One song at a time - 19. E Divilo velisina parijatamo

(Music Director Satyam and SPB)

It was Sampath teacher who first 'discovered' my singing talent. We were in 7th standard and Vatsala teacher came to our Tamil class to call my friend Kumar to participate in a group song. She spotted me and promptly asked me to come as well. The group song was for the school annual day and the song chosen, unsurprisingly, was the national anthem for schools, 'ham ko man ki shakthi dena', the Vasant Desai tuned song which literally put Jaya Bhaduri on stage. We were taken to an empty classroom in order to practise. As is my wont, I was putting in my best effort. After we sang the song a couple of times, Sampath teacher arrived to check out the rehearsal. We sang for her. "Someone is not singing in pitch. Sing again." So we sang again and she frowned. "All of you stop." We stopped. "Suresh, you now sing alone." So I started, "hum ko man ki.." "That's enough. You can get back to the class." The group unfortunately had to sing the song on stage without my charismatic presence.

The next reality check happened during my Intermediate years (+2 as they call in Chennai.) We kids had formed a club by the fancy name of 'Five Star Victory Recreation Club'. No clue why we selected it but that was the name. We held a cultural day every year exposing the talent we youngsters had. During that year I decided I too had singing talent, which was so carelessly crushed by Sampath teacher, and it was time for me to nourish this talent. So I started learning a Telugu film song from one of the supposed good singers near my colony. I would go to his house and keep singing in front of him and he would correct me. A few days passed and the corrections kept continuing. I used to sing it in front of other friends, each of whom offered helpful corrections!! This continued all the way till a day before the program. Since the corrections never ceased, I gave up in order to maintain the harmony in the society. Due to my decision, the program was a grand success. My friend Roop played an outstanding, 'yeh mera dil' (Don) on the mandolin, bringing the roof down.

Some interests never really go away, do they? One of my musical friends was very convinced that because I had so much interest in music, I should be able to sing. So he offered to teach me. In order to find out how my voice was he asked me to sing a krithi. I sang 'Narada Ganalola', the Tyagaraja krithi in ragam Atana, made popular by KVN. He listened to it in rapt attention and was at loss for words after I finished. Slowly he said, "It was good in parts." I was happy to hear the comment. It took me a few days to realize he was talking about the silent parts!!! I have since given up on singing but you never know when the ghost will wake up. Just pray you aren't around at that time.

Anyway, here is the Telugu song which I had practised hard. an excellent melody. It is from the movie, 'Kanne Vayasu'. Music is by Sathyam, who had given some lovely numbers in Telugu. He seemed to have been influenced largely by R D Burman and you can hear the RD style in this song as well. Wonderful lyrics by Dasarathi and sung very well by a young Balu. When I listen to this song I am glad that I did not murder it on stage.



And for those who have not heard the 'Guddi' song, here it is. Ofcourse, you must be from a different planet if you have not heard this song before.