Jay's world of Music
Dedicated to music lovers in general and to those who love old Hindi and Malayalam film songs, old radios, gramophones, gramophone records etc, in particular.
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Saturday, February 22, 2020
GRAMOPHONE MUSEUM OF MUHAMMED SHAFI
About 8 years back, on the 28th January 2012 to be
exact, I had posted about
Sri Muhammed Shafi, The Gramophone Man, a collector, seller, and service technician of old Gramophones, Valve Radios, Gramophone records and other musical antiques. For your ready reference this is the link to that post.
Sri Muhammed Shafi, The Gramophone Man, a collector, seller, and service technician of old Gramophones, Valve Radios, Gramophone records and other musical antiques. For your ready reference this is the link to that post.
My blog page has been inactive for quite sometime since my 101st post ,i.e., on Music director Madan Mohan. What
revived my interest in blogging and brought me back to pounding the keyboard of
my laptop is a recent happy event when Sri Muhammed Shafi enhaced his stature
to that of a Preserver and a Reference Centre for antique musical devices. Sri
Muhammed Shafi has on the 26th January 2020 opened his GRAMOPHONE
MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTRE at Lakkidi in Wayanad district of Kerala, a
picturesque hill station and tourist centre.The museum is situated near the
well known tourist spot, THE POOKODE LAKE.
His laudable effort is to bring under one roof all his rare collections of the last 25years
and to preserve them for posterity and
to kindle the interest, especially of the young generation, about our glorious
musical past. What sets this museum apart is the fact that it is probably THE ONLY LIVING MUSEUM OF OUR TIME in the sense that all the devices on display are alive and in perfect working condition. Kudos to Sri Shafi for his tremendous efforts to maintain them as they are now. The dynamism these devices impart and the sheer pleasure of witnessing their performance are unbelievable and a lifetime experience.
He has been working on this project for the
last four years using all the resources with him by purchasing a small plot of
land and constructing a two level building to display his wonderful awe
inspiring collection of antiques. This is the second of such museums in Kerala, the first being the DISCS AND
MACHINES museum at Plasenal,Pala, in Kottayam district of Kerala. This is owned by Sri Sunny Mathew, a well
known personality in the field.
While I was aware of
Muhammed Shafi’s efforts and had seen his collections during the last 20 years, what I saw at the Museum was really mind blowing. A wonderful array of
old valve radios of all brands including the Marconi, G.E.C, Grundig, Philips,
and the favourite of our campus days , National-Echo are there in all their glory in perfect
working condition. Gramophones of all ages
and varieties, hand wound as well as power operated , are there to see
and wonder. The Micky Phone, The Symphonian, The Gypsy Phone, The Sound Box ,
the foot pedal Harmonium, Radiograms,
The Magic Lamp and the ancient Fan working on kerosene are there to see. A huge
collection of gramophone records also vets the appetite of enthusiasts. Yes,
this museum is going to be an important and must visit spot in the tourist map
of the state.
I am uploading a few
photographs taken by me during my visit to the museum. Myself and my wife had a
wonderful day at the Museum sharing
musical experiences with Sri
Shafi and a few of the like minded visiting music enthusiasts . We could also spend time at the Pookode Lake and enjoy the beauty of nature at Wynad. We
returned with everlasting memories after spending the night at the guest room
of the Museum
Pookode Lake |
Sunday, February 15, 2015
MUSIC DIRECTOR MADAN MOHAN, HIS MELODIES, HIS GHAZALS.
When
one thinks of old melodies, especially haunting melodies and ghazals of Hindi
films one name that always come up top in the mind is that of the highly
talented music director the late Madan Mohan (1924 – 1975).His career in Hindi
film music, beginning with the 1950 film
Ankhen , to the haunting melodies of film ‘Woh kaun thi’(1964), through his
National Award winning music in film Dastak(1970), to the much acclaimed
music of ‘Mausam (1974) and to the films released posthumously including the
IIFF Award winning music of ‘Veer –
Zaara’, had been a musical journey in the pursuit of excellence firmly rooted in Indian classical music where
no compromises with quality were allowed. There were innumerable films for which he had
composed music in which the Madan Mohan stamp was always there even in those
films which did not do well in the box
office.
