Wedding Masti at Coimbatore

 I am amazed at the patience that parents have in organising elaborate weddings. I am not complaining, just observing. Went to a 2-day affair at Coimbatore, where the bride resides. We represented the groom, son of our friend Ravi of Calicut fame. Some pics from the event. Ran into some old students, and made new acquaintances too.. the wedding had some Bengali, Kannada and Arya Samaj touches, and of course, a Mehendi and Sangeet. 

Rithvik and Rishuta, in wedding finery.. 

Ravi and Deepi, parents of the groom, with us.

The parents and the couple.

Grooming him..

On the sidelines.. stepping up.

The action on Mehendi day, and the result.

Students Akash and Neha turned up, and told me I had taught them in IIM Indore, during 2015-17

Wonders of My World

 I don't buy the fact that there are just 7 Wonders of the World, and that too, just monuments. My list would include people I am grateful to- just for being in my life. And that's going to run into hundreds, obviously. I have had a long life...

1. Parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. We were a large family, with my mother having several sisters and a brother, and my father with two brothers and some cousins. So we had a ball, meeting in vacations or get-togethers, weddings and so on. At Nagpur a few years ago, we celebrated the 75th birthday of our seniormost maternal cousin. A great event.

2. Teachers- starting from the nuns in class 1, to high school teachers at Hyderabad, or profs. at IIM Bangalore in India, and at Clemson University, USA, they played an important role in shaping me.

3. Colleagues at work in companies, or academic institutes. They have been a source of joy, and learning. Including my non-teaching staff, teaching assistants and almost everyone who worked in various offices- even accounts!

4. Classmates in school, college (we have a group called Hum Nahi Sudhrenge), IIM Bangalore buddies, and a couple of Ph.D. seniors and mates at Clemson-Ron Green being one, Masoud Abessi another

5. Students and ex-students..mostly the second, as I have graduated to admin. roles these last two-three years again. I am amazed at having so many wonderful people just a facebook post or WhatsApp message away. We also meet when we can. You guys are amazing!

6. Food and Drink.. with people you like. You can never have enough.. just like Lays says in its ad.. so much to explore. Just having Moong bhajiya in today's rain, or a Biryani at Hyderabad (with Pratima, my biryani friend), or sipping a cocktail- Ravi and I made a few in Calicut when I lived there. Had a coffee with Prabhakar at UB city recently, and shared many stories.

7. Fun and Games- Karaoke, Golf or Antakshari ..music in any form, actually.

Ok, managed to classify them into 7, after all.. am I forgetting something?

Random Stuff-Here and There

 Just a collection of random clicks from here and there- last few months..

Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai

 What's it about the titles of films? There was a producer-director who insisted on starting his titles with an A. No, he did not direct Awara, but many other films later- Aap ki Kasam was one I think, Aasha another, and several others.

Rakesh Roshan liked K better, so he made Koyla, Kaho Na Pyar Hai, Krrish, and so on.

Then there was another K fan who was also a Dharmendra fan, and made Khel Khiladi Ka, and so on. I think his name was Arjun Hingorani. Rekha sang Maine Ais to nahi kaha tha, to Dharmendra's Rafta Rafta where they are hanging on a JCB a few hundred metres from earth.

Not sure if there were any fans of B, C, D or E. But B.R. Chopra seemed to like one word titles- Hamraaz and Gumraah being examples. Both also had Ravi as their music director, and great songs by Mahendra Kapoor. Neele gagan ke tale and Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaayen hum are my favourites. He also made Dhund, and Ittefaq, and Kanoon, I think.

Bollywood Music Directors

Lots of music directors in Hindi had a signature style, or a favourite way to compose songs-maybe an instrument, or beat, or orchestration. Here is an attempt to list out a few.

C. Ramchandra- Shola jo bhadke, dil mera dhadke exemplifies his style- melody, beat, simplicity..dance by Bhagwan and Geeta Bali is just too good.

Hemant Kumar- His signature style can be found in Bees Saal Baad; the two outstanding songs for me were Zara nazron se kehdo ji, and Beqaraar karke hamen yun na jaiye-melodious, minimalistic.

SD Burman- Folksy music/tunes, but very hummable. Yeh dil, na hota bechara from Jewel Thief, or O meri, o meri, o meri Sharmeelee are examples. All the Chalti ka Naam Gaaadi songs too.

OP Nayyar- had a thing for tanga (horse-carriage) beats, and used them well. Unique use of instruments, his tunes are very recognisable. Aaiye meherbaan from Howrah Bridge and Leke pehla pehla pyar from CID (Dev Anand film) are typical OPN tunes.

Ravi- The way I remember him is by the superb mellow songs he composed for BR Chopra films Humraaz and Gumraah- like Neele gagan ke tale, dharti ka pyar pale, and Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jayen hum dono. Used Mahendra Kapoor in many of these.

Kalyanji Anandji- The Johny Mera Naam songs are my favourites- Pal bhar ke liye koi hamein pyar kar le, and Ooo mere raja in particular.

Jaidev- Relatively fewer films, but some classics- Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya from Hum Dono and Yeh dil aur unki nigahon ke saaye by Lata Mangeshkar in Prem Parbat stand out.

Rajesh Roshan- from Julie (Dil kya kare jab kisi ko kisi se pyar ho jaaye) to Des Pardes (Tu pee aur jee), he is one of my favourites. Sounds very different, recognisable, like Chhokar mere man ko, kiya tune kya ishaara, in Yaarana, and Na bole tum na maine kuch kaha, from Baton Baton Mein.

Shankar Jaikishen typically used a lot of musicians/orchestration in their songs. Some songs that I liked were Badan pe sitare lapete hue from Prince and O mere shah-e-khuba from Love in Tokyo.

Laxmikant Pyarelal were not my favourites, but they had some excellent tunes, like in Parasmani (Hasta hua noorani chehra), and Shagird (Dil wil pyar vyar main kya jaanu re)

Kishore Kumar produced some classic tunes when he gave music in some films- the Door ka Rahi song sung by him and Sulakshana Pandit -Beqaraar dil, tu gaayeja- is one.