The Cassetted IR moments !

It was October 1983 !

While, over the years, my passion to acquire some music system and recording IR’s songs in cassettes was growing in me like anything, but I controlled myself and going on postponing such ambitions due to various other commitments which I had to fulfill on priority basis.

At Palacode also, there were numerous such recording shops. While going back and forth in the streets to hotels etc, daily I had to invariably passing across these shops, I was lured like anything by the songs of IR they were broadcasting.

The fading away of such songs while you had to keep on walking towards office etc. was really painful. Anyway, things continued like this only for months.

But, by the end of October that year, the national tragic event of assassination of Indira Gandhi took place and that was followed by the national level violence.

There were forced holidays on us. First time I faced the problems of bachelor life. Neither you could get any food nor you can move to your native.

It was on such “stand-still” moment, just to spend time, I got into one of the music recording shop, which was fascinating me for a long time with the unique old time Hindi film songs (of Naushad, Ravi, Madan, Nayyar period).

The owner was one muslim guy, and with my query on old Hindi songs he was stunned and jumping with joy to find a comrade in me!

He happily exhibited all the LPs he was having and very patiently one by one he played the songs as sample! I was shocked to hear the scratched and poor quality of many of those songs !

It just splashed to me that “Am I going to hear the IR songs like this from 30 years from now ? ”

Believe me, really really I was shivering with those kind of thoughts !

While the discussions and search for IR songs that went on with the various local shop fellows after that, the dilemma I faced whether to spend money or not etc. may be out of the scope of our current discussion, two important things happened to me.

Firstly, I made that impulsive decision to buy and record the Hindi songs and thus my first cassette was born.

Secondly, A realization dawn on me, that time never waits for anyone and the available technology is also not going to help in restoring and giving the music of today!

Whatever, you get tomorrow is certainly going to be inferior than yesterday as far as the quality of a recorded music is concerned !

That way, I had already lost so many IR songs in the nearly last seven years, and also in future also, on daily basis I am going to loose steadily, if I don’t act !

So something must be done!

Whether I can invest on music system to hear them or not, I must have the songs with me!

Better now than never !

Then onwards, a sizable portion of my earning, regularly and dedicatedly spent in capturing IR songs.

With first priority accorded to get the current songs of IR that were getting released then and there, that itself was the huge task, because IR was on full steam with atleast 40 films per year!

As a second priority, I continued the search for the old gems wherever and whenever possible and in whatever quality it was available I tried to get that! But there, I could not succeed much!

I was crazy enough to just like a child , happily and proudly looking the cassettes I had recorded and owned, and just recollecting the songs and music by seeing the list!

Later on, occasionally, I could hear those songs on tape record players of others, and one small hand-held mono system of mine (which I purchased later for bgm recording purposes) etc.

Looking back now, though I could smile on myself, I am not ashamed of that!

I was, what I was ! I remain that way !

That IR fanaticism has not reduced even now! Only that, I am now expressing that in slightly polished way ! That's All!

Believe me, it took another 13 years (by that time, my collections have grown into hundreds of cassettes) to have my own reasonable music system in my house and that also was one very ordinary one!

You may wonder why I never acquired any music system !

Because I could see, hear and feel the pleasure of the ultimate when I had the opportunity to hear the birth of a song in the recording theater itself !

That’s the other side of story, to be discussed later !