Author: Somnath Sinha

Professional banker, sports enthusiast. music lover, singer, writer and amateur film critic

Nobody Really Needs It

‘Your views, suggestions and ideas are welcome’ (some even add the term ‘valued’) are often appended to articles, reviews and posts basically eliciting laudatory comments but not quite expecting critiques or perspectives that’s contrary to what’s been propagated. Opinions might differ person to person, but these aren’t welcome by those seeking it !

That said, one thing old timers have in common (apart from post retirement blues !) are loads of time, old stories of their life and times and ready offering of sage advice to the gen-next & next-next, depending on who’s available on hand. But who is listening ? Yet a few decades ago, it was given that seniors (read parents and grand-parents in the joint family system) would rightfully ‘lecture’ off-springs including close nephews/nieces on do’s & don’t’s  and on ‘Sanskar’, even after their being married &  with own children.

Thanks to those practices we got more educated, were married off early by elders to the one considered right for us and started families soon in keeping with family traditions. There was pattern in the ‘family way’ ! No one could retort when family elders spoke on decisions to be taken. Those who did were considered badly brought up and rebellious.

I recall my Grand-mom telling my 45 year old Uncle ‘There’s no need to hide and smoke, your Dad knew of it some 20 years back’ ! She was giving permission to him to smoke in public but Uncle wouldn’t. Question of having beer with Dads was generally unheard of, unless father and son were both from the ‘Fauji’ Services. Exceptions proved the rule ! Archaic as it may sound, none of my friends nor I, smoked, drank or used cuss words in presence of our parents (till much later). My Dad smoked and liked to swear at times !     

But all that seems a very long time ago and parents today listen to children more than they do to them, given the pressures of professional life and social media on our kids. Celebrity veteran actor, Anil Kapoor was asked in an interview (in the presence of his young actor son, Harshvardhan) if he gave advice or tips to him, Anil’s response was ‘I prefer giving advice to children other than my own- because they never want to listen to me’. His son laughed it off saying his Dad wasn’t so much at it, as was his Mom, Sunita !  

In the Netflix’s latest hit, four part tele-film called ‘Lust Stories-2’, the first story has an irrepressible Granny (Neena Gupta is superb !) who talks about importance of physical relations in conjugal bliss to her granddaughter who’s just got engaged. Granny candidly enlightens the girl on her own ‘birds and bees’ stories, much to the girl’s amusement and embarrassment of the mid-aged Son & his Wife, since such talk is taboo in the family !   We may ask ‘Will today’s liberated youth ever need this kind of guidance from elders?’      

A Tribute to the Language ‘Gurus’

On ‘Guru Purnima’ its time to respectfully remember those who imparted knowledge and wisdom to us (to whatever extent possible !). The realistic list is quite illustrious – parents, family elders, our school teachers, great seniors in service life and old friends who we grew up with. But, if we were to talk of communication skills, most of us would credit our language teachers of our early school days for grinding in us the fundamentals of good writing and basics of the spoken word. It was due to their mastery over the subject (the language) that we found some of our brighter classmates becoming proficient in both Hindi and English (in hometown Lucknow)

In the English medium schools, imbibing good proficiency in English has always been stressed, which many argue remains a hangover from our colonial past. Due to the fact that quite a few have regional languages as their mother tongue, many of us, could be reasonably comfortable in finding the apt expressions in English but flounder to find the right words in Hindi for, as one of my teachers said ‘You will express yourself best in the language that you think’! I, for one, had a tough time with my Hindi Sir who tried his best to ‘sanitise’ my Bengali laden Hindi for a first few years.His efforts bore fruit and with time my grammar and ‘Bhasha’ improved.

Coming back to English, I recall that teachers in school would invariably choose words which would not only sound alien but wise. The pronunciation, at times was tough to follow if word ‘maximum’ was spelt ‘yum ya yax I yum yu yum’! Yet learning from them was fun, new lexicon, idioms and phrases and their usage were discovered, names of great books exchanged among us friends and consulting the ‘dictionary’ for difficult words was encouraged. I had once used the word ‘ecstasy’ in one of my school essays and our Sir was a bit surprised. He inquired where I had learnt this word from and asked ‘do you know what agony means?’ There was a knowledge sharing but no admonition for trying to explore… and were all on a discovery trail !

