Paas rehta hai, dur rehta hai
Koi dil mein zaroor rehta hai
Jab se dekha hai unki aankhon ko
Halka halka suroor rehta hai

Roughly translated (improvements welcome)…

Sometimes near me, sometimes far away
But she sure does live in my heart
Ever since I lay my eyes on her
I have remained forever mildly intoxicated

The cover said Persian Ghazals. But of course, sung in Hindi. Had to do some research to realize that Ghazals – while having Arabic roots, thrived very well in Farsi Persia. It eventually came to India via Urdu and then Hindi.

Music composed by the duo Shankar Jaikishan

Songs from the movie “Geet”. I believe these came out when I was barely four years old!

Listening to his songs, I was reading up about his life and learnt a lot. For one thing, I did not know that the epicenter of Hindi movies was Calcutta before it moved to Bombay. Apparently, he sang under the name Saigal Kashmiri (he was born in Jammu) for the first few movies before changing it to his real name – Kundan Lal – but used his initials. He died at the age of 43, a few months before India got its independence. His death was due to his alcoholism, the records indicate.

Interestingly, before becoming a singer-actor, he was a railway timekeeper for some time (did not finish school), then a typewriter salesman and then a hotel manager!

Growing up, we heard quite a few of his Bengali songs. That was a language he picked up much later in his life.

“যেমন করে মেঘ যায় গো উড়ে
যেমন করে সে হাওয়ায় ভাসে
কই, তাহার মতো তুমি আমার স্বপ্নে কভু ভাসো না তো
অলির কথা শুনে বকুল হাসে
কই, তাহার মতো তুমি আমার কথা শুনে হাসো না তো”

Like the way the clouds float by
Like the way they waft into the winds
How come you never shimmer into my dreams
But in the same way?

Like the ways the bees’ humming words
Drive the flowers to endless chortle
How come you never laugh at my own words
But in the same way?

Brought out this from the LP collection. Remember receiving this from Deval a few years back.

Mughal-E-Azam. The movie came out 6 years before I was born! I find some songs still very classic.

“Mohabbat ki jhuthi kahani pe roye
Badi chot khai javani pe roye”