A Blissful Moment

Sitting at the corner of an empty dining table;
In a room unfamiliar.
I look at the morning light from the entrance;
Flanked with silhouettes of familiar people.

A calmness has descended over the gathering;
That primitive satisfaction of full bellies.
Bodies huddled together;
Rejoicing quietly in this collective pleasure.

I feel like capturing this moment of bliss,
But have nothing except my senses.
To drink in this experience then,
Feels like the only recourse.

Conversations with relatives, old and young,
Revisit in this moment of solitude.
Some fragments of theology and philosophy;
Some anxious enquiries on matrimony

Some optimistic career and educational moves;
Some opinions on political subterfuge;
Some sad discussions about old age homes;
Some precious nuggets of wrinkled wisdom.

A sadness clouds my train of thoughts.
"Will there ever be another?";
That dreaded question.
That omnipresent fear of our transient nature.

But then I hear a familiar voice,
Waking me up from my reverie.
"Will you play with us?", it says.
"Will you come and join us?"

"Of course, I will", I said.
Springing up from that dining table chair,
I walk towards that bright light,
To be one amongst those silhouettes.

Saigal

Kundan Lal Saigal, the singer par excellence has hogged a lot of my listening these days. I had never been a ghazal admirer other than enjoying some ghazal inspired numbers in the 1980's Indian cinema. I did not get into either our home grown legend Jagjit Singh nor the legend from across the border, Mehdi Hassan. Eventually, it had to be this almost prehistoric (for some people) figure who made me enjoy ghazals.

I feel one of the great attributes of a ghazal singer is to make the listener enjoy the language. Saigal does exactly that and I say this even though I don't understand much Urdu. The beautiful diction, the pauses and the ease with which Saigal executes a ghazal is sheer brilliant. It's the sort of singing that makes you want to speak the language. Also a major effect of the ghazal genre is its almost relaxing effect which I notice a lot of singers try hard to achieve. Saigal achieves that without even trying, it seems.

Anyway, here's a playlist of Saigal sahab that I often to listen to. It has some great film numbers and bhajans as well. Enjoy if you will.


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCsRaZFEl7JNIVlTvxUJPKze9OX3l2lY3

Here's a sample gem from the playlist: