Into Your World

8.

"Mira, I think I told you and mum thousands of times, I'm not agreeing to the surgery." Kabir whined as Mira made him sit down on the sofa while she herself settled on the chair across him.

"Exactly. So you need to give me a convincing reason as to why I should support you."

"Can you speak in a language that is more human?"

Mira rolled her eyes. "To put simply, I want you to show me what music means to you. What your guitar means to you. You told me, music makes you feel alive didn't you? So show me. How?"

Kabir stared at Mira with an expressionless face for good 2 minutes. He then reached out and placed the back of his palm over Mira's forehead. "You good? You sure, you are not sick?"

Mira sighed. "If you don't take up my offer in the next minute, consider your surgery confirmed."

"Yes maam! Also did you know, sometimes you are more scarier than mom but obviously no matter what, I'll always be more scared of moms. I don't know how but their intuition is eerily correct."

Mira pushed the bridge of her nose a little with her index finger, in frustration. Kabir's motor movements had slowed down more in the past few days but he was still somehow full of positivity and dumb jokes.

"Alright! So I'll start by singing the song, which is my go-to medicine."

This is an anthem for the homesick, for the beaten

The lost, the broke, the defeated

A song for the heartsick, for the standbys

Living life in the shadow of a goodbye

Do you remember when we learned how to fly?

We'd play make-believe; we were young and had time on our side

You're stuck on the ground

Got lost, can't be found

Just remember that you're still alive

I'll carry you home

No, you're not alone

Keep marching on

This is worth fighting for

You know we've all got battle scars

You've had enough

But just don't give up

Stick to your guns

You are worth fighting for

You know we've all got battle scars

Keep marching on

The song ended but Kabir kept strumming one or the other tunes on his guitar like a background music for our conversation.

"You said stories reflect our struggles and experiences right? True. Music does the same. I think if stories take us to their world, music brings that world to us. Everytime, I play this song I don't feel in third person perspective and then relate to it. No, I feel it in first person perspective. Are you able to understand?"

Mira hesitantly nodded. "I think I get what you are trying to say. It's not like I am recalling what those emotions felt like to re-experience it, rather it's like the emotions are unfolding right in that moment. It feels as if you are right there, and instead of documenting your feelings, you are singing them aloud for the world to document it for you...."

Kabir smiled at your words. "When I'm playing the guitar, it's not only a way to soothe people's wounded hearts but also way to let myself melt away from whatever burdens I carry. I feel free, unrestricted. It's like my guitar understands me more than I do. Just like how stories speak to you and you speak through them, music speaks to me and I speak through it."