O sawaan raja kahan se aaye tum !

Image courtesy : Unsplash.com
ओ सावन राजा कहाँ से आए तुम?

Some of my favorite rain songs

the lyrics of the falling raindrops
in a drizzle or a downpour…melting the heat away…
the pleasure of a hot cup of tea and a plateful of pakoras
the thrill of the shivers, as you get wet
the spontaneity
the nostalgia of the childhood कागज़-की-नाव
the heightened emotions…which make you feel good and romantic all over!

Some of my favorite songs are woven with these images of lyrical, romantic melodious rains…which make me look beyond the mucky grounds, the overflowing gutters and the overflooded roads!

I see melody, romance and the spirit of life in these numbers: sometimes through the very picturesque images of rain captured in these songs or through the mellifluent and meaningful lyrics!

Spontaneity in some of the numbers seems to skip and hop, while many of these numbers are composed so beautifully that the rhythm resonates within, long after the song is over!

• प्यार हुआ इकरार हुआ है, प्यार से फिर क्यों डरता है दिल

According to me this is the " King of romantic songs", not to mention among the best picturised rain song ever …without an ounce of doubt! The ingredients are perfect…An awkward, not-so-rich guy trying to please his lady love…the perfect pair of Nargis and Raj Kapoor in ' Shri 420' silhouetted against dark clouds…the studio rain which is falling not so ferociously as the couple share an umbrella, and more than perfect lyrics!

I still get goose pimples when I hear the words " हम न रहेंगे, तुम न रहोगे, फिर भी रहेंगी निशानियाँ " endorsing the immortality of love as the three Kapoor kids trot down the road in their raincoats…

No one has been able to create a more perfect backdrop for a rain song or captured the innocence of love so beautifully!

• 'जिंदगी भर नहीं भूलेगी वोह बरसात की रात' The images that the words of these songs create are as potent as the heroine who is the 'अनजान हसीना' in the song: Madhubala! The lyrics of this number, the background score are so live: you can actually 'see' the scenes happening before you as the hero, Bharat Bhushan meets the captivating Madhubala on a rainy day….हाय वोह रेशमी जुल्फों से बरसता पानी…..कभी देखी न सुनी ऐसी वह जज़्बात की रात…Somehow the Mohammed Rafi version of the song sounds more intoxicating than the Lata Mangeshkar version : my opinion, you may differ!

• ओ सजाना, बरखा बहार आई, रस की फुहार लायी

What do I remember about this song :
That this is one of exceptional, extraordinary, unforgettable Lata-in-her-heydays number…
That it is picturised on Sadhana who looks gorgeous even without her famous fringes!
That the song is one of the musical gems from Salil Chowdhury!
That I can rewind this number twenty times just to listen to Lata croon, "ऐसी रिमझिम में ओ सजन , प्यासे प्यासे मेरे नयन, तेरे ही ख्वाब में खो गए.."

• रिमझिम रिमझिम, रुमझुम रुमझुम...भीगी भीगी रुत में,तुम हम, हम तुम
  

This song from ' 1942- A love story' oozes melody, enchantment, romance with every word, every verse, every visual : whether it is Manisha Koirala opening the windows to invite the rain in or Anil Kapoor prancing about with "बूंदों की यह लड़ी लायी हैं वोह घरी जिसके लिए हम तरसे" or the wonderful RD Burman music!

R.D.Burman's golden touch recreated the magic of the songs of yesteryears in this song! It definitely stands apart from one of "these songs of today" which we have come to lament and dissociate from!

• हाय रे हाय, नींद नहीं आए... This one never fails to bring a smile on my face… Our leading pairs in this song, Jeetendra and Leena Chandavarkar are not just ' 'singing in the rain' but also ' jumping in the rain'! The most graphic scene is that of the hero dragging the heroine by her leg as she struggles to hop on her fours, attempting to smile and sing at the same time, with rains pouring down intensely!

Infact, I thought the leading couple was playing badminton in this song, but that is another energetic number with the same pair! This is a great song to watch with friends: we can all collectively appreciate the humor in Jeetendra's tightfitting trousers, the heaves, the huffs, the puffs and the extraordinary calisthenics which created the most vigorous dance number here!

What I love about this song is that the fact that the couple prances about in the rain totally convinced of their style of romancing: Hey, this is the way we do it!

• आज रपट जायें... Another fun song in the rainwith our favorite Amitabh Bachchan and the looking very awkward, Smita Patil! Our hero is aggressive and hell bent on making his ladylove enjoy the rain in the plebian manner, on the streets of Mumbai, without the umbrella!

