I took a stroll down familiar lanes. It felt nostalgic, reliving the days of childhood, of a life that seems like a different lifetime; when friends would gather around for an impromptu get-together during a power outage; when summer breaks meant you'd come home only for meal breaks, playing endlessly at some random friend's house. I took a stroll down the lane where an old house stands. A house that once belonged to my grandparents. Now it is no longer ours. The house where I once frolicked about in carefree demeanour has changed too. After passing through different hands, it feels as though the house has found its worthy owner, one that befits the nature of the people who were the original owners.
It felt strange to stand outside that house and look at the houses around. The houses are the same but the inhabitants have changed. Every house reminded me of someone, every lane had a story which had me and my friends playing an important role. I took a stroll down the lane that brought back the memories of the time when my friends taught me to ride a bicycle; when silly fights erupted over play; when everything was forgotten and forgiven the next day. I took a stroll down the lane of known people. Some faces are the same but the emotions have changed. Some exude the same warmth but some have become strangers.
Having lived in a place for more than 2 decades, it is natural to come back to a storehouse of memories; a mixed bag of emotions, remembrance and nostalgia evoking tears and laughter in different measures.
As a part of the theme post for this week, we have to come up with a photo from the past and the memories associated with this. There was a host of photos to choose from. Finally I decided to go with one taken at a trip to Nagarjuna Sagar dam.
This is a view of the river Krishna from the hotel Vijay Vihar at Nagarjuna Sagar, Hyderabad.
This trip done way back in August 2007 holds bitter-sweet memories for me. It was amongst the first trips, aside from the honeymoon, of course, that the husband and I undertook as a newly-wed couple. We were three families on this road trip from Hyderabad: Us, V-K, also newly-weds and U-N, an older couple with a 3 year old toddler. All six of us squeezing into a tiny Alto car was an experience in itself! Most of the particulars about the trip are a blur for me now, except our return journey. N was driving the car and the rest of us were singing and chattering away when we saw a small boy with a stick in his hand crossing the road dangerously, even as we came speeding along. Although, N had slowed the car sufficiently in anticipation, we were brought to an abrupt halt with a loud THUD! I closed my eyes tightly, heart beating rapidly. I thought the boy was killed. The men got out. Thankfully, the boy was alive and only injured. The loud noise was of the stick breaking. We wanted to take the boy to a nearby doctor but what we didn't realize was how much difficult this was going to be. We were soon surrounded by a crowd of villagers and relatives of the boy, screaming and shaking their fists at us. Some women crying out loudly as though the boy had died. No amount of pacifying could have them even listen to us. We were sorry and aghast at what had happened but the fact remained that the boy was crossing dangerously without adult supervision and above all was injured and needed to be taken to the hospital pronto. There was needless chaos created with people concerned and not concerned talking and screaming in a regional language that only U and N could understand and speak. That, we were accepting responsibility to take the boy to a nearby hospital, see to it that he was attended to and also pay for the medical expenses, was simply lost to the milling crowd that seemed to get out of control. We even asked them to call the police to sort the situation out but they weren't too keen on the police too. It then dawned on us that the people out there were only ganging up against us in a bid to extract as much money as they could, the condition of the victim notwithstanding. By cornering us and attacking us thus, they were trying to intimidate us with their sheer number. It was then N decided to take things into control. He is an influential business man with a strong social network. Being a business man also meant, he was equipped to handle people and adverse situations in more ways than one. Even in that far-flung remote area, he managed to find a known guy who also happened to be a doctor. It was agreed that the boy would be taken to that doctor in a local autorickshaw with one of us accompanying the villagers. We also thought it necessary to file a police complaint. The husband decided to accompany N and the villagers to the local doctor while the rest of us were to file an FIR and proceed home. The silence during the rest of the journey is still fresh in my mind. That, I was shaken is to put it mildly. Amongst all thoughts that were running in my mind was that my husband of 6 months was still in the company of those roughians, albeit with the resourceful N and help at hand. V, who drove us back home, tried his best to lighten up the mood and kept reassuring me and the rest of us. U, a strong personality herself, seemed fairly in control, either because she was sure of N's mettle in such situations or because she saw it as her responsibility to keep calm. However, I breathed easily only in the wee hours of morning when N and the husband returned home safely.
Bollywood has given us some of the best songs that are either
purely or partly based on a classical raaga. Composing songs based on classical
raagas was the forte of yesteryear composers like Naushad, S.D.Burman,
Madan Mohan, Vasant Desai to name a few. Even R.D. Burman who first
introduced us to western beats gave us splendid songs that were purely
based on raagas. The era of classical melodies in Bollywood ended with
the beginning of
the late 70s action-oriented movies and later the advent of techno-pop
and dhinchak beats. Nowadays, in most songs, it is the rhythm that
lingers
longer than the melody, if at all. Total Recall on Times Now this Sunday
brought back the memories
associated with those classical gems that were my best companion not
very long ago.
