Do you listen to radio often?

When I grew up in 70s and 80s in developing country like India my options in pretty much everything were limited, including listening to music. I was quite fond of listening to music but the only available source of music back then was our radio. The sound quality was average, programs had fixed timing. The concept of RJ was non existent, I assumed that news readers announced the next songs in dull and drab manner without an iota of excitement. But the best part of listening to the radio was listening to new music. One could never guess what the next song would be and if you liked the song you could never know when you would get to listen to it again. I didn't have any means to record the song so I would sit with a notebook and try to write down the lyrics. I could not pause the song to write down the lyrics nor could I rewind the song that I liked nor could I fast forward a song that I didn't like. I could just enjoy the music with all its uncertainties.

Things did evolve ever since. I got my cassette player which ensured I got my favorite music albeit in the most predictable and hence boring manner. After I listened to a cassette a few times, I would start humming the next song even before the song was over. The extreme predictability made it boring.

Then I bought my CD player. My own favorite music with randomization function made things very interesting. A small change that made the music interesting. Now off course, I listen to spooled music from web. I create virtual playlists, combine songs from different movies, different artists, different eras and randomize them to listen. Its a bliss! Everything that you wanted, nothing that you didn't want and presented in an interesting manner. I can pause, rewind and fast forward as I please. There is no need to listen to radio anymore.

But life comes with its own twists and turns. One day my phone was discharged and I switched on the radio again. To my surprise I enjoyed it again. I listened to some new songs which I could have never found in my new music search. I listened to some new artists whom I had rejected initially. I did listen to a lot of songs which I didn't like but I really enjoyed the unpredictability, the suspense, the excitement again. I went back to my playlist and added those songs to make it even more interesting. A dash of newness made my playlist more interesting. Since then I make it a point to listen to radio for a while and keep on enriching my playlist.

Come to think about it, how is life any different? We love our all predictable, favorable routine. But what is the fun without a dash of unpredictability, a dash of adventure, a dash of unexpected song. It may not work out exactly the way you want but thats where the fun lies!

Keep the life interesting keep sometime to listen to radio everyday!