E R Braithwaite’s soul stirring book ‘To Sir With Love’ published in 1959, tells the riveting story of a young black teacher who struggles to win over the trust and love of a bunch of wayward and near delinquent students in a largely white secondary school in one of London’s poorest neighborhoods. Interestingly the novel is based on the true story of Braithwaite & deals with social & racial issues. Sometimes the film (made in 1967) on the story garners more interest and acclaim and I confess I read the book after watching the film ‘To Sir With Love’ which remained etched in my mind.  Later, many of us used this ‘title’ on gifts to those we respected- teachers, seniors and bosses !

As most of the old-timers would recall, the protagonist is a teacher in a London High School full of white students who are brats and brash drop-outs, sneering with racial superiority at the new black teacher who’s committed to reform them with skills at his command. One of the first precepts of learning is to respect the teacher as someone who comes armed with knowledge that one doesn’t possess. In this case, not only did this group of surly, wayward students have any intention of gaining anything but treated their black teacher with deep seated prejudice – did his intellect make him superior ?

The story evolves with many riveting confrontations and persuasive bouts with the class not only on academic matters but on issues of cleanliness, hygiene, good manners and self-discipline the teacher tries to inculcate in them to be upstanding men and women. There’s initial resistance but then a slow but grudging admiration starting with a few as it dawns on the bitterness of ‘broken homes’ that life can have a brighter and better side. Education isn’t only about learning numbers & grammar but about living decently and with pride. Braithwaite’s moving tale puts forth lessons & rises above colour and creed.

True to character, Sidney Poiter, the talented American actor played the unforgettable role with great passion. The film got rave reviews for its universal appeal & I remember that when I first saw the film, I was simply bowled over by Poiter’s stirring performance, a black actor who had become an icon for his portrayal of classy, dignified heroes in amazing, award winning films like “In the Heat of the Night’ and ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’ apart from ‘Lilies in the Field’ for which he received the Oscar ! One of my more erudite Aunts, who was also a movie-buff, asked us to correctly pronounce the name. ‘Poati’ (somewhat French?), not Poiter, she told us knowingly !

Despite all its progress and fight for human rights and against racism, US continues to have overt and covert cases of racial prejudice. The book & film remains a watershed !

A quote I read says ‘Grandfather is a man who has no clock, no plans and lots of time for his grandkids’. Some fondest recollections are my childhood years spent with my Grand-Dad, Sri Narendra Nath Sinha. ‘Dadu’- as we siblings called him- was my Dad’s Dad and was originally a Barrister who’d also been sent to London to study Law by his illustrious Father, Kali Prasonna Singho, a Dist. Judge in the British colonial era.

Dadu’s world centered around his grandchildren till he passed away in 1970 at age of 85. Naturally, as a very young boy I spent a lot of time with my Dadu, to me, one of the best story tellers I’ve ever known. From the much widely read  Shakespearean tragedies like ‘Othello’ & ‘Julius Caesar’ to ‘French Revolution’ and classic ‘Tale of Two Cities’, from escapades of that ‘damned elusive Scarlet Pimpernal’ to the revenge of the ‘Count of Monte Cristo’, he had us spellbound with his dramatic narrations which made the stories come alive.

One of his preferred tales was the fascinating battle for the ‘Ashes’ and an amazing man, Don Bradman, whose prowess became cricketing folklore for all times. Why ‘Ashes’ and more importantly whose ashes I had then asked. As we now know ‘The Ashes’ Cricket Series is traditionally of five Tests, hosted in turn by England and Australia at least once every four years. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in British paper, which stated that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. The mythical ashes immediately became associated with the 1882–83 series played in Australia, before which the English captain Ivo Bligh had vowed to “regain those ashes”. English media then took over, calling it ‘The Ashes’ !

Dadu’s recounting would start from the 1930s when a small built batsman called Donald Bradman made an unimpressive debut and the inexperienced Australians were heavily defeated by a very strong English batting side with the likes of Wally Hammond, Jack Hobbs & Billy Sutcliffe. But the legendary ‘Bradman’ show was to follow in years to come and to make history forever.I vaguely remember seeing a Scrapbook that had pictures of Bradman. As Dadu would unfold to us the dramatic story, it was the awe of Bradman’s invincible bat that caused England’s Captain Douglas Jardine (1932-33) to adopt the nasty tactic of fast leg theory, known as the infamous Bodyline. Although England decisively won the Ashes 4–1, Bodyline as the most unsporting, deadly and lethal practice by the fielding side to overpower the opposition batters, caused such a furore in Australia that it was banished forever from the laws of Cricket.

