Summer.... Development... Blah..Blah...Blah

Hmmm.. Summer has started.... Along with the season, loads of people's life blooms... be it road side tender coconut seller or Siddhartha's coffe day or even Pepsi / coke..... of course, how can one forget Kingfisher :). Its always been interesting rather sad for me to see that people kill the tress and then hunt for the shades. Again the weather experts have warned that this year also the summer would be bad. Yeah.. Yeah.. Cut more trees, drain up the lakes, dig more borewells, build more concrete structures, it's all for the sake of "DEVELOPMENT".

How can you define something called as "development" by doing all these things? Having glass paned buildings is development ? Having Metro at the cost of thousands of oxygen cylinders, a development ? Draining up lakes in the name of property development, a development ? Cutting trees in the dense jungle to make way for an "eco-friendly resorts" !!. Is that a development ? Generating more e-waste and other non-biodegradable waste and do not know what to do with those wastes is development ? Having more money, but less peace, less green, less fresh air, less fresh water, less humanity, less sensitivity, is called development ? What are we heading towards ?

2010 Retrospective & 2011 Expectation

2010 has been a roller coaster ride for me !!!

Heaps of Ups and in-depth downs !!!

But over all, its been a learning year for me. 2010 has made me more tougher, more stable.

Seen through many deaths, births, marriages, fights, clashes, egos, music, plays, lights, shadows, high dosage of emotions, rough weather, smooth breeze, chill wind, in 2010.

Also 2010 has been a year of transformation for me. From what I was in 2009, I moved away from that in 2010. Even though it was a bit of struggle, it was quite a different experience.

Made loads of new friends, met some of the fantastic, beautiful women, handsome men, genius people, wonderful kids who taught me a lot about life, about innocense, which I have lost....

Saw some of the absolute lightning pair of eyes, hunted for those kind of eyes with some others, listened to new formats of music, got emotional through some of the songs, some of the poetries, some of the stories, like a kid.

Wrote couple of articles and got them published in Awadhi blog. Watched good plays.

Watched freinds turning into dirty politicians to the core.

With all these, I still remained a human being, forced myself, not to hurt anyone, be a decent citizen, be a kind of ok husband, a sort of good father, and the basic of all, a good son.

All these in 2010 !!! Need to see what is in store for me in 2011.

I will be optimistic about what is scheduled to come. I will still remain the same Ramesh whom everyone would like to see. I would like to see the same Ramesh to myself, who is emotional, different, eccentric and what not.

Its fine that there will be situations where I pour out my thoughts as if its nobody's business. But I will still make sure that I won't hurt anyone. I will be a good soul in 2011.... That's my commitment to myself.

Kishore Kumar - An Eternal Soul

It was 13th October 1987. Sun was setting slowly. I was in a mood to listen to the lilting melodies of Hindi film music as usual. When I was listening to it, somewhere in Mumbai at the same time a voice came to a halt. Kishore Kumar died. This is the same guy who once said, he wanted to go back to his hometown Khandwa in MP and wanted to sit with his son Amit and wife Leena (chandavarkar) and watch the sun setting. Was it a co-incidence that the sun was setting and Kishore died? I still do not know.

Aabhaas Ganguly, which was his original name, even though was a Bengali, he was brought up in Khandwa of Madhya Pradesh. At the age of 19, Kishore was initiated into playback singing by none other than Khemchand Prakash who put Lata Mangeshkar at heights by composing Aayega Aanewaala from Kamal Amrohi's Mahal. By that time Kishore's elder brother Ashok Kumar was already at the heights of popularity. But Ashok insisted that Kishore must act more than singing. But to tell you, Kishore hated every moment of acting. He had been dreaming that one day, he would be as famous as KL Saigal whom Kishore considered as a demi-god (till the end of his life!!!!). He wanted to meet KL Saigal at least once. But he never had a chance. Kishore was, at that time, more into acting rather than singing. A series of films portraying Kishore a comic character started making sounds at the box office and at the same time he started getting too many films as an actor. Until, SD Burman gave him the huge hits of the Dev Anand starrers. From there onwards, Kishore grew so big that he started shaking Rafi's kingdom. Literally Kishore over took Rafi.

