Friday, July 14, 2006

Six Strings and Life

For Sameera, Who Will Grasp The Meaning Of This Better Than Anybody.

The cigarette smoke forced the tears out of my eyes and they rolled down like rivulets branching off from a river. The room was shrouded in smoke. It's lazy tendrils drifted in and out of little nooks and crannies. The ashtray was filled to over-flowing and even the teacups had cigarette butts in them. Two of my fingers were bleeding and my upper arm felt numb, but I couldn't break the cycle. C, G, A Minor, E Minor and E. I could feel his eyes watching my fingers, as they somehow managed to get into position fast enough to keep up with the rythm he was dictating. He's been doing it for years now and I'm only a beginner.

This had been the routine for a couple of days now. Ever since a cousin of a friend arrived from Multan, we've been jamming pretty regularly. Three guys so good, it's a sin to even the hold the guitar when youre in the same room with them. Khizer I've known for years, and he teaches me when he has the time. Wajdan, I've known only for an year and Shameel, I only met a couple of days ago. Its usually Shameel on lead and Khizer and Wajdan on rythm. Shameel and Khizer switch occasionally. The little cigarette or food break in between is when Khizer switches his attention to me and tells me what to do next.

Aching fingers finally prevail and we get ready to go home again. I put my guitar on the bed and take a long hard look at the still vibrating strings. I figure that life itself is kinda similar. Not very different from a guitar.

Everyday somebody is plucking a string, strumming a chord or even playing a scale. Rarely, very rarely, somebody comes along and twists the knobs that way and this, tunes it to perfection and plays something so heart-wrenchingly beautiful, it leaves a void in your soul. Their fingers play along the lengths of the strings and everything resonates with purity and harmony. Music so beautiful and so enchanting that angels in heaven dare not reproduce it with their harps. They play their intoxicating tunes until the strings break, at which point, they get up and leave. In due time, you just might replace them, but you know that nobody is ever going to make those six strings sing like that. You will ache and burn for those fingers and the magic they once produced. You'll turn to every other hand that comes your way and let them play your beloved strings and then turn away disgusted when they fail to do so. The only thing that keeps you functioning is friends and family. They make sure that youre tuned atleast, even if you sound horrible. It's really that simple. Life and Six Strings.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love how you write.You write a book and I will publish it.
You have to hold on to your friends and family no matter what.They keep you sane.And while you're letting other people into your life,trying to get rid of the pain, be very very careful of who you let in.You dont want to end up even more shattered than you already were.
Good job Mak,:) love you.

Anonymous said...

hey havent seen more of ur great work...........post more soon :)

and this ones obviously great!

Saad said...

You've discovered the guitar! Congrats. The path ahead is fun if you keep practicing :)

Anonymous said...

wow....the part where u compared life to guitar was so deep....so touching....

from @#&$##^

Anonymous said...

Beautifully expressed...i hope all of us find the right person to tune the guitar of our life to perfection !