--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- RMIM Meet Report - part 1 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Posted by: arunabha shasanka roy (asroy@midway.uchicago.edu) Posting date: 1998/11/11 --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- This is the second part of the report. It describes the meeting with Music Director Sardul Kwatra and the round of introductions. Essentially half of Saturday. The events that constituted the remaining half of Saturday will be covered in the third and final post. -Arunabha What with the previous night's activities stretching well into the night and organizers being swamped with myriad responsibilities ranging from shopping, cooking, picking up out-of-town RMIM'ers from the airport, creating and putting up signs for people to find their way to the meet location, and the like, things got underway later than originally planned. Probably around 11- 11.30 a.m. I say probably since I came later, at 12.30 p.m. , after admiring Neha's music collection (seeing what a RMIM guru looks like and what their collections look like is one of the attractions in attending a meet) (This reminds me of a tale my uncle used to tell, so I shall briefly digress. After graduating, my uncle returned to Jadavpur and once visited relatives in a nearby village. And the old women in the "paaraa" or neighbourhood would excitedly cry out to all the little children in the houses "aay ! aay ! engineer dekhabii aay !" (come !come quickly and see the engineer !" ) And excited kids would come shouting to see what kind of strange beast an engineer was , and go away uimpressed and disappointed that they had just the same number of eyes , limbs and looked no different from your average villager ) Anyway, when I reached, I found that everyone had arrived, and the Clubhouse "Cabana" (strange name - reminded me of Shabana- is it a Hispanic name ?) was neatly laid out with carpets, TV, Video and audio equipment . Our guest , Mr. Sardul Kwatra, a music director from the Golden Era , was chatting with RMIMers. And in the background, you could see organizers arranging the food silently. Kudos to all the cooks and everyone for getting things running smoothly. Having arrived late, I did miss some of the initial conversation (perhaps someone else can cover it ) but fortunately I was not late for the music. Shortly after I arrived, Mr. Kwatra produced a tape of old songs that were composed by him, and asked Vish to play it. It began with a delectable Lata song (I'm sorry, I can't recall the lyrics which were in Punjabi and Hindi) but this was one of the best songs that were played. A lively tune, it contained the energy that characterizes Punjabi music , but also had endearing murkis that Lata negotiated wonderfully. We then asked Mr. Kwatra if Lata had improvised these murkis or whether she was instructed exactly on what to sing. Mr. Kwatra said that as far as his compositions went, every note of the composition was the MD's, and illustrated how if a singer chose to change the tune or mood even slightly he would not accept it. One amusing incident that occurred during the course of the presentation was when Mr. Kwatra said "samajh liijiye kisiine meraa ye dhun is tarah gaayaa " and hummed a brief tune . (Incidentally, he refused to sing as long as the camcorders were trained on him . So Ketan and Harish missed the footage :) ) Hearing the lovely tune, Vish burst out "waah !" But Mr. Kwatra's reaction was "Cut it ! ye galat gaayaa hai ! aise gaayaa to nahii.n chalegaa !" and everyone broke into laughter. I guess what they say about MD's having exacting standards and being hard to please is true after all. Guri raised the issue of pronunciation (instantly bringing to my mind the extensive net jhaga.Daas about Asha's pronunciation in the famous "jazabaat kaa tuufaa.N Khetii huu.N " song). He mentioned that, apart from pronunciation itself, Punjabi words have their own distinct manner of articulation, with special stresses on individual syllables . He wanted to know whether "maraaThii ku.Dii's" :) could perform these , whether unfamiliarity with the language did not pose a problem, didn't take away from the final beauty of the song. Mr. Kwatra replied that it was a genuine issue, and cited words like "to.ND" (did I get that right ?) which have a unique stress on the "o." syllable and said that apart from the riyaaz singers had to do to get the sur right, they had to invest time in getting the mood and pronunciation correct. He mentioned that it was usual for singers to note down "yahaa.N pe rukanaa hai, yahaa.N par khii.Nchanaa hai, yahaa.N pe murkii hai, wahaan par mee.nd hai" etc etc in their books to aid their riyaaz. There were a couple of Lata songs, two Rajkumari songs, an Asha song, and one by Shamshad, snippets of which were played. One Rajkumari song was to die for. One of Mr. Kwatra's quips was on