My music knowledge is quite pathetic and I know I am not qualified enough to write on R. D. Buman’s music. But I admire him a lot for the great songs he has created and wanted to write something on him during the Pancham Week on MS. So am sharing some anecdotes that I know about him and some that I found on the net.

As we all know R. D. Burman was fondly called Pancham. Asha Bhosle used to call him "Bubs".

Panchamda was a very simple man who lived only for his music. He was completely indifferent to the material side of existence. According to Asha Bhonsle when he first saw a diamond ring on her hand, he asked for the name of the gem on the ring. When it was informed that it is a diamond, he asked whether a diamond really looked like that. After music his second biggest passion was cooking.

Panchamda gave his best music with Gulzar and also shared a close friendship with him. Gulzar says about him, “He used to be at his wit's over my https://lyrics. Ek to bechare ki Hindi weak thi aur oopar se meri poetry. When I gave him mera kuch saamaan, he threw away the sheet saying, 'next you will give me the headline of Times of India and tell me to tune it.’ For Iss mod se jaate hain, he wanted to know where this city called ‘Nash-e-man’ could be found.”

Panchamda was in awe of Lata Mangeshkar and for the song Aap ki aankhon mein kuch mehke hue se, he was petrified to tell Lataji to sing the word badmaashiyon. Gulzar had to do the needful while Panchamda hid behind a pillar.

In one of Panchamda’s most beloved songs, Mera kuch saamaan tumhare paas pada hai in the movie Ijaazat, Gulzar had written ek sau solah chaand ki raatein, ek tumhaare kaandhe ka til. Those 116 moonlit nights that he wrote about proved prophetic. After Panchamda’s demise he realized that exactly 116 of his songs were set to music by Panchamda. Indian classical literature incidentally lists 116 phases of the moon.

He was often accused of passing off his father S. D. Burman’s tunes as his own. But very few people know that S. D. Burman also used his son’s tunes sometimes. Panchamda composed ai meree topee palat ke aa in Fantoosh when he was only 9 years old. The famous sar jo tera chakraye from Pyaasa was also composed by him as a 10 year old.

Its very sad that Panchamda did not get his due in his lifetime but the legacy of evergreen music that he has left behind will always live in the hearts of his fans.