As a cricket buff much later in the mid 1980s, I happened to chance upon and enjoy profusely the cinematic retelling of that infamous ‘1932-33’ Ashes series in a wonderful Mini-series called ‘Bodyline – The Ultimate Test’. Understand it’s still available on ‘Amazon Prime Video’! And yes, the greatest batsman of all times, Aussie Donald Bradman came to be known as ‘Sir Don’ and his most famous book ‘Farewell to Cricket’ written in 1950, is must read for all die-hard cricket aficionados !

One of the traits of the Millennial and the Gen Z ( include X and Y too ) is their gradual breakaway from the literary activities like ‘writing’ and ‘reading’, which are now mainly confined to academic exercises prescribed in school curriculums. There being no real technology in realm of ‘chalk and talk’ teaching methods in days of yore, predominance of app-based studies has brought a sea-change in the way young students think and act.

Most friends, associates and peers from our time of 1970s, would recall our penchant for visiting libraries & of borrowing books and notes from friends and even gifting a perfect ‘classic’ novel to someone who was precious ! How could then films be left behind ? In a famous old Lucknow based movie ‘Mere Mehboob’ (1963), the young lead pair collide, their books lie scattered on the college hallway – it’s quintessentially ‘love at first sight’ !

Having said that, paradoxically the book-stores with dwindling business and few buyers of books and literature lovers left till just few years back, have suddenly got a new lease of life with the emergence of writers of all genres. Today anyone can think of becoming a popular pulp fiction writer or ace biographer, an author or a poet with a little talent for wordplay and lucid expression, unlimited access to information on the public domain for drawing on ideas & publishers, not fussy about quality of writing or of plagiarism !

The urge that our famed celebrities (including politicians, statesmen, leaders, business honchos, sportsmen and yes, superstars !) have to let their life (success) stories be told through their memoirs and autobiographies (mostly ghost written) has flavours to it – they draw on people’s fascination to know about their private lives, struggles, setbacks & victories but many are written to set the record straight and give a new twist to accepted facts. A  few like the iconic ‘Big ‘B’ have yet not relented to being chronicled into a book !   

Let me add that not all from our Gen-next and Next-next are averse to literary pursuits in their leisure time while following their academic & other pursuits. Many teenagers I’ve known (progeny of relatives & friends) have turned writers with published books at a very young age, creating new genres. There’s also a noticeable shift in wrapped gifts our young reward us with. Of late, I’ve become truly ‘gifted’ to get a bound copy of ‘Gone With the Wind’ and a bound compilation of the ‘World’s Greatest Speeches’! A way of exhibiting their literary-sensitive side in expressing appreciation and love for books !         

Followers of great mystery novels would recall that strange eerie feeling one got from reading “Ten Little Niggers“, with its intricate plot of intrigue and revenge, where ten people of different backgrounds get trapped in an island and then start getting killed one after the other till none are left ! One is on tenterhooks right till the mystery is unravelled!

In a family of ardent lovers of murder mysteries, we’ve been hooked on the Agatha Christie novels and her uncanny characters – Poirot and Miss Marple were her most well-known detectives, possibly second only to the invincible Sherlock Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle. Her success as an author of sleuth stories earned her titles like the “Queen of Crime” and the “Queen of Mystery.” Agatha Christie is also be considered a queen of all publishing genres as she is one of the top-selling authors in history, with her combined works selling more than 2 billion copies worldwide.

The world will celebrate her 135^th birth anniversary on 15^th Sept. Tandra and I were reminiscing the aura of mystery and suspense she’d created without resorting to the gore and violence of the modern day thriller genre. As her great detective Poirot ( always using his “little grey cells” ) would say, crimes were committed for the same reasons – greed, jealousy, revenge but our attention was always drawn to the obvious just like the magician would perform his trick by a sleight of hand under one’s nose. One may ask, when a woman is bumped off, why is her husband the prime suspect ?

My favourite Christie novel remains “Witness for the Prosecution” a spell binding courtroom drama which was also made into an unforgettable film starring Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich back in the Fifties. Fortunately the superb film is now available on Amazon Prime. Among the many others are the amazing “Murder on the Orient Express “ and “Death on the Nile” which later became popular films !

Set in an era gone by, Christie’s novels had a classical quality as she loved to borrow names not only from Shakespeare but also from nursery rhymes ! Titles of some of her novels were rhymes like “Hickory Dickory Dock “ or “Taken at the Flood“ drawn from the famous lines of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Later in the 80s, we also saw a wonderful film starring Elizabeth Taylor based on her novel “Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side“ (a line from a famous quote ! ). Agatha Christie died on January, 1976 , almost fifty years ago, but she left a huge legacy of literature for generations to come.

