Mono Aji… A letter for Dyuti

Dyuti, dear dear Dyuti,

I marvel at the amount of memory we have made together in a short stint of 2 years of school, every morning Facebook reminds me of you, in utmost primacy. I chuckle for the dreams centered around us cynosures, that we will change the world, we will write never-heard-before verses, make the world a better place to live. they are fraught long in daily rush to catch the bus to work. Long buried are promises to write letters to you from Delhi, Bombay or Bangalore as I make do with screenshots these days, and bug you to be present in Whatsapp, for it is more instantaneous. Screenshots tell you of the boys, food, new places and new dresses, all of it since I know you know me. You will know what I shall tell you. But then, Dyuti…Dyuti, they still make songs in this world that which deserves to be written in a letter, for a mere share will not enough to contain her legacy. And who else I shall write a letter to, apart from you?

“If I hear of your arrival

I will spread a carpet of flowers under your feet

spread flowers, spread rose flowers

I will sacrifice myself at the dust of your feet

bring me the glass so I may lose myself.”

This Dari poetry of Khayyam rings a bell in you mind? Let me remind of the naive girl, who had a penchant for singing, met this poet at a midsummer night in the dreamland of Kolkata. As we were rolling our weed joints at your place with a bottle of Feny by side, she told us the story how her love unleashed as she sang Paimona to the lover, while rest of the world took a breather. Did you know they ran away from the city in sometime to make a small home by the river in Shantiniketan? The euphoric song, now backdrop of their daily chores from the royal courts of Afghanistan, adopted in Bengali, calls the rain to beckon with an unheard of melancholy.

Let me share the link with you before you get tired of my rant.

 

I was smitten by the peacock green cover at the first glance. You see the woman dancing on her whim at the end of pregnant horizon? I love her. What beautiful voice of Murshidabadi opens the track with an array of melody. Pair that with Lagnajita, an already famous name in Bengali arena, you will groove to the tunes.

Dyuti, also I would like to mention, this song reminds me of you, not because the credit title has your namesake individual, but the soothing melody makes me feel home.

Let me know when is a good time we shall have a sleepover at your rooftop, on a Sheetolpati, tuning to Mono Aji till dawn while we discuss our regular existential crisis.

Infinite love,

Yours truly 🙂

 

 

[Mono Aji is an independent project by Dyuti Mukherjee and Ritam Sen. It is a Bengali rendering of the song Paimona by Omor Khayyam. Various artists have dedicated precious time for the project for the love of indigenous music and not remuneration.

Added are the subtitles to the music video of Mono Aji. So if you are like the song but do not understand words, just click on the subtitles/caption option in the bottom right corner of the video and you are good to go.

In case anybody’s thinking of downloading, the song is available at just INR 15 (<$.5) from the link below. Do buy if you liked it.
Independent music needs your support.]

 

 

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