Su(per)Man Chaurasiya!

Su(per)Man ChaurasiyaЁЯО╢ЁЯО╡

Pankaj Khanna, Indore.

9424810575






Various types of dishes prepared on the Tawa (Cooking Pan) in the Sarafa area of Indore, such as Tikiya Chhole , Bhutte  (Corn) ka Kis, Pav Bhaji, Dosa, etc. have been enticing the foodies of not only Indore but the entire country for many years.  Over the years, this specialty of Sarafa has also been featured prominently in News Papers and  Magazines across the country.

But this Sarafa  also had a very good relationship with the  other type of Tawa ( Shellac Records of 78 RPM). But this fact  has never been  accentuated to the new generation.  Today's generation of Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube is not aware of this legacy of Sarafa.  It is sad that even the older generation has forgotten this fact for years.

On a crowded busy road ,what would you like more:  the street food that lands from the Tawa or a song descended from the Tawa on the road!? 

ЁЯО╡ЁЯО╝ЁЯО╢ So, today forgetting the Pav Bhaji and other dishes of the Tawa; let us remember  Sarafa's extinct Shellac Music of Tawa, which is still alive in some hearts. 

Way back in the late evenings of  Eighties and Nineties , a gentle, calm kurta-pajama-clad man  with several piles of Shellacs/Vinyls, a Garrard 301 type Record Player and a few blank cassettes;  used to sit  on the small space of a closed diary shop near the well-known eateries of Sarafa of Indore. He was easily ignored by the gluttons of Indore reaching at Sarafa for local delicacies.

Just a few hungry/thirsty  for Music used to miss the  the famed dishes of  Sarafa and reach at his makeshift  Shop, opened from three sides for a few hours in the late evenings.

This person , the favorite of music lovers of Indore, is better known as Shri Suman Chaurasia, who has given the gift of old inaccessible  music to the poor and middle class music lovers  almost selflessly over the years.  His  Tawabaji ( the obsession to collect Shellacs) continues  even today, but now there is nothing left for collecting cassettes in music or 'filling songs in the cassettes'.  All the famous songs are easily available for free on the net. You can store whatever you want on a computer or a mobile.
In this ever-changing world, this work of 'dubbing' gradually decreased, turned rare and finally more or less stopped with the turn of the century.  Suman ji also moved from the Sarafa of Indore to live in Pigdambar village of Indore.

Before the advent of computers, internet and YouTube, collecting songs of  choice was a very difficult task. First, listen to songs from  radio and if you like a song, then search that song in a Cassette in the market. Buy the  Cassette for a  single song and then forward/backward the casette and listen.  It was a very difficult time, Sir!  But it was a lot of fun!  The happiness that we all used to get on listening to one particular  song, can not be found even in thousands of songs received free every day as whatsapp attachments. Now, throwing large music files through Social media is new game. 

In the era of cassettes, people would come to Sumanji in Sarafa making a list of their choices on paper.  Suman Dada used to make and give cassettes the next day.  They used to get cassettes of songs of their choice for only 10-20 rupees, whereas big Companies' cassettes were available for 40-50 rupees, whose only a few songs were hit or liked.

While in Indore on vacation, used to go to him with a list and get one or two cassettes made every time.  It used to take many months to make that list and just a day to get the desired casettes!  All the needs of an ordinary music lover like me were easily fulfilled here.  Even then he did not talk much.  Talk less  and do  more work was his motto.  This continues  even today.

If he had sold anything to the food-loving people of Indore by putting oil on a big iron Tawa for all these years, without falling in the trap of Tawa ( Shellacs) ; then today people would be queuing up at his shop and competing with each other to pay ! Even if he had continued his ancestral business near the Railway Station, he would still have earned a lot more money.

But it didn't happen.  In Sarafa market, shopkeepers  kept making  money from  the 'Tawa' and this wonderful man kept putting money in the 'Tawa'!  If he had also carried on a normal business like other shopkeepers, then he would also have been counted among the rich of the city.  

