| October’s Question of the Month |
| By Rabia Ejaz (Lahore, Pakistan) |
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Answer: We have mentioned before in some interviews that the lyrics we write are firstly, and fore-mostly related to what we have experienced in our own life. Take any of the songs in Suno Ke Main Hun Jawan (SKMHJ) (which we have written ourselves); in each one of them there is a depiction of the emotions and thoughts that a youngster experiences in his/her everyday life. These are feelings of joy and success; sorrow and sarcasm when one looks at the negativities surrounding him; determination and zeal when one thinks about achieving greatness; and even the pain and disgust when someone seems to lose hope and finds herself stuck and directionless on her way to fulfilling her dreams. Every young person experiences such feelings when passing through this age and definitely we, the members of noori, have gone through such experiences as well. In fact we still go through them, just like any other human being! What made us want to depict such thoughts and emotions? We think the most important factor over here have been our parents and family. Since childhood, we have been made to understand the importance and significance of our sensitivities. We have been taught that one can’t just think about oneself and live life selfishly in one’s own world; that it seriously backfires if you do so! We are very lucky to have had educated and selfless parents. They not only thought about what is best for their children, but also about what were best for every one around them. And they always made an effort to help make our lives better. We have learnt from their example to become sensitive towards our surroundings; this does not mean that you should be aware of what is happening around you, but that you should also have objective principles (as opposed to subjective and personal dos and don’ts). You should learn how to judge whether what is happening around you is right or wrong. And then you also try to figure out how life ought to be lived, how things ought to be done. The lyrics we have written are simply a product of the way our sensitivities have been nurtured since early childhood. We always made an effort to observe ourselves as outsiders. By doing that we discovered what being young was all about. We found out that there is something common between what every youngster goes through, be it a girl or a boy, or even a Lahori or a Karachiite! As far as the message of SKMHJ is concerned, it is simply to make the best out of our youth; a time when we have ample energy reserves and strength to pave a strong path for a happy and fulfilling life in the future. How often do we to follow it? Well, we try every single day of our life! Of course we are human; we don’t have perfect knowledge, nor do we know perfect logic; we make mistakes (sometimes very big ones!); we are also entering an older stage in life and we can feel our energy reserves dissipating. But, at the same time, we have also come to realize that there is something about being young, which should never be lost. That we mustn’t stop working hard; in fact we must work harder and harder. Also, we mustn’t lose out on our dreams and aspirations; though, one does come to a point time and again, when one realizes that what I had been looking for all this time wasn’t what I had actually set out to seek! But that’s the whole point of seeking! And if we search with honesty and pureness in our hearts, we will always move in the right direction. To discover newer and better truths, is our main purpose in life! And
by the end of it (our life that is), even if we don’t find what
we set out to discover, or we don’t achieve all that we wanted to,
we will still be satisfied and tell ourselves that “Man, at least,
I made an honest effort, and never stopped making it!” |