EVERY NOW AND then you are struck by something — even as you are lost in your thoughts or silently fuming in the midst of the milling city traffic. It is not easy for anything to catch attention, with so many things happening around you at the same time: The bus that won’t budge without picking up the Rs-5 passenger yards away from the stop, forgetful of the swollen chaotic traffic column behind it; the street seller who would knock at the panes and pester you into buying the glossies he holds shuffle-spread like cards at the red light; the obdurate auto driver who would keep to his track despite furious honkings, merrily driving at 30-kmph in a lane that doesn’t allow you to overtake from the left or the right. So many things have your mind that not all that you come across in your daily road battle registers. And, if something really does, in the midst of this madding existence, it cannot but be good — good enough to have struck a chord in you!

 

Today morning was different, and FM made that difference. Normally, I am averse to switching on the radio, knowing well what a big bore the multi-24X7 FM channels have become with the same songs being aired repetitively by all of them. The only thing good left about these loudly competing stereo radios is the jingles, skits and host’s interludes — not the songs. It’s the same — you get it at home on MTV, VTV, Zee Music and you have heard them so many times and at so many places, that they turn you neurotic listening to them than soothe your nerves.

 

But on my two-hour long drive to work to the worst traffic destination, Gurgaon, I intuitively turned on the radio today, which was pre-tuned to 102.6 MHz — the AIR FM Stereo — and was glad I did it an hour later when I parked at my office. The song collection was superb and the presenter RJ excellent. He was Rajesh Lekh, and he has got me hooked with the way he peppered the exceptional pick of his songs with so much of interesting information. I now have something to look forward to in my morning work drives.

 

Mixing occasional Hindi lines in his predominantly non-accented English presentation, Rajesh came out as a man who not only knows the whole spectrum of music, but also appropriate, interesting, wide-ranging fill-up talk subjects. He picks out songs and accompanying discussion topics that keep you engrossed for the whole haul. For instance, I learnt today, that it was on instructions from Bukhingam Palace that the earlier convention of observing 3-minute silence — when traffic too came to a halt — was truncated to a 1-minute affair. There were many, many more such info nuggets and all had to do with silence, even the presented songs. This was Rajesh’s theme and he presented almost everything known about silence, the songs included.

 
It’s not that such thematic presentations are not being done by other RJs, but it’s the way Rajesh does it which makes it outstanding. Best, he doesn’t depend on dramatic voice inflexions to get the ears, but his simple focus on what he is talking about and the appropriateness of the picked songs of all eras that take you in. I must have heard Madonna’s Frozen a hundred times before, but this time it was another experience, juxtaposed as it came with other silence numbers and the enlightening bits on power of unuttered words. Even chup tum raho, chup hum rahen, khamoshi ko khamoshi se baat karne do created a different impact!

Tune in tomorrow morning and you would know what I am talking about. Thank you Rajesh for having made my day!

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