The Forgotten Song


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        Courtesy – http://www.playbuzz.com

A few days ago, I sat with a group of  friends playing a popular game called ‘Antakshari’, which is the singing equivalent of word building. One person sings a song, and the next person then has to start her song with the last alphabet or consonant from the first song, and so on.

We were having great fun. Many songs were sung, and the albums and movies remembered. When it was my turn, the song I wanted to sing suddenly vanished from my head. It hid at the tip of my tongue,  lurked in my throat,  taunted me from behind my closed eyes and teased me with images in my mind, but never once revealed itself. I managed to sing another song in the nick of time and the game moved on.

However, the song continued to bother me a lot. The more I racked my brains to remember, the more elusive it became. I could dredge up images, situations and memories around the song, but none of them clear enough to help me place it.  I finally gave up in frustration.

Days flew by. Last week, when I was in the supermarket, waiting in the checkout counter, the song slid back into my head, slyly and stealthily – that it took me a while to realize that the song had finally come back to me.

I smiled in happiness as I hummed the song. Sometimes, I wonder where our brain tucks away such information, only to throw it back to us at a later date, totally out of context.

I felt happy and light after the song came back to me, though I was not sure why it mattered so much that I remember it.

Has this ever happened to you? Would love to know.