आए बहार बन के लुभा कर चले गए ...Bringing Rafi alive

आए बहार बन के लुभा कर चले गए ...!

IT was an evening with magic woven in the air by songs once sung by the legendary Mohammad Rafi. One after the other, the performers tried to imitate the maestro and regaled the audience. Some copied his range. Others came out with Rafi-like reach of the crescendo and resilience to the base.
Still others tried likening their style to his playing sudden drops and immediate starts. Rafi’s velvety delivery with his silver tone, unbrazen, unbruised and wavy voice, posed a challenge of sorts to the singers. And above all, mixing devotion with their presentation, was each singer’s hallmark.
He too had been a Rafi admirer all his life. He too had sung Rafi numbers in his college days, drawing room get-togethers and official functions. He too used to win applause on each rendition. His friends called him Mohammad Rafi.
But now he had grown old. Too old infact. His voice did not support his range. His urge fell flat. His lungs failed him. His throat gathered phlegm even while talking, which he had either to blow out, or gulp in. Most of his admirers were gathered upto their ancestors. He had none to tell him to sing a Rafi number. But he was to the core a Rafi worshipper.
Rafi Nite made him reach the venue with his family. They seemed to know about his passion. He could not compete. But he wanted still to perform. He couldn’t find a slot. He was restless. Perhaps he could not have been allowed to sing. Or the organisers thought so. But he was determined to have his way.
He climbed on to the stage, carrying his keyboard synthesiser, carefully wrapped in a sheet of cloth. He ordered the mike to be brought near him. He also beckoned the tabla player, to give him company. With conscious effort, he could balance himself. He squatted keeping the keyboard in front of him while unwrapping it. His hands trembled.
People watching all this laughed. They made fun at his entry. His aggressive style. His tremors. When the battery cells for the synthesiser fell off his hands, it evoked a bigger laughter. The orchestra director had the courtesy to help him put the battery in place. There was whistling and hooting too. Organisers did not know how to pull this man off the stage, without being rude to him, in full view of the audience.
Then he began. His fingers started flying from one end to the other. It made sonorous music. Tabla beats added still more charm to the presentation. People’s laughter died down all of a sudden. And then he began to sing. He gave the first line, “Aae bahar ban ke lubha kar chale gaye…!” And the repeat. And the fillers. And the entire song.
The auditorium walls resounded with only his singing. No laughter. No exchange of glances. No hooting. All present were mesmerised. Photographers took him in focus. Many others also followed suit with their cameras, from amongst the audience.
There was huge applause when he finished. Some wanted him to sing another number. He sat there still squatting. Still smiling. Still in the “race”. But he chose to opt out amid thunderous felicitations and salutations.
He wrapped his keyboard equally carefully. Shook hands with the tabla player. Smiled at the audience once again with a “howzat” and joined his family, waiting with moist eyes.
Of the Rafi fans, admirers and “devotees,” this old man was perhaps the most spirited of them all. While all others sung a dead Rafi, he was the one who brought him alive.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090122/edit.htm#५

मुझे कहने दो ...Let me say something!

Sucheta Sarraf's anthology of poems--Mujhe kahne do--was released by Rajbir Deswal at Hisar on Jan 25. The book is an excellent presentation by the social activist poetess who is a dancer and a painter as well. She belongs to a very highly reputed family of Hisar and is given to finer pursuits of life.Mr Balbir Singh Commissioner Income Tax and R. S. Jaglan the Registrar of Guru Jambehswar University were also present on the occasion.Kamlesh Bhartiya conducted the ceremony. Many respectables of the town graced the occasion.
Raman Mohan writes in The Tribune:Rajbir Deswal, DIG (CID), Haryana, said here today that all art forms projected only the positive and creative side of society as well as the artist and there was nothing that could be termed as negativity in art.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a function held here to mark the release of a collection of poems by Sucheta Saraf, a local social activist and poetess. The book is entitled “Kucch Kehane Do.”
Deswal, who is widely known as “writer cop” in literary circles, said every artistic activity was meant only for the betterment of society at large. A poet expressed his or her feelings through imaginative use of words. Likewise, painters do so through creative use of colours and brush strokes. In the end all forms of art only added to society’s creative side.
He said he had never encountered any negativity in art, as he believed that artistic expression was born out of a person’s creative side and creativity could by no stretch of imagination be negative.
Deswal said budding poetess Saraf’s latest collection was a fine example of modern Hindi poetry. Balbir Singh, Commissioner, Income Tax, and RS Jaglan, registrar, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, were among those present.http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090126/haryana.htm#8

