(Junay) songs of the road

First I used to take kali peelis And that usually meant Mohammed Rafi Somehow all cabbies seemed to have the same compilationmdashI mentally dubbed it The Worst Hits of Mohammed Rafi His most most mournful duniya ne thukraya lamentsPeople constantly discuss the LataAsha binary Not so much Rafi versus Kishore fans Gents often seem to love Asha because fun and Rafi because emotionally intense I wonrsquot query the significance I am not so bold alsoYaniki once I was in a cab with the photographer Sanjiv Saith The worst hits parade began and I groaned Sanjiv sang along to all to my consternation Finally I had to ask ldquodo you just happen to know all these songs or do you actually like all these songsrdquo He gave me a cool look ldquoI know them all And I like themrdquo I looked out of the window in selfpreservationStill I always chose a cab whose rear window revealed speakers As soon as the meter dropped Irsquod say ldquogana chalao nardquo ldquoRaah gardishon mein har dam mere ishq ka sitarardquo oh my starcrossed love beset by storms Rafi sarsquoab would sing and I would accept itBut once in a while I would get lucky This was in cabs where the driver would say almost embarrassed ldquoI only have juna gana vintage songsrdquo These were usually the most eclectic music collectionsmdashGeeta Kishore Asha Rafi singing songs more playful songs duets especially I wonder if the driverrsquos embarassment was about being juna or just less doleful Cab driver and passenger lost in private thoughts but joined by the silky moonthread of the song listened together One of the cityrsquos many fleeting intimaciesMy friend Anil Mashruwala who loved old Hindi film songs once travelled from Nariman Point to Andheri in one such cab ldquoI reached home but sala I didnrsquot want the feeling to stop so I told him wapas chalordquo and drove all the way back down that road made of songsIt was samesame but different from autorickshaws Here accusatory version of Rafi sarsquoab was replaced by Altaf Raja and later Himmesh Reshammiya partly a canny marketing ploy by Tseries Drivers were younger Their speakers were always chunky and flashy with lights In autos I wanted new songs but not these bewafa sanam tujhe meri kasam because of you I am drinkingrum variety of gents I wanted the dancy stuffmdashakhiyon se goli maare and bin tere sanam mdashand felt thrilled when I got it The auto was the home of jhankar beats and with rexine windows to keep out the rain it was our own mobile disco mein jaayein jaayein Irsquove missed those autos this rainy weekIn Ubers we rarely ask for music as we listen to our own on headphones Occasionally Irsquove discovered new songs via younger Uber driversmdashitrsquos how I discovered Emiway But unlike kali peelis appcabs are somehow impersonalThe other day on an offchance I asked the driver if he had music He said hesitantly ldquoJunay gaane marsquoamrdquo That phrase after years At first it was Mika giving me a serious age reality check But then suddenly there was Rafi sarsquoab He smiled at me apologetically in the mirror ldquoDriving alone all day these songs speak my heartrdquo I smiled back for real Raaste anek gana ekParomita Vohra is an awardwinning Mumbaibased filmmaker writer and curator working with fiction and nonfiction Reach her at paromitavohramiddaycom