The Man Who Knew So Much – Dr.Satya Gopal Basu ( 19.08.28.- 21.04.05 )

Some words seem to be tailor-made for some people. ‘The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and ability to impact those around him positively’- famous lines from singer Bob Marley, that is my fitting tribute to an extraordinary person, Dr.Satya Gopal Basu – well known Radiology specialist for the Indian Railways, territorial armyman, administrator, social worker and above all, a devout family man ! As we celebrate his 90th birth anniversary, reminiscing life and times with him is a fascinating journey down memory lane.

Born in Asansol on 19th August, 1928 to Shri Probodh Chandra Bose, a govt. servant of the Eastern Railways, young ‘Satya’ was always a bright student who took up the noble medical profession having graduated from R.G.Kar Medical College and later specializing in Radiology from KGMC,Lucknow and also becoming a part of the Territorial Army serving in rank of a Major.   What followed was a truly spectacular career of success and goodwill, spanning forty years which entailed travels across the country from home-state West Bengal to exotic Jodhpur in Rajasthan, to DMO in the Railway Hospital, Allahabad in UP culminating as the prestigious MS in New Delhi.

However, his real ‘karmbhoomi’ so as to say, was Allahabad city where he served for 18 golden years between the years 1969 to 1987 and earned great respect not only as a renowned doctor and administrator but as a citizen and eminent member of the Bengali community and a popular social figure. This also was where fortune smiled at me when I got married to Tandra, his only daughter in 1980 and came to appreciate the person that Dr.Basu was !

Of his many remarkable qualities were his genial ‘physician’s bedside manner’, a smiling persona suited to the sobriquet like ‘Mr. Congeniality’. For my family, he was always the panacea to all our problems. One would find him brightly responding with his ‘Ekdum fine!’ and horsing around with his grandsons relating funny tales ! However, what amazed me about him was his versatility and range of in-depth knowledge of diverse fields like music, literature, theatre, films, sports, stock markets, finance, politics, amazing cooking skills in Bengali cuisine and sheer passion for gardening !

After hanging up his boots, he involved himself in various pursuits that included some foreign trips but in April,2005, fate literally dealt a cruel ‘stroke’. He went into a sudden coma from which he never recovered and left us this day, thirteen years ago, though relatively young at the age of 76.

I couldn’t ever emulate his range of excellence but have found some of that genius in his progeny. We all firmly believe that larger-than-life men like Dr. Basu never fade away into oblivion for they leave legacies that never die. For me, his greatness came from being simple yet great at many things and living for many causes that elevated and made the lives of others happy !

CWG Brave-hearts and Cricket’s Samsons

‘What’s in a name ?’ is a like a worn-out cliché – actually it’s everything if you’re rich and famous and a poster boy/girl  to boot, like our glamorous, blue eyed stars of Bollywood or much-hyped and over-valued ( some would say !) cricketers, whose gladiator-like heroics are flashed on the IPL giant screens across the cities and cheered by millions every night for 45 days this time of the year !

Toddlers still learning their ABC are familiar with AB D (De Villiers, the ace batsman for RCB), and ‘Hitman’ (Rohit Sharma of MI) is more popular than Spiderman ! Mumbai boys, ‘Pandya brothers’ are special in terms of hair-styles and cool-quotient (being often spotted with stars both on and off the field !). Gabbar (Shikhar), Ash, Jaddu, Jasprit, Bhuvi, Chahal are household names. Dhoni and Virat have acquired demi-God status.

While the IPL 2018, was on in full swing, other sporting history was being created in Gold Coast beyond the world of cricket – India stood third in the medals tally in the Commonwealth Games including 26 Golds ! With iconic greats Mary Kom, Sushil Kumar and Saina Nehwal striking gold, what has also emerged are new young stars in diverse disciplines like pistol shooting, wrestling, weight lifting, boxing, table tennis and predictably in badminton where India now reigns supreme.

