Mumbai Rocked by Seven Bomb Blasts ``Unfortunately terrorist bombings have become a part of life these days and no country seems to be safe against them.``

So true, our callouses become harder by the day until terror touches us. There are many Chowkies, who are from Bombay or have family and friends there. My best wishes for their safety.

Flower’s Desire Rahul:

I read this poem a long long time ago in high school Hindi class. It is a superb poem. I loved it then and loved it now. Thank you for doing the fine translation and kudos to Chowk staff for publishing it.

BJK,
Thanks for the update on the poet`s life. I did not realize that MP was a Khadi boli state or that ML Chaturvadi was born so long ago. If you have some time, can you please tell a Punjabi about various HIndi dialects and where they are or were spoken?

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay Kaurasach #99: LOL.. Who is your favorite composer in Punjabi? I rememebr Sardool singh Kawatra, who lived in the Bay area for a while. I do not know if he is still alive. I think he composed music for lot of Punjabi hit movies and the tune for Lata`s duet with shaminder Singh (?); `Charkhe diyan Ghooka ne`.

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay Swarrier: My three choices are Roshan, Naushad and Shankar jaiKishan. I like Madan Mohan too. have you heard him sing `Naina barse rim jhim, rim jhim`? Apparently Lata was too sick that day and Sadhna lip synched to MM`s singing, later to be replaced by Lata`s song.

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay Banjaara: I hope you can explain the terms in different jubilies,as asked by HP earlier. I think it was determined by the number of weeks, a movie ran in a particular theatre.
DM: Your memory is still in a lot better shape than mine. Thanks for sharing it.

Swarrier, DM, Echo or Banjaara: What is the difference between a Rag and Raagini? In the following list, song number 2 is my all time favorite. Do you have to have classical music training for years at the feet of a Guru to come up with such a list? What would be another example of PIlu by Nuahsad or anyone else in movie music and how would I go about identifying it?

1. Jo maiN jaanti bisrat hai saiyyaN in Maand (Shabab.)
2. More sayyaNji utreNge paar ho in Pilu (Uran Khatola.)
3. Jaane waale se mulaaqaat na hone paayi in Yaman (Amar.)
4. Tere pyaar meiN dildaar in Bihaag (Mere Mahboob.)
5. Suhaani raat dhal chuki in PahaRi (Dulari.)
6. Meri kahani bhoolne walay tera jahaN aabad rahe in Tilang (Deedaar.)
7. O duniya ke Rakhwalay, sun dard bhare mere naalay in Darbari (Baiju Bawra.)

Thanks in advance.

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay DM #69: Thanks for the info. I was too young to appreciate Pukka Raags in India and now I am too old to learn new tricks... LOL.
But between the Alaaps, Khayals and gargling sounds, it is very difficult for an untrained ear to understand what words the Pakka Raagi is trying to spit out.
Actually came to know about Bade Gulam and his fees on Chowk. Yes he was good.

I think the 55 or 56 Filmfare award was won by S.J. for `Ye raaat Bheegi Bheegi`. On the background music specially for SJ movies, it used to be fun to see how it becomes another song tune in another movie.

#70 Echo: Thanks for the info.

# 71 NHK: ``Neither the Hero nor the Heroine deserved to sing them.``
HAHAHAHA...LOL.
Well in most cases but not always.
The only Indian movie to ever win an Oscar was designed to showcase Nargis as an actoress and she was just superb and larger than life itself. People from Mexico, Bolivia and Argentina still remember her and the movie.
However it is advisable to say ` That Asha Parikh looks so fat there. Is that her or our TV?`, when you are watching it with your wife.

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay #66 RawDust: Yes Mozart it is. Thanks.
The lyrics of `Na hum Tumhe jaane, na Tum hume jaano` are remarkably similar to Sinatra`s `Strangers in the night` but at least the tune is different.

Echo: Probably only a rumor started by Behram, but it is said that PatiyaaN was an acceptable means of procreation in Bihar. By the way where did you hear Naushad earned Rs. 25K per movie? SOunds way too high for the forties.