One
notable feature of Madan Mohan’s music was his penchant for using ghazal style
for his compositions especially during his
earlier years. It was Madan Mohan who best exploited Talat
Mahmood’s voice and talent for ghazals
beginning with MADHOSH(1951-Meena Kumari-Manhar Desai)).In this film Talat rendered the beautiful lyric penned by Rajah
Mehdi Ali khan,viz., ‘Meri yaad mein tumna aansoo bahana’ in his inimitable
trembling voice. This song remains a
much listened Talat ghazal even today. In film AASHIANA(1952-Raj Kapoor-
Nargis), Madan Mohan composed two
evergreen ghazals for Talat using the lyrics of Rajinder Kishen. One is, ‘Mera
qarar leja’ and the other is, ‘ Mein paagal mera manva paagal’ often aired by
Radio Ceylon and Vividh Bharati those days. In film CHHOTE BABU (1957-Nimmi-Sekhar), there
is this popular ghazal by Talat, viz., ‘Do din ki mohabat mein humne’ and a Lata-Talat duet, ‘Teri chhamak ke aankhon
mein’. In the highly popular film DEKH
KABIRA ROYA(1967) with lesser known actors like Anita guha and Annop Kumar, Madan Mohan
again uses the voice of Talat Mahmood to create another great ghazal, ‘Hum
se aaya na gaya tum se bulaya’, the lyrics penned by Rajinder Kishen. In fact
this film was a big musical hit with a wide variety of songs composed by Madan
Mohan. There are two semiclassical numbers by Lata, the first being ‘Lagan tose
lagi balma’ and the sweet melodious ‘Meri veena tum bin roye’. Along with these
two there is also the soft, romantic
melody, ‘Tu pyar kare ya thukraye’
indicating how best he uses Lata’s voice to embellish his
rather difficult compositions. The film is also noted for one of the top
semi-classical melodies of Manna Dey,viz., ‘Kaun aaya mere man ke dware’. It is
a pity that the music of this film did not fetch a Filmfare Award for Madan
Mohan.
The
fruitful association of Madan Mohan with Talat continued in films like BAHANA(1960), with Meena Kumari
in the lead. The lyrics penned by Rajinder Kishen, viz., ‘Barehen aasman
meri manzil bata’ was tuned soulfully for Talat to croon and again an Asha –
Talat ghazal was created with the lines beginning ‘Teri nighahen mein teri hi
baton mein’. Lata’s melodious
semi-classical number ‘Ja re badra bairi
ja’ was also there. Sadly these songs are not often heard nowadays.The culmination
of the success of the duo of Madan and Talat was in the film JAHAN ARA(1962-Bharat Bhusha-Mala
Sinha)) . The three ghazals penned by Rajinder Kishen,’Phir wohi sham wohi
gham’, ‘Main teri nazar ka suroor hoon’ and ‘Teri aankh ke ansoo’were probably
the last of Talat’s fascinating ghazals for Hindi films as Talat Mahmood faded
away thereafter to the regret of music lovers.
A
few of the best ever filmy ghazals of Rafi was also composed by Madan Mohan.The
one coming to my mind readily is, ‘Main nighahe tere chehre se’ and ‘Yah hi hai
tamanna’ from film AAP KI PARCHHAYIYAN (1964-Dharmendra-Sashikala) with lyrics
by Rajah Mehdi Ali Khan who along with Rajinder Kishen was the most favoured
lyrist of Madan Mohan. In film DULHAN EK RAAT KI(1967- Dharmendra-Nutan)we can
listen to Rafi at his melodious best with the song ‘Ek haseen sham ko dil mera
kho gaya’(Lyrics: Raja Mehdi Ali Khan).In film GATEWAY OF INDIA (1957-Bharat Bhushan-Pradeep
Kumar-Madhubala)the duet ‘Do ghadi woh to pass ho baithe’ has two versions, one
by Asha-Rafi and the other by Lata-Rafi,
both versions equally captivating. In film AAKHRI
DAU(1958-Sekhar-Nutan)there is this popular Rafi ghazal.’Tujhe kya sunaon mein
dilruba’ and the melodious Rafi-Asha duet, ‘Humsafar saath apna chhod chale’.
Another
feature of Madan Mohan’s music was his preference for female voice and most of
his haunting melodies were in female
voice. In fact a perusal of the LP albums of films with his music will reveal
the dominance of female singers which, of course, in no way had affected the quality of his
songs. In film ADALAT (1958-Nargis-Pradeep Kumar) all the songs except a chorus
were in female voice with Lata’s ‘Yun
hasraton ke dagh’ and ‘Unko yeh shikayat hai’ topping the list.It was only in
his earlier films when he was using the voice of Talat Mahmood that we could see better use of male voice.
