Category: ललित

  • O. P. Nayyar – Creator of melodies

    Pencil sketch by Ponnada Murty

    ‘FM 101.4आकाशवाणीचे हे नाशिक केंद्र आहे, रात्रीचे ठीक ९-३० वाजलेत, थोड्याच वेळात प्रसारित करीत आहोत हिंदी चित्रपट गीतांचा कार्यक्रम.’ (FM 101.4, this is Nasik station of All India Radio, we  will broadcast program of Hindi film music shortly) When I was around 6-7 years, I used to keep track of time for this announcement. Recently Nasik station of All India Radio got commissioned and it became my gateway for the Hindi film music. I and my aunt used to wait eagerly for this show. This show introduced me to the legendary music composer, O P Nayyar.

    Whenever you hear this name, an image of a slim old guy wearing a light-colored shirt, glasses and a signature fedora hat appear in your mind and tunes of his classic numbers are playing in the background. I have a strong belief that O P Nayyar can’t be remembered without his fedora and his melodious tunes ever.

    When I listened to the song “Maang Ke Saath Tumhara” I was in love with his music. The idea of using just the sound of horse carriage as rhythm was amazing that I still crave for this some every once in a while. Since that time, O. P. saab has been very close to my heart. We used to crave for the next O P Nayyar song that gets broadcasted by AIR Nasik. But soon the idea struck that, ‘as we have a tape recorder with inbuilt radio, why don’t we can record the songs.’ We have recorded so many of his songs in our tape recorder so that we can enjoy them when we like. If we got bored with one tape, we could easily tape new songs on that cassette.

    Then after years, we entered the era of internet and YouTube. If you check my YouTube history, you will find visits I made to these oldies for musical pleasures. I liked his music cause he never used too many instruments, he created divine pleasure with a very small orchestra. O. P. Nayyar had given so many melodious moments to us as music lovers that I am forever indebted to him. I would like to share some of my favorite songs created by this legend as my tribute to him.

    1 – Maang ke saath tumhara

    Film: Naya Daur (1957)

    2 – Jaane kaha Mera Jigar gaya ji

    Film: Mr. & Mrs. ’55 (1955)

    3 – Yeh hai bombay meri jaan

    Film: C.I.D. (1956)

    4 – Tumsa nahi dekha

    Film: Tumsa nahi dekha (1957)

    5 – Aaiye meherban

    Film: Hawrah Bridge (1958)

    6 – Deewana huwa baadal

    Film: Kashmir ki kali (1964)

    7 – Pukarta chala hu mnai

    Film: Mere sanam (1965)

    8 – Lakhon hai nigah me

    Film: Phir wahi dil laya hu (1963)

    9 – Babuji dhire chalna

    Film: Aar paar (1954)

    10 – Kajra Mohabbat Wala

    Film: Kismat (1968)

    ~~~~

    I am participating in A to Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on day 15 challenge. “O for O. P. Nayyar”

  • Starting a new

    Turn the page — by Lori Spray

    It has been days for me turning that page. I put the full stop on our relationship. You know how difficult it is to move on and starting a new life. When there is no further page to turn, you have to accept the end. We had such a good time together. But alas, the journey has its destination. Wait, wasn’t I aware of this destination since the beginning? Ever since I took that first step with her, back of the mind I was always staging for the moment when we reach the end of this road.

    Isn’t it obvious for a book? If you open the cover and dived in the amazing world created by an author, there is always “the end” written on the last page of the book. When the book is so fascinating, it kind of cast a spell on you and take you along the journey of its characters. I get involved in the story so much that I start thinking of being part of the story. The author takes the characters by hand and takes them to their destination by the end of the book. They fulfill their destiny. If writer gave them happy moments at the end, they enjoy them. If it’s tragedy, characters at least get closure at the end. But hey dude, you forget to write something for me? What about my destiny at the end? What about my share of the closure? Haven’t you thought about me as an uninvited traveler of this journey when you wrote a book?

