Letter to Bikram

I am posting a very heartfelt poem by a most talented, versatile friend of mine, Nilanjan Bandopadhyay. This poem is written for his beloved singer friend Bikram, son of the famous singer Mohon Singh Khangura who has passed away recently.

Any death, that too of a very young heart, is an extremely painful and rude shock for all of us... Although I personally did not know him, but I often heard his sonorous voice in various performances with his illustrious father.

I am sharing Nilanjan's very personal yet very universal pain of losing a dear friend untimely... Through the poem it feels like we all dearly miss Bikram, even though many of us did not really know him personally.

I got this poem from Reshmi Roy, my colleague in Tara Muzik, who, like Nilanjan, used to know Bikram quite closely because of her Shantiniketan connection. Reshmi got the poem from Santoshankar Dasgupta. I have called up Nilanjan and sought his permission before posting it.

Washington Bangla Radio featured me in their website. Please visit the website to read the article. Allow me to confess i did not know that Washington Bangla Radio is a wonderful web radio station which promote and air play Bangla songs dilligently.

They promote upcoming hitherto unknown artists by which I am very grateful to them.

All musicians ,irrespective of cast ,creed and culture always want to showcase their latest creation,want to know what is happening on the music circuit,new compositions,new artists, their work pattern.Washington Bangla Radio plays a cogent role in this regard.

Awaiting your feedback...till then.....Jai HO

"There are times when situations control you and there are times when you control situations".-
These are the lines which i read from somewhere and which left a sententious mark in me.
'The life and times of a wannabe singer is a painstakingly difficult one' one of my very dear friend who is in the same profession warned me sometime ago.Now I can understand every word that he meant.But i understand that extreme struggle and hardships are meant to make oneself more determine in his pursuit of success.One another friend recently quoted a famous line "This too will pass".

There has been lot of crticism, contemptous comment by my well wishers about my decision to quit an otherwise SAFE and reasonably successful career as the future of my present chosen path looked completely bleak and uncertain at the present moment, no assurance of regular programmes,no certainity or sign that I would be successful in my present path but allow me to share certain things although less importance to most corporate professionals but extremely significant for me.

1. In Saraswati Puja ,in the morning suddenly i heard that my songs are played in the local pandal, I was little curious as I have not given my cd of requested them to air play it, i later came to know that one of my neighbour ( a painter of repute) had requested the local boys to air it and they obliged.But with utter disbelief I heard my songs again played two times in the evening,and suddenly i got a call from that gentleman stating after airing he had taken my cd back and in the evening there was a call in his house, the locals asked my cd from him as there were "requests" to air it again.

2. Mithun Mallck my sound designer in most of my songs barring two had given me a break in one of the forthcoming movie. I went,recorded the song and came back. Next day I got a call from the producer that they liked my renditions very much.

3. It is little surprising for me that shelf movement of my cd from prestige outlets like Music World and Planet M have been steady.It is surprising that till date I do not have the blessings of ANY PROMOTION,No Music Videos,No Posters,Hoardings, Nothing but still there have been steady sales.

These three incidents had made me more determined about my chosen path. Success and failure are two sides of a coin and no one have any control over it but it gives me little strength to continue to walk in my chosen path.
Jai Ho.