This is a followup to my earlier post... MS was not allowing me to edit the post to add these lovely lyrics of Sagar Nizami... most beautifully rendered by a 7 year old (at the time he sang these ghazals) Master Madan.

These are the only recorded ghazals rendered by MM which have been preserved for posterity. Most of the songs, bhajans, tumhris, ghazals, etc he sang were always live and had the audience spellbound....

 

hairat se tak raha hai jahan-e-wafa mujhe
tum ne bana diya hai mohabbat mein kya mujhe

har manzil-e-hayaat se gum kar gaya mujhe
mud mud ke raah mein woh tera dekhna mujhe

kaif-e-khudi ne mauj ko kashti bana diya
hosh-e-khuda hai ab na gham-e-nakhuda mujhe

saqi bane huye hain woh "sagar" shab-e-visaal
is waqt koi meri kasam dekhta mujhe

hairat se tak rahaa hai jahaan-e-vafaa mujhe

 

 

Yun na rah rah kar hamein tarasaaiye
aaiye, aa jaaiye, aa jaaiye

phir wahi daanishtaa thokar khaaiye
phir merii aagosh mein gir jaaiye

meri duniyaa muntazir hai aap ki
apani duniyaa chhod kar aa jaaiye

ye hawaa 'Sagar' ye halkii chandani
ji mein aataa hai yahin mar jaaiye


Enjoy!

~mbf~

I first heard Master Madan’s soulful voice some two decades ago, and was captivated by this young prodigy’s divine talent.

It was a voice that captivated even the legendary KL Saigal who saw the birth of a great new talent in the name of Master Madan. He was fittingly called Maestro Master Madan.

Master Madan’s first public performance was at the tender age of three and half years… an age at which most children would struggle to speak coherently. However, this boy was churning out classical vocals with such fluency, mastery, and depth in his voice that the audience was spellbound.

Those were the days when vocals were everything and music was seen only as an accompaniment to fill in the breathers the singer took. Therefore, any flaw in the voice could have been easily found out by experts. But, MM was better than the best… and it’s hardly an exaggeration.

MM was cast in the Saigal mould like most of the singers belonging to that era. But, it was his voice that was distinct and it had a flavour of its own… something that made me feel I was with the Gods. A soulful, haunting voice that always made me forget my world whenever I listened to this miracle boy.

I sense your impatience… you want to interrupt me and ask why this boy still remains ‘Master Madan’ if he sang in the era of Saigal… surely, he should have gone on to become someone very famous and popular.

Yes, indeed, that would have been the logical conclusion with just one minor rephrasing… had this boy lived a normal life he would have indeed gone on to become The Most Famous singer in the entire subcontinent including Pakistan and Bangladesh, even surpassing KL Saigal. This boy wasn’t just another child prodigy… he was a genius in the field of music like none other.

MM lived for a mere 14 years and died in 1942. In this tiny capsule of a lifetime he had startled the world with his singing genius. The people who poisoned him, to serve their own petty ends, would surely be rotting in Hell, but that’s little consolation to a world deprived of the magical voice of the Prince of Music.

Out of the many songs he had sung live on stage only 8 were recorded and out of these only 2 ghazals renditions exist today, both written by Sagar Nizami. They are the ones that I continue to listen no matter what time of the day or night it is… because these ghazals make any time of the day look magical.

Lyrics of Sagar Nizami’s two ghazals rendered by Maestro Master Madan are given here but who will bring these mere words to life like MM did?

~mbf~

We know that every heavenly body is a sphere, except asteroids and meteorites which are actually fragments resulting from collisions.

We also know that every heavenly body is not only rotating on its own axis but also revolving around another body or a common center of gravity, even this motion is mostly circular or elliptical.

It is also established that any gaseous matter if left alone long enough in space becomes a ‘ball of gas’ and similarly liquids become globules. Even the building blocks of mater, such as the atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, etc appear to be round in shape and also their orbits are circular.

This has been the case since the beginning of time… that is, billions of years before life evolved and we humans set foot on Earth…

The question is… why do we keep saying, Love makes the world go round…?

