It is well known that language is no barrier for music lovers and this inner create urge to expand the horizons to all corners, composers of beautiful tunes have not only created memorable songs for posterity but also ensured legion of ardent fans derive joy of the composition in their own language.

‘Borne Gondhe Chande Gitite…’ is a vintage super hit romantic song that Bengalis who follow classics in musical numbers of 1960-70s, often sing. The singer was the composer & musical genius, legendary  SD Burman also known as ‘Dada Burman’ of Bengali and Hindi film world. As the amazing story goes, the lyrics of this song were written by none other than Mira Dev Burman, very gifted better half of Dada and that SD had composed this evergreen song as a ‘Pujor Sankha’ in his music album released in 1969 !

Later Dada, a ‘Navketan’ favourite was composing music for Dev Anand’s film ‘Prem Pujari’ (1970) and used the basic tune of ‘Borne Gondhe..’ to create an equally beautiful song which was suitably modified to suit Dev’s suave persona. In keeping with tradition already set earlier, the playback for the song for Dev came from Kishore Kumar, who memorably rendered it with his incomparable flavor of romance, nostalgia and hope ! Today, the song ‘Phoolon Ke Rang Se..’ is as fresh & uplifting as it was 54 years ago ! 

In 1971, actor Rajesh Khanna, (on road to becoming a superstar called the ‘Phenomenon’ by film media) enacted a different role in ‘Dushman’ which received critical acclaim for its powerful theme. Directed by Dulal Guha it had legendary actress Meena Kumari in a pivotal stellar role while Mumtaz played the romantic pair opposite RK with aplomb as she always did. Yet it was Khanna who was memorable in portrayal as the repentant truck driver. Why talk about a vintage film after so many years. Let’s look at the story…

Here was an out of the box theme on the subject of differentiating law and justice. A rash and reckless truck driver in an inebriated state runs over a man in an accident in a village and is arrested by the locals and tried in court. In a far cry from normal jurisprudence and as a revolutionary social experiment the Judge proposes to Judges bench that the accused should spend two years in the village to take care of the family members of the person who got killed by accident, which comprise of his old Father, wife, sister and young son. The riveting tale is about how the family and village at large, copes with the judgement that’s unpalatable to all of them !

If the story rings a bell, it’s eerily akin to the horrific road accident in Pune that snuffed out the lives of two young techies crushed under the recklessly wayward wheels of a luxury car driven by a inebriated delinquent youth. To add to people’s outrage was the near immediate bail granted to ‘juvenile’ driver and his two friends that reeks of entitlement that comes to affluent. As redemption, the juvenile court has asked the accused to write a 300 page essay on how to avoid road accidents and tasks that are kind of punishment to errant school student, not for heinous negligence resulting in two deaths. 

What the fictional Judge in ‘Dushman’ proposed was a major socio-legal experiment that stressed on reformation of delinquents but by undertaking all the responsibilities of the bereaved family & that was plausible in a way. In the Pune road accident case, what appears is the kind of cover-up and machinations that are set in motion to protect rich-brats who are a threat to society. Most stringent action needs to be initiated against them and those responsible for such an upbringing that breeds a flagrant defiance of civil society norms and exposes people on the streets. That is order of the day ! 

It seems like ages since we last wrote or received a hand-written letter. In this digital age it is so easy to stay connected with people – like a pervasive genie unleashed with digital revolution, we’ve now got friends on FB, send emails to bosses & co-workers and post short ‘stay-well’ messages to elderly parents/relatives and tweet at celebrities and politicians.

Yet ask anyone past middle-age and there’s warm nostalgia that surrounds letters.Many of us preserve old ones we can lay hands on, like mementos ! In these we try to keep alive the personal touch of the writer. Till the 1980’s parents would get worried if you didn’t send them a postcard (or made STD calls) every other week ! Today the humble ‘letter’ in own handwriting as  form of communication is slowly becoming extinct, barring official letters that need be sent by post. Why write, rather chat for hours on WhatsApp !

Looking back, most of us won’t recall the first letter we wrote. I suspect it would’ve been in school as an English lesson where basics of letter-writing were taught and class tests were given to elicit model answers. Simple as it sounded, teachers would point out many errors in our drafts. A good letter had to be clear, organized in paras with apt words that were to the point. It was a writing skill that had to be perfected through constant practice.

As children, conveying respect or affection to elders & relatives on festivals by penning letters to them, was a ritual followed meticulously. Also, it was imperative we stayed in touch with each other when out of town and letters were means to convey information, one’s experiences and thoughts. We still recall our parent’s vivid hand-written accounts of travels across Scotland, Norway and exotic destinations, that seemed as if they were speaking to us.

