First time I listened to the cassette of Betaab – right after finishing my tenth grade exams, I remember being struck by the pronounced sound effects of thunder in this song. Not one to watch movies much, I did not have the visual backdrop. That did not quite matter much, since I loved the tune of this song. And every other song of this movie. No wonder it became the biggest hit of that year.

Folks who grew up at that time listening to the songs of Betaab, did you have a favorite song? The others were “Jab Hum Jawan Honge”, “Teri Tasveer Mil Gayee”, “Tumne Dee Awaaz”, and “Apne Dil Se Badi Dushmani Ki”.

Got this vinyl from Kolkata when I was in India in March.

The furniture for the sound system has not arrived yet. I have so far just jammed it in my letter writing room. The first record played in this house is officially “Qurbani”. This 1980 Bollywood movie was known for its songs. I heard them first in my ninth grade and am still a big fan of the music and the instruments in every song. Very difficult to choose a favorite song from the Qawwali “Qurbani, Qurbani” by Kishore, the pop style “Aap Jaisa Koi” by Nazia Hasaan, the haunting “Hum Tumhein Chahte Hain” or the jivey “Laila ho laila laila”…

(The following is what I have learnt from different internet resources. I do not understand either of the languages)

This poem is written in Persian and Brij Bhasha. Brij Bhasha is a Dehaati Zabaan (country tongue) and a dialect of Hindi. In the first verse, the first line is in Persian, the second in Brij Bhasha, the third in Persian again, and the fourth in Brij Bhasha. This particular rendition I listened to was by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Zehaal-e-miskeen makun taghaful,
Duraye naina banaye batiyan.
Ke taab-e-hijran nadaram ay jaan,
Na leho kahe lagaye chatiyan.

Translated… (again, not my translation)

“Do not overlook my misery,
by blandishing your eyes and weaving tales,
My patience has over-brimmed, O sweetheart!
why do you not take me to your bosom.”

I am sandwiched between a great celebratory trip to Costa Rica with my office colleagues who earned it by delivering an incredible 2021 AND a trip to India remembering my dad’s one year since he left us forever. The high fives at work last year can only be appreciated against the background of my dad asking when was I going to come to see him. (We were deep in the pandemic and I was waiting to get vaccinated to make a trip; he did not wait that long)

Seemed like “Chori Chori” was the perfect mood for the evening.

Another vinyl record from the early 80s – Naseeb. I think the movie came out when I was in ninth grade. But I heard the songs for the first time in my tenth grade when Niladri Dutta bought the cassette and invited Avijit and me over to his house.

I still love pretty much every song from that movie. The favorites probably would be “John Jani Janardan” and the title song “Mere Naseeb Mein”

Given the recent demise of the Nightingale of Bollywood – Lata Mangeshkar – this might be an interesting trivia: A song in this movie – “Rang Jamake Jayenge” features the voice of three of the Mangeshkar siblings. (Lata, Asha and Usha). I am not sure if all the four sisters (all singers) ever sung a song together.

One of the best renditions of this Qawaali is by Abi Sampa. Unforgettable tune. You can listen to it on Youtube here.

The original poem was written my Amir Khusrau eulogizing Ali (Mohammed’s cousin and friend). Zulfiqr refers to the double pointed sword that – as the legend goes – God had given Mohammed which he then gave to Ali to replace his old sword. Ali had used this sword to protect Mohammed in many a battle between the-then Meccans versus Muslims.

Shaah-e-mardaan
Sher-e-yazdaan
Quvvat-e-parvardigaar
Laa fatah illaa Ali
Laa saif illaa Zulfiqr

Roughly translated…

(Ali is) the King of the braves
(He is) the Lion of God
(He has) the strength of God
There is no victory without Ali
There is no sword like Zulfiqr

This is followed by the original hadith attributed to Mohammed:

Man Kunto Maula
Khwajaa Ali-Un Maula

Whoever I am the master of
Venerable Ali is his master too

Again, wonderful rendition.

It was a few years back – 2014 to be precise – my father in law and I were sitting by the pool in our house in Atlanta listening to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan singing qaawalis and I was explaining the meaning of the Urdu words. Four years later in 2018 he transitioned.

A few weeks back, in Dec 2021, I was visiting my mother in law in Durgapur when I had to explain to her that I needed to leave early the next day to make it in time to buy some vinyl records from Free School Street in Kolkata.

That is when I learnt for the first time that my father in law was a big fan of vinyl records. Apparently, she had those old records saved somewhere. As you can imagine, I searched the whole house up and down. After looking at every corner she asked me to look at – and getting doused by more than my fair share of dust – eventually, I found a plastic bag sitting innocuously near one of the bathrooms. Sure enough! It had had some old classic Bengali rare-to-find records.

Tonight, I got a chance to open up the first one from that collection – this one is by Manna Dey. My favorite number? “Lalita Go Oke Aaj Chole Jete Bal Na“!!

Remember the story of the Noorie cassette from last week? That Papiya-di had lent to me and Avijit? Well, guess what was on the other side of the cassette? “Sargam“!!

I remember loving each and every song from that movie – Dafli Waale, Hum To Chale, Koyal Boley, Ram Ji Ki Nikli, Koyal Boli, Kahan Tera…

To complete the memories of that cassette from four decades back, Sargam vinyl record was the choice for this evening…

It was 1983 or 1984. My best friend Avijit Bose and I had gone to our friend Kaushik Samanta’s house. Kaushik’s elder sister – Papiya-di – introduced us to a new cassette she had bought – Noorie. At that time I did not know but it was already a 4-5 year old movie. I had never heard of the movie but loved the songs. One of my earliest introductions to Qawwali (albeit the Bollywood version) – “Aashiq ho to aaisa ho“. Loved “Chori Chori Koi Aaaye” too!

A few weeks later, Papiya-di lent that cassette to me. I remember Avijit and I listening to the songs over and over again at our place!

Almost 38 years later, those were the same songs I listened to again. (one more of the vinyl records I got from the Kolkata trip this time).

I had just entered my Engineering college in 1985. One of the first things I had bought for myself was a small radio. Mostly to listen to songs. It was probably early 1986 when a song caught my ear – “Teri Meri Prem Kahani“. Not only did I find the tune catchy, I also liked the rhyming of the words “kitab-on“, “sharab-on“, “gulab-on“, “nawab-on” and how they were used in the lyrics. It probably mattered that those were some of the few Hindi words I actually understood at that time!

Later I discovered another song from the same movie – Pighalta Aasman – “Mujhe Aisa Milaa Moti” – that stuck on to me for a long time. Very different kind of tune but memorable, all the same!

Tonight, that was the vinyl record I brought out from the collection I bought in Kolkata this time, cleaned it up and put it on… and in a small way, relived those days from four decades back!