Songs of Acceptance: Three Hindi songs that saved my neurodivergent soul

The songs that taught me I wasn't broken, just different.

Today, I see myself as a neurodivergent¹, creative, gifted adult.

Growing up in 1990s India, I had no words to explain why I was different. No ADHD diagnosis. No framework for my non-conforming ways.

Most days, I felt like an unironed pile of clothes.

When I look back, songs helped me embrace both - my confusion and joy of being myself. Even today, art tells me who I am, better than any diagnostic manual. Here are three songs that taught me I wasn’t broken, just different.

The Mystery of Being Different

1. Main Aisa Kyun Hu - Lakshya (2004)

I remember watching this song on our small and stout telly, in our living room in Nagpur.

The main character played by Hrithik Roshan dances in white. The background dancers wear black, and carry briefcases. The dance moves are certified fresh. The audience of uncles and aunties is unhappy. With these simple lyrics, my inner theatre is exposed.

Ab mujhko ye hai karna
Ab mujhe woh karna hai
Aakhir kyun main na jaanoon
Kya hai ke jo karna hai
Lagta hai ab jo seedha
Kal mujhe lagega ulta
Dekho na main hun
Jaise bilkul ulta phulta

Paired with music that’s fit for songs in thriller movies, it cleverly amplifies the mystery of the character’s future. The song carries, with amusement, a lifetime of asking, why am I like this, and will I ever improve?

Surviving by Wandering

2. Mera Jahan - Taare Zameen Par (2007)

I watched the 9-12 pm show of Taare Zameen Par with my mother. When we stepped out of the theatre, our small city was fast asleep. The roads were dark, grey, and quiet. Yet, I felt like I had just woken up.

The story of a dyslexic child finding their talent had moved me and my mother. Was it the best representation of neurodivergence? I don’t know. I know that it helped both of us to keep going, to keep being different.

Watching the song, Mera Jahaan (My World), later on TV was its own experience:

Akela nahin main
Khuli aankhon se
Neend mein chalta

Girta zyada kam sambhalta
Phir bhi na koi shaq na subha
Nikalega phir se sooraj jo dooba

Hairat ho sabko aisa
Ajooba hai mera jahan

A tiny child wandering the complex metropolis of Mumbai. Observing with a diffused focus that is almost sacred. Learning way more than what he could have learned in school. The song still gives me courage to inhabit a world of my own, in this world, shared by all of us.

Thriving with Creativity

3. Sheher Mein - Rockstar (2011)

I had moved to Pune for college, when Rockstar released. The soundtrack was released way before the film. I was obsessed. While Phir se Udd Chala and Sadda Haq were immensely therapeutic, I found an electric joy in the absurd song, Sheher Mein.

But it wasn’t the lyrics or visuals that struck me.

Two singers, Karthik and Mohit Chauhan, sing the same lines. Karthik hits every note flawlessly. Mohit infuses his singing with a whimsical passion that emerges from his core. The music producer scolds Mohit to be more like Karthik. But the song ends with Mohit's wild version – his intoxicated flow untamed.

Years later, as a creativity coach, this became my metaphor for life: Choose authentic expression over technical perfection.

Note: All the songs are written my male lyricists, showcase an eccentric male character. The eccentric, neurodivergent female character, singer, and writer must definitely exist. I will look for them in the archives.

Until then, why don’t you share with me your songs of acceptance?

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Neurodivergent refers to anyone who functions in a way that diverges from dominant societal norms, standards and expectations. If you think differently, learn differently, communicate differently, feel differently, behave differently, process information differently or function differently, you are neurodivergent. It doesn’t matter how you came to diverge; it matters that you do diverge – and there are so many ways people can diverge.

— Sonny Jane Wise on the word neurodivergent as excerpted From Unmasked by Ellie Middleton