Let me explain the first riddle… "The world is getting smaller…" is spoken largely in a metaphorical sense. The world isn’t really shrinking, but the era of civil aviation and real time multimedia communications, no matter what the distance is, does make it look like the world has become a smaller place… a global village if you like. This brings us to the question… why are people drifting further apart?

With regard to the second riddle… I’ve been a member for over 4 years and I came across some great writers, lovely friends, and members who believed in connecting with members. There was also great camaraderie, and an inherent urge to write better reviews. Alas, most of them are either inactive, or have left MS. I miss all of them, but am trying hard not to look back. These days, there is greater bonding between members. More and more members’ meets are being organized than ever before. In the earlier days, if members happened to meet it was always a hush-hush affair. Today, reviews are being posted on member meetings. That’s what I call bonding… and I was looking for other people’s perspectives on this ‘bonding.’

FIRST PRIZE: Cell Phone.

one more crime
By: sarav | Mar 13, 2008 05:51 PM

by clinging on to virtual resources like MS (internet) and idiot box all the time and forgetting that there is life.. real Life beyond that. These resources are means of exchanging/expressing ideas/views. As not always outlays produce outcomes as expected. Do they??

2) by interacting through personal emails or meeting up occasionally with like minded(even otherwise) members for a dinner/chai-paani/’just like that’ as and when possible. You get to know so many things about older/new members and clarify your stand before making a comment which i have been failing at time and again on MS admins though..

Cheers Sir!!
(Is that Vizag beach in one of the photos in your gallery??)

Answers to both the riddles are full of insight, and project a balanced viewpoint… Sarvesh wins First Prize!

p.s. yes sarvesh, that's Vizag :)

 

SECOND PRIZE: Digital Camera

Hmmm
By: swan | Mar 12, 2008 07:27 AM

1)The world becoming smaller or population becoming larger should make people closer coz of lack of space..lolz
Anyways I guess more than that its our world which is becoming smaller, restricted only to our work and home,social obligations and small and meaningless gestures are losing identity..
But then in the end its our world and it is how we make it :)

2)Mouthshut bondings have always been like a chain for me, the older members give in to new members and yet remain a link in the chain,and hence the link continues to bond further :)

Are they any prizes for being second also:)

Swati’s viewpoint is more sensitive and emotional but, nevertheless, contains largely the truth. She somehow, had an uncanny intuition of getting a second prize and she got it… moral: Always aim for the first prize Swati :)

 

THIRD PRIZE: DVD Player.

 

Hmm

By: angel25 | Mar 12, 2008 07:46 PM
The world is getting smaller...but the spaces are getting more defined and therefor alienation comes into play

2. The bonding does get tighter, coz as more people leave the ones who remian, seek friendship within themselves, plus a fewer number have started to expand this friendship outside of MS...so it can only get better from here :)

and those are my answers

Shalini gets the third prize because her answer to the second riddle was more sustainable.

 

CONSOLA
TION PRIZE: MP3 Player.

 

Ipsi, and Smita, came up with good first answers too but their answers to the second riddle was a little weak. Paul on the other hand, came up with a good answer to the second riddle but his first was a little vague (at least that’s how I felt). I can give only one consolation prize… and so, among the three, it has to be Ipsi.

 

NOTE OF APPRECIATION:

 

Hakoo got in a good first answer but probably overlooked answering the second riddle.

Veekey’s, Fe’s and Spike’s were fun answers

Note: Prizes will be couriered to the winners’ virtual addresses on MS within 24 hours. No guarantee will be given or responsibility assumed for non deliverance by courier or delivery to wrong persons in the event of forged signatures.

Appeals: MBF Court of Appeals, Hyderabad jurisdiction only. (hint, appeals will be lodged for the time being due to severe shortage of court jesters).

Friends, results for the best answers on "riddler on the loose…" are, ahem… on the loose! There were 11 genuine entries from members but the answers were tough making my job of selecting the best answers even more tough.

