Of old songs and ordinary poems
of growing up with Pritish Nandy and Ananda Shankar
A death can trigger so many memories of life.
I remember Pritish Nandy ever so well. He was (almost) a neighbour in Alipore, during my school/college days. He used to stay in a building called Sonali, with Aparna Sen as a co-resident, as also (I might be getting this wrong) Mallika Sarabhai, or maybe Mallika flew in and out.
And there were these rumours which had flown hard and fast that Pritish and Mallika were having this roaring affair. And it was, in our minds, kind of sealed when both of them came out with an album with HMV (now Saregama) reading poems by Pritish and Mallika.
And it became a best-selling music cassette - I bought a copy too from the iconic Harmony House on Park Street. Lonesong Street. Even those days I remember being fascinated with the idea of the album - recited poetry with music in the background! - but also being underwhelmed with the poetry, which had more passion than talent, I thought.
Of course, Pritish shifted to Bombay soon after, and made a name as an editor - The Illustrated Weekly of India, at first I think, and then Filmfare - and then started producing films, backing lovely projects, none of which really made money. I think he moved away from films after a while, became an animal activist, a Shiv Sena MP - and did what all, I don't know.
When I think of him, I always remember him as a bit of a gadfly, full of himself - a bit of a yester-year Suhel Seth, if I may. Past few years, I remember seeing his daughters in the news, but not him.
But thinking about Lonesong Street, made me remember Ananda Shankar, the musician, composer, who had given the background music to the Lonesong Street. And I thought back to the days, those days in the 80s, when his music governed our listening and senses.
His version of Jumpin' Jackflash was iconic, and my brother and I used to have royal fights as to which was better - the Rolling Stones original (any other suggestion was blasphemous!) or the Ananda Shankar version - which I thought was vigorous, original and completely reinvented the song without losing its rhythmic moorings. I'd never heard the sitar used the way it was here. I used to wake up and go to sleep with this album playing in the background, as I went through my ablutions and routine.
I do think Ananda Shankar brought in the dawn of fusion music, the way he used Indian instruments to interpret English songs (also in the album was his incredible version of Light my Fire by The Doors!).
When his next album came out, I was probably the first to buy the LP. And o hell, was I disappointed. All the newness now seemed tired. The reinvention in the first album now seemed to be recycling. I rued spending my meagre pocket money on this rather than on the latest Graham Greene or Alistair Maclean.
Of course, being a Calcuttan, I could not avoid his music. The popular dance troupe of his wife Tanusree Shankar used his music (and still do) extensively in their performances. There was a typicality to it, a distinctiveness which one could immediately associate with Ananda Shankar.
After all these years, I hear the music with deep nostalgia. I am now bereft of judgement. It brings memories of time and place, and everything is feeling-tinged.
I searched for Ananda Shankar's music on Spotify and heard every piece over a couple of hours. And then I searched for Lonesong Street and found the entire album on YouTube. The metaphors in the poetry still sounded cliched but the music was inventive - and there was a smoothness which I hadn't remembered.
Here was an aural single malt. And I closed my eyes to listen to it all.
I will later phone my brother to ask him if he remembered the fight we had decades back over an old Rolling Stones song.
Was this playing on mind when I started Uncut Poetry years later? Dunno. But I love that my poetry reading has music chosen with much excitement and care by me!! I love the process - I hope you enjoy it too!
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