Guilty Pleasures

It hadn't happened to me in a while. However, my cousin from India was in my car, and he left one of his CDs in there. I was bored, and stuck in traffic, and had heard all of mine like ten times. So, I put on his cd, and it happened. It was a bunch of classic Bollywood songs, and before I knew it I thought I was freakin Shah Rukh Khan, and I was singing and dancing like a dork inside my Toyota. The lady next to me witnessed this and began to laugh. It didn't matter, she wouldn't understand anyway. The feeling of hope and joy one gets from singing a Hindi Movie song.

Its quite weird to admit, that I have a guilty pleasure. No, its not singing Bon Jovi's "Livin on a Prayer" or any song by the Backstreet Boys. For some reason, I cannot resist cheesy Bollywood songs. Its embarrasing I know. But what can be done? I knew I was in trouble as soon as the Khabi Kushi Khabi Gam CD came out. I hadn't even seen the damn movie, but during all the songs I pretended to know the words. Of course, I can't speak Hindi that well, so I just sounded like a mumbling idiot, but I was "feelin it" man. I know I'm in trouble whenever I hear new Bollywood songs, because I do that thing people do. You know, where you pretend to know the words, and muster out the few obvious ones in the song, and then hum the rest of it. It sucks, its awkward, but for some reason it makes me feel good about myself.

Having a guilty pleasure is not something easy to deal with. However, we all have them. I know we do. I am ont alone in my cheesy affection for the Bollywood songs. I had a room mate in college who was from south Jersey. He was all Nirvanna and Offspring on the outside, and "Ranga Bar se" on the inside. Its probably why we got along so well. The biggest problem with guilty pleasures is that you never know when you'll act them out. These secretly admired songs might be on your ipod, and in the middle of a run you might start bustin out "Pretty Woman - Dheko Dheko na" and no one will have a clue as to what is happening. Its just something that truly does get you by surprise every time.

The worst however, is when you actually recall the scene in the movie that the song is from. You actually recall the moment, and you remember it. Why does the mind play such tricks on us? Why can't we just enjoy a song and forget it. However, I've always wondered why India is the only country in the world that puts so much emphasis on the damn songs in the movies. I guess I finally have my answer. The song, reminds you so much of the movie. Its how they get you I guess. In any case, I guess the first part about solving a problem is admitting you have one. Maybe now, I can recover or at least not start humming during a meeting at work.