Joell Mukherjii and Chinmayi Tripathi's song on Mumbai’s strays strikes a chord

Throughout the lockdown, musicians and singers across the globe released songs that spoke of love, humanity and hope. Now with ‘Mission Begin Again’ underway, there are many who are looking at life in a different way and opening up to the ‘new’ normal way of life where we have to live with the

pandemic

.

Keeping this new reality in mind, Mumbai-based musician-singers

Chinmayi

Tripathi and Joell Mukherjii got together with like-minded animal lovers and created a song for strays. Talking about the song 'Save the Stray', Joell says, “I can only imagine how difficult it is for stray animals to survive in regular conditions, but in these times of a pandemic, it has only become worse. We are, in a way, much more fortunate to be able to afford a roof over our head and have two square meals a day.”

The hummable composition has been penned by Chinmayi and instantly strikes a chord. It has lyrics like, ‘Paltoo nahin hoon main, Sadkon par azaad hoon main, Bas thoda sa mujhe pyar chahiye, Roti ek baar chahiye, Save the stray, feed the stray, Let love fill up your day’.

Since the video was made during the lockdown, it has been shot with minimal tech support. The chorus has been sung by children – Alina Parekh, Ananya Sondhi, Avighna Raychaudhuri, Jigmet Yangdol, Kanisha Sen, Raaghuv Vashishtha, Ruhani Grover, Sagar Bhattacharya, Som Bhattacharya, Stanzin Semzes – and even features them in the video.

An animal lover, Joell believes that everyone should do their bit for animals. “Let us do something for these stray animals by feeding them at least once a day,” he says.