Written as part of NaBloPoMo Day 7.
#7 – Jiya Jale
It is the opinion of many that we remember our school days more than our college days. Perhaps that is true. I do remember the good ol’ days when 5 days of the week, we’d be in uniform. But college brings its own memories, and they remain special for many reasons. Though there were annual day functions at school, I think the college fest is something I remember more than the annual day function. Possibly because we organized it ourselves, and the teachers only played a supporting role.
In the penultimate semester of the undergraduate course, we had the fest. A celebration of culture… music, dance, writing, computer gaming, treasure hunts, so on and so forth. It was a big success, and at the end of it all, each stream of the senior batch (computer science s, civil engineering, electronics, telecom etc.) went up on stage and danced. Prior to that, of course, we had the inter-collegiate competitions for group dance. Our college team won second place in that event.
One of my fondest memories of my college days is helping that college team with the dance to this song. No, I am not a dancer, but they asked my help to create moves for the Malayalam part of the lyrics. I was only glad to help. I helped in making sure their movements were co-ordinated too. The song Jiya Jale was one of my favorites even before that, but after the fest, the song has become linked to this memory, and thus makes it even more special.
For obvious reasons, my favorite part of the lyrics is the Malayalam words, though the song on the whole has quite beautiful lyrics. The movie Dil Se wasn’t one of my favorites, but I think the soundtrack was just magical. More often than not, I think AR Rahman’s music has that magic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwoSBP_GiuQ
(© Vinay Leo R. @ I Rhyme Without Reason, 7th Nov, 2016)