Simply Living Hardly Thinking

Early morning, or maybe I should call it late night, woke up after just 1.5 hrs of sleep. The usual fight with alarm clock ended with a shock that it was already 4:30. Time to rush towards the airport. I love these early morning drives to airport, there is no traffic on the road and you can enjoy the music and cool air. But then I had thoughts about how the day is going to unfold. I was trying to divert my mind and the thought which flashed through my mind is what the title of this post is. Is there a way we can live a dream instead of leading a life. I don’t remember the context of this but the thought refused to go till I reached the airport where the nice Masala dosa took over the thought process.

Little did I know that the day will unfold into a dream. We were organizing the BBG meetup in an old age home in Mumbai. This was a different type of experience. Falguni, Mangla and Sanjeev had been working to make this reality for a long time. The idea was to do a BBG meetup in an old age home and see if we could bring happiness to people there. The challenge was that will our format work with the seniors and will they sit through a 3-4 hour program.

As the program unfolded we could see the spark coming through everybody’s eyes. A little bit of dance on a song was instrumental in helping the audience to loosen up. The hall was full and we had to ask the younger folks to move to back side of the hall so that senior folks could get closer to stage. The music kept unfolding on the stage and the audience kept growing in numbers and excitement. Everybody was singing and  clapping together as songs kept on moving from melodious to peppy back and forth.

There were three scenes which touched all of us so much that I could see tears in everybody’s eyes, including mine. The first scene was when I saw seniors dancing in wheel chairs. The spirit was irrepressible here.

The second scene was when the audience decided to give a standing ovation after one of the song. The entire hall stood to thank the performer but I could see one frail looking lady, in a light blue dress, probably in her ninties, struggling to stand up. I went up to her and told her that it is fine if she does not stand up but her trembling hands reflected her resolve and spirit. She did get up after a valiant effort.

The third scene was when one of the trustees of the old age home and said that today they have seen God in the form of all of us who brought happiness to all of us via music. It was such a touching expression of love that all of us had our eyes wet.

I usually thank everybody who help us organize these meetups but this time I will not do that for sure. All of us who were involved in organizing this have to thank our life that it gave us an opportunity to bring happiness to so many people, even if it was for an evening. I am sure it will linger on in their minds as well as ours. Happiness is precious and even more precious when you are able to give it to others.

See it in pictures here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.434754046571365.96512.111281795585260&type=1

2 years back. Oh ya, 2 years back. A lazy day I decided to get started with something. I wish I could say I was visionary but frankly speaking I was not. The goal was simple and more a personal one. Take 15 mins out of the daily grind and listen to songs which I have enjoyed.

My relation to music has been from very early childhood. The days when my dad used to return from office and sing songs for us ( me and my 4 siblings ). It was part of a routine. Some of the songs which were regular were – Mere saajan hain us paar, Aap ne yaad dilaya to mujhe yaad aaya, Dard-e-dil dard-e-zigar etc. Then one fine day we got a old style tape recorder at home. The first few cassetes were Udan Khatola, Baiju Bawra. The songs repeated again and again and music became an essential part.

The second brush with music was when I was preparing for IIT. I used to study for 10-12 hours at a stretch and music playing on radio was always there for company besides mom waking up at midnight to cook something for me and my brother. That phase introduced me to a broad variety of music directors. Understood the difference between their musical styles.

The third musical wave came when I got into college and stayed in hostel. Here I got introduced to Ghalib and lot of Urdu poetry. The relationship deepened. Ghalib and Nusrat were two dominating influences. Did listen to some western music also but mostly restricted to John Denvers, Cliff Richard and Elvis.

And then the unthinkable happened. Corporate life and usual life issues took me away from music. And it was a long duration. Almost 10 years. I hardly had much music during this time. And then one fine morning it came back. Back with a bang. BBG got started as more of a personal venture but I was amazed to see how people identified with songs. More and more people kept joining and kept sharing their memories associated with the songs. But we were a more or less a virtual entity at that point.

And that is when meetups entered the scene. We decided to organize meetups in every city. The first one happened in Bangalore and it was an amazing experience. And then Mumbai which was a great experiences. Lot more cities came to fold like – Pune, Ahemdabad, Bhavnagar, Ghaziabad and Hyderabad. Everywhere we went we got so much love and affection from everybody. The BBG family kept expanding. The music connected all of us and BBG became a platform to bring happiness to people via music.

All I can say is that it has been a fantastic journey and if I start counting the names of people to thank it will run into pages. When we do events and see people happy, it fills us with so much of joy. When we go to unknown city and come back with hundreds of friends, it makes our soul happy. That is what BBG stands for. Our endevour to make people happy.

It is a good time to reflect on what we have achieved but we still have to go a long way. We would like to hold events outside India. We would like to help more artists who are in need. We would love to see mainstream talent emerging from BBG platform. We would love to see more and more people losing stage fear and sing infront of an audience. We would love to see more and more people spending sometime every day devoted to music. We would love to see music healing the wounds created by boundries.