In one of our school elocutions, a speaker started his speech with a nursery rhyme and then went on to connect the threads therein. This became such a big hit that even the established speakers emulated him later. In College debates, funny repartees and punch lines were introduced and rebuttals gave birth to great witticisms, some on the lines of Oscar Wilde’s classic quote ‘nothing to declare except my genius’. Certainly those times were very different, quite shorn of state of art technology, Google and apps but what we got in return from our teachers and education was immeasurable. They taught us how to communicate & even add new languages to our armoury !     

And the Legend of Kishore Lives On ….

As a young boy in the early 1960s, when the mellifluous tones of the great Md.Rafi engulfed the radio, one song would haunt me with all its pathos “ Koi Hamdam Na Raha, Koi Sahara Na Raha… “ and that by a amazing singer who had written and composed it all by himself , Kishore Kumar ! This was from a pure genius with God-gifted talent and no formal training in music, that became the inspiration to millions of young people like me, who liked to hum a tune ! 

On his 89th Birth Anniversary, after volumes have been written, expressed and shared about his multi-dimensional charisma and that “incredible voice” as Satyajit Ray had called it, what can any ordinary person contribute as a tribute to the legend except the way he enriched lives and uplifted our spirits yesterday, does even today and will continue to do so agelessly .. 

For  Kishore Kumar’s life and career graph as actor-producer-director-composer and for all a most versatile singer, is nothing short of an epic, as amazing as his abilities ! The evergreen Dev Anand for whom he had sung the very first song of his career on screen in “Ziddi” way back in 1947 (“Marne ki duayen kyun mangoon…) said about Kishore in his book “…a phenomenal singing voice that years later would hypnotize the world with its resonance” . 

The same thought was expressed by talented singer  Sukhwinder Singh “ Kishoreda  had a stereo-phonic voice..”. Both the infectious mirth and “masti” as also the depths of pathos in his inimitable singing style would later be cloned by singers from Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet , Babul Supriyo to Sudesh Bhosle and ofcourse his own son, Amit Kumar, but never with the resonant, magical quality of the original ! 

In his second innings as the voice of Rajesh Khanna in the 70s (and later Amitabh Bachan), Kishoreda charted out superb blockbusters not only under greats S.D. and R.D.Burman but gave his best to almost all other music directors of that time. He even sang the lilting melody “Savare Ka Suraj Tumhare Liye hai …” for O.P.Nayyar. 

The greatness of those times was the respect given to peers who were professional rivals in playback singing. Kishore would sing Md.Rafi’s classic bhajan “ Man Re Tu Kahe Na Dheer Dhare …. “ in his concerts and shared great rapport with legendary sisters Asha and Lata. It is said that Hemant Kumar ( himself a very great singer and exponent of Bengali Rabindra Sangeet ) wanted a voice to capture the sublime serenity of the song “ Woh Shaam Kuch Ajeeb Thi … “ from film “Khamoshi “ which he felt could only be done by Kishore. What a tune and what a rendition ! 

The nostalgia of old Kishore songs will never fade from our minds. From the youthful exuberant hope of “ Chota Sa Ghar Hoga Badalo Ki Chaoan Mein .. “ to the philosophical journey of the long travel of life “ Panthi Hoon Main Us Path Ka, Anth Nahi Uska …“ , Kishoreda, you gave us all to cherish in happy times or sad times ….

Kishoreda 

 

And the Legend of Kishore Lives On ….

As a young boy in the early sixties, when the mellifluous tones of the great Md.Rafi engulfed the radio, one song would haunt me with all its pathos “ Koi Hamdam Na Raha, Koi Sahara Na Raha… “ and that by a amazing singer who had written and composed it all by himself , Kishore Kumar ! This was from a pure genius with God-gifted talent and no formal training in music, that became the inspiration to millions of young people like me, who liked to hum a tune !

On his 89th Birth Anniversary, after volumes have been written, expressed and shared about his multi-dimensional charisma and that “incredible voice” as Satyajit Ray had called it, what can any ordinary person contribute as a tribute to the legend except the way he enriched lives and uplifted our spirits yesterday, does even today and will continue to do so agelessly ..

