the day ghulam ali saab called me

[entsurgeon]

before u pass it off as an ordinary stuff, please note that i am actually a very ordinary man. music buff-tick, ghulam ali fan -tick.. but i am no big, famous name.. or an industry insider to have been privileged this way. the meastro return calls me!!
he visited indore on saturday for a concert.
using all my press contacts and technical knowhow, i traced the right guy who told me where he was staying and his schedule for the day. apparently he didn t come out of the hotel room until evening. not even his most close aides were to disturb him. well... i had to take my chances. i took out few of my ghulam ali lp records... just in case.. !! seventh floor of sayaji hotel is its elitest. its own floor manager and separate staff. vijay, my new best friend and a young guy barely 25 yrs had his desk bang opposite the lift doors.
i went to him and explained myself to him. he was obviously unmoved.
.....2

 

[anm]

which year was that? I found him extremely intolerable paki in 1998 iirc.

 

[entsurgeon]

this was today anm. he came here day before yesterday.. and called me today. u think i d wait to disclose.. however,... please share what was intolerable etc etc. and wait for the second round tale.

 

[suri]

this was today anm. he came here day before yesterday.. and called me today. u think i d wait to disclose.. however,... please share what was intolerable etc etc. and wait for the second round tale.

ok - we have waited long enough -

please - second round!

 

[anm]

general attitude etc, don't remember particulars but ended up GROSSLY disliking - to the extent that I didn't attend his performance next day. Though I loved some of his ghazals. His team showed much more temper than him. Good that I did not had the responsibility to host him, I was with my friend to help him a bit. My tolerance levels too were low in those times. I think your story is better than mine so I will shutup and let you tell your tale.

 

[entsurgeon]

**2**
mine is not much of a story fellas.. me n a friend got seated at the reception desk ... the 7th floor one.. no crowd. befriended vijay... he told us he was sorry but the maestro wont take any call or meet anyone. just instructed them that all the messages be taken. he told us how even the hotel owner and the chief manager have only sent visiting cards and haven t dared disturb the 70+yo man.
it was a losing battle on our end. still, we finally requested vijay if he would please get a few of my lps autographed by the maestro? handed him only 3 lps. took back all the rest.
somehow, vijay , in this half hour meet was sufficiently impressed..(ahem!!). he took lps and said he ll give it his best shot. i knew better than him that he will. he also requested me to write my name and number on a hotel visiting card so he could pass it on to ali saab. he said that although ali saab has said that he d return call or reply to his messages as per his convenience.. nobody can say for sure when. but he also added that he believes he ll call me. and also if he does calls people and he is around.. he d try his best to ascertain that he calls me .
with this... handing him 3 lps, we got back. we knew we re giving our best shot. if only via our new team mate.
2 hrs later, vijay called me saying he managed to get the 3 lps autographed. that his shift ends at 7 pm and he had to overstay there full 1 hour to get this job done. this was the guy i met for the first time minutes ago.
however... he simply said that ali sab has still not taken messages and just said that he d return calls later at his convenience. so much so... i was happy i got lps autographed.
i went to the concert the same night. it was supposed to be for club of govt officers et al. the kinda ppl who need a peon to do everything for them. even clap... ya daad dene k liye bhi. unfortunately, there weren t any peon around to do the task ..... and i found myself clapping or appreciating in unison with a sum total of barely 15-20 other ppl out of a packed audience of 5-600. i wasn t surprised to see ali saab wind up in one and a half hour.
.....#3

 

[entsurgeon]

.....*3*
so that was saturday.
sunday came an went by. next afternoon ie monday, as i was back from my chores...
there you go- my phone rang, it was an unknown number.. and-
me(black): hello!
ghulam ali saab doctor saab bol rahe hain??
me: jee bol raha hun
ga: jee aapne apna number chhoda tha mujhse baat karne k liye, mai ghulam ali bol raha hun
me: (my heartbeats 0-200 in an instant) jee sir .. jee... meri bahut bahut khushkismati jo aapne call kiya saab. mujhko aasha nahi thi k aapka call aayega...
ga:sahab darasal kal din mai ujjain chala gaya tha program karne... raat der se aake soya to ab abhi utha hun... to sabse pahle sabke calls ka jawaab de raha hun abhi.
............ went on for 2-3 minutes during which i went downstairs, turned speakerphone on and told mom n dad i m talking to ghulam ali saab.
after some chit chat, i requested that i d very much like to meet him... he said that he d b leaving shortly and maybe next time we d meet. the call went dud. that wasn t unexpected for me... he could have called expecting some old friend/acquaintance or some concert contract etc etc.. not many fan dare to leave their number with hotels... seeing a fan on the other side might have been a let down for him. whatever... at least i had a story to tell.
but the truely special bit came after maybe 3-4 minutes while i d already bragged the incident to vijay and monu-the guy who accompanied me to the hotel,
i saw the same number ghulam saab talked on ,in my incoming call screen. not expecting his call again really... now i sure can understand how tiresome it d b to handle so many fans day in n day out, he shd b wary of talking to just another fan , that too on phone... calling himself. this must ve been by mistake. he shd b calling the next guy on his list and has hit a redial instead.
this is what makes some people extraordinary :
me: h.. hello..
ga: sorry doctorsaab wo galti se phone band ho gaya tha lagta hai.. baat poori khatam nahi ho paayii...
me: sir......
now i knew that we ve talked a few minutes .. and he has had me enough or so i thought.... i was really really under the impression after the first call that, finding a desperate fan on the other side, he has been quick to end it.. as politely as possible. i had made my final request that i d like to meet him and declining it , he had hung the call. imagine how surprised i was.
ga:jee mai kah raha tha ab is baar abhi to mai jaa raha hun sahab.. maalik ne chaha to aglii baar zaroor mulaqat hogi.

what i said next, and finally was my truest feelings that arose:
sir aap ek behtareen kalaakaar hi nahi hain ek aalaa darzaaa insaan bhi hain. really. mujhko ab agli baar ka intezaar rahega.
insha allah!!

 

[anm]

waah kya baat hai! insha allah!