But Indore city, State and Country would have suffered a lot and we all would have been deprived of the pride of Indore - Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Museum  established by Suman Dada.


His passion to collect Shellacs and Vinyls has been  of a different level. An ascetic by nature, Suman Dada has devoted his life only to the collection of these 'Tawas' .  Today there are more than 46000 Tawas  in his collection.  It would not be an exaggeration to say that he is Dashrath Manjhi of the field of Tawabaji.  If not of the country then at least he is definitely the Tawabaz No. 1 of Central and North India.

He was born on 26 February 1951 and started collecting records from the mid-sixties.  As soon as he came to know that the Tawas are going to be sold somewhere, he would reach there at the right time and buy all the Tawas.  This is still the case today.  During the Corona period when we all were languishing in our homes;  he could not stay at home and bought records several times from Mumbai and other places!  About 1000 people of this country have 'disease' or 'addiction' of this tawa collection.  What to call this 'addiction'!?  Tawaseer!!??  The worm of 'Tawaseer' has bitten Suman Dada the most!  There is no cure for its bite!  Ask any Shellac Collector!

There came such a time in his life that when there was no money, he fulfilled the hobby of collecting records by selling his own two and a half acres of land!

His collection kept on increasing day by day and this collection took the shape of a Museum in the year 2008.  The house itself was made a Museum and he named it:  Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Gramophone Records Museum.  Not just a Museum, call it a temple! And he himself is a priest, an ascetic, a 'Tawasvi' of music. 
There is no bigger fan of Lata Mangeshkar in the whole country than him.  He has almost all 7600 songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar. There may be some forty or fifty Records of Lata not in his huge collection. But still he has those songs in Casettes!


While in the  Museum, watch him  take the Tawas off the shelf delicately and   place gently  them on the record player; or watch him bring a bundle of Tawas from the back of the cupboard.  You will be reminded of a Gopi wary of her gagri ( Water Vessel) thinking all the way not to spill the water!

Let me remind you of Lataji's song in the music of Roshanji from the film 'Zindagi Aur Hum' (1962) written by Pandit Shivkumar Saroj:


These Tawas are his decoration and ornaments.  He takes great care of his  ornaments.  If he does not have a record in his hands, he looks so very lonely!  This song is very dear to Suman ji.  Be sure to listen to it by clicking the link above.  While you will certainly love Lataji and Roshan ji;  you will also  appreciate Suman ji's choice too!


There is a very beautiful description of this song in the book 'Anjaane Singer, Unsune Geet' written by Ajatashatru and published by Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Gramophone Records Museum.

As soon as Suman ji's name is mentioned, Lataji's name comes automatically.  There is a misconception in the minds of people that Suman ji only collects the records of Lata Mangeshkar.  In fact, he has many times more records than Lataji's records which are also very rare and are also the heritage of the country.

In today's era, many college  drop outs are earning a good name by having  big 'start ups'.  Suman Dada is also an old-fashioned college 'drop out' and the 'set up' he started has no comparision.  He has set a fine example of vision, dedication, hard work and passion which is exemplary for all generations.

Eight years ago, a short film on Suman ji named 'Surile Suman Ka  Suhana  Sapna' was made, two parts of which are available on YouTube.  Click on the links below to view both these parts:


These two parts have not even been viewed 100 times until just before this article was written.  But you must see both these parts to have fair idea about him and his music.  In these videos, you will also get the quotes, many songs and accurate information of many celebrities like Mubarak Begum, Shyama, Yogesh, Late Rajkumar Keswani, Pankaj Raag, Ajatashatru and many more. 

After watching these videos, you will also wonder  why these videos are not viral among music lovers!?

Just about a year and a half ago, Doordarshan Indore has made a short film on Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Museum, to see which click here.  Apart from this, he has shared many facts in an interview to a private channel.  Click here to view this interview.  For interview given to yet another other channel Click here.