Still Madan Mohan had used the voice of Mukesh for two of his famous
melodies.One is the grief filled melody
from film DUNIYA NA MANE(1959-Mala
Sinha-Pradeep Kumar)viz., ‘Ham chal rahe hai, woh chal rahe hai, Magar
duniyawalo ke dil jal rahe hai’. There is also a happy version of this song, a
duet, by Lata -Mukesh. The other is a ghazal from SANJOG(1961-Anita
Guha-Pradeep Kumar),viz.,’Bhooli hui yadon’ which used to be heard frequently over
the radio. Film Sanjog is also noted for two of the most popular melodies of
Lata,viz.,’Woh bhooli dastan lo phir yaad a gayi’and ‘Badli se nikla hai chaand’. The
strength,timbre and quality of Lata’s voice are in full evidence in these songs
as well as in the song ‘Ham pyar me jalne walo ko chaine kaha haaye aaram kahe’
from film JAILOR(1958- Raj Kumar-Gita Bali). No wonder Lata remained as the
most trusted singer of Madan Mohan and their personal rapport seemed to have
contributed much to the success of the duo. No wonder that Lata’s tribute to Madan Mohan
echos this . “Madan Mohan’s music will
prevail; for it embodied melody, the basis of Indian music. It was my privilege
to have sung for him.”
The
songs of film WOH KAUN THI(1964-Sadhana-Manoj Kumar)’ was the crowning glory of
Madan Mohan’s musical success. The film
with supernatural incidents as its central theme, as in films like Madhumati
and Bees Saal Baad, had some of the top haunting melodies common for such
themes those days. The song “ Aajare pardesi(Madhumati-Lata- Music: Salil
Chaudhury) and ‘Kahin deep jale kahi dil(
Bees Saal Baad-Lata-Hemant Kumar)were till then two of the top such songs. But Madan Mohan, with three songs by Lata,
viz., ‘Naina bharase rim jim rim jim’, ‘Jo hamne dastan apnee sunaaee aap kyon
roye’ and ‘Lag jaa gale se phir ye haseen raat ho na ho’ rewrote history. The
beautiful lyrics of these songs were by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and no wonder why
he became one of Madan Mohan’s preferred lyricists. That reminds me about a
rare duet of Madan in this film, viz.,the
breezy “Chhod kar tere pyar ka daman’ (Lata-Mahendra Kapoor)The
music of this film was nominated for
Filmfare Award for best music but to Madan Mohan’s eternal disappointment the
Award was given to Laxmikant Pyarelel for film DOSTI. Even prior to Woh Kaun
Thi, Madan Mohan in film
ANPADH(1962-Dharmendra-Mala Sinha) had composed
a few beautiful melodies including the path breaking ‘Aap ki nazaron ne
samjha’ of Lata. There is also a rare
comic song in the film , Mahendra Kapoor’s ‘Sikandar ne porus se’. The success
of Woh kaun thi led director Raj Khosla
to make two more films with similar theme viz. Mera Saaya and Anita. For Mera
Saaya Madan Mohan composed yet another haunting
memody for Lata,viz., ‘Too jahan jahan chalega mera saaya sath hoga’ which was
a superhit. But for film ANITA Laxmikant Pyarelel was assigned to do the
job. Obviously, by then this musical duo had arrived on top. The decline of
Madan Mohan also started around this
period.
Madan
Mohan continued to compose music for several films but the magic, somehow,
remained unnoticed. The films were not box office successes and top artists
were also not there in them. He tried to make a come back with HEER RANJHA
(1970) and DASTAK(1971-Sanjeev Kumar-Rehna Sultan) but it was not enough. The
highly acclaimed Dastak fetched the
National Award for Madan Mohan with Lata’s
‘Baiyaan na bharo balma’ becoming highly popular. Again his music in
film MAUSAM( 1974-Sanjeev Kumar Sharmila Tagore) showed that he had not lost
his magic as the Lata-Bhupinder duet ‘Dil dhoondtha hai’ and Lata’s solo ‘Ruke ruke se qadam’ achieving tremendous
popularity.But alas! In spite of his enormous talent and success he could not
get the same prominence which Naushad, S.D.Burman, Shankar Jaikishen and even a Laxmikant Pyarelal could get. He was
more like the ‘Kabhi Kabhie’ Khayyam and the ‘Hum Dono Jaidev who also could
not achieve the celebrity status in spite of talent and success. Talat Mahmood,
Madan Mohan’s most trusted male voice, said
of Madan Mohan; ‘ Madan Mohan never made any compromises in his life and in
every tune he produced there was newness”. Probably his inability to make compromises
stood in the way.
