I thank the social network which helped me re-bond with long lost school friends. Its fun to rekindle the joys of those lost sweet innocent years when everything was so easy and simple!
Those un-tucked shirts and open shoe laces, those drooping bags and trailing ribbons, those labelled books and dripping ink pens, those half-eaten lunch boxes and fancy water bottles, those innocent crushes and trustworthy friendships....
Ah.. school days will always remain the the best phase of life !!! :):)
Though I know we cannot go back in time and relive those moments, but old friends when catch up after decades can reminiscent those good old days. :)
And once such colloquium bought up the topic of a long lost funny song that made me famous ( totally not in a good way ) , it was a song that I had first introduced to my gal pals when i had joined the new school in 4th grade , - as making an extremely jittery and shy kid sing a song was part of their ' trying to break the ice with the new kid' game plan.
So to get them off my back , i chose to sing a song that was taught to us in my previous school during a bonfire meet of our scout club and especially because the lyrics of this song had not yet vaporized from my head :/
[ You can make me memorize any chronology of events in history with their dates/time but when it comes to lyrics my brain goes for a toss - My hypothesis is that its the rhythm and melody of the song that confounds my basic skills of mastering the lyrics of a composition. :/ ]
But i never thought, those few verses that i uttered for these little girl bullies on the playground would turn catastrophic for me, because the very next day when the teacher decided to give us some free-time, the gals wanted to hear me sing that song again. [ Grrrrrr... Now the entire class would know about my dumb song.. :/ ]
And from there on, every time a new teacher was assigned to our class, she would be blessed ( cursed ) to hear me sing that song. Though the chants of 'Rino...' 'Rino....' 'Rino...' should have made me feel more like a rock star, but it only startled and terrified me and i held onto my wits as i tried to remember the verses of my song correctly - every time i was asked to perform.
Over the years I lost count of how many times i had sung this song for my class , but it was always fun to sing it for them - some of them joined in, some of them giggled like they were still hearing it for the first time, some of them jeered at me , while some of them just went about minding their own business and not bothering about my plight. :/
But this went a step further, when one day i was summoned by a teacher to a senior class, she wanted me to sing the song for her class. I was stupefied, one look at the stone-faced tall hefty teenagers, and tremors ran down my spine. I felt like a tiny buffoon who had wandered into the land of barbarians and my only way out was to make them laugh. :/
So i resigned to my fate and began my song, the first verse was over and the faces till remained the same (or may have hardened a bit more ) , i stammered and fumbled on to the next verse and there was still no effect on my apathetic listeners :/ Small beads of sweat appeared on my forehead and my cheeks seemed to be on fire, hot air blew out from my ears - and with the third verse, i felt that any moment now the crowd would start hurling things at me, the fourth verse was over and i heard a few giggles come from the crowd , my nerves relaxed a bit and as i ended the song - the crowd was in peals of laughter. Phew!!!
I'm not sure whether their mirth was at my feeble attempt to make them laugh with a song that was too dumb for their age, or they simply did find it amusing but i was relieved that my task was done , i dashed out from there, resolving never to sing this song again in my life!
And so from then on whenever i was requested to sing a song- i would pick up some complicated Sanskrit shlok ( hymn ) or some song in my native tongue ( Malayalam ) making sure that my audience had no knowledge of what i was trying to hum, that way i was safe and nobody would ever know even if i messed up the lyrics . Smart eh! ;)
But after years, when i was requested /appealed / beseech-ed / provoked and threatened my those very brats to sing the song, it felt a bit nostalgic that over the years they still remembered by dumb song and it really did bring a big smile on my face :)
So here goes the song ( no need to close your ears, m not singing it.. :/ )
Interestingly, i haven't forgotten the lyrics of this song- guess some things remain etched in our memories forever!
P.S : For those who have stumbled by from a non-Hindi land, sorry no translations available here - basically the song is just about the ordeal i go through while trying to cook up an eggplant from my uncles farm... Hmmmm :/
Mere mama lagaye bazaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mere mama lagaye bazaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mein toh baiganya todne lagee, mein toh baiganya todne lagee
Kaate ghuse do chaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mere mama lagaye bazaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mein toh baiganya katne lagee, mein toh baiganya katne lagee,
Keede nikle do chaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mere mama lagaye bazaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mein toh baiganya chachne lagee, mein toh baiganya chachne lagee,
Makhi gire do chaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mere mama lagaye bazaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mein toh baiganya parosne lagee, mein toh baiganya parosne lagee,
Dande mile do char , ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mere mama lagaye bazaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mein toh baiganya fekane lagee, mein toh baiganya fekane lagee,
Kutte bhoke do char , ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mere mama lagaye bazaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
Mere mama lagaye bazaar, ke baigan bade mazedaar
