Owl! Yes…I am an owl, the night animal or like my dad calls me…‘nishachar’(that’s Sanskrit for night creatures). Mostly, I love working through the silent dark hours, or I read or surf. But, tonight I din’t feel like doing anything. I just wanted to lay back and spend some time in quiet.
No…I din’t intend on any introspection. No going down the lane I came from. Neither did I want to remember guys who messed with me nor the ones I messed with. I just wanted to spend time with myself…in solitude.
So I switched off the lights, pulled up the bean bag by the French windows, plonked on it, stretched and lit my cigarette…there’s nothing more blissful than a long drag of smoke in a dark room and then see the smoke disintegrate slowly.
I gazed out; most of the windows of the apartments around were lifeless. A few did have lights on. Somebody must be working on something or working on somebody. To each his one…apne baap ka kya jata hai. Or probably, must have gone off to sleep with the lights on…I know, it has happened with me on many occasions.
There was a slight nip in the air, I looked up into the almost no moon sky and was starting to enjoy the silence when these melodious words came streaming from somewhere…jhuki hui nigah mein, kahin mera khayal tha
dabi dabi hansin mein ik, haseen sa savaal tha
main sochata tha, mera naam gunagunaa rahi hain woh
na jaane kyun lagaa mujhe, ke muskuraa rahi hain woh
woh shaam kuchh ajeeb thi, yeh shaam bhi ajeeb hain
woh kal bhi paas paas thi, woh aaj bhi kareeb hain
Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar and Gulzar from Khamoshi…I got carried away. Vallah! I am not vella tonight. I know what I gonna do.I am gonna play some music for myself. I pulled up my laptop, connected my portable hard disk(my music collection is in it) and became my own RJ.
Kishore Kumar had touched and set me on pleasant note, and so it had to be another Kishore.
samaa hai suhana suhana, nashein mein jahan hain
kisi ko kisi ki khabar hi kahaan hain,
- har dil mein dekho mohabbat jawan hain
This lilting number from Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani, composed by Kalyanji Anandji, is always a refresher. The guitar strumming Jalal Agha reminded me of another Kishore Kumar song around a guitar, again composed by Kalyanji Anandji.
neele neele ambar par, chand jab aaye
pyaar barsaaye, humko tarsaaye
aisa koi saathi ho, aisa koi premi ho
pyaas dil ki bujhaa jaye
The alliteration was working on me along with chand and ambar, and I played on…
dheere dheere chal, chand gagan mein
arey, dheere dheere chal, chand gagan mein
kahin dhal na jaaye raat, tuut na jaaye sapne
dheere dheere chal, chand gagan mein
This Rafi-Lata song for Dev Anand and Mala Sinha in Love Marriage gives you a good pep. Romance started filling up the space around me and I felt.
Normally, when with friends this song should have led to a more effervescent number, but being alone and the hour of the night made me sombre…
maine chand aur sitaaron ki tamanna ki thi
mujhko raaton ki siyaahi ke siva kuchh na mila
Mohammad Rafi was taking hold of the evening with this song from Chandrakanta set to tune by N Datta. By now, some lights had gone off and only a few windows were connecting with me, and Rafisaab continued…
koi saagar dil ko behlata nahin
bekhudi mein bhi qaraar aata nahin
The ghazal by Shakeel Badayuni, composed by Naushadsaab for the tragic loverboy, Dilip Kumar in Dil Diya Dard Liya touched a raw chord and I slipped into melancholy. Sometimes you get stuck on a song and at times on a word. For me, tonight was ‘koi’…
koi ye kaise bataye ke vo tanhaa kyon hain
woh jo apna tha wohi aur kisi ka kyon hain
yahi duniya hain to phir aisi ye duniya kyon hain
yahi hota hain to aakhir yahi hota kyon hain
Jagjit Singh, Kaifi Azmi and the lesser known music director, Kuldeep Singh. The combination proved lethal and moves me every time I listen to the songs of Arth. Another lesser known music director, Kanu Roy, and another ‘koi’ song…
koi chupke se aake sapne sulaake mujhko jagaa ke bole
ki main aa raha hoon kaun aaye ye main kaise jaanoon
This was Geeta Dutt’s last song in 1971, before she died in 1972. An unusual voice that went on to win a million hearts and still gives goose bumps. The night was setting deeper and few more lights were out, but I played on…another spark but didn’t make it far. Chhaya Ganguly!
aap ki yaad aati rahi raat bhar
chashm-e-nam muskurati rahi raat bhar
Jaidev is one of my favourite composers who worked with new talents and new poets. Maqdoom Moinuddin in Gaman here, and another melody, befittingly nocturnal song by Balkavi Bairagi in Reshma aur Shera by Lata Mangeshkar…
tu chanda main chandni, tu taruvar main shaakh re
tu badal main bijuri, tu panchhi main paat re
It’s absolute dark out there…all lights are out. I too should hit the sack, got to go to work in the morning. But not before this one last song. A lullaby, ofcourse, and one of my all time favourite Mehmood songs. Kishore and RD from Lakhon Mein Ek…
chanda o chanda, chanda o chanda
kisne churayi teri meri nindiya
jaage saari raina, tere mere naina
haske main tera, mann behalaaon
apne aansoon magar, kise main dikhaaon
maine to gujara jeewan saara, besahara O
teri aur meri, ek kahani
hum dono ki kadar, kisi ne na jaani
saathi ye andhera jaise mera, waise tera O
jaage saari raina, tere mere naina.
…Good night:)
(I know these are not haunting songs and are eleven, but this is the closest where I could submit this review.)
Oh and yes, I have uploaded all these songs on https://dekhona.com/user/KnottyGuy for you to watch and enjoy!
