Sunday, December 13, 2009

My four alcoholic years of school time.

Thanks for reading and appreciating my last post on Kumar Sanu songs. Good to know from most of you that romanticizing with Hindi film songs is a very common phenomenon and everyone relates themselves with Hindi songs in their own way.

Today I want to share something which is very personal.To understand it well, I have to take you all to flashback. I was in 8th standard and have migrated with some of my class mates from I.C.S.E. run convent Prakash Vidyalaya to C.B.S.E affiliated project school B.I.O.P sr. sec.school.

 It was a lollypop for me, reason was very simple, firstly the course was comparatively easy and secondly unofficial permission to bunk periods. Moreover due to densely populated classes no body bothers to monitor homework etc.

I was enjoying freedom and was very happy that I have convinced my parents for school change. Everything was running smoothly until that picnic which has changed my life to some extent. We were 21 students from the strength of 48 students of class 8(b) who contributed 20 Rs. each to attend picnic in Malangir Valley organized by my dear friends Manoj Patel and Manveer Parmar.

As per our plan we all 21 class mates started our journey of 11 Kms at 7 a.m. from our school. It was the month of September and the morning was very pleasant. The journey was adventurous but very exhaustive. Finally we reached the picnic spot, after an hour of fun, the girls started preparing food in temporary cooking kiln made up of four bricks.

 The group of dominant boys moved inside the jungle with their hand bags, I being the youngest member of the naughty gang also followed them. After a walk of more than half Kms one of them opened the bag and with the help of his teeth, he opened the Maharani Brand bear. He started drinking large sips, the fen was bubbling out from the bottle.

 I was shocked to see everything happening in front of me dramatically. I started founding butterflies dancing in my stomach, he offered me a sip, I refused the offer instinctly but at the second moment I accepted it. The bottle was in the hand of a 13 year old boy and in the next second the material inside the bottle was in his stomach. The taste was unfamiliar and insipid but the bear has done its work.
I started feeling blissful addictive kicks all around my head.

I was unknown to the fact that my first kiss to the bottle would last more than one and a half decade. Yes, the cycle of saving Rs 23 to buy a bottle of maharani or Punjab bear started in class 8th. Affair with bear ended soon and whisky has taken its place in class 9th.

 In class 10th my love for music started growing with the growing needs for liquor. Soon, I got caught many a times in home resulting ban on pocket money. Now I started searching relatively cheaper method to fulfill my drinking desire.

Till class 10th I was not habituated and use to drink once or twice in a week. Actually, it was class 11th where I felt that I need it regularly and group of like minded friends worked as a catalyst in the context. I started bunking periods with my classmate and friend P.Sharath, Atan Sarkar and Amit Aiyyer. We also have another friend from Kendriya Vidyalaya Jitendra Arora.

We use to go to KRUPP Point in the day time and VIEW point in evening and some times in night. Both the spots were 15 and 25 Kms above from the main town respectively. Krupp point was named after Kruppa uncle who searched that place.

 It was an excellent picnic spot with all the adventurous elements like small water fall, swimming space and most important thing ‘isolation’ from the outer world. We use to take cane full of Salfi(also called as Bastar bear tastes like Tadi) and Mama Daru(affordable liquor prepared by tribes).

We use to buy bread costing 2 Rs at that time and Nilons pickle from Gupta hotel for biting with salfi and mama daru.I still remember one funny incident which took place at Krupp Point. Sharath after drinking 2 bottles of Salfi, without having a single cloth in his body screamed from the top of the water fall with his typical malyaly tone ‘Main aa raha hoon Basanti” and jumped in the water.

This friendship continues in class 12th also and so our drinking. After 12th I went to Visakhapatnam for higher studies fortunately at that time there was a ban on liquor in Andhra Pradesh and it helped me actually to take control on my senses again. After few years it all started again but this time the quantity and frequency of intake has crossed the normal limits.

There was always a guilt conscious in me for the reason that drinking is not in my genes but as it all started very early in class 8th, it took so much of commitment and will power to overcome this habit. I realize that it has filched my best period which has affected my life badly specially my career but it has made me learn so many lessons from life which can not be discussed here.

 I quitted drinking in 2006 and believe that it was the toughest time of my life. Liquor doesn’t excite me any more, it is just a forbidden stuff for me. Very soon I will pen down my struggle and pain undergone in the process of quitting liquor along with the tips which helped me in doing so.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

My Romantic musical journey with Kumar Sanu songs.

"Kitni hasrat hai hame tumse dil lagane ki,
 Paas aane ki tumhe zindagi me lane ki"

My idea of romanticizing with Hindi film songs started with the film ‘Qayamat se Qayamat tak’ in the year 1988 whose melodious songs forced me to sense some hormonal changes even before adolescence. Then only I realized that I have it in me, the emotions which generates automatically when some mellow tunes enter my ears. Again in 1989 it continues with the film”Maine Pyar Kiya” .

I saw the film 14 times. It was all there in the movie. Gorgeous Bhagyashree with her extremely opulent voice and Salman doing everything a young boy imagines in his life.

But the major change took place musically when Aashiqui released and the biggest star of hindi music industry Kumar Sanu started his second innings with the bang. With the unusual looks and hairstyle Rahul Roy also contributed to the film but it was the music of Nadeem-Shravan which broke all the record.


The hit songs included Sanson ki zaroorat hai jaise, Tu meri zindagi hain, Nazar ke saamne, Jaane jigar jaaneman, Dheere, dheere se meri zindagi mein aana and film fare award winning ‘Ab Tere Bin Jee Lenge Hum’.

