The Karmic Connection
Padma begins a weekly column of her own – Padmania where she will mix up sense with the odd nonsense. And this time she unravels a little more of Raja Hasan.
On Saturday or Sunday, while driving down to work, as usual I was on to various radio FM channels and yes you guessed it right, just to hear Raja’s Maari Teetri hoping against hope that it would be played and with a myriad prayers in my heart.
And as it has always happened, some kind of karmic connection between Raja and me and Saregamapa (meeting Poonam on a flight, running into Raja at a traffic light in busy Mumbai in-between a day chock-a-block with various appointments of an important French minister for whom I was interpreting racing against time with meetings with Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation and Ashok P. Hinduja of the Hinduja Brothers fame and many other VIPs already under our belt and rushing for the next appointment, guess what it is Raja who finally ends up spotting me, silly old me, and me all uptight because of the presence of embassy officials in the car with me trying to act prim and proper and in my heart of hearts dying a million deaths because I can’t rush out of the car to greet my Raja the way I would want to and poor Raja who couldn’t figure out what a weird kind of a fan I was decided to step out of the car to come and greet me!!!), the RJs Anant and Saurav of Radio Mirchi did play Raja’s song (the drive from home to work in the mornings at 7.10 a.m. takes barely fifteen to twenty minutes) and guess how they played it!
It all started off with Toshi bashing calling him a besura etc and advising him not to sing any more, you know the kind of banter they indulge in and then Anant I think announces to Saurav, relax now THIS IS WHAT WE CALL A REAL SINGER, A BEAUTIFUL AND ACCOMPLISHED SINGER Raja Hasan singing Maari Teetri!! This is exactly what they announced and my heart swelled with pride. I felt as if they had just praised me.
When I shared this with Raja, his immediate reaction was: isi ko to attachment kehte hein. And he is so so right as usual. Never have I felt this kind of selfless love for anyone before where my happiness lies in seeing the other person happy, when he is praised my world becomes even more beautiful and I spend the whole day as if in a trance. When he sings my heart is in my mouth, and when he finishes I realize I have tears in my eyes.
Am going to share a few tidbits on Raja with you all from this week onwards regularly so that we get to know our dearest Raja even more intimately (wink wink soutens and sorry Ayesha it’s really quite harmless ok?).
- Raja saw Jaane tu ya jaane na and simply loved it. His remark is: “aise first time mey hi bhaa jaye aise to bahut kam hota hai” and he compared the experience to how he had felt after watching Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. So apt as usual!!
- Guess what Raja’s most favourite sweet dish is? - Bikaneri Kalakand it is but the man does have a sweet tooth. He loves sweets in general but is partial to Bikaneri Kalakand when it comes to choosing his most favourite sweet dish.
- Raja and I share our favourite hero - yes you guessed it, it’s Aamir Khan. Raja hope you get to sing for him one day very very soon InshAllah.
- The genre of films that Raja likes the most is comedy. Comedy scores over all the other genres.
- Describing himself, Raja wishes to dispel a few wrong notions that he thought we, his fans, had of him but he is wrong since I know that we all knew these aspects of his. He said that contrary to what you all believe, I am not a shy, quiet and meek person. I love having masti with friends, going out with them, I love dancing, playing cricket and most of all I love laughing, sharing a few laughs and I have a great sense of humour. As for his favourite style, his answer was that he would go for a style that lets him feel free and unencumbered. Raja dearest we your ultimate fans DID know that you dance very well, that you love playing cricket and hanging out with friends, we also know that laughing comes spontaneously and naturally to you and that you have a drop-dead smile that does crazy things to your female fan following and we all knew that your sense of humour was fab!
- And last but not the least he was just about to record for Ek Se Badhkar Ek and wanted everybody’s duayein which he has aplenty I told him promptly and if I heard right he is going to be singing Nasha hi Nasha, a Sukhwinder composition that was harpreet’s last song on saregamapa challenge 2007 or it could be Nasha Nasha from Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena which again is a Sukhwinder composition but I have a gut feeling that it will be the former or maybe I am totally wrong and he was not referring to any of these songs because the line was not clear at all. SO THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT A SPOILER because I really couldn’t hear what he was telling me at a particular juncture and I felt that I heard the word nasha but knowing me and my ears there are 80% chances that this is a pure figment of my imagination.
So long guys. If you have questions that you want Raja to answer do send them across to me through e-mail to queries4padmania@gmail.com and I will do the needful by asking him your questions and publishing the answers and together we will end up knowing each and every teeny weeny detail on our Raja, our dil ki dhadkan.
