Devinder's blog: The Rhythm is Going to Get You

Music is a way to remember a feeling you once had. 

It can remind you of an occasion, whether it was good, bad or indifferent.  It can even remind you of a specific moment in time, just like the time when I was subjected to a group of fraudsters tricking me to part with my money.  As I was driving home after my ordeal, this particular song was playing on the radio.  Whenever I hear that song now, it transports me back to that exact moment and reminds me of exactly how I felt at that time.  I get transported back to the exact location of the cash machine, the exact place where the fraudsters had parked their car, the exact moment when I handed my cash over to them and the way in which they laughed at me as they sped off in their car.  I am reminded of the way in which my heart sank when I realised the deceit.

Music can also remind us of beautiful experiences and key moments in our lives, just like the time when I had decided to leave my husband.  I drove back home and I had the music turned up high in the car – playing on the radio was a song that was so appropriate to that moment, it was quite unreal.  When I hear that song now, it reminds me of my strength and courage at that moment in my life.  There was a lot of sadness in walking away but I could also smell the freedom and the opportunities through listening to the words of that song.    

I have never really been into music that much – I would listen to tracks more for their tune and beat.  Half of the time, I would never even know what was being said.  I recently came across a Punjabi song which had become viral on social media and I was keen to find out the words and the meaning of the song.  The song was so powerful in its words that it led me into a rabbit hole of heartfelt reflection and almost-near depression.  Punjabi songs just hit different.  The emotions in the Punjabi language are so much more intense than other dialects and there doesn’t always appear to be an exact English translation.  Even when some Punjabi words or phrases are translated, it is almost impossible to explain the true depth of the words and the emotions which attach to the words.  The song which I listened to on repeat for days on end was about how this woman had someone in her life, how he left her and how it made her feel.  Loosely translated…  

“I had someone once and he left me.  The one who said he would love me forever left me and now, he sleeps peacefully without me in his life.  Although he told me I would be his soul mate for life, he shed no tears for me.  I am so angry that he broke his promise”.  

The song had transported me back to my old marriage.  Listening to the words of that song made me feel just as bad as I felt when I was going through that period in my life.  It reminded me of my naivety, my inexperience and my failed expectations. 

Music is powerful in so many ways - words which are sung can either hurt, heal or hinder our life’s growth.  The rhythm eventually got me.    

Devinder works in the financial services sector, is mum to a beautiful boy and is on a constant quest to understand the world and everything in it.