FUNKY TOWN- NOSTALGIA.

We all have music in our blood, it pulsates in every beat of our dull dreary lives.
It was a rainy afternoon in late 70s when we saw my dad come home with a khaki coloured box in his hand, 2 people were accompanying him with even larger boxes on their shoulders. We were eagerly awaiting this day.
Our new Philips LP stereo player had arrived in a grand style. The HiQ wooden speakers were mounted on the shelves in the top corners of our hall. The customary pooja was done and an aarti was played to inaugurate the system. Later, Our dad put on a song 'FunkyTown', which was a big raging disco song in our time. We swayed to the hypnotic beats and our neighbour's kids too joined the frenzy. We were all dancing without any care in our small world. This song would be played whenever we had party guests in our house.
This song became an anthem of our childhood. We never understood the lyrics, but it never mattered to us. The music and the rhythmic beats propelled us to dance, unabashed. We as kids would play at full volume and stand at our balcony proudly to observe the reactions of the neighbours of our small building. Special attention was directed at the cute, same aged girls who would giggle at us. We would blush, then.
Sometimes, Our dad, if in high spirits, used to shake a leg or two in his own inimitable style with striped pyjama shorts. Life was fun then.
My dad was attached to this LP player and used to take good care of it. The LP records were regularly cleaned by him.We never dared to open his records cabinet.
As time passed, Audio tapes and CDs made entry in our lives and LP records started dying a slow painful death. The music also changed and the melody just disappeared from the scene.
The youth embraced this shift but our elders sensibly stayed away from this new music. They labelled it as cacophony of destruction. Our non playing, now defunct LP player was eventually sold off to a scrap dealer. My dad was a sad man, that day.
My brother's family had recently flown in from the States. We had a feast that night and we were in pretty high spirits. My new Wharfedale music system had just arrived from UK, it came in a mid sized van. The speakers were as high as my 4 feet daughter. It was manna for the ears. A 7.1 surround Dolby system. It had all the works. The installation itself, had taken half a day ! There was the CD player,Woofer,Speakers, Amplifier and a big network of wires running around the system. My dad was keenly observing the whole set up. As we played the music,he silently observed us dancing merrily. He was reluctant to join us. Age was catching up on him.
My brother had a small surprise for my dad.
He took out a CD from his bag and played it on the system.
'FunkyTown' started emanating from the speakers in all directions of our house. The song was lapped up by our daughters and my small son, they just loved the beats and rhythm. My dad got up from his chair and joined his grand children to have a blast. The kids were happy to see their grand dad dance.
I stood staring outside my balcony, as I used to do before, in my childhood.
I was fighting hard to suppress my tears.