For those of you reading this in Mumbai, it might be hard to fathom the ecstasy of seeing and hearing the few drops that have begun to trickle down from the gradually crackling Delhi skies, considering how much rain you-ve witnessed over the week. But this afternoon the humidity was so intense that cooking felt like a self-inflicted form of torture. For days, we-ve been looking forward to any slight shift in the weather pattern, even the meekest sign of respite from the unbearable, sweltering heat. I-m listening to Etta James crooning, "I-d Rather Be Blind". I have spent the week reflecting on the past; on the screaming and wailing of prophetic female seers.

Etta concluded and I-ve decided I must listen to Nina Simone-s "I Shall be Released". There-s an eerie tonal similarity between the two songs. "I see my light come shining, from the West down to the East/Any day now, any day now/I shall be released," she chants. I feel the urgency of her words, the feeling of immanent liberation. The lyrics were penned by Bob Dylan, but as most of his songs go, like in the case of Leonard Cohen, they-re often better interpreted by anyone other than him. In any case, when Nina Simone -covers- a song, she infuses it with more semantic currency than intended. It-s not that she pays homage to the original, or that she is even appropriating it, she simply transforms its core so that it now has a new heartbeat.