DM: Mughle-Azam was good, but you could see Naushad sweat it out to meet AnaarKali`s standard set by Chitalkar. In my opinion he could not. On a `Sa Re Gama` show, Naushad related how K. Aasif came to his house one day and plunked down 10K Rupees on his harmonium to speed along the music. This irritated Naushad so much, he threw up the bundle of notes in the air.
`Do you think money makes someone create music Aasif Sahib? I will not take a single Dhela until your movie has a golden Jubile, but please do not stress and insult me`

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay #63 DM: I agree on `Itna na` song, sung by Talat. I thought it was a Chopin Concerta, but was only guessing. Other western rock tunes that were copied were `Come September`, `Sucu Sucu` and `Mast Ram ban ke Jindgi`. However to call it rampant plagirism is just exaggeration and bunk in case of Naushad.

On the voice thing, Raj Kapoor did sing one movie song and he sounds almost like Mukesh. I talked to a Chinese immigrant in her twenties recently. She saw Indian movies in open air fields with projection on white bedsheet. She claims that she was stunned and impressed by the openness, romance and songs of Indian movies. Her favorite was Awaara and she could even hum a few bars of `Awaara Hoon`...LOL.

Today AR Rahman is popular with little black schoolgirls in Uganda to teenagers in Tokyo, but probably the fifties were a different era. There was an almost volcanic wruption in creativity due to the British leaving, at least in Bombay while Lahore and Calcutta suffered irreversible losses.

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay Swarrier #35: ``Naushad actually lifted ``O duniya ke rakhwale`` from Beethoven`s Quintet for ``Piano and five wind instruments in E-Flat major``. ``

PLEASE, make some hint oh master, for us gullible types that you are joking. I`ll buy anything when you go into technical jargon like that.

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay DM #24: The quwali, you mentioned, was not composed by naushad Ali accoeding to the following info from
http://www.indianmelody.com/old1940s2.htm
Aahen Na Bharin Zeenat
Singer: Noor Jehan & Zohrabai Ambalawali, Music: Hafiz
It could be wrong info though.
The SurDas MeeraBai Bhajans were of course there even in the thirties, specially with all the Bengali talent like KC Dey(Manna Dey`s uncle), Pankaj Mallick etc.

Banjaara #21: In Babul, another Lucknow Bhaiyaa Talat Mahmood was the lead singer with Rafi just doing an Aalaap at the end in the song `Nadi Kinare`. Of course Naushad`s coaching of Lata`s diction would have helped her Urdu, but she was already well established in Barsat(1948?). She was shrewd enough to demand to sing for all female actresses in that movie. The money probably was just a few hundred Rupees per song.

HP #30: I do not inderstand your criteria for real people v/s ghosts. Pakistan was supported and nurtured in Aligarh University by Muslim intellectuals from all Indian states. They and many others were fired to move to Pakistan for ideologcal reasons or maybe even economic reasons. Why does it bind their progeny in perpetuity for being grateful for your kindness to allow them into Pakistan? We in USA are grateful for the opportunity, but I would like my grandchildren to decide what they would like to do.

Naushad Ali stayed on in India. I think he tried Pakistan for a while but came back again. By contrast Habib Wali Mohammad, who sang Zafar`s Ghajals or Ghazals, as the case maybe, moved to Karachi with some family still in Bombay and Hyderabad. Is he really less real than Naushad?

It is good to know that you have nothing against Punjabis, but Bihari Muslims went through the same fate in 1946. Their blood stained clothes, chappals and gunny-sacks full of skulls were used by ML in NWFP and Punjab to rally support for ML and bring down the Tiwana ministery. Biharis in Bengla Desh were true Pakistanis, who were first killed by Bihari Hindus, then by Bengali Muslims and now abandoned by guardians of Pakistaniyat. That Bihari fathers have to sell their daughters to Arab Sheiks or see them work in Bomaby brothels is a shame and a Laahanat on Pakistan, TNT, Bengla Desh and even India. Any how the subject is off topic and I could never convince you if and where Salim failed.

India is surely grateful for Naushad, Rafi, Majrooh, Shakeel and Mehboob Khans and we have no hesitation to share their work with our cousins.

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay #28: LOL.. HP badmothing Naushad Ali is like a coyote howling at the moon. I guess Sain HP is just trying too hard to prove that UPites and Biharis are less civilized than Sindhis, but he can not come up with any well thought out reasoning.

DOst Muittar Sahib #24: Majrooh was a Kafir? How so?

This is what I found on Majrooh:

``Majrooh Saab was born Asrar Hussain Khan in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, the son of a police constable. After studying Persian in Aligarh, he moved to Bombay. His early and best-known independent poetry was in the ghazal form.

