By Jonathan Donald Syiemlieh
Conceived by front-man Droopad Bujarbaruah (in blue T-shirt in picture), The Flower Child, is an idea, a person on an endeavour to unite with mother energy and spread peace and love while on that journey.
Droopad decided to adopt the term as a nom de plume that eventually became the act itself. He draws influences from multiple things, be it a drop of water, a smile, a touch to the sun, the space or the energy. After moving to Mumbai, he started piecing the idea of The Flower Child. Without any musician to form a band with or to back him up, Droopad started composing and writing songs for The Flower Child’s debut album. Initially the struggle was extremely difficult since Mumbai is an expensive city with a fast-paced life and it was almost impossible to find like-minded musicians who were willing to give his sound an opportunity.
The initial stage for The Flower Child was seen mostly in open-mic events because since it was a new act, and the sound was way too diverse, starting from alternative rock, jazz to eventually delving into metal, progressive, experimental and classical fusion, left the organisers and venues highly puzzled as to where to place this act. Down the line, Droopad managed to get together a handful of musicians who after a brief time left this scene for bigger and better opportunities. Eventually the current line-up, namely, Arko Ganguly (drums), Prateek Singh (guitars) and Ankit Rawat (bass guitar) came to his aid, even though they were all scattered across the country and together the full form of The Flower Child was conceived on a cold January night at Strawberry Fields 2019, Bengaluru, and the band has not looked back since.
Two Fools in a Jar was composed by Droopad in a dusty Delhi basement where he was running his own music school and jampad. Though he always wore a smile and tried to emit warmth, it was a very lonely and difficult phase for him. From a struggling musician who was constantly dreaming about making it big, he suddenly had the weight of a business on his shoulders without having any knowhow of business operation.
Simultaneously, he was also witnessing his band falling apart and this in turn became a hindrance to bagging more shows and moving on. With all of this simultaneously taking place, Droopad usually found himself alone in the basement and he began to realise that these emotions were starting to take a toll on him. That is when he dived deeper into his music.
The first step in order to move on was to learn how to love the self and not be pitiful about whatever state that one is in. Two Fools in a Jar is that idea hidden in plain sight, masked as pure love between two souls. Through Two Fools in a Jar, Droopad longed to find love for himself first so that he could love another just the same. Our inner self is always ready to give unconditional love but it is the conscious mind that reciprocates through the eyes of the ego.
Two Fools in a Jar is like two entities (two fools) trapped in one body (jar). In some ways it may bear a feeble resemblance to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. There are a lot of subtle cues implanted within the lyrics of the songs, the major one being the line at the bridge “We are, we are beautiful together, in a jar, two fools in a jar.” In the video you can see the protagonist slowly head towards depression and frustration till the climax when finally The Flower Child appears, revealing the beauty that lies within the mess. Yet this is one of the perceptions of the song as the song is susceptible to multiple interpretations, one of them being longingness to merge with the one you love.
However, the ultimate message of the song is that love is a very powerful tool that we are fortunate enough to experience. It can take a person to great heights or it can destroy them. We need to learn to love ourselves for the way we are, improve ourselves and also not to take someone else’s love for granted.
The Flower Child would possibly revolve around the idea of looking within ourselves, striving to hold on to the light, the idea of attaining true freedom but on the other side, The Flower Child is also romantic and the concept of love definitely makes the world a better place. There is a ‘Flower Child’ in all of us, let us reconnect with that child and help spread love and positivity in this world.
(The author is an Associate Fellow at The Energy & Resources Institute, New Delhi, and artist evangelist, The Living Room Sessions) (The Flower Child can be found on https://www.facebook.com/theflowerchildmusic, https://www.instagram.com/flowerchild_music/)