The Mind Creative SEP 2013
In 1950's and 60's, my joys were watching cricket at the Brabourne Stadium and listening to every concert that the maestro Pankaj Mullick gave in Bombay. The last of his concerts that I attended was at the Metro Cinema in Mumbai. I even remember humming his evergreen melodies during my trip to the theatre… Ye raaten, ye mausam, Chale pawan ki chaal, Guzar gaya ye zamaana, Tere mandir kaa Hun deepak. It was only during the concert intermission that the long-awaited opportunity arose. An occasion that I had been dreaming about since fifteen years. Albeit by chance, I met Pankaj Mullick face to face.
I remember the hesitation on my side, the concealed trepidation. What if he were to get annoyed being approached by a stranger? This was during the end of 1969 and my plans of migrating to Australia in 1970 were afoot. I may never get another opportunity to tell him as to how much I enjoyed his concerts and how much I admired his voice. I picked up the necessary courage to walk up to him and lay open my adulation. To my delight he greeted me very warmly. “What are you doing, young man?” I told him that I was a research virologist and that I would be migrating to Australia the very next year. He wished me good luck and promised that he will sing a song especially for me. And he did, to my ecstasy. He started his post-interval session with “Kaun desh hai jaana, babu, kaun desh hai jaana” and added “sambhal ke paav uthaanaa” (to which country are you going…. careful where you tread). On 26 January 1970, Pankaj Mullick was awarded the Padma Shree award by the Indian government. I was perhaps more elated than him and wrote a long letter congratulating him on his
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