Radio City 91 FM wishes you a very happy birthday! :S

Of all the things that I was looking forward to, when I landed at Bangalore, Radio City 91 FM was on the top of the list.

Darius, Sunaina, Vasanthi, Kiran Sridhar - these names are good companions to me now. I remember my stint here from Mar 04 - Apr 05 in here when all I survived was on the endless wisecracks by these RJs. Now back in Bangalore, I thought this fondness would grow unabated.

But I was disappointed to see such a steep decline in the station's appeal to my soul. When I was working from the Bannergatta Road office, it took me around 35-40 minutes max at the worst to commute and I could catch some 6-7 songs in the same. Now as I am seated in the bus that proceeds towards the electronics city with a sigh, a groan and what seems a permanent limp, I have never heard more than 4 songs in one sitting lasting around 1.5 hrs nearly…

The reason? Ads obi. I swear I haven’t picked up lyrics to any new song in this period [& I need to listen to them just twice to do so]. I can recite all of the Ads verbatim now. Even the background scores and disturbances in the recordings a permanently imprinted in there…

And as they say, the worst is yet to come? God! When they announced they are doing a special episode on A R Rahmans birthday and the special episode is scheduled to be telecasted from midnight to 3 am I was like, Aw! Forget it! The rest of the day, that was Rahmans birthday, was more or less dedicated to his compositions. Ok. Point conceded. Rahman is a musical genius. And his compositions, even if played all day long, can sustain the listener’s interest.

Then, yesterday, was Hrithik Roshan’s birthday. Hmm! Not such a palatable thought. All morning I had to endure “Nagme hai, Shikwe hai” “Ek pal ka jeena” “Teri zindagi mein chali aayi chali ayyi”. Worse still, yesterday Hosur Road had a bad jam in the evening and God! Sunaina was interviewing Hrithik Roshan’s driver and spot – boy. Puhleeej! What do you think your audiences are? Dumb Morons, perhaps?

Then, Div and I were talking about the futility of it all last night. Both sadly agreed the Radio City 91 FM has ceased to be the lifeline of our souls any longer now.

This morning, as we were getting ready for work and Radio City was humming in the background [Yes Sir, incorrigible we are!] I was pleasantly surprised to hear “Aa jaaneja” from Inteqam and “Zara Zara” from RHTDM play in succession. “Wow!” I thought, “Hope remains aflutter!”

And then, Vasanthi’s voice boomed through the hallway.

“Rahul Dravid celebrates his birthday today! Join me as I wish him a very very happy birthday!”

Div and I looked at each other and as if bang on cue burst out laughing. Div was like “Ab kya ye Rahul Dravid ke gaane bajaenge sara din?”

Vasanthi continued, blissfully unaware of Divs remark, “So pick up your phone and tell me which song you think suits Rahul the best! And I will play it right here, at YOUR favorite radio station, RADIO CITY 91 FM!!!”

Will someone please get me a hammer now? I need to break my walkman!