Magical Melody of Hemanta Mukherji

One of the great benefits of being senior is getting to spend more quality time with retired, elderly folks and sharing their encylopeadic knowledge of classic films, music, literature et all ! Visiting us, Ma-in-law, an absolute Bengali TV buff, informed that there so many Hemanta Mukherji songs being played on Kolkata DD since it’s the legend’s 98th birthday today !

For music lovers like us ( albeit from the 60s), Hemanta Kumar’s name spelt many things. A beautiful, deeply soulful voice, which melody queen Lata described a ‘poojari’s pure prayer in a distant temple’ – you recall his ‘chupa lo yun dil mein pyar mera, ki jaise mandir mein lao diye ki ..’ !

His pathos-filled unforgettable gems ‘ jane woh kaise log the jinko..’ and ‘teri duniya mein jeene se, toh behtar hai ki mar jayen..’ or “ kaise koi jiye, jehar hai zindagi..’ to the haunting ‘yeh nayan dare dare…’and ‘na tum hame jano, na hum tume jane..’ to the delightful ‘bekarar karke hame yun na jayiye …’ and many other film songs in Hindi, are timeless melodies of a complete singer with an incredibly manly yet silken timber.

But, he was much more of an artiste par excellence than just a playback singer… Hemanta Mukherjee, often credited as Hemant Kumar , outside Bengal, was an Indian playback singer, music director and film producer, who sang in Bengali,Hindi & other Indian languages . His superb compositions in classic films like ‘Sahib, Biwi aur Ghulam’, ‘Bees Saal Baad’, ‘Khamoshi’ and others in the 50-70s remain immortal till today !

In Kolkata film industry, he came to be popularly known as the voice of the legendary actor ‘Uttam Kumar’ and was associated with him as a super-hit jodi of that era when romantic Uttam-Suchitra pair was a rage.  He was also the greatest exponent of Rabindra Sangeet. In the 1960s he was the predominant and lead male voice in many of Tagore’s musical dramas. With Kanika Bandopadhyay and Suchitra Mitra who were the lead female voices in these, he was part of the Rabindra Sangeet triumvirate that was popular and respected. It was referred as ‘Hemanta-Kanika-Suchitra’ and, with Debabrata Biswas, this quartet was to be the mostly heard exponents of Tagore compositions.

Though, he won two National awards for the category best male playback singer he richly deserved much higher accolades from the highest level.

His legacy still lives on through his memorable songs, the music he had composed, and through many male singers in Bengal and the rest of India who continue to emulate his inimitable resonant singing style. The exquisite Hemanta Kumar music will always mesmerize us with its lilting melody ‘ tuum pukar lo, tumhara intezar hain..’

Hemanta Mukherji

The Fallen Hero – Savings Deposit

Till some time back it was the sacred religion of all bankers (and more particularly the PSU banks of all sizes ) to memorize and practice three magic watchwords– the operating bottom-line (meaning bank’s margins and profitability), recovery of funds lent ( of NPAs) and CASA – the popular acronym for Current and Savings Bank (SB) accounts.

Of these, like the traditional values cherished by our Indian sensibilities, Savings Deposits ( the major part of CASA) had all the virtues you could aspire for – less costly, stable, spread among all sections/ages of people and free from undue risks. No wonder, all banks ended up vying for a piece of the Savings cake by offering hybrid-products, linking it to fixed deposits (by ‘sweep’ the excess amount method), freebees for those maintaining special type of accounts with higher balance. While after the deregulation of Savings interest rate by RBI in 2011, many private banks started offering higher rates, PSU banks stoically continued at 4% rate.

However, suddenly, SB, the dependable veteran is not much sought after akin to the discarded parents in family drama ‘Baghbaan’. The biggest Bank felt that too much Savings has come in and it no longer needs to attract depositors with the same force. This has led to an all round free fall of SB deposit rates to as low as 3.5%. The justification, available on hand is – this will lead to higher margins and lower loan rates all across.

Who are the people who keep their money in Savings deposits (and FDs) – a widely dispersed class such as retired people, daily wage labourers, shopkeepers, vendors, average salaried small savers and also non-profit organizations like schools. The convenience and security of possessing debit cards, passbooks, cheque-books of banks overrides such people’s concern for earning high interest but squeezing this to 3.5% is to even wipe any real interest accounting for 4% inflation. It is accepted that for most, the returns on fixed and SB deposit are the social security for real.

