I had a major Bollywood music geek out last night, squeeing my way through the iTunes store. Ultimately, I only bought seven songs, but the joy was so heady I felt like I was cleaning out the whole collection. It’s truly wonderful, how affected I am by this music. I have a connection to it that’s not quite the same as my connection to Western music, because Hindi movies and their songs are really how I first connected with my heritage. (Sure, there’s Bengali music, too, but that’s not quite as fun.) Music transcends language, so I loved this part of where I came from even before I really understood any of the words.

I bought “Yeh Dosti,” by Kishore Kumar & Manna Dey and “Mehbooba Mehbooba,” by Rahul Dev Burman from Sholay, “Aaj Phir Jeene Ki,” by Lata Mangeshkar from Guide, “Aaja Re Pardesi,” also by Lata, from Madhumati, and Hemant Kumar’s “Hain Apna Dil” (Solva Saal) and “Zara Nazron Se Kehdo” (Bees Saal Baad). And oh…! “Ab Ke Saajan Sawan Mein” from Chupke Chupke. Just gorgeous, old school, classics.

Still tempted to go back and purchase SO many things. Like “Tere Mere Milan Ki,” “Pyar Diwana Hota Hai,” “Yeh Kya Hua,” “Khaike Paan Banaraswala,” “Mere Samnewali Khidki Mein.”

Okay, the list could go on infinitely. And that’s just from primarily the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.

Oh, God. I really shouldn’t have gone back to iTunes for references. I just bought “Dafli Wale,” by Lata and Mohd. Rafi.

::face-palm::