By Nasreen

Salaams to you all. On this 89th birth anniversary of Rafi Saheb, I decided to pen a few lines in dedication. I wil be a simple write up as I don’t have that much talent in writing nor do I have any real musical knowledge.

All I have is that basic thing all RAfi lovers have. A passion for his amazing voice and a passion for all his songs and a deep admiration and respect for the human being he was.

Let me say as an introduction that I am a volunteer radio producer/presenter for a community radio station. I do this for a hindi radio program from time to time. Recently, i.e. on the 8th of December, I chose to do the program on Dharmendra as it was his 78th birthday. So that would of course involve talking about him, his movies and playing his songs. Well, when you want to play Dharmendra songs, whose songs will they mostly be? I need hardly ask this question, we all know the answer.

So I burned a number of songs and only 2 of them were in KK’s voice, the rest in Rafi Sb’s. The program went well, and we both (my co-host and I) enjoyed playing them.

But sometimes when you are doing the program, you don’t really listen as you are thinking of what you will say next, you make announcements of behalf of listeners, etc. After the program, I left the studio and forgot all about the songs I had played that day. So I had the CD lying in the car….and then with all the rush and hectic life we have nowadays, I got entangled in doctor’s visits, picking up children from school, shopping, housework, and many different kinds of stresses. I was feeling very exhausted and as happens to most of us from time to time, some attitudes of those I interacted with put me off and made me feel quite unhappy. One day, when all this played on my mind, I felt particularly low and found myself dragging my feet to get in the car for a long drive to a place I did not even know the exact location of. I just knew it was not anywhere close by and I had to get there that scorching hot day. Well, I put on the car AC and had a sip of water, then saw the CD lying on the seat. I put it on and started the car.

The first song was Aap ke Haseen rukh pe….as the lilting voice took me further into the song, I started to relax, and when he said “dabi dabi hasi mein bhi tadap rahi hai bijliyaan” I found myself giving a tiny pursed smile, a dabi hasi., thinking of how easily that one voice was untying the knot that had been created inside my heart recently by some unfortunate circumstances.

Song No. 2 : Tumharey pyaar mein toh hum beqarar ho ke chale shikar karne ko aaye shikaar ho ke chale. Oh what bliss it was listening to that sweet voice and thinking of Dharam so handsome in his checked shirt prancing around the lovely Asha Parekh as she drove the car (I think a jeep).

Song No. 3 : Ek haseen shyaam ko. Who doesn’t love this particular song? It is one of the most romantic of Rafi numbers, so soft and almost like carrying one away on a wave of melody.

Song 4: Gar tum bhula na doge: this one has also been sung very competently by Lata but Rafi Sahab’s rendition just always has that extra edge. Again handsome Daharmendra in a romantic scene with Sharmila whose hair was high on her crown and flowing down on her back in that distinctive 70’s style.

Well, I found myself humming along, feeling much better.

Song No. 5 : Main kahin kavi na ban jaaoon. Mmm nice.

Song No. 6: Kaliyon ne ghunghat khole : I felt I was hearing this song again after a long time even though we had just played it a couple of weeks earlier. Such fabulous rhythm in the song and I remembered handsome Dharma again in his white churidaar and sherwani. And white naagras. So different from the heroes of today who do wear sherwani’s but they are all so colourful, and glitzy. The ruggedness of men nowadays is also somehwat artificial. Not that I have anything against a Hritik or Sharukh in a sherwaani dancing in the way they do with very male movements of their heads and hands. But give me a choice between the heroes of today and those of yesterday( Dev, Dharam, Shammi, Rajesh, etc.) For me, yesterday is the winner always. But I’m digressing. Let’s move to the next one on my list.

Song Nol. 7 : A Kishore song : Meri jaan meri jaan kehna maano. May I admit something? I actually like this song just as I like another one by KK for Dharmendra from Raja jani – Jani o Jani, very nice song and of course the best KK one for Dharam “Pal pal dil ke Paas”. But I was in Rafi mode, I found myself fast-forwarding to song 8. That was a KK and Lata duet “Kal ki haseen mulaqat ke liye”. What do you think I did? Yes, you guessed it, quickly on to the next one.

And my heart stopped as the song started. I guess this is the song that did it for me that day. All the songs that I had been listening to so far had built up and led up to this moment. Na jaa, tu kahin ab na jaa, dil ke siwaa. Oh my God, the way Rafi Sb sang this song is just indescribable. I closed my eyes and realised that I needed to stop the car if I didn’t want to cause a crash. So I pulled up at the side of the road. And I RELISHED this song. I wasn’t here in this world, I was somewhere else in an exquisite place but I don’t know where. I heard the gentleness, the passion, I heard the sweetness and the depth, I heard the spirituality, I heard the love — all this combined to completely lift away the weight that had been in my mind for some days. I think I was hardly breathing, I became so still. I felt a weightlessness in my whole being, a complete healing, and a relief in the knowledge that no matter what happened in life – as long as I could hear a song like this, I would be cured, I would be in the company of something so special, I would be in the company of angels. I would be in the company of the heavenly voice of Rafi Sahab, whose soul is still here for us. Whose soul we cannot ever let go of. Whose beautiful soul exists for us through his beautiful songs, such as all the ones I had listened to that day and especially this one.

What can I write after this? I was in tears but I was smiling. Just like a mother’s gentleness is healing, Rafi Sahab had come that day and eased my sadness. Like a true friend, like someone who knew, felt and cared, someone who helped in the way only he could. I felt so blessed.

And as I started the car again, inside my heart I spoke these words to Rafi Sahab…..”Na ja tu kahin ab na ja dil ke siwa….”

This blog was published on Tuesday, December 24th, 2013 at 9:00 am and Last modified on Tuesday, December 24th, 2013 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Meri Awaaz Suno. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.