A 8 p.m. on a Wednesday in 1954, in a middle-class family in Chennai, a 12-year-old girl and her younger brother were glued to their radio set, waiting to listen to their favourite “Binaca Geet Mala”, or BGM, on Radio Ceylon. That was my brother and I! We followed this ritual for more than a decade. Our whole household was geared to this, dinner over by 8. And this was so pan-India, BGM was everyone’s favourite.
I didn’t know Hindi, but I liked to watch Hindi movies, loved the songs, the mesmerising voice of Rafi, Lata, Talat… these filled my heart. Maybe, we were influenced by our Bombay cousins, as none of my friends had such a liking for Hindi songs. Anyway, I became a great fan of BGM; I could listen to all my favourite songs at one go!
Being a student of Carnatic music, I could easily pick up the tune and sing along while listening! Many of the words I didn’t know but I coined my own keeping with the tune! Now, my friends keep correcting and telling me the meanings, especially the Urdu words. Thanks to BGM and my dear friends, I can now appreciate the nuances of the Urdu language.
