Finding Begum: A work of great Karmic proportions

If any one remembers the song 'Kabhi Tanhaiyon mein bhi Hamari Yaad Aayegi' from the 50s black and white film ‘Hamari Yaad Aayegi’, then you must read this blog post further. ‘Mubarak Begum’, the singer who sang this really beautiful song was tracked down recently by fans. This mesmerizing singer, like a lot of artistes from her years has fallen on hard days, and living a life of penury. I first read about her on a Orkut community of Rafi fans, where there was a drive to collect money for her. I was quite intrigued, as I have always remembered this song in really pensive moments in life. Somehow, it automatically comes from deep within the recesses of the your memory, where it holds a special place.

Mubarak Begum

Listen to the song here: http://www.esnips.com/doc/8d8f7644-b120-4e0a-ac24-af35461cf658/Kabhi_Tanhaiyoon_Mein_Yun_Hamari_Yaad

Infact the music of the song itself begins in such a way that it seems to come from deep within you, or deep within the sky as it does in the movie. I very faintly remember the movie for the first movie role played by Tanuja, a simple girl who falls in love with a man who comes to her village from the city. Infact I was actually trying to get hold of the other song of the movie ‘Farishton ki nagri main mein’ a gem of a song from Mukesh, which is very rare now, when I came across ‘kabhi Tanhaiyon mein…”

The story of Mubarak Begum, then unfolded before me.. and I was soon lost in another world invoked by this voice and song. I heard this song over and over again and couldn’t believe, what was written about someone who had sung a song so beautifully that it remains in memory of a nation forever. A singer, musician or a songwriter’s work is also art…not very different from that of a painter or a sculptor. Visual art also brings out as many emotions as do songs and even a movie. So, its not fair that one type of art and the artiste are not given their due.


Our story today is as much about Mubarak Begum as it is about Samarjit Acharjee, a software engineer with a heart of ‘Gold’. He is admittedly the biggest fan of Mohammad Rafi and even runs a ‘Rafi Foundation’ in Hyderabad. Samarjit, who moderates the Rafi fan club on Orkut. where I first read about Mubarak Begum, had also come across an interview with her about her present life, on rediff. Infact he was so affected that he could not hold himself back from doing something about it. And the ‘softie’ that he is, he immediately began a drive to collect some money for her from other Orkutians because as he put it "Rafiji would have done the same, and he would be proud of us."


Samar’s simple explanation in doing this great deed is of great Karmic proportions. He won a lot of people to his cause. His efforts culminated in inviting Mubarak Begum to Hyderabad for a conert in July 2008, where she sang at least five songs from her old movies, including ‘Hamko apne gale lagalo’ from the film Hamrahi. The most touching part of this evening was her meeting with Jamuna, the star of yesteryears who was the heroine in Hamrahi and had lip-synched the above song….all arranged by Samarjit!
Read his article on the evening when Mubarak Begum sang again for her fans after years, at his Blog… http://spilledbytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/brush-with-greatness.html

Earlier, when he had told me that he was planning this function he was still unsure if it would ever happen. Later, when I asked him what motivated him to come out and support someone, who has been forgotten by the public for years, his simple answer was “Its just that sometimes I get involved in something and want to do my best."

Recently I talked about Mubarak Begum with a friend who hosts classical and ghazal evenings at his house in South Delhi, and now he is so excited that he is planning to invite Mubarak Begum to Delhi for a concert. I hope Samar will be there to see this..what he gave his best to, moving forward the want he would have wanted best!

Pictures of Mubarak Begum's visit to Hyderabad. Pics courtesy Samar:

World Economy needs to roll back to previous version

Yes, that’s the solution to the current economic crisis. Just like in a computer, when you install a programme for which there does not exist adequate space, operating system or rather just a big enough framework, the new programme will slow down your system and even crash it! Haven’t we all experienced it…that’s the plain logic, which needs to be applied to the world economy.

Let me explain a bit how! What was the broad situation before the crash! The world was becoming an expensive place, there was a lot of everything, the rich becoming richer, poor becoming poorer, social and economic inequality was widening, salaries were rising, more and more production, newer technology, higher prices for newer goods, booming stocks as there was a lot of money supply, real estate going through the roof, high interest rates, rising prices of commodities, money available for everything, infact everything was on a high.

BUT was there a big enough framework to contain all this. No. AS we did see from where the crash started. It began with the crash of Lehman and brothers, the collapse of banks and companies; especially those, which had, fudged accounts for years.

Framework means everything. Social, moral, spiritual and psychic …that underlying basis on which humans and humanity exists. Yes, there was money but the system, call it the Matrix, had not yet evolved enough to absorb and make proper use of these resources. So, for now a rollback will give everyone another chance to upgrade, so next time around the boom is justified and accepted.

Just as we will not experience any situation in life till we are ready for it, so the same is with the economy, because the economy is nothing but the sum total of the work we all do and the money we earn. If we try and force a situation according to what we want rather than what we are ready for, we will fail hopelessly.

Karma Cleaning

Physical manifestation of situations and patterns in attitude

Dancers and singers clear their karma with their art. This is because the energies present in their bodies is expended through their art. Vigorous/rhythmic shaking of the body for example pulls and pushes energy in different directions. This is a quicker way of expending stored and stuck energies from your self, making way for newer and fresher energies which wipe out stored karmas as well as take you onward to your path of spiritual growth.

The other way, described in an earlier post is, through doing your duties systematically, through the 80:20 principle for example, so whatever is inside you is spent, your fixed and negative patterns are changed and your attitudinal lessons are learnt. This way your body (ethereal body) opens up to receive newer energies from the Universe.

A faster quicker way is to sing and dance. Dance probably is more effective. But singing too. Its no wonder artistes reach heights of spiritual ecstasy through devotional singing and dancing. Krishna bhaktas for example, dance in abandon to Krishna dhuns, Osho meditation is through dance too. In religion and spirituality one can find innumerable examples of the energizing effects of such art forms.

Prayer, chanting too, in the same vein, clears your karmas. All religions do say that taking Gods name is the surest way of overcoming bad karma.

Using this logic, one can extend this benefit to sports and the playfield as well. I would say Sports would have limited benefit for karma clearing, unless accompanied by clear spiritual intentions. Generally sportsmen and women are people of great moral values and positive beliefs, acquired partly through expending energies through physical exercise.

Yoga, of course is one of the greatest of all paths to spirituality and karma cleaning.

This is a suggestion for those who have reached their path to start their journeys. Their methods will be shown to them. Of course nothing will work, till your time has come.