3 April
2023
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”
1 April
2023
My kind of Saturday evening
She is away at a party. Gives me all the time to settle down for some ghazals with a cocktail. (which beats samosa with wine!!)
This evening, we are with Suman Kalyanpur. Another gift from Swami family.
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 !!
25 March
2023
Rewind-Pause: Pulling faces the other day…
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”
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.
18 March
2023
Rewind-Pause: Bangalore meeting from 20 years back
While I have not done office meetings in India for a long time, I can still visualize them the way they used to be. Invariably, there would be a water bottle at every chair and first order of the day would be the office help coming around and taking our tea/coffee orders!
Check out the size of the laptops. And the total mess of wires on the table. This was par for the course twenty years back. Wonder how meetings have changed these days in Bangalore.
Geoff has lost a lot of weight from those days. Dilip has lost all his hair on the head (he shaves his head like me now). Willie has not changed a bit. I have not seen Brandon in a long long time. And unfortunately, we lost Chandran way too early.
Geoff, Dilip, Willie, Brandon – do you remember this meeting?
11 March
2023
“E Byatha ki je byatha”
11 March
2023
“Murder, he wrote”
Went for a typewriter show and tried a few. I think I am zeroing in on what I want. In all likelihood, a portable Royal (e.g Royal Arrow). Last time I had typed on a real typewriter was in 1983. After my tenth class exams, I had started going to a typewriting class in Benachity.
That old feeling of tactile feedback came back all over again. (Very different than computer keyboards). Also got to know Tom – who is an absolute authority on typewriters. He has a collection of over 100 typewriters. That matches my fountain pen count.
But unlike my fountain pens, he makes some serious money by simply renting out his typewriters to movie sets!!
