SONGS VINNIE MAMA AND I SANG TOGETHER

Vinnie Mama was my mentor in music. 

It all started in Bharatpur in mid 1940s when I was about 7. Vinnie Mama, nine years my elder, was studying in Allahabad University and used to come home during vacations with a handful of 78 rpm records to be played on our HMV gramophone. They were mainly Pankaj Mullick songs supplemented by KL Sehgal (Aye Qatib-e-taqdeer, mujhe itna bata de, kyoon mujhse khafa hai tu, kya maine kiya hai) and Kanan Devi (Toofan mail, duniya, yeh duniya, toofan mail). I have never come across anyone so fond of singing as Vinnie Mama who could launch into a song at the drop of a hat. So he used to catch hold of me to sing himself and get me to sing along.

He was, of course, enormously fond of Pankaj Mullick and his favourite songs were 'Piya Milan Ko Jana', 'Aayi Bahar Aaj Aayi Bahar', 'Chale Pawan Ki Chaal' and 'Yeh Kaun Aaj Aaya Sawere Sawere'. He would coax me to sing and I learnt 'Maine Aaj Piya Hoton Ka Pyala', 'Yeh Raaten Yeh Mausam' and 'Aaj Apni Mehnaton Ka Mujhko Samra Mil Gaya' specially after I did well in some exam!  Thoughts of joining NDA and Navy were yet to germinate but I learnt to march to the beats of 'Pran Chahe Nain Na Cha-a-hey'.

In a lighter vein, there were two Hindi songs which were very popular with us - 'Gori Gori O Banki Chhori' and 'Meri Jaan Sunday Ke Sunday' which we used to call our national anthem. What fun lyrics the latter had: 'I love you, bhaag yehan se tu, tujhe Paris dikhaoon, tujhe London ghumaoon, aur khilaoon murgi ke, murgi ke, ande re ande, aana meri jaan, meri jaan, Sunday ke Sunday'. Incidentally, to live the song, I did Paris and London with my dear wife but couldn't get her to eat any 'ande'!

Then Vinnie Mama joined the Navy, made a few trips abroad, I joined St. Xavier's in Jaipur and we enlarged our scope to include English songs. Records that he brought home became songs we would sing. One of the oldest was 'The Rich Maharajah of Magador who had ten thousand camels and maybe more, he had rubies and pearls and the loveliest girls, but he didn't know how to do the rumba!' 

Another one was 'Irene Goodnight, Irene Goodnight.....I"ll see you in my dreams'. It had a tacky line in which after parting with his wife, the singer says 'sometimes I take a great notion, to jump in the river and drown'. Vinnie Mama always thumped my back smilingly when we came to those words.

We sang 'Clementine' who was light and like a fairy though her shoes were number nine. She fell into the foaming brine 'but alas, I was no swimmer (like me!), so I lost my Clementine'. 'Dreadful sorrow, Clementine' until ' I kissed her little sister, I forgot my Clementine'.

I remember us singing Vera Lynn's 'Bluebirds Over The White Cliffs Of Dover'. The song was resonating in my mind when Akhila and I took the ferry from Dover to Calais in 1987 and found the lyrics true to life: the cliffs of Dover were shining white and bluebirds were actually flying over them. A song fully fulfilled!  

A sailor ditty he taught me was 'She Wore A Yellow Ribbon' which went like-                           'In her hair, she wore a yellow ribbon, she wore a yellow ribbon in the merry month of May,                                                                            And if you ask, oh why the hell she wore it, she wore it for a sailor who is far far away.             Far away, far far away, for she wore it for a sailor who is far far away'.

He knew I was a keen listener of Radio Ceylon and every time we met, would ask me what new songs I had learnt. While we did some regular hits such as Perry Como's 'Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes' and Doris Day's 'Que Sera Sera' or old ones like 'If I Loved You' from Carousel (Vinnie Mama had a deep baritone voice which could give Mario Lanza a run for his money), we preferred lighthearted songs which would keep us in good spirits. We loved 'Down By The Riverside' with the lines,                                                                                                         'Down by the riverside, I met my little bride,                                                                               Well, down by the riverside, I asked her for a little kiss.....                                                                                She said have patience little man, I hope you understand, I hardly know your name,                         I said if I can have my way, maybe some sweet day, your name and mine will be the same'.     That would earn me another thump on my back!

Another fun song, 'Daisy, Daisy....I am half crazy all for the love of you,                                                              It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage,                                                                 But you'll look sweet, upon the seat of a bicycle built for two'.                                                         But Daisy wasn't convinced. 'Michael, Michael.... I'm not crazy over the likes of you.             If you can't afford a carriage, forget about a marriage,                                                              'Cause I won't be jammed, I won't be crammed, on a bicycle built for two.'

At Christmas time, after going through the usual 'White Christmas' and 'Silent Night, Holy Night', we loved to sing the Chipmunks' 'All I want for Chriffmus is my two funt teeth...so I could whiff you, a ferry merry Chriffmus.'

For remembering old friends, there was 'Heart Of My Heart' which                                                   'Brings back a memory, when we were kids on the corner of the street,                                       We were rough and ready guys, but oh, how we could harmonise,                                                         Heart of my Heart, meant friends were dearer then, too bad we had to part,                                   I know a tear would glisten, if once more I could listen,                                                                      To that gang that sang Heart of my Heart'.                                                                                                              

Our sessions usually ended with Vera Lynn's famous signing off number:                                                            'This lovely day has flown away, the time has come to part.....                                                     Auf weiderseh'n, sweetheart'.

Postscript: An incident to recall his love for singing. During Shumita's wedding reception in January 2007, he said to me, "Let's go up to the stage and have a singsong". I said it wouldn't be feasible with people crowding around to wish the newly married couple and all the noise. I got busy and after some time, looked for him. Not to be denied, he had gathered some family members and friends and was sitting in a corner of the hotel lobby singing his Pankaj Mullick evergreens.

I wish I had let him sing on the stage!