Friends of ours bought a car, second hand. We were invited to join them for their first ride and we went out together for dinner. After many rides on a scooter through the murderous traffic of Chennai, we all enjoyed the nice and comfortable car ride instead. When we reached the restaurant, we had to reverse the car to park. And there it was: like many cars in India, especially the little older ones (for the new ones you rarely notice it nowadays and you start to think that it’s a gone by fashion of sorts), this one had a tune when putting in the reverse gear. And this was not any tune, not some Bollywood movie song, We wish you a Merry Christmas etc.; this car had the tune of Lambada! The children of our friends said, what a stupid song this was, and which song after all. But for me, Lambada was the ultimate sound of going backwards, rather in a metaphorical sense.
Going back to the year 2000: A student in my early 20s, I decided to spend a year of my studies abroad. Somehow a sudden boldness and sense of adventure took me to India. After arriving here, in the initial stage, things seemed truly strange to me. Even the basic things of life seemed difficult to perform. There were many things happening around me, which were absolutely new to me. I have to admit, a feeling of being lost crept in. One Sunday morning, when I felt so helpless, I hadn’t even managed to go to church somewhere, I suddenly heard a sound. Sitting lonely in my room, I was unexpectedly surrounded by a very familiar tune: the tune of Lambada! This soothing sound of familiarity helped me to develop some courageous and step out of my room. When trying to find out the source of Lambada, it took me a few seconds. I looked around, till I finally understood, that it came from that car which was this moment reversing in front of my residence. I smiled. I had sorted out one more mystery of everyday life in India, and I had found a tune bridging the gap between life at home and life in India.
Going back to the year 1990: We were in our sweet teens, trying hard to grow up or at least appear grown up. Especially during birthday parties we were not satisfied any longer with playing ‘Hide and Seek’ and eating cake, potato chips and chocolates. We wanted to act a bit more sophisticated. Slowly, also an understanding of the difference and yet the attraction between boys and girls entered into our thinking, at a quiet innocent level still, but nevertheless. Working hard on this image change, there came a song to our rescue. Lambada! A hit song by a French music group, that had truly swept the charts and was absolutely popular during those days. The music video featured a popular Brazilian couple dance. Luckily, the parents of one classmate had learned the basics of this quite sensual dance. And one fine birthday party at their house, you could see all of us trying hard to follow the instructions of the mother of our friend. We were really trying hard! The two boys who were also invited to the birthday party were highly sought after dance partners. And we felt like we had grown up quite a bit, just during this one afternoon.
Though it might really be an outdated tune, and our friends’ kids rightly demand another tune if one at all for reversing the car, for me it was heaven to listen once again to this tune which has been part of my life for a long time now.
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