I knew this tune as a kid. Only, just forgot the opening lines (all of the lyrics I knew of this song) and the tune was long forgotten. I was looking for some old songs the other day and came across this song by chance. It is always a nice surprise coming across long forgotten tunes.
I used to be a good bathroom singer till I was in to my early 20s. Always loved the acoustics of bathrooms. It sort of give a resonant quality and booming nature to my voice. I am sure I could have given even Rafi or Kishor a run for their money, if they cared to enter in to a singing competition with me in the bath. Not that they would, mind you. They wouldn't risk being shamed and thus taking a hit to their reputations.
In those days, the average shower time went like 60 minutes, the duration of an audio tape. Being a perfectionist, I would sing all the songs in my latest cassette from the beginning of side A to the end of side B. In the order they appear on the cassette. If it were in other languages, I sang what I knew of the lyrics and hummed along merrily the rest. Complete with background music whistled in where needed.
This bathroom singing faded a bit once I got older. Mind being heavy with other thoughts while in shower, like the design of a device that would facilitate harvesting of coconuts or what to move next in an online chess game or thinking up some nasty things to write in the latest blog war somewhere etc. I still sang now and then but it was only for the duration of the shower. This happened when the heart was light and I absolutely had to sing. The practice of showering for the sake of singing was abandoned long back.
So I come across this old tune again after a long time. So when I go in to bath, I naturally burst in to song spontaneously. I know only the first line and the rest I hum and whistle. The casual listener outside, if any was there, might suspect I was being tickled in between but I assure you, this was far from the case. One cannot be expected to sing the same way when he is soaping his back as when he is soaping his chest. The pitch goes a bit higher while soaping the back, the rhythm subtly getting livelier there a bit. Just like variations naturally happen when the singer is applying soap to the face. Soaping done, I shift gears and now move my hands to wash off the soap and be as good as new again. Song gets a bit shaky when I run my hands through my hair, taking care of the shampoo to go as well. All is well till my hand comes back behind me again.
Here my hand encounters something, which I could have sworn was not there in the Pallavi (First stanza of the song) and worse, it seemed alive. Song freezes on my lips. I take a smart step forward, move my hand in a swift flicking motion near my derriere and turns, all in one fluid motion. Almost a dance step, only my mind was not on dance then. There is a small splat sound. I see a small green grasshopper lying on the tiles, apparently in a stunned attitude. I frowns. I doesn't like interruptions when I am concentrating on something. I consider what to do with the intruder. Kill him? Almost as soon as I think that, I dismiss the thought. I am supposed to be in a good mood today. The g.h somehow wandered in and was probably sitting down somewhere thinking things himself when he found his environments getting flooded. He hopped and landed on my behind along with the droplets, in all probability. I gather a thoughtful mug of water and try to persuade him to move towards the wall and higher grounds from there. This achieved, I continue my shower but without singing.
I think about this new incident. Why, of all insects, a green grasshopper in my bathroom? Why he landed on my person there? There is a belief that these green grasshoppers bring luck. How does it mean bringing luck from this unexpected angle?
I am getting hungry and decide to finish shower and dries myself. I think about whats on menu for the supper. I remember being told today it is going to be tapioca with Karimeen (a variety of fish, very tasty) Curry. Now too much tapioca is something the stomach could rebel at, with or without the curry. I idly worry if the grasshopper portends a windfall on the other side come next morning, something I could always do without. I eat in moderation and think how I am going to write all about this later....
Too bad there is no Moral of the Story to go along with this. Hmmm. How about, 'Watch what is creeping up your behind while you sing and make merry in your bath'?
12 May 2012
I used to be a good bathroom singer till I was in to my early 20s. Always loved the acoustics of bathrooms. It sort of give a resonant quality and booming nature to my voice. I am sure I could have given even Rafi or Kishor a run for their money, if they cared to enter in to a singing competition with me in the bath. Not that they would, mind you. They wouldn't risk being shamed and thus taking a hit to their reputations.
In those days, the average shower time went like 60 minutes, the duration of an audio tape. Being a perfectionist, I would sing all the songs in my latest cassette from the beginning of side A to the end of side B. In the order they appear on the cassette. If it were in other languages, I sang what I knew of the lyrics and hummed along merrily the rest. Complete with background music whistled in where needed.
This bathroom singing faded a bit once I got older. Mind being heavy with other thoughts while in shower, like the design of a device that would facilitate harvesting of coconuts or what to move next in an online chess game or thinking up some nasty things to write in the latest blog war somewhere etc. I still sang now and then but it was only for the duration of the shower. This happened when the heart was light and I absolutely had to sing. The practice of showering for the sake of singing was abandoned long back.
So I come across this old tune again after a long time. So when I go in to bath, I naturally burst in to song spontaneously. I know only the first line and the rest I hum and whistle. The casual listener outside, if any was there, might suspect I was being tickled in between but I assure you, this was far from the case. One cannot be expected to sing the same way when he is soaping his back as when he is soaping his chest. The pitch goes a bit higher while soaping the back, the rhythm subtly getting livelier there a bit. Just like variations naturally happen when the singer is applying soap to the face. Soaping done, I shift gears and now move my hands to wash off the soap and be as good as new again. Song gets a bit shaky when I run my hands through my hair, taking care of the shampoo to go as well. All is well till my hand comes back behind me again.
Here my hand encounters something, which I could have sworn was not there in the Pallavi (First stanza of the song) and worse, it seemed alive. Song freezes on my lips. I take a smart step forward, move my hand in a swift flicking motion near my derriere and turns, all in one fluid motion. Almost a dance step, only my mind was not on dance then. There is a small splat sound. I see a small green grasshopper lying on the tiles, apparently in a stunned attitude. I frowns. I doesn't like interruptions when I am concentrating on something. I consider what to do with the intruder. Kill him? Almost as soon as I think that, I dismiss the thought. I am supposed to be in a good mood today. The g.h somehow wandered in and was probably sitting down somewhere thinking things himself when he found his environments getting flooded. He hopped and landed on my behind along with the droplets, in all probability. I gather a thoughtful mug of water and try to persuade him to move towards the wall and higher grounds from there. This achieved, I continue my shower but without singing.
I think about this new incident. Why, of all insects, a green grasshopper in my bathroom? Why he landed on my person there? There is a belief that these green grasshoppers bring luck. How does it mean bringing luck from this unexpected angle?
I am getting hungry and decide to finish shower and dries myself. I think about whats on menu for the supper. I remember being told today it is going to be tapioca with Karimeen (a variety of fish, very tasty) Curry. Now too much tapioca is something the stomach could rebel at, with or without the curry. I idly worry if the grasshopper portends a windfall on the other side come next morning, something I could always do without. I eat in moderation and think how I am going to write all about this later....
Too bad there is no Moral of the Story to go along with this. Hmmm. How about, 'Watch what is creeping up your behind while you sing and make merry in your bath'?
12 May 2012
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