After SD Burman's Aradhana, Kishore never looked back. He sang almost 112 songs for SD Burman. It could have continued without break had there not been a rift between SD Burman and Kishore in 1958. But again, in 1965, they came together through the Dev Anand starrer Teen Deviyan. Between all these Kishore was already a producer also. He produced Door Gagan Ki Chao Mein, which introduced Amit Kumar as a young child artist. With his brothers Ashok and Anoop, he produced Chalti ka naam gaadi. Door Gagan ki Chao mein and Jhumroo saw Kishore as director, producer, singer, music director. Even today lot of people wonder that was it the same Kishore who acted in half ticket typically like a buffoon composed the songs like Aa chal ke tujhe. The worst part in his life was that people never realised the emotional side of Kishore Kumar. In fact by 1970, Kishore had sung just half the number of songs mukesh had and about 10% of what Rafi had to his credit. It was true that Kishore was mad at money. Kishore every day used to count the money and he used to say that he wanted to see the paisa dancing with his hand. Kishore measured the success only in terms of money and not by any sort of quality. He used to say "pehle paise ke peeche bhaago, vapas paisa tumhare peeche bhaagega".

By this time, Ruma Guha, who was his first wife left him. Madhu Bala went head over heels for Kishore and so as Kishore for Madhu Bala. But it was never a happy married life for them. After this he married Yogita Bali (now the wife of Mithun Chakravarthy). Yogita left him complaining that he never cared for her and always attached to paisa. After she marriedMithun, Kishore madly stopped singing for Mithun for some time. After that, he married Leena Chandavarkar. Kishore used to joke that he married only Leena and rest of them married him. There were many situations where he behaved absolute eccentric. Once he called an interior decorator to design his house. He said that he already have a concept in his mind. He told the drawing room will have no door but there will be a ladder from the ceiling through which the guests enter into the room. The room should be filled with water with a centre fixed tablewhere the tea will be kept. There will be boats in the room and the guests will sit in the boats and go the table to pick up tea. This made the interior decorator seeing the stars. But the final part what Kishore told made the interior decorator run out of the house literally is a funny one. Kishore said that the walls of the room will have live crows nested and they should be shouting!!!!!!. Another incident was that, he was doing a film and one day he realised that the producer has paid him only the half. He came to the shooting spot with half moustache and half make up. Kishore screamed at him "poora paisa, tho poora make up. Warna, aise hi shooting karenge". Producer fell at his feet and paid him the full money. Once a journalist was doing an interview at his home and observed some of the Income Tax document totally eaten by rats. When Kishore was asked about it, he said, I am using those income tax notices as a poison for the rats!!!!

Heart of heart he remained a restless soul. Doesn't the song still touch your tymphanum even today? "Chalte Chalte mere ye geet yaad rakhna, kabhi alvida na kehna! Kabhi alvida naa kehna" There is no way that we can forget Kishore.

Probably even our next eneration!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is Kishore enjoying the sunset somewhere from the eternal world?

Silence... Music... Memories...Sad

silence.. silence.. silence.. all the silence which I could not get during the weekdays seems to be flocking into my home on Saturdays.. !!!

The chirping of the Gubbachchis (sparrow) right at my room window, a small nest which is getting formed, sometimes soft music flowing into the heart and sometimes from my heart, through my voice which I, most of the times, not able to control. Above all these things, if it rains, wov... altogether a different world.

It was in this kind of environment, I was listening to Kishori Amonkar singing Ahir Bhairav and Todi... what a singer she is !!! It's alsmost months since I heard Kishori Amonkar and particularly these two ragas, which makes my heart heavy. No it does not make me light. It brings back a whole load of memories, failures, depressions which I have passed through, It brings back all those phases I sailed through during my college days, post-college days. For me, these ragas are directly connected to all these things.

I really wonder how come we are so connected to music. Some songs, straight away dump some incident which happened sometime in your life. I still remember. I was in my 6th standard. We were all in the class. We got to know that one our school mates who was staying very close to my house, died because of some illness. We all went to see his body. When I was seeing his body, somewhere far away, I could here "Ninna Savi nenape manadalli aaraadhane....." a song by S Janaki from the movie Anuraaga Bandhana. From that time onwards, till date, whenever I listen to this song, immediately the picture of that dead body, that home, his mother crying, the shoutings from his family members out of horrible thing which had happened to them, the smell of agarbattis, sugandharaaja flowers, all these comes in front of my eyes of the mind.. Not sure how much our minds can store in its memory. How many terrabytes !!!

I am back

It's been a total incompetetive attitude of promising something and not meeting up to the expectation. But that's how life is. Mad, inconsistent, haywire, and what not.

