O My Heart, Tell me a story.

This lovely song wafted into my social media feed today and has been playing on a loop ever since. It is one of those solo songs to the self that were popular in old Hindi films, usually rendered by a singer walking on a path that is clearly an allegory for life.

A similar song is Main Zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya which is a philosophical meditation on the ups and downs, the realities of life, in which hero has more or less reconciled to his lot and carries on the path staying true to his purpose; smoking away his worries, celebrating his failures and putting his losses behind him, marching towards a state where he would find equanimity in sorrow and joy, musing for just a moment on the image of the woman he loves as he prepares to go to the battlefield, literally.

The tone here is more hopeful. Sauntering down a misty hillside at night as he returns home after work, the hero sings to his heart, asking it to tell him a story which will give him confidence to face whatever is going to come next in the long road of life, for his destination is yet unknown. He does not sound unduly worried about the future as he delights in the cool breeze and takes in the beauty around him; the dreamy landscape, the mountains sleeping with their heads resting against the billowing clouds and the trees drenched in moonlight, and compares himself to a star wandering through a village of clouds. There is the unspoken promise of romance in the air as a beautiful woman listens to him from her window, enraptured. But for the moment the hero is happy and content by himself, at peace despite the uncertainty that he sings of, playfully asking his heart to tell him a story.