This song also has some vivid images: the aggressive Amitabh Bachchan, the hey-I-can't-do-this-commercial-cinema-bit-of-song-and-dance Smita Patil as Amitabh pushes a hand cart on which she is perched and the absolutely spirituous voices of Kishore and Asha with the 'Ah ha! Oh ho's' in place !!!…

• रिमझिम गिरे सावान... An absolute contrast to the song above: a mellow Amitabh and a breathless Moushumi as she tries to keep pace with the tall hero...running around the tourist spots of Mumbai as the song plays in the background….Lata's mellifluous voice filling the space and Kishore's baritone complimenting it perfectly!

This is among the most naturally shot songs of the rain..right from the wet benches to the slant of Moushumi's kajal ! You can almost visualize yourself and your loved one on the screen there: there is no overt romancing, no studio created showers : the simplicity of the song and the passion of the words..'सुलग सुलग जाए मन'… seep in right through to you !

• देखो जरा देखो बरखा की लड़ी … This one represents the joie de vivre in its truest sense! For me the sparkle in Kajol's eye as she matches steps with Akshay Kumar was enchanting…Ofcourse the background of the song is what makes it exceptional in my medley of songs!

Akshay Kumar plays your typical workaholic , serious yuppie type whose life revolves around work! Kajol makes him realize that there is more to life than oh so important business deals….The hero lets his hair down, gets drenched in the rain and fantasizes about Kajol who he has fallen in love with!

This one is special because I could identify with Akshay Kumar and his propah attitude to life! After a few years of corporate grind ,I too felt like loosening my tie of appropriate behavior and letting my hair down to the spontaneity of life!

• ओ सावन राजा कहाँ से आए तुम?

Madhuri, Shahrukh and the cute kids dancing to Shiamak Davar steps in the Yash Chopra movie " Dil to pagal hai" ! There is a certain elegance in this song visible in the designer chiffon outfit of Madhuri, the well-rehearsed voices of Lata and Udit Narayan the perfect set of the streets and the well fed street urchins who couldn't by any standards be called urchins …

The choreography in this song was amazing as was the energy of the dancing kids who more than matched the more experienced Madhuri and Shahrukh step to step, jig to jig ! The music of Uttam Singh was superb , to put it mildly!

Remember the 'chak jhum jhum' twist? Didn't you feel like getting up and doing that jig yourself …This is one song as popular with my sixty-year-old father as with my four-year-old daughter!

• टिप टिप टिप बारिश शुरू हो गई

The words were not exceptional, yet better than the " Rain is falling chama cham cham , ladki ne aankh mari gir gaye hum' kind of songs which were being churned out during that time ! I don't remember the name of the movie, the heroine or any other details of the song .'Dancing in the rain' with just an umbrella as a prop was a very ordinary background to a song!

Yet, what makes 'Tip tip tip…' extra-ordinary is that special effort which Aamir Khan put in this number!He was faultless! The steps matched and the music helped the ordinary lyrics stand out ! A flawless musical and visual delight ……



I have shared some of my special numbers here and in the Playlist here

Songs which celebrate rain

….What do your favorite rain songs mean to you? 

Does your list resemble mine? 

Why don't you go down the memory lane and find out ?…..

Looking without judgment

"The difference between a flower and a weed is - Judgement !" Wayne Dyer

"Such beautiful flowers....Where did you pick them up from?"

I had come to a weekend getaway with friends and what greeted us at the reception, on the side table were these bunch of pink and white beauties!

"They are all over the estate, " said the lady who had ushered us in our quaint cottage, " Didn't you see?"

"No, I guess we missed them !"

Indeed when I noticed carefully in the estate 

these pink beauties bobbed up and down in the wind in the grass, 

looking as if someone had laid out a verdant green carpet with pink flowers 

So intent was I on looking at the "BEAUTY", that I failed to notice it!

How typical...

I laughed to myself....

Missing the obvious, because I was searching for the profound...

as if one is superior over the other :) 

I live my daydreams in music....

"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. 

I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. 

I see my life in terms of music.”
~Albert Einstein~

Ever since I can remember,
music has been an integral part of my life...

The whisper of crickets in the leechi trees in Dehradun

The loud drone of fighter planes in Basra

The koooo-koooo chook-chook of train from Mumbai to Benares in the summer holidays

The incomprehensible yet loving loris of Daddaji in chaste punjabi

The gurgling sound of Ganga at Laxman Jhoola and the swish of the paddle boats

And Lata Mangeshkar- Kishore Kumar duets on Radio Ceylon

I was a dreamy child and sought music wherever I was!

