Nostalgia...

The last few days have been completely nostalgic. It has been so cold that you cannot think of venturing out. So I decided to listen to a few songs that we would be crazy about during our school / college days and even when we stepped into professional life. I followed it up with a few serials that were in the good books of almost all viewers, including children (seedha saadha bachcha log like me...) during their time. Following are the songs and the serials-

1. Kaoma Lambada - This is my all time favourite. A dance track to the core and has the very passionate Brazilian dance for couples that goes by the same name : 'Lambada'. I never had any partner for this dance (or for that matter for any other dance) either in school or college, but that did not stop me from enjoying the music of Kaoma Lambada. It is a delight. The moment I heard this song, my school's annual day flashed before my eyes where small children had danced on this song and they were looking so cute... I was in 8th or 9th std, that is the reason I could call the performers small children. And they were actually small - maybe 4th std or something. Not too sure about that. I am not sure of the lyrics, but the tune has been incorporated in Vishwatma, a movie starring Sunny paaji. And that is not a part of the nostalgic feeling.

2. Brazil (by Vengaboys) - This is another very good dance number. Very popular during my college days and can be heard even now. Ashu / Piyush, remember how we were dancing to this song during one of our annual days. And I believe somebody had clicked our photo too - Piyush, you and me dancing. (I think the photo was clicked during some other song... not very sure.) And Maulik, the great, had drawn our individual sketches using that photo. Latin American music is good and better still is any Latin American dance form, be it Salsa, Merengue, Samba, Rumba among others.

3. Sha la la la la (again by Vengaboys) - This is a catchy tune. Ashu, remember the guys gang at your place one weekend and how we were enjoying Sha la la la la. It was Milind, Vinayak, Deepak, Gautam, you and me. Piyush, Maulik and Krupal were not there.

4. Living next door to Alice - Need I say anything about it... :) This song was played during some function of someone's coaching class. I am sure it was not my coaching class function. It doesn't matter where it was being played, but it was a song that everyone liked. And at that time, there was a remix version containing the 4-lettered unparliamentary word and that version of the song became very popular. I remember there was a Toad mix of this song too wherein a toad would keep croaking at regular intervals. The song that I was hearing yesterday was not the unparliamentary one or any remix version. I was listening to the original song
I don't know why she's leaving
Or where she's gonna go
I guess she has a reason
that I just don't want to know...
For 24 years I've been living next door
to Alice...

5. Summer of '69 - One of the most famous songs of Bryan Adams. The guitar being played in the song is just too good. Very popular during our college time.

6. Point 5 hai chandrama, raat point 5 - Don't start thinking too much into this guys. This song is our version of "Aadha hai chandrama, raat aadhi... reh na jaye teri meri baat aadi, mulakaat aadhi". Harry - remember this song... We used to sing it on every trek after we would return back to the base... You, me, Kiran, Manish, and others...

7. Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho - A Jagjit Singh classic. Jaggu dada has some amazing ghazals in his list.

8. "Yeh dil yeh pagal dil mera", "Hangama hai kyon barpa", "Chupke chupke raat din", "Kal chaudveen ki raat thi" - Some of the ghazal gems from Ghulam Ali saab.

9. Giant Robot - Johny Sako and his Giant Robot. I used to wait to watch this serial. A robot controlled by a kid wearing half pants... How many of us harboured the thoughts of swapping places with Johny or even owing a robot - not as big as Johny's robot, but one that would obey our commands.

10. Duck Tales - I am sure this serial has a big big fan following. Uncle Scrooge and his 3 nephews : Huey, Dewey and Louie. And yes, Uncle Scrooge's gold treasure... :P I wish I could get 0.1 % of Uncle Scrooge's wealth. I would be content with it. :P

11. Street Hawk - The man... The machine... Street Hawk!!! One of the good english serials to be shown on DD. I used to pray to GOD for that bike, but GOD did not listen to me. Then I decided to steal it and after stealing, ask GOD for forgiveness. GOD turned out to be smarter. I couldn't find a single Street Hawk around which I could steal... :)

12. Dekh Bhai Dekh - Simple and clean family comedy. And I think it is one of the best shows till date... Interesting and funny characters always enjoying and helping each other get out of trouble... Remember the dialogue "Tere mooh mein keede, tere mooh mein dhool"

13. HeMan and the Masters of the Universe - "By the power of Grayskull..." and the fireworks sounds that followed would echo from each and every home in my building. HeMan is an all time favourite of quite a few people.