Names like Manu Bhaker, Heena Sidhu, Manika Batra, Mirabai Chanu and the teen pistol sensation Anish Bhanwala and many others have covered themselves with glory but have a long way to go in acquiring a cult status unless the authorities ensure that some of the spotlight shifts to them !

Cricket, however much damned by many critics for its flamboyant domination over other sports and absurd amounts of earnings involved in the game, continues to be the big draw and IPL often sidelines even new Hindi film releases in terms of being a crowd puller ! Add to this, are a host of exciting new cricketers forming a formidable bench-strength and causing selection headaches. Leading are young guns like Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant, Rahul Tripathi, Kuldeep Yadav,Washington Sunder, Prithvi Shaw and Shubham Gill, many being products of the IPL brand of fast T20 cricket !

With all this, let a thousand champion sports-persons bloom everyday

and make every Indian proud that we’re a nation of a billion sporties !

 

Sublime ‘October’

Remember Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw in the 60’s American cult film ‘Love Story’ which, with all its poignancy, left us utterly starry-eyed and heavy hearted in our teens ! Now, after fifty years there’s a sense a déjà vu with Shoojit Sirkar’s latest offering ‘October’ – another sublime love story with a difference, reminiscent of that era of films where gentle and selfless romance could be conveyed with subtle sensitivity.

Here’s a Hindi film bereft of songs, dances, action-scenes and any known stars in the female lead roles yet has a haunting background score by Shantanu Moitra (of Bengal), pulsating with deft cinematography in which director Shoojit Sirkar  etches out his edgy characters almost with a ‘Bimal Roy’ kind of sensibility that touches and leaves a lump in the throat.

What’s most remarkable is the generally effervescent Bollywood star, Varun Dhawan’s stunningly sensitive portrayal of unsung, diffident loser with a soft heart who’s often outraged at receiving the wrong end of the stick and who by stroke of fate, has to come to terms with his own commitments in life and convictions that he must follow even if it means untold sacrifice. Supporting him admirably with a superbly under-stated performance is veteran Gitanjali Rao and the newbie Banita Sandhu in the lead role.

With its languid pace and shorn of heavy duty dialogues, ‘October’ is an experience that may not be everyone’s cup of coffee (or tea) but leaves one with a great deal to reflect upon, more so for those who seek the true meaning of ‘love’ !

 

Delighting Customers

It’s been said that in businesses and services ‘Customers may forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel’. That said, somehow the bad experiences (such as the recent ‘Indigo’ fracas) are often highlighted but happy ones are glossed over – marked ‘satisfactory’ if a feedback is so desired. Why not also recognise those few who stand for the four human Cs that matter so much in today’s mechanical service delivery – care, competence, convenience and communication !

Employers /managers continue to replicate plethora of study material, hold training seminars, workshops, panel discussions, award points on on performance parameters and so on, all directed to improving service quality, yet customers rarely look happy, leave alone delighted ! What’s not understood is people don’t expect immediate solutions or a set-up free from all technical, administrative or regulatory glitches – but for sincere redressal to problems, some courtesy and transparency in deals.

A shining example of good service presented itself to us when we, as  customers, interacted in his cabin with Amit Pradhan, General Manager with Hyundai and Head of its plush showroom in Kandivili (West), Mumbai. In a departure from the standard official defensive stance, he pleasantly acknowledged us, patiently listened to the issues raised ( with no furtive glances at his watch, mobile phone or laptop !), immediately understood the case from the concerned staff, accepted the deficiencies in office communication and promised to fix our problems in a clear time-frame of three days ! This took place in a space of 30 minutes. His parting lines were ‘It’s so important that we deliver what we promised’ !

In our next meeting a few days later, not only were the promises kept but we as customers were made to feel special with token gifts, snacks and request to participate in a small event organised for customers and their children. Amit Pradhan, in many ways, did remind me of our days as Branch Managers in the Bank when we all worked together as a team to go beyond merely communicating and really ‘connecting’ with people !

