Here and There.

Monsoon season is officially here. Karachi got it's first real lashing of rain today, it was amazing. One thing that I've noticed is that when it rains here, things don't really get all grey and gloomy the way rain is generally described. Far from it in fact, everything becomes more intense, as if someone switched the light settings of my brain around, all the colours become deeper, the greens are greener, the reds are redder, whites are whiter, etc. And it feels like a purely Karachi thing, because I remember my time in Kuala Lumpur; it used to rain like crazy there, all year round, and it would get really dark and grey and gloomy, because the cloud cover used to be so thick, all charcoal and menacing, complete with thunder and lightening, the works. I'm guessing Karachi rain is just brighter because we usually get the tail end of the monsoon and the showers are usually short lived , so the clouds are just thinner. But whatever the reason, rain in Karachi is a lot of fun, most of the time.

In other news, there's this french song "Alors on Danse" by Stromae, that's been all over the place; on the radio, on my facebook news feed- posted by a bunch of different friends etc. It's a good song, has an amazing beat obviously, but what I love about it are the lyrics.

So we just dance
So we just dance
So we just dance
When we say study, it means work,
When we say work, it means money,
When we say money, it means spending
When we say credit, it means debt,
When we say debt, it means bailiff,
We agree to being in deep sh*t
When we say love, it means kids,
When we say forever, it means divorce.
When we say family, we say grief, because misfortune never comes alone.
When we say crisis, we talk about the wold, famine and then third world.
When we say tiredness, we talk about waking up still deaf from sleepless night
So we just go out to forget all our problems.
So we just dance… (X9)
So you say that it’s over because the only thing worse would be death.
When you finally think you’ll make it, there’s more and more!
Ecstasy means a problem, problems or just music.
It grabs you by the guts, it takes hold of your head and then you pray for it to end.
But your body is no heaven so you block your ears even more.
And then you yell even louder and it goes on…
So we just sing
Lalalalalala, Lalalalalala,
So we just sing
Lalalalalala, Lalalalalala,
So we just sing
So we just sing
And then only when it’s over, then we dance.
So we just dance (x7)
And well, there’s still more (x5)

The beat and the lyrics, once you translate them, seem so completely disjointed but at the same time they really gel. And on their own, if the translation I found is correct, the lyrics have so many shades, like the writer couldn't make up his mind how he felt about the state of things either. He's equal parts derisive and disenchanted, overall cynical, but with an undertone that I can't seem to find a word for; Resigned? Acquiescent? Fatalistic maybe? I'm not quite sure, but that's exactly why I like it.