When I Was Young, I Listened to the Radio

I love the radio. I love it ever since the day I broke mom’s favourite radio in Durgapur, trying to figure out if it was my dad somehow speaking through the small box. And in Mumbai, even though I do not see finding a Jhanvi like Munnabhai, I still love it for being able to sense just the mood I am in. I had a heated discussion the other day with a friend who insisted that the music scenario in Mumbai was good and that pubs and eating joints played decent rock. As far as I am concerned, rock died long ago. THE MAN had finally won and the last few children of destiny were fighting a losing battle. In fact, in Mumbai I have taken to Jazz in a big way and find myself often in places that play good Jazz music.

However, the interest these days is much more superficial. I no longer have a 224 BD to myself where I can hole up for days on end to listen and feel what Barrett felt, what Waters was thinking and realize to the great discomfort of the Bosconian within me that Knopfler was making more sense than the Bard of Avon himself. Anyway, having realized that only my Winamp can give me the musical refuge that I need, I had given up trying to find music of my taste in Mumbai. I had lost all hope when two music stations saved me. Radio One, with its collection of Western Music which could any day match my exhaustive playlist refused to stop playing music that made sense and thereby kept me awake late into the night just staring out of the window and looking at the traffic density slowly decrease and Mumbai unhurriedly going to sleep. I am thankful that few people listen to the radio at this time in the night and my music can play on uninterrupted. The other is Radio City. Not only does it play the best of contemporary Hindi music and thankfully, not the dance numbers, but because it also has Loveguru coming on in the nights. Loveguru, the show that always reminds me of a flat in Motappanpalya; 6 bachelors flirting with student and professional life before choosing their own paths; taking walks down the deserted CMH Road but returning on time to listen to Loveguru and laugh away the day’s drudgery.

Those were the days when dinner would be done at as less as 10 rupees per night.