And Last Week ,the Ruthless And Senseless "Killers " Tried To "Kill" Ameen Sayani

Ali Peter John

I wanted to start the second and may be the last season of my affair with the pen (now with the mobile which is operated for me by some good human beings who make me believe that they have a soul )with writing about something for someone good and pleasant ,but what could I do if the cruel times I have been alive to live in and the cruel human beings around me don't give me a chance to celebrate my fifty years as a writer in a way I would have loved to ?

For the last three days I have been receiving any number of calls from places as far as Dubai,London and even Canada,all of them giving me the sad news about the passing away of the maestro of Radio ,Ameen Sayani who has been a very important part of my life and the lives of millions of my generation,one of the titans of our times. How could I easily associate Ameen Sayani who lives in every core of my being with death ?But,the cruel calls kept coming till I got angry and called my friend Dr.Trinetra Bajpai ,who is as big a fan of Ameen Sahab as me .And before I could say anything ,he said, "I know why you have called , "arre baba ,Ameen Sahab is very fine and even recorded his voice a few days ago .And his son Rayil has already rubbished all the rumours about Ameen Sahab's death "and when I knew the truth about Ameen Sahab ,I thought of the days when an entire generation of Indians used to keep themselves free at 8.pm every Wednesday just to listen to the best of Hindi film songs presented by Ameen Sayani on his popular programme Binaca Geetmala for Radio Ceylon .

Like all the other celebrities I dreamt of meeting one day ,I also saw visions of meeting this Lord Of Voices for the Radio some day .And like many of my other dreams and wishes came true ,I even fulfilled my dream of not only meeting Ameen Sahab ,but also becoming his friend.

I couldn't believe myself when I was once on a flight and I saw the great Ameen Sayani walking towards me and then asking me if I was Ali and should I tell you how very happy and thrilled I was when he told me that he was a fan of my writing and read my column
" Ali's Note's "regularly ?

It was to be the first of many more meetings between us and the crowning glory of our friendship was when Dr. Bajpai decided to give both our names in the credits of his major TV serial ,
"Bikhri Ass Nikhri Preet" and his first feature film ,
"Phir Ussi Mod Par", both directed by Lekh Tandon,the film maker Dr.Bajpai wanted to work with as a director where he had first seen 'Professor "when Dr.Bajpai was only eleven years old .Ameen Sahab and I were the joint PROs of both the serial and the film and I know how honoured I felt when I shared screen space with a legend like Ameen Sahab .I never liked being known as a PRO ,but when two great friends like Dr.Bajpai and Ameen Sahab were involved, I was and would be prepared to accept anything they offered me.

I had several occasions to meet Ameen Sahab and he was always a very kind,genuine,genial and friendly human being who never showed off his seniority or his knowledge

I didnt have many occasions to meet him during the last one year and it gave me endless pain to see him as an
eighty- eight year old man sitting helplessly in a chair with his once so powerful head bent .The news of his
turning eighty-eight had become national news and his photographs was flashed on various channels and on Facebook .And the way my friend from Dubai ,Zain Hussain reacted to the photograph was I am sure the reaction of anyone and everyone who knew him,heard him or heard about him...

Ameen Sahab's contribution to the world of Hindi film music and to the popularity and success of stars , music composers , lyricists and singers is as vast as the ocean in front of me from my favorite Chaayos from where I am writing this tribute to one of the best and great man who were a part of my journey though life .

Voces may come and voices may fade away ,but the voice of Ameen Sayani will live on and on as long as man will need to listen to voices which I feel is one big blessing and gift given to man by god ,the greatest of all voices which is never heard.