I had not bothered about this ‘anniversary’ last 2 years, but maybe since I have taken to blogging frequently this year, I thought let me mark the occasion and share my thoughts through this column.

 

I was actually given the lead to sulekha by my probably earliest friend, a school-mate and college-mate as well, Ravi G. Krishnan currently in USA through a link to his article. Ravi, I think, must have been an early bird in sulekha, but now-a-days I hardly find him blogging. (Kitchie, Are you listening? Thanks for introducing sulekha to me!)

 

I hardly blogged for almost an year, but just enjoyed reading others’ postings. Being an ardent fan of old Hindi film music, I  once posted a blog on Shankar-Jaikishen, but I guess it went un-noticed except by one gentleman who was the moderator of shankar-jaikishen-yahoo-group. He noticed my article on internet and invited me to join the group. I joined and occasionally post in this group as well.

 

Then suddenly one day I found one Dr.Kamath writing on Hindi film music in sulekha. I commented, he responded, and instantly our exchanges caught on like wild fire! Since then till today, I don’t leave his single post uncommented and vice-versa! It is my privilege to have become a close blog-friend of the multi-talented Dr. Narasinha Kamath! He plays flute, harmonium, synthesizer, mouth-organ etc. etc.(Aur kuch baaki rah gaya bajaane-ko, Dr.Saheb?!). He also sings marvelously and is getting younger and younger with each song! At this rate, we can soon hear from him a child’s song like ‘Bachhe man-ke sachhe’! Just joking, Dr.Saab, but truly your young-at-heart attitude and zestful enthusiasm, whether you sing or play an instrument or write a well-researched musical blog or spin a neat short story, is a great inspiration for all of us! I wish you many many years of great happy blogging! Lekin Dr.Saab, Abhi to dil bhara nahin aur bharega bhi nahin until the day comes when we will have our ‘Masala Dosa’ session, discussing old songs at ‘Anand Bhavan’, our favourite restaurant in Matunga, as mutually committed!

 

I also enjoy the privilege of interacting with some great friends like:

 Dr.Sandeep Bhagwat, another connoisseur of old melodies and an excellent writer! (Where are you now-a-days, Sandeep-ji, Long silence from your end!)

Sablu Mukesh-ji, who is a promising singer and an accompolished guitarist and who is taking sulekha by storm with his wonderful rendering of Kishore Kumar songs (Sablu-ji, Gaata rahe aapka dil aur sunte rahe hum!)

 Sivaram-ji, a fine writer on a variety of topics, again passionate about good music and with a spiritual bent of mind. (Don’t miss his latest post on ‘Kabir’!). Sivaram-ji, What happened to Ilayaraja-Part II?

Dsampat-ji, another multi-talented personality, painter, poet and a fantastic writer! He often presents auto-biographical slices from his life spiced with hilarity! Sampat-ji, We hope you have recovered fully well and expect to hear about more of your (mis-)adventures with cooking, gardening etc!

Naval Langa-ji – Nobody can beat him when it comes to straight-faced humour! But there is always a ‘serious’ message behind the hilarity he generates! I love his blogs!

V.S.Gopal-ji – I love Talat’s songs because Talat sounds somewhat like Gopal-ji! I also enjoy the cartoons of R.K.Laxman and V.S.Gopal-ji! But above all of Gopal-ji’s creations, I adore his howlarious writing!

Myutterances, a ‘treasurer’ of old melodies who enlivens any discussion on old songs!

Sunkan-ji, whose lovely blogs and cryptic comments, I enjoy. Sunkan-ji, Long time, no Tamil poems or at least ‘Kadi’ jokes?!

Kala BN, for her precise valuable comments on my postings.

There are many others with whom I have had the pleasure of interacting at sometime or the other like BS Keshav, Bhiku Mhatare, Lakshmi Mukundan, verboseviju, munnamallick, caravan, Archana das etc., just to name a few.

 

Sulekha has now become like a ‘virtual’ home to me where I can retreat and enjoy the company of good friends like you all, sometimes to the chagrin of the ‘real’ family! Aajkal, our sulekha exchange has become an obsessive habit with me that, I think,my wife would soon sing to me, ‘Gairon-pe karam, apnon-pe sitam’, then I have to reply that my sulekha-ite friends are not ‘gair’ –‘Hum blog karnewaale, koi gair nahin!’.

 

 So like a 3-year old toddler having fun, I log on daily to sulekha to have a great time with you all, who have become very dear to me ‘bin dekhe aur bin pehchhane’! From time to time, I have also been throwing some silly parodies or movie reviews at you, which you have taken very indulgently! What’s more! I have even attempted singing which I have never dared to do so in public! You have tolerated that too, probably because you can’t throw ‘virtual’ rotten tomatoes on my face!

 

So here is a song (Don’t mutter, ‘Oh No! Not again!’) dedicated to all of you, my dear friends, on this special occasion for me. This is a charming song originally sung by Yesudas, written and composed by Ravindra Jain for ‘Chitchor’. I hope this song reflects what I wanted to express. So you may kindly ignore the clumsy packing (my voice, I mean!) and focus on the contents (feelings)!

 

 

Cheers!

S.V.Nathan.