‘ The time has come..’(to quote the Walrus from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ ) to look at other avenues of investment like mutual funds and the large number of schemes on offer. But is the average person educated in the risks and rewards of these investments vis-à-vis Savings accounts and laudable objectives of financial inclusion ?!

(Pic source : citysavings.com.ph )

Savings account

FIFA World Cup 2018 – The Greatest Kick-Off

Being a sports-lover who’s reasonably informed about the IPL or the Ashes, the Wimbledon and the Grand Slams and our fight with the Chinese for badminton supremacy, I have felt inadequate with my knowledge and lack of interest in the incredible happenings of planet ‘soccer’, its most sought-after stars (I’m literate enough to know of Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo). What I can’t fathom is – why fight over ‘Arsenal’ and ‘Chelsea’ !

I was not unduly concerned till I realized that the most stupendous sporting event, called the world’s biggest extravaganza “FIFA World Cup, 2018’ is about to kick off in Moscow with the opening match between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia. Estimated to be followed by many millions of soccer-maniacs across the earth via live telecasts, football-fever will grip Russia and its 11 host cities as about one million fans from 32 participating nations pour into the country. Some say the ‘festival of life’ is back for next 30 days!

From the standpoint of politics and economics, a smoothly organized World Cup will add to the stature and standing of Russian leadership and its people as it seeks to establish itself as a premier force to reckon with. International sports throw up heroes and evoke impassioned nationalism.

My studies of this WC, show that the nations to watch out for are Germany, the last WC champions, (with key player Thomas Muller), France (with key player Antoine Griezmann), Brazil (with star player Neymar ), the Last WC Finalists, Argentina (boasting of the iconic Messi ), Belgium and last but not least Portugal ( mainly for the charisma of Ronaldo). Spain is besieged with last minute problems with their Coach Lopetegui being given the sack.

One avid sports-writer hopes that this WC turns into a clash of the today’s titans, Messi and Ronaldo – if both of them could propel their respective teams through virtuoso brilliance into a perfected scripted Argentina vs Portugal final and like other greats, call it curtains on incredible careers !

So let’s sit back and become part of the soccer-mania, for as one headline screams out ‘ It’s time to kick off  Russian Roulette’ !

messi vs ronaldo

FIFA World Cup 2018 – As Big As It Gets

Being a sports-lover who’s reasonably informed about the IPL or the Ashes, the Wimbledon and the Grand Slams and our fight with the Chinese for badminton supremacy, I have felt inadequate with my knowledge and lack of interest in the incredible happenings of planet ‘soccer’, its most sought-after stars (I’m literate enough to know of the legends, Pele and Maradona and the present greats, Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo). What I can’t fathom is – why fight over ‘Arsenal’ and ‘Chelsea’ !

I was not unduly concerned till I realized that the most stupendous sporting event, called the world’s biggest extravaganza “FIFA World Cup, 2018’ is about to kick off in Moscow with the opening match between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia. Estimated to be followed by many millions of soccer-maniacs across the earth via live telecasts, football-fever will grip Russia and its 11 host cities as about one million fans from 32 participating nations pour into the country. Some say the ‘festival of life’ is back for next 30 days!

From the standpoint of politics and economics, a smoothly organized World Cup will add to the stature and standing of Russian leadership and its people as it seeks to establish itself as a premier force to reckon with. International sports and specially soccer can throw up new heroes and evoke impassioned nationalism.

My studies of this World Cup, show that the nations to watch out for are Germany, the last WC champions, (with key player Thomas Muller), France (with key player Antoine Griezmann), Brazil (with star player Neymar ), the Last WC Finalists, Argentina (boasting of the iconic Messi ), Belgium and last but not least Portugal ( mainly for the charisma of Ronaldo). Spain is besieged with some last minute problems with their Coach Lopetegui being given the sack. However, they face Portugal in a tough encounter on Thursday.

One avid sports-writer hopes that this WC turns into a clash of  today’s titans, Messi and Ronaldo – if both of them could propel their respective teams through their virtuoso play and brilliance into a perfected scripted Argentina vs Portugal final and then like other greats, call it curtains on their incredible careers at their peak !

