InDepth

Opening lines –  A young man – with a dream in his eyes, and a hope in his heart – makes a journey. From a suburb town, Balasore, in eastern India to Lund, a beautiful university town of southern Sweden. His homeland, his surroundings, his brothers and his mother are all left behind – he misses them. But then, such is life. His dream of becoming a doctor must be fulfilled. Since then, it has been three decades in this country. Dr Rabinarayan Dash, a rheumatologist and an author, wants to keep working for the people.   Spending an afternoon with him reveals the third dimension of his personality – that of a thinker. Deep down in him lies a person who loves to reflect and ask questions, often to himself. The essence of humanity –  It is very deep question. I think what is more important is understanding the similarities of humanity. Instead, we focus much more on the dissimilarities. Feelings like fear, anxiety, expectation and ambitions – all these things are co...

Early morning, breakfast completed and we were ready in no time! Destination? The beautiful coastline of Denmark, a bit of Helsingør, and if time permits, a bit of Copenhagen. The best part of a day-long outing is its planning. A lot of fun in the act of planning even though it is often hard to stick to the plan itself! Nevertheless, one needs to pack in as much fun in a single day as possible. So, planning is important! We needed to get to one end of our destination-spot right on time; there was no margin for error. We had to eat in between stopovers; we needed to take a bit of rest from time to time. We needed to feel happy all along; we did not want to get exhausted at the end of it all. The first stop was Klampenborg, a nice little suburb north of Copenhagen, Denmark. Piercing through the motorway from Sweden to the capital of Denmark is always a great experience. The roadway, the insignificant hillocks on the two sides, the half-open and half-closed Öresund bridge – ev...

These days…. These days I have been spending a lot of time with poetry, thanks to this wonderful book by Dr Rabinarayan Dash. Dr Dash has collected inspiration from his immediate surroundings, has assimilated those into this own thought process and has created imageries with words. Result: Clinical Trials, a book out of the ordinary! These days I am exploring it. These poems…. These poems are examples of conflicts. A physician, a healer and a practitioner – all in one – feels an inner dilemma. He is pained to see his lack of attachment to the humane aspect of doctoring. There is remorse, there is disbelief, there are questions and there are griefs. In one of the poems, the poet mentions “I have cited their sickness for the benefit of my own career/Have I forgotten that each man/Has a multiplicity of layers?” (Clinical Trials, 2016). These poems, in short, are created out of self-reflection done by a physician whereby he proclaims that science alone is hollow when it comes...

The final words....           So, as a music lover, how can we finish the composition named "O P Nayyar"? Well, tough act! Before coming to the conclusion, here are some questions that occur to our minds. He had been such a successful composer, why then did he have to vanish from the scene? Was not there more music left in him? How can it be that he had such a meteoric rise? And how can it be that he got forgotten and went into oblivion so soon?                                I do not think we have answers to these questions apart from a few points that we mentioned earlier. First, he was a musician with profound knowledge of music and singing style. He was a singer himself, and all those small brushes of improvisations, all those gentle movements of tunes, all those variations in tempo, speed and beats were his own -  very much his own.           ...

The Research....Comes To An End..... 18 "Lakhon hain nigahon mein..." - A sitar , a mouth organ, a santoor , and a foot-tapping tune - only O P can ever think of a combination like this. And who does he bring along as his companion? Once again the great Majrooh, who fills his dream with simple and charismatic Urdu words like "Mahajabeen". The name of the film is  Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon . Incidentally, it was this same movie where apart from this hit, Rafi voiced another gem called "Banda Parvar, tham lo jigar" . Not many know that the word "Banda Parvar" was first used in Hindi movies thanks to Majrooh. In this particular song, Rafi is exactly to the point with as much romanticism as possible. The frolic and the youthfulness are taken care of by the design of the song. Besides, wherever he finds some cracks and gaps, he puts in some tiny nuances to make the song a memorable experience. For the ones listening to this song for the first time, ...

The Research Continues... 12 "Aao huzoor tumko..." - When someone writes the history of Hindi film music, there will definitely be a mention of this particular song from the film Kismat . The sheer brilliance of this song lies in the singing. This is one of the rarest of the rare songs that exploits Asha Bhonsle's voice to its limit. A great vocal prelude, soul-stirring music throughout the depth and breadth of the song is all rendered by Ashaji in her unique style. There is a fine piece in the song where the vocals try to follow or rather exactly follows the saxophone - that is purely divine. Any singer who wants to learn music will worship this song!                                      13 "Yehi woh jagah hai..." - Hindi film music has offered several haunting melodies over the years. We can mention films like Bees Saal Baad, Woh Kaun Thi, Gumnam or Mahal. But those were not O P's...

The Research Continues... 7 "Oh Mr Benjo...." - A sheer gem of a song from an almost unknown movie " Hum sab chor hain ". This is a duet by Rafi and Asha and picturized on Shammi Kapoor and Nalini Jaywant. The brilliance of the song is created by O P Nayyar's innovative effort to gel fun and frolic with a lilting melody. Of course there is his trademark beat structure. Rafi sings his heart out with the best emotions possible and Asha is just as perfect as it can get. Want to do away with monotonic life ? Just listen to this song and you will enliven your mind! 8 "Piya piya piya mera jiya..." - This is a Kishore-Asha duet from the film " Baap Re Baap " penned by Jan Nisar Akhtar, composed with the rhythm of the horse-shoe beats. This song starts with a rich prelude and the vocals start a little later. If one starts listening once, it is guaranteed that he or she will only stop listening when the song has ended - such is its beautiful and...