Golden Oldie

Warning: To not be bored the socks off by this post there are a few criteria that the reader must possess:- 1] Knowledge of Hindi and Hindi music, 2] Liking for the golden oldies of Kishore Kumar, 3] A whole lot of patience. Even if you do fulfill these, there is still the a fair chance that this post may not interest you…that is kinda the risk in almost everything, so….[meandering thought is cropped]

After a really really long time, I have come back to my mellow music tolerant phase. You know how some songs should be played only if you are in the mood for it? Ppl who personally know me, know this – Can’t stand slow love songs.
Like all things- there are exceptions to this; In my case it’s the melodies of Kishore Kumar.
I know that he left to a better place by the time I was a kid, I know he hasn’t sung any hit songs of my generation- but what the Heck!! Dead or alive this man has the voice of gold. There may be a zillion others with amazing voices too-but what he brings is that all too real rendition.
If you are listening to “O mere dil kay chaen” in the dimmed lights, the song has the power to lead you to belive that this song is being sung right now by some invisible romantic to his prospective girlfriend and you happen to be in an acoustically lucky place. You can literally visualize the expression, body language and the desperation of invisible guy’s love in just the intonation of Kishore Kumar.
And the icing to the cake is the extremely beautiful lyrics of this song. I know any English translation is probably not going to do any justice to the powerful feelings that the words of this song evoke in you; but I do have to do this in order to show why I feel the overwhelming need to write something about this at 1 in the night.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that this song is a serious proposal, not your usual eve-teasy or lovey-dovey (and full of exaggerations about the girl’s beauty) song. In fact, I can’t even recall the video shot for this song at all, I am explaining this only from the point of view of a person totally impressed by just its sound and thinks that watching the movie clip of this song may repulse her.
Here goes nothing:
In the first stanza, he says: “You see your own shadow and get embarrassed. This is just our first milestone and yet you got frightened at this point itself. What will happen to me? Think about that.” This is pretty straightforward and a valid set of statements to boot. He wants to confirm her interest/commitment.
Somewhere in the next stanza “Jachtha hi nahi aankhon mein koi” – No one else seems to find favor in my eyes (but you-that is left unsaid); and “Dil tumko hi chahe to kya keejiye?”- If the heart wants only you then what can be done about that?
IGuy is letting her know his depth of feeling. Also the ‘Maska’ helps; in right doses atleast.
But here are the translated lines that show the guy’s resolve and how he asks her to be his strength: “Ordinarily I can stabilize myself without any help when I fall; But if you were to hold my hand then I can change the world. I have asked for you for the sake of the world [‘s betterment-that is also left unsaid]. So now you make a decision by yourself”.

Proposals are of many kinds; but only the great ones remain in memory. I can still recollect the sardonic, supposedly somber offer of marriage that Rhett gives to Scarlett after the death of her 2nd husband by saying-“Soon you’ll marry someone for little money anyway, so I thought why not me for my money”. I know that is a bad thing to admire being a female myself, but she was a two-bit hustler and there was no point being respectful to her.
Or Darcy’s proposal for Elizabeth Bennet in which he details how he tried to prevent himself from falling for her because he knows her mother and sisters are appalling and she isn’t from the most elite or affluent of families but she got him anyway…
And the man still felt confidant that after this statement Ms. Bennet would jump at the chance of being his wife!!
Ok so these are the “so-bad-that-they-are-good” proposals. But this song is by far the most level-headed and proper proposal that has ever graced Hindi music.

Hey but one standard disclaimer, please don’t get the impression that this song is a sure-fire hit proposal for your actual life; it may be but the FDA has not given approval yet and any trials done are at your own risk. But it sure helps if the girl knows Hindi and you can sing that song like Kishore Kumar. The man had a large number of wives; some of the most beautiful women of their time- that accounts for something right?

Overall, it was great to listen to this song and O Saathi re, Meeth na mila re mann ka, Zindagi Ek safar hai suhana .etc. after so many months of Rock and Pop. It was like a trip in my mind to another time.

Long Live Kishore Kumar in the hearts of his fans,
Rain