Bear with me, because this is going to be a garbled mess of stories.
Having a curated group of friends, with permutations and combinations for different occasions, and being the designated DJ 97% of the time comes with a large list of “paired devices” on my phone. A chill night in? I got a playlist to zone out to. Party? “Put on the playlist with the fire emoji” Road trip? I got you.
Apart from the fact that it’s hard to locate the speakers in my room on that list, it’s really not the worst thing in the world. Scrolling down that list, reading each name, I’m reminded of a memory I keep so close to my heart.
CONNECTNE><T
2015
Around the time my father was living in a small town in Gujarat, and my mother was visiting him, I had just walked into a career funk and tailspun into aimlessness. I flew to the Ahmedabad airport, and we set out on a road trip SO GREAT it left my heart broken when I had to leave Gujarat — a feeling I never thought I would experience. We travelled to remote villages, the roads to which sometimes looked like what I would picture roads in Mexico to be like, met locals and deep-dived into their craft. After I left, I didn’t think I was capable of feeling separation anxiety for my parents at 21, but such is life and life is such.
TANTRA FLUKE
2018
It was the first month of my relationship with my boyfriend when I was going to visit him, about an hour away from my home. I was in his best friend’s car, and it was the first time he and I got to spend time together and chat. We had the kind of conversations that you couldn’t recount word for word, but the kind that left you with that feeling of “this guy’s a cool guy. He’s going to be in my life for a very long time” It’s a good experience creating a bond with your significant other’s best friend, and a little challenging treading the fine line between “comfortable conversations” and “best friend’s crazy girlfriend” but dare I say, I did well.
boAT Rockerz 600
2016
The headphones that I had borrowed from my childhood pal soon became my best friend during an unfortunate holiday up to Corbett National Park. Travelling with a group of people I have little to nothing in common with, has definitely been the worst decision I made in my travelling career. But it gave me the chance to sit by the river, zone out to music and finish a book on the holocaust I had been struggling with for a year. Silver linings.
Car Multi_Bloo
2018
It was a long journey to kickstart my first solo travel [3 Strangers, 4 airports]. But once I did, what a great two weeks. My best friend, Hayaat, and I did the Great Ocean Road-Roadtrip. He’s a bit of a “listen to the radio” sort of guy, so when I was finally able to gain control of the music, things went SO right, that we ended up in a charming little off-the-grid town called Queenscliffe where we had the best coffee and crepes of our lives.
VW RADIO
2010
One morning, instead of waking me up at 7AM for school, my mother woke me up at 6AM because the parents had made an overnight decision to lug their kids to Rajasthan because WHY NOT? My parents aren’t day-to-day spontaneity folk, but when it comes to holidays and moving homes? Experts. Yes, my sister and I fought for music control through the journey and as always, I won.
CRETA
2018 — Present
This is the system in my boyfriend’s car. Because we live so far away, our drives when he drops me home are always the most splendid. We have to cross an entire country road (the only ones that are flawless) to reach my house, and even though my ears are blocked because of the undulating nature of the drive, it’s our chance to share music, make fun of each other and have (important but) uncomfortable conversations (that need to be had).
VWBRA
Since forever — Until the end of time
Here’s my favourite one: It’s the car my sister drives.
In this space, we don’t fight and we don’t argue. Egos are suspended and windows are rolled down. NO ONE else is allowed to connect to this system (except for our honorary third sister, Aman). We have a few songs that range from Kailash Kher (he may be cancelled but our love for Teri Deewani transcends reason) to Lewis Del Mar with the best of bollywood from the early 00s. No one, not a single soul can ruin the sanctity of this space, because it’s so well preserved by the relationship my sister and I share.
Written By Ruhi Baweja
Week 31, August ’19