Friday, January 2, 2015
M U S I C D I R E C T O R R A V I - HIS CHAUDHVIN KA CHAND.
Ravi’s earlier films
like Vachan, Ek Saal, Dilli ka thug,
Chirag Kahan Roshni kahan and so on also had several beautiful songs in them.
Film Dilli ka thug had a few popular songs by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle
like ‘ Yeh ratein yeh mausam nadi ka kinare’ (Kishore -Asha), Yeh bahar yeh
shama(Asha) and the hilarious, ‘C.A.T., CAT Cat
mane billie’ (Kishore). In Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan there is this children’s
song ‘Tim tim karke tare...’. In Ek Saal there is this immortal ghazal of Talat
Mahmood, ‘ Sub kuch luta ke hosh mein
aaye to kya hua’. But it was Ckaudvin ka
Chaand which gave Ravi the well deserved
recognition as a top music director of Hindi films. The song scene of the title
song Chaudvin ka chaand showed how best even black and white photography
(Cinematography- V.K.Murthy) can exploit the light and shade to glorify a
scene.The film has a few other wonderful
songs like Rafi’s ‘Yeh Lucknow ki sar zameen’ and the Asha Bhosle –
Shamshad Begum qawwali, ‘Sharma ke kyun pardanashin’ (two parts). The song
‘Husnewale tera jawwaab nahin’ from film Gharana still remains as one of the
top romantic songs of Rafi.There was no looking back thereafter for Ravi in the 60s and early 70s when
he came out with musical hits for films after films like Khandan, Bharosa,
Kajal, Gahra Daag, Pyar ka Saagar, China town,Do Badan, Ankhen, Waqt, Neeel
Kamal, Tower House, Yeh raaste hai pyar ki, Aaj aur Kal and many more.
The music of film Khandan (Sunil Dutt- Nutan)brought for
Ravi the Filmfare award for best music director in 1965; the song ‘Tuhmi meri
mandir’, one of the noted bhajans of Lata, brought her the Filmfare award for best female
playback singer and the best lyricist award for Rajinder Kishen. The Guru Dutt – Asha Parekh starrer Bharosa had a beautiful song by Rafi, ‘Is bhare duniya mein’
and a duet, ‘Aap ki mulakat bas itni’ by
Lata and the then new singer Mahendra Kapoor.For Ravi, Asha remained his favourite female voice with songs
like the bhajan, ‘Tora man darpan’ and the semiclassical number, ‘Chhun chhun gungharu
bole’ both from film Kaajal( Dharmendra-Hema
Malini),the ‘Jab chali tandi hawa’number
from film Do Baaden (Asha Parekh- Manoj Kumar),
the songs ‘ Chehre pe khushi chha jaati hai’ and ‘the haunting ‘Aage bhi
jane na tu’ from the star studded film
Waqt (Raj Kumar, Sadhana,Sashi Kapur, Sharmila Tagore, SunilDutt, Rahman and
Balraj Sahni) and many more from other films.But it is also a fact that some of
the best songs of Ravi in female voice were also by Lata like, e.g., the
melodious ‘Lo aagayi unki yaad’ from Do Baadan,’Lagi na mora jiya’ from film Gunghat,’
Ai mere dil-e-naadan’ from Tower House, ‘Milti hai zindagi’ from Ankhen and so on. In Yeh raaste hai payarki’,
a film based on a real life story and in which Ashoj Kumar gave a memorable
performance as the defence lawyer, there is
the title song, ‘yeh raaste hai pyar ki’ by Asha and a duet of Asha with Rafi,’ Yeh kahmoshiyan yeh
Tanhaniyan’ boh very popular and frequently heard on the radio those days but
sadly missing nowadays. This applies to the rare songs of Mukesh for Ravi in
film Pyar ka Saagar, e.g. ‘the duets with Asha,‘Vafaa jin se ke bewafa ho
gaye’and the grief filled ‘Pyar ka saagar dekha hai’. That reminds me of the
songs of Mukesh for Raj kapur in film Nazrana, especially the beautiful inter
active duet with Lata,‘Bikhrake zulfein chaman mein' and the sad Mukesh solo,‘Ek woh bhi Diwali thi.
