Neha Kirpal reviews Song of the Day: Stories by Preet Modi (published by Westland, 2024).
Twenty-four-year-old Preet Modi’s debut book, Song of the Day (Westland), is a heartfelt collection of short stories set in contemporary times. The stories are like little vignettes of life. They centre on young people who are growing up and chasing dreams while making important changes in their lives, whether from school to college or from college to working life.
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Modi, who grew up in Thane all his life, left for the US when he was eighteen, where he now works as a consultant. Homesickness led him to write this book, which is titled after an old ritual he would pursue along with a friend – exchanging a favourite song every day. With each chapter named after a song, the book indeed reads like a playlist of the author’s favourite songs.
From Schoolyards to Life’s Stages: Friendship, Love, and Loss in Song of the Day
The first story in Song of the Day, ‘Chasing Cars’, is named after a song by Snow Patrol, which is incidentally a personal favourite track of mine too. Kalki and Kabir meet when their common friend, Tara, tragically passes away. The story follows the characters as they finish school and move onto different avenues in their lives – while also gradually coming to terms with the untimely demise of their friend. Set in Mumbai, it is a touching story about letting go and moving on.
It’s natural to feel torn between the things we love. You love Delhi, it’s home. But you also love the dream you’ve been chasing. Love isn’t singular that way. It’s made up of many strands, and it becomes difficult to hold all of them together.
– Preet Modi, Tum Jab Pass (Song of the Day)
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In one of my favourite stories of Song of the Day, ‘Tum Jab Paas’, Aryan and Tanya are part of a school trip on a train, where they spend the whole night talking to each other. After school, Aryan goes to college in London, and as life happens, both of them organically grow apart and lose touch over time. Two years later, they happen to meet each other once again at a wedding. In no time, they manage to pick up from where they had left off, realising that they still have feelings for each other.
Lost and Found: Reuniting with Yesterday’s Dreams
In ‘Thirteen’, we meet Aanya and Dhruv, who have lived in opposite buildings since they were three. The author offers snippets of their conversations right from the time they were eight, and took the same bus back home from school. They continue to hang out with each other over the years. However, as they grow older, life comes in the way, and Aanya moves elsewhere.
Cut to when they’re both 24 and meet once again after a long gap. Dhruv is a “standard, boring Indian engineer”, and Aanya works in investment banking. Dhruv continues to be nostalgic about school, the best time of his life, and wants to keep going back to it. “Now we’ve to live this life of dwindling possibilities,” he muses.
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In ‘Budapest’, a pair of eighteen-year-olds is transitioning from school to college. Ishaan is going to film school in another country, and Vaani is studying to join the civil services. The best of friends, they haven’t somehow got around to communicating their feelings to each other. “Maybe growing up just reduces the possibilities we can imagine. I think I’m more boring as an adult than what I was as a kid,” ponders Vaani at one point.
Snapshots of Life: The Little Moments That Define Us
Other stories in Song of the Day consist of similar refrains and paths. In ‘The Little Things You Do’, Meera puts together a scrapbook for which she collects pictures from the last two years of school. In ‘Iktara’, another favourite song from Wake Up, Sid, Rishi, and Nithya are a pair of twenty-five-year-olds who have known each other since they were kids. Set in New York, where Rishi now lives and works, the story highlights tough life choices and long-distance relationships. In ‘Gulaabi’, a man and a woman in their twenties meet at Mumbai airport only to realise that they went to college together.
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Favourite Quote from Song of the Day by Preet Modi
Maybe as we grow up, we realise how little of what we know is certain.
Conclusion
The transition from school to college is usually not easy. Many new experiences and changes take place—both good and bad. Further, most individuals feel like they are leaving a protected cocoon and entering the “big bad world,” which is precisely why one grows and matures a great deal during this time. A little over 100 pages, Preet Modi’s Song of the Day is a quick and pleasant read.
Modi’s writing has a lilting quality and reads smoothly like a melody. Steeped in nostalgia, the stories in the anthology share recurring themes of young adolescent love, growing up, and coming of age. Though with different plots and scenarios, the stories in Song of the Day all have one thing in common—they are all about “the strange, confusing years of early adulthood”—and often reminded me of The Wonder Years, an old television series that I used to watch growing up in the nineties.
Have you read this collection of short stories that blend nostalgia, young love, and the transition into adulthood? We want to hear your opinions. Comment below and share with us!
