Drinking Man

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

I probably read Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island sometime in the early-1980s, approximately one hundred years after he wrote it. I must have been nine or ten years old at that time and the short poem above, which is from the book, made no sense to me back then. But it did seem quite catchy and has somehow remained in my memory over the decades that have passed since.

I quite used to like rum myself. Old Monk, with a bit of Coke mixed in, with lots of ice in it – I used to love that and, more often than not, I drank a quarter bottle of Old Monk once a week. Usually by myself, though sometimes I did have company. I used to look forward to that one day of the week – usually Saturday but it could be any other day also – when I’d wait until 7-7.30 pm and then open up my quarter of Old Monk, pour it out in a glass, add some chilled Coke (often placed in the freezer at least 30 minutes ago) and half a dozen cubes of ice. I’d put on some of my favourite music, often songs from Hindi films of the 1970s-80s or maybe some Jagjit Singh ghazals, and proceed to enjoy the next hour and a half.

What I’ve Learned

The inspiration for writing this came from Esquire – they have this ‘What I’ve Learned’ series where they get stars and celebrities – all people who’ve been very successful at something or the other – to share the pearls of wisdom that they’ve acquired over the years. Some of these are a bit fatuous but some others are very interesting indeed. After reading a collection of these pieces, I thought I should write one of these myself even though I’m not a star / celebrity and haven’t really been very successful at anything I’ve ever done. Be that as it may, I am now 53 years old, I like to think I’ve seen a bit of life and do have some thoughts to share.

Esquire, of course, won’t be asking me to be part of their ‘What I’ve Learned’ series anytime soon. Not in this lifetime. But luckily enough, I have this blog and here I can write whatever I want. And so here we are, here’s what I’ve learned.

Starbucks vs Mathura Walla

What's with teenagers these days and their never-ending demands for money?!

My 17-year-old son is a big fan of the local Starbucks here in Greater Noida, where he and a bunch of his teenager friends often hang out. While they usually have limited amounts of cash to spend there, they know there’s always UPI payments. While my son is still two months away from having his own savings bank account and cannot yet make UPI payments on his own, some of his friends do have a PayTM wallet and can make payments. For bigger payments, which they can’t manage on their own, all they have to do is call up somebody or the other’s parents, share a QR code and the payment is made.

Most parents – certainly including my wife and I – have come to accept the fact that everyday there will be demands for UPI payments. Cabs. Coffee. Snacks. Movie tickets. Autorickshaw rides. Rapido bike rides. And, less frequently, clothes, shoes and gifts for friends’ happy birthdays. It’s a never-ending drain on our resources but one that we have, unfortunately, had to learn to live with.

Some parents don’t seem to be too bothered with this and seem to think it’s okay for teenagers to blow thousands of rupees every month on random frivolous expenses. Not on things that kids necessarily need, only stuff they want. Stuff they can easily do without. Yes, parents with higher disposable incomes might not feel the pinch while those on a tighter budget may find frivolous spending harder to deal with. But regardless of their parents’ financial means, I do find it bothersome that most teenagers these days refuse to understand that money in middle-class households is hard-earned and that it is a limited resource. Someone has had to work hard to earn the damn stuff and others need to be prudent while spending.

Not My God

I was born into a Hindu family and just about everyone in the family is at least reasonably, moderately religious. Some – including my wife – are deeply religious. As is common in many Hindu households, we have a small temple in one corner of our apartment, where a small selection of Gods and Goddesses are ensconced – comfortably, I hope – and my wife and parents pay their respects there every day, in the morning, for a few minutes. My wife, a devout Hindu, also goes to a neighbourhood temple every day, in the evening, for a second round of prayers. No harm in receiving a double dose of Godly blessings, I suppose, and she says the 20-minute walk does her some good anyway, which must be true.

Regardless of which religion they follow, I have no problem with the devout. Well, except for the indiscriminate use of loudspeakers, which I wrote about earlier. When it comes to religion, there can’t be one single path that everyone must follow. Godliness can’t be one-size-fits-all. For those who regularly go to temples, mosques, churches and other places of worship – if it makes them feel good, if it works for them, that’s just great. For those who regularly spend a few minutes – or even an hour or two, as the case may be – every day to pray or meditate, if it brings peace to their minds and happiness to their hearts, that’s just awesome.  

Still Here, Still Playing

 

I recently sold my Yamaha PSR E453 (the one on top) and I'm getting a new PSS F30 (the one below the E453). It's like downgrading from a superbike to a moped. But sometimes, maybe a moped is all you really need 

The first time I saw a musical keyboard was probably in 1990-91, when I’d just started going to college, in Lucknow. There was this one time when I’d gone to my friend Shobhit’s house and there, for the first time, saw a small, compact Casio keyboard and immediately liked it very much. With all its lights, buttons, switches and fancy sounds, the little Casio looked quite cool and I absolutely loved it right away. I think that keyboard belonged to one of Shobhit’s elder brothers and I assumed it might be fairly expensive. So, while I wished I could have one too, I didn’t really imagine I’d be getting one anytime soon.

