Throwback photos are always intriguing. And when they come from the treasured collection of public figures, they are even more interesting. On Thursday, businessman Anand Mahindra took to Twitter to share a throwback image from his school days in Ooty. Unlike the usual “class photo”, this image features Mr Mahindra playing the guitar. The 66-year-old shared the black-and-white photo and said that he was part of a school band named "The Blackjacks". The band, the image shows, featured two other students apart from Mr Mahindra.
In fact, it was one of his fellow band members, Nicholas Horsburgh, who served as inspiration for Mr Mahindra to unearth the vintage photo. A video of Mr Horsburgh, a man of British origin, singing a Malayalam song surfaced on social media, recently. Mr Mahindra shared the video on Twitter and said it inspired him to dig for the throwback pic.
Sharing the image of his band, Mr Mahindra said, “After seeing that video of Nick, I retrieved this pic from my school album. That's Nick at the mike. Always the singer. The twerp to his left is yours truly. Despite being a junior they let me join their band: ‘The Blackjacks.' Maybe Nick will remind me what song we were playing.”
After seeing that video of Nick, I retrieved this pic from my school album. That's Nick at the mike. Always the singer. The twerp to his left is yours truly. Despite being a junior they let me join their band: ‘The Blackjacks.' Maybe Nick will remind me what song we were playing pic.twitter.com/eTOswGBi2J
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 22, 2021
Since it was the video of Nicholas Horsburgh singing that prompted Mr Mahindra to share the throwback photo, the Chairman of RPG Group also posted Mr Horsburgh's video.
Sharing it, he wrote, “In my school in Ooty, we had two kids from a British family settled in India. Nicholas Horsburgh and his brother Michael had local nicknames: ‘Nagu & Muthu.' I had no idea HOW native Nick had become until a video of him singing a Malayalam song recently surfaced on social media!”
In the clip, Mr Horsburgh can be seen effortlessly rendering the song Pathinaalam raavudichathu from the 1973 film Maram. It was originally sung by KJ Yesudas. The post has received over 64,600 views in less than 24 hours of uploading.
In my school in Ooty, we had two kids from a British family settled in India. Nicholas Horsburgh & his brother Michael had local nicknames: ‘Nagu & Muthu.' I had no idea HOW native Nick had become until a video of him singing a Malayalam song recently surfaced in social media! pic.twitter.com/VGgPApdq3m
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 22, 2021
Social media users had a lot to say about Mr Mahindra's photo as well as Mr Horsburgh's singing.
Reacting to Mr Mahindra's photo, one user praised the businessman's sense of style even as a child. “Loving your boots,” he said, identifying it to be Chelsea boots. To this, Mr Mahindra replied, “They were called Beatle Boots at that time…”
They were called Beatle Boots at that time…My prized possession…
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 22, 2021
One user also commented on the “good communication flow between musicians,” referring to the businessman as “M(ozart)ahindra”.
That's Amazing.There is good communication flow betw^n musicians.Nick sways his body a bit to keep rhythm.M(ozart)ahindra
— Manoj K Jha aka Manu ???? (@manojgjha) July 22, 2021
kept it cool with minimal movements/focused expressions.Seems has been taking music lessons,it shows in steady,confident way he plays.#boygenius "Viva Mozart"
Another viewer wanted the origin story behind the band name “The Blackjacks”.
Like the style and swag of the guy with the ????. Black Jacks, there must be an interesting background story to that name. I'm waiting to see a tweet abt it someday…
— Ravikumar (@Ravikum74101495) July 22, 2021
Here are some other reactions:
The swag and style unmissable!
— True_light ???????? (@Truelight1947) July 22, 2021
Looks like the Beatles sir. ????????????
— Siddhant Das (@sidvick) July 22, 2021
Meanwhile, reacting to Mr Horsburgh's singing, one user praised his diction.
Awesome! Near perfect diction. Here is the original songhttps://t.co/a1k3mZAuE5
— Sundar (@Tksrajan) July 22, 2021
“The song would have been incomplete without the traditional "Indian style" head movement and he nailed it!” said another user.
The song would have been incomplete without the traditional "Indian style" head movement and he nailed it!
— ⚓ Alpha Bravo ???????? (@MrAlphaBravo1) July 22, 2021
Our True blue British Anna!! ????
Tell us what you think of Mr Mahindra's throwback tweets.
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