My Love Story

Ok. This is my first post and I didn’t even need to think of what would be my first piece of writing. I knew it had to be A.R.Rahman. You could call it craze, fanaticism, devotion, madness or whatever. I would even call it superstition! I would want to start with ARR in whatever I do! This genius with something indescribable inside the long curly hair has always been my inspiration. I still remember. It was 1993. The genius was 27 years old and 2 yrs old in the industry and one little yet big Rahmaniac was 5 years old. That was when the Rahmaniac got to listen to the first ever musical track in his life. And destiny had it that it would be Rahman’s Chikku Bukku Raile. No one knows what drew the Rahmaniac kid toward the song but what was important is, the love story began then! It was when the Rahmaniac’s uncle had brought home a brand new 2-in-1 player and a cassette of a movie named Gentleman! So, probably I owe all this Rahmanism to my uncle! The Rahmaniac gets addicted to the album and ppl around him even start thinking that he would become a musician! But then, their dreams were as short-lived as a moth’s life! And then comes the Aasai toffee advertisement on TV, and into the love story. It had the Chinna Chinna Aasai song of Roja as its background score. Little does the Rahmaniac know that the music was by ARR. He gets addicted to it too, and the Rahmaniac’s uncle now has to get the kid a cassette of Roja! The irony is that the Rahmaniac doesn’t even know that Rahman existed then. Time flies, the Rahmaniac does not realize he was a Rahmaniac for a long time. Yet, he keeps listening and dancing to Rangeela Re, Veerapandi Kotayile, Oorvasi, Pettarap, Humma Humma, Musthafa and many other masterpieces.

Then, one fine day, again destiny plays its role. It probably thought it was time that the 12 year old Rahmaniac actually realizes that he was one! And destiny also had it that the Rahmaniac’s uncle is the most fitting person to play the important role in this too! So, the Rahmaniac’s uncle takes him along to Sathyam theatre to watch Kandukondaen Kandukondaen. It was a time when all the guys were crazy about Aishwarya Rai and all the girls were crazy about Ajith. But, little did the Rahmaniac know about Ash! What impressed the boy was the music in the movie. He asks his uncle some random stuff about how do ppl compose music, why do they have songs in movies, and who is the music director of the film. And the Rahmaniac’s uncle utters a name which the 12 year old considers as God for the rest of his life! And now he learns that all the songs that he knew till then, were composed by the same genius!

Time flies again. It is 2003. The Rahmaniac is in class XI. He is addicted to Sa Re Ga Me, Girlfriend, Maro Maro and a few other tracks. He and a few of his friends decide to bunk class and go and watch Boys! The Rahmaniac comes home very excited that he has bunked classes for the first ever time!(Destiny ensures that Rahman had to play some role even in this!) Then comes Yuva, New and Swades, and the Rahman-fever grows in him. The Rahmaniac was probably the only person to listen to Vanthey Mataram for the first time, as late as, only in 2005! So, now, the Rahmaniac becomes a patriot!(Destiny agains ensures that Rahman has got a role to play in the boy’s patriotism!). 2005 was probably the year when the average Rahmaniac really became a crazy Rahmanic!

March 2005, and all class XII students are busy revising their portions on the morning of their board exams. And guess what, the Rahmaniac begins a tradition, he listens to a Rahman track before every single exam. The poor Rahmaniac of 2005 does not have a Apple, Creative or Sony or whatever mp3 player. All he has is a fm player and sincerely prays for a Rahman song to be played! He has a strong feeling that if he gets to listen to a Rahman track, he would do well in his tests! But his philosophy lets him down, he gets screwed in his tests, but he still doesnt get rid of the tradition!

Then comes the 4 years of college life! This is probably the phase when the Rahmaniac gets to know everything about Rahman. He probably knows Rahman’s music more than Rahman knows about it himself! 2006, and the Rahmaniac’s best friend plays a BGM of Rahman(I still remember it is from Indian, Manisha Koirala Intro!) and this is when he starts to collect all BGM of the genius! He gets to listen to Rang De Basanti, and thinks Roobaroo is the best ever song in the whole of the universe. Now, The Rahmaniac’s dad gets him a supercool cell phone with a mp3 player, and following the tradition on the morning of tests becomes easy for him! Roobaroo becomes the standard good-luck charm song! The Rahmaniac inspires or rather influences his other friends and they become Rahmaniacs too! So, now, all that the Rahmaniac talks about Music is Rahman, BGM, Interlude, Prelude, Flute, Guitar, Ads, Synthesizer, Accordion and other things that are only related to Rahman. He becomes very narrow-minded that Music means only Rahman to him! He just cant listen to any other Music, as he doesn’t consider it Music! Ok, what I forgot to tell you was, the Rahmaniac was a crazy fan of actor Vijay too till then! But then his taste gets better and realizes he is no more a fan of him, he regrets being a fan and decides not to watch any of his movies. But then Rahman scores for Azhagiya Tamil Magan, and the Rahmaniac is in the theatre watching it! And now, the opening song of the album becomes the inspiration for him before his exams!

2008, October 6, the Rahmaniac and one of his best friends (who is a Rahmaniac as well) have their GRE test at 1pm! They go to the test centre. People around them are busy discussing about the word lists, essay topics and other related shit, that would help them in their test. The Rahmaniac and his friend keep discussing about the next song that they need to listen to, to do well in their test! They still end up doing pretty well in their test! They are relieved.

The Rahmanism grows on the Rahmaniac exponentially now! He very badly wants to meet his God. So, he and his best friend (Rahmaniac as well) think about all possible ways to meet their God. They wait for hours outside their temple. 2008, Jan 16, God calls them in!!! They are elated! They spend two long yet short precious minutes with their God! They leave the temple with a sense of achievement! However, the Rahmaniac feels sad that one of his other best friend (Rahmaniac-the GRE partner) couldnt make it on that day! That inspires him to meet his God one more time with his friend believe it or not, he does meet him again, and this time, God offers them coffee, they fall at the feet of their God, take pics with him, his Oscars, and the keyboard that God used for Roja!

What happened in between the two meetings is worth mentioning. The Rahmaniac has got his Visa interview early morning at 7 o clock. He can do anything but getting up early! However, he has no other go on that day but to wake up and he hurries to the consulate and forgets to follow the tradition! The other friend now reminds him about the tradition, and the Rahamaniac doesn’t know what to do. Suddenly, to describe in a filmy style, a bulb glows above his head! He borrows a phone from a person next to him, calls his own number and listens to his Rahman caller tune! The Rahmaniac is mighty pleased and clears the interview!

2009, Aug 8, the Rahmaniac turns 21. He is at the airport ready to pursue his Master’s. His lovely friends come to send him off and present him a biography of Rahman and a ARR T-shirt! He feels these are auspicious signs before beginning a new phase of his life! He leaves his Swades, comes to a place where the Oscars got Rahman! The Rahmaniac is loaded with work, tests, assignments, projects, presentations, mid terms and all other scary terms which the Rahmaniac had never bothered about all these years! However, if at all the Rahmaniac gets all his things done, he has no doubts on who, and what is gonna inspire and motivate him!