As the genial but astutely observant, Miss Marple would say “ Human beings remain the same everywhere , with all their follies & weaknesses …” & love for Dame Agatha !

Charles Dickens masterly work ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ was first published in 1859 and is possibly one of the most widely read classics by students of English literature and lovers of historical fiction across the world. Set in London and Paris before and during the 18^th Century French Revolution, the story takes place between 1775 and 1792.It tells a tale of sublime love and sacrifice against the  backdrop of the class conflict between the haves and have-nots, nobles, aristocracy and deprived proletariat that led to the Revolution !

While English Literature abounds in classics of many genres, this remains my all time favourite for a variety of reasons that are literary, emotional and personal in nature.  The best comes first in the form of the powerful opening lines ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..’ and has been quoted again and again by readers over the ages for its depth of bringing out contrast as if two parallel worlds existed side by side. Look closely & one finds striking resemblance to the class struggle taking place in society.

For heroism, drama and passion, Dickens has created one of the most poignant fictional characters in ‘Sydney Carton’, protagonist who’s a confirmed alcoholic lost to the world in self-denial (decrying ‘Who shall weep for Sydney Carton ?’). He finds love like of ray of sunshine seeping through dark clouds but it remains unrequited. There are shades of Sarat Chandra’s melancholic, self-destructive ‘Devdas’ but noble Sydney sacrifices his life for the love of the woman, he came to love. The last lines (in the book) in redemption tug at our heart strings ‘It’s a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done…’.

This masterpiece has been transposed to celluloid many times over but the best known film on the novel was made in 1935. This version, starring Ronald Colman, is often cited as a classic and was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. I wasn’t around then but my Dad, a film buff, swore by actor Colman’s great performance. Much later I was able to see on TV the 1958 adaptation starring Dirk Bogarde and Dorothy Tutin and felt it was a moving experience. A 1980 version featured Chris Sarandon & Alice Krige. 

In our College days there was a lot of back and forth to libraries and I had read the novel very early and heard about the classic 1935 film. It was such a wonderful surprise when a couple of years ago, my Son & Daughter-in-law presented me on my birthday with a hard bound edition and I was able to revive recollections of ‘The Tale..’. Truly, it was ‘the best of times’ and for my flashbacks to youth ‘Far far better thing that had happened..’    

No music show is complete without clones singing his hits, all music maestros bow to his incredible talent and die-hard fans of every age and genre have him on their playlist, despite the fact that he left the world 38 years ago. 4^th August happens to be the amazing singer and artiste, Kishoreda’s 96^th Birthday- the Bengali Channel ‘Akash Aath’ devoted consecutive shows on the last three days where wonderful singers sang their heart’s out,  & where tributes from great composers were also shared. It’s testimony to his untrained virtuosity & versatility that he’s still remembered for all genres with such ‘timelessness’.  

So much has already been explored, delved into and written about the maverick genius with uncanny gift of an incredible manly voice & incomparable musical sense & timing. As a devout follower, however, one looks back on the impact he had on our lives when we were looking for inspiration and to emulate the best in manhood and romance. In 1970-71, in his comeback vehicle Dada SD made Kishoreda sang with gay abandon ‘Mere Sapno Ki Rani’ to become the staple voice for superstar Rajesh Khanna, rest was history. 

For those who could sing, Kishoreda’s voice resonated confidence, masculinity, melody & passion that had to be cloned in signature style in the 1970’s when we were in college. Many of my loyal friends (cant ‘say fans !) started associating me with Kishore songs & I realized that singing was a great way to attract folks ! In those days, match making for us started early in life. I recall in one such meeting, my Dad, a Saigal fan, joked that “ in addition to many talents, my Son can sing Kishore songs wonderfully & I’d have to sing. Fortuitously when I got married, my wife happily turned out to be a Kishore ‘bhakt’ too.

Decades have passed, we’ve become senior citizens, yet we’re still steadfastly young as we continue to croon the Kishoreda melodies in solitude or celebrating with friends. I do love other great singers and their songs, but am mostly asked to sing the ‘K’ numbers ! I know friends are loyal and appreciate our efforts but think of ‘happiness’ we all derive !

