Vacations are those times when you set loose all those supposedly life-changing, miraculous thoughts that peck your mind while studying for exams. As for myself, my motivational spirits fly higher than Superman, to do all other activities except studies during the study holidays just before exams. However my laziness weighs heavier than me and so I end up carrying it throughout the holidays – unable to implement the ideas, leaving them to haunt me during the next study holidays.

On one such vacation from my grueling engineering studies, I decided to learn the guitar. All I wanted to do was to be able to sing a song and play the guitar. So all the strumming of the strings, playing the electrifying lead and shouting “Do you want more ?” to my thousands of imaginary fans, compelled me to join a crash course in learning to play the coolest musical instrument.

After joining class and justifying it as ‘my strong interest’ at home, I managed to borrow a guitar from one of my friends. The first few days went in learning to play the octets. And after that, the next few days went in playing the octets in the reverse order! And the strings! I knew they were made of steel, but I also discovered that they were designed to cut through my fingertips. As the classes became less interesting, I decided to cut short the lessons of unknown melodies and began to practice the lead of well-known Bollywood songs. So I learnt to play ‘Tujhe dekha toh ye jaana sanam.‘

Next day, I entered the class, sat down on the chair, and played the same melody casually, as if I had learnt it by birth. As some magical powers prevented the music to reach to the ears of others around, I did not receive the deafening applause that I expected. No one even noticed it! On one of these days, a kid, who seemed shorter than the full-sized guitar he was carrying, entered the classroom and played “Waka Waka” skilfully. He made me realise how ‘unnatural’ I was in learning to play the guitar. The mistake was in my perception of easy learning. To perfect a skill requires a lot of practice.

These classes sowed the seeds of love for music in me. After the one month crash course, I continued my practice for a short period as I had higher priorities. From then, I tried to comprehend the sound of every instrument in a song. Every beat and every silent note added to the glory of a musical melody. I have developed a great ardour for music. So until my musical interests take a higher priority than my present varied ones, I will continue to understand and not just listen to music but also entertain my millions of (imaginary) fans.

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