When Mumbai-based dance professional Shivani Gawde was going through a tough time in 2021, she found solace in music. “My dad was admitted in hospital and I had to fulfill many ‘adulting’ responsibilities. It was an overwhelming time,” she opens up about her experience.

Sharing how music became her anchor back then, Gawde says, “My dad and I share a common love for ‘ghazals’. So, I would sit beside him in the hospital and play songs for him, and that’s how we got through the day. During that time, I was part of an online community where music artistes used to gather and just jam. They would also take requests. On one particularly overwhelming day, when my dad was asleep in the hospital, I put in a request for the song ‘Aaj Jaane Ki Zidd Na Karo’, which we both love. The artiste sang the song, and that memory is locked with me forever.  In that moment, I felt okay.”

Besides the song itself, the 33-year-old also found solace in the moral support the artistes and the community extended to her, and she also ended up with a friend.