The Nasha hi Nasha song that probably Raja could be singing this weekend:
:D okay as far as the personalized message...
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well it would seem that I was right after all and Raja is indeed singing nasha hi nasha from sukhwinder’s album.
not bad, even with my nose throat and ears blocked my hunch proved to be right.
Mr He or Raffu dearest could you please upload Sukhwinder’s song from his album with the same name? It is freely available on youtube.
The song sure is going to sound brilliant in Raja’s booming voice. Waiting impatiently for it.
Seems like Raja scored perfect 10.
Thanks Padma for the article….even my fav actor is aamir khan and my fav genre is comedy …so combining two, does Raja love Andaz Apna Apna ….? that’s my all time favorite movie ….
PADMA thanks for this beautiful article.yeh sach ki jab bhi raja ki taareef hoti hai to lagta hai ki hamaari taareef ho rahi hai. raja ke sabhi fans raja ko unconditional love karte hain.
Lovely article padma
and this is a great column idea ….
As for the song Nasha Hi Nasha …. i can see raja doing wonders with it ….. the song has soo many places where raja can improvise …. i am certain that this will be a performance the everyone will remember …
yes Rahul I absolutely agree. This is excatly the feeling I had as soon I heard the word nasha from raja’s mouth when he said mujhe all the best batayiye because mein abhi nasha gaaney wala hoon and I immediately checked up and found two which could match bot sung by sukhwinder and was almost sure that it would be nasha hi nasha hai and how well i could imagine raja singing it!!!!
thanks shashi ji yes absolutely unconditional love.
and moreover he manages to make every song his own and leaves his lasting stamp on it, that I think is his strongest point.
padma …. lovely lovely article and thanks a zillion for starting this weekly thing. love u very very much!!
okay meri aor Raja ki pasand kitni milti hai
i saw jaane tu ya jaane na and I too loved it!!
mujhe bhi khalakhand pasand hai but i never had bikaneri khalakhand but ate lots of hyderabadi khalakhand
movies - my favourite is comedy too… raja khoob maza aayega aap aor mein dono jab saath mein koyi comedy movie dekhenge - sirf dono
mujhe bhi hamesha hasna acha lagta hai.. aor aapko dance karte huye dekhna aor bhi acha…
my favourite is Salman so Raja we will just have to work on that
but love you Man - you are soooooooooooo awesome!!!
Ladkiyo… what you are waiting for? go ahead and ask any questions you want to find out from Raja - he will answer them.
hey isnt it awesome to know Raja so much more on personal level too?
I seriously think when friends want to ask him questions, they shouldnt ask any personal questions nor any questions that would be uncomfortable for him to answer.. maybe some light questions will be good. what do u think?
I have a question
…. i always wanted to know what city he enjoyed performing the most in during the world tour 
….
Rahulllllllllllllllllllllllllllll….. i know what answer u r looking for .. lol…he is going to say Toronto
but that was because he still hasnt met me.. the day he meets me then he is going to say New Jersey
yoooohoooooooo..Thanks A lot padma.
Main is mauqay ka bhar poor faida uthaon gi.Aur abhi to smajh hi nahi a raha kya sawal kia jayee.
Jald hi aap ko mail karo gi.
THANKS A LOT
Padma, thank you for the article and the wonderful news about Raja. We will be looking forward to reading your column every week. However, one thing I don’t understand, Padma, is how did Raja recognize you at the traffic light in Bombay? Has he seen your photograph before?
oooohh wowzzzz…thankkk youuuuu for sharingggg….
and Raffu…mineee and Raja’s pasands are soo similar..
lovesss u lotsss Raja….
and Padma ji..you will get my questionsss soooon…just gottta thinkk about themmm…..lol
@ Yasmin
No he had never seen my photograph before. But when I went to Bombay, i.e., the night before we met at the traffic light we were in touch by phone. I had called him right from the airport and I was supposed to go for the De Taali function but since it was late (evening flight) and I was new to Bombay and I had a lot of work waiting when I reached my hotel, hundreds of pages to read for the interpretation, I couldnt make it and I called up Raja to inform him of the same. He had promised to drop over to see me but couldnt do so and had called me late at night to tell me.
The next day when we were driving down for the next appointment mentioned in the post, Raja called me and that’s when I told him where I was with the help of the driver and he exclaimed that he was also more or less there only and then kept calling up to find out where exactly I was and also the number of the car the make etc. I kept peeping out for him in all directions but discreetly since I was not alone but couldnt spot him, he is the one who recognized me because of the car no and the phone in my hand I guess and the way I was looking in all directions. He called up and said hey padmaji I am right next to you. Hehe.
