Teju's Musings

– + The Collaboration “Sure thing! Thanks, guys!” Ari said, her voice filled with gratitude. She was genuinely moved by their support. “Anyways…” Ravi leaned in, grinning wide. “Is your first song done yet? I’m already dying of curiosity.” “Yo, dude! Ever learnt the word ' space' ?” Tina cut in dryly as she joined the group after hitching an Uber. Ravi straightened immediately, grumbling under his breath. He never quite got along with Tina — she was too quiet, too detached. You’d only ever find her cooking or scrolling through her phone. To everyone’s surprise, Tina turned to Ari and said, “Congrats, Ari!... I heard the convo and subscribed.” She held up her phone. “This is your channel, right?” The screen read: ‘Putti Songs – 42 subscribers.’ (most of the subscribers are friends of Mira , forced into subscription by her) Ari’s eyes widened, then softened. “Yes… that’s the one. Thank you, Tina.” Tina shrugged. “Don’t mention it. It’s the least...

– + Spark Scritch~ Scritch~ As soon as she had entered her room, Ari sat cross-legged on the bed, pulling her songs notebook and a pen from her bag, which now lay haphazardly on the floor. Excited by her new inspiration for the tune— with a strong instinct that it might actually work this time—she retrieved her phone and opened a free online piano website. The notebook and pen rested on her lap, awaiting her attention. Having known how to play the basics of piano notes—Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Da Ni Sa—since college, she began working out the tune, making small tweaks to fit her lyrics while humming and tapping on the phone screen.  After a while, she figured something out. Thrilled, she quickly jotted down the music notes above her lyrics in the notebook. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, she glanced at her watch: 4:00 p.m .  Her eyes widened. Stuffing her notebook into her bag, she rushed to freshen up— oh no! only a few minutes left before she had to catch th...

– + Lullaby Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound of fingers hitting the laptop keys echoed through the otherwise quiet hostel room. With her roommate gone for a family event, Ari had the space all to herself. “And… done!” she announced dramatically, stretching her arms above her head and groaning. After an hour of working on her remote data-entry job, she padded over to the water tin in the corridor to refill her bottle. It had been four days since her visit to the flower market—and equally four days since the two best friends had impulsively created a YouTube channel at the tea stall. While Mira had volunteered to handle editing and channel maintenance, Ari knew the main responsibility of creating content rested on her shoulders. After all, what’s a YouTube channel without anything to post? Mira had told her it was okay to take things slow, and Ari had agreed—wanting the first song to be special. But the thrill of doing something new made her pulse quicken. Unlike her u...