Summer Blues

As usual, Karan wakes up by 6, to the rays of light peeping through the windowsill. The birds are chirping away, and a gentle breeze is blowing through the room. Before settling down into his Yoga routine, Karan checks his messages. "100 plus from the community group? Are they still talking about door delivery throughout the night? I thought that it was put to rest by the sane advice of the society management". To his surprise it is about power outage, something that had disrupted his life more than once.

May 1993, Kanchan Bagh, Hyderabad: Karan is in Kendriya Vidyalaya, writing IIT entrance. It’s a hot afternoon and a lot is riding on Maths paper. It’s his favorite subject and he is brimming with confidence. Power goes out and there's no backup. Sweat is flowing through his brow and with hanky in one hand, he tries to solve the differential equation. The odds are stacked against him and he knows that.

Karan goes home and tells his parents" I am not going to stay in India. These hot summers and power outages are sapping my energy and diminishing my potential."

June 2012: Karan is back to Hyderabad after spending 15 years in North America and once again its summertime. Of course, circumstances have changed, and Karan says to himself " I will get a good job and live in a gated community that has power back up. Hopefully I can get a job in Bangalore which has relatively mild summers". While continuing job search, Karan joins Gandhi Gyan Mandir in Koti. Thanks to rigorous yoga practice and a change in attitude, he manages to adjust to the summers and grabs the first job that comes his way. It isn't in Bangalore or Hyderabad but an even extreme place weather wise, Noida.

June 2015, Noida. "You guys woke up so late today", Karan asks his friends. Pat comes the reply, "There was no power and AC doesn't work on backup so we couldn’t sleep". Karan says to himself " It took 2 decades before I could exorcise the demons. I can now relish the pleasure of sleeping with windows open”.

It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon and Karan is surprised to see a flood of messages on the community group. Everyone is talking about the exorbitant electricity bills they have received. Karan is pleasantly surprised to see his, and chuckles “Keeping windows open also saves money”

Lockdown tales 2 : kahe "Zoom Zoom" raat ye suhani

kahe "jh(Z)oom jh(Z)oom" raat ye suhaani

Yes, Zoom has been really been a boon during these times. Every night, the "rewind special" Zoom sessions ensured "raat ye suhaani" and   "phir chheDo dobaara..kal ki raseeli kahaani".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxnqYXOO9hk

Their 1 hour jukebox modules had a mix of songs primarily from 50's to 70's with the occasional foray into the later decades. Every episode also showcased 2 feature artists; covering composers, singers, lyricists and musicians.

The very first episode covered SH Bihari and Chitragupt. Chitragupt was a constant feature throughout the fortnight and one couldn't help but fall in love with his music again.

diwane tum diwane hum..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H56OrBjhg4

While each episode was independent of itself, there were several common threads; like reference to SD Burman-Asha songs post Bandini. Bandini was the movie where SD-Lata patched up and Asha got only a select few songs from there. She excelled in each of those leaving you wishing to fly into that magical world...

uD chalu haule haule dhire dhire
main kyu na udhar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH36_PqqNoc

SD was not the only composer whose work with Asha was showcased. The series was studded with a wide range of her gems, that spanned the decades . The composers included usual suspects like OP Nayyar and Jaidev; and the gentle Giant from the era that was dominated by RD, LP and KA. Yes we are talking about Rajesh Roshan.

..ye sanso ka gumsum tarana kya bole re

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egRf1RPvW3E

Perhaps the highlight of these sessions was the focus on the instrumentalists. While Music Directors, Singers and to some extent lyricists have hogged the limelight; the arrangers and accompanying artists were the unsung heroes and heroines !

Zarin Daruwala's Sarod was highlighted in a variety of songs.

aap ki yaad aati rahi..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKulqxpqCvU

Homi Mullan's command over a range of instruments like the Maadal, Jhuggi and Triangle was highlighted. It was pointed out that if player of a specific instrument was not available, Homi was summoned ! And he didn't loose his magic even in the 90's.

wada raha sanam..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlaO1QCE0BI

Sebastian's arrangement skills and command over counter melody was emphasized.

TuuTe hue khwaabon ne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkjfF11k7ls

Regional songs received a fair share of coverage. While music connoisseurs are aware of the Manna Dey chart buster from "teen bhubaner pare"; a wider spectrum of audience could connect with this thanks to its usage in the recent Hindi movie Piku.

