QUE SERA SERA, WHATEVER WILL BE, WILL BE!

 

                                                                                               Facebook

Ever since I was a little girl, I have heard my mom, and then Doris Day, sing this song, a song which has stayed with me over the decades. It was a song that was simple to sing and yet, held a whole lifetime within its lyrics. I still recall asking my mother what I would be when I grew up.

When I was just a little girl,

I asked my mother what will I be,

Will I be pretty, will I be rich,

Here’s what she said to me.

Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be,

The future’s not ours to see, que sera sera,

What will be, will be.

                                                                                                      Spotify

School days were all exciting. Being an Army brat, I moved from place to place with my parents, attending different schools, from New Delhi to Bangalore, and Jammu to Visakhapatnam. Every time I would walk into a new school and make new friends. That is when the next query arose in my mind.

When I was just a child in school,

I asked my teacher what should I try,

Should I paint pictures, should I sing songs,

Here was her wise reply.

Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be,

The future’s not ours to see, que sera sera,

What will be, will be.

College days made me blossom out as we did everything under the sun. Writing, poetry, dramatics, politics – all along with academics. Those were the days when I would drive to college in a moped, the first girl in Thrissur to do so. I was also the first girl to take part in the English drama and act the role of a fourteen-year-old boy in a play by Jean Paul Sartre. This even though I was a student in a co educational college. The irony was that I won the Best Actress Award for playing the role of a young boy!

It was when I was doing my post-graduation that I was swept off my feet by a dashing young Army Captain who had come down on leave to be with his parents for a while. The next stanza in the song echoed in my heart. 

When I grew up and fell in love,

I asked my sweetheart what lies ahead.

Will there be rainbows day after day?

Here’s what my sweetheart said.

Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be,

The future’s not ours to see, que sera sera,

What will be, will be.

Wedding bells sounded soon after, I was swept away to the tiny town of Bhuj in Gujarat, a place which would be in the news as the epicentre of the devastating earthquake years later. The Indian Army took me into its bosom and from an Army brat, I turned into an Army wife, setting foot into a life that would envelop me for the next thirty plus years.

                                                                                         Song Lyric Prints

Two years after we got married came a precious gift into our lives – the birth of our little daughter, the apple of our eye. She not only brought us immense joy, but became our very life breath. In due course of time, she grew up, attended college, got married to a wonderful young man, and doubled our joy by gifting us two adorable grandchildren – a demure little girl followed by a mischievous charmer of a boy.                                                                                       

The final stanza of my favourite song had finally come round.

Now I have children of my own,

They ask their mother what will I be.

Will I be pretty, will I be rich?

I tell them tenderly.

Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be,

The future’s not ours to see, que sera sera,

Whatever will be, will be.

                                                                                                  Pinterest

I still remember the time when we my husband and I went to visit my daughter and her family during the summer holidays. “Ma, the little ones have a surprise for you,” my daughter whispered. The two little ones first sang another favourite number of ours – ‘There’s a Smile on Your Face, Mooma; There’s a Smile on Your Face, Nana!’

They followed that up with ‘Que Sera Sera’.

Life had come round full circle!

Below: Que Sera Sera by Doris Day for Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'.

https://youtu.be/xZbKHDPPrrc?si=fyQfCJhju5yfqaEL

Getty Images

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