Oh Kolkata, Ah Kolkata!

Just returned after a three day visit to Kolkata to attend a wedding. This is not about the wedding, per se, though that would make an interesting blog; instead it is about the city.

Day 1:
We travelled from Ranchi and landed in the morning. This group was made of 5 people - two sisters of mine and their husbands. The plan was to stay in the house of one friend of my brother in law for a day (who lives in Barrackpore - a northern suburb of Kolkata) and then move over to Salt Lake area to the wedding venue - a hotel.

We were told that the taxi fare from Howrah station to Barrackpore would be Rs. 350; however, when we reached the pre-paid taxi queue, we found a lot of people queueing up. There was no way we could hope to get a taxi within one hour was my guess. A guy came up to my brother-in-law and offered a Tata Sumo for hire to Barrackpore for Rs. 1500. Now that amount was fairly high for the price that was initially told to us. After a bit of haggling, calling up the friend at Barrackpore (who advised us to settle for Rs. 900), we got into the rickety Sumo and braced ourselves for the journey. But Barrackpore was not willing to come within reach for close to an hour and a half, rides through some narrow streets, some busy thoroughfares, a trunk road, and then again some narrow streets through which I would find it difficult to manoeuvre even a car, but through which the Sumo driver managed to overtake a rickshaw, move past a parked car, avoid bicycles and pedestrians without as much as grazing anyone. Remarkable!

Day 2:

Two taxis were engaged for the nine of us back to the wedding hall. Four more had joined us the previous day from Bangalore. Again a long drive into Kolkata in the morning rush hour saw the same process of vehicle/person avoidance manoeuvres by the taxi driver. 

Honking is a system to tell all and sundry (including the seated passengers) that I am driving on the road and brook no interference in my path. I have never heard so many car horns in  my lifetime as I did in my two days stay in Kolkata. Why do all drivers honk so  much? I happened to choose the wrong driver to ask this question though. He retorted, "Have you heard me honk even once today?" I said, "Maybe once!" Then he said that Kolkata police do nothing to guys who run over anyone or meet with an accident. The guys just move on. Anyway, I do not know if that is true or not; but the way the people drive on the roads gave me an impression that brakes are for applying only when absolutely necessary and as a last resort - when honking has no effect on the "obstacle" in front.

While on our way to the airport from Salt Lake area, we passed through what is called "New Town". A spanking new city is being built beyond Salt Lake area, which has wide roads, huge residential towers, footpaths, and the works. This part of the city doesn't look like Kolkata of Kalighat or Barrackpore! 

I was told by many people whom we asked that Kolkata taxi drivers don't cheat (take you through a long route on purpose) and I found that to be true. Never felt cheated while moving around there. Most of the drivers that I met were from either Bihar or Eastern UP. Is there a clique? Or do Bengalis feel it is below their dignity to drive a taxi?

 

Manna Dey - a tribute from a nobody

Manna Dey!

Today the last of the great legends of playback singing from the 40s to the 80s passes away.  A time to mourn, a time to celebrate, a time to remember, a time to cherish, a time to forget ourselves and lose ourselves in the golden age of film music.

I believe, and rather strongly too, that Rafi, Kishore, Mukesh, and Manna Dey were the greatest male playback singers Hindi film music ever had. The era in which they sang also saw some of the best composers and lyricists who between them took time, rehearsed, planned each note and verse, and executed them with meticulous detail. Some of the greatest Hindi film music came from the late 50s to the late 70’s – two decades of unforgettable songs that have enriched us, entertained us, enlivened us, and taken us to heights never imagined.

A humble down-to-earth man, Manna Dey acknowledges in many interviews to the press that he considered Rafi a much better singer than he himself ever could be and confesses that he was always overawed by the effortless ease with which Rafi, Lata, and Asha could sing their lines, when he (felt he) had to struggle to get his lines right. But that was probably the perfectionist in Manna Dey which prompted him to say this.

His songs have a magical quality about them. If Rafi sang “Aiya aiya suku, suku” or “Aa-aa-aaja” you would think it was Shammi Kapoor singing them. If Mukesh sang, “Mera joota hai japaani” or “Awaara hoon”, you would immediately think of Raj Kapoor and may be forgiven for mistaking the song being sung by the actor. But with Manna Dey, it was Manna dey all along. Be it “Laaga chunri mein daag” (c’mon, it can’t be Shammi Kapoor on screen!), or “Tu hai mera prem devta” (was it Bharat Bhushan? I thought it would always be Rafi for Bharat Bhushan), or “Ae mere pyaare watan” (hmm, maybe Balraj Sahni could be identified with Manna Dey) it was always the singer and his melodious voice that transported you to the picture that the lyricist wanted to convey. One never tried identifying the actor mouthing the songs on the screen. It was futile. In Manna Dey’s case, it was Manna Dey off-screen and always off-screen. To see some of the sequences on screen, one may find that the song picturisation didn’t do justice to the voice, tune or raag.

Manna Dey was never an actor’s voice, he was his own voice. He gave playback music the much needed classicism for neophytes like me who couldn’t identify a raga, but who could enjoy the music for the lyrics and tune ; for the melodious voice and perfect diction.