Another ‘Spielberg’ Special –‘ The Post’

Good cinema draws people in droves specially from those acclaimed makers like ‘Steven Spielberg’ who gave us those gut-wrenching yet uplifting WW II docudramas of heroism and valour – ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Bridge of Spies’, a genre away from his forte for incredible sci-fi films and my all-time favourite on the triumph of humanism – ‘The Terminal’ !

In a slight departure, he comes up with a gripping political thriller that is inspired by the famous ‘Pentagon Papers’ saga of the long US-Vietnam war, it’s futility and untold sacrifice of innocent soldiers and citizens made at the altar of many diplomatic subterfuges and political ends of those in power ! What’s most interesting is the timeliness of the depiction of the need of independent press and its freedom to unearth the lies and rot in an un-transparent system, a subject that now rages in nations all over the world.

The film has all the ingredients of the ‘Spielberg’ class in creating the period-drama when courage, conviction and undeterred search for truth were the watchwords for journalism, news reporting and publishing. Added value for movie-buffs comes from stellar performances of a star-studded cast led by the incredible actress ‘Meryl Streep’ and ‘Spielberg’s’ favourite ‘Tom Hanks’, that superb actor of many of his classics !

There are many memorable lines in the film but not the least the last few : ‘..The press has to serve the governed, and not the governors !’ And ‘..Newspapers are the rough draft of history’ !

While there is a definite shift in our films towards meaningful cinema and relevant issues, when was the last time a great movie was made on the freedom of the press, possibly one comes to mind is ‘New Delhi Times’ with the late Shashi Kapoor, many years ago. Our superstars, bogged down with own fanciful images and outrageous titles like ‘King Khan’ and ‘Badshah’ can take a leaf out of the range of roles done by Tom Hanks over the years !

What’s the Good Reply

Once upon a time there was a TV show called ‘What’s the Good Word’ hosted by an elegant lady called Sabira Merchant which was all about how to use right words and responses appropriate to the occasion and situation.

Today, with the social media storm blasting the English language to bits and pieces, cryptic words and acronyms -‘Cool’, ‘Yeah’, ‘Wow’, ‘Luv ’, ‘LOL’ ‘YOLO’ and so on, are used to communicate eloquently (with emojis !) apart from the age-old ‘OK’ and ‘Thanks’ – everybody is also having loads of fun !

Traditionally, one-word answers have had their own place in society – a suitor asking for the lady’s hand in marriage must get the ‘Yes’ answer to ‘take the relationship to the next level’, after a long recital of vows by the priest, a man/woman is required to only say ‘I do’ to legalize the marital alliance and in a court of law, the oath to ‘speak truth and nothing but the truth’ needs the same ‘I do’ by a witness. While many competitive exams have confusing objective-type questions to be replied to either  ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ only, official mails and messages must be pointedly framed and kept short !

Barring above mandatory ones, should all our replies be cryptic to save time and our digital space ? Imagine the chagrin of the old-world, meaningful creators crafting words with thoughtfulness to capture a landmark event, an old memory or experience or to appreciate a good performance, getting a terse ‘Thanks’ or cold silence in return ! It sends a signal that to wade through the writer’s maze of thoughts is a frivolous waste of time, never mind the efforts and intentions behind all of it. That is, if that long text message deserves a reply at all, as there are unending lines of messages, pics and greetings crowding all the social media  queues ! Why not become trigger-happy, press the  ‘delete’ button and move on …

Even short replies can be effective, if they are sincerely conveyed with right words like ‘Great, will get back to you on this’, to be followed up later when more free. To be fair, a well-meaning piece/message of two paras deserves a couple of encouraging lines in response ( no reference here to trolls that immediately pop up these days !), but it’s free for all and no rules in place.

Acknowledging others through apt words is not losing one’s importance in time and space and responding to thoughtful messages, which come our way, with even a witty one-liner, is a sign of grace and style but are we now fast losing that art too ?