raag usage in his songs. There was a lovely song composed by him in Todi after which he got talking about the raag Todi. He said that it conveyed the pangs of grief after someone has died very tellingly, and said he was the first MD to compose a film song based on Todi. He also said it was extremely trying to compose film songs in Todi. Here Vish said "lekin aapake to bahut gaane hai.n Todi me.n" Whereupon Mr. Kwatra laughed and said "jii woh kaii gaane banaane ke baad practice aa gaii thii" :) The MD was genuinely surprised and pleased when Vish proceeded to play rare songs of Mr. Kwatra from his own collection. Mr. Kwatra said he had searched high and low for them , asked Lata if she had them, but not been able to find them anywhere. Vish gave him the tape with these songs and a visibly pleased Mr. kwatra said "ye merii qismat hai ki ye gaane aapase mujhe mil gaye" We then broke for lunch- a pot luck with a staggering variety of dishes, made by people from the Bay Area. Vandana told me that some people very kindly offered to make items even at last minute notice - such as Alpa Kohli who made two items after being told just the previous night. Since I am at a loss to remember all the dishes and it would be unfair to list some and not the rest , I shall content myself with saying that those who did not come really missed something.If someone has a better memory , please provide a comprehensive list of the lunch and rub it in for the non-atendees :) I remember remarking to Preeti :"too many items- one just can't do justice to everything- everything gets mixed up and you end up with an overall flavour" Preeti agreed and remarked "I don't know why they go through the pains of cooking separate items - just cook one grand dish with everything " So if you want the recipe, just contact him. Lunch was followed by a short video presentation of Mr. Kwatra's music. Later, we all posed for a photograph with Mr. Kwatra , who thanked everyone profusely for inviting him . Rajesh has already promised to write about the "Vishwamitra" episode, and so I shan't steal his thunder. After Mr. Kwatra had left we began with the Introductions. It was Guri's idea that each RMIM'er should introduce himself , give his likes/dislikes as far as music was concerned , and state which RMIM'er they would not rather be. The inclusion of this last question made matters interesting, and indeed, is perhaps why this part is included in the meet report at all. (That Guri framed this question will become significant later on.) I shall list some interesting responses which I recall. I'm sorry that I can't recall every one's replies. Again in some cases I don't remember the identity , but the answer, and the person shall be simply referred to as "someone" Ketan: Made a big fuss since he was the first to be asked. Said he did not have time to come up with an answer. Finally said he would not like to be Ketan, or maybe it was "would not like to be an RMIM'er who flies from the East Coast to the West Coast for the meet" Immediately after Guri's announcement , people started thinking of a suitable answer for the last question : "which RMIM'er would you rather not be ? " The most common phrase was "Which RMIM'ers aren't around today ? Let's pass them off as our reply to Qn. 3". Rajesh Munshi : Claims he has been reading RMIM for five years but has not posted as yet. Since he has not posted yet, he has no affiliation with any fan club yet, officially. Here was an opportunity for the Fan Clubs ! But he said he swore by Rafi and Lata. Incidentally this pair turned out to be the recurrent favourite, not only individually but in that combination. Looks like the KKK and the AFC have to do a better job of promotions and recruiting ventures :( As far as his not having posted on RMIM goes, this problem was solved promptly on Friday itself : he was saddled with the task of writing a meet report. Isse achhaa bakaraa milane waalaa nahii.n thaa :) Likewise, Dr. Preeti collared me into writing the report minutes after we had exchanged our first "Hi"'s on Friday.:) Dr. Surjit Singh, a die-hard movie fan(atic), period: Unique favourites : K.L.Saigal and Noorjehan. He was asked whom he disliked . Said :I like all singers, don't dislike any singers. A thorough gentleman. This reminds me of (K.Vijay Kumar? Anant Rege ?) or someone else who unwittingly made that hilarious statement in one of his recent posts : " I should have remained faithful to my Noorjehan and Suraiyya" :) :) :) Prince Kohli: "I like Madan Mohan Kohli :) .. Would not like to be an RMIM'er who posts requesting lyrics of a song that's been present in the ISB for years. " Indeed, Prince, you don't have to be one. There are too many to begin with! Vandana Venkatesan : "I am Vandana..." "WHICH VANDANA ???? " "Vandana Venkatesan" "What about Vandana Iyengar ?" "She's my Dr. Jekyll side" "Favourite singer ?" Lata . !!!!!!!!! Shocked stares