    This is my condition when I turn that last page of every fascinating book. I need more time to come out of the world between those covers. I know it’s crazy to some other level, but hey my fellow bibliophiles, aren’t we all crazy in the same way? Just like some love yearning person, I fell for a new world. I get pulled to the bookshelf. Aroma of those printed pages always fascinates me. It entices me to pick up a new book and start a new.

    ~~~~

    I am participating in A to Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on day 14 challenge. “N for Starting a new”

  • In just a moment

    Water Drop by Avish Joseph

    Busy street, office rush, they bumped,
    Eyes met, and chords struck, in just a moment.
    Overcast sky, air too humid, Clouds roared,
    Rains showered, and the air is cold, in just a moment.
    Lots of struggle, hours of work, Daily failure
    Simple bath and eureka cry, in just a moment.
    On your mark, Shot fired, trailing behind,
    Final push and he crossed the line first, in just a moment.
    Just wait, for the moment, be patient
    Do your work, and luck will change, in just a moment.

    ~~~~

    A moment is what it takes to see the change of luck. let’s wait for the moment. I am participating in A to Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on day 10 challenge. “Just a moment”

  • In the meantime

    I woke up from a sound sleep and got done with my workout, but in the meantime, the top story said ‘For tax relief, you need proof of rent paid to kin’, and ‘Gujrat girl with 80% vision loss makes it to IIM’. I continued with my routine, I sat for breakfast before I left for the office, and in the meantime ‘Some more trees lost their place on Aundh road, Pune. 2 are dead as husband opens fire in California class.’ While I got ready for office and reach the office, ‘Deepika had wawed in monochrome look and Salman had voiced for Lord Hanuman’. Everyone is curious if ‘PC hits Zac Efron’s India visit or not?’, but I was busy with my daily office work. Every day, I need to achieve my targets, set for that day.

    Meanwhile, in our country, ‘16 political parties felt the need to bring ballot papers back in the system. And Hasina rejects Mamata’s plan being stubborn on Teesta’ as my work continued until we had a lunch break. We had good laugh at lunch table amongst all of us who work at my office and head back to work. In the meantime, ‘Army is on the lookout for more personnel to protect installations’. When I was putting my brain to work while struggling with sleep in the afternoon, ‘transgender community of the city look forward to inclusivity and Deccan College starts a course in research methodology.’

    Coffee came to rescue me when I was about to sleep at the desk and that its smell brought freshness. In the meantime, ‘4 years old loses his life because of illegal school van and expert feels a need of umbrella agency to regulate higher education.’ By the time I wound up and head home from the office, people were ready for a party. ‘Kareena Kapoor’s backless top is hot for some people, while others think about Barbie’s Malibu mansion.’ As the evening gets older, I am hanging out with friends but in the meantime, photos of bikini-clad Miss Universe India, Sunny Leone, and Noyonita Lodh are sizzling the minds of people. My day ended with simple, lite dinner and a nice book for a night read. I hit the bed and sleep. In the meantime, I am sure there are 1000 things must have happened. So guys, what happened in the meantime when you went through your day?

    ~~~~

    I thank Time of India to make my morning interesting enough so that I can write this article. I am participating in A to Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on day 9 challenge. “In the meantime”

  • F is for factless forwards

    Years before, it was all about handwritten letters and posts. Ever since we could manage to pull off the trick of the internet, We keep losing the skills and techniques of writing letters to the loved ones till we reached the era of instant messaging apps. When it was just the start of the internet we invented an e-mail. Everyone was amazed and ready to try new technology. Soon it overtook the traditional postage system and entered the demon of forwards in the web. For sure demon must have entered in a disguise of pictures of cute babies, beautiful sceneries, amazing places around the globe, and what not. That little forward arrow on every email window kept pulling the recipients to click on it and forward the e-mail. Remember we used to get those random postcards in the name of gods or goddess, which one has to be sent to 108 people without breaking the chain? They had those “do this otherwise…..” curses and bad luck showers mentioned at the end. This demon in disguise didn’t need them. We readily forwarded the emails and spammed our friends and families.