Being born in a musical family and also a student of classical music, I was used to the game of "identifying/guess the ragam" of a song in my childhood. Mother would have a proud smile on her face when I'd hit the bulls-eye even with some difficult-to-guess ones. Later, when my interest in music bended towards light music/film music, I'd try to find similarities between the Carnatic and Hindustani ragas. Come any competition and my choice for song always tended to the ones that had a classical touch to it.
SA RE GA MA (of the times when Sonu Nigam used to host it) was the first music show that promoted real talent. I'd remain glued to the T.V set for the slotted hour, nodding away in awe at the extraordinary singing talent displayed by most of the contestants. The rounds were truly competitive at that time. Be it the classical song round, where the participants had to choose a song that truly tested their caliber in the song rendition while adhering to the sur and taal along with the finesse with which they handled the harkats (movements or variations). If they could bring in a touch of their originality, they got extra brownie points. The Taal round on the other hand was truly a mind boggling one that put even the top-notch contestants in a spot. The original taal would be changed (either in the tempo or the number of beats itself ) and the participant would be required to sing to the changed taal without making the song sound out of rhythm! Clearly, a test of how well a person understood the maatras and percussion. Every round would be a learning material for aspiring singers and the audience too.
And, when like-minded people got together during weddings or other occasions, we would spend many an hour debating on who was a better singer in a particular episode, the debate reaching ridiculous degree of intensity with each side passionately advocating their choice of contestant. I can still recall the names of many of the participants whose exemplary singing remained in my heart long after. Such was the high-standard. The judges were revered names from the classical and film industry and there were no staged squabbles among them to increase the TRPs.
The mushrooming song and dance reality shows that have come to replace shows like SA RE GA MA are an extremely watered down version with more emphasis on the TRPs rather than the actual talent hunt. The talent today is no less, on the contrary, is in on a all-time high. However, I feel, the bar to test them has been lowered many times over. Also, with new age technology, any blemish in the pitching or in the rendering of the song can be corrected. You don't really need to be a classically trained as every thing is digitized and an off-the mark note can be tweaked to attain the perfect output. On a recent interview of Shreya Ghoshal in a newspaper, she had remarked that during the times when she
was a contestant on SA RE GA MA, they (the contestants) were free to choose a difficult
song that none had heard of, for rendition, but now the songs have to be ones that are
popular with the masses to gain viewership.
It is a pity that music of such kind is no longer a preferred option. Is it too technical for this generation to appreciate? Will melody slowly fade away into oblivion? Will classical music be left to be explored only on a pure platform through concerts? Can the present and next league of composers not recreate the confluence of popular and classical music like their predecessors? These are some questions that may perhaps be unanswered.
I'll leave you with some of my favourite songs that were played on this Total Recall episode:
Laaga Chunri mein daag based on Bhairavi in Hindustani or Sindhu Bhairavi in Carnatic music
Naino mein badra based on Ragam Aberi of Carnatic or Bhimpalasi in Hindustani
Raina beeti jaaye based on Todi of Hindustani or Shuba panthuvarali of Carnatic
Beeti na bitayi raina based on Yaman kalyani of Hindustani or Kalyani of Carnatic
The list can go on and on but since the post is already long enough, I'll put a stop here. Are you also a fan of classical based songs? Do share your views/favourite songs?
My first house after marriage had a huge balcony. The flat was situated at the end of a long corridor from the staircase. If our balcony didn't have a grill, someone could easily jump into it from the passage corridor outside!:-0 But, our balcony did have grills, so, there was no such threat. So why am I rambling about my house and the balcony? Just so that you can picture it correctly in your mind. Well, even if you can't just read ahead, please.
It was on one afternoon that I got up from my post-lunch siesta and as I opened my eyes, I saw a huge brown cat at the door of our bedroom. As I gave out a loud scream in shock, the cat (probably equally shocked) made a dart towards the balcony and vanished. Now, am not a very animal friendly person. And, anyway, a sudden unsolicited appearance of any kind of creature in my territory, startling my bones, can only evoke such a reaction. The cat went away but I was left searching every corner of the house to see if it had left any other marks of its brief stay or if there were any more surprises. Convinced of its absence and of any traces, I closed the doors to the balcony. I kept a wary eye out for its subsequent visits but to my relief, none happened for some time. Relaxed, I let my guard down.
A few weeks passed. It was the rainy season. That evening, it was pouring cats and dogs. The hubby came home and went to dry out his umbrella in the balcony and made a casual announcement that we have a family of cats visiting us. I rushed in horror to double-check (hubby knows my love for the animal and reptile kingdom and is capable of saying such things just to spite me), and sure enough there were three cute little kittens along with the mother cat (yes the same one who gave me a fright not long ago). So, the little imp (the cat, I mean) was planning this all the while. Taking advantage of a poor lady staying alone for most part of the day in a huge house. Well, the house wasn't so huge but of course the balcony was and she occupied it with her kittens now.
