… calming down with some instrumental music.

Loving the turntable…

Listening to the only LP record I have. I did rearrange the music/library room. Got my fountain pens and all ink downstairs now.

If you thought that my car is old – it has a cassette player – try this:

In a bit of head turning lunacy, I got myself a turntable (vinyl record player). I had been thinking about it for quite some time – but a discussion with Ashok Deb last Sunday at the Chalupa post-run coffee get together – led to a firm resolve on my side. Thinking no further, ordered a Japanese turntable (Denon). Which duly arrived on Wednesday. Assembled it and set it up last night.

Just the mere sight of it brings back too many memories. As a child, I was fascinated by this device – which we called “record player” for some reason. Way back in December 1974, we had visited my mother’s elder sister. They had a “record player”. Uncle (who I last saw in 2014) had shown me the device. He put a Hemanta Mukherjee vinyl on it and let it rip. I was fascinated by how the thing would keep going round and round and somehow produce an amazing sound. (I was 8 years old then). But uncle would not let me touch the vinyl. I figured they must be very important.

Much later, I found out that my school mate – Ashoe Das – had turntable too. I became a regular feature on Sundays at his house at 11AM. His parents used to love me and his dad allowed me a lot more freedom. He showed me how to load the vinyl, put the pin on it (I was always scared of putting the pin down lest I scratched the vinyl), how to change the speed etc. None of those folks are alive any more. I would have absolutely sent them this picture.

This week, I had to sit down and learn the basics of a turntable – you know direct motor versus belt (I got the belt), maintenance of the cartridge and all that. My next problem was how to get LP records. The problem is I do not listen to Western music. At all.

I spent an hour at the Vinyl shop in Alpharetta and came home with a Saxophone (jazz) record. That is all I am listening to all day.

Do you folks know where I might get good LP records – could be instrumental, Hindustani classical, Ghazal/Qawali and such?

Meanwhile, I am getting inexplicable thrills every time the thing starts rotating and the arm loads itself!!

Achhi soorat ko savarne ki zarurat kya hai?
Saadgi mein bhi qayamat ki adaa hoti hai
Tum jo aa jaate ho masjid mein adaa karne namaaaz
Tumko maloom hai kitno ki qazaa hoti hai?

This one is from Gulzar. We grew up listening a lot to this song. I think this was featured in a Hindi movie. (not an expert on Hindi movies – so not sure of it though)

Naam gum jaayegaa, 
Chehra ye badal jaayegaa,
Meri aawaaz hi pehchaan hai,
‘Gar yaad rahe

Roughly translated…

My name will be lost to your memory
And I will look very different too
But my voice will still be recognizable
Only if you are able to remember it

This one is from Mirza Ghalib:

Yeh na thi hamari qismat, ke wisaal-e-yaar hota
Agar aur jeete rehtey, yehi intezaar hota.

Yeh masaael-e-tasavvuf, yeh tera bayaan Ghalib
Tujhe hum Wali samajhte, jo na badaa khwar hota  

The translation is from Khuswant Singh. Other than the lines I marked with ##. Those two lines were not there in the version Khuswant translated.

To be united with the beloved was not writ in my fate,
Had I lived any longer, it would have been the same long wait.

I lived on your promises, I knew they were not true,
Would not I have died of joy had I believed in you?

Ask my heart about the pain of love and it will tell you
The half-drawn bow’s the assassin, not the arrow that pierces through.

To whom can I speak of sorrows that come with the fading of light?
Death would be welcome, if it did not stand at my door every night.

##Disgraced as I shall be in death, why not I drown in the sea?
##Fated, as I am to not have a funeral, nor a tomb erected for me. 

Your concern with mystic problems, Ghalib, your language is such
You could have passed off for a saint, had you not drunk so much.