Obama Visits India, I Visit Timbuktu

Inspired by all the visits by Heads of State, and the Pope, I decided I would visit some place. It had to be unique, but known to people somehow. There were only two such places- Jhumritalaiya, made famous by all the farmaishes (song requests on radio) and Timbuktu. Given that the former was too 'middle class' and infra dig, I settled on Timbuktu.

I had to work hard at finding out how to actually get there, but once I did, I got a hero's welcome. I was told that I was the first visitor from this continent to actually go there. I felt like I had achieved something that even Obama hadn't. And at a fraction of the cost that it must be costing him. Also, saving myself from the traffic jams resulting from his visit.

I also found out how the place got its name- there was a buck-toothed guy called Tim, who everyone there made fun of, and his name over time stuck to the place itself. Tim-buck-too also, in a stroke of poetic justice, got to be spoken of derisively. Saving Jhumritalaiya the blushes.

Place Names in Songs

Place names in songs sometimes bring in the patriotic fervour, as in 'Yeh mera India, I love my India,' or 'Hai preet jahan ki reet sada, main geet wahan ke gaata hoon, bharat ka rehne wala hoon, bharat ke geet sunata hoon.' (Shah Rukh Khan and Manoj Kumar respectively).

Sometimes, the reference is to an ornament which fell in a marketplace (Jhumka gira re, Bareilly ke bazaar mein), or exotic locations where love blossoms (Night in London, An Evening in Paris, or Love in Tokyo). The hero sometimes proclaims his antecedents, as in Rampur ka basi hoon main, lakshman mera naam.

Bambai se gayi Poona, ...se gayi Patna, phir bhi na mila sajna, is the lament of Juhi Chawla in a song.

In the old-time farmaish or 'request' song shows on radio, even the names of towns the requests came from were very entertaining. The most famous among them was Jhumritalaiya, but there were many frequent ones like Rajnandgaon, Jabalpur and Kathgodam. Shekhupura in Pakistan figured regularly in All India Radio's Urdu service, for some reason.