Among my all time favourites of Manna Dey would be the following:

1. “Ae mere pyaare watan”. Haven’t I heard this song when away from home? It is bound to bring some home-sickness in us when we listen to this song. The slow pace, haunting music, fantastic lyrics, all combine to bring out the emotions welling inside us to get back to our motherland.
2. "Tum gagan ke chandrama ho, mein dhara ki dhool hoon". A fantastic song from "Sati Savitri". Lyrics by Bharat Vyas, who was one among the rare lyricists who would avoid Urdu words in his lyrics. Pure Hindi words derived from Sanskrit. One of Lata's lines runs like this... "Tum Mahaasaagar Ki Simaa, Main Kinaare Ki Lahar; Tum Mahaasangit Ke Svar, Main Adhuuri Saans Huun". I wonder if Lata would ever have acknowledged this to anyone!
3. “Laaga chunri mein daag”. A rare song for Shammi Kapoor, for whom Rafi was the voice. I think this movie was before Shammi became the superhit star. And that is how he didn’t have any control over who would sing for him. Lyrics has a subtle hint of double entendre about it; but not too obvious as in present day “choli ke peeche kya hai”  or “Sheela ki jawaani” or “beedi jalai le” types. If it were, I doubt if the composer would have got Manna Dey to sing it for him!
4. “Ae meri  zohra jabeen”. Even now when Waqt plays on TV, I tend to watch this song with rapt attention. Because for Balraj Sahni, I cannot imagine any other singer singing. If at all any actor was there for whom one could identify Manna Dey’s voice, it had to be Balraj Sahni.
5. “Tu pyaar ka saagar hai” Again on Balraj Sahni. A wonderful song.
6. “Ketki gulab juhi” with Bhimsen Joshi. He planned to run away from Mumbai when S-J called him up to tell him that he had to sing with Joshi and “win” the contest. ‘How can I win a song competition with Bhimsen Joshi?’ remarked Manna Dey to his wife and asked her to pack their bags to run away to Pune for about 10-15 days till S-J found another singer! Sulochana, Manna Dey’s wife, persuaded him that it was not anything like that…just a movie song…the sequence demanded that the hero, Bharat Bhushan, to whom Manna Dey was lending his voice, had to win the contest.
7. “Ek chatur naar”. Playful, taunting, excellent combination with Kishore da. RD set this song to tune and rehearsed for 6 hours with Mehmood, Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar to get it just right. They again recorded for 6 more hours with Kishore Kumar improvising at every turn and making the song better. That’s probably why it is among the most listened to song by the young guys even today.
8. “Sur na saje kya gaaoon mein”.  No he wouldn’t have sung any song if the “sur” didn’t combine well.
9. “Dharti kahe pukaar ke”. From “Do Bigha Zameen”. Made all the more wonderful by the innovative picturisation by the director, Bimal Roy. Though the central character is Balraj Sahni walking along fields and making his way somewhere, the words are mouthed by various characters who he sees on the way – working on the fields. So appropriate for the movie.
10. “Aao twist karen”. This song on Mehmood. I remember it from my school days. The movie, “Bhoot Bangla” always mesmerised me. Though I didn’t see the movie, I would imagine a huge house with a group of boys and girls twisting away to glory. Was it really Manna Dey who sang this song? Did he have the range for such songs? Obviously, he was not a “devotional bhajan” singer as he was once typecast. He had to struggle to get away from that by singing unconventional songs.
11. “Tu chupi hai kahaan, mein tadapta yahaan”. What a song! The music, the lyrics, the tune, the orchestration. If ever there was a perfect song, it had to be this. I remember this song too from my school days and recording it from the radio on a cassette player that my sister brought home from Hyderabad when she came for a short stay in Ranchi.
12. “Kasme vaade pyaar wafa sab”. Picturised on Pran, whom Manoj Kumar transformed from a villain to a character artiste, this song was a superhit.
13. “Kaun aaya mere man ke dwaare” Was a pure classical song and in which Manna Dey excels himself.
14. “Phool gendvaa naa maaro, na maaro” was a song picturised on a comedian, Aagha, who sang it much fervour and emotion, just as Manna Dey had recorded it. I used to thoroughly enjoy the “saap, saap, saap ri maa” just merging with the alaap!

Windfall

I received an email informing me of a windfall and that too from the UN. The email is reproduced below:
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From: Gansner, Corina <Corina.Gansner@sheraton.com>
Date: 26 September 2013 10:33
Subject: Email From United Nations
To: 

The United Nation have selected your email address to receive a grant prize, Send your full details to this email address for claims and more details about your prize (un.dept09@att.net) Make sure you reply to this email for claims


This electronic message transmission contains information from the Company that may be proprietary, confidential and/or privileged. The information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying or distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you have received this electronic transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately by replying to the address listed in the "From:" field

==========================================================

This mail had all the trappings of genuineness and I immediately proceeded to start claiming my fortune or grant as the mail says. But to be a fair citizen, I would like to share my happiness with the world so that all those "needy" and "poor" people (even though poverty is only a mindset) can benefit from my success and fortune.

This mail attracted my attention, not least because it purportedly came from the United Nations, and not from some bank, or Microsoft, or Google. The United Nations, for heavens sake!