Film Gumrah( Sunil Dutt-Mala Sinha) marks the beginning of
a long and fruitful association of Ravi with singer Mahendra Kapoor . In fact
it was Ravi who lifted the singer,
reeling under the shadow of a Rafi at his peak,
to the centre stage with this film. In fact there was no song for Rafi
in this film and the three solos rendered by Mahendra Kap oor, viz., ‘Aap
aayen’, ‘Aa bhi ja’ and Chalo ek bar’ earned for him an identity of his own and
listeners could connect to his voice and style separate from
that of Rafi. The songs were super hits on the radio and Mahendra kapoor won
the Filmfare Award for the best male playback singer for the song ‘Chalo ek
baar’. The duet, ‘aaja aaja re’ with Asha also was hugely popular. Film Gumraah
was followed by Waqt in which Mahendra
Kapoor had three duets with Asha the top being ,’Maine ek khwab sa dekha hai’
and, ’Din hain bahar ke ‘ a close second. Of course the most popular song of
the film is by Rafi,viz., ‘Waqt se din
aur raat’ followed closely by the
evergreen Manna Dey hit, ‘Ae mere Zohra Jabeen’.
The success of the team of Ravi-Sahir Ludianvi(lyrics) and
Mahendra Kapoor in film Gumraah and Waqt
was repeated in the super hit film Hamraaz(Sunil Dutt-Vimi- Raaj Kumar). In
fact it was Mahendra Kapoor all the way in this film with four super hit solos
including , ‘ Yeh neele gagan ke tale’
which won him the Filmfare Award for the best male playback singer for 1967.
The song ‘Na moonh chupake jiyo’ and ‘Tum agar saath dene ka wada karo’ were
also super hits along with the high pitched,
melodious ‘Kisi pather ke murat se’. These songs were a fitting reply to the critics, many of them perhaps
motivated, who sidelined Mahendra Kapoor
as a singer who adopted Rafi’s style. The singer’s own style was, of
course, obvious to the discerning listeners.
There are two films the music of which showed Ravi’s talent
and range in different types of music.
One is film China Town, (1962-Shammi Kapoor-Shakila) in which all the songs
were by Rafi and Asha. The film offered ample scope for dance songs,
Rock-n-roll and club dance songs etc. and Ravi showed that he could do justice
to the need. Though the film was not a huge hit
the songs were very popular , the ‘Bar bar dekho ‘ in particular, with
Rafi sizzling. The songs ‘Yumma yumma
yumma’ and the title song ‘China town’ shows Asha in her elements . The duets
of Rafi and Asha, ‘Bada quatil hai’ and ‘Humse na poochho’, were also pleasing.
Ravi with these vibrant foot tapping songs showed that he can give even O.P.
Nayyar a run for his money as far rhythm
is concerned.
The other film which tested Ravi’s talent is the 1982 film
Nikaah with Raj Babbar, Deepak Parashar and Salma Agha in the lead. All the songs of the film were Ghazal based
ones as demanded by the theme and all of
them were rendered by Mahendra kapoor and the leading lady Salma Agha
herself.The ghazals were appreciated by the discerning listeners and it was
Salma Agha who got the Filmfare award for the best playback singer of the year
for her song ‘Dil ke armaan ansuon mein bah gaye’, the special nasal timbre of
her voice helping her to do justice to the composition. This is true in the
case of ‘Fiza bhi hai jawab bhi (in two parts) also. Mahendra kapoor shows his
range in the ghazal, ‘Bete hue lamhon ki
kasak saath to hogi’ and also in the duet with Salma, ‘Dil ki yeh arzoo thi’
with clear, emphatic delivery of words.
The qawwali,’ Chehra chhupa liya hai kisi ne nagar mein’
by Kapoor, Asha and Salma is an added attraction. The LP album of the film also contains Ghulam
Ali’s famous composition ‘Chupke chupke raat din’ making it a collectors’ item.
Music director Ravi who was very busy in Hindi film music
till the early years of the 70s was
seen less and less thereafter and during the 80s and 90s became very busy in
Malayalam films especially in
association with director Hariharan and poet/lyricist O.N.V. Kurup and came out with award winning music in films like Panchagni, Nakhashatangal, Sargam
,Vaisali, Parinayam, Srukretam, Ghazal and so on. He won National award for
best music Director for films Parinayam and Sukrutam and Kerala State Award
for Nakhakshatangal and Sargam. Singer K.S.Chitra won her third
National Award for the song ‘Indupushpam choodi’ from film Vaisali.
Though Ravi came
back into Hindi film music strongly with
Nikaah in 1982, he was unable to weave his former magic as by then the trend
had changed with the ascendancy of Kishore Kumar, Lakshmikant Pyarelal and so
on and
had to remain content with working in Malayalam films with
Mayookham(2005) being his last Malayalam film. Music Director Ravi, Known as
Bombay Ravi in Malayalam film world continues to be remembered and respected in
Kerala as a king of melodies.
