Ghulam Ali

Well, it was a lovely weekend. A musical one, I must say. Saturday was bit gloomy and muggy, but we were quite enchanted by the Magoes we got from the hay market. It is the mango season back home and knowing that you actually have the privilege of doing exact same things here excites us.

We had a great dinner at the Bistas residence =) the combination of lasagna, salad and desert was absolutely Delicious!!!! Thank you for the great night! After dinner, along with pradeep dai, we headed to the concert, something that we had been looking forward to for a while…

The Ghulam Ali concert!

I enjoy gazals; I have always been a fan of Jagit Singh. I have listened to Ghulam Ali’s song, but I primarily remember him being the favourite of my dad and uncles. Honestly speaking, I was excited but not as much as I had with the Jagit’s concert.

It all changed when I saw Ghulam Ali sitting on the platform. Everything looked surreal. He was humbly seated with his shawl wrapped around. The ambience was cozy. Even though he was quite difficult to hum along with, for the way in which he goes off on his own raagas and aalaaps after every second line, he was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! His voice was mesmerizing, and his stage manners exquisitely cultured, even when he is playing to the audience. I feel quite lucky that within a short span of one year, I was fortunate to witness two of the powefull Ghulam Ustads, Jagit Singh and Ghulam Ali

He astonished all the audiences by singing the medley of Nepali songs. “Kina kina timro tasbir,” “ k cha ra dina,” “ Gazaluti,”- all the songs written by our late king Mahendra.He had a whole collection of songs, Yeh dil yeh paagal dil mera, kyun bujh gaya, aawaargi" and "Hungama hain ". Then of course, his famous "act", for lack of a better word, with "lehar" - in "Dil mein ik lehar se uthi hai abhi”. What more could I ask for in one evening?

After the show we also managed to have a quick talk with him. He was happy to meet with his Nepali fans! Prasanna also managed to take his autograph along with some pictures.

The evening was a fun filled one!

Though I must admit that I had imagined a little different setting, nonetheless, it was brilliant and I love it.

I am done with “ The Namesake.” It's a warm book. One of the best I've ever read. A truly enduring classic story. A lot I could relate to.