These days you will find very few emotions or moments on the big screen or the small screen that actually hit some-sort of chord inside of you. Something that makes you stop and pinches you…..makes you feel “Fuck this is happening/happened with me”. It could be a movie, such as “Rang De Basanti” or for that matter just a simple song.
Past few days, with not much to do in hand (pun intended)….most of my time is spent catching up on latest songs, be it Hindi and English. One of the recent song that has been stuck in my head is “Big City Life” by Mattafix, somehow I just can’t seem to have enough of it.
It reminds me of my student life in Sydney, about my life in Mumbai. The best bit about this particular song is that, it putforths its meaning and aim without using any harsh or over the top words. Simple words with hard-hitting effect, especially if you can relate to it.
Here is the bit from the song that made me uneasy but also made me once again realise that how time is passing by and we are still dancing to the tunes of the society and the people who regulate this very society. To say, we are privileged with technology, modernization, open-thinking, etc that did not exist few years ago….but today all these very changes have made nothing but a prisoner cause of our dependence on them.
People in a show,
All lined in a row.
We just push on by,
Its funny,
How hard we try.Take a moment to relax.
Before you do anything rash.Don’t you wanna know me?,
Be a friend of mine.
I’ll share some wisdom with you.
Don’t you ever get lonely,
From time to time
Don’t let the system get you down
With all said and done, ‘Do we actually give humanity a chance?’.
Soon our work is done,
All of us one by one.
Still we live our lives,
As if all this stuff survives.I take a moment to relax,
Before I do anything rash. [Link]
The above lines are so apt for the Indian society, where are fathers and their fathers spent most of their lives earning and worrying about their future generation…that they barely had time left to think about themselves. The thinking attitude that “What hardship I went thru, my child should not suffer”, seems perfect in Bollywood films but is it really worth it in reality.
Our lives are governed by rules, rules of family, rules of education, rules of our superior, rules of the constitution….rules of the society. Is there anything we can actually do?? I guess there are just two approaches one can take, either we rebel against them or atleast try not to let them takeover our lives completely…..as the song suggests “Don’t let the system get you down”.
ps….maybe I am reading to much into it, maybe its just the drugs (wisdom tooth surgery) that I have been taking….but seriously, “Don’t let those fuckers get you down”.
Comments
7 comments | Add your comment »
nsh
Feb 4th, 2006 at 1:43 pm | #
no, its not the drugs. the song is stuck in my head too, and i’m not even getting any dental help, and i quit smoking pot long ago. one of MATTAFIX is desi, incidentally. guy called prateesh. he’s the guy in the video who walks up to the guy sitting by the roadside and gives him money. what i really loved about the song, was the way the video brings out OUR bigcity limitations in thought. when the roadside guy runs to the store and comes out with a bottle in brown paper, the first thing i thought was negative – man, this guy’s fucking broke and he’s gone and bought alcohol. but later, the guy pulls out the bottle – its a bottle of water with which he washes his face, throws some on his hair, and takes up a job as help at the convenience store.
this song reminds me of this other song called ‘friends and family’ by trik turner, heard them years ago when i was working in singapore. they’re like, dramatic hiphop, limp bizkit with some consequence. song talks about the two basics that make life worth living – friends, and family.
KJ
Feb 5th, 2006 at 11:25 am | #
have been following ur blog since quite some time. ur is a very different perspective on looking at things… like it.
KJ
sakshi
Feb 5th, 2006 at 11:52 am | #
Nsh and KJ – Thanks for dropping by yaar. And KJ, thats me for you.
KJ
Feb 6th, 2006 at 10:14 am | #
y is there no write up abt the bloggers meet in Mumbai.
v too had a meet in Dubai in Dec, u can read & see all abt it at this site.
http://dubaibloggersmeet.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_dubaibloggersmeet_archive.html
have a nice day.
KJ
Nikhil
Feb 8th, 2006 at 3:29 pm | #
U do have a pretty hatke outlook on life. Stay that way. But remember if u try to screw with the system , the system screws u back big time
Aditya
Mar 21st, 2006 at 3:36 pm | #
The system is already screwing you dear. So many taxes. Hell they even put tax on the food that we eat and the places where we eat them take the tax too from us. Anyways Sakshi love the way you look at things!!!!! This song is stuck in my head too and it does prity much relate to our lives doesnt it?
Olga
Apr 6th, 2006 at 10:23 am | #
Well, Mattafix really has something deep in their songs. They are not simmilar to other pop-songs (which are basically about “Oh, I love her(him) and she(he) was so rude” etc.). Despite of the fact that I’m only 15 and my mother-language is russian I hate stupid songs that have neither something dainty nor the tune itself. I mean, most of my classmates are not interested ’bout lyrics of the particular song ’cause “melody is the main thing”. My out-look therefore makes me a little prolix and conservative. When I heard “Big City Life” (I mean, the clip) I didn’t enjoyed it at first, but, you know, time somehow’s able to turn everything upside down, and listening to it at the second time I really, really loved this song. I felt that some tender chord of my heart twinkled in the most meraculous way! And so, now I have the highest estimationg of this band. It’s worth to mention, that other songs are also rather unique, dainty and not easy of access for some naive teens like my “friends” (if they can be named this word). As you know, this songs tell us about us uor-selves: feuds, dispages, fleers, gal, treachery, misinterpretation, escapism, hesitation and “signs of a struggle”. We are fast livers, we are too busy, “is leadership the same as treachery?”. In my opinion, the lead singer Marlon Roudette (as well as his companion Preetesh Hirji) is very smart and hansome young man. Needless to say, he has a Prince-like falsetto!!!!! A magnificent voice!!!!! It sounds like lullaby (especially in songs “Gangster Blues”, “Clear And Present Danger”, “Older”, “555″ and “Everyone Around You”). Comparing other bands’ debut albums Mattafix managed to do the BEST!!!
Is it stupid to complain about your hopelessness, about your misery, about your grief? You have your kith and kin, you have a flat to live in, you have clothes, you have food, you have friends (if they can be named like this), you have everything… Have you everything? If you suppose you do, then why are you so sad? Just think about tramps. They have nothing of that you have, but they are oppressed too.
The industry develops, civilization is growing, now you have lots of possibilities etc. Alas, you wanna hide, you wanna get obscured, you wanna be alone for some period of time. Walking along the streets of your city you feel the overgrowing loneliness, despair and… oh, nothing can make your heart contented. Once again you see these colourful advertisments and large headlines; once again the smell of traffic occupies your nostrils; once again you walk past some tall, grey and dull building which looks like a real prison. There’s no freedom in this Prison arisen by humen, designed to keep you discreetly neatly in the corner. Sweet escapism is your companion.
The more we try to improve our live by using new technoligies, inventing new services – the more we’re sucking in the endless spiral of woeful daily routine.
However, you have a choice. Throw away this foul city and find yourself surrounded by the harmony of Nature and Peace.
Stay here in this City Prison if you please…