For  Kishore Kumar’s life and career graph as actor-producer-director-composer and for all a most versatile singer, is nothing short of an epic, as amazing as his abilities ! The evergreen Dev Anand for whom he had sung the very first song of his career on screen in “Ziddi” way back in 1947 (“Marne ki duayen kyun mangoon…) said about Kishore in his book “…a phenomenal singing voice that years later would hypnotize the world with its resonance” .

 The same thought was expressed by talented singer  Sukhwinder Singh “ Kishoreda  had a stereo-phonic voice..”. Both the infectious mirth and “masti” as also the depths of pathos in his inimitable singing style would later be cloned by singers from Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet , Babul Supriyo to Sudesh Bhosle and ofcourse his own son, Amit Kumar, but never with the resonant, magical quality of the original !

 In his second innings as the voice of Rajesh Khanna in the 70s (and later Amitabh Bachan), Kishoreda charted out superb blockbusters not only under greats S.D. and R.D.Burman but gave his best to almost all other music directors of that time. He even sang the lilting melody “Savare Ka Suraj Tumhare Liye hai …” for O.P.Nayyar.

The greatness of those times was the respect given to peers who were professional rivals in playback singing. Kishore would sing Md.Rafi’s classic bhajan “ Man Re Tu Kahe Na Dheer Dhare …. “ in his concerts and shared great rapport with legendary sisters Asha and Lata. It is said that Hemant Kumar ( himself a very great singer and exponent of Bengali Rabindra Sangeet ) wanted a voice to capture the sublime serenity of the song “ Woh Shaam Kuch Ajeeb Thi … “ from film “Khamoshi “ which he felt could only be done by Kishore. What a tune and what a rendition !

 The nostalgia of old Kishore songs will never fade from our minds. From the youthful exuberant hope of “ Chota Sa Ghar Hoga Badalo Ki Chaoan Mein .. “ to the philosophical journey of the long travel of life “ Panthi Hoon Main Us Path Ka, Anth Nahi Uska …“ , Kishoreda, you gave us all to cherish in happy times or sad times ….

Kishoreda 

 

O God It’s ‘Monday’ !

Way back in the 70s, we as youngsters loved a zany American movie  called “ Thank God Its Friday “ which went on to become a cult theme and remains one till today. Working people across all ages, classes and countries show universal solidarity when it comes to welcoming every weekend like a lost brother ! The flip side to it has been the disdain and the depressed feeling accompanying it, every Monday morning at the start of another long week….( and more so after a lo-ong weekend ! )   

As a retired professional banker having worked in Mumbai for over a decade, where an average working day spreads across 14-15 hours (adding the travel time), everyone I have known (me included) is emotionally attached to the weekend syndrome for many reasons (pending housework, social obligations, family outings, movies, chilling out and sleeping- to name a few) but most of all, no office and no boss !  

Another legitimate reason given is that most people today are caught in the inevitable time warp – great, exciting  jobs are few and far between and too many men and women quickly settle for a mundane job-role and a boring work-week that sustains itself on looking forward to Friday and the work-free weekend.

But there is news from beyond, you can love ‘Mondays’ too if you are  really passionate about loving what you’re doing and creating hugely fulfilling results ! Motivational pundits, mentors and coaches have shown the path to employees to discover how to love their work-place and win at work with employers/bosses offering the right creative space and opportunities to them and people experiencing a powerful and visible commitment to their success.

This may sound futuristic to us but the prospect of loving the dreaded  ‘Monday’ appears fascinating !  A work-space with bright ambience, welcoming smiles all around, a shift from a “why we can’t” to a “how we can” workplace and each one backing up the other. But what of the leader who could take everyone forward each day. Those in command need not always have extra-ordinary talents  but  have that empathy and  “soul” that cares, nurtures, brings out the best in the others they lead !

And then, incredible as it may sound, we would find ourselves longing to go back to work where everyone exclaims  “Thank God Its Monday“ !

Banking

Friends

Some of the most endearing stories that can win hearts and inspire faith in humanity are those that are to be found in lasting friendships. As the old adage, if recast in the today’s grim scenario, would go – ‘you can’t choose your relatives, you don’t pick your boss, you mightn’t trust your luck with the new house-maid or driver’ – but most certainly you can bank upon your old friend/s. As Henry Higgins (remember ‘My Fair Lady’) would say to his long standing companion, Col. Pickerin, ‘Why can’t they be more like you’ ?!