It's a natural tendency that when I see something interesting, I switch over to that, leaving what I was into (of course, I do not take that courage with my wife on that.. I will get killed for that). So, I saw facebook and got hooked to it. Some days later, if I get into tweeter, I may start ignoring Facebook. What an attitude? Why this attitude?

There is no need that we have to lead life "like this" only. You can lead life like this also.. The world is big, choices are there. Of course, it's wrong to forget the tail once you get the horns on your head... :) :)

I will make sure that I will not forget the tail...

I went through Hynotism on 16 April evening.......

Photo Courtesy : www.aditiupadhya.com

Saturday, 17th April - It was an evening for one more drown into classical music. It was also an evening where I decided to get hypnotized.

Aditi Upadhya, my Guru who changed my perspective of listening to Hindustani classical music, was performing at Canara Union in Malleshwaram.

I also went to this concert in anticipation that I could meet my Sunaad friends after a gap of around 4 years. I was not dissappointed of course. I met shankar, Lalli, Ashok, Tara Kini (she is my another Guru), Revathi, Niyati, Raji, Ram, so many of them. It was a nice re-union in Canara Union. :)

It was quite a good audience and the ambience was more like an intimate theatre where the space between the audience and the performer will be less. This provided more live wire interactions. Aditi, before beginning the concert, mentioned this as well. Aditi also dedicated that evening as a mark of respect to her father and Guru, Pt. Dinkar Kaikini who passed away a couple of months back and also to Sri. Prabhakar Rao who also passed away few days back.

Shankar Prasad, one of my very senior friend, introduced the artistes to the audience . Pt. Ravindra Yavagal, one of the brilliant Tabla artistes of the country and Dr. Ravindra Kaatoti, one of the fantastic exponents of Harmonium were accompanying Aditi for the performance. along with them, Priya, another upcoming extremely talented desciple of Aditi and Lalitha Shankar (we affectionately call her Lalli) was on Tanpura.

And the hypnotism began.

The first round of hypnotism was Raag Purvi which is an evening raag (specifically during sunset). This is a sampoorna raag which has Ga and Ni as Vaadi and Samvaadi sur. Aditi set the mood of the raag so beautifully that literally we could feel the evening. The effect of Nayya mori paar... was simply brilliant. I always wondered what is that these artistes have with which they make these renditions so brilliant. Aditi was weaving the magic with the sur and all of us were trapped into it. The rendition started giving us a kind of a graphical representation of the raag and the lyrics.

The second round of hypnotism was Bhupali. This is again an evening raag which is generally used for melonchalic moods. This raag does not have Ni (Nishad) in its structure. Aditi created the magic in this piece which is about worshipping this raag itself. The notes were connected so brilliantly that Aditi made it look very fluent. But one could realize that she was delivering an extremely tough composition with such ease. In the dhrut, she sang Nahi Maane Jashoda Tumharo Kanhaayi which took all of us Sunaadians (ex and current) into our flashbacks of Bhaav Yaatra. The wonderful aspect of Aditi's singing was that the creativity was flowing in instantly. Overall , rendition was a total "man lubhaavan"

The third round of hypnotism was sadaa suhaagan raag Bhairavi. This raag generally is rendered as a grand finale . Particularly the composition by Pt. Dinkar Kaikini "saajan ghar aaye, bhirmaaye...." wov... what a composition and singing it was. Amazing.

Aditi also performed another composition of her another Guru, the legendary Shobha Gurtu. Shobhaji is a highly respected artiste across the globe and Aditi was trained under her for up-shaastriya gaayan. It was a composition about Lord Krishna

We were all in the deep state of trans during this performance and I totally forgot that I had to leave by 8:15 PM. I refused to, as it was so enchanting and exceptional perofmance that I did not want to miss out the completeness.

One point which I must mention here is about Priya. This little girl who has come all the way from abroad to learn music under Aditi's guidance is proving to be a brilliant performer. I still remember Priya performing at the auditorium of Indian Institute of Science, NIAS, sometime in 2005 or 2006. Priya has come a long way. Even during this concert, it was very interesting and heartening to see the Guru-Shishya communication live on the stage through the sur. When Priya was singing Aditi was advising her to touch the higher note and come back. Aditi was suggesting Priya to expand the rendition a little bit to create that ambience which that Raag is supposed to create. It is these kind of Gurus who create wonders and allow their shaagirds create the wonder. Priya is already on this path.

