Madhumathi and Dracula

Toote hue khwaabone humko…yeh sikhayaa
I was waiting for my son at his school parking lot, and thought I could listen to a song. The cassette I got was an old Hindi one. Listening to these songs, I went all the way back to my child hood. Even though these memories comes every now and then, every time they feel like it’s the first time I am thinking about it.

My father never learned music, but he was a very good singer. He could sing old Hindi songs, so melodiously. Some weekends, that’s what he does. He would make me sit nearby him and tell me the stories of old Hindi movies. I would be watching those movies in my mind. He once told me the story of the movie Anarkali. He talked about how he heroine was singing even at her last moments- yeh zindagi usiki he jo kisika ho gaya pyar me …I would always cry every time he tells this story. Sometimes it will be just his songs. One of my favorites- Toote hue khwaabon ne..then Saranga theri yaad nee. Slowly I started loving those songs. Later on I would be just waiting for Aap ki farmayish,Jaymala etc etc to listen to those beautiful songs and sing with them.
Anarkali-1953- O Aasman wale ..

Anmol khadi-1946- Aawaz de kahan hai by Noor Jehan

Anmol Ratan- Kabhi aar kabhi paar.. Shamzad Begum

It’s so hard to list them all.
Oh, sometimes he would talk about horror stories. One particular memory is about Alfred Hitchcock movie Dracula. He would tell that story in such a dramatic way that I would move closer and closer to him as the story progressed. I can still remember the sound of the slowly opening casket .!! Even now it scares me..