Tail piece:-There was a successful
Palmolive ad featuring Kapil Dev and the jingle ‘ Pamolive da jawab nahin’
seemed to have been inspired by the Gharana song,’Husnewale tera jawab nahin’.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ9uo-7_aeE
Thursday, December 11, 2014
M E M O R I E S A B O U T A M O T O R C A R.
Meeting an old friend and colleague a couple of days back rekindled in me fond nostalgic memories about a ‘minor’ motor car owned
by him for about 45 years from the late 60s; a Morris Minor 1951 four seater four door sedan made in England. The
car is KLE 7488 in its original greenish shade
common for Morris Minor cars of the period. The car with a side valve
engine had its head lights mounted on
the wings instead of down in the grill console as in the earlier models. Morris Minor cars
were common on Kerala roads in the 50s and the 60s especially in bigger
towns like Kozhikode, Cochin, Trivandrum and so on.This rather slow moving car,
compared to the present day cars , was
but very convenient to drive in the crowded city roads as well as through
narrow by lanes of residential areas owing to its compact size
and easy manoeuvrability.
I have been seeing this car of my friend ever
since he bought it. In the early 70s he was
transferred to Bangaluru and
posted in the same office in which I was
working and took up a house on rent next to the house where I was staying with
my family. I still remember his arrival
in Bangalore in the Morris Minor driven
all the way from a northern centre of Kerala. He stayed in this house for a few
months with his family before shifting to a house near to the office. During
this period in particular and thereafter
till I was transferred out of Bangaluru in
1975, the two families had travelled in this car extensively to every nook and
corner of Bangaluru be it the Cubbon
Park , the Lal Bagh, Vidhan soudha, residential colonies like JayaNgar , Rajai
Nagar, Wilson Gardens , restaurants like the MTR, Brindavan, Nilgiris etc and
so on. My friend, like me, was fond of films and it was mostly in his car that the
two families went for films except on those
occasions when my 1967 Standard
Herald was taken out. Our rides through the long roads of Indira
Nagar, Double Road, M.G.Road, walks on the Brigade Road and Commercial
Street after parking the car are all still fresh in memory.
The car was well maintained with every problem attended to promptly. Even
in the 70s spare parts were not easily
available. Once we had to go around the whole of Bangalore to get a set of special screw type
wheel bolts. I also remember a complete overhaul including a fresh coat of paint done to the
car at Bangalore. My friend who wore only white clothes had always kept the
car clean and tidy with the seats covered with white Turkish cloth! He
drove the car with effortless ease and
we used to marvel at his ability to reverse the
car through narrow curving roads! During the 80s also when we were
working at Thiruvananthapuram and
Ernakulam I had travelled in the car
frequently.
While I had changed my car several
times by buying ‘new’ second hand ones,
my friend continued to keep the Morris Minor
and after his retirement towards the end of the 80s he settled down in
Trivandrum. We continued our contact and the car used to come up in our
conversations often. A few years after my retirement in the year 2000 I had
visited him at Thiruvananthapuram and he
dropped me back at the Rly.station in his Morris Minor . Years passed by and
when I went to his house again two years back the car was very much there and I
had taken a couple of casual photos on
my mobile.
When I met him at Kozhikode on the 5th
of this month, I enquired about the car assuming that it was still with him. To
my utter surprise and disbelief he told me that he had sold it off a few months
back. A sudden thought that I could have purchased it instead of it falling
into some other hands entered my mind. But it vanished faster than it came when
it was revealed that it was sold for a fancy price to a vintage car collector who had been pestering my friend to sell it
to him for several years. The reasons
for selling off the car which was close to his heart for so long , after refusing to do so for years, were
strong enough. The ophthalmologist had declined to give a certificate for
renewing the driving licence; getting the driving licence of an 85 year old
renewed is next to impossible; the re-registration and insurance were falling
due; practical difficulties for future maintenance are many; above all his
son’s advice to sell it off for a good price coupled with the thought that it was going into safe hands clinched
it. Yes, a vintage car collector’s garage is the best destination an old car can
hope for. Old cars seem to be better
placed than old people for whom the mythical heaven is the only, though futile,
destination to hope for.
Tail piece:-How I wish I had retained my
first car, the Standard Herald 1967 Model
two door Sedan MSQ 84 which I
sold off in 1978!!
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