On her recent trip to India, my sister gave me her iPod Nano. This Nano was special. It was gifted to me by a friend (a long time ago). I filled it up with my favourite music back then, to help me endure 35 minutes of travel on the London tube. When I came back to India, the sister misplaced her iPod and she took to using mine.
But when we both went to the US — she went to study, I went as the dutiful sister who would help her settle in. At the end of the trip parting wasn’t easy… Back in the home we grew up in, I’d often talk as I dozed off only to wake up to the painful realization that my best friend, my sister wasn’t there. So a chance discovery of her mp3 music CD in her car became my best friend. Although when she used play them I’d crib and cry, now having those songs play made me feel like she was with me. No, I am not going on and on about music having the power to fill the void.
Anyway, on her last visit we went to Goa and she decided to play her music for me. And then, she left her iPod with me. And when I played it on shuffle, I was surprised that though she had added her own music to the playlist, some of my favourites from the London days still remained. And I knew she wasn’t particularly fond of them songs, but she had left them on.
Now, she will probably say that she was being lazy but I think it is more than that… Even today, when I feel particularly lonely in the room that I shared with my sister, I plug the iPod into speakers and listen to her favourites… And it occasionally spews a song that I often heard to drown out the “Mind the Gap” on the Tube.
That Nano is an intermingling mix of memories for the both of us, and by just sharing it, we keep revisiting them every now and then… That is why, next week you should exchange iPods with someone you love. Listen to their music, hear them in their music. The power of music quadruples when you share it with someone you love.