Some of the books published by Suman Ji's Museum in Hindi are as follows:

(1) рд╕рджिрдпों рдоें рдПрдХ рдЖрд╢ा: рд▓ेрдЦрдХ рдЕрдЬाрддрд╢рдд्рд░ु
(2) рд▓рддा рдФрд░ рд╕рдлрд░ рдХे рд╕ाрдеी: рд▓ेрдЦрдХ рдЕрдЬाрддрд╢рдд्рд░ु
(3) рд╣िंрджी рдЪिрдд्рд░рдкрдЯ рдЧीрдд рд╕ंрдЧीрдд рдХोрд╢ 1981-1990: рдЬрдЧрджीрд╢ рдкुрд░ोрд╣िрдд рдФрд░ рдЧुрд▓ाрдо рдХुрд░ेрд╢ी
(4) рд╡ो рдЬрдм рдпाрдж рдЖрдП,  рдмрд╣ुрдд рдпाрдж рдЖрдП (рд░рдлी):рдЕрдЬाрддрд╢рдд्рд░ु 
(5) рдПрдХ рдорд╢ाрд▓ рдЖрдЬाрджी рдХे рддрд░ाрдиों рдХी: рдЕрдЬाрддрд╢рдд्рд░ु 
(6) рд▓рддा рд╕рдордЧ्рд░: рд╕ुрдорди рдЬी, рдЧुрд▓ाрдо рдХुрд░ेрд╢ी рдФрд░ рд╕ंрдЬрдп рдоंрдбрд▓ोрдИ 
(7) рдмाрдмा рддेрд░ी рд╕ोрдирдЪिрд░ैрдп्рдпा: рдЕрдЬाрддрд╢рдд्рд░ु
(8) рдЕрдирдЬाрдиे рдЧाрдпрдХ, рдЕрдирд╕ुрдиे рдЧीрдд: рдЕрдЬाрддрд╢рдд्рд░ु 


Many articles have been written on Suman ji in many magazines.  Click on the links below to read some of those featured articles in Hindi and English:



Click here to watch YouTube Channel of Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Gramophone Records Museum.

Today we talked only about Suman Dada.  The talk about his collection could not even begin.  I may not even have the ability to understand and explain his collection.  Still, it will definitely be tried once, in the next few months.

In short, it can be said that he has more than 46000 Tawas recorded in 32 languages.  Records of all sizes—from four inches to 24 inches—are available In the museum.  Talking about the speed, the Tawas with the speed ranging from 16.66 RPM to 78 rpm are adorning the racks of the museum.  Records made on very thin plastic sheets, cardboard, metal, Shellac and Vinyl  in reasonably good condition are displayed in this temple of music.

Here red, yellow, blue, green, black Shellacs of different languages from all over the world ​​can be seen and listened to. Whole gamut of Records of Children's songs, musical sermons of all religions, almost all songs of Lata Mangeshkar, songs of all leading singers  of the gramophone Era (from 1902 to about 1931), talking book for the blind, messages by the  politicians for independence ,  inspirational songs, and  many other types of records are stacked in this 1600 square feet Museum of Music.  Various types of gramophones, tape recorders and spool recorders can also be found here.

Dashrath Majhi of music has shown the way to everyone by cutting the mountain.  It is now the duty of all of us to maintain and decorate this path.  Under the supervision of Suman Dada, it is imperative to scientifically study, document, catalog and digitize the music of every  Record in this Museum.  It is necessary to have a discussion on this subject and then to cooperate with Suman Dada to make it more useful for the Future generations.

Whatever your thoughts on Suman ji and the Museum built by his solo efforts;  please write in the comments section at the bottom of this blog in Hindi or in English.  Apart from this, whatever memories you have related to Sumanji or the museum; you can also write them down so that they can be remembered for ever for the posterity. Thank you!  ЁЯЩПЁЯЩПЁЯЩП


Pankaj Khanna, Indore.

9424810575

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