music in my ears...

This is something that I've always wondered. If people wear headphones all the time while travelling, doesn't it take away from hearing the myriad sounds of the streets. As I walk to college in the morning, I see people with headphones beginning from their ears and their wires snaking into pant-pockets. Don't they want to hear what all they miss out? The streets are alive with sounds of the city. (LOL! Hey I dont live in Austria like her!) The birds frantically calling out, the hurried cars whizzing about, the friends on a morning walk, the little school children discussing homework ("5 ka table likhna tha..."), the lovers' early morning spat...all these sounds, would you want to miss them out?

Now, as far as music lovers go, I'm a pretty big one. My "first thing in the morning" is to put on my stereo (AAH! the joys of sleeping alone!)... and I HAVE to HAVE my 'current favorite track' playing in the background at all times. But I've lost track of the times I've declined the "Beta, chuck the cell phone, Ill get you an I pod instead". (Which I still think is a rather crappy thing, whatever you say!)...And I don't have a music phone either (I will ALWAYS love you Bobo,the cutest cell phone in the world!), but I don't want to belong to the people who do that. Walk around with music in their ears.

The primary reason I write this, is because, travelling is when I actually think. And read. I come up with most of my blog entries while walking. With most of my poems, and almost every weird idea that I get. I love walking and talking to myself. Its a very therapeutic thing. According to Paulo Coelho, a simple thing like that is akin to speaking with your angel (The Valkyries). So I'd like to not have music then.

And read. What IS better than reading the heavy book to and fro college/class/etc, wherever? I remember lugging around Seth's A Suitable Boy for 3 weeks everywhere I went. (1349 pages, hardbound-NOT a small job!). Fewer things are better than a long bus journey, a comfortable seat, and a good book. (Just remember to tell the Conductor to tell you when to get down... I speak from Experience!).

Now, all this might change were I to be flashy enough to carry a I pod, or whatever is the IN thing currently as of 5/10/2007... or to have a phone with my music collection. When does the mind wander off to un-thought-of things? When do I read the ever growing stack of books I must? Oh, Lord, when do I think of the dearly beloved as well? And most importantly, when do I come up with entries as senseless as this?