ಓ ರವಿಯೆ, ನಮ್ಮ ಕುಲಪತಿಯೆ, ...

When you witness a musical production such as Jaya Jaya Vijayee Raghurama, presented under the auspices of One School at a Time (OSAAT), with a string of songs each of which is composed in a raga to suit the mood portrayed by the song, you will find yourself humming, or recalling, that one song over and over again. The following song is one such in today's presentation in Los Altos Hills, California:

पूछो न कैसे मैंने रैन बितायी

Shahnaz Akhtar gave a very memorable performance of this song on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2012, and Shankar Mahadevan had a lot of praise.

Good expression of pain in a person's mind.

दिल के अरमाँ आँसुओं में बह गए

When you listen to this song, even without knowing its context¹, you can sense the feeling of sadness that the singer exudes. But, when you understand the meaning of the lines, it is even more touching. In particular, the feeling of loneliness — हम वफ़ा करके भी तनहा रह गए — is not something that anyone relishes.

You wish always that no one goes through the kind of feeling that the song describes.

(After I published this post, I learnt that Ravi, the music director for this song, passed away just two days earlier).