He made his film debut with the K.L.Saigal starrer Shahjehan (1946) which included the latter`s ever popular Jab Dil hi Toot Gaya. But his major breakthrough was Mehboob Khan`s Andaaz (1949) with hit songs like Tu Kahe Agar, Jhoom Jhoom ke Naacho Aaj, Hum Aaj Kahin Dil Kho Baithe, Toote na Dil Toote na and Uthaye Ja Unke Situm.``

DM #25: Yes, Babul`s Shamshad` song was played at every wedding until it was replaced by Mother India`s Shamshad song. Talat`s song was too depressing to be played at the weddings but I heard Aan`s `Hum Aaj aapni Maut Ka saman le chale` quite a few times.

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay Salim Bhai #20: Very well put. Thanks Banjaara Sahib for the article. I was irritated when the TV news quickly brushed over the passing of a titan. Good to see the article and some very knowledgable interactors here.

Freethinker #14: What was the song that Hemant did for Naushad? Was it ` Chandan ka Palnaa?` Hemant Da`s `Naagin`, Chitalkar`s `AnaarKaali`, Shankar JaiKishan`s `Awaara`, SD Burman`s `Shabnam` were competing hard for the cutomer`s money. I guess cometition is good for making widgets or composing music, when people vote with their hard earned money.

#16 Zeemax Bhai: I knew Shamshad was Punjabi, but did not know that she died already and was the Nani Ma of Saira Bano. Thanks EchoBoom Sahib.

Shamshad`s couple of Punjabi hits were `Kachi Kali si Naajuk Dil Mera` and `Meri Lagdi kise na Vekhi, te Tutdi nu Jaag Jaanda`. DR. LokRaj or DullaBhatti would know of others. She was great with OP Nayyar(CID?) and SD Burman (Shabnam) and was the lead singer in Babul and Mela for Naushad.

Shamshad was good looking but Saira was a real stunner in her youth. Saw her recently on TV when Sunil Dutt died. Poor thing had a puffy face, had bad Paan stained teeth ground to stubs with Supari eating. Time has not been kind to her beauty, but then it never is.

Oniomania -- Shopper\'s Paradise #6: AAAHO?

LOL..HAHAHAHAHA. I like you Kaptain Sahib. You are very funny too.

No! Jay is from Kerla, has a PhD in Finite element analysis, works as an Engineer in Australia and has a knack for twisting the nose of pompous asses on Chowk. SO you were wrong on all three assumptions. Did you like the article though?

Oniomania -- Shopper\'s Paradise ``Only once have I seen an ‘April Fools Day Sale’. Naturally the prices were higher than normal. There is no hunting here; you are being hunted by the shop keeper. Avoid these sales like quick sands. ``

LOL..
You are funny as ever Jay.

#4 Kaptain: If you really have to jump to some silly conclusion, why dont you ask some questions first?

What is stone-age as a major? Is that the Pakistaniyat class you took on Pakistan?

Awaaz Dey KahaaN Hay It was indeed a very sorrowful day for all music fans. I talked to a very young lady recently, who spoke wistfully of Naushad`s music, Mukesh and Dilip Kumar in Andaz. Those were the golden years of Indian movies. These days the Bollywood movies are just like the Arab movies.

Arab movies? Yes, the young fan is a Lebense, who made an effort to learn Urdu just because of Naushad.

Sehgal sang many great and memorable songs for many composers. The one he specified to be played on his visit to the Shamshan Ghat was `Jab Dil hi toot gaya`, composed by Naushad.

Sehgal, an alcoholic, sang that song without being drunk, at the special request of Naushad.
He was broken hearted to learn that he could sing without whiskey.

Taj a Mirage Janji #1: ``I could not get to Wasim or Moin or PCB. I did not even try, but I did pray to God next day for their sake for Pakistan victory in the next match against India. And it did win with a comprehensive margin.``

You should have at least tried to talk to Moin or PCB. This apathy is the root cause of Muslim brothers suffering in India. I was going to say `Shame on you` but it seems you do have a special pull with God.

Doees God always listen to you or do you forget to pray sometimes before the match? It will be extremely boring if the outcome of any match was already decreed by you.

ANyhow I agree the editing was heavy handed censorship and thought control. There was absolutely no need for it.