So let’s sit back and become part of the soccer-mania, for as one headline today screamed out ‘ It’s time to kick off  Russian Roulette’ !

messi vs ronaldo

( Picture source : messivsronaldo.net)

‘Afghan’ Khan Superstar

A question often asked in the larger scheme of things – can one man make a difference ? No, it’s not about the one who is always talked about and dissected, but of another man’s  coming from the relative obscurity of a small strife-torn country, to becoming a sensation through sheer brilliance and who is largely responsible for minnows, Afghanistan becoming a unit and  their remarkable entry into the international cricket scene !

In our country where films and cricket, are followed like religion, three famous ‘Khans’ have ruled Bollywood for the last two decades but now face stiff competition from others (somewhat like the present ruling party !). As is it’s wont, IPL ( cricket’s big annual bash ) has thrown up a new ‘Khan-icon’ in form of that unflappable leggie, ‘Rashid Khan’ who’s inscrutable bowling skills and on-field exploits has taken the cricketing world by storm !

Such has been his meteoric rise to fame (in the shorter format of the game) that an improbable story became viral in the social media of our people seeking Rashid’s citizenship to add to our cricketing assets and the Afghani authorities politely refusing to spare their hero from his national duties !

A  leading Indian magazine has carried out a two-day feature on him aptly putting the poser – What does it mean to be Rashid Khan – a big-league cricket star in a war-ravaged country .. and carrying the expectations of the entire nation, expecting a five-wicket haul in every match he plays. It’s the stuff dreams are made of, but despite the adulation coming his way, so far Rashid appears a perfect role model – committed, grounded, utterly loyal to his country and a real hero who rode into big battles from nowhere !

Much is being written in our papers of how cricket in Afghanistan picked up as late as 1980 from the refugee camps and showed amazing progress over the years to almost qualify for the 2011 World Cup in 2009 and later qualifying for World T20 in 2010 to fulfill their dream of playing a major international event. In 2017, ICC impressed with their progress inducted them as a Test playing nation.

Our own star batsman Dinesh Kartik, who’s as eloquent when he speaks as when he bats, said on the eve of historic First Test to be played in Bangalore tomorrow between India and Afghanistan ‘ It’s been beautiful … to have a Test nation like Afghanistan. Their journey has been an inspiration for international cricket …’ A feat that the Afghans can be really proud of as they cheer on for their team and real-time hero, Rashid Khan !

Rashid Khan

Fine Art of Receiving Praise

It’s always said that we must be open to feedback, analysis and criticism in a positive way for they help us introspect, improve and grow.  What about having the right attitude and grace while receiving praise – assuming that it’s genuine even if it’s in the form of grudging admiration, back handed compliments and from the least expected quarters ! Strangely, a large number of people do not know how to handle praise (not taking celebrities, the very rich and famous into account who are generally subjected to much adulation and get trolled too).

Expectedly, different people react differently – the gentle ones get overwhelmed, for their humility doesn’t allow them to have claim to high acclaim. The suspicious types have mind-set that says we cannot possibly deserve such feedback – anyone who pays us a compliment must be either lying, misguided, or feeling sorry for us and is suspect ! Others acknowledge with a cryptic ‘thank you’ not knowing who to react possibly because they are not used to paying compliments either. But the ‘unkindest cut’ comes when one doesn’t appreciate the complimentary gesture, if one considers others being in an lesser position of authority .

A compliment is, after all, a kind of gift, and turning down a gift insults the person giving it, suggesting that you don’t value them as highly as they value you. On the other hand, paying right compliments is an art. My Dad, who would always inspire everyone with encouraging words, had once said to me ‘ If you’ve to say something good to someone don’t hold back – be eloquent, generous and large-hearted. When you’re being critical be direct, honest, don’t overstate the issue and repeat yourself..’

There are also those who know how to share credit when received – I had once written an article for my Boss which appeared in the newspaper under his name and got him high praise. He directed these to me captioning ‘ You deserve’ ! One need not be arrogant to take a compliment well, just a reasonably well-balanced, self-assured person.

Unless one’s a professional critic or book-reviewer by choice ( or the favourite of the Boss in the office !) , why should one praise others ? Many people, with a high opinion of themselves, find nothing praiseworthy. When and if they do, vanity prevents them to indulge in what they consider flattery or patronage ! An old colloquial proverb simply puts it ‘Only a true goldsmith recognizes the really precious metal !’ My favourite quote remains –  ‘To dance in the rain, you must first learn to praise HIM in the storm’

Receiving Praise

( picture source : soulopeners.org )

City of Champions

The beautiful city of Hyderabad with its regal history and legacy is also a one-stop haven for young techies and whiz-kids with its forward looking window open to innovative ventures and technological marvels. But remarkably, it could well be reckoned as our country’s reservoir of internationally acclaimed sportsman in the past from the legendary cricketers CK Nayadu and elegant ML Jaisimha and class batsman like Azharuddin and VVS Laxman to the incomparable badminton coach, P Gopichand and his protégé Kidambi Srikanth, just to name a few.