Confiding innermost thoughts via letters to dear friends was much in vogue then, specially where matters of the heart and heartbreaks were concerned. In poignant times too, letters brought solace. When my close friend’s father died we were in school itself and I penned a heartfelt note on his loss which moved my Dad to tears. Historically, writing came naturally to our family !   

Often help of those who had greater fluency in writing were enlisted to draft special letters. I once helped a close friend in composing his first love-note to his fiancé which met with much appreciation. Later she discovered that he’d used a shadow writer but laughed it off for his overall good intentions.         

Busy schedules, time pressures often prevent us from writing and simply calling and chatting. Yet, social letters can be fun, therapeutic, and can have a much deeper meaning to the recipient than a boring old email. So what if it takes a little bit longer than a digital message ? It is so exciting to receive a letter in reply that reciprocates our feelings and isn’t a bill or a reminder !

One very happening chat show of late, has a smart young lady quizzing a celebrity (actors, cricketers, netas) over breakfast about their favorite cuisines and predictably the Mumbaikar’s pledge their undying allegiance to the quintessential ‘Vada Pav’ (and it’s variations), Delhiwalas swear by ‘Old Delhi’s Chole Bature’ and Bongs love ‘Phuchkas’ and ‘Maacher Fry’etc. We don’t qualify as celebrities and no one interviews us but we foodies are survivors through generations. Ministry of kitchen and home affairs is sharp being very familiar with old ‘palate’ weaknesses. All required restrictions are put in all homes on ‘Senior’ gents. Culinary delights are reserved for guests & celebratory events !

Like everything one gets attached to but can’t always have in life, the poignant part of nostalgia for our home-town Lucknow will remain the crispy, yummy ‘samosas’ that have their distinct flavour & crunchiness ! They even come in different sizes and fillings and can easily claim to be the most popular snack in the City of Nawabs ! In India and abroad, cosmopolitan cities have their ‘samosa’ versions but for people like us who are reasonably biased for all things Lucknowi, none can curl, fry a samosa like they do there since times immemorial, but the history of the great samosa is fascinating as its taste !    

Research reveals that the snack SAMOSA probably travelled to India along ancient trade routes from Central Asia. Small, crisp mince-filled triangles that were easy to make around the campfire during night halts, then conveniently packed into saddlebags as snacks for next day’s journey. By the early 14th Century, it was not only a part of Indian cuisine but also food fit for a king. The samosa obtained a royal stamp with its inclusion in the Ain-i-Akbari which declared that among dishes cooked with wheat there is qutab, “which people of Hind called the sanbusa“.

Indian samosas are usually vegetarian, and often accompanied by a mint sauce (raita) or chutney and originated in Uttar Pradesh.The current day samosas are small, crispy, flaky pastries that are usually deep-fried. They are stuffed with an assortment of fillings ranging from minced meat with herbs and spices to vegetables such as cauliflower and potatoes. The Bengali type samosas have flavour different from the North – they are filled with sweetened reduced milk that go straight from the frying pan to a syrup wash.

It is very rare that one finds a good samosa-maker in the family (not having married into ‘halwais’ ) but I have been distinctly fortunate that forty four years ago I came across a lady with samosa magic in her hands ! Despite being away from Lucknow, I have not felt samosa-deprived because my octogenarian Mother-in-law, Mrs. Roma Basu, can create yummy samosas even today, albeit with the capable assistance and support from her daughter. When the fun days come, we have our own show – ‘Samosas on My Plate’ !

When it came to the final crunch in the last stages of the IPL, the somewhat beleaguered Lucknow boys, scarred by the ignominy of a 10-wicket defeat and heart-breaking 4 losses on the trot till this match, delivered a brilliant all round show on a rain-interrupted night to leave on happier note, though  not qualifying for play-offs having lowest run-rate among other contenders. For the fancied Mumbai Indians and it’s newly anointed skipper, Hardik, it was a highly forgettable IPL season, where nothing really clicked for them.

For the LSG fans the innings started with a disastrous opening partnership & pretty sluggish power-play and just when it seemed that a repeat of their earlier displays was on cards, in walked lithe and pumped up Pooran, to lift the team with an awesome display of power-hitting, that not only swung the tide in LSG favour but empowered KL Rahul to show his aggressive intent. Nice cameos in the end came from Badoni & Krunal. The fielders deserved a mention – a leaping Krunal saving a sure 6, also saved the match for LSG !     

What is frightening from the T20 World Cup point of view for India is that the burly West Indians of likes Russell, Pooran, Hetmeyer, Powell ( arc of Narine may not play in WC) who’ve entertained us in this IPL will now go back to represent West Indies. Bumrah and our wily spinners will have to invent canny ways to beat the arc of their swinging bats and massive shots ! Hope that after IPL, the WI power hitters leave their form behind in India.

