Singers of SPS 1976 Batch - Episode 1

Parimal Majmudar

Parimal always had this ingenuity which took me decades to appreciate. Those who have read my blog for class 5 would recall how when the new section ‘C’ was formed - Parimal along with some others like me, Shashank, Poonam and Renu…. in section ‘A’ found himself moved to section ‘C’. But unlike us Parimal was smart. He got a letter from home and had himself rerouted to section ‘B’ where he had many friends. Dear readers it was not the first time he had used this strategy!

 Let me first narrate when he accepted a shuffle across sections. After the summer break in Class 4, Parimal came with others including - Atul, Amul, Shashank, Bhatta, Arun Ohri, Chandrashekhar Chaudhary, Rajiv Bagai, Charanjit, Umesh, Poonam, Neeru, Neelam, Renu et al, to 4A.

 I remember Parimal as an expert on the 2 monkey bar steel structures we had in the playground. One which had an inverted V shape was towards the main entrance gate of school, and was particularly formidable for the kids. Not only was it higher but also had a shape that made it tougher to go from one end to the other. While we struggled on the monkey bar, Parimal like a trapeze artist would negotiate 2 hand bars at a time, and reach the other end in no time. Parimal was a friendly sort, but kids for some reason called him ‘Tadimal’. All of us who have been in Delhi of 60s would instantly recall the word तड़ी, which has now gone totally out of fashion.

We used to have a music class to hone our singing skills up to Class 4, which ceased in Class 5. Mrs. Wagh used to teach us music, with a Bengali gentleman who never spoke, on tabla. We later learnt that he actually was a dance teacher. In the music room located on the ground floor of the new building, we would sit down on the carpet and sing along with Mrs. Wagh who would play harmonium. Parimal had kept his talent hidden in the music class.

At the time we were in class 4, the division of Houses for Seniors and Juniors in SPS was yet to take place – it happened one year later. I was in Tolstoy House and our House Master was Mr. Arvind who taught science in the middle school. He was assisted by a petite lady teacher who was fluent in English but for some reason said ‘Tolustoy’ for Tolstoy. One day when we were having a house meeting in walked Parimal and presented a letter to the House Master. It was a request that he be shifted to Tolstoy House. 

His request was readily acceded, and as he was the new kid in the house he was asked to perform some extra-curricular activity as an initiation rite.Parimal then sang a Mukesh song from the hit movie Milan - मुबारक हो सबको समां ये सुहाना, मैं खुश हूँ मेरे आंसुओं पे ना जाना, मैं तो दीवाना, दीवाना, दीवाना| Parimal sang it really well. It was the first time I had heard him. After Class 4 we never had a common section or a common House and I never heard him sing again. He has a nasal twang in his voice, and I bet he sings pretty well even today.