ಶಂಕರ್ ನಾಗ್, ನೆನಪು

1988 ರ ನವೆಂಬರ್ ಚಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಲಾಕ್ಷೇತ್ರದ ರಿಹರ್ಸಲ್ ಶೆಡ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಮಂಟೇಸ್ವಾಮಿ ಕಥಾ ಪ್ರಸಂಗದ ಹಾಡುಗಳನ್ನ ಹಾಡುತ್ತಾ ಕುಳಿತಿದ್ದೆ... ಜೊತೆಗೆ ವೆಂಕಿ, ವಾಸು, ಜಿತೂರಿ, ರಘು ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಇದ್ದರು. ಸುರೇಂದ್ರನಾಥ್ ಕರೆ ಕಳಿಸಿದರು. ನಾನು ಮತ್ತು ಜಿತೂರಿ ಹೋದಾಗ ನಮಗೆ ಸುರೇಂದ್ರನಾಥ್ ಹೇಳಿದ್ದು ಕೇಳಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಗಾಬರಿ ಆಗಿತ್ತು.. "ಶಂಕರ್ ನಾಗ್ ನಿರ್ದೇಶನದ ನಾಗಮಂಡಲ ನಾಟಕ ಕಲ್ಕತ್ತಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಇದೆ ಮತ್ತೆ ಆ ನಾಟಕಕ್ಕೆ ನೀವಿಬ್ಬರು ಹಾಡ್ತಿದ್ದೀರಿ".... ಹೀಗೆ ಹೇಳಿದ್ರೆ ಯಾರಿಗೆ ತಾನೇ ಗಾಬರಿ ಆಗೋಲ್ಲ ?.. ಅದರಲ್ಲೂ ಶಂಕರ್ ನಾಗ್ ತಂಡ ಸಂಕೇತ್ ಅಂದ್ರೆ ಇನ್ನೂ ಜಾಸ್ತಿನೇ. ಸಿನೆಮಾದಲ್ಲಿ ತೆರೆ ಮೇಲೆ ನೋಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಡಿಶುಂ ಡಿಶುಂ ಹೀರೋ ಜೊತೆ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡೋದು ಅಂದ್ರೆ... !!!

ಸರಿ, ನಾಗಮಂಡಲ ನಾಟಕದ ರಿಹರ್ಸಲ್.... ನವೆಂಬರ್ ತಿಂಗಳ ಕೊನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇತ್ತು. ನಾನು ಸಂಕೇತ್ ಸ್ಟುಡಿಯೊಗೆ ಹೋದೆ.. ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಶಂಕರ್ ಅವರ ಫಾರಂ ಹೌಸ್ ಗೆ ಲಿಂಗಯ್ಯ ಓಡಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಮೆಟಾಡೋರ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಂಗಸಂದ್ರದ ಫಾರಂ ಹೌಸ್ ಗೆ ಹೋದೆ. ದಾರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ತಂಡದ ಗೆಳೆಯರೆಲ್ಲ ಜೊತೆಯಾದರು. ಶಂಕರ್ ನಾಗ್ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತುಂಬಾ ವಿಚಿತ್ರವಾದ ಕಲ್ಪನೆಗಳಿದ್ದವು. ಸಿನಿಮಾ ಹೀರೋ... ಕರಾಟೆ ಕಿಂಗ್... ಹೀಗೆ ಏನೇನೋ.. ಅದೇ ತಾನೇ ಅವರ ಸಿನಿಮಾ "ನರಸಿಂಹ" ನೋಡಿದ್ದೆ. ಜೊತೆಗೆ ರಮೇಶ್ ಭಟ್, ಬಿ ಜಯಶ್ರೀ, ಕಲ್ಪನಾ ನಾಗಾನಾಥ್, ಸುಧಾ ಬೆಳವಾಡಿ, ಕಾಶಿ, ಎಲ್ಲಾ ಇದ್ದರು... ಇದು ಇನ್ನೂ ತಳಮಳಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣ... ಅವರೆಲ್ಲಾ ಆ ತಂಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದುದು ಗೊತ್ತಿತ್ತು.

