Under The Red Sky
Or how we discover our music.
In 1993 my family relocated from Delhi to Bhopal. As a parting gift, TJ gave me a cassette tape of Bob Dylan's greatest hits. I listened to that tape till it was more distortion than music. I looked high and low but couldn't find another Bob Dylan cassette in all of Bhopal.
Then we visited a family friend. Don't remember who they were. They lived in number 10 market, opposite Manohar dairy, and owned all the shops there. The youngest of the family had an original of Under The Red Sky by Bob Dylan. It was perhaps Dylan's most forgettable album, but I still tried for weeks to get a copy of it from this guy.
A couple of years later I got a CD drive. Tabrez would give me CDs, ostensibly from his dad's airplane. I listened to so much MJ.
Summer of 1996, I was at Panjab University, Chandigarh. I went down to Sector 17, looking for music. Realised I couldn't afford any of the good music because it was all imported. Also didn't find Under The Red Sky.
1998. College. My friends got tired of me always listening to Dylan. I discovered other music. And suddenly my music library exploded. Fresher western music night, someone sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane" live. (Anyone here remember who she was?)
2011 I first used Spotify. All the music in the world, at the tips of your finger. And yet, it took my thirteen more years, till tonight, to finally listen to Under The Red Sky again. For only the second time in my life.
Or how we discover our music.
In 1993 my family relocated from Delhi to Bhopal. As a parting gift, TJ gave me a cassette tape of Bob Dylan's greatest hits. I listened to that tape till it was more distortion than music. I looked high and low but couldn't find another Bob Dylan cassette in all of Bhopal.
Then we visited a family friend. Don't remember who they were. They lived in number 10 market, opposite Manohar dairy, and owned all the shops there. The youngest of the family had an original of Under The Red Sky by Bob Dylan. It was perhaps Dylan's most forgettable album, but I still tried for weeks to get a copy of it from this guy.
A couple of years later I got a CD drive. Tabrez would give me CDs, ostensibly from his dad's airplane. I listened to so much MJ.
Summer of 1996, I was at Panjab University, Chandigarh. I went down to Sector 17, looking for music. Realised I couldn't afford any of the good music because it was all imported. Also didn't find Under The Red Sky.
1998. College. My friends got tired of me always listening to Dylan. I discovered other music. And suddenly my music library exploded. Fresher western music night, someone sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane" live. (Anyone here remember who she was?)
2011 I first used Spotify. All the music in the world, at the tips of your finger. And yet, it took my thirteen more years, till tonight, to finally listen to Under The Red Sky again. For only the second time in my life.