14. The theme of Malgudi days - Ta na na nana nana na... Who can forget SWami...? I guess this is one of the very very well known themes.

15. Byomkesh Bakshi - Having grown on a staple diet of Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Famous Five, Secret Seven and some of Alfred Hitchcock, this was a good way to test my detective skills... never managed to solve any though... and decided that I can never be a detective, leave alone being a good one...

I know you guys must be wondering - the description of songs is bigger as compared to the TV serials. Yaar, likhte likhte thak gaya. Isiliye descriptions chote hote gaye.

I am sure you guys too would have remembered your days of school / college and these songs / serials and some other ones too. Think of it and smile because it happened. And if you want to enjoy them once again - YouTube baba ki jai!!!

Saala main to Eskimo ban gaya...

The last 2 days have been very very cold. Here, it is not just the temperature that matters. Add to the temperature is the wind chill which makes it feel as if the temperature is lower than it actually is.

It had snowed very heavily on Saturday. And it was extremely cold on Sunday. Since it was a holiday, I did not bother to check the temperature on Sunday. But it was surely below 0 degrees celcius. Yesterday, i.e. on Monday, I checked the temperature before leaving for office so that I could plan my winterwear accordingly. I saw that the temperature was -12 degrees C. And the windchill made it feel as if it was -21 degrees C. Now, such temperatures are never heard of in Bombay. OK, I can understand if you remove the minus sign from -21 and tell me that this is the temperature in Bombay. Yes, winter temperature in Bombay can be 21 degrees sometimes or a little more than sometimes. But -21... This is too much. Or should I say this is too less... So I donned my winter jacket on top of my blazer, covered my head with my faithful skull cap, followed it up with the hood of my jacket and then wore my gloves. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, I added a muffler too for extra security. But the muffler was completely overshadowed by my jacket. Even I could not believe myself that I had worn a muffler till I removed my jacket. And my chin too was covered by the collar of my jacket. Now that I was well covered, I bravely stepped out of my building. My face went cold... There was nothing to protect my face. But I managed. And the only thought that came to my mind was - I was looking like an 'Eskimo'. Bas yahi din dekhna reh gaya tha. Even though there were no Eskimos in sight, I am sure I was a part of their clan. It was so damn cold that I was sure, Eskimos use their refrigerator to keep food hot unlike us who use it to keep the fold cold. After all why would you keep your food cold inside a refrigerator when the temperature itself is so cold???

Today morning I again checked the temperature to help me plan my winter wear. It was -11 degress C but the windchill made it feel like -18 or -19 degrees C. So I donned the same armour that I had worn yesterday. Today I ensured that the hood of the jacket covered my head properly and along with the skull cap also protected my forehead. My chin and to a certain extent, my mouth were covered by the collar of my jacket. The only part of my face that was now exposed was the part from my eyes to my upper lip. I was immediately reminded of scuba divers / snorkellers. I think I should buy the goggles that scuba divers / snorkellers wear. It covers their eyes and nose and the area between the nose and the upper lip. Then I will be fully covered... well, almost... I seriously wonder - how do people stay in such cold climates. And the snow that fell on Saturday is still lying around. The roads are clear, but the rooftops, the trees, the lawns, the sidewalk, the divider, etc are all still covered in snow. It seems that we are living in a cold desert or an ice desert.

I guess the only way to beat this cold is -
Aye Ganpat... chal daru la
Jyada soda, kam thoda paani mila...

If you have any other and better alternatives (and I am sure you guys will not disappoint me) feel free to share them with me.