ಫಾರ್ಮ್ ಹೌಸ್ ಸೇರಿದ ಕೂಡಲೇ, ವ್ಯಾನಿನ ಬಾಗಿಲು ಪಟಕ್ಕನೆ ತೆರೆಯಿತು. "ವೆಲ್ಕಮ್... ವೆಲ್ಕಮ್...." ಧ್ವನಿ ಕೇಳಿದ ಕೂಡಲೇ ತಿರುಗಿ ನೋಡಿದರೆ... ಕಪ್ಪು ಬಣ್ಣದ ಶರ್ಟ್ ಮತ್ತು ಜೀನ್ಸ್ ಧರಿಸಿದ್ದ ಶಂಕರ್ ನಾಗ್ ಬಾಗಿಲು ತೆಗೆದಿದ್ದರು. ಒಮ್ಮೆಗೇ ಇದ್ದ ಚಿತ್ರ ವಿಚಿತ್ರ ಕಲ್ಪನೆಗಳೆಲ್ಲ ಢಮಾರ್ !!!! ತಕ್ಷಣ ತಲೆಗೆ ಬಂದ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ. "ಈ ಮನುಷ್ಯ ಇಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಸಿಂಪಲ್ಲೇ ???" ಡಿಶುಂ ಡಿಶುಂ ಹೀರೋ, ಕರಾಟೆ ಕಿಂಗ್, ಹೀಗೆಲ್ಲ ಕಲ್ಪನೆ ಇದ್ದ ನನಗೆ, ಅವರ ಮನುಷ್ಯ ಮುಖ, ಗೆಳೆಯನಂಥ ಮಾತು, ಇವೆಲ್ಲ ಒಮ್ಮೆಗೇ ಮನಸ್ಸಿಗೆ ಆಪ್ತತೆ ತಂದುಕೊಟ್ಟಿತ್ತು. ಅವತ್ತಿನಿಂದ ಇವತ್ತಿನವರೆಗೂ ಆ ಮುಖ, ಆ ನಗು ನನ್ನ ಮನದಿಂದ ಮಾಸಿಲ್ಲ..

ರಿಹರ್ಸಲ್ ಶುರುವಾಗುವ ಸಮಯ, "ಸೂರಿ ಸಾರ್ ಸಾರ್. ನಾನು ಹಾಡೋ ಹಾಡುಗಳು ಯಾವುದು?". ಸೂರಿ ಉತ್ತರಿಸಲಿಲ್ಲ.. ನನ್ನನ್ನು ಶಂಕರ್ ನಾಗ್ ಬಳಿ ಕರೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗಿ "ಇವನು ರಮೇಶ್ ಅಂತ. ಮಂಟೇಸ್ವಾಮಿ ಕಥಾ ಪ್ರಸಂಗ ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಡಿದ್ದಾನೆ.. ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಹಾಡ್ತಾನೆ" ನಾನು ಶಂಕರ್ ನಾಗ್ ಗೆ ಕೈ ಚಾಚಿ "ಹಲ್ಲೋ ಸಾರ್" ಅಂದೆ. ತಕ್ಷಣ ಶಂಕರ್ ನಾಗ್ "ಹಲ್ಲೋ ಬಾಸ್... ನನ್ನನ್ನ ಶಂಕರ್ ಅಂತ ಕರೀ ಪರವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ... " ಅಂದರು.. ನನಗೆ ತಿರುಗಿ ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯ... ಹೀಗೂ ಉಂಟೇ ಎಂದು. ತಕ್ಷಣ ನಾಗಾನಾಥ್ ಅಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಬಂದರು... "ನಾಗಾ, ಇವನಿಗೆ ಹಾಡುಗಳು ಹೇಳ್ಕೊಡು" ಶಂಕರ್ ತಕ್ಷಣವೇ ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕಿಳಿದರು. ಒಂದು ನಿಮಿಷ ಕೂಡ ತಡ ಇಲ್ಲ..

4 - 5 ಕೆಲಸಗಳನ್ನು ಒಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಮಾಡುವ ದೈತ್ಯ ಶಕ್ತಿಯನ್ನು ನೋಡಿದ್ದೇ ಅವತ್ತು.... ನಮಗೆ ರಿಹರ್ಸಲ್ ಮಾಡಿಸುತ್ತಲೇ, ಕಂಟ್ರಿ ಕ್ಲಬ್ ಕೆಲಸಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಲೇ, ಫೋನ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾರೊಡನೆಯೋ ಮಾತನಾಡುತ್ತಲೇ, ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ಹದ್ದಿನ ಕಣ್ಣಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿ ಶಂಕರ್ ನಾಗ್.