In a way, I am happy I did not use MS resources to advertise this competition. I expected only regular readers of my writings to answer the questions… not all and sundry. I also wanted to find out how many would actually read the post without the caption "Competition" written all over it.. ;)

The answers I looked for, in a sense, were informative and witty, that took into account both the riddles. I understand it is difficult to be both informative and witty at the same time, especially, when we’re dealing with two different kind of riddles.

Please refer the third post in this series for the results…

1.  "One of today’s greatest riddles is how in a world growing smaller, with population growing larger, people can be drifting further apart…?"

2.  How in a MouthShut growing larger, with older members leaving in numbers, people can be bonding even closer…?

I am looking for an answer that will unravel both the mysteries and save us humans from dying of boredom... Lol!

Best 3 answers will attract a surprise gift, but please don’t look in the mouth… you won't be getting a horse.

Note: You’ve got 72 hours to try your luck with a sensible/witty comment.

~mbf~

Ever since the Diary feature was made available to us, life for us MS members has become one big DIARY POST.

These days, I am just login in to read diary posts. Even then, it’s difficult to keep pace with the spate of diary posts and I’ve been forced to miss quite a few.

The volume of reviews has come down drastically, whereas, that of diary posts has shot up. I feel, most members have lost the urge to write reviews, except when there’s a movie release. Even then, the number of new reviews is alarmingly low.

I don’t think it’s a passing fancy. People seem to be more comfortable expressing their thoughts and opinions on sundry matters without the necessity of writing a review.

I’ve mentioned this point earlier and am mentioning it again. MS must think of a way to attract members to write more reviews. For that to happen, the points structure needs a rethink. The points allocated for posting a review and RRCing it are far too less in comparison to a diary. It takes greater effort to write a review than to write a diary post. At present there is no incentive to write a decent review on products. The quality of reviews is also going downhill.

Has MouthShut shot itself in the foot by introducing the diary feature?

It certainly seems to be the case.  If I am Faisal, I would be worried... unless am interested in making MS a blogger's site.

~mbf~

There are two schools of thought…

"One school of thought maintains that life is what you take from it. The other school of thought believes life is what you give to it. If you stand to take you may gain success, but if you stand to give you may gain both success and happiness."

 

During my school days I had come across this profound saying. Though, I read it once it stayed stuck in my head and never seems to leave. Probably, it’s stuck for the rest of my life I guess.

I admit these were not my views but since I grew up assimilating such thoughts my own viewpoint underwent a change and adapted itself to these thoughts to such an extent that now I don’t see them as something different from my own outlook.

What’s your outlook on life?

~mbf~

Post 19/02/2008, I was a very happy man.

 

I was at last getting handsome MSDs (MS Dollars, not Mahinder Singh Dhoni) for my sweat, toil, and incessant burning of midnight oil on MS.  My kitty was beginning to resemble the BCCI’s coffers.

 

Of course, there were minor discrepancies here and there, but overall things were on the upswing.  At least now, we have a realistic chance of becoming Lakhpatis on MS… isn’t that just great?

 

Never have I looked at my points list the way I’ve done these last few days.  The way the MSDs are accumulating in my kitty it gives me hope (so what if it’s virtual?) for a better future.  Yes, I have eyes set on the Beach Villa. I am within striking distance, but there’s a hitch…

 

Right now, I can only gift but can’t buy or own anything for myself.  I strongly believe that members must be allowed to accumulate things for themselves just as much as they are allowed to gift them.  If more and more members feel this way, then we might convince MS to do something about it.

 

Did I mention I’ve developed this addictive hobby of counting my eggs… er… MSDs  of late?  And, did I tell you I got the shock of my life today while counting my MSDs for the umpteenth time?  MSDs on account of members trusting me was a big ZERO.

 

Like Uncle Scrooge, while I was taking a dip in my MSD bin located inside a secret fort a thought struck me.  Something was not right in my MSD bin.  I felt I was being shortchanged.  Caught in the stream of enhanced points system and the Valentine bonus, did we miss something?

