Three days back I heard a Kannada song being played at a restaurent. I remembered having heard and even perhaps seen it before. And on that day something about its tune striked a chord somewhere with my mood and it caught my fancy. I asked the guy at the reception counter which song it was. He gazed at me surprised and said its some old Kannada song. I asked him for the lyrics, but he could not tell me (such poor service :P)
I went out humming the tune to myself...what reverberated in my mind was the way the female voice went on a high vocal note (with no words)...it has such a haunting quality to it.
For past 3 days I searched all over Youtube and Google for this song, but I was handicapped - I did not know the lyrics, the film name or actors, the music director, lyricist - nothing at all and moreover I am totally unfamiliar with Kannada film music. I just remembered catching some word like "inchu" and "endu" (which was something I was proved right when I found it later - but these words are not part of the song title). Then how did I search you would ask - well I tried with the above two words but got nowhere. Then I tried "Kannada best songs", "Kannada old melodies" etc etc. And then song-hopping from one to another in Youtube, anything that caught my suspicion. Along the way I came across some other good songs, but was unable to appreciate their beauty as all my senses were captured by this first love and as my friends know, when I get obsessed, I truly get obsessed (and though they may not know or agree with, in case they know, I do have lasting obsessions and once something catches my fancy, it never quite leaves it, though with passage of time, it may fade a little)
Somewhere in the back of my mind I had some idea that there is waterfall or something naturally grand in the video of this song and I was on the lookout Now when I saw the video, I realized that I had seen and heard this song before though I was not consciously aware of it - yet somewhere deep in its unexplored labyrinths my mind had made that connection - aren't our mind more cleverer than we are!
And today somewhere during my song-hopping (after listening to dozens of songs in 3 days) I saw one with a waterfall - something strongly told me this was it. And I clicked on that link in Youtube and there the video I coveted for so many days was - Mandara Pushpave from the film Ranganayaki (incidentally I had read about this film just a few days back, when I was reading about its director).
Like with this song, I have had similar experiences with Tamil songs...when I was in Tamil Nadu. Again, even though I know Tamil, yet my knowledge of literary Tamil is a big zero and I can never get hang of a Tamil lyrics the first time I hear it and so I always had great frustrations in finding out the songs I want. Hence somewhere I have a strong intuitive belief that I will finally be able to find out the songs I love. And every now and then I come across such songs which catch my fancy, which I love and listen to again and again and again.
Coming back to this song - it was truly worth the wait. But sometimes I wonder, if its not the wait that makes it so much more lovable (of course it has to catch my fancy first - and believe me, despite indications otherwise - my fancy is not that easy to catch :P ). The lyrics of this song are like a classic poem - like something written by classical poets like Kalidasa - extolling the beauty of a woman in a imaginative allegorical manner - this song abounds in similes. And of course it has all those other elements I like - its damn romantic, it has waterfalls - majestic natural features, and a historical element to it, the music is classical sounding. The greatest thing is that the lyrics (even though they are so meaningful and high quality poetic) meld into the music and dont stand out - frequently problem with very meaningful lyrics is that they take over the song - the music just becomes the tool. I like lyrics, which even if they are meaningful, give the music the centrestage - let it strike the interiors of the heart. This song seamlessly merges into the music and whats left in your mind is the music. It was the music which caught my fancy - someone who doesnt understand the language - I understood the lyrics only because there was a translation in that video. Anyway enough said on one song...only that I am very happy right now :-)
Here's the link for those who have patiently bothered to read till here and even for those who havent ;)
One final thing: the best part of the lyrics for me is - 'Twas a long time back I fell in love with you - beautiful, nostalgic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-LoWOe_p7Y
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