In a strife ridden world of antagonism, rancor and mistrust, there have also been many exemplary characters whose irrefutable friendships have stood the test of time. We also have our learnings from our mythology of the kind of unshakeable faith and ties that existed between Lord Krishna and Arjun, Karna and Duryodhan, Lord Ram and Sugreev and many such legends.

My favorite friendship stories come from the world of sport where though men and women strive to outdo each other in sporting competiveness many forge alliances which last lifelong. Tennis legends Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe fought many an epic battle on the court but ended up as best of friends, so much so, that Borg was best man at John’s famous wedding !

From our own sub-continent, is  cricket’s wonderful camaraderie between arguably the best opening ODI pair India has ever produced – Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, who together featured in over 8800 runs in partnership. Their mutual admiration and friendship has lasted 30 long years and is the stuff that legends are made of. On his 46th birthday two days back, ‘Dada’ got special wishes, written in chaste Bengali from the ‘God of Cricket’, Sachin !

The subject of friendship became the theme for one of America’s longest running popular sitcoms ‘Friends’. The players became household names and actress Jennifer Aniston a superstar. Interestingly it also started a great bonding between Jennifer and actress Courtney Cox for all times to come. This when it’s believed two actresses cannot be good friends !

Hollywood with its rich history has many lovable anecdotes on friendship. The lead actors of the magnum opus ‘Titanic’ – Leonardo De Caprio and Kate Winslet after enjoying all the acting accolades from the monumental movie, went on to forge a lasting friendship which has continued for over two decades !

How can one miss out on Hindi cinema’s great friendship stories which are many but to me the most poignant and eternal were the ones between the ace actors and those who provided their golden singing voices – Raj Kappor and Mukesh, Dev Anand and Kishore and Shammi Kapoor and Md. Rafi !

It would not be entirely right to say that the present generation with all its intensity and passion, possibly cannot keep up to the demand of enduring friendship but that’s how it appears to old-timers. I remember my father’s friends stick by him (and he to them ) right till their autumn years. That gentile tradition has continued – we too can proudly say  that some of us in our ‘old friends’ group have had the same strong ties for the last over five decades !

What then is lasting friendship all about ? As usual , the Bard puts it best – ‘ A friend is one who knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become,  and still gently allows you to grow ’ !

Vipin

Why not a Banker’s Biopic

Whilst Mumbai is facing another round of hearty monsoons showers , it’s going to be raining biopics in Hindi films, given a massive boost by the astounding runaway success of  ‘Sanju’, Hirani’s slice of life and times of the once beleaguered but ever-popular, film star Sanjay Dutt (despite it’s fair share of outraged detractors, outraged critics and mixed reviews).

According to the tabloids after some well-made biopics on our legendary wrestlers, boxers, sprinters, cricketers, actors and even underworld dons, there are a surfeit of real-life stories of achievers under research to be turned into saleable movies. In fact there are two films almost ready for release on our achievers in hockey ( Soorma and Gold ) while badminton golden girl Saina Nehwal’s success story is to be portrayed by actress, Shraddha Kapoor. Sports provides awe-inspiring tales like India’s famous 1983 first Cricket World Cup victory, now being made into a film !

Coming to other themes, the most exciting is the historical blockbuster on the legendary, Rani Laxmibhai being portrayed on screen by redoubtable ‘Queen’ Kangana Ranaut. Hrithik Roshan is undergoing an image makeover to play the genius mathematician, Ramanujam in yet another fascinating biopic to be completed soon.Another, interesting take is on Rakesh Sharma, India’s first astronaut into space, to be played by King ‘Shahrukh’ Khan ! The list would go on as the cult of biopics has caught the fancy of audiences.

In all this, some amazing tales of people in less glamorous professions, like banking and finance, are being overlooked. Though a biopic is on, featuring Ex-PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, based on the book ‘The Accidential Prime Minister’ with the versatile Anupam Kher enacting the role, the film would hardly deal with his stint as a Banker (RBI Governor) and dwell on politics.

