The power of recall

This is not going to be my usual long post. I was just wondering about the composition of my playlist.

Kitni Baatain from Lakshya
Is it that I try to recreate the same situation as that of Karan Shergill's in the movie? Hrithik has proved a point to people who had written him off for his ignorance and lack of focus in life including his girl. However, now he has problems in expressing his pent up emotions to her in the battlegrounds of Ladakh. "Yedho yedho ondru" and "Udhaya udhaya" also are based on the same raga as this one, but this one by Shankar Ehsaan Loy with Hariharan's magical voice stands out. I bet others would also agree with me on this song being the one that will stand the test of time. With 5 years since the movie released, I guess it already has.

Kaise Mujhe from Ghajini
My post on the songs countdown gave this one position #4. But it has grown on me. I don't know whether it has to do with the movie being one of my all time favourites, or because it features Asin or some personal emotions from inside me peeping out, I listen to this song atleast 5 times a day. And it includes any version of instrumental floating on Youtube. There is a version by a 8 year old kid who apparently played this one by just hearing the tune on the piano, great talent, all of us should see how much Rahman is inspiring future generations. Coming back to the song, the instrumental at the end of the song is good enough to retain interest for anyone listening for the first time. Research is still on to find if film songs based on the same raga as this exist. Investigation points to Malhaar with "Kadhali Kadhali" from Avvai Shanmugi and "Thoum tharayil" from Star being the prime suspects.

Baatain by Fuzon
It's sad that this supremely talented band broke up just after touching heights of glory with their first album Saagar. The entire album is just a treat and is good enough to get the listener interested in fusion genre. While google and youtube searches may yield Sagar, Tere Bina and Khamaj as results, this one is fusion at its best, guitar and Shafqat's brilliant vocals complement one another beautifully. The song is based on Raga Aiman. The band has two more songs based on this, but it will not look like repetitive stuff, such is the beauty of each composition. From tamil films, "Yamunai Aatrile" from Thalapathi is based on Aiman.

The kind of recall power these songs have recreates the situation I was in when I got spellbound listening to these for the first time. I don't know how it works for others. I seem to have a big problem with my memory. I seem to remember all things, stronger the recall, older the events are. It's like a trash can that has only 'in' and no 'out'. Adding to this malfunction is the fact that almost all of my friends, invariably fail to match up to even 50% of my retention capacity. Long live the one who said "Key to Happiness is Bad memory" :)

Apart from having a strong recall, what made me obsessed with these 3 songs? Is it because I can kind of relate to the feelings the song is trying to portray, is it because of the technical brilliance, is it because of my unflinching devotion to the composer or singer? I guess the answer is a mix of everything. I would certainly like to know how my friends give an explanation for why certain songs leave them possessed.

Before concluding, an idea struck me. How about giving similar posts in short bursts from now on?