The Passion

I wanted to create a blog from long time.. and finally I found the reason for it. In this blog I will post information about something that I am passionate about.. that is collecting A. R. Rahman's audio CDs!!!

A. R. Rahman needs no introduction and any words of praise would fall short in front of him. I am great great admirer of him and define myself as a Rahmanic. Rahman is God's gifted child who keeps delivering magical compositions one after another, surpassing my expectations with every album. More than a great musician, he is extremely humble and religious human being, for which I admire him the most. I relate his love and respect to his mother, with the bond that I share with my mother.

I was born and brought up in Punjab. Hindi version of Roja came out during my early childhood. I was exposed to music by my elder sisters who used to listen to Vividh Bharati (Radio station) a lot! They used to listen to the songs and write song lyrics on a scrap paper and then write neatly in another book. While living in joint family, and a gang of 6 siblings, I also got attached to the music along with my sisters. Songs from Roja, Humse Hai Muqabala, Rangeela, Bombay were among my favourites, however I didn’t know anything about the man behind them. I never missed any countdown shows on Radio, and Chitrahaar & Rangoli on Doordarshan to catch the glimpse of my favorite songs.

It was only during Dil Se & Taal when I came to know that it is A. R. Rahman, who has been composing all my favourite songs. I remember having the experience of listening to Taal for the first time. I had watched and listened to title track and Ishq Bina on TV & Radio. It was during the visit to my sister’s friend, I listened to Taal songs on her computer. As much astonishing was listening to songs on computer, I was spell-bounded by the music. Then it was Lagaan, after which I turned into die hard Rahman fan. Some great memories attached with Lagaan songs as well!!

Back then, I never bought any cassettes of Rahman, however I vaguely remember visiting video shops to make a few compilation cassettes on request. I started buying CDs after I moved out of India, and the very first CD I ever bought was 'Swades.' Initially I didn’t have determination that I would collect all the soundtracks of Rahman. Soon I realized that almost all the Hindi soundtracks of Rahman were among my favourites, and I started looking for audio CDs of all of them. Collecting Hindi CDs was quite an easy task (except a few), as Hindi CDs were widely available in local stores as well as on internet.

As I belong to Northern part of India, I was totally unaware of gems that Rahman had composed for Tamil movies. After getting exposed to internet and Rahman's yahoo group, I came to know that Rahman had composed a lot of albums in Tamil. through internet, I got to know a lot about Rahman’s personality. Despite of the language barrier, I decided to try a few Tamil albums. The first Tamil album I heard was 'Sillunu Oru Kadhal' (2006) and I was just numbed to say anything in the praise of Munbe Va & New York Nagaram. Listened to 'Boys' right after SOK, and then started a fascinating journey. Last ~ 5-6 years have been wonderful experience as I have been trying to listen to all of ARR's old Tamil soundtracks (Not to mention some sptecular new soundtracks that Rahman delivered in last 5-6 years). This was the period when I realized that I had missed a sea of magical soundtracks like Kandukondain Kandukondain, Sangamam, Karuthamma, En Swasa Katrae, Iruvar, Kannathil Mutthamittal, Kangalal Kaidhu Sei etc etc.

Getting Tamil CDs was tough task as there are no South Indian stores carrying CDs in the province I live in. An online webstore which helped me with a bunch of rare Tamil CDs, was none other than Shrimatis. I had to wait for get my own credit card as my dad would have been extremely upset for using his card for buying CDs. Now working during summer meant saving for CDs only. I stopped spending on extra stuff and it didn’t take long to have my own credit. Thankfully I started purchasing Tamil CDs just at the right time, before Shrimatis also started to run out of their stock of Pyramid CDs. Once I got my citizenship, I visited my sister in USA, and did a bit more shopping of CDs. I also got in touch with Alai Osai music company in Malaysia and they were more than happy to assist me with my long wish list of CDs. Likewise, I tried to contact other music companies for missing CDs - some were very helpful, others didn’t response or just kept promising, and didnt do anything. With the help of a friend from USA, we pretty much cleaned up the stock of AR Rahman CDs of a closed South Indian store. After buying CDs online on every possible website (including Japanese sites!), and with the help of a few friends, I managed to nearly complete Tamil CDs collection.