When PSU banks are facing so much heat over the NPAs and high volume frauds, a biopic on the life and challenges of an eminent banker would reveal another side of the banking story. Among many great bankers that India has produced, my vote for a biopic goes to SBI’s ‘Lady of Substance’ !

State Bank’s first woman chairman. Arundhati Bhattacharya, after joining the country’s largest lender as a probationary officer worked for 40 years. Her journey started at the bank’s main branch in Calcutta with large manual ledgers all around and ended with the bank embracing cloud computing. In her interviews, she has revealed that she wanted to become a journalist and calls her entry into banking an “accident”. After leaving her imprint in every department of the bank, post-retirement she plans to do a PhD in banking and finance, as per reports.

Despite astounding success as a banker, Ms Arundhati remained grounded and pragmatic in her approach to her work and her people and took many pro-employee measures apart from being regarded as a financial expert in the country. In 2016, she was named the 25th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. In the same year, she was ranked among the FP Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine. She was named the 4th most powerful women in Asia Pacific by Fortune. In 2017, India Today magazine ranked her at 19th in India’s 50 Most powerful people of 2017 list.

There would be so much to enlighten us about the working of a large PSU behemoth in a biopic, if made – why not have Vidya Balan as Arundhati ?

IMG-20171218-WA0007_resized

 

What’s Up with WhatsApp

In a highly competitive world, strong on letting out emotions, aggression and urge to control, the voices of rational thinking individuals is a far cry. Today so overwhelming is the emotionally overpowering content visible in the social media that one’s thinking is drowned in the barrage ! For a long time there have been people ‘shooting from the lip’ and with a penchant for sensational revelations and opinions based on obscure facts. Add to this is the ability to ‘verbally fire’ first and apologize later if there is a ‘storm in the tea-cup’ or the established ‘apple-cart is getting upset’ !

With ‘WhatsApping’ becoming the most handy means of communication for sharing of news, views and ideas between groups, there appears to be an alarming rise in misinformation with malicious intent, leading the authorities to hasten the implementation of measures aimed at curbing the spread of fake news which have triggered serious incidents of violence in the country. Also, in a mad race of being one up, there’s a blitz of forwards, without checking source, facts or data, to impress others.

Why do some people behave so irrationally on the different platforms, even if they have no ulterior motives or axe to grind. Communication experts have another term for this- ‘An Amygdala Hijack’ – an immediate and overwhelming emotional response out of proportion to the stimulus because it has triggered a more significant emotional threat. The Amygdala is the part of our brain that handles emotions. During an Amygdala Hijack, the Amygdala “hijacks” or shuts down the neo-cortex or the rational thought processing of the brain. The Amygdala is responsible for the perception of emotions such as anger, fear, and sadness, as well as the controlling of aggression. The Amygdala helps to store memories of events and emotions so that an individual may be able to recognize similar events in the future.

We all undergo ‘Brain-fade’ some time not only on the social media but in all spheres of living. Quite frequently, we ‘lose it’ while bumbling into over-crowded trains to work /travel, negotiating impossible vehicular traffic, dealing with unruly people, non-sympathetic bosses, civic authorities, difficult suppliers/vendors and debates with younger family members in the inevitable generation gap ! The trick is to get hold of yourself when the ‘Hijack’ is getting triggered and get into the pause mode and take a deep breath. No action at that point is the best action ! Why indulge in antics for which you have to say sorry later – pause now to smile later !

(pic source : mirrorcitizen.dailymirror.lk)

Whatsapp cartoon

What a Mess(i) !

Shakespeare in his incomparable style had a distraught ‘Macbeth’ ponder ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow … Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player who struts and frets….’ in one of his immortal tragedies of epic proportions.The lines highlight the fickleness of fame and fortune, success and victory which all mortals must face – even if it’s Lionel Messi, currently rated the world’s best soccer player. That fateful Saturday night when Argentina crashed out of the World Cup against a raging red-hot French team, that gave them no quarters to equalize the score, many dreams were shattered !

A disconsolate Messi may now announce his retirement from international soccer bringing down the curtains to what can be described as an incredible career spanning about two decades. It’s so fascinating that at the age of 31, Messi has been considered the best soccer player in the world and regarded by many as the greatest of all time in the tradition of the great Maradona.

