The power of Music

Arvind moved to Denmark from India about a month ago. He switched jobs to earn more money. Not good at making new friends, he's been feeling lonely out there.

Bored of sitting alone at his house on a Friday night, he decided to take a walk in the neighborhood. It was snowing outside. The breeze caused the snow flakes to move around randomly. They brushed his face and lifted his mood up a bit. "Each snowflake is unique, I've read it somewhere", he recalled. As he walked further with a lighter mood, he started reflecting on his decision to move out of India and about being social.

He spotted a pub on the way. He stopped and observed the pub from across the street as he lit a cigarette. It looked like a happening pub. People coming out of it seemed happy and people going in looked excited. Everytime the door opened, he could listen to the song that was being played inside. The music was pop, his favorite genre. The song being played was also one of his favorites.

He finished his cigarette and threw the butt away. "What will I do inside alone?", he thought and started walking again. He took a few steps further but then suddenly turned back towards the pub. The DJ enticed him by playing one more of his favorite songs.

He sat at the bar and ordered drinks. He spent a couple of hours there, soaked himself in to the music, got moderately drunk, but spoke to none.

Pop music had set the mood for the party. At midnight, however, the DJ surprised everyone. He played a Bollywood song - Mayya Mayya. The song had Hindi lyrics, an Arabic feel and a global treatment to it. 

People looked at each other with amusement and started enquiring with each other about the song. Thirty seconds in to the song, many started enjoying the fresh sound. Two minutes in to the song, they started shouting "mayya mayya". They were alien to the lyrics but they could anticipate when "mayya mayya" would come in the song.

Arvind sat there smiling, observing the new body language of people. He could sense the exhilaration. "Such is the power of music", he thought. A girl walked up to a smiling Arvind and asked, "Do you know the song?". "Yes", said Arvind. "Can you please write it down for me, I have to download it", the girl requested. "Of course" said Arvind and wrote it down for her. She introduced him to her group of friends. Arvind spent the next two hours with her group, discussing about Music, India, Denmark and the song Mayya Mayya.

At around 2 am, he came out of the pub and started walking back to his house. It was still snowing.

"After all, I'm not so bad at being social", he thought.

The snowflakes brushed his face again. "They may be unique in structure, but they aren't actually that different from each other", he said to himself.