USS SUBAH KISHORE DA AAYE THE AUR KHUD DEEWAANE HO KAR PHIR KAHAA CHALE GAYE AAJ TAK KISI KO PATAA NAHI CHALAA HAI

It was another Sunday morning and l was expecting the Sun to rise outside my window and the birds to sing their morning songs for me - Ali Peter John

But l had a big surprise for me , when l saw a vision of my good old friend , Kishore Kumar wearing a spotless white gown and with a crown on his head and he was trying to find my address .

I called out to him and he was very happy to see me and flew near my window and said , " kasie ho mere bhai ? Kahaa kho gaye the ?

" l asked him what had brought him down to earth after such a long time and he smiled his famous smile and asked , " arre bhai , ye Soulful Saturdays ka show kahaa ho rahaa hain ?

Rafi Sahaab ne mujhe bataayaa ki yahaan kuch log hai jo aise gajab ke shows karte hai aur hum jaise deewaano ko zinda rakh rahe hai .

Mai Rafi Sahaab ki baat sunkar bachaain ho gayaa thaa aur maine thaan liyaa thaa ki main Soulful Saturdays ke agle show mein zaroor jaayungaa , chaahe mujhe khudah se baghwaat karni pare .

Aur dekho aaj mai dharti par utar hi ayaa hun Soulful Saturdays ke show mein haazir hone . "

I told Kishore Da that l too was going to attend the show organised by Rajeah Subramanium and his wonderful team and his eyes twinkled .

l surprised him when l told him that the show l was going through was Soulful Saturday's tribute to him on his 92nd birth anniversary and he jumped with joy and danced like he danced in Chalti Kaa Naam Gaadi " .

He asked me if he could go with me . I told him l was still a poor journalist and was planning to go to the show in an auto , and he was doubly excited and said , " mujhe auto mein hi toh janaa hai , aise kab tak udtaa rahungaa ? "

l asked him if he would have breakfast with me , but he said , "bahat sundor hawaa khaakar ayaa hun , ab Kishore Kumar Khadwewala ka pet bharaa huaa hai , sunaa hai Soulful Saturdays ke show mein chai aur vada pav aur usske saath chatni bahot achhi milti hai . Wohaa jaa kar khaa lenge agar Soulful Saturdays waale khilaayenge pilaayenge , vada pav khaye hue kahi zamane beet gaye "

He saw the auto driver with long grey tresses down to his neck and asked him , " arre bhai saab , kal tak toh tum mere saath swarg mein the , achanak yahaan kahaa ?

" The auto driver was both bewildered and excited and we kept talking and people outside kept looking at the vision sitting next to me , they couldnt believe that it was indeed Kishore Kumar sitting next to me .

He kept looking at the scenes outside and kept saying , "meri duniyaa kitni badal gayi hai, magar mere log abhi bhi bhaagam bhaag mein lage hue hai , kab sudhregaa inkaa haal ?

Suno Ali , aajkal desh kaa Pradhan Mantri kaun hai ? Lagtaa hai ussko apne logo ki koi fiqr nahi hai " .l pleaded with him not to open my mouth about the Pradhan Mantri and he looked disturbed ....

And we reached the Prabodthankar Thackeray Auditorium and he turned invisible, and requested me not to tell anyone about his presence , not even to Rajesh Subramanian or anyone in the auditorium who must have known him from the good old days .

The Soulful Saturday's show began and l could see Kishore Da sitting up in his chair with his legs folded and his hands covering his face in excitement.

The singers kept coming on to the stage and belted out some of the most popular songs Kishore Da had sung for almost all the popular stars of the 50s , 60s and right up to the 80s .

He had his comments to make on every singer who was a part of Soulful Saturdays and his comments made me laugh at times and think about what the singers would have felt if they had heard his comments.

He told me that he loved every male and female singer because of their love for the songs of his time which he feared were going out of vogue .

I tried my best to assure him that his voice , his love for music and his ways of entertainment at its very best would never be forgotten.

It was more than 4 hours and the singers of Soulful Saturdays and their bhakts were still glued to their seats , without knowing that Kishore Da was very much with them and was even dancing with Mr Homi Panthaki and the other great dancers of Soulful Saturdays...

He asked me how old l was and when l said "71 , he asked me how l could sit for a show for 5 long hours .

I told him it was because of the never -ending magic og his melodious and meaningful songs. He almost blushed.

He told me , he had another appointment on earth and that was with his Bandariya Leena and would like to be in time because he wanted to rich heaven before 7 .

He prepared to fly off from the auditorium, but he made a request to tell all the singers ( Singers of KK show .. Santosh Subramanian, Satish Nair, Neeraj Shukla, Dr Heena Mahtre, Lakshmi Soni, Nikhil Kantawala, Nikhil Bhakta, Ashish Kadam, Shraddha Wagaralkar, Shrutika Tambe, J Subbu, Pervin Kotwal, Raja Iyer, Sachin Ughade, Vijay Tambe, Prakash Lulla, Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, Pragati Vaidya, Shankar Subramanian, Narayan, Deepak Bhayani, Prakash Bhavsar, Kashyap Vaidya, Vanita Shah, Jyothi Hariharan, Chandrasekhar Kunder) and especially Rajesh who was one of the few who still knew the worth of singers like him and his friend Rafi Sahaab and did everything possible to keep them alive , like his efforts to have a musical show even during the dangerous times brought about on the world by what he called " ek choti si bewaqoof cheez jo shaitaan se bhi daraavni hai "

Just as he was taking off in his whie gown and holding on to his golden crown , he told me , "saare singers ko Kishore Kumar Khandewaala ko meraa salaam aur pyaar zaroor denaa . Khaas karke woh jiskaa naam Pervin Kotwal hai .

Ussmein toh mujhe meri school ki teacher ki yaad bahot dilyaai . Woh bhi Parvin ki tarha sundar thi aur bahot achhi gaati thi , lekin chasmaa nahi lagaati thi aur gaate waqt itni sharmaati nahi thi "

I asked him who according to him was the best of all the singers of Soulful Saturdays and he said , " har dil jo ganaa gaata hai woh achha gaanewaala zaroor hotaa hai "

I asked one last question and asked how god looked like and he said , " dada Burman ne agar kabhi lambi safed daadi rakhhi hoti , toh woh khudah lagte "

I asked when he would come back again and he said " mai gayaa kahaa tha jo main wapas aayun ? Aise bhi mai swarg mein bor ho gayaa hun aur ek lambi chutti ke liye application de kar aaya hun .

Dekhte hai khudah kaa kaanoon badaa hai yaa insaan kaa pyaar " and that night before he finally flew to heaven, he again flew by my window and sang his favourite song ," kabhi alvida naa kahna , mere geet yuhi gungunaate rahnaa " and he vanished behind a thick white cloud which accompanied him till he reached his destination.

Was heaven his destination ? Or did he have his own heaven and his own angels who were all musicians and singers who played and sang only for him ? For the man who they believed was their god ?

EK KISHORE DA EK HI BAAR AATE HAIN AUR GAATE HAIN AUR PHIR WOH AUR UNNKE GAAYE HUE GAANE HAMESHAA RAHE JAATE HAIN . ISS BAAT PAR TOH KISI KOH SHAQ NAHI HONAA CHAHIYE . AUR AGAR SHAQ HO BHI GAYI , TOH KYAA KAR LENGE ? KISHOE DA TOH KISHORE DA HI RAHENGE .

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