Good news from our camp, King Kohli has hit his ‘purple patch’ and Rohit looked good in yesterday’s game. It’s believed that the ‘Hitman’ is a ‘Big Match’ player. Let’s take another shot at the WC and this time ‘Lift it too’ !   

The fine art of ‘acting’ and the techniques of film making have constantly evolved and transformed beyond recognition since the beginning of motion pictures in 1888. All this is subject of research for those who study & understand the craft of film-making but as audiences become more discerning, the challenge to makers is to innovate and engage with newer themes, contemporary stories and methods of enacting the characters with realism with roles and content which offers a combo that’s  entertaining, exhilarating & educating. In that sense, there is a perceptible shift from big-budget films screened in cinema halls to the OTT offerings of films and web-series of diverse genres.

As seniors we’d connect more with movies of the 1960s-70s that were often based on famous classics and works of great authors and characters that were created by them, played with the passion by renowned actors. I’d cite examples of  ‘Sahib Biwi Ghulam’ (Hindi-1962) and ‘Gone With The Wind’ (English -1939) – outstanding and celebrated films of all times, among hundred others. Great actors then would follow the ‘method acting’ style as opposed to ‘natural’. For a long time, loud melodrama flourished in most films & not just in costume dramas, period films. Actors often got type-cast in certain moulds !   

Recently we caught up with an old film (1966) on OTT, a super-hit for it’s foot-tapping songs, but who’s name shall remain undisclosed, for it may hurt the nostalgic connect it had with 60’s generation. However, we were a bit appalled at the contrived, over the top mannerisms of the popular lead actors, also called ‘hamming’ and what now seems like ‘overacting’ compared to the effortless, natural style we witness with many new actors. Many big stars remained trapped in their image rather than get under skin of the role !

Mature cinema buffs love natural or realistic acting as it involves an actor attempting to portray a character like a real person & not just figment of a writer’s imagination. It tries to accurately and convincingly reflect human actions and emotions and focuses on sensitive and nuanced characterization of characters, frequently drawing inspiration from real-life observations. Since cinema is a medium of the ‘Director’s’ expression, it took likes of  Bimal Roy, Guru Dutt, Hrishikesh Mukherji, Shyam Benegal and Basu Chatterji to create films that had actors who truly became the characters…

Let’s remember that early Bollywood also produced classy actors but stylized acting was much appreciated with popular stars and ‘larger than life’ images were created for them.  The 60s also saw the rise of natural actors like Balraj Sahni and Ashok Kumar (among male actors) while the 70s brought in ‘new wave cinema’ and creative genius of Shyam Benegal with actors Naseer Shah, Om Puri and a host of others. In the last decade we’ve had likes of Irrfan Khan, Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rajkumar Rao & Pankaj Tripathi !

What’s heartening is the newest breed of actors mostly seen on OTT platforms who live the parts they play. It’s said ‘Dramatic ability is a natural gift, that can hardly be taught’ ! But trained, Yes !

In those good old ‘Lucknowi’ days of homilies and colloquial phrases, one popular one for young school going children was ‘Padhoge likhoge banoge Nawab, kheloge kudoge hoge kharab’ or simply put, if you read and write (and study) well, you will become great and only play will make you bad ! Many years & about five decades later these words seem to have lost their significance despite the fact everyone, meaning parents, educators and institutions feel the need for imparting proper education to the youth.

Building strong academic foundations through developing proficiencies in ‘Reading, Writing, Arithmetic (three basic R’s in schooling) are not really needed to secure high marks in most exams & have been replaced by use of clever apps, mobile binging and computer gaming as leisure activities for kids of today. The joys of reading ‘classics’ in different languages such as ‘Treasure Island’ ‘Oliver Twist’ and ‘Gone with the Wind’ (English), delightful Munshi Premchand stories (Hindi) or Tagore’s poems (Bengali), and writing long essays and showing off one’s keenly acquired vocabulary (to parents, teachers, friends) is past prime time, as artistry of Test Cricket is by advent of  T20s !    

Good writers are what they are because they can write fiction as well as expound on relevant contemporary subjects. So prolific author and commentator, Chetan Bhagat’s brilliant centre-piece in yesterday’s TOI comes as a breath of fresh air as he candidly lays threadbare the growing chasm in the academic armory of our educated youth and also relates shortcomings inter alia to worrisome decline in reading habits in general ! Humorist Mark Twain famously said “Classic is a book people praise and don’t read.”

