Music, films and the arts are the central subjects of these blogs.

The seed of the blogs is nostalgia, a recall of what I have heard, read about, or experienced; from a bank of recollections spread over six decades. I am not exaggerating my recall or age. Blog writing, for me, is the easiest when compared to making videos or podcasts because it is of minimal effort and maximum yield, on an emotional level.

A reader asked me how I pick on a subject or a persona to write on. Frankly, I don’t know the mechanism behind it. It just occurs to me like a flash, which, as I said, I would put down to recollections. So, blog writing about my experiences, comes about naturally.

My nostalgia for my childhood in Madras is bitter-sweet. Having grown up alone, I was my best friend. I became a voracious reader quite early in life. My father used to buy junk cars and bring them to ship shape. Dad was an Associate Dean and a Professor of Physiology in a college in Madras, but had excellent mechanical and electronic skills.

Films, music, food, and the arts have enriched our lives. Add to this a healthy spoonful of nostalgia, the songs we heard while trudging to school with heavy backpacks laden with books and a mommy-packed lunchbox; the first feeling I get is bitter-sweet.

Who Am I

Now, that is a question for the ages; a question by which you can gain enlightenment by pursuing the answer according to Ramana Maharishi. That said, my name is Nandakumar Nayar, aka Nanda, Nandu, and Nandan, depending on who you speak with! I studied Chemistry in college and ended up with a career in the airline and tourism industry, played guitar for a band, that played popular music. I teach music, write blogs, and create podcasts.

While in school, I was part of a band that played Carpenters, Beatles, Eagles, and Indian popular music.  I am a self-taught guitarist and keyboardist but trained in vocal Indian classical music.

Wearing many hats – short films, composing music, podcasting, writing blogs, I have earned the title Jack of All trades, but master of none, but often better than a master of one.

Modesty ain’t my middle name; something you must have guessed by now.

Nanda Nair

Nostalgia or the rearview mirror

There was a time when there was peace. A time of make-believe. Pushing a broken wooden car on the red-oxide floor of the house felt like driving a Mercedes! 

Space was plenty, and big Murphy radios occupied the family room with the ‘magic eye.’ To those scratching their heads, the ‘magic eye’ helped you fine-tune the radio to the strongest signal possible. The radio was on throughout the day, and music, film soundtracks, the news, and interviews poured forth continuously. 

What are the content of the blogs?

Somewhere in my mind-brain complex, I seem to have been recording all this. The song by Sir Cliff Richards, Bachelor Boy, or the haunting tune of Chinna Chinna Mookuthi so beautifully tuned by Shri M. B. Srinivasan, and many others still plays in my head with static noises because the station was Radio Ceylon! Some of you with an Indian connection might still remember some films and music from the 60s and 70s!While youth, mommy’s-lunch boxes, and the school cannot be recreated, we still can conjure up the feelings! Nostalgia. That’s what life is all about. Many say this is like driving a car, looking in the rearview mirror. There is a lot to be gained by looking back. Humility, people who helped you, the relationships that shaped you, and the hurt that toughened you.

These blogs that I write are just that. Recreate nostalgia with the power of the word. The seed of the blogs is what I have heard, read about, and people I have met and interacted with; all from a bank of recollections spread over six decades; I am not exaggerating my recall or age.

Get in touch!

If you like the blogs or if you have something about music, films of the 70s and before, or more information that can be added, please feel free. I am perfectly comfortable being like a radio station transmitting signals, but it would be awesome to hear a ping back once in a while! It would be great to make this a conversation rather than a monologue.

In Conclusion

There was a singer who gave a hundred percent guarantee that he could cause rain by singing the raga Megh Malhar. Do you want to know how he was able to guarantee rain every time? He never stopped singing until it rained.

Disclaimer- The Fine Print

Please note: make no claims or credit for any  image, screenshots, or songs posted on this site. The images and screenshots are the copyright., their original owners. The song links from YouTube serve as an educative reinforcement to the blog’s content, and am in no way implying that they belong to me. However, the verbiage is entirely mine. The copyright of these songs rests with the respective owners, producers, and music companies. Fine print because this is the fine print. However, this doesn’t make it lose its majesty or importance.

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