Tourism is an interesting phenomenon... it makes or breaks some places in the world.Take the sleepy town of Roswell for example. It reached it's epitome of fame due to the rumour that there was a space ship recovered from there. So is India a noticeable victim of tourism. We have the natural tendency to just look at strange stuff in the name of tourism. I can't blame them...and it ain't their fault too. So I detest going on tours and that too on a bus with so many people around. My idea of an ideal tour has only me and my bike or my car in it. Solitude is what I look for in a vacation tour. I can just use that moment of solitude to breathe in deeply and even get myself some personal space. I can still remember how I suffered with headache during the last big family trip.
But there are places that I wanted to see. Like the Elora caves if I'm correct, has the cave drawings of old Indians and all. One more spot on my wish list was the Taj Mahal...not because I liked it, but to just stand next to it and feel proud about it. In my view point, it's a representation of Indian art rather than love. For love, you don't need hundreds and hundreds of artisans and workers. A rose or a sweet kiss on the forehead can do more than that.
My dad used to go on official trips to Delhi. But my mom was kinda hesitant to ask him to take us too. One fine day. however, she gathered the guts to ask my dad, and ya he said OK. So I started charging my camera batteries and was checking if I had enough tape for the trip. After a three day travel (I enjoyed that part more than anything), we reached Delhi. We were in a nice cozy room. I looked out of the window then...when I was 14 or so.. I could see air conditioners, and one more huge box hanging from a window. So I thought 'maybe due to extreme weather these folks are getting a big air conditioner or something'. Then I realized they are ingenious inventions called air coolers ha ha ha. They're basically simple, but very effective when it comes to cooling. So we took off to Agra finally...
There it was!!! Bigger than I imagined!!! Not enough adjectives. Till that moment, I had meagre respect for Taj Mahal. But after that moment, I was running literally to get a closer look at it!!! The carvings just blew me off! Such splendid workmanship...loved it. If that was really for a woman, then I say to her, mam, you've such a fine man for a husband. It was huge and no wonder it managed to get into the world wonders list. My dad and mom were posing like Pak president Mudharaf and his wife. It was kinda funny watching them like that. At that time, a friend of mine wanted me to compose a song praising Taj Mahal for it's victory. It was tough I tell ye! Coz at that time, A.R.Rahman's Ek Mohabbat he was a good hit among his fans. So I have to careful not to produce something that even resembles that song by a teeny bit. I tried doing it the non-conventional way. I called my lyricist, told him the situation, and he gave me the most wonderful lyric that I can imagine!!
Chocolate பேப்பரில் சுருண்டு கொண்டது பூமிதான்
water பாட்டிலில் தேங்கி கொண்டது காவிரி
நெற்றி பொட்டில் ஒளிந்து கொண்டது வெண்ணிலா
வானம்கூட நம்மை பார்க்குதே ஏனென்றால்
Taj Mahalin அழகு உலகை கவர்ந்து போனதே...
Then I sat with my keyboard for a tune, and as expected, it had the regular chemicals inside it to make it an agmark taj mahal song. It was nice. I like it. At least my friend Sashank like it when I showed it to him first. Then I thought maybe for the first BGM I'll make a humming and try making one singer sing it. It was a new effort that I hadn't tried so far. After a week the song was ready, and at last I sang my track, which is the main of course, and after many phases of pitch corrections, released the song in a local F.M. channel. But I still wasn't happy. Something was missing, cause i wanted to make this song big in one way or the other.
The next summer too I was in Delhi, same Agra fort, then Taj Mahal... was sitting near the entrance thinking about stuff when my phone rang. My ring tone, incidentally was my Taj Mahal song. I was happy that the Taj Mahal heard my song which was dedicated to her. I let it ring for a long time...and then gave Taj Mahal a friendly pat on her shoulder,as if to ask "Are you happy with my song?" then took the call.
Yaeee... my song reached the Taj... great. I wasn't expecting such a 'grand release'. ;-) Luv u Taj...
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