Is everyone out of touch with reading books ? Surely there is a class of ‘book-lovers’ and readers of all ages (and we don’t mean book-worms !) even if they are elite in a sense. We can recall that as young students we would frequent book stores to find the right book & wrap it up as a friend’s birthday gift but that’s a bit passé now. Imagine our surprise when on our Anniversary our Son and daughter-in-law presented us with two beautifully bound English Classics. They knew for sure that at least two die-hard literature buffs like us would read them (second time over) ! It’s such a fine thought …

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go” said Dr. Seuss, American children’s author, poet and, animator. One way to encourage our young ones (apart from being a good Grandma/pa who can  tell bed-time stories ) is to gift them great books and show a world that’s got hidden !

It was an inexplicably subliminal performance by an otherwise formidable side that seemed to have done in by left handers on both sides. LSG Star opener Quinton Decock failed yet again with the bat and two lefty batters, Narine from KKR and Head from SRH dealt crushing blows (in sixes and fours only !) in consecutive matches that exposed weaknesses of  Lucknow’s inept bowling attack ! After a stunning debut in first two LSG matches, Mayank Yadav is facing fitness issues and not in the playing squad & poor KL Rahul finds it difficult now to enthuse his bowlers against such batting onslaughts !  

You don’t have to know Charles Dickens to say ‘It was the worst times ..and summer of discontent’ if one were to empathize with the plight of Captain KL Rahul as his team LSG was routed humiliatingly by SRH and clips of the dressing down he was getting from the LSG Team Owners in public after that huge loss by 10 wickets, that went viral. T20 Cricket and specially the IPL format is heavily tilted towards big-hitting batters and ‘impact’ players rule and best teams find it tough to be consistent across all matches – LSG had it’s saddest days in office but can bounce back in next two games !  

The LSG Bosses firing the Captain on the field reminds of the line that our trainers in the Bank exhorted in management classes ‘Praise in public and reprimand in private’ . There are days when a unit leader and his entire team is down in the dumps, unable to come to terms with a debacle and a sub-par performance, it is the Top Management that should support them with morale boosting words rather than chastise in full view and undermine their self-belief. Bosses over eager for success and unable to back their boys in their hour of defeat, end up with teams that go into disarray instead of recouping after the losses.

The loyal fans of LSG  may want to send an unsolicited quote from Robert Kennedy for Sanjeev Goenka, LSG Team Owner for his arrogant and thoughtless actions ‘Only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly’ ! And a quote from Bob Marley for the beleaguered LSG skipper, KL Rahul ‘You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice’ ! In T20 cricket, one big defeat can be followed by a big win and KL Rahul has seen it all !

Lovers of Hindi film music would know from the invaluable treasure house of songs written by great poets and lyricists and rendered by iconic singers of the golden era of the 1960s to the 1980’s, that these songs had a special place and meaning in those films and lent poetic meaning and philosophic content to them through their beautiful words. Significantly, there are about two dozen songs from the yester-years which became classics in their right for their depth of thought, which started with the word ‘Zindagi’ or ‘Life’ and gave different hues, views, colours and perspectives on what life meant to us.

Fortuitously, the versatile Kishore da became the voice of Rajesh Khanna after his first super-hit ‘Aradhana’ and sang many unforgettable numbers that began with the word ‘Zindagi’ but none more poignant and heartrending than the title song from 1970 film ’Safar’ ! The beautiful, soulful lyrics were penned by versatile writer, Indivar and the song was masterfully composed by the maestro duo composers, Kalyanji Anandji.

‘Zindagi Ka Safar, Hai Ye Kaisa Safar

Koi Samjha Nahin Koi Jaana Nahin,

Hai Ye Kaisi Dagar, Chalte Hain Sab Magar

Koi Samjha Nahin Koi Jaana Nahin …’

The song’s tune which also served as the background score in the film ‘Safar’, remains an all time classic for its superb rendition by the incomparable Kishore Kumar !  

‘We all lose friends…we lose them in death, to distance, and over time. The key is to keep them in your heart’ and remember the wonderful moments & happy experiences you shared that often form part of your ‘better’ past. As Amy Marie Waltz continues to say ‘for friends lost over the years, when the time is right, you can pick up the friendship right where you left off.  Even the lost find their way home, when you leave the light on’ !

Despite his untimely passing away at the very young age of 28, I always cherish the 15 years of deep bonding with late Suneel Singh (IAS of 1977 Batch) ! Another person, who became a dear friend, ironically through Suneel, was Deepak Bhandari, originally from UP but later settled in Mumbai. Deepak went through a rough patch unfortunately and succumbed to illness in mid-life only. The pic below has both on them standing, behind me and another close childhood friend from school, Alok who later became a Doctor.

Dr. Alok Rajvanshi is an orthopedic surgeon based out of India for many years now, in Australia. Distance and long gaps in communication had our friendship fading away till it all got rekindled when my wife, Tandra fortuitously came face to face with Alok and Durgesh at a friend’s son’s wedding in India and a great reunion took place. Alok wants us to visit them in Australia & we await their next trip here. When will the twain meet ?!