ಕಲ್ಕತ್ತಾದಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ಟೇಜ್ ರಿಹರ್ಸಲ್ ಮಾಡುವಾಗ, ರಂಗದ ಮೇಲೆ ಎತ್ತರದ ಜಾಗದಿಂದ "ಹಿಂಗಿದ್ದಳೊಬ್ಬಳು ಹುಡುಗಿ" ಹಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಜಂಪ್ ಮಾಡುವಂತೆ ಶಂಕರ್ ನನಗೆ ಹೇಳಿದಾಗ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಹಿಂದೇಟು ಹಾಕಿದೆ... ಶಂಕರ್ ಕೂಡಲೇ ಸರಸರನೆ ಆ ಜಾಗ ಏರಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಧುಮುಕಿ ತೋರಿಸಿಯೇಬಿಟ್ಟರು. ಇಷ್ಟೆಲ್ಲದರ ಮಧ್ಯೆ, ಯಾರೋ, ಶಂಕರ್ ಸಂದರ್ಶನಕ್ಕೆಂದು ದೂರದರ್ಶನದಿಂದ ಬಂದಿದ್ದರು. ಅಲ್ಲೇ ಸ್ಟೇಜ್ ಮೇಲೆ ಕೂತು ಸಿಗರೇಟು ಸೇದುತ್ತ ಕ್ಯಾಮೆರಾ ಮುಂದೆ ಶಂಕರ್ ಮಾತಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಅವರನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ, ನಾವೆಲ್ಲಾ ಎಂಥಾ ಸೋಂಭೆರಿಗಳು ಎನ್ನಿಸುತ್ತಿತ್ತು... ನಾಟಕ ಅದ್ಭುತವಾಗಿತ್ತು. ನಾಟಕದ ನಂತರ ಎಲ್ಲರು ಒಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಸೇರುವುದು ಎಂಬ ತೀರ್ಮಾನ ಆಯಿತು. ಮಾರನೆಯ ದಿನ ಶಂಕರ್ ನಾಗ್ ಮತ್ತು ರಮೇಶ್ ಭಟ್ ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ವಿಮಾನ ಏರಬೇಕಿತ್ತು. ಶಂಕರ್ ತಮ್ಮ ಟಿಕೆಟನ್ನು ತಂಡದ ಸದಸ್ಯನೊಬ್ಬನಿಗೆ ಕೊಟ್ಟು, ವಿಮಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಗಲು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದು ಇನ್ನೂ ಕಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ಕಟ್ಟಿದಂತಿದೆ... ನಮ್ಮೆಲ್ಲರೊಡನೆ ರೈಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಎರಡನೇ ದರ್ಜೆ ಬೋಗಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಯಾಣಿಸುವ ಶಂಕರ್ ನಿರ್ಧಾರ ನನ್ನ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗಂತೂ ಪರಮಾಶ್ಚರ್ಯ... ಆ ಸಮಯಕ್ಕಾಗಲೇ ಶಂಕರ್ ಸೂಪರ್ ಹೀರೋ..... ಅವರು ರೈಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಎರಡನೇ ದರ್ಜೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವುದೇ ??? ಯಾಕೋ ನಂಬಿಕೆ ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ..... ಆದರೆ ಅದು ನಿಜ ಎಂದು ಗೊತ್ತಾಗಲು ಜಾಸ್ತಿ ಹೊತ್ತು ಬೇಕಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ

ರೈಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಶಂಕರ್ "ಬಾಬುಲ್ ಮೊರಾ... " ಹಾಡನ್ನ ಹಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಗ ನನಗೆ ಇನ್ನೊದು ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯ... ಅದ್ಭುತವಾಗಿ ಹಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು..... ಜಯಶ್ರೀ ಮೇಡಂಗೆ ಕರಿಮಾಯಿ ನಾಟಕದ ಹಾಡನ್ನು ಹಾಡುವಂತೆ ಕೇಳಿದರು... ಜೊತೆಗೆ ವೆಂಕಿ ಇದ್ದನಲ್ಲ.... ಅವನೇ ತಮಟೆ ಸಾರಥಿ... ಹೀಗೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನವರೆಗೆ ದಾರಿ ಸವೆದದ್ದೇ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ... ಒಟ್ಟಾರೆ ಶಂಕರ್ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಕಳೆದ ದಿನಗಳು ಅದ್ಭುತ ಮತ್ತು ಯಾವತ್ತಿಗೂ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹಸಿರು