Kaikobad

  September 25, 2020 is a very sad day for me, the day when one of my favourite singers S P Balasubramaniam passed away. I have grown up with his Hindi songs in my school and college days and always marvelled at the soft and melodious manner he rendered every song; his singing has always been flawless. SPB made his mark in the Hindi film music in the eighties, the time when a legend like Kishore Kumar was ruling the music charts, Amit Kumar was singing good songs, and newcomers like Shabbir Kumar and Mohd Aziz had just stepped into the Hindi music scene. SPB has a very riveting voice which is like no other singer, absolutely distinctive, unique and identifiable. I got hooked to his voice from the time I heard the songs of Ek Duje Ke Liye, Ek Hi Bhool and Yeh To Kamal Ho Gaya. He gave a smooth sensuality to his duet with Asha Bhosle “O Milan” from Tohfa which stands out among the other tracks by Kishore Kumar. Likewise in Saagar, his songs for Kamal Hassan are as spectacular and m...

While working from home, I usually make afternoon tea around 5.30 pm. Today I got delayed due to urgent office work and I couldn’t get up from my work seat till after 6 pm. While making my tea, my thoughts were lingering on the work that I have to complete today and some urgent work to be done in the next two days, some deadlines, some calls to be made etc. Many other personal thoughts were simultaneously crossing my mind. On my kitchen window-sill, there were some sparrows who had gathered and were eating the left-over rice I had put out in the afternoon. They were chirping away merrily, absolutely thrilled about the food laid out. It set me thinking…We keep worrying about things like office work, personal problems, an uncertain future, sometimes irrelevant things too. These sparrows have their own issues in life which are far more important and difficult than the issues we humans face. They have to search for food and water daily and all the time, and if they don’t get it, they h...