Where we make our own Binaca Geet Mala

I heard this on radio while driving to work today. Pulled out my phone at the traffic signal, opened chrome and searched it on the internet. Located the video on youtube, played it in a loop and drained my phone battery in the process. Because I couldn't hear, see or think anything else, I had to figure out a way to somehow continue to listen to this on a dying phone. Either that or be miserable and wait for 5 pm which is the earliest that I can push off, and reach home and download it on my laptop. I couldn't manage to download the song on my phone, so I downloaded gaana.com app, and played this in the loop again. Finally, after about 2 hours of continous listening, I am at peace. Still not composed enough to focus on work, but good to form coherent sentences to talk about this.

Every once in a blue moon, there is a poem/song/musical piece which puts me through this ordeal. I am trying to think up of more of those, and put the list here. These are not my favourite or anything, just the ones which have haunted me in the aforementioned fashion - stirred my soul and created this unsatiable urge for more after the initial tryst. OK.. so here are some from the top of mind recall!

Bawra man dekhne chala ek sapna..



Kuchh aur zamana kehta hai..



O Rangrez..



Hamare baad ab mehfil me..



Zihale miskin makun taghaful..



Moh moh ke dhaage..



Chain se hum ko kabhi..



Tang aa chuke hain kashmkashe..



Piya haji ali..



Chhupa lo yun dil me..

Pari'ism 6-12-2016

This happened last Dec, and the post is pulled from the drafts.

I purchase a piano and it gets delivered to our home. Pari is overly excited about it and jumping off the walls. She tends to get excited over anything and everything that is new and that doesn't concern her. Thankfully, the excitement lasts only until the novelty wears off, which depending on the object varies from a couple of minutes to a couple of days. Coming back to the piano, we somehow manage to squeeze the instrument in our guest bedroom, sandwich it between the dressing table and the bed, post which the technicians' proceed to respectfully unwrap it. Pari obviously doesn't leave its side for one moment. My almost 10 yo observes the unwrapping with the anticipation and curiousity of a 3 yo who may well be about to witness the biggest marvel of life. The covers are taken off, and the sight of an actual piano at such close quarters makes the child delirious. She takes one good look at it and joyfully proclaims - "Mumma, look -- our piano has a brake and an accelerator. Just like the car, it has a clutch too!"  Pari has seen grand pianos before, but apparently, this is the first time that she notices the pedals.

Later in the day, she places her casio keyboard on the stool and shoves it under the piano. I am summoned again - "Mumma, good news: our piano has a baby now". We are raising a stand-up comedian, me thinks!

Ye moh moh ke dhaage..

I watched the movie 'Dum Laga kar Haisha' on a flight last week, and this song has been playing non-stop in my head & on my phone since. Apart from the fact that it is indeed a soulful song and that I really loved the  movie - so much that I downloaded it and watched a re-run in less than 24 hours after the first viewing, the reason that I feel so connected is because it is also reflective of our circumstances. We are all so tied up with 'moh ke dhaage' or 'the strings of attachment'. Most of these are by virtue of birth.. with the parents, grand-parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, even with the children. The other set arises out of love/marriage. We complete 10 years of marriage today, and I continue to be so tied up with the 'strings of attachment'. I am as spell bound, as enchanted, as smitten, and as head-over-heels as I was a decade back. This guy still has me wrapped around his little finger!

From Patriotism to Religion..

And so we celebrate Independence Day, with mankind and dogkind..



..till Gods love makes a sudden appearance..



Wish you all a Happy Independence day and may God's love be always be there with you!

p.s. Apologise for the hazy recording, this was taken with the cell phone camera.

Isn't it remarkable..

..how some things remind us of so many other completely unrelated things, places, people and times.. Ever tried tracing back to find why, how? I do it a lot, and the association brings back so much more in terms of memories.. like this song. I heard it today after a really long time, and in one shot it reminded me of a mostly out-of-touch friend, my ex-roommate, my M-I-L n bro', my previous work place, the first day of our Malaysia trip and an ipod that I did not even remember possessing. Its rather interesting to relate them all to this vintage, classic gem of a song. To begin with, my friend S, who was just a colleague then, caught me humming it over a coffee break, and corrected me with the tune. He left me stunned, to say the least! Firstly, he is a South Indian, born and brought up in Bangalore, always talks in Kannada/English and I did not expect him to know a rarely heard, Hindi devotional song back from the 50's. And then, what surprised me even more was his rendition of it. I had no idea that he could sing so well, that he has such a beautiful voice and a keen sense of music to top it. For the uninitiated, it is not an easy song, mostly in the lower octave, and climbs only in the second stanza. Needless to say, I was completely bowled over. We soon became friends, courtesy an exceptionally common interest in Hindi film music. Even now, whenever we meet, which is only about once an year, I don't let him off without singing this one for me. Ok.. I got carried away a bit.. With the other people it is rather simple. I sang this song on the first day after my wedding, and my M-I-L liked it lots. She still asks me to sing it at times. And my roomie made fun of me for singing such an outdated song, that too one that is devotional. Brother actually went to the extent of saying that I did not deserve the Ipod if this is what I put in it. I downloaded this song from the internet after a vigorous search the day I joined my previous organization, since I hardly had anything else to do. Therefore it also reminds me of my first day there. And finally, the Malaysia trip.. the husband caught me unaware, absent-mindedly humming this and recorded it on the handycam. So our VCD for the trip opens with 'Darshan do' in yours truly's voice :)

p.s. I have been trying to upload the song to esnips since last week.. never occured to me that I could find it on YouTube. And surprise surprise.. the comments there tell me that Slumdog Millionaire has an adaptation of it!