8 April 2023

Rewind-Pause: Flashback from December 1986

We have the IIT Madras Alakananda hostel (our year) get together going on in San Diego now. Some incredible arrangements made by our local hosts – Ranga (S. Rangarajan and his wife Maya), GB (G. Balakrishnan) and Mani (Mani Krishnan).

Ranga, Madhav and I were reminiscing their trip to Durgapur back in December 1986. Madhav and I were headed to IIT Kharagpur for the Inter-IIT meet. Ranga (from Kolkata then) and Madhav had come over to our house.

We gathered my Durgapur friends one fine morning – Mousumi, Debatosh, Avijit, Aditi and Baisakhi and all of us made a trip to Shantiniketan.

This is one of the few pics that I have from that trip.

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1 April 2023

Throwback to those years when we had a big house

And I had my own music room to practice my tabla. She was out for our dear friend’s birthday. That gave me a chance to get in touch with my inner self…

In the poet’s words…

“Mere aansuon pe nazar na kar
Mera shikwa sun ke khafa na ho
Use zindagi ka bhi haq nahi
Jisey dard-e-ishq mila na ho”

My rough translation…

“Please do not look at my tears
Please do not get upset with my complaints
You do not even have a right to life
If you have not gone thru the pangs of love”

Category: Music/Poetry | LEAVE A COMMENT
1 April 2023

Rewind-Pause: The original DRAMA group

Five of the closest friends from high school days. This goes back nearly four decades. This is how geographically not-so-close we are now: This Durgapur diaspora now lives in as far flung places as Perth (Australia), Singapore, Bangalore, Atlanta and Bay Area (US).

The name DRAMA was derived from the initials of the first name of each person. That there was always some or the other drama going on in somebody’s life at that age was completely coincidental !!

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18 March 2023

Music is but nostalgia, personified

“Gaye dinon ka suraag lekar
Kidhar se aaya kidhar gaaya woh
Ajeeb maanus ajnabi tha
Mujhe to hairan kar gaya woh”

Poet: Nasir Kazmi

Roughly translated…

“With that sudden hint of long lost past
She came from nowhere; and then vanished – I know not where
It be so strange that a complete stranger like her
Could leave me so utterly listless”

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18 March 2023

Saturday evening calming down

An evening by myself with Habib Wali Mohamed. I expect very few listeners today to recognize him. He had focused most of his time on studying and running his family business. But in between, when he recorded some songs, they were golden. Born in Yangon (Burma), he lived twice in India, twice in Pakistan and twice in the USA (first time he got a MBA from Syracuse and the second time was in his sunset years – he died surrounded by his family in Los Angeles).

This rare LP is one more that I inherited from Deval’s dad.

Thank you Deval, Krupal and Shaku : without your magnanimity, this evening would have not happened for me.

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