The waiters, who seem, huge surprise, to be East Indian themselves (a necessary distinction around here, for what should be obvious reasons) were bemused by our question. We were not hugely surprised when they told us it was the soundtrack of a Bollywood movie called Fanaa.

I was pleased to find it available on eMusic, the DRM-free music download service I subscribe to, which has a great selection if you don’t insist on the current chart toppers. (Another huge surprise: I don’t.) So I went ahead and used seven of my monthly DLs to snag it.

Having downloaded it overnight I just put it on WinAmp on my notebook PC, as I sit here on the couth in the living room. Emma lay snoozing on the floor by the other sofa – she’s usually outside this time of day; I think the wind bugs her. Me too.

No sooner did the music start to play than she lifted her head, gave me a reproachful look (which she does really, really well) over her shoulder, got up, and took herself off to the office and the sanctuary of her pen. So much for Indian music!

I have no idea what bothers her about it. It’s not playing loud – that isn’t exactly in my PC speakers, although their sound quality is surprisingly not-bad. Nor does it have any particularly jarring or unearthly components. None in my range of hearing, anyway, which of course isn’t that of a dog, nor even what it was when I was younger, sadly. Did they put scurrilous anti-canine messages on the tracks, at a frequency only dogs can hear?

As for the soundtrack, you couldn’t prove by me it was what I heard the other night, although I can’t imagine why they’d misinform me. They could always have been mistaken. Or it could be the same: I don’t remember all that well. (Although the song playing now, “Destroyed in Love (Lounge Remix)” does sound kinda familiar. Oddly it’s track #5, and I thought I heard it toward the beginning. Oh, well.) But the album is sparky and jaunty and appealing, as so much of Bollywood music seems to be, and I like it – especially for a buck seventy-five – so I can’t say I regret the DL.

Sadly, it would appear Emma does.

BTW, Amazon offers several different CDs of this, all with different ASIN numbers and identical tracks. I have no idea.

Update: Jesus Christ! Check out these synopses for the movie! It turns out to be a cheery musical comedy about – horribly blighted young love. Oh, and nuclear terrorism.

Just your standard Bollywood flick!

Meanwhile, Emma seems to be spending a lot of time in her pen these last few days. Yet I haven’t been stamping and blaspheming all that much. I’m a tad concerned about the tyke.