On a hot May afternoon, Captain A D Manek, takes a break from a lecture to aspiring pilots at his flight training school in Borivli West and slips into a small room on the same first floor. Slouching in a chair, he brings out an LP or Long Player from its fading paper jacket and places it on the old gramophone player.
The antique instrument spins to life and the legendary Kishore Kumar croons: ‘Gadi bula rahi hai, siti baja rahi hai/Chalna hi zindagi hai chalti hi ja rahi hai’.
The lilting song from ‘Dost’ (1974) fills the air in the dimly lit room. Having heard this song, he changes the track and the famous, mesmerising voice of Lata Mangeshkar further lifts the mood with ‘Jiya Beqarar Hai, Aaee Bahar Hai/Aaja Mere Balma Tera Intezaar hai’ from the black and white Barsaat (1949). A few more songs later, Manek resumes his lecture.
Middle-aged Manek has a delightful hobby of listening to the old Hindi film songs on a gramophone player from LPs, which have almost vanished from the music scene. With over 1000 LPs, mostly Hindi besides a few Gujarati and English titles, he has arguably the country’s biggest private collection of LPs. Music lovers switched over to albums and online long ago. But Manek is clinging to the old tracks, many in their original stereophonic sound.
“These are like my lifelines. Whenever I feel tired, sad or bored, I return to my music room and listen to some of these numbers. They have kept me company for years and will be with me for as long as I live,” says Manek.
Born in a village in Manekpur in Surat (Gujarat), Manek saw poverty from close quarters. Much before his family moved to Kurar village in Malad West and Manek single-handedly fought his battles to realise his childhood dream of becoming a pilot (he later founded the flight training school), he would cut grass in his village and sell it in a local market.
He recalls a neighbour who owned a radio set. Every week he, along with a few friends, would surround the transistor to listen to legendary broadcaster Ameen Sayani’s Binaca Geet Mala programme where he played the week’s popular filmi songs. “I fell in love with Ameeen Sahab’s voice and the Hindi film songs. I began collecting LPs,” he recalls. “Then one day I bought a second-hand gramophone player from a bhangarwala (scrap dealer).”
But why didn’t he switchover to cassettes, albums, or downloaded songs as they were put online? “Listening to songs from LPs is like sitting at a live concert. The sound, the rhythm, the notes are so natural,” he explains.
There are songs from hit films like ‘Pyaasa’, ‘Pakeeza’, ‘Sahab Biwi Aur Ghulam’, ‘Dhool Ka Phool‘, ‘Solva Saal’, ‘Waqt’ and ‘Sharmili‘. Films whose songs have entertained music lovers for decades. Not every aficionado, though, can boast of a dedicated music room. Not many music lovers dust off LPs to enjoy evergreen numbers on gramophone players, once popular at weddings, birthdays and other occasions.
Among his rare collections are Mohammed Rafi’s ‘Round the World Concerts’ which carries recordings of the maestro’s live performances in London, New York, and San Francisco.
And if you have a collection of hit Rafi numbers, how can you miss ‘Kya hua tera wada..’ from ‘Hum Kisi Se Kum Naheen’ (1977) which won Rafi the Filmfare for best playback singer? This song has been a hot favourite with jilted lovers everywhere, though Manek denies ever being a victim of “betrayal in love”.
The antique instrument spins to life and the legendary Kishore Kumar croons: ‘Gadi bula rahi hai, siti baja rahi hai/Chalna hi zindagi hai chalti hi ja rahi hai’.
The lilting song from ‘Dost’ (1974) fills the air in the dimly lit room. Having heard this song, he changes the track and the famous, mesmerising voice of Lata Mangeshkar further lifts the mood with ‘Jiya Beqarar Hai, Aaee Bahar Hai/Aaja Mere Balma Tera Intezaar hai’ from the black and white Barsaat (1949). A few more songs later, Manek resumes his lecture.
Middle-aged Manek has a delightful hobby of listening to the old Hindi film songs on a gramophone player from LPs, which have almost vanished from the music scene. With over 1000 LPs, mostly Hindi besides a few Gujarati and English titles, he has arguably the country’s biggest private collection of LPs. Music lovers switched over to albums and online long ago. But Manek is clinging to the old tracks, many in their original stereophonic sound.
“These are like my lifelines. Whenever I feel tired, sad or bored, I return to my music room and listen to some of these numbers. They have kept me company for years and will be with me for as long as I live,” says Manek.
Born in a village in Manekpur in Surat (Gujarat), Manek saw poverty from close quarters. Much before his family moved to Kurar village in Malad West and Manek single-handedly fought his battles to realise his childhood dream of becoming a pilot (he later founded the flight training school), he would cut grass in his village and sell it in a local market.
He recalls a neighbour who owned a radio set. Every week he, along with a few friends, would surround the transistor to listen to legendary broadcaster Ameen Sayani’s Binaca Geet Mala programme where he played the week’s popular filmi songs. “I fell in love with Ameeen Sahab’s voice and the Hindi film songs. I began collecting LPs,” he recalls. “Then one day I bought a second-hand gramophone player from a bhangarwala (scrap dealer).”
But why didn’t he switchover to cassettes, albums, or downloaded songs as they were put online? “Listening to songs from LPs is like sitting at a live concert. The sound, the rhythm, the notes are so natural,” he explains.
There are songs from hit films like ‘Pyaasa’, ‘Pakeeza’, ‘Sahab Biwi Aur Ghulam’, ‘Dhool Ka Phool‘, ‘Solva Saal’, ‘Waqt’ and ‘Sharmili‘. Films whose songs have entertained music lovers for decades. Not every aficionado, though, can boast of a dedicated music room. Not many music lovers dust off LPs to enjoy evergreen numbers on gramophone players, once popular at weddings, birthdays and other occasions.
Among his rare collections are Mohammed Rafi’s ‘Round the World Concerts’ which carries recordings of the maestro’s live performances in London, New York, and San Francisco.
And if you have a collection of hit Rafi numbers, how can you miss ‘Kya hua tera wada..’ from ‘Hum Kisi Se Kum Naheen’ (1977) which won Rafi the Filmfare for best playback singer? This song has been a hot favourite with jilted lovers everywhere, though Manek denies ever being a victim of “betrayal in love”.