Investing in your family lullaby

Everyone who knows me , knows how much I love to sing but can only manage to croak a bit. On several ocasions people have requested me to stop singing :). But ofcourse so far that has not deterred me from humming and singing any tune I hear on the radio. On the other hand, I am married to someone who not only loves to sing .. but also sings beautifully. But the irony of the situation is that it's me who ends up singing all our family lullabies and it's unfortunately me who gave my kids their first vocal lesson. So that leaves me with very little hope for any of them pursuing a singing career, even though that's my favorite career for them. Nevertheless, my sing has established a wonderful musical connection with my kids.

At long last, I finally have two admirers for my singing, atleast till they know better. When Ishaan was just a newborn, I would sing to him all day long. It had such a sweet lulling effect on him. He was a pretty colicky baby and I would spend hours just rocking him and singing to him. We made a connection especially with one song ... It was a lullaby that I only heard my sister singing. A song from the movie Muskurahat. The original song was meant for a girl baby. But my sister had modified it for Ishaan

Soja Soja Rajkumar (Sleep my dear prince)

Chand Sitaare So rahe (The moon and the stars are sleeping)

Mai Jaagoo Nadiya Jaage (I stay awake and so does the river)

Pankh Pakheru So gaye (The birds and butterflies have slept)

The tune of this song was so melodious that I couldn't help steal it and make it my family lullaby. This song always has had the desired effect on Ishaan and now Rayaan. I have even heard Ishaan hum and sing the song for Rayaan when he tries to put him asleep. I had never heard the original song and yesterday I decided to give my web search skills a try. After a massive combing operation, I eventually found this lullaby.

http://www.desi-radio.com/ondemand.php?songid[]=19663

It's amazing how lullabies soothe the soul. With our busy lifestyles we often forget the time honored , tried and tested method to calm fussy babies. From my experience, both as a kid and as a mother, there is nothing that can quite replace these intimate moments of connection between the mother and the child. When Rayaan was still in my tummy, I used to take Ishaan for kindermusik classes and one song we learnt there left a mark in my mind. After Rayaan was born, I would unwittingly sing that song to him all the time with different words that I made up myself.

Eg.

Its our time to sing a little song

Its our time to take a little nap

Its our time to take a little shower. etc. etc.

This tune/song has a remote control effect on Rayaan. If I hear him wake up and cry, I can sing this song from the other room and he will just go right back to sleep.

There are some songs and tunes that give me a painfully sweet nostalgia. Often I cannot index into the right page in my memory but images of me playing in a park or a feeling of being on a swing, overwhelm me. It makes me wonder if the song I heard had some relevance to my childhood. There is one such Malayalam song "Ayiram Kannumai" among the numerous other songs my mother would sing to us, that transports me into a flashback mode. When I hear these tunes playing, it always gives me a feeling of being cared for, of being secure and protected. It's almost a kind of soul soothing food.

So here's to this age old technique of melting hearts and making unwitting memories. Here's to Brahms and all the hush-a-byes that become a family heirloom forever.