Suppose anyone asks me apart from many amazing people who helped me during various stages of my life so far, what are the other three things that kept me motivated and helped me to go through rough phases of life, the answer is unequivocally movies, diaries, and books. Here, movies include movie songs, especially Hindi movie songs. As a kid growing up in a pre-internet and cable TV era, movies, books, radio, and tape recorders were the only available modes of entertainment and I cherished all of them.
For me, movies and music are integrated as I grew up watching movies with multiple songs. I do not understand and follow classical Indian music, I do not think classical music even tried to penetrate certain economic classes in India, it was never catered to people like me and I never bothered about it. Music was film songs for me, Hindi and Marathi film songs. Radio was the primary medium on which I listened to songs for most of my childhood, there used to be some programs like Chitrahar, Chhayageet, and Rangoli on the Indian National TV channel Doordarshan, but they were weekly programs and only 30 minutes long with 6-7 songs, so, radio, especially "Vividh Bharati" was my primary source of music. We could buy a second-hand tape recorder when I was in high school and that was one of the happiest moments of my life as this gave me the ability to listen to songs of my choice whenever I wanted. With radio, you are at the mercy of radio programs and have to listen to whatever songs they play during their programs which follow a specific time schedule. But radio played a huge role as their collection of songs was much bigger than the audio cassettes I could buy. Many movie songs that I listened to during that period are still my favorite songs, I still listen to them and feel the same emotions.
As far as books are concerned, I was fortunate to be born in a city with free or very cheap libraries with a great collection of Marathi books. These books opened new horizons for my heavily conditioned mind. Books allowed me to meet with people who were beyond my personal and social reach, they exposed me to new ideas and questions, they challenged my beliefs, and faith, and exposed me to struggles others faced and how they overcame it. It was through books I learned about independent women who challenged patriarchal and misogynist values. Books provided me the courage and conviction that I lacked due to the lack of any suitable idols around me to challenge regressive traditions and culture. Books provided me with the conviction that my doubts and questions were not wrong or crazy, they helped me to find answers to my questions and then, posed new questions for me, some of which I am still trying to find an answer to. Books allowed me to chart my own path, they provided me tools to think but I never considered any book as the ultimate gospel of truth. Books taught me that everything can be questioned, and I never stopped questioning since then.
I started writing a diary during my teenage years. Some of those diaries I still have and I lost some of them. But whatever I have is good enough to provide glimpses of my past. My diaries allow me to look at my old self and see how things changed. They show me how my thinking has evolved and as a result of that how I evolved as a person. They tell me about my dreams, concerns, and insecurities at different stages of life. They provide me an opportunity to revisit certain parts of my life, sometimes I read them and that era unfolds in front of my eyes like a movie. I don't think it would have been possible without my diaries.
My love affair with movies, books, and my diaries still continues, they add unique flavor and dimensions to my life and personality. My house is full of books, many of which I plan to read and I keep on adding to that collection, it doesn't matter whether I read them all or not, but having them around me fills me with hope and desire to know more. My diaries provide me a unique window into my past, they show me my state of mind, remind me about different people I met at different junctures of my life, and provide me perspective of some of the incidents that shaped me. And finally, movies and movie songs still entertain and educate me. I hope everyone finds some anchors like this that help them to self-educate, entertain, and add new dimensions to their lives. There is nothing better than challenging our own views and ideas and correcting them if they are found to be wrong and outdated. Stagnant ideas and cultures get contaminated and eventually stink like stagnant water, so, keep on updating your knowledge. There is no single book or movie that has all the knowledge or entertainment, you need multiple sources and keep on updating continuously as knowledge continuously changes and improves. I found my way to keep myself updated through books and movies, I hope you will find yours. All the very best.
Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic.
© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com
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