On my 70^th birthday, my dear niece ‘Shreya’ knowing the penchant and passion of her old ‘Mama’ gifted me a beautiful book ‘Kishore Kumar- the Ultimate Biography’. Pic is given below). In tracing the master’s journey the writers have beautifully divided into three Sections – Book 1 , Bhairav – The Morning’, Book 2 – Poorvi – The Afternoon and Book 3- Kalyan – The Evening’. I’ll not review the book or reveal the stories. As Keats had said ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’. Thanks for all that you’ve given us, KishoreDa !           

Remember when we’d express ire on our recalcitrant school going sons for not studying hard enough for their impending exams, warning that they’d fare badly and then getting a pleasant surprise to see them getting good marks – that gave a real high and make us eat our words albeit at times grudgingly. Something similar to that happened yesterday..

As veteran cricket aficionados we friends often air our considered opinions to each other on the fate of the Indian team now hanging in the balance and presently engaged in the England Test Series battle. When the team was announced for the Fifth Test, most of us were up in arms against choice of the weakened bowling attack that had no ‘Boom-rah’ ! Particularly irksome was return of  Prasidh Krishna who’s profligacy in leaking runs put India under pressure in earlier Tests. Most rooted for Kuldeep to be given final look in.  

To begin with, all our overt apprehensions seemed to come true- India put up a listless First innings display barring a valiant half-century by Karun Nair and England went into a superfast gallop as their two openers treated our pacers with utter disdain and we all felt that the series was pretty much sealed with the home-team running away to a huge 1^st innings lead. But we seem to have underestimated our boys and the fight wasn’t over. It all started with the audacious Duckett throwing away his wicket and Akashdeep giving him coziest of send offs. Apparently Duckie had cockily told him ‘You can’t get me Out ‘! 

Post lunch there was a dramatic transformation as the pacers led by a redoubtable prize fighter : DSP Md. Siraj bowled with such renewed aggression and intent that suddenly the English batters weren’t hitting 6s but at ‘sixes & sevens’. Spurred by Siraj’s intensity Prasidh also raised the bar and bowled his heart out. It’s now being noticed that when Bumrah plays the other pacers don’t perform to potential but in his absence the burden falls on Siraj to lead the attack & he delivers. Tireless, he hasn’t cared for the workload.

What’s clear is that we hype up some of the big players into ‘larger than life’ characters & put pressure on them to always perform. Interestingly while all talk is centred around Bumrah’s fitness and workload, the one Test India won was when Bumrah didn’t play. In the same vein, had we persisted with two veterans (also legends,as like to call them) Virat and Rohit, we’d have never witnessed the emergence of Shubhman Gill the leader !   

The old world exclamation “O Brother !’’ might not have appeared as friendly banter but most use the term ‘ Bhai’ signifying friendship & camaraderie, like the sobriquets “Dada” (for Bong men irrespective of age !), “Mota Bhai” (respectfully for Gujus) or “Bhai-jaan” (used by Lucknowis & Hyderabadis). What then can be said of your own kith and kin, the asli “Bhai”, guy who’d tease, make funny faces, sing & crack stupid jokes…. festivals like ‘Rakhi’ gives one a chance to say “Luv u Bro ! “ and “God bless, Sis” and feel good !

Truly, our brothers and sisters are the first real relationships we have outside of our parents. In growing up years we share parents, home, pets, celebrations, catastrophes and family secrets ! Generally, the elder brother or sister is your first friend and the first person you learned to play with, share with, and laugh with. He/She was also the first person who picked on you, fought with you but helped finish homework and taught you many good things like history, sums and the art of living  !

Traditionally, the eldest siblings are expected to play the role model of strong, caring characters and proverbial friend, philosopher and protector of their younger siblings. In the good old days, the responsibility and expectations of carrying on the family tradition was theirs too ! But how are they faring in their roles today ?

Since the break-up of the joint family concept, most siblings now quickly move on in life, forge and develop relationships and friendships that suit their beliefs and life styles. With latest technology on hand, the virtual contact with siblings may remain but distances and pressures of keeping pace with peers, often blur some of the old ties and reduce them into working relationships to be kept up as duties &  social commitments !  

Siblings as adults often find themselves at variance as they assess their own roles. Also we spend our whole lives putting parents on a pedestal, who were magical beings that raised us after all. But as we get older and go through our own struggle of life, we come to see our parents as human. We need to knock off being so hard on ourselves, we have to become okay with our own parents and we ourselves as parents, being human !

In the autumn years, there’s revival of a familial sense of belonging stitched together by old memories. Fortunately, our functions, customs & festivities come to our rescue as always. The bonding between brothers and sisters & the gen-next are strengthened with symbolic  rituals and reunions , to say  “We’re always there for you, like the old times” !

