Seelan Ki Khushboo

Special thank yous:

• To MJ for sharing the lyrics and some translations

• To N, who is the bestest ever and always encouraging

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MJ, the singer, is a deep-sea diver in the ocean of emotions. The one who can wrench and give soul to the last ounce of grief left within grief itself. Someone who makes you feel the butterflies in your stomach when she sings those love songs. For me, MJ is definitely someone who captures the quintessence of any song she sings.

So, when MJ the poet, writes or creates new music, I am always excited. I mean what's more exciting than the depth of her singing intersecting with the profoundness of her poetry and thoughts?

Seelan Ki Khushboo( SKK) is her latest original song, and what a sweetly nostalgic one it is! A song about the fragrance left in damp/partially damp clothes during the monsoons. It is also a song she has dedicated to her hometown of Nainital and the rainy season there. It is a song about love, the one we have gotten over and let go, but whose scent lingers, very randomly. Yes, it's a memory, but hey it doesn't hurt, and we sometimes want to revisit it... perhaps?

I love how it starts, with a sound like the scratching of a record to take a little trip down the past. The tune is lilting and very hummable. The song is crisp (3.32 minutes) and leaves you nodding your head. The use of a clarinet adds a touch of something dancy, something deeply Goa-ish, to seemingly suggest that even pain can be set to tune and danced/grooved through when the healing happens. I love how the music does not overpower or flow over the lyrics, so you can hear every word clearly. There is also the inherent sweetness of MJ's poetry - personally I think it's her "lost romantic" spirit that gets infused into everything she writes and/or sings.

I think by now, I have come to take MJ the poet's little touches and plays with the language as a given.

For example:

Bulaane par, jo aaya nahi,

Bhulaane par bhi na aaye.

Loosely translating to the one who didn't come when I called, should not come once forgotten. The verses are very rhythmic and you can feel the poetry flow when you hum the lyrics.

I have always been a fan of MJ's imagery and how she strings the words poetically. Sample this:

Rango ki rangaten

Kohre mai chipti hui

Yeh keh rahi, aa jhaanke le

Jispe neeyat naa hai padhi

The shades of colours, hiding in the fog, it is asking me to take a peek, where my intention hasn't gone. (Translation directly from the artist from here).

I found the imagery beautiful - a mountainy mist making some familiar hue peep out and asking you to go take a dip into the memory.

I also loved the imagery evoked in these lines:

Teri yaadon ka shikhaar hai

Dil gair zimmedaar hey

Jo bhar gaya thaa ghaav

Inko nochne ki chah

Loosely translating to saying that the heart is being irresponsible and a resultant victim that the onslaught of your recollections left. Now there is this urge/itch to scratch on the wound that has healed.

Almost feels like opening a shut door and going back to the past - tempted to relive it to see if the ending is different :).

For me, this song and poetry definitely captures the vulnerability of someone who has healed from a hurt, has accepted the farewell, and moved on, yet something as simple as a whiff from a damp cloth can still evoke memories.

If I were ever to create a story sequence of MJ's original songs, I would play SKK after Tu na aaya.

After the angst, longing and pain of waiting from these verses: Main kaisey jiyun, ai subah too bataa, Main kaisey jiyaa, hai har subah ko pata,

to letting go with: Bulaane par, jo aaya nahi, Bhulaane par bhi na aaye,

they feel like a journey through the stages of grief to acceptance.

Disclaimer: This sequencing is purely based on what she has released so far. I do feel there is one more song that should go between them, but hey, MJ has to release it. For the record, Kuch Baat Karni Thi would be somewhere before Tu Na Aaya, nearer to the start of the story sequence.

Back to SKK. SKK is definitely going on my playlist for the mountains, for rains, and anyway on my "MJ for everyday" list.

Go, give it a listen. I promise, you will catch of a whiff of something mixed in those slightly damp clothes, you will reach for chai or coffee or hot chocolate or whatever is your beverage of choice, and you WILL take a walk down the memory lane with a little wistful smile automatically tugging the corner of your lips.

Go listen, here!