Rendezvous with DIL HAI CHHOTA SA

I was two months old when my parents took me to a saint we have tremendous faith in. “Teach her music, she has good voice...” she had said then….!
I was in class 2nd in my school, when a musical movie, ‘roja’, was released. A song from the movie, ‘dil hai chhota sa’, was my favourite and I used to sing it. My dad was impressed with my singing and remembered the saint’s words and so he got a music system for me. “Beta, sing that song. She sings really well…..”, my dad used to say it in front of almost all the guests we used to have and I as an obedient daughter used to sing it. I started singing because of the joy I used to get with the music. But little did I know what there was to be followed, in the future……………………………

I was about to enter class 3rd in my school that a tutor was appointed to teach me classical music. I despised him. I hated learning the music. They were like extra lessons to be learnt. At the end of the year, I was required to give an on-stage performance of classical singing in co-ordination with two musical instruments, in front of around a thousand people. I was the youngest amongst all the performers. The crowd applauded. My parents were happy. It didn’t matter to me at all then. But then for few days I was blissful as my tutor defected me while he was appointed by another family who apparently paid him a hefty amount of tuition fee after seeing my performance. Though my mother kept making me do 'riyaaz' for hours and I had then despised her too. And soon my dad appointed another teacher and then I detested him too. My new teacher didn’t look scary unlike the earlier one. Infact, he was young and I liked his looks then. He taught me to play harmonium. Initially I loathed him for putting that extra burden on poor little me and I thought that he was just trying to get away from his work of playing the harmonium (playing it was too hard for my then little hands) . So I hated everyone then. I was made to sing ‘ragas’, in front of my cousins who now make fun of me regarding that, while muttering few lines from those ‘ragas’, which even I don’t remember now. The new teacher was young, single, independent and was in need of money and so once, he took the fee in advance.
He fled.
I was happy….once again…!!!

My parents were tired of hiring new teachers and so they gave up. My mom, though, made me do ‘the riyaaz’ for a while, but then eventually, even she gave up!!
I was happier. And that was the end of the era of the teachings of the classical music while I was in 5th standard, in my school.

Year:2007 time: 13:00 hrs on some insignificant day
It was second semester in college and I was still suffering from the trauma of my seniors which was incurred upon me by their consistent ragging. Yes I never took ragging in a sporty way as it always used to put me in an awkward position when asked to sing in front of groups of some guys whom I could never categorise in a definite way…I was once made to stand up amongst the same uncharacterised groups of guys and asked to sing in OAT(open air theatre)…I sang then ‘dil hai chhota sa’, as this was the only song I could remember which was no where close to usual, kind of raunchy numbers (jaban pe laaga re, namak ishq ka was a song on everyones’ lips then). Well in response I got, “ dil hai chhota sa, achcha gaati hai, per ab badi ho ja..!!”….

So Yesterday, after a long time, I listened to the song from ‘roja’. And all those buried feelings of innocent odium came to the surface of the present. The sound of slow drums along with each sound of fresh water drop falling back onto a water pool made me smile and resuscitated those childhood moments. One by one, little incidents following the trail of others that had taken place in that innocent era, tickled me like a little child inside me.

I was reminded of an incident that took place when I was in second standard. It were winters and I was wearing a maroon scarf that my mom used to make me wear against my will to protect me from the cold. A boy in my class was teasing me regarding the scarf. So I ran after him with the scarf in my hand calling it, “kutte ki poonch, kutte ki poonch” and I don’t know what fun I was getting then by doing it and why that boy got teased with such idiotic thing and what exactly made him push me.
I hit my face onto an iron pillar and broke half of my front tooth. Though some of my seniors thought that I looked cuter than before with that broken tooth which had made me feel exulted for fugitive hours; the next day my mom came to punish both the boy and me and so I got slapped on my face by my mom in front of the whole class. I cried and cried and again I don’t know what exactly occurred in my mom’s mind that she made me sing dil hai chhota sa, my favorite song, at that ghastly moment. So I sang it while crying and yes I sounded real funny; I know that.

My friends from that class used to recall that incident and have a good laugh in front of me. The good part is that I no more feel ashamed of that incident, instead it is my mom who feels chagrined while recalling the incident just makes me laugh..!!
And I know, that even you guys definitely have childhood stances to be recalled and relished..!!

Also you can enjoy the song "dil hai chhota sa.."