Miles to go before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep…..

It happens and happened to me two times on 15th Oct, 2011. Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahavidyalaya was where music lovers from different parts of the country gathered to celebrate our love for music. I figured out why Pune is called cultural capital of Maharashtra. Music lovers descended in large numbers for the BBG meetup.

Coming back to the pause button. We had two special friends who came for the meetup. The first one was Pandit Rajendra Kandalgaonkar. We were blessed to have his company for our meetup. I will admit that classical music is not something which I have ever listened to much. Not even recorded, forget about live. Rajendra Sir blessed our stage by showing us a small glimpse of his skills. I was just blown away. I have never seen a guy striking so many notes at the same time. His voice had an amazing smoothness which just took us to another world. I wish if I could hit a pause button and listen to him forever.

And if Pandit Ji was not enough we had another special friend who came over for the event - Kedar Indurkar. Kedar is a differently abled genius. Somebody who has not let his constraints come in way of helping others who need help. He is the winner of  National Award for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. Kedar has typed and translated twelve books in three languages into Braille. His works are proving extremely beneficial and are adding to the knowledge and education of the visually impaired in institutes in Karnataka and Maharashtra. The translated works include eight books of a noted writer and social worker, Sudha Murthy, and few other books in Hindi and Marathi. He sang the song – Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli Haaye and I had the privilege of holding the mic. All I can say is that it was a very touching moment for me. I wished if time had a pause button and I could hear Kedar’s inspirational words forever.

The meetup was made possible by two die hard music lovers – Ranjana Mishra and Mukesh Jha. Both of them worked tirelessly to make it happen. The fun started at 3PM and went all the way till 10PM. The songs ranged from gazals, filmi, sufi to marathi. Everybody pitched in to showcase musical talent. We even had a sporting wife dancing to her husband’s tunes ( I know this happens rarely ) during the event. Music lovers enjoyed every moment and I am sure it will keep lingering in our minds for months.

For those of you who prefer pictures over words check out the album below.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.252790474767724.59723.111281795585260&type=3

It is tough not to have fun when you are in the company of so many music lovers and so many people who have been part of the mosaic of Indian Film music. We were privileged to be under one roof in Kandivili, Mumbai on 18th Jun, 2011. The music lovers started descending at the venue from  3PM although show was about to start at 4PM. There were some delays in arrival of Mubarak Begum Ji because of famous Mumbai traffic and the music lovers used the time to get introduced to each other.

Everybody got up as Mubarak Begum Ji entered the venue. As she settled down on the sofa, we got a collar mike for her so that she finds it easy to talk to all of us. We were initially planning to have a question/answer style interview but she preferred to treat us to some lovely songs. Despite her age and bad health, her spirits were soaring and her voice made so many of us feel nostalgic about good old times. She also narrated incidents related to her foreign trips and her interaction with Geeta Bali and Noorjehan. She was well versed in lot of Urdu shayari and was kind enough to share with us. Music lovers gifted her a nice watch and also presented her with cash and cheques.

After Mubarak Begum Ji left, the karaoke started and everybody participated in it. From bathroom singers to semi-professionals, everybody had a great time. Then we switched to a very innovative Antakshari which tested everybody’s knowledge. I did manage to come first in that but from bottom. We switched back to karaoke again and we had a variety of songs not only in Hindi but also in Marathi. Kids also pitched in with some lovely songs for the evening.

We had some very interesting set of folks who added to the glitter of the evening. We had Raja Sevak who has worked in lot of TV serials and also writes. He was equally good at singing and sang few songs which made his wife fall in love with him all over again. Another person who stole the limelight was Narahari Savoor. He is percussion artist who has recorded lot of songs with the boss – RD Burman. He was quick to find a mineral water bottle and convert it to a musical instrument with the help of two spoons.  We also had the pleasure of company of Bablou Shailendra who is the son of legendary song writer Shailendra who gave Raj Kapoor movies a different meaning. He was kind enough to share humble beginnings of his family and also share with us the stories behind the songs he wrote.

We ended the evening with a lovely Mumbaiya dinner where everybody mingled with each other. Overall a fun evening and something all of us will remember for a long long time.

As part of our BBG – Bhoole Bisre Geet activities, we are also trying to connect up with old artists and their family members. One of the BBG member Falguni from Mumbai has put in lot of efforts in this direction and has helped us connect up with family of Talat Mehmood and legendary singer Mubarak Begum Ji. We have also realized in interaction with some of the artists that some of them are in need of financial assistance for day to day existence. We are trying to collect funds for Mubarak Begum Ji via our BBG event in Mumbai.

Please get in touch with me on bbg@bhoolebisregeet.in if you are interested in contributing.

Here are some of her songs you might enjoy