And all this excitement was compunded by the fact that my phone was on silent mode due to work and I even missed his calls so many times. Poor Raja must have been pretty pissed off with me.
So that’s how I met Raja or rather Raja met me. Whew
padma, ur story of meetin raja is amazing….and he found u, that is soo cute man, i would have died…lol i can imagine what you went thru
your discription is very interesting. PADMA ye kissa to kaphi purana hai ,tumne pehle itne detail main kyon nahi bataya. anyway padma tum bahut lucky ho.
I know shashi ji. Pehle shayad isliye nahin bataya kyonki mein bahut zyada busy thi shayad aue mujhe bahut bura lag raha tha ki mein raja se sahi tareekey se mil nahin saki. Mujhe apni saree spontaneity jo block karna padh gaya tha kyonki bahut hi high level ministerial meetings the aur ambassador wagera mere saath the aur humey minister ke gaadi ka peecha karna tha aur raja samajh nahin pa raha tha, woh chahta tha ki hum gadey thodi side karein etc etc so i was feeling quite miserable ki mein raja se tho mili lekin jaisa mein chahti thi waisa nahin, so was feeling quite frustrated.
Wwooooooooooow Thanks alot for the fantabulous article Padmaji,
God I’m speechless at the moment,but want to thank you for the Questions for Raja thing, but now my mind is blank, I’ll soon ask my questions,
Raja’s tastes are quite similar to mine ,I too have a sweet tooth and I too love kalakhand but we call it as “Ajmeri kalakhand”,
Padmaji,aap ke Raja se mulakaath tho bohat filmy hai but I’m very happy for you ,I’ll pray for you that you’ll soon get a chance to meet Raja for a full day or more
@ Raffu ,
Jab tum ya mai Raja se milenge to “Qubani ka meetha” zaroor khilayenge and I bet he would definitely loves it ,What say?
Congratulations Raja for getting perfect 10 , better late than never, I’m very happy that you are the first one to get 10/10. And
I hope this 10/10 will continues,
good song selection,
This weekend will be going to a real treat for us,
Raja you are “THE BEST”
i am no longer sure about the 10 lavanya. let’s wait and watch.
as for meeting raja for a whole day or more i will opt for the MORE wink wink hehehehe
yes lavanya u r right.. when u and me will meet, we will treat raja with qubaani ka meetha… then he will start saying my favourite dish is qubani ka meetha.
raja when r u coming to visit me - i want to treat u with biryani and qubani ka meetha cooked by my own hands
raffu…..ye qubani ka meetha kya hota hai ,jara detail main batao
shashi ji namaste!!
shashi ji.. qubani ka meetha dried apricots se banta hai. dried apricots ko paani mein bheegakar rakh dete hai, phir uske beej nikal lete hai.
usse phir grind karke pakate hai aor uske baad usmein sugar miladi jiye… meetha tayaar.
qubaani ke beej ko cut karke uske andar joh soft beej white seed nikalta hai woh usmein mix karte hai.
aor yeh qubani ke meetha ka asli serving style yeh hai ki isse aap vanilla ice cream ke saath serve ki jeeye.. bahut badiya lagta hai. yeh Hyderabad ki speciality hai
Raffu I want, I want…. Remember me, when you are in India and mere gift to ab aapko pata chal gaya - I’ll expect it…
:)
shobha jaani u dont have to till we meet in India, i can any day make it for u here in america itself.
we are planning to meet in few months right.. i will bring ur gifts along with me
Yeh, Raffu you are awesome - Thank you, thank you, thank you.. I’ll look forward to it. Wow, I’m so lucky… and here I dance again…
anytime… my pleasure sweetie
Ye jo Qubaani ka meetha ke taiyari jo Raffu ne likha bilkul aise hi “Dates” ke saath bhi banasakte hai,
Dear Padma,
such a wonderful column u have started.. congrats to u n thanks for starting the question.answer sessions.. i hve loads of questions to ask.. but they r all silly ones…. like does he remember giving me an autograph in McDonald?? Can i meet him once again??? etc, etc!!
he he.. i know all his fans have the same questions!!
god bless u padma for starting such a good thing!!
hehe faizia i swear we are all so alike irrespective of age, sex, caste, creed, religion, race and so on and so forth. Raja has some magic I must say!!