In the last decade, it has been giving to India world-beaters in different sporting disciplines, producing champion super-women of the likes of Sania Mirza (tennis) , Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu (badminton-singles) and Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa (badminton-doubles), with the first three becoming household names because of the on-court exploits.

Add now to this list of extraordinary women, the name of the soft-spoken but feisty captain of the Indian Cricket team, Mithali Raj, who became the first Indian cricketer to amass 2000 runs in T-20 format as she edged past the King Kohli. She is also the highest run-getter in Women’s ODI cricket with an amazing average of over 51 ( more than even the God of Cricket, and leading scorer in men’s ODI cricket, Sachin Tendulkar ! ). Generally, there is no huge display of emotions from Raj on reaching any landmark but like all greats, she has acknowledged on different platforms  the stellar role of her father in shaping her illustrious career in cricket which started from the age of 16 as she made her ODI debut !

With such an inspiration of girls and many promising youngsters like Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Raut , Harmeet Kaur and others and the veteran bowler, Jhoolan Goswami ( the highest wicket-taker in women’s ODI cricket) in the team, women’s cricket is improving by leaps and bounds but needs great support and nurturing from the authorities to get the same aggression and confidence of the present Indian men’s team ! For starters, while we all know the saga of the coach selection for our team lead by Virat Kohli, most of us would’nt know the name of the coach for the women’s team !

But Hyderabad can boast of a super coach from its ranks, the legendary P Gopichand  – albeit in another wonderful sport, badminton and is doing yeomen service to discover and create champions and to popularise the sport and physical fitness among the young boys and girls of today. People like him and other legends like Prakash Padukone and Rahul Dravid must be given all the administrative support by the Govt.authorities for they are the ones who can ‘lift’ all the talk of our country’s sporting culture to great heights. They can show the way to other big states what excellence in sports is all about.

Mithali Cricketer

The World of Chase

Belonging to much-before era from the ‘Harry Potter’ series and the Sci-fi movies and the advent of Net and ‘Net-flix’, many of us during the 60-70s were hooked onto one of the most prolific British writers of racy thrillers, called ‘James Hadley Chase’ ! I for one, can hardly remember having missed any of his ‘un-putdownable’ pieces of fiction which portrayed the underbelly of an amoral society driven by avarice and carnal lust to become rich and violence and crime that invariably surfaces there-from.

Born as René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, he was well known by his various pseudonyms, but by far the most popular one was ‘James Hadley Chase’. With pulsating titles like ‘Strictly for Cash’, ‘Tiger by the Tail’, ‘Safer Dead’. ‘You’ve Got it Coming’. ‘The Whiff of Money’ and many others, the Chase novels could grip from the first page. No literary genius, he was a superb spinner of spell-binding yarns set in Europe and US, which would occupy most of my waking hours in long train travels ! The climax would generally be explosive as the title of one of his famous novels ‘The Sucker Punch’ !

My favourite was ‘Hippie on the Highway’ which provided the inspiration for the amazing Hindi comic-thriller ‘Victoria 203’ ! It is said that one of his novels ‘ The Wary Transgressor’  was lifted by Hans Hellmut Kirst in perhaps his most famous novel ‘ The Night of the Generals’, which later became a popular film starring the incredible actor, Peter O’Toole in the title role.

Another facet was the wry humour and sardonic feel of his protagonists. Some interesting characters of the police force also recurred in his novels – Sergeant Lepski, the brilliant but violent cop, his superior Lt.Beigler and sensible Chief of Police, Terrell – all working to control crime in the city and nail the killers ! There was also ace Investigator, Maddox, who could smell a false insurance claim, miles away.

All his plots, however, reveal that many with dysfunctional backgrounds have a grouse against socially successful and immoral greed and lust brings out their sordid side to commit heinous crimes for which there is no redemption eventually. It’s really doesn’t pay in the end.

Why revel in the Chase novels after all these years when the present generation wouldn’t know them. It’s uncanny that his depiction of seamy side of civilised society with all its scars and blemishes surfaces with more frequency in today’s world specially the West.