 

In the New MS-Points System, if a member trusts you get 10 MSDs.  Fair enough, in fact very good.  When we are dealing with Points for everything, then a member’s trust in you also must fetch points… in my lexicon MSDs.  Hold on, just for a moment…. this is very good for a newly registered member as his or her trust list will grow very quickly in the initial stages.  But for an established member who’s been on the MS circuit for more than 2 years this trusting activity will reach a saturation point.  In other words, trusts will dry up.

 

As of 19/02/2008, those who already have a huge trust list have been dished out a raw deal.  I don’t want to sound like I am dividing members into categories like New and Established but it does seem that this revamped points system is pro ‘new members.’

It is difficult for existing members to scout for new topics to write upon and so every next review becomes all the more difficult as they mostly run out of topics or products.  Whereas, new members will have many more topics to write upon and will get more MSDs for it than we ever got.

 

My contention is…

 

1. MS should have straight away given us 10 points each for every member who has trusted us.  For example, if 100 members trust us we should have received 1000 MSDs.  Now, that’s what I call bringing all members on a level playing field.  Not that this is a competition, but when points acquire value then this becomes a contentious issue.

2. Points on new features are effective from 19/02/2008 and there is no problem with that.  But points on existing features like writing reviews, reading and rating reviews should have been given from a retrospective date.  All MS had to do was give the differential points to the members.  Say, if a member has posted 50 reviews, then as per old system he/she would have got 250 points and as per the new system it would have been 500.  So, the difference of 250 points should have been credited to the members account.  The same goes for reading and rating reviews.

 

As MS has admitted that it is contemplating on bringing more changes in the near future, I took this opportunity to put my point across.

 

Your vote counts!

Four years is too long a time to be on a product review site.  Especially, if one is not too keen on movies, or averse to writing on them.  The topics tend to dry up and you suddenly begin to feel your time is up… close your account and look elsewhere.  These were exactly my thoughts on a lot more occasions than I cared to admit… to myself.

 

Every time I made up my mind to throw away my pen (I couldn’t afford to throw away my PC),   I was held back by strong unseen strings that kept me bound to MouthShut.  During my 4 year sojourn on MouthShut, I had made some real good friends.  I loved the interaction, the discussion, and the general camaraderie.  This was something unique on a product review site.

 

My journey on MS was like a Comet… shining brightly for a brief period before vanishing into the void.  Like the Comet, I was always in a captive orbit.  It was only a matter of time before I would return to shine ever so briefly… and then I would reluctantly drift away hoping to make more friends during my next rendezvous.  However, there was one difference.  Comets charted a specific orbit and their next appearance could always be predicted.  My orbit was eccentric and erratic and, therefore, my appearances were sporadic at best.

 

Looking back, had I known then that I would be making these rather irritable appearances and disappearances, I would have opened my MS account with an id looking something like Cometontheboil, or Comettrailblazer, or simply TheComet.

 

Like the comet, I am too trapped in an orbit.  But the orbit is not one dictated by gravity… the orbit on MS is totally dictated by my addiction to MS.  How this addiction has come about?  Well, as far as I can see it… there are a few good reasons.  One reason is my love for writing, especially, on varied subjects.  Out of my 122 reviews, just a handful has been on movies and you all know that movies and music attract the bulk of reviews on MS.  Another reason is my love for commenting on reviews. I love writing long comments… it is another matter that the reader might find it extremely boring.  But the most important reason is – my friends on MS.  I always come back to read what they’ve written.

 

This in essence is what my addiction to MouthShut is all about.  MouthShut has changed greatly over the last four years of my association with it.  All I can say is that it has certainly changed for the better.  I love the new changes, and I am sure many more changes will happen in the near future.

 

I am afraid of one thing… will my eccentric orbit take me away from MouthShut one time too many?  Will I be lost in the void forever never to return to MouthShut?  These are the questions I am grappling with at the moment.  Right now; the questions just seem to hang in the air.  Let them be… I am not yet ready for the answer.

~mbf~