Music and Me

I was offered a job at Lintas as a junior visualiser when in college. The studio manager soon became a friend. Being a Christian, he was obviously into a lot of western music. The radio would be playing all day in his studio and my colleague and I spent much time there. I would often hum or sing along with the radio. The manager was quite surprised by my knowledge of all kind of music, be it rock, pop or the oldies. The studio artists were amused too as I was not only singing English numbers but also most of the Hindi ones playing on the radio - whether from 1950s or 1990s. Soon there were discussions on music taking place and I would be called from my personal cubicle to the studio if there were any nice numbers being played. I also learnt many facts about singers, genres etc. from the studio manager. Somehow, I always keep my ears open to learn whatever I can about music.

In the next job that I took up at an interactive agency, there was this senior of mine who was a musician himself. He would get all kinds of rock numbers to play in the office. Once he caught me humming Deep Purple's Smoke on Water and said something so very bizarre!
"How come a Gujarati girl knows rock?" Hello...Why can't she? Soon we were discussing Sting and the Beatles and many others. This guy was really surprised!

I left that place for another web agency where there was not a soul interested in music. I would get my cassettes and irritate the hell out of all the Aurangzebs sitting with me. There was no point in even educating them about what I was listening to. Soon this Christian copywriter joined us. On his very first day at work, he thought me to be a vernacular (only because I was wearing a salwar kameez). Not that it's an insult, but he thought so nevertheless. He was introduced to me by the company director who also added my love for music to the introduction. So this guy asked me what kind of music I heard. I said I heard anything - language no bar. He started interviewing me and was dumbfound in the end. Well, well, this girl really knows music!

Frankly, I am not at all an expert, but I do have a very keen ear for music. Even as a child, when my father and my elder sisters would play the radio, I would listen and grasp. My father would be terribly surprised when my sister or I would hum songs of his youth.

Muskuraati subah hai aur gungunaati shaam bhi
Guncha mehka bulbul chehka
Baadal aya jhoom ke
Jab usne gesu bikhraaye
Baadal aya jhoom ke...

He would often ask how we knew these old songs. It was only because of the radio. I still look forward to the oldie goldies at night. It just makes me so happy to listen to the old songs. I guess, the love for music is in our genes. My grandfather, Vijay Bhatt had super hit songs in all his films - Baiju Bawra, Goojh Uthi Shehnai, Hariyali aur Raasta, Himalaya ki Godmein...And my father's movies too had songs that are still popular amongst Gujaratis - Hun Amdavad no Rikshawalo, Aajno Chandalio maney, Dikri to paarki thaapan kehwai, Khaati meethi vaangi...

And now it's my young brother, Chirantan Bhatt. He is venturing into Bollywood as a music director soon. He too wakes me up in the middle of the night to ask if the tune he's composed sounds like any I've heard. Well, all thanks to the radio!

All I hear is Radio Gaga
Radio what's new
Radio, someone still loves you!

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