While the whole world was on the field playing some game or the other, I was stuck in front of the television. I hated sports; I still do. So I spent the one and a half hours from 5 pm in front of the television. Those were the infant days of MTV in India. Rahul Khanna played the day's popular songs in a programme called MTV's Most Wanted (I think). The audience for this show in the TV room at Gymkhana consisted of I and only I At times, a curious head would pop in, watch the TV for a few moments, give me a curious look and walk off shaking his head. But I did not care; every evening I watched Soundgarden sing "Black Hole Sun", Snow sing "Informer", Ini Kamoze sing "Here comes the hot stepper" (I still can't get the annoying Naaa na na na naaa na na na naaaa... off my head) and other songs. Though I enjoyed watching the songs, most groups did not influence me much, not even Soundgarden. The only group that influenced me then was The Cranberries. Their song "The Zombie" was a regular feature and I loved everything about the song. The heavy metal guitars, the dark tone of the song and the video and the gold painted Dolores O'Riordan. Within a few months, I had two of their albums in my collection and the songs played regularly in my room.
As time passed, my musical preferences changed and the air time The Cranberries received reduced. But every time I heard their songs, it was not just for nostalgia. I love their songs, especially Dolores' voice and singing style.
Among all the deaths in recent times, the death of Dolores feels like a personal loss. I know nothing about her other than her songs but her death seems to tell me that my own end is near.
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