Countdown: 50 songs of the last millennium. I was out of Facebook for a few days, and it is not without design that I am tempted to post something on the night of Jan 3. 21 years back, Rahul Dev Burman returned from Shakti Samantas party around 2. He had plans of going to Pune that morning, and to Calcutta in a couple of days. Basu Chatterjee, who was present at the party, had suggested that he postpone his journey to accompany him to Cal on the 8/9th. Panchams journey to Pune and Calcutta never happened. He went on a journey to a haven far beyond these places. In an effort to gather my thoughts about my passion, my candid confession is very linear. I owe my second career and life to one person - Rahul Dev Burman. It was perhaps out of sheer interest in music that I thought of writing on him. The exact reasons behind why Pancham and why not somewhere else still evades me. I too do not know. Maybe it was destined. Maybe I shared a common bonding somewhere. Maybe his was a life which demanded a book and fortunately none were there. Maybe this... Maybe that... Or maybe his name created a connect with my childhood. Some frenzied, some romantic, some poignant. Like this song. (Apologies - I have talked about this in multiple forums, including Facebook, so I might be just repeating myself) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was probably the England tour of Australia where, after the first test, Mike Denness had been removed from the Captaincy. (Sourav fans in India will be happy to read this). England had a new look team with Tony Grieg as the captain, ably supported by fresh faces David Steele, Phil Edmonds and Bob Woolmer. Having stepped into double figures two years back, I would be hooked on to the radio for the commentary, whether it was Lords, Port of Spain, Perth or the Eden Gardens. Numbers like 13, 19, 25, 31, 41, and 49 were not prime or squares of primes. They were frequencies on Short Wave which all of us knew. One evening, when my parents were not at home, and I was frantically trying to get the latest update of the test match - think it was the 3rd test match at Headingley - , I had to stop dial chasing and listen to a song played at either 41 or 49 Meters. A song which I had heard last when I was in Kg - at St Joseph’s convent which was near Mahendru Ghat which always played Hindi film songs. Not only was I taken back in time, I developed a bonding with the melody which is kind of intact. Even today. And the announcer - wonder who it was, could be Kanta Sharma - mentioned - you just heard Lata Mangeshkar singing for the film Baharon ke Sapne. The composer is Rahul Dev Burman. My processor started working overtime. R D Burman ? This song? Is it possible? Quite a revelation. I knew of his music in films like Jawani Diwani, HRHK, Yadon ki baraat,etc. Never associated poignancy, empathy and tearfulness with his melody before. While the vandals were digging up the pitch at Headingley, my relationship with Pancham was turning a new leaf. Unfortunate that I could not include this song in our 50s book https://youtube/watch?v=E7qp-XaWwR0
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 19:39:56 +0000
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