Lists: The nine

Gayathri is fond of lists. She’s also fond of many many other things, so she decided to mesh her loves and come up with a few of her favourite things. Here’s her master-list of lists:

1. Nine songs I would pick if those were the only pieces I could listen to for the rest of my life
2. Eight frivolous things that bring me joy
3. Seven people (dead or alive, real or fictional people that I won’t actually ever meet!) that I would pick to have a 5 minute conversation with
4. Six best coffee/chai memories
5. Five best memories of my sister
6. Four things I could eat anytime, anyplace
7. Three places I've been to that I want to go back to

Naturally, I begged to be tagged and she did. So here’s my first list.

Nine songs I would pick if those were the only pieces I could listen to for the rest of my life
Not even allowed albums, I’m to pick individual pieces… sigh! Remember I asked for this. Countdown:

9. I’ve surprised myself by deciding on Jagjit Singh: a tie between Tum nahin, gham nahin, sharaab nahin and Kaun aayega yahaan. Solitude and Loneliness. What the heck, both. I’ll decide, like Gay says in her list, when they hold a gun to my head.

8. Ranjish hi sahi by Mehdi Hassan – this was The Hook, the first ghazal I ever heard by the master.

7. MS Subbulakshmi singing Hanuman Chalisa. In ragamala. I’ve heard people say that hearing MSS’s unmistakable South Indian accents sing the Chalisa puts them off, but this is where I learnt it from. I’ve heard other versions but you can’t beat MSS for bhaktibhava.

6. Aaj rang hai - nice looooong version by… Nusrat again or perhaps the Sabri brothers.

5. Nusrat’s Nit khair mangan. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous.

4. Rafi’s Koi sagar dil ko behlaata nahin. Had to include Kalavati and had to have Rafi. No contest.

3. Rashid Khan singing Bageshri. My all-time favourite raga to fall asleep to.

2. Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande singing Bhimpalasi. Golden afternoons are made of these.

1. Rashid Khan singing Sohni – one elaborate, elaborate piece. Or Megh. Both. No words.

Am I tagging anyone? Nah… zabardasti is no fun. But if anyone wants to, ask and ye shall be tagged.