Born in Jun,1987 as Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini, the remarkable story of his life started in Central Argentina. Initially not strong he was diagnosed with a  growth hormone deficiency as a child. At a very young age of 13, he relocated to Spain to join Barcelona and later made his competitive debut  aged 17 in October 2004. Thus began the spectacular era of Lionel Messi.

Having played professional soccer for the Spanish Club ‘Barcelona’ with  whom he spent his entire career and of course his own Argentine National  Team, over the years, Messi has been one of the most prolific goal scorers and creative playmakers having been the recipient of innumerable awards, prizes, trophies for his teams and huge recognition in the soccer world.

Messi became the youngest Argentine to play and score in a FIFA World Cup during the 2006 edition, and reached the final of the 2007 Copa America , where he was named young player of the tournament. As the squad’s captain from August 2011, he led Argentina to three consecutive finals: the 2014 World Cup, for which he won the Golden Ball, and the 2015 and 2016 Copas America.

FIFA 2018, will be remembered not only for its many upsets (with last year’s champions Germany and Ronaldo’s Portugal making early exits ) but also for becoming swan song of possibly one of the most gifted and classy  practitioners of the wonderful game of football !

Messi himself has been quoted as saying “My motivation comes from playing the game I love. If I wasn’t paid to be a professional footballer I would willingly play for nothing” ! Apt words from a truly great sportsman of this generation.

messi

 

‘Sanju’ – Biopic with a Heart

Unlike many other enterprising people I don’t rush in for first day shows preferring to wait for reviews to educate or pre-warn of the impending three-hour experience ! For  ‘Sanju’ we made an exception simply because somewhere there’s always been a soft spot for that marvelous and maverick actor who made the ‘Munnabhai’ character a cult with his bohemian ways and cavalier style !

It’s also easy to understand the complexities and risks in constructing the biopic (albeit with shortcomings and omissions) of three hours, spanning four decades of the turbulent life and times of actor Sanjay Dutt (Sanju) – wayward, errant and junkie star-son, turned sought after superstar turned law-breaker and jailbird – the only son of such respected and celebrity parents as veteran actors, political  luminaries like Sunil and Nargis Dutt !

The film is not a classic in the league of ‘Munnabhai’ franchise or “Three Idiots’ which made director, Raj Kumar Hirani, a master-teller with his finger on people’s pulse. Yet it comes with it’s own strengths of a pulsating screenplay, sardonic doses of humor and moving intensity of human relationships.

‘Sanju’ is the resurgence of Ranbir Kapoor as an outstanding actor who lives the role of a helplessly weak, self-destructive, impetuous youth who wittingly or otherwise constantly got on the wrong side of law but later came to terms with his many misdemeanors, finally incarcerating himself with serving a jail sentence but not before getting his name cleared from the TADA accused list.

The other side of this remarkable story is the highly principled and upright etching of great moral stature of Sunil Dutt’s character, brilliantly portrayed by Paresh Rawal – in fact the film can also be a tribute to the fine qualities that Sunil Dutt possessed as a man and a father, the relentless battles that he fought for his son on various fronts till the end. There’s a moving fictional speech which Sanju prepares for his father for he can’t thank him enough for drawing him out of abyss of failure to a life of meaning !  Paresh Rawal’s superlative act is supported by a superb power performance by Vicky Kaushal and a sweet cameo by Manisha Koirala as Nargis Dutt.

Finally the misses, which are quite a few. Understandably to keep everyone appeased, nothing is spoken of his various affairs with his co-stars but why  have no mention even of his first wife and daughter from her. In a film dominated by larger than life figures and lots of  bromance between Sanju and his life-long friend, the female characters are low key including Sanju’s sisters and stars Sonam Kapoor and Anushka Sharma seem quite inconsequential in their roles.

Despite its omissions and indulgence, ‘Sanju’ is a moving experience that’s all about frustrations, hope, endearment and lasting relationships. In the last scene, Sanju himself tells his son “Try to become like my Father, don’t try to be like your Father !”.

I specially felt happy when my wife said after the movie ‘Thank you, Sanju ’ – you see my nickname too is Sanju !

Sanju