However, I soon got lucky beyond my wildest dreams. A few days after seeing that Casio keyboard at Shobhit’s house, I mentioned the whole thing to one of my best friends, Manish, and told him about how fascinated I was with that Casio and how I wished I could have one, so I could learn to play. Immediately, he said he had one too – his father had got one for him from the US – and that since he wasn’t really very keen on playing music, I could have it for as long as I wanted! The next time Manish came to my place – I was living with my grandparents at that time, since my father had been transferred to Bareilly and my parents had moved there – he got his keyboard along with him and handed it to me. I have to admit, I was very, very happy! This was also a small, compact keyboard, white, and every bit as cool as the one I’d seen at Shobhit’s house. However, I don’t remember if it was a Casio or a Yamaha – this was 35 years ago after all – but I think it may have been a Yamaha keyboard. 

Kishore Kumar and the Incredible Power of AI

Legendary singer Kishore Kumar passed away in 1987. With the magic of AI, his voice has been brought back to life for this new song, which is from the movie Saiyaara

 

I know it's not him. It's not Kishore Kumar's voice. It can't be. The legend passed away in 1987, when he was just 58 years old. My childhood and teenage years were filled with his music - so many songs, so many memories of sitting by a record player and, later, a cassette player and listening to Kishore Kumar's songs. Such a powerful voice, such resonance. 

Today, when I heard this new AI-generated version of the movie Saiyaara's title song, which has been co-created by musicians Kisna and Anshuman Sharma, it first came as an incredible shock. How can it be?! It's THAT voice, the one I knew and loved so well. The singer whose songs I still listen to all the time even today, almost 40 years after he passed away. And yet, here he is, again. Singing, like he used to. It's the 1980s all over again. I know, of course, that it isn't Kishore Kumar who's singing that song. It's just an AI-generated representation of what he might have sounded like, had he sung this song. But it still brought tears to my eyes. Tears of happiness. I couldn't stop crying. Tears flow, every time I listen to this song. I try to sing along and I can't, my voice gets choked with emotion.  

There will never, ever, be another Kishore Kumar. He'll remain unmatched. But I'm grateful that AI tech was able to bring him back, even if only for four minutes, for just one song, just this once. 

Time Traveller: My HMT Jawahar

The Jawahar, with its hand-winding mechanical movement, dates back to the early-1970s

I just bought a new watch. Only, this ‘new’ watch is around 55 years old, which makes it just a bit older than I am. It’s an HMT Jawahar, which is powered by a 17-jewel mechanical hand-winding movement. I bought it from a seller in Calcutta, whom I came across on a Facebook group for HMT watch enthusiasts. The deal was surprisingly hassle-free. I got in touch with the seller and asked him to send some photos of the watch, which he did. The watch looked clean and I liked it. Made the payment. He sent the watch via India Post which, as one may expect, did get the watch all the way from Calcutta to Greater Noida but did not deliver it to my house, making up some excuse about the door being locked at the time of attempted delivery. Yeah, right. In any case, the post office is not too far from my house and I went there, spoke to some guy who was sitting in a corner sorting mail and assorted packages, and he in turn spoke to another guy who found my package sitting in a random cupboard and handed it over to me after making me sign a piece of paper. And with that, I became the proud owner of a really, really old mechanical watch, one that I’ve been wanting to get my hands on for the last many months.

The Jawahar was one of the first watches to be manufactured by HMT Watches, which was set up in Bangalore in 1961. This was in collaboration with one of the biggest watch companies in Japan, Citizen. The Jawahar is powered by the HMT 0231 hand-winding movement, which I’m told is essentially an adaptation of Citizen's 0201 movement that incorporates the latter’s ‘Parashock’ shock protection system. And indeed, ‘Parashock 17 Jewels’ is imprinted on the Jawahar’s dial – a nice little touch for people like me, who love to wallow in horological nostalgia.

In Search of the End of the Road

I suppose I’m a shifty character. Wait, let me explain. I’m not saying I’m deceitful, devious or particularly insincere. What I meant is, I’m always ‘shifting.’ Moving, that is. Moving from one house to another, changing neighbourhoods, moving from one city to the next… again and again, all over the country. It wasn’t always like this. I did stay in my hometown, Lucknow, for the first twenty years of my life though even there I did move houses four times over those two decades. But after I moved out of Lucknow, to Bareilly, moving from one place to the next became the norm in my life. From Bareilly to Baroda to Bareilly to Lucknow to Bombay to Pune to Bombay to Dehradun to Greater Noida to Dehradun to Greater Noida to Bombay to Pune to Greater Noida. That’s more than a dozen moves between six different cities spread across four different States across the country. And that doesn’t even include the number of times I moved houses within the same city!

Lady Gaga - Vanish Into You

Vanish Into You, by Lady Gaga, is rocking!

Lady Gaga is rocking with some of her recent releases and of those, my number 1 favourite is this song, Vanish Into You. The other is Abracadabra, reimagined in 1980s style. See below. I think it's better than the original. Both songs remind of the music I used to listen to, back in the 1980s. You go, Gaga!