Sawant dadaji in Theosophical society, Benares, astutely channelised my love for singing
and introduced me to Gayatri Mantra and Hanuman chalisa at a very early age
Getting up at 4.30 am to hear the vedic chants reverberating in each and every cell of my body,
was the highlight of my summer holidays.
I can almost hear them even today

Bandra East, Mumbai was where I was introduced to the wonder of playlists
Those TDK cassettes zealously purchased from the duty-free shops,
Our old antique-looking German tape-recorder
And my brother and I painstakingly writing the name of the each song neatly
with our black Schaefer ink pen...

Chitrahaar, Movies and Antakshari made me the original acapella  specialist, even before the background sounds were in vogue!

Though I did not know it then,
learning Hindustani Classical at that age, was a gift given by my parents to me at that tender age!
I ofcourse, resisted the alaaps and the bhaavgeets that time, as I could hear my friends enjoying their evening play when I was practicing the aaroh- avroh ...
and struggling with passing Music exams
while my spirit was dying to participate in the unstructured play in the colony playground!

My love for gaana continued in my dating days with Uday
where his Meri bheegi bheegi  matched my Beeti na beetaayi raina 
and our romance blossomed over our eclectic choice of music:
his old Kishore Kumar numbers to my Disco Station...how we laughed at the differences...and yet the deeper almost divine bonding

and Soumya was born in a very musically alive home!

Cooing rehashed and remixed versions of nursery rhymes to put her to sleep
Converting the cups of water to jaltarang
It was hardly a surprise that my toddler was soon swaying to songs,
making playlists and swooning over Jonas brothers and Miley Cyrus!

The first playlist she made for me was the sweetest gift anyone had ever, ( and since ) given me,
each number meticulously woven in the necklace of a pretty playlist which Mom could wear and listen to anywhere, anytime....specially when she missed her moppet!

Her tradition of this gifting of love and connection still continues for me in my life ....

I make playlists whenever I want to gift a part of me to someone
and my love affair with Music continues unabashedly, unabated !

Every song with a rhythm , a heartbeat and woven with the richness of life or the ordinariness of it :)

Happy
Sad
Slow
Classical
Old
New
Rock
Jazzy
Dhinchak
English
Hindi
Regional
Global
through the ups and downs of life
bringing me closer to emotions and feelings : the aliveness of life...the joie de vivre of existence

When I look back at almost five decades of my musical moments, 
they encompass it all - 

the voice, the breath, the melody 

and the silence between the notes

the said 

and the unsaid 

I am blessed to have lived and hope to continue living in this cauldron of notes...till eternity !

Check my playlists in this youtube channel

My Playlists

Kuch Dil ne kaha...connect to my heart

Heart, that wondrous part of me which connects me to my soul and to life...

Thumping, pacing, nudging me to hear its beat, 

and to embrace everything, wholeheartedly and with equanimity : 

Joyous moments or painful heartbreaks…

feeling more.... 

loving more…

hurting more…

living more…

Hindi film music has captured different nuances and moods of this DIL so beautifully.....

Click on this link to listen to some such wonderful heartfelt numbers 

Youtube Playlist : Kuch Dil ne Kaha

Musical Glee !

I am glad the bus driver was

erratic,

rude 

and inconsistent in his daily pick up at 7.30 a.m
and
the auto drivers highly unreliable in showing up! 

The result was that I was forced to drive Soumya to school...all through the last few years of her school.

As we navigated through the potholed lanes of New Link Road, Andheri... through the early morning traffic, we  discovered a common love for music...

her type
my type
our type :)
We forged a new relationship which transcended time....and 'generation-gap' biases.

As soon as the key was put in the ignition and the radio turned up, we were  transported  to an indescribable space...

God Bless RJ Malishka and her shendi,  Ashok Advani and his smoother than wine voice , the bubbly Keisha , Bruno Mars, Lata Mangeshkar , RD Burman, Amit Trivedi , Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran and Jason Mraz  who hummed and crooned , yoodled or yelped depending upon the mellifluousness of the voice...or the orchestration of the instruments and words!

the beats reverberated in our small space and enveloped us in their warmth.

We were two kids who were cocooned in their private sound bubble and sing-a-long ( much to the amusement of the other motorists, I am sure  :) till we reached the school gates!

