On the 6th of April, this Friday, we attended an excellent program of songs from the Black and White Era, called “Gata Rahe Mera Dil”, organized by the Divine Mother Society, at the Ambedkar Bhavan, near the Bangalore Cantonment Railway Station.

An excellent orchestra had been teamed up with very good male and female singers, and the poster on the stage said, “Gems from the Black and White Era.” And so it proved to, as fantastic singers, such as Anil Bajpai, Surojit, Nayan, Sangeetha, and others treated us to the beautiful songs of yesteryear, starting from “Hawa Mein Udthaa Jaayey, More Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka”which is now, can you believe it, 58 years old!

Tickets were priced at Rs.500, 300 and 200, ( we bought the Rs.300 ones; the Rs.200 tickets were on the first floor) and the organization was excellent. Some names like Arvind, Rajesh, Shylaja worked really hard to ensure that the evening went smoothly. Many of the organizers were Bangalore-based, and must have put in a lot of hard work.

What was important was that at no time were the instruments (bongos, tablas and dholak, keyboards, base and lead guitars, and one person playing the flute, sax and clarionet) out of tune. Of course I think that in these events the female singers are always at a disadvantage because they have to adjust to the male voices and sing an octave higher, which makes their voices very shrill sometimes. Luckily, except for one of two occasions, it didn’t sound bad, and the rest of the songs….”Bar Bar Dekho”, “Maang ke Saath Tumhara”, “Eena Meena Diga” , “Sun sun sun Zaallima”, and so on, had all of us clapping, and indeed, several enthusiasts were dancing in the aisles (some of them very grracefully indeed!)!

Divine Mother Society is an organization which collects funds for good causes through this method of entertainment. Many people like Suresh, Arvind, Shylaja and plenty of others have put in a lot of hard work to ensure that the evening went very smoothly.

The songs were so tuneful and lovely that several members of the audience felt compelled to leave their seats and dance in the aisles! There was one gentleman whose dancing was particularly graceful, and another who balanced a mineral water bottle on his head…AND a plastic glass on top of that!

We clapped and sang along sometimes (not too loudly though) and had a marvellous time. We were, of course, thanks to the terrible traffic, late to the show and missed the first 6 songs, but here’s the list of the songs we heard:

Yeh Zindagi Usi Ki Hai
Jeevan Mein Piya Tera Saath Rahe
Sun sun sun sun Zaalima
Suhaani Raat Dhal Chuki
Nakhrewaali
Ik Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si
Bekraar karke hamein yoon na Jaayiye
Ajjeeb Daastaan hai yeh
Bhagwan
Mohabbat ki Jhooti Kahani pe roye
Yaad kiya Dil Ne kahaan ho tum
Khoya Khoya Chaand
Kisike muskurahaton pe ho misaal
E mere dil kahin aur chal
Are yaar meri tum bhi ho gazab ghoonghat to zara kholo
Maang ke saath tumhaara
Dil tadap tadap ke kehtaa hai
Dum dum diga diga
Jiyaa bekaraar hai
Hawa mein udthaa jaayeDil teraa deewana hai sanam
Bar Bar Dekho
Eena Meena Deeka

The evening had many sponsors, prominent amongst which were Nestle, which provided free coffee throughout the evening, and the New Indian Express. All the media covered the event.

The group is in Bangalore once again, at the same venue, on the 24th of Juine. If you want spend a great evening amongst the airs of the past…do go!