Even though I cannot stand the thought of having pets, least of all cats, I didn't have the heart to drive them away. To be frank, I fell in love with the tiny kittens. The mother would go
off in the morning to find food and these would be left merry-making or
sleeping huddled together. One of the three kittens, a white one, was
the cutest and naughtiest. While the other two would sleep, this one
would prance about trying to climb on to the nearby window ledge :-)
During their stay, we made sure, we did not step into their territory. The mother, whenever she was around, would keep a stern and ferocious guard and let out an angry purr, even if she sensed us coming near her kittens. We for our part played our roles as gracious hosts and kept out of their way, only sneaking a look every now and then to see if there were there or not. I was in fact even worried about their safety from the pigeons, who were also frequent but transient visitors.
The feline family attained prime spot in the conversations between me and my family who'd be eager to know how the new members of the house were doing, if they were still there or had abandoned their new-found shelter yet.
The visitors stayed for a full two months. And one fine day, just as suddenly as they made an appearance, they all left. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss them.
I was first introduced to Tamil film songs by the better half. Till then only O.P Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishen, Naushad, Salil Choudhary and the likes kept me enthralled with their melodious music. I only knew "Illayaraja" as a famous name and A.R. Rahman was synonymous only with Roja. I was crazy (still am) about old Hindi film songs. My mother would lament that if I had shown half the interest I had for film music in Carnatic classical music, I could have made a good name for myself there! Anyway, that would be a topic for another post.
On our first ever date, after we said yes to one another, my husband, then not even my fiance, gave me a MP3 player. It was his player but he gave it to me upon knowing my liking for music. The player being his had some of his favourite songs. And, nope, none of them were Hindi songs. He doesn't even know any of the Hindi composers I've mentioned above but let's not get into that. That was the beginning of my tryst with Tamil film songs. And, I was (am) impressed by his taste in music. Later, after getting married, I was further introduced to some lovely gems, mostly from the 70s and 80s era, by Illayaraja. And then some more by A.R.Rahman, of the era when he used to truly compose mesmerizing music.Yes, ARR fans can pound me but I maintain that the music in which he used to infuse his soul into every song composed is rarely a norm these days.
Every song has memories associated with it. My early married life has a lot of memories associated with the songs I first listened to. Memories of the days when I was new bride eager to be in the best books of my better half, trying to understand what he liked and experiencing whatever made him happy. Memories of the first house we did up; painstakingly, buying every item with careful thought and consideration, taking our time to fill the house with luxuries, basking in the everyday happiness of hunting and procuring little knick knacks and essentials. Memories of leisurely mornings with hot coffee and warm breakfast; of putting together a meal before the husband came home for lunch; of many a burnt or poorly cooked meal but never a ill-word spoken of it; of the many happy evenings of exploring the city hand in hand; of the dreams we built as a couple.
Of the many songs that take me back to those days, this comes foremost to my mind; a gem by ARR:
Yesterday a participant on KBC asked the Big B to name the only two letters in the Alphabet from which none of the names of his movies began with. The question took me back to those days where I had made a chart that featured the BigB's movie names starting with each letter of the Alphabet. I also made a list that listed out the movies that had an unusual pairing of a leading lady with the superstar.I used to be so star-crazed and overawed by Mr. Bachchan back then. Not that I am no longer his fan but these statistics don't mean much to me now. I know what you are thinking. You can say that aloud. I am getting old. Hmm..Ok. But WTH, who has not gone through this phase? When I see people much older than I going ga-ga over him on the hot seat, I can only smile and think that I have not been alone in idol-worshiping the actor.
I have watched almost all his movies. Ok, not the ones from the 80s era. That decade is certainly the most forgettable phase in the otherwise glorious career. I have lost count of the number of times I have watched certain movies like Chupke Chupke, Amar Akbar Anthony, Abhimaan, Don, Trishul, Namak Halal..oh the list can go on.... Whether I knew my economics or not, I knew the dialogues of these films by rote and could recognize a film from the background score! Not only the Bachchan ones, I loved watching any sensible movie. I had the reputation of possessing the highest knowledge quotient in the field of films and songs. I also knew all about the latest film releases and was up-to-date with the new songs, actors et all. I would come up with impromptu quizzes like: name a movie that starts with the letter "F" and that
paired Sharmila Tagore and Amitabh as the leading pair? I guess it was
the only movie. Such quizzes were targeted at the poor folks at home who had labelled me a movie buff and had mastered the art of ignoring me at such times..:-))!
Being married to a guy, who although loved watching movies, was not so movie-crazed, and cared much less about old hindi movies meant losing touch with that part of myself. He has never heard of certain movies or songs, so there was no fun rattling off dialogues or playing an impromptu quiz about songs or movies. So, although we watched movies regularly, the old passion (which anyway was dying a natural death) faded slowly and after the kid entered the scene, even watching movies became a rare event.
Now, cut to the present:
I had my cousin and his wife over sometime back and the conversation veered towards movies. He mentioned that the recent movie they saw was "Shaitan"*.
My reaction: Oh! is there such a movie? Is it a horror one?
Such stand the state of affairs!
* The recent one starring kalki Koechlin and Abhay Deol.
