5 Songs.

Song: The theme to Hawaii Five O:
Year:1977.
I can see the visuals like it was yesterday. The opening scenes of crashing ocean waves set to this amazing instrumental soundtrack that opens with a flurry of drum rolls before the horn section kicks in. I am 7 years old living in Tikrit, Iraq. My father, a pilot with the Indian Air Force is stationed there for 2 years to train Iraqi pilots. We live in this military camp with rows of bungalows that house a mix of Indian and Iraqi families. School is a ragtag outfit located at the end of the street and run by the wives of some of the officers. I make friends with the kids of an Iraqi officer living opposite us, the boy around my age and the girl a few years older. I wait for the weekend when a new episode of Hawaii Five O will air in all its monocromatic glory. A slick detective series with a clean-cut hero that has all the elements of adventure and intrigue a young boy dreams of.
Epilogue: Sometimes I wonder if the prominent drums in that track were responsible for me taking up the instrument years later. Tikrit was bombed to the ground by US forces during the gulf war. Every time I hear that theme song I think of those 2 years in Iraq and I wonder if that Iraqi officer and his family are still around.

Song:Wanna be Startin' Something
Year: 1984.
I am 14 and in boarding school. Weekends are spent at my aunt's house in Pune. My uncle who is a big shot in a local company has just returned from a US trip and brought back an LP that features somebody called Michael Jackson. The LP cover has photo of a young black man laying prone on his side with a tiger cub in his hands. I have never heard music like this before. My cousin and his mix tapes have opened up my narrow music world to now include bands like The Police , Billy Joel and Kraftwerk but nothing could have prepared me for Michael. Every weekend has to have a MJ session: gently place the LP on the player, wait while the hiss from the speakers gives way to the first track on the album.
Epilogue: "Beat It", "Billy Jean" and "Thriller" were all bigger hits but for me it will always be the first song on that LP. Hearing it takes me back to those weekends when I would come home to my aunt's house hungry for real food. My aunt does not live in that house anymore. In fact its been remodelled and looks nothing like what it was.

Song: With or without you
Year: 1988.
I am 18 and living on my own in Pune in my parents' empty apartment while they live in the Middle East. The effects of adolescence are in full effect and I find myself spending a lot of time with new friends who, to put it mildly, are not too academically inclined. A lot of time is spend hanging at my apartment listening to U2's new album and in particular the third song, "With Or Without You". A haunting melody that seems to address all the issues 18 year olds have to deal with. My new friends are all into music as much as I am and we dream of forming a band and touring the world. I buy a pair of drumsticks and start practicing.
Epilogue: Stardom eluded us all but that song never fails to take me back to the year when I met some my closest friends. I learned more about life in that one year of living alone than ever before.

Song: Got A Match
Year: 1997
I have been married for 2 years. I have a job. The rebel in me has been silenced for a while now, defeated by the harsh reality that I cannot make a living playing the drums. My wife, a junior lecturer in my college, has shepherded me through the last few years of school knowing that the only way we could get married was if I got a real job. I now play in a band called Crayon that consists of other working professional and we decide to make a foray into more "serious" music. I have been listening to jazz for a few years now and I think I am good enough to play what I hear until the band decides to attempt a Chick Corea track called "Got A Match". Boy, am I glad I got a real education! I cannot fathom a single note and suddenly realize that there is a whole category of drumming out there that I know nothing about. This new music opens up my ears to a whole new world of drumming.
Epilogue: I did not know then but the drummer I heard on that track was Dave Weckl, considered by many to be one of the greatest drummers of the last 30 years. When I landed in America in 2000 the first concert I saw was Dave Weckl with his band. It was as close to a religious experience that a non-believer can have.

Song: Love Story
Year :2009:
Taylor Swift is ruling the airways and the Grammies with her hit song "Love Story". It sounds just like ten other songs on the radio that are being pushed down my throat by an industry that manufactures music stars to target a specific demographic. Try telling that to my 9 year old daughter. She and her friends have decided that Love Story is their official anthem. When will these kids discover "real" music? I can see that she enjoys music at a deeper level than the casual listener. She recognises voices and can tell who the artist is even if she is hearing a song for the first time. Now if I can only show her that there is another world of music waiting for her if she steps off the beaten path.
Epilogue:Took me a while before I realised that I cannot be the arbiter of good taste for my kids. They will find their own way. And just like I have my 5 songs, they will have theirs.