Jibone ki pabo na

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq3owHrVlOQ

Archie pointed out this song turned Soumitra Chaterjee into an overnight matinee idol.

South of Vindhyas, Tamil and Malaylam songs got decent air time. While many know that Salil Chowdhury and Ravi worked in Malayalam, its not common knowledge that Usha Khanna had a tryst too.

Nee madhuparagu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZec3nDHDEg


Having known the hosts for 2 decades meant that I could take a few liberties. I made a couple of attempts to stoke the embers with comments; but that didn't really create fireworks :)The rewind team let the songs do the talking.

Archie, Shankar and Balaji are very passionate about music, and have been entertaining us with
lovely programs. Here's wishing them continued success and this bond with music remains life long..

..baandhi hai jo dil se,
ab ye Dor zindagi bhar na TuuTe..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoD-uSN28F4

Life and music during lock-down - Part 1

These days the common refrain is that the world is on Pause. My earliest memories of pause; is the "pause" button on tape recorder. Inevitably it was followed by "stop" and "rewind".

vo bhooli dastaan lo phir yaad aa gaii

Maestro Madan Mohan's opening bars of music are the perfect invitation to a flashback. Rajinder Krishan's emotion laden lyrics talk about the times gone by.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwVqOiR193o

Moving back to Hyderabad after 2 decades meant that I was on a nostalgia ride. I didn't miss the opportunity of visiting Ganesha in Khairatabad. And as 2020 dawned, taking my family to "numaish" in Nampally was foremost on my mind. Thousands of people gather for this mela, and we had a wonderful time here.

But as Shakeel Badayuni wrote, life itself is a "mela"

ik din paDegaa jaanaa, kyaa vaqt, kyaa zamaanaa
koii na saath degaa, sab kuchh yahiin rahegaa
jaaenge ham akele, ye zingadii ke mele

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TNi0LjXZCI

Our families were stuck by twin tragedies; in a span of few weeks Sushmita's mother and my mother passed away. And then the lock down started. All this meant that Sushmita and Aarohi are in UP, and I in Hyderabad taking care of Dad.


mere saamne waali khidki se "grocery" ki dukaan dikhti hai..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0WPSYFm7iE

Sunil Dutt wooing Sairabanu with "mere saamne waali khidki men" is stuff of the legends. Looking out of window for  "chaand ka tukDa" is a far cry these days as we are  more concerned about mundane things. You peep out to  check if the delivery truck with veggies has come and the lines outside the store have subsided. And post a whats app message on the community group.

Speaking of community, its full of helpful neighbors. One gentleman got Kalaa Channa for me from Ratnadeep. I picked it up and came back excited at the though of making Channa. I promptly went back to return the money, but realized that the simple pleasures of life have returned. Most of you must be familiar with the parody of this song in Kranti, but we need to go back to pre-independence
days for the original.

channe jor garam baabu..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2EaJYbIUH0

Not just simple living, but that era had a defining spirit that made us forget our differences and
rise for a common cause. That unity is needed again if we need to overcome the current crisis; glimpses of which could be seen in the lighting of lamps. This forgotten Jaidev melody captures the
sentiment perfectly.

deepak se deepak jal gaye

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40qc4yQKzPs

Music thrived during these times. RMIM, which has been a part of life for almost quarter century continued in glorious fashion. Music sessions on every weekend, were the perfect tonic for the troubled times.

chalta rahe ye carvaan, umr-e-ravaan ka carvaan

Sardaar Malik's composition reminds a personal favorite. The film Chor Bazaar, is from the pre yahoo Shammi Kapoor days, when he mostly acted in serious movies which sank without a trace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eaxA211PuA


With hardly any traffic on the roads, I could just keep the windows open all the time. The gentle breeze blowing across, meant that I could spend the heat of April without AC / cooler.

ham vo diivaane hain jo taazaa havaa lete hain
khiDkiyaaN khol ke mausam kaa mazaa lete hain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zETU10-wyLM

While, I have settled down into this "new normal" I look  forward to a semblance of normality; when we can take a walk in  Botanical Garden and see peacocks dancing..

Roshan's sublime composition set to Majrooh Sultanpur's lyrics perfectly sum up the state of mind.

kabhii to milegi kahiin to milegi baharon ki manzil raahi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjIScQQhS90



To be continued...