"a night to remember"

"
Last time when I visited Delhi, we(I along with my friends) stayed overnight in a "Paharganj Market" hotel. After having dinner we went to Cannaught Place for a rather unusual late night walk.

Well, I discovered that the Cannaught Place in the night is quite different from the one we see in the day. Most of the shops were closed. A few restaurants were still open. The atmosphere was cool and a gentle breeze made us feel good. We thought of going for a whole round of the place. The roads were almost empty. Still some vehicles reminded us of their being.

We chatted as we went across. Of some people whom we noticed was a girl. Well I think she was waiting for someone, a friend maybe. She was trying to run down an ascending escalator in order to keep her occupied. Both of my friends now decided to go for their "regular" phone calls.And I was left alone on the bench.Well, it was fine with me. Sometimes being alone helps in thinking about life, the people connected to you, those whom you love dearly and other wonderful moments of your life.
A few yards ahead a "Delhi Police" gypsy was parked. The guys were, besides keeping a vigil around, listening to the FM. Well it was their only help to kill time efficiently.

We returned after sometime. On our way back we thought of going inside a Coffee House. But the idea was dropped more quickly than it had occurred much owing to the limited money in our pockets and the fact that we had a whole day to manage with that amount. I wondered why these "high status" restaurants, unlike their small counterparts, did not have the rate-list hung outside. It was my petty thinking, but it would have helped us decide according to our pockets and avoiding
embarrassment.

A few auto-rickshaw drivers were having a quarrel with two women. We did not know the reason, maybe it was about fare,and I stopped my much interested friend from intervening it. Though we informed the constables standing at some distance,they didn't seem interested at all.

One thing was clear. Delhi of the night was still awake. And it was different altogether from the Delhi of the day!!
A sudden rush of cool breeze hit us, and we quickened our steps towards our home for the night.

'Nostalgic songs'

Songs have always fascinated me. Though, I started with Hindi songs mostly, now I like and understand some English ones also.

For me, songs are wonderful reminders. When one gives it a thought, a particular song reminds him of a particular moment, in the timeline, or even places, for some. It is when you first heard that song, in general, and where you heard it, in particular.

I have (and I bet even others also do) some beautiful memories attached with some lovely songs.
My one of the first acquaintances with music (songs) was in my school bus. I think, then I was in 1st std. The bus had a stereo and the driver used to play good, recent (of that time) songs on it. I used to learn some of them and surprise my mother by singing them to her.

With time I started listening more songs and my next set of memories take me to my boarding school, Oak Grove (junior) school. There, we were allowed to relish the biweekly Chitrahaar on Wednesday and Friday. The Friday one used to show old songs and on Wednesday recent ones were aired.
Really, it was a rare luxury as most of the times the boys were barred (as a punishment) from watching, much owing to their naughty behavior. The girls being more decent and well behaved rarely missed them. Some students who had good voice also used to sing in our leisure time and I still remember some favorite songs, my friends used to sing.

Next noticeable change came in the Senior Boys School, where we tasted independence for the first time. Seniors used to play songs on the deck (music system) and the whole building seemed to dance, such was the intensity. Now even when I listen to songs of 'Dil to Pagal Hai', my class sixth days flash before my eyes.

But back then, music was a sort of accessory; it became a necessity not until when I entered my second year of college. A PC (personal computer) was bought as my branch was Computer Engineering. Though it was meant for study purpose, one of the first files I loaded on my hard disk were that of music.
The database started growing and I started enjoying every bit of it. Ironically, the system was rarely used for academic purposes. Not a single day has passed without songs being played on my computer. The video songs which I first uploaded still take me back to second year.
Now that my hard disk is running short of space I am planning to buy a new one... and would like to carry on my music journey.


PS:

I love Kishore Kumar as he is my favourite singer. I also like Lata, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Sunidhi,Shreya....I like almost all of them as they all have sung some of my fovorites.
One of the first english songs I heard was 'Saturday night' by 'whigfields'.I think it was class third and the place was school auditorium. I liked it though only words which I could interpret were 'Saturday' and 'night'.
The first audio cassette which I bought was "Phool Aur Kaante" as it had my favorite song(Maine Pyar tumhi se..) which I used to listen to in my school bus.
Some of English songs which I have developed a liking for, of late, are
Linkin Park, Bryan Adams, Avril Lavigne.... I think there are many...
quite a improvement from where I started...

"During the Indo-China War when Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister, visited some of the dying Indian soldiers in hospital, one of their last wishes was to hear Lata Mangeshkar sing... “Aye Mere Watan Ke logon”. Such was the power of a song

Sometimes songs aren’t just songs, they are a lot more than that...”

Pantnagar: 'a paradise will be lost'

Of all the places in India, if we rank them on the basis of their proximity to the nature, Pantnagar is definitely among the good ones. It can boast of pure air, water and a rich collection of flora and fauna.
These qualities are not which one will normally look for in a city.Or to be precise, they come way below in the requirement list. A city should have good connectivity, things should be easily available and much more. Fresh air, water are secondary. They are treated as a bonus.
But, I think the situation is changing. With the rising global pollution and deteriorating climatic conditions, the day is not far when we will put air and water as our top priority.

Now why am I writing this?

This is because an air of insecurity has surrouded me. And, I genuinely doubt that my next destination will be equally rich in fresh air and water. May be I will land up in a Metro and then these things will be gravely missed.

Delhi, one will be suprised, is one of the greenest capitals of the world and the situation there is far from good. Dense smog engulfs the city as the day turns into evening. There is water shortage, forget about clean water. Spend few days there and you will come to know what rare luxuries of Pantnagar I am talking of.But Pantnagar also won't be able to hold them for long. A Devil has entered it and is slowly eating it.The beautiful Pantnagar has started to lose its sheen.By now you must have guessed who the Devil is?

The answer is more than obvious. Industrialisation. It has already grabbed vast green fields of this place.
Industrialisation is also important for the sake of development. And everything comes with a price. I also agree with the above point.
But the million dollar question is ...
Are we paying the right price? Is it worth it?
A paradise will be lost... forever.