    Soon we witnessed the revolutionary development in our mobile phones and demon smiled cunningly. We, humans, are very enthusiast about keeping ourselves up to date. We promptly switched to smartphones ditching our old handsets. Now we could constantly be in touch with our friends, family, love and to the world. The invention of Facebook, Twitter and other social media had made us global citizen even if we are sitting in a small village in interiors of India. The demon had now equipped himself with video clips which everyone would love to laugh on and send across with their free wifi plans. Soon the demon realized that we just keep spreading the things which we receive and move on. He started to shed his disguise. Soon he took over the consciences of society and forwarding action became mechanical. We stopped thinking about what are we reading and watching. We started accepting what mass is saying.

    We don’t bother to do simple fact-checks before forwarding. Just to give you an example, UNESCO has been awarding Indian national anthem as “best in the the world” every year since 5-6 years. As if every year, some 10-15 new nations came into existence, or we destroy a bunch of them from the map. and there are new anthems every year to have competition. I have lost the count for how many times, Earth had been hit by cosmic rays and NASA had issued warnings of keeping our cell phones off. Forwarding anything without thinking anything about fact-checks has become the trend. It’s really sad that such forwards have been accepted as news sources. Things are becoming frustrating. Forwards are spreading like haywire.

    Demon soon started offering his services to anti-social elements or someone who just want to sit and have a fun watching the panic in people his roomer have spread. I am really saddened by the way we behaved in the time of recent social conflicts and riots in Nashik, Maharashtra. If some incident happened in one village, it used to get blown out of proportion and roomers were spreading in the entire district even before the incident got reported to the police. It’s sad that authorities have to shut down the internet connections in the district for almost a week.

    We just can’t stop forwarding things. We really should have some self-control on such forwardings. I am not blaming habit of spreading the knowledge or sending some nice words to each other, but my only request is guys if you read something and wish to forward it to someone for any reason, you just take a breath, think before hitting that arrow, does this really make any sense? Think rationally about it. If you get the affirmative signal from your brain then and then only send it across. It will really reduce hate, frustration, and anger from our society.

    ~~~

    I am participating in A to Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on day 6 challenge. “F for Forwards”

  • C has to be for Coffee

    Love for Coffee

    When your social media bio says “coffee, camera, ink-pen and me” you can’t write anything but coffee as your article about ‘C for….’ on day 3 of A to Z challenge. Hell yeah, I am caffeine addict without withdrawal syndromes 😉 😛 Once you wake up in the morning, it’s almost heaven when you smell the roasted beans you put in for a fresh brew. As soon as that aroma hits your nose, your brain feels happy. This is so powerful, it even keeps the deadly ‘Monday Blues’ at bay. For years this has been my morning freshness trick. But I recently came to know about the science behind it. Thanks to this same A to Z challenge. It introduced me to amazing blogger, YouTuber Karnika Kapoor and she talked about Coffee and Climate Change in one of her video.

    Coffee has been a major part of my life just like books. And the combination of an interesting book and cup of coffee is ultimate hit. And if it’s raining, I just love to pour myself a cup of hot and strong coffee, pick an interesting book (mostly it’s one of the rereads), and sit by the window enjoying words with this heavenly drink. While browsing things about coffee, I came across one amazing painting of old Turkish coffee shop created by Chevalier Auguste de Henikstein made in 1826.  

    Interieur dun cafe Turc by Chevalier Auguste de Henikestein

    I think ever since the first coffee shop opened, it was the center for community gatherings or place where friends can meet and have lengthy discussions. The tagline of widespread Indian café chain, Café Coffee Day is really true and very cleverly thought. “A lot can happen over a coffee” You may propose your love, you might sign the important business deal, or you can sit and chat for hours with your buddies. Even if you are alone, cafe never fails you. Constant hustle bustle keeps you company. For me cafés are the places of discovery of characters in my stories, even many of my stories are spun around coffee and cafes.

    Coffee bearer by John Frederick Lewis

    Nowadays, I am craving to do buddy reading of some interesting book sitting on a window ledge while it’s raining out and mugs full of hot coffees are adding more sparkle to the reading session. Will this wish get fulfilled in this rainy season?

    ~~~

    I am participating in A to Z challenge with Blogchatter and this is my take on day 3 challenge. “C for Coffee”