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….Himesh ne to hume aise hi badnamm kar diya hai. Main to bus purane gaane sunta hoon. (Himesh has ruined our reputation. i listen to only old songs) He told me as the rickshaw crossed the green signal.

Hmm. I smiled.

The fm radio was on….music started playing…Ye gaana kaun sa hai batayiye zara ( do u know the song ? )….Even before I could think…..he started singing…kya hua tera vaada (the song…)…philm hum kisi se kum nahi se hai ( from the film Hum kisi se kam nahi)…he again started with Mohd Rafi…..kya hua tera vaada….

Haan, ye mera bhi pasandida gana hai. Aaj apne channel pe is gaane ko hamne bhi bajaya tha. ( Ya, I also like the song. we played the same song on our channel today)

Par aaj Rafisaab ka kuch hai kya ? 31 july hai na aaj ? ( today is 31st july na ? something to do with rafisaab ?)
Haan, aaj unka death anniversary hai.( ya, its his death anniversary today) Matlab…
……aaj gujar gaye they wo na. Yaad aaya mereko. Picchle saal main gaya tha,woh charni road ke udhar ek function tha. Main poora function dekhkar aaya. Saab, main bahut bada fan hoon Rafisaab ka. ( oh ya ya. Now i remember. Last year, i attended a function near charni road. Am a big fan of Rafi)

Oh.

haan. 500 hit gana poora yaad hai. Puch ke dekho mereko. ( I can sing all his hit numbers…500 songs. Ask me)

Aap gaye hai unke mazaar par ? ( Hav u visited his tomb ? )
Nahi. Pata nahi kidhar hai. ( No. Dont know where it is )
Woh juhu ka aeroplane park hai na. Uske aage jo masjid hai bus wahin. ( its near the juhu aeroplane park. Just next to that )

My day had started there. I hate getting up early morning. And till 11, its early for me. But since Rafians (rafi fans of the newly formed Rafi foundation like to call themselves so) were going to be there as early as 8 am, there was not much choice. Atleast one day you can wake up early. Go….Boss’s final words

There are many, whose anniversaries are supposed to be news item. But only if its 25th, 50th or so. It was Rafi’s 27th death anniversary. Nothing special there. Some Rafi fans got together to form a foundation with some grand plans. We thought lets do a story. The date was perfect.

The place was decorated a bit keeping us in mind…the tv frames and shots. Some of them sang also. Met an interesting guy…52 year old Mohammed Salim. You ask him any Rafi song and he can sing the complete song.

Main bus Rafisaab ke hi gaane gaaata hoon. Mereko, kam se kam, unke 10,000 gaane yaad hai. ( I sing only rafi’s songs. I can easily sing any of his 10,000 songs)
10,000 ?
Haan. Aap bolo kaun sa gaana gana hai. ( ya. You just tell me which one to sing.)

But then the masjid guys (the authorities there…at the mosque) landed up and said dont shoot. Permission nahi liya hai aapne. Aise nahi hota hai idhar. ( U guys dont have permission. U cant do shoot here.)
I thought the Rafi foundation guys have asked for the permission. Told them the same. The man wouldnt listen anything. The Foundation guys kept quiet. I think either there was some miscommunication or the guys hadnt kept the masjid people in the loop. Just before that one more guy from the masjid came and told us the same. But he has convinced when we told him that we are shooting for a news story only. Nothing filmy here.

The maulvisaab wouldnt listen. Started shouting at us.
Boss, aap tameez se baat kariye. Hum chale jaate hain. (Can u talk deecntly n just listen to me ? We are going anyway.)
Never knew “tameez” is such a heavy word.

Tu mujhe tameez sikhayega, tameez. Umr dekhi hai apni. Mujhse tameez ki baat karta hai. ( Dont tell me how to talk. Who are you to tell me how to talk ? )
And then he went on n on n on.
My camerman is a southie guy. Pretty bad in hindi. He was trying to explain him in english. I told me to just shut up n pack up. There was no point.

The Rafians came to us and said dont worry. It happens. Dont argue. They are extremists. they are extremists!! They can do anything. They dont listen, they dont undesratnd.
At that point, I felt like slapping those guys instead of that maulwisaab.

We packed up from there. On our way back…my camerman asked me why cant we do something about these places which many would like to visit. We surely need to learn few lessons here. I agreed. Or was it just a bad day.

Filed the story somehow. Had to go for one more story that day. Luckily the second shoot didnt happen. Felt much relieved. Was about 8pm when packed up from there. Headed home from juhu.
Took a rickshaw……it was Rafi again…in full volume…dar-e-dil, dar-e-jigar from Karz.

Saab, meter nahi chal raha hai. Aapko jitna marzi de dena.( Meter is not working. Whatever u feel is rite, give me that much). Unlike delhi, you can trust the rickshaw guys here.

After sometime, i casually asked him.
Aap Himeshbhai ka gaana nahi baja rahe ? ( U are not playing Himesh Reshammiya? )
Trying talk to rickshaw guys…they r always great fun. Can talk about anything…politics, films and everything under the sun. And if they are regulars in andheri west or lokhandwala area, they will give you some great gossip also…who was last seen with whom n all that.

Himesh…usne to hume aise hi badnaam kar diya hai…( Himesh has ruined our reputation…)
and then we continued till i reached home.

Was too tired by the end of the day. But that Rafi quiz in the rickshaw was great fun. As the music would play, I would keep guesing and everytime he would not only give the correct name of the film but even the lead actors. Lost the “guess the song” game to the rickshaw guy. But reached home on a happy note. Got down singing another Rafi hit number…aadmi musafir hai…..

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