MERE SAPNON KI RANI
And who is immune to the pulsating charm of this song? It has the thrill and adventure of a formula one race, the wide eyed wonder of a toy train, the sing song rhythm of a gushing rail, the shrill exuberance of an echoing mountain whistle, the dependability of a harmonica playing cum meandering driver buddy, the blossoming beauty of Sharmila(reading Alistair Maclean no less!) and Khanna looking rather dapper. Kishore of course is the soul of this song, exhibiting endearing magnetism at its best! During my Chitrahaar childhood, this lone song could make my whole week like nothing else!!:-)
TERA MUJH SE HAI PEHLE KA NATA
Being an army officer's children meant that mostly dad was stationed in a place in the back of beyond and a good school would always be in the nearest decent sized town 50km or more away. Hitching on to olive green 3 ton fauji trucks with make-shift seats and a stern looking jawan or JCO to mind us on the way, we set out for schools in the wee hours of the morning. In winters it would be almost dark when we left and returned again in the very late afternoon. What made those bumpy rides worthwhile were friends who would keep favourite seats for us, get an extra helping of things in their tiffin we liked(some bookworm type girls even finished their and our HW in the rickety ride yeah!) and bouts of antakshari. It was songs like these that made those loooongish jaunts to school fun and time just flew away. :-)
YEH DOSTI HUM NAHIN TODENGE
These long haul trips to school were not devoid of adventures. Some of these trucks had a little sun window in the front that could be opened. So we'd take turns to coax the fauji conductor bhaiya to let us hang our head out standing on one of the benches. The result would be we'd traverse an hour long journey with hair flying in the wind vis a vis the warm environs of down below. A major coup would be to convince the driver and conductor to stop the truck near a tamarind tree to pluck a whole lot of tangy imli beans that we would relish tongue teasingly all the way. Once we left in the morning in heavy rain, but on the way back a river on the way had overflown and a bridge was not to be located in the water in spate. We hung around that place for over 3-4 hours till late evening. There were no cellphones of course. Parents were okay with the knowledge that two very conscientious and duty bound jawans were there to take care of a truckload of rather noisy, restless and progressively hungry kids. Friendship was easy and natural and agenda-free. Life was in perfect sync and complete, in an uncomplicated camaraderie like a ramshackle bike and a side car.:-))
No comments:
Post a Comment