Haryana's Cultural Dilemma;Rajbir Deswal reviews D. R. Chaudhry's book--Haryana At Crossroads

Popularly known as ‘Dee Aar’ in Haryana, the author is a man of many parts — an educationist, political commentator, social activist, thinker and philosopher rolled into one. Haryana at Crossroads, on the one hand, opens windows on current burning Haryana issues, and on the other, it provides a deep insight into the state’s glorious past, degenerated into a near-tribal cultural milieu.
The present-day Haryana’s devolvement is commented upon as having been a result of politics of populism propagated by the Lals of Haryana, with its slothful distinction of excelling in the art of ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Rams’, en masse defections allegorised as ‘Ali Baba and 40 Thieves’, consequence of which manifested itself into the powers that be turning into whipping boys, doing the bidding of the Centre, and the common Harayanvi caring two hoots for discipline to be adhered to, in building up a society conducive to civic norms.
D. R. Chaudhry believes in Raymond William’s definition of culture, "Culture is no finished but static thing. It is a process that has continually to be renewed, recreated, defended and modified." He laments that one comes across "a Jat, a Brahmin, an Ahir, a Punjabi or a local" in Haryana, but it is difficult to meet a Haryanvi in Haryana. He traces the origin of this dichotomy attributable to the collapse of the Mauryan empire providing opportunity of a free-for-all scenario, replete with looting, plundering, marauding of the region by the Greeks, Shakas, Scythians, Parthian, Hoons and Kushans.
According to the author, no social reforms movements ever visited the tradition-bound state except the Arya Samaj in its revivalist but backward-looking character. He rightly laments the absence of a cultural renaissance which could influence and impact the Haryanvis in acquiring a modern sensibility. This could also have led to avoiding crises in agriculture, industry, education, infrastructure, social justice, political formations, etc.
Chaudhry firmly believes in having a middle class, which has eluded Haryana, and which compels the sovereign to give better and accountable administration in terms of security, health, education and generating employment, etc. There are very few theatre groups in the state and there is no established film industry. Haryanvi dialect did not find a script and an appropriate literature unlike Punjabi. Patronising of art and culture in the state remained neglected in the absence of powerful feudalistic families which are known to spare their kitty for such like finer genres in a civilised and mature society. Step by step, the author diagnoses the ills the "unfortunate state" has been suffering since ages and it’s not being able to suitably adapt itself to the much-hyped modernity and its likely fall out.
Long-standing disputes of water with Punjab, including the states’ Capital issue, find mention in the book.
The author believes in Dr M.S. Swaminathan recommendations of measuring up with the ill effects of ‘exploitative agriculture’. Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have also been delineated in detail but the author is skeptical if the present-day powers that be, linked up with Reliance and other industrial houses, would be able to pay back enough, in terms of employment generation, and tax collection for the state exchequer, besides all Haryanvis’ collective acceptance of the concept of SEZs.
The book finds apt and objective handling of the situation as it obtains in the state. It calls a spade a spade and does not paint a rosy picture in itself. The universities lack autonomy and are second-grade government departments. Chaudhry believes in bringing about changes in the transfer policy and also that the panchayats’ and other civic bodies’ role in the spread of primary and higher education needs to be addressed. The author is also worried about the falling status of women in the state and suggests ways and means to appropriate the sex ratio and arrest female foeticide.
The issue of social justice also gets equally dexterous treatment at the hand of Chaudhry when he describes khap panchayats as ‘Kangaroo courts’ dispensing justice in crude, brutal, abortive and senseless adjudications. It is to the author’s credit that very recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court referred to an article published by him in The Tribune on the same subject while hearing petitions against the ‘fatwas’ (edicts), issued by the khap panchayats which did have their relevance but in an era gone bye. The book is a must-read for scholars and researchers besides all those interested in Haryana affairs.

एक था गधा उर्फ़ अलादाद खान

Click the button on photo on your right and play the video or click on the link here to see it on youtube: http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=gOmr6hHM4Ks

And whoever said police officers can't be good actors!This presentation was made at Haryana Police Academy Madhuban by newly recruited Haryana Police Recruits initiated into the concepts of Samvedi Police by ADGP V N Rai under the stewardship of DGP Ranjiv Dalal। Sharad Joshi's drama Ek tha gadha urf Aladad Khan was staged under the direction of his daughter Bani Sharad.

ज़िन्दगी का सफर है ये कैसा सफर !

This is a song with Karaoke