Despite being a major superpower, with all its research, technology, innovations and Nobel prize winners, America’s recurring incidences of mass shootings and it’s violent gun-culture, show ugly manifestations of extreme materialism and break-down of core human values from time to time in certain sections of its society.

James Hadley Chase

 

Shock Treatment

There are two ways of looking at an avante-garde film like ‘Veere Di Wedding’ that’s making waves today. The first could be, as a frothy breezer in the genre of a bawdy adult comedy where the comic parts lie not in the situations but the stream of expletives used with gay abandon in the ‘bindaas’ attitudes of four educated young women, bonding towards shrugging of repressive social norms, including male-bashing if necessary !

The protagonists, appear to represent certain class of society which is well-to-do with affluence but has messed-up private lives with the usual ills – broken homes, bad marriages and failing relationships. They are made to come across as bold and brassy in their approach to life ( and most of all to the institution of marriage and ‘ostentatious’ symbols like elaborate ‘wedding ceremonies’ ) and defying all norms, smoke, drink, swear at will, as if there is no tomorrow !

The other approach of trying to analyze the film for its cinematic contents, is fraught with pitfalls. Obviously, inspired by the “Sex and the City’ series which were hugely popular abroad for their depiction of liberated women at their ribald best and out discover all that life has to offer, ‘Veere’ to an average Indian audience would probably ‘outrage’ the modesty of the genteel class with its profanity that comes hard and fast like never before. However, if the intention is to shock people out of their senses or convey that using colorful language is the norm with young women of today, then it seems to be working, looking to reactions and applause from some of them.

Leaving aside, the shock value of outrageous one-liners and crass jokes, the story-line is weak and only one of the characters seems to have some teeth. The two big stars (Kareena and Sonam) don’t really produce any histrionics  while Swara Bhaskar (and Talsania ) try to come up to their ‘bohemian’ best, un-dress the part and raise a few bawdy laughs too ! In fact a great one-liner comes from one of the fathers in the film – ‘All marriages will have fights, in fact marriage is the foundation of fights !’ A new vision for newly-weds ?!

At the end of two hours, one feels ‘Veere’ seems to have been stitched up for some bold messages from a woman’s perspective and strong bonds that women share that outlasts all else. Somehow, among all the noise, hype and drama, the soul of this film on deep friendship and relationships is quite missing. Farhan Akhtar made ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ on male –bonding a few years back that moved us – revisiting that beautiful picture is a much better option.

Veere Di Wedding

The Silent Treatment

An interesting incident I clearly recall from my working days is that of a distinguished but very elderly gentleman who’d come with his son for some loan documentation – as I tried to explain the banking implications, his eyes conveyed understanding but his lips hardly moved. It felt as if it was his way of communicating ‘Son, say your stuff but I’ll not waste my breath’. This, however, was in contrast to what most of us do – talk ten to the dozen and try to out-talk others to the extent that the point is missed.

Age and wisdom must have something to do with the amount we talk and appreciating that, sometimes, silence can do that better than any words. As the great Socrates had said ‘The more I learn, the less I realize I know !’ It is now well-known that the fine art of listening can be developed more through silence and observing the verbal and non-verbal communication cues.

Having said this, over a period of time one finds that silence has adopted a sort of protesting posture to express anger and become uncommunicative. Other than in fractured professional relationships and ego clashes that take place in the work-place on account of  various  factors, the more disturbing trend is that of people increasingly maintaining stony silence and becoming unresponsive even in their own homes to defy elders trying to assert themselves, hurt own ‘rival’ siblings or punish their partners for pain they may have caused.

Giving the ‘silent treatment’ and not taking calls or replying to messages is the new tool in the modern couple’s warfare and in the family disputes. When people stop talking to each other, the scope for resolving the conflict gets stalled but the best way of solving problems and misunderstandings has to be through dialogues. This silence which conveys anger also, aims to make the others feel guilty and puts more strain on the relationship and leads to emotional deadlock. Hence the communications channels must reopen and talking and taking it off the chest is still one of the best ways to mend fences.

However, let’s look at the lighter and brighter side of ‘silence’ – a smart subordinate is better off silent, than argue with an irate, unrelenting Boss ! Also, as one smart alec said ‘LISTEN’ and ‘SILENT’, both have the same alphabets and amazingly, both are meant for HUSBANDS !’ What say ?!

silent partner