Meanwhile, I was getting more and more absorbed into Rahman's Tamil albums. I realized that I was listening more Tamil songs than Hindi ones. The problem lied in the lyrics of dubbed Hindi albums. When I listend to original Tamil version of soundtracks - Thiruda Thiruda, Duet, Indira, Muthu, Mr Romeo, May Maadham - I fell in love with these masterpieces. Chor Chor - a soundtrack, I didnt quite like in Hindi version, became my all time favourite soundtrack in the form of Thiruda Thiruda. Also when I listened to Tamil version of albums that I liked in Hindi, it gave me another reason to fall in love those compositions again. There were also some albums which I liked equally in Tamil and Hindi versions - Saathiya / Alaipayuthey, Sapnay / Minsara Kanavu, Dil Se / Uyirae, Duniya Diwalon Ki / Kadhal Desam, Jeans for instance. Even though I was enjoying these Tamil albums, I didnt know anybody with whom I could share this excitement, a friend with whom I could talk hours about Rahman's music. Soon I found those friends at yahoo group!

I had almost finished collecting Tamil CDs, and it was the time to start hunting for Telugu CDs. I knew that finding Telugu CDs will be the biggest challenge. The popularity of mp3 CDs was increasing and music companies were issuing audio CDs in limited stock. For this marathon effort of getting Telugu CDs, I got in touch with other devoted fans of Rahman from Yahoo Group. I knew there are many passionate fans who also buy every Rahman CD. I was very fortunate to get in touch with such generous guys, who were willing to give me their spare copies or look for CDs from their available sources. These guys became very close friends and I just loved talking to them. We all shared same passion and interest, and it never felt that we didn’t know each other before. There was so much to talk about Rahman’s personality, his music, CD collections. I remember my first phone conversation lasted more than an hour with all these friends. What I loved about all these fans, that they all were supportive and willing to help with anything. They helped me with some extremely rare CDs, which I would not have been able to find myself.

My family didn’t have any problem with me buying ‘a few’ CDs, but they were against my decision to buy so many of them. Thankfully they never bothered to check the boxes of CDs, otherwise I could be in trouble as number of CDs increased with time. Playing Tamil music in Punjabi family is not quite expected. I was earlier bugged by family and relatives, but now they understand and respect my obsession for Rahman's music. I also pay attention and play only Hindi songs of Rahman while I am driving with someone. Most of the time, I listen to music with headphones, and use speakers only when nobody is home :P

Earlier I used to keep track of the amount I spend on CDs, soon I had to stop doing that. Otherwise if I had kept money in mind, I would have stopped purchasing CDs long back. An average music listener, who downloads from internet, wont be able to understand this passion. Having mp3s in computer folder just doesnt give the satisfaction of having original audio CD with artwork. Some people also make fun whether we will take all these collections with us somewhere, and as one of my friend, AC puts it - "It's not about taking the collection up there. It’s about appreciating the life, down here. It's about an experience of a thunder-lightening running up through your spinal cord on locating a rare CD somewhere. The mp3s don't do that to me. It's about taking a CD out of your music collection, and remembering the adventures that you did to get it"

Coming back to the blog, here I have posted information about AR Rahman’s CDs that I have in my collection. Giving details about CD (music label, catalog number etc) can certainly help other collectors to search for the CDs. However I want to clarify that I am not trying to show off anything here. I am just a regular fan, passionate about Rahman's music & collecting his CDs. I am sure there are many more passionate fans out there, having bigger collections. As many friend helped me in finding the CDs, likewise I also try to help them by finding CDs for their collections.

Music is indeed a universal language. Despite of cultural differences, I have made some very special friends through Rahman’s music. The respect and love for Tamil language has increased to the extent that I sincerely wish to learn the language (at least to understand song lyrics). A. R Rahman and his music has always been integral part of life. His music lives with me every day as it transports me to a refreshing world where I can leave all the negative emotions / stress behind and just enjoy the music. I was fortunate to witness Rahman perform live during his memorable Journey Home Jai Ho Concert in 2010. However the dream to meet him in person still remains. It would be bit clichéd to say that I have been fortunate to take birth to Rahman’s era. Thank you Rahman sir for being A. R. Rahman. God bless you and your family!