Emily, I finally found her

Back in the days when I was still single I used to listen to lots of music. When I say lots, I mean getting-up-in-the-morning-and-turning-on-the-music-before-brushing-my-teeth kind of lots. It would not be wrong to suggest that I lived on music. I breathed music. In those good old days when public file sharing was still a relatively unpopular phenomenon in India and such websites had not yet been shut down, I downloaded a huge amount of music. And, boy, did I experiment! I started with your popular music (Summer of 69, Hotel California and what not), but jumped from genre to genre with a frequency which, if genres were women, would have made Don Juan look like the most fidel man. However, even when I switched genres, I always maintained a list of favourites. Many groups and individual musicians have featured on my list of favourites.

1. Led Zeppelin (terrific music, Jimmy Page is untouchable and they sang naughty lyrics with complete rocker sincerity -- ooh, babby, baby, you look good enough to eat from Candy store rock, with an amazing lead intro by Pageji)
2. Jethro Tull (what a talented bunch of weirdos!!)
3. Doors (oh, that voice, that dripping-with-lust-yet-detached-from-everything voice).
4. Beatles (they are not all glazed-choco-love-donut-dipped-in-yet-more-love, have you heard Taxman?)
5. Stevie Ray Vaughan (OK, Pageji was great, but this guy came very close and if you doubt me, go check his version of Voodoo Chile).
6. Bob Dylan (he went off the list quite early -- he is music's equivalent of Ayn Rand, everyone goes through a phase where they identify with everything he says).
7. Eagles (they had the smoothest voices around, I mean have you heard them mouth Raven hair, ruby lips...?)
8. Dire Straits (how much talent could one person have? Why him???)
9. Paul Simon. Please note that I mention Paul Simon, and not Simon and Garfunkel. Art Garfunkel had a lovely voice, impeccable, and with a great tone, but Paul Simon provided soul to their music through his poetry.

Now we take a detour. As I mentioned earlier, I breathed music and sports at that time. Inexplicably to me, I just couldn't find a girlfriend (I know, I know, hindsight is clear as freshly wiped windshield). Furthermore, I was tongue-tied in front of women. I mean I just could not open my mouth (I still can't, but now it is because I am married). A combination of my loneliness and the beauty of Paul Simon's lyrics made For Emily, wherever I may find her seem like it was written just with my life in mind. I was in complete awe of the lyrics, not to mention the flowing melody.

What a dream I had
Pressed in organdy
Clothed in crinoline of smoky Burgundy
Softer than the rain
I wandered empty streets down
Passed the shop displays
I heard cathedral bells
Tripping down the alley ways
As I walked on

And when you ran to me
Your cheeks flushed with the night
We walked on frosted fields of juniper and lamp-light
I held your hand
And when I awoke and felt you warm and near
I kissed your honey hair with my grateful tears
Oh I love you girl
Oh I love you

I also wanted someone who I could love with such complete devotion and who would validate my existence to such an extent that I would also kiss her hair with my grateful tears. I gave the future girl of my dreams a sobriquet - Emily. Someday I was going to find her...

I did. And when I did she was everything that Paul's lyrics say, and more. For her, I gave up things that would have seemed extremely precious to others. And I have never regretted doing that ever. This was my Emily -- I had finally found her. This is what she looks like. And she's married to me now.