Who would have thought that I would enjoy the beats of BAD ROMANCE and Katie Perry or that Soumya would find RD Burman numbers, 'Hot' ?

"Today I dont wanna do anything
I just wanna lay in my bed!....drawled Bruno Mars

" Somethings changed within me, something is not the same...
I am through with playing by the rules of the game..." crooned Ibene...

"Hey Mom! This is Ibene ....She played Rachel's mother in Glee Season 1!".....
"Oh ! did she ?"
" Fantastic voice na!

"I want to break free ...We don't need no education....." 

I wish you were asked as students what do you want to study. 
Have you ever used calculus in life ? 
Why do you need to study that ?

Music became our common conversation triggers which seamlessly opened up other discussions, about school , teachers, boys, growing up pangs ,  dirt on Mumbai roads...

I did not need to sermonise or advise or guide her as a superior...just converse with her about the silliest of topics and the most profound of life queries...or the routine mom daughter arguments. ..Music always forming a seamless comforting space to weave these memories for me!

Today when Soumya is far far away from me, listening to music of her choice,  tucked in cosily in her hostel room...I do not have the same 7.30 routine...

Many days I am just about waking up that time as there is no morning rush...just an unstructured day, working from home.

I cannot but help feeling blessed for the Sound of Music in our lives and all those innumerable talented singers, song writers and musicians who deepened my bond with Soumya and with MUSIC.

Letting our hair down...

It's strange how busy all of us have become...

Were at Anupama and Vinayak's home for an old friends get-together!

Pizza and Old Monk on  the hostel terrace has over the years has metamorphosed to Single malt and ghar ka khana with diet restrictions.

As the evening progressed ,
with more than a couple of drinks downed,
realized that connecting is truly simple...
laughing over silly things,
exchanging notes about kids and maids,
discussing Sachin's retirement from cricket
the guys doing the corporate note-exchanges...

n then it was music time
with the familiar " Summer of 69 " and " Born in USA"
and all the tapori " Govinda numbers...
all in our besura hoarse unified voices or

some mellifluous ones :)

Driving back later that night I was realising how automated my life had become in recent times,
even letting the hair down had become templated and predictable.

But this one was was different....

no agenda
to please
show off or
pretend...

or socialise for the heck of it...

Even in the selfies which we clicked there was an irreverence and silliness
The pout did not need to look purrrfect

I realised how much I have been missing this unstructured agenda-less connections in recent times.

Just.....

..... what do I like?

Quiet, silent time for myself when I sit in front of the computer…talking through the nimble fingers…weaving a world of my own…..baring my soul to the machine before me...and connecting with more souls than I have ever imagined!

Laughing with Soumya…
about nothing and everything…trying to be her fairy godmother, goblin and the big Bad wolf…and revelling in her vivacity of life !

Watching Oprah with my nth cup of tea, recapturing my essence, which I seem to have lost….

Hearing about Uday's day at work, after an exhausting love-making session …trying to imagine if I could fit into the corporate environment again!

Arranging that favourite pillow in comfortable position and just dreaming….

Reading, surfing and trying to understand how I have changed over the years …

Being that ‘ready-to-take-on-the-world Spitfire’ 

OR 

Lost in the labyrinth of ‘being a multitasking home maker'

Or 
Just happily being 

A nobody ....

The essence of taste!

Have you ever wondered how words can almost never capture the essence of "taste”? So many paeans have been written in favor of " the eloquent eyes" and "the lustrous hair", "the tongue" has sadly missed out on the ratings game!

Can you ever recreate the zing of पानीपूरी, which you tasted in your neighborhood thela as a child?

How would you appraise the lingering sweetness, the syrupy crispness of hot delicious जलेबी of the nukkad halwai, which transported you straight to the culinary heaven?

How would you measure the warmth you felt while sipping the कुल्ल्हर की chai with your dad while he explained 'what being a man meant’ on some obscure railway station, some many many years ago?

Can you ever forget the midnight forays into Maggi noodles, toast and black tea in your hostel room , which tasted nothing short of divine ambrosia at that ungodly hour…

The perfect chicken tandoori and the first bottle of rum you had in that roadside dhaba somewhere on the Delhi--Chandigarh highway which did more than quench your hunger and thirst!

The first burnt chappati of your wife cooked in frustration, but eaten with relish and all the emotions which would appear bland if expressed in words…

The taste of the first glass of निम्बू पानी which your seven year old daughter prepared for you...

Can you ever recapture the unparalleled uniqueness of what you have tasted, through trite words?