Music ki baat..

 

“Hey Tarun, how are you macha?” I asked after entering the lounge full of attractive illumination and western music playing in the background.

“Hi Ajay, I am good. But you are late as usual.”Tarun complained.

“It’s just 9 PM da, 'Abhi to party shuru huyi hai', I said and hi-fived Tarun.

“Cheers Macha” Tarun raised his pint as I filled mine from the tower of the draught.

“Bangalore is cool yaar” I expressed.

“Yeah, much better than Chennai” Tarun agreed.

“Way much better, the weather is cool and the chicks are hot here.” I opined and Tarun burst in laughter.

“Why? Now you don’t find your Tamil girl hot or what”

“Not like that, but I am not in a serious relationship with her. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know your typical Shahrukh Khan stuff, she’s not my type and all”

“Shut up yaar. Can we not talk about Chennai here?”

“Yeah, sure. You are in Namma Bengaluru now, Cheers!” Another pint was raised as the lounge played the “Made in India” song on its mighty speakers.

“I didn’t know Bengaluru crowd like Hindi songs as well”

“It’s not a Hindi song macha, it’s Indi-pop”

“Yeah Indi-pop, the songs we used to listen to while we were in high school”

“Exactly, we have grown up with these songs dude. But this song is not my favourite. 'Instant Karma' was my favourite”

“I remember, you told me that one girl in your school looked like the model in one of the instant karma songs”

“Hmm, dil kya kare jab kisiko kisise pyaar ho jaaye…” Tarun started humming.

“Dance Masti, right?”

“Bingo”

“But I found Lisa ray sexier in 'Aafreen Aafreen' those days”

“She was super sexy da. And how could you forget Malaika Arora in 'Gud naal ishq meetha'.

“Awesome she was, I mean she still is,” I admitted.

“I feel that these models were the showstoppers for these indi-pop songs. Otherwise who would have listened to Kanta laga or Kaliyon ka Chaman or for that matter Pardesiyaa remixes if Shefali, Meghana Naidu or Rakhi was not there.” Tarun made a point.

“True, still some songs were better than their models or music videos. Sonu Nigam’s Deewana was one such album.”

“Oh gauche! The song gives me goosebumps. 'Deewana Tera, tujhe hi bulaaaaaye, ye marji teeerrri, tu aaye na aaye'.

“I guess you are singing this for your hot colleague Soniya” I quipped.

“For Soniya, I want to sing Chand sifarish sung by Shaan. But this song reminds me of my first crush in junior college.”

“Kya baat hai! Since you mentioned Shaan, I must talk about Tanha Dil, one of the best indi pop songs with an awesome music video”

“Of course. Tanha Dil was a souvenir for all college guys. In fact, most of the Instant Karma songs were sung by Shaan including the 'Hum bewafa hargij na the'.

“Yeah, that was kind of a heartbreak or break-up song, but can you guess the biggest break-up song of that decade?”

“Was it from Lucky Ali’s ‘Sunoh’ or Sonu Nigam’s ‘Yaad’?” Tarun tried to recollect.

“Nope, any other guess?”

“Umm…Not after having three pints.” Tarun gave up.

“Ok. I will give you the hint- 'lekin ye kya bataaun ab haal dusara hai, are wo saal dusara tha yeh saal dusara hai'.

“What the heck…Altaf Raja, 'tum to thehre pardesi saath kya nibhaoge, subah pehli gaadi se ghar ko laut jaaoge..' Tarun stood up singing.

“Hahaha. Control yourself buddy! Yes that’s the ultimate song of the Diljale folks.”

“And then came your favourite, Himesh Reshammiya, is it?”

“Tujhe bhool jaana jaana mumkin nahi..tu yaad na aaye aisa koi din nahi..Singing from the epiglottis,” Tarun was unstoppable, “Or, shall I say, dil ki, surkhh diwaaron pe, deewaron pe, naam hai tera tera…”

“Haha, he gave some really unforgettable melodies”

“Like Aashique Banaya Aapne, right?”

“That’s his signature song, but I believe he has done a good job as a composer than as a singer”

“I agree with you on that,” Tarun said while refilling another pint from the tower.

“Another album that I liked was Palash Sen’s 'Euphoria' and KK’s 'Pal'.”

“Gauche! Dhoom pichak Dhoom was a rage in college days, dude. And we used to tease the girls like 'kabhi aana tu meri gali’. It was pure fun, no sexist comments”

“Yeah man, it was as pure as friendship. And on friendship, I liked that 'yaaron dosti' song from KK’s music album.”

“Yeah it was good, although my favourite was the soft, title song, 'hum rahe ya na rahe, yaad aayenge wo pal'.

“Yes, I remember it macha, cheers!”

This ‘music ki baat’ was the last face-to-face conversation with Tarun, after which I met him in the hospital to bid the final adieu.

‘Chal sochen kya, chhoti si hai jindagi, kal mil jaaye toh hogi khushnasibi, hum rahe ya na rahe, yaad aayenge yeh pal…😔’