In 1991 his voice created magic again in the songs of Dil hai ki manta nahi, the title song has won an award for my sister in school competition. One of the song from the film which I liked the most is ‘Kaise mizaj aapke hain Farmaiye’.

 I request my readers to download it and hear it to sense the feelings Sanu has put in the song. Another hit song ‘tumhe apna banana ki kasam khai hai’ from film sadak also strikes in 1991.I remember those days, I was very shy and only use to sing in bathroom or in front of my elder sister who was like a musical mentor for me.

At that time we have a small Philips mono tape recorder and with the help of a pitcher(matka) and a small speaker derived from my fathers radio we had modified it to sound like a deck.
I was in 7th standard when Saajan released and its music took the entire nation by rage. Even now the film fare award winning song ‘Mera dil bhi kitna Pagal hai” raise my emotions to the extreme level everytime I hear it.

He strikes again with his luscious voice and won Filmfare for the song”sochenge tumhe pyar karein ki nahi”from the film Deewana for the year 1992 and for “yeh kaali kaali aankhein” from the film Baazigar in 1993. One of his best romantic song ‘Seene me dil hai dil me hai dhadkan’is from Raju ban gaya gentleman released in 1992.

It happens with only Kumar Sanu songs that it exerts your heart to extract emotions out while listening and the perfect example is all the songs from 1942-A love story. I was in class 10th and in the peak of my adolescence.

 All the songs were fantastically crafted by Pancham Da and spectacularly sung by Sanu Da. Same time when songs from 1942 was charting top on Philips top ten on Zee t.v, my Philips mono tape was in the coma and use to go every now and then to Pintu shop which was the only repairing shop available there.

 I insisted my parents to buy a stereo but not able to convince them. Ultimately me and my sister revolted and we got Philips stereo next day.

Due to  tuitions and pressure of Board exam I use to get very less time to hear music so I use to hear it in the night with the help of ear phone. Several nights I have not slept just for hearing songs of 1942.

It seems that every song was crafted by the blessings of Goddess Saraswati. ‘Kuch na kaho, kuch bhi na kaho’ and ‘Rimzhim rumzhum’ are my all time favorite songs. Again Sanu won Filmfare for the song ‘ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga’. Credit should also be given to Javed Akhtar for his fabulous lyric writing.

 One more song which cant be ignored is ‘Chura ke dil mera goriya chali’ from the film Main khiladi tu anari. This peppy song holds a special place in my heart not only because of its excellent choreography but also due to the chemistry reflected in the screen between handsome Akki and sexy Shilpa Sheety.

Sanu’s romantic voices continues to break records in 1995 with the phenomenal success of song “Tujhe dekha to ye jaana sanam” from the film Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge. In 1997 Salman came back with Jab pyar kisi se hota hai.

The album comprises one of the best romantic song ‘Madhosh dil ki dhadkan’. One more song from the same film has the longest aalap of Sanu ‘heyheyhey…….o jaana na jaana’. Sanu and Shahrukh both were in the peak of their carrer and Pardes was the best example where Sanu’s voice has complemented Shaharukh in the soft romantic number ‘Do dil mil rahe hain magar chupke chupke’.

I rank this song as the best soft romantic number of all time. I heard this song thousands of time and found it sweeter then before every time I plug it.

The scrumptious voice of Sanu da particularly in this song just dilutes honey in your ears and if you are a music lover then it takes you directly to musical heaven. I was in the first year of my college when this film released and also experiencing my first crush with one of my class mate.

Late 90’s was an era where soft and melodious songs were on the air but unlike early 90’s good music doesn’t guarantees box office success and Kareeb was the perfect example. ‘Haan judai se darta hai Dil’ was sung with by profound intense voice unlike the other song of the film ‘chori chori jab nazrein mili’ which was sung with a very supple voice.

Another hit film pyar to hona hi tha also released in the same year. Ajay Devgan with his expressive eyes complemented Sanu’s extremely romantic number”Jab kisi ki taraf dil jhukne lage”. In 1999 he has fitted another intense romantic song under his belt by singing ‘Aankho ki gustakhiyan maaf ho’ from Hum dil de chuke sanam. .

In the year 2000, Sanu slowed his amazing recording schedule a bit, due to some disturbance in his personal life and also due to diagnosis of 1st stage of throat cancer.very few know that he is still under medication. His hit songs continue although he slowed down and sang chosen songs only.

Post 2000 only few numbers has been able to create that magic again one of that is ‘Der se hua par pyar to hua re’from ‘Hum ho gaye aap ke’. One song which tops chart in my i-pod is from the film Kasoor ‘Dekha jo tumko ye dil ko kya hua hai’. This songs has all the essential elements to suit the intense and deep Kumar Sanu style.

In the year 2000 his magic was fading for me and simultaneously my romantic imagination, which was linked with his songs, the reason I was in my early 20’s and started coming out of imagination and experiencing the real one. The imaginative romantic musical journey of more then a decade with Sanu’s Da songs finally comes to an end in the year 2001.

I was never a die hard fan of Sanu da but I believe he is one of the greatest singer bollywood has ever produced. All his songs I mentioned above are penetrated deep inside me and I expect him to go on and on.
Recently he was awarded with Padmashri by Government of India for his contribution to hindi music industry. I am ending by one of my favourite song of Sanu da.

“Tu mile dil khile aur jeene ko kya chahiye

Na ho tu udaas tere paas paas main rahunga zindagi bhar,

Saare sansar ka pyar maine tujhi me paya

Tu mile dil khile aur jeene ko kya chahiye”