorrigible flirt, that works in such gentle and lovable manner into our hearts that it does become impossible to be devoid of such feeling when faced with it – the feeling of divine love. Why is it that when you strike a discordant note it is identified immediately. Not in our daily life moves, but at the alter of music and rhapsody and philharmonic and rhythm and composition. I do believe there is an invisible connect with strings invisible to us, within our systems. For, the moment a flourish is played or heard, there is a nod of approval, or an instant recognition, shared almost always with those around you, for they have felt the same.

There is also this unusual temperament that invades you when in particular company of music. You could be with a group of people, all excelling in the craft, able and competent, but for some reason that feel for melody appreciative and earnest just does not occur. A few leave the company and all of a sudden the spirits are up, the creative juices start to flow, a sense of wild liberty encompasses you and there you are, unaware of any other, minus the self-consciousness, able and confident of whatever is being asked of you to do, with a will and a command at your disposal.

Some places may have all the right ingredients for music to be immortalized, but nothing happens. It is there, it is professional, it will be done, but that personal satisfaction of having been attached to it personally is missing.

And I really do not have any logical explanation for this.

But yes tonight at Aadesh Shrivastava’s studio it was almost magical the way he just kept pouring out the notes and the compositions and magical in the manner in which we developed and worked further on it. A lot still needing to be done, but getting there, almost ! And how beautifully the mind begins to wander into the visuals that one immediately starts to imagine and build in the mind. Almost like the director of a film visualizing his or her imagery for a given situation, which may not be one that you need for your own effort, but the process of imagining never ceases with any creative person. A good piece of writing and they shall start imagining how well it could be brought to prominence. A painting and the many layers of meaning that starts to be read within. That refrain of delectable music and the film visuals start to build … such a great process of the mind thank God !!

And as I write I have on my ears the earphones blaring those moments that we built just some time ago. I must admit they do not sound as good as they were sounding in the studio, but there ..

And now from Coke Studio, Shafkat Amanat Ali and ‘aankhon ke saagar’ .. the sonorous chords of his voice and the tone of the ghazal and the meaning of the words … such a beautiful blend .. want to not just remove the headphones .. even though it strikes almost 4 in the morning .. ah ! but in the presence of that beautiful music, time can wait and if not can flow by and allow me to savor the wires it touch within .. they do not happen often, but when they do they vibrate … almost endlessly …

Could it not be to live with them eternally ..

Amitabh Bachchan