The power of an Apple!

First of all, I would like to thank Amruta and our boring and long trips to the hospital for treatment (its a ligament tear...so stop thinking of me as insensitive :-P). Had it not been for our hour long wait today where I got this idea, I would not be writing a post on this subject. :-))

So let’s get to business.

Background: I jumped out of bed at 9 a.m. I didn’t want to get late again and be on the receiving end of Amruta's nagging. So while I did manage to get ready by 10 (somehow!!), I had no time to eat. So OF COURSE I was hungry at 11:37 p.m. while we were still waiting for the orthopaedic doctor to attend to us.

Stage: Alexandra Hospital has this sinfully large basket of red juicy apples kept on the registration counter of the emergency ward. It’s for the traumatized patients. But no such luck in the specialist (by appointment only) ward. (C’mon, jumping out of bed at 9 can be traumatizing!!).

The wisecrack: So when we realized that we weren’t as privileged as the traumatized patients, I passed one of my smart wisecracks, "Oh, the power of an Apple".

Now before you think that this statement was passed without any thought, well you are so mistaken. My "sharp" mind came up with this for the following reasons (yup I know its hard for you to believe, but it does process really fast sometimes):

1. Adam wooed Eve with an apple: Thanks to “an apple”, we are an entire population of over 6 billion today globally!!!
2. Apple and its health benefits have long been popularized with the saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away".
3. Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity, thanks to "the apple" that fell of the tree.
4. And the best...."Apple" (aka Steve Job's Apple) products. If I was given a choice to make one advertisement in my life, I would happily make one for an iPod with a tagline "An iPod can change your life". I took to jogging, and snapped out of my blues a million times because the iPod is just so damn good! It is my motivator, my therapist and my all-season friend. And today, Apple products still rank as the most gifted products during Christmas. Again, "Apple" has been an expression of love.

So there you go, "an apple" has changed the face of the planet. Now really, do we want to contend with that???!!! ;)

I wonder

By Dreamcatcher

Life and its growing cycles can be so strange.
The more one introspects, the more mysterious it gets.
Sadness is part of everyones life. And so is happiness.
Until we have experienced the prior, the latter is not appreciated.

As I smell the rising sun, I can choose to "wake up" or I can choose to "dream on".
Dreaming can make you happy, but snapping out of it is sometimes the best way.
How we all wish for a crystal ball reader, someone who would tell us
"The future is bright. It will all turn out exactly the way you wished and hoped it would be".

But reality and He have other plans for us, oh they can be such party poopers.
If only the party had all our guests, all our friends and all our loved ones.
If ever there was something that we could change,
We would all like to go back to the point where it was all going well.

I have been searching for that one key, that one little passage to my future.
Some place where all my imaginations are a reality.
Where music fills the air and the glow from happy faces lights up the room
A place where the pied piper is the happy soldier guiding sadness out through the city walls.

Sometimes anger can fill your heart, but you have to realize
That only leaves no room for love from our loved ones.
It's the grey cloud that stops rationality from waking up
Thundering words can cause more harm than good.

I believe in the future, I believe in luck.
Serendipity, I know will someday find its way.
But then again, the clouds overshadow me and I can't help
but wonder....

"Music"ensors!

Ok lets see...I have to finish couple of assignments, I have to complete a couple of applications, I should really be reading at least one textbook right now and most importantly, its 1:53a.m. I should be sleeping...but look what I am doing exactly???!!! I love breaking rules ;)

My all-time favourite quote on music is "If music be the food of life...play on"! And lately "it’s all coming back to me now"! :) My God I am getting so corny these days! What’s happening??? I think I need to "soak up the sun"!! Hahahaha....sorry guys! :D

Well the only Hindi film that all Indians are talking bout these days is "Rock On" and I lovedddd the film. The music...amazing....so of course it’s no rocket science to guess the songs I have been singing lately. But what is amazing is that EVERYONE I KNOW who has watched the film is also singing the same songs. It’s almost like our home anthem is changing. All my home buddies are listening to "Rock On" songs. All my school buddies are singing its songs. All my friends back in India are singing its songs. All my sisters have been singing its songs. And what more...so is Dad! (There are of course people who have differing views on the movie but since that’s not the subject of my post, I will not dwell on that.)

The healing power of music has long been a subject of research. This subject personally has been of interest to me. While it’s interesting to read articles and research reports on this subject, I love it when I make my own little observations and discoveries. So (yet again!!!!) I made an interesting observation which I know was sitting happily at the back of my mind.

Many a times you will come across people (including me) whose typical answer to your question "what is your favourite kind of music" is "it depends on my mood!". Well while it’s true, I was wondering why?? If moods play such an important role in defining our music preferences, then why do we listen to music to change our mood. Vicious circle there.

Well we all have our low days and I had one a couple of days ago too. Since I was still fresh from my "Rock On" craze, I decided to listen to its music. Now "Phir Dekhiye" is supposed to be a song that makes you see the hope side of life. But for some strange reason, I wanted to cry after listening to it. That’s when it struck me (and thank God it did, it diverted my mind) that music is also a multiple dimensional entity.

Listen keenly to any song and you will notice at least 2 rhythms. The same song can have a fast/happy beat and another slow beat! At any moment we can catch only one rhythm. And what is this dependent on...our mood! Our mood is like a biosensor which detects the song rhythm which matches the mood frequency. Therefore, the song only reinforces your emotions at that moment. Since the frequencies lock in together, the song synchronizes with your emotions and become “easy listening”. And if you notice, listening to a happy song at a sad time can be more irritating than happy. They only cause more agitation.

Now one really has to get out of ones comfort zone to listen to the so-called “happy song”! And before you get me wrong, such songs can have a happy and can have a positive effect on you. Reason…cause you have made up your mind and garnered strength to make a change. The act of moving away from your comfort zone itself makes you stronger and it starts changing your mood frequency. You are determined to be happy and so you shall be. This starts changing your mood sensors and so…in time…you are happy again! And that’s called getting your groove back :)!

Now I am sure many of you may not agree with my theory, well…to each his own! So if you ask me, moving around in circles is not always a bad thing! ;)