mehdi hassan...

1996. It was a cassette shop inside the Palika Bazaar where we first went together with a common idea, after we became friends ten years ago: buy some good collections of ghazals. She knew Gulam Ali was my favorite. I never knew who she liked. I bought a couple of Ali’s famous ghazals, including ‘chupke chupke’ after an hour’s search. In fact we were meeting after a long time. At the bus-stop, when I was about to board a bus to R K Puram where I lived, she hurriedly handed over a small box to me. Sitting on the bus, I slowly opened the wrapper… there were two cassettes: both by Mehdi Hassan. “Ab ke hum bichhade to shaayad kabhii khwabon mein milen” was the first ghazal I played immediately after reaching home. I must have played this ghazal one thousand times. Interestingly, we have never met after that.
In 2009, when I went to Kozhikode to meet Ahmad Bhai, a music-lover and friend of Mohammad Rafi, he told me how the town was graced with the presence of Mehdi Hassan in 2000. “When Mehdi Hassan came to Kerala in 2000, the Pakistani Ghazal singer was suffering from a severe paralytic stroke. Naturally, his visit to the south Indian state was not to perform but to get treatment for his ailments — from a famous Ayurvedic hospital near Kozhikode. Soon, the Malabar town’s Islamic tradition and love for Hindustani music wooed him, and within weeks the celebrated vocalist paid a visit to the place. He was hardly mobile, yet was able to sing, which he did superbly well. Poignantly enough, that was his last live performance: Hassan leads a completely bedridden life today in his hometown of Karachi. Music-lovers back in Kozhikode still cherish that blissful evening, and hope the maestro, now 82, will recover and even revisit their city”  (http://newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/article127931.ece).

Comments

Rahul said…
Poor soul, just made one bad decision of going to p0rkistan, and suffered life-long. Maybe he didn't have a choice and migrated when his entire family was migrating. But he was still 20 at that time, he should have shown more courage and authenticity, and he should have stayed back in India, his mother country, instead of living in the land of islamic hatred. He should have reverted to his original religion, Hinduism, and should have shown the way to all other muslims who are products of forced conversions.
7:18 am
M Girish Nair said…
WOH...Kaun thi jisne aapke ander ke hassan to suna?
1:38 am
mtsaju said…
Rahul.. there is no geography in music.... it's universal.
12:37 pm
mtsaju said…
yeah, Girish...
12:38 pm
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