‘Tanvi the Great’ – Daringly Inspiring Film

If one were to rephrase the classic Shelly lines ‘Our sweetest movies are those that tell us happy ways how the human spirit uplifts and inspires’. With Anupam Kher, the creator of the film and young Shubhangi creating screen magic, watching ‘Tanvi the Great’ is quite an exhilarating experience ! Transcending the ordinary story-telling of mundane lives devoid of challenges, is a story of an extraordinary journey of an autistic girl who, as the film audaciously reveals to us, is ‘different but no less’ in daring to live her dream, notwithstanding the certain obstacles on the way.

As one of the principal protagonists is veteran thespian,  Anupam Kher, as the proud but lonely, grief-stricken army Colonel reprising the powerful intensity of his iconic role in his first film ‘Saaransh’. Faced with unexpected challenges thrown by his autistic grand-daughter, singer extraordinaire, recalcitrant in her thinking that disrupts his orderly life. His emotions range  from sheer desperation to gradual realization that there are greater things at stake than tradition & pride. He must fight the system for what he believes in & for his grand-daughter to realize her dreams. Truly, Anupam Kher is India’s ‘De-Niro’ ! 

There is an ensemble cast of talented actors who play the supporting roles, led by Pallavi Joshi, playing Tanvi’s mother who poignantly displays sensitivity to her daughter with matured understanding of autism and it’s special needs. Jackie Shroff, Arvind Swami and Boman Irani are actors who’ve honed their craft and leave impact even in cameos. But the film entirely belongs to ‘Shubangi’ who plays the title role of ‘Tanvi’ with the astute finesse of a seasoned actor. She lends great credibility to the character that has so many diverse shades & mixed emotions with eventual shift towards greater self-reliance.

Other high points of the film include its stunning cinematography, the beautiful locales.  a vibrant music score and pithy dialogues with humour & character. Asking ‘Permission to hug’ from someone close to you is endearing. Big message – to understand austistic people don’t try to manage them, let’s try to discover how they feel and think differently. There’s also the message of patriotism and love for our armed forces, that’s so inspiring. 

Tandra and I were privileged to witness this beautiful, thought-provoking film at it’s star-studded Premiere at the Neeta Ambani Cultural Centre at BKC yesterday. For Tandra it was a wonderful reunion of school friends arranged by the ever thoughtful Reema and Raju Kher and for us spouses, it was gift wrapped into watching, interacting, clicking pics with beautiful super stars and actors who had descended on the red carpet. What a ‘Great’ evening ! 

The news of South Indian actress B Saroja Devi’s passing away at the age of 87 had my earliest reminiscences of the 1960s to the fore. Many yester-year stars had iconic songs associated with them – ‘Chaudvi ka Chand’ with Waheeda Rehman, ‘Na Jao Saiyan’ with Meena Kumari’, ‘Sapno ki Rani’ with Sharmila & ‘Dum MaroDam’ with Zeenat & so on. 

Saroja Devi was paired with ‘Jubilee Hero’ Rajendra Kumar in the social film ‘Sasural’ (1961) which I recall very vaguely was a hit. More importantly, it had some nice music & an evergreen Rafi song ‘Teri pyaari pyaari surat ko..’ inimitably sung in his mellifluous voice. My memories revolve around this lilting number which was a rage in its time & featured in the Top 10 of Ameen Sayani’s Binaca Geet Mala for many weeks ! 

I was probably in Class III in 1961 when Mihilal, my Dad’s peon was assigned to bring me from school. On our return trip, being a music lover Mihilal would urge me “Bhaiya tum ‘Pyari pyari surat’ wala gana gao” and we’d have a great musical bike-ride every day. Later, after a few years, I remember a naughty classmate in Class V who dared to sing this song to our young Class Teacher. It resulted in his Dad being called to Principal’s Office to face a different kind of music. Surely our friend got a big walloping back home.

It wouldn’t be right to construe that such love songs had the wrong effect on young boys. Almost all Hindi films then, quintessentially had the hero wooing the leading lady with romantic songs and the writers would compose lyrics that had highest praise for their ethereal beauty. Metaphors & references to sun, moon & stars was common. There was poetry with grace but no indecency. For young boys and girls that ‘Mills & Boon’ era was full of idyllic notions of romance but today it would appear quite archaic and dated.

Surprisingly the retro music of the 1960-70s is much appreciated by the Gen Zee, who prefer singing vintage songs when performing. As for us, we still sing and swear by them and so here’s my effort as a tribute to the winsome B Saroja Devi & the voice of Md. Rafi.