A National award- late or right time?

After couple of Anandalok and Shananda awards, now it’s time for a National award to move into the shelves. Is it a calamity, is it a shock, is it news or is it a hard fought dream? No it’s a sheer truth. No chance of ABP backing the results, so you can’t say it’s an “I am looking after you, you better look after me” kind of scenario. But there’s something really weird about Rupam bagging the National award because these days neither his voice is at any close of being at its best self nor songs of mahanagar@kolkata for which he got the award are out of this world kind. Though it’s weird but its ok for you as Rupam got it. You feel like you won the long lost battle against your mom and dad and all the other haters who had been asking you not to play any of his numbers in your room during those hay days and you kept on saying its rock, a different genre!

But don’t you think Rupam deserved a lot more few years ago, when he didn’t host a single show in radio station, he didn’t write a single article for any big newspaper group, he didn’t took interest in solving anybody’s love problem? Didn't he deserve it when no body knew how Rupam looks, nobody knew who is Mou (even many thought it as Mon), whats the surname of Rupam?

Yes Rupam deserved something big during those days when a Layman crooned “Bessabritti kukurer bichhanay” (instead of “Dupurer”) and never felt like he had been singing something quite bizarre, as he had wanted to see the prostitute that he still sketches in mind, on bed with a dog! Rupam deserved it when a school student enhanced the volume of his transistor a few notches higher when RJ had played a rare “Ekla Ghar” or a “Hashnuhana”, Rupam deserved it when a guy cried in a live concert while listening to “ManobBoma”.

Rupam made your anger worth of its value. Rupam gave words on your mouth as he interpreted your reactions to a failure. Every college going youth had once synchronized his life with his songs. There's been so much of life in his lyrics.

For the past 10 -12 years Manashi has been asked to come near the door for just once; I think even a living Manashi would get pissed off and say “Hang on Rupam, you know I won’t come”, but you, the listener don’t get bored. A “Dekho manashi” or a “Nishkraman” still charms you like the way they did when you had listened them for the first time in your life. You brought the Fossils 2 in your home and played it. On first listening you said what the hell is this, but still Rupam somehow accumulated your love for all the numbers of Fossils2. You didn’t buy it you brought it.Mission F arrived, end of piracy for you if its Fossils. You understood its worth buying because you are not only loving the man, you are respecting him in your subconcious mind. You understood Rupam's songs are like slow poisons and demands patience of 5-10 time listening, You saw Rupam on stage several times, you learned what is head banging, you went mad for his songs, and you quarreled with others when someone had said Rupam’s screws are loose. There was a period in your life when no song in this world sounded better than Rupam’s. The unplugged show on a FM station put the last nail on the coffin of your doubt. You understood your love for Rupam was absolutely right.

End of story, period. Rupam got married. Even ROTR stopped; really the show was getting boring, because Rupam was making it as boring as possible. By that time every session of those 2 hours at late night introduced yourself with the poet with in you though. You said hang on even I can write and speak like Rupam.

Rupam became an umbrella term. The English medium going school students even started talking Bengali the way Rupam used to and even gathered interest in the songs of Fossils. Suddenly there’s a new breed of fossils fans, who radically became fossils fan. Though they will never understand what these songs actually mean but they will never leave a single stone unturned to speak about some shithead implication of those songs. A sliver too generated in between the fans and the veterans kept on leaving the place and the glory of legacy, because they knew it’s not happening any more. Taking the burden of these wannabe Bengali’s would have been too much for them.

Suddenly there’s a rise of a business man whom you never knew, who is probably selling his songs not singing them. From solving love problems to dandruff on hair, Rupam started to show interest in many things those have no relation with music. Interaction with the Fans was just an excuse, it was just like a bollywood star promoting his/her film.You don’t feel the charm the way you used to. But the love never died; as it was a love of a different kind. Fossils 1 and “Neel rong” always help to bring back the lost love and you kept on crawling back down memory lane.

For a listener, a good listener, whats important an award or quality stuff from his Guru. Rupam killed his million doller voice emulating Mariah Carrey time and again, though it did give him the range but it lost the magic of giving you the pleasure when you were alone and you played an “Ekla ghar” in your lonely room. Tell me how many songs you got from him of that standard after the 1st album. You got nothing except one “Shasti”.

A song writer who has been writing songs on lost love for ages, there’s has to be honesty in him and among his co workers. Either it seams he is selling frustrations to the DEV D’s or he is no more the man we listened.

Rupam was best and the best when he was a man of Utopia, a voice who bounded others to see his face, but when every body looked at him, he said “well if you are looking at me, what to do with my voice”.