from the audience. Is nothing sacred any longer ?P.G. Wodehouse's "I goggled like a stricken goldfish" comes to mind. Someone in the audience faints and has to be carried out. Myself shuddered and the heart skipped a beat. To everyone's intense relief, she then clarified " Lata when I am in my Dr. Jekyll phase , Asha otherwise " And you could sense the b.p.'s slowly returning to normal. Vandana Vidwans : "I am Vandana..." "WHICH VANDANA ???? " "Vandana Vidwans" "Whom would you rather not be ?" "ANY Lata-bhakt" Way to go , Vandana - "tum asha, vishwaas hamaare" :) A stauncher Asha and Hridaynath fan on RMIM would be hard to come by. Someone: (please fill in if someone recalls the identity) "would not like to be a guru" audience : "Justify why you should not be considered a guru" "I don't know any P-Stats . Ask Preetham, the P-Stats guy- he'll vouch for me " Here Preetham winces at the mention of P-Stats. Aaakhir ye bhuut kab tak meraa piichhaa karataa rahegaa ? - All through this life, Preetham, and perhaps even beyond :) Someone: "I would not like to be in the shoes of any unhappy rmim'er who has to carry the unabridged Oxford dictionary when reading Ashok's posts on rmim " Harish: He was introduced as "Roshan RJGK Quiz master" :) O.K. Harish , after that , no more introduction is necessary :) "Fav. singer ?" "Lata". "Would rather not be ?" "A quiz master under the prevailing circumstances " :) Guri : "Favourite ?" "Sahir" ( looks like it's a day for revelations ) :) "Would rather not be ?" "Any RMIM'er who is not present here at this meet" This was followed by accusations from all quarters which had the general tune "So you had prepared the question and reply all along, eh Guri ?" Preetham asked :"How many days did it take you to compose and prepare this reply ?" etc. Needless to say, the gentle Guri just smiled his way out of it :) The KKKlan was morose throughout the proceedings (their flag was flying at half mast) owing to the total domination of the scene by the scruffy Rafians. So finally, when a newcomer announced that it was KK for him, Anup who was manning the camcorder whooped "For that you get an extra minute of footage" Nachiket: "I'm a self-confessed fan of KK and RD" !!!!!!!!!!!!! A great day for the KKKlan. For long, the one chink in the armour has been KK's lack of classical songs. (I know, they are quick to convert his inability and lack of classical training into a statement of his natural talent :)), nevertheless, here it turns out that classical music experts like Rajan and now Nachiket seem to swear by KK on the HFM scene. Arunabha: To quote from one of Vandana Venkatesan's old posts "Come on ! D'you think I'd make fun of myself in my own post ?" :) Anyway I missed the opportunity to declare myself "the kid of the meet" , and generate those "tuu kitane baras kii ?" "tuu kitane baras kaa ?" debates . :) Sorely regret the wasted opportunity .:( Kalyan: "You're a fan of ?" EVERYONE on RMIM knows the answer ;"A fan of the other singers" :) Kalyan clarifies "There are a lot of singers with established fan clubs, but there are many more with good voices but no fan support . I support these singers - basically the underdogs. " He was then asked about Lata : "But aren't you a Lata fan ?" Kalyan: " She's the best , needs no support to assert this" Whereupon people pounced on him: "In today's film music scenario, she is the underdog and does not have much support. - Under these circumstances would you say you support her ?" Don't recall Kalyan's response to this. AFAIR, he deftly evaded the question. UVR : "Favourite singers ?" UVR: "Rafi, Talat and Mehdi Hassan" "What do U and V represent in your name ?" UVR : "Ultra Violet" Richa : "Favourite singer ?" "I used to be a Lata bhakt, but now it's Asha" Here Guri and other wise buzurg's nod their heads in approvingly and say "Ah, you've finally graduated " LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE ASHA FAN CLUB !! Anup : And finally, the camcorder turns to Anup. As he was seated next to Ketan, the wheel had to turn the entire circle before he could get his fifteen minutes worth of fame. But that was not to be :( Read on.... As the long sessions of introductions was drawing to a close, people were growing restive, in anticipation of the events/quizzes that were to follow . So even before Anup could open his mouth , someone shouted "abbe jaldii kar " :) A wounded Anup protested "Itane waqt ke baad meraa chance aayaa hai, bolane to de " Guri seized the apposite moment to cut in with "chalo, antakshari shuru karate hai.n " :)It was a field day, with everyone firing his own salvo at the quietly suffering Anup :) tumul kolaahal kalah me.n aakhir Anup kaa parichay ho paayaa bhii yaa nahii.n, yaad nahii.n aa rahaa :) That's it for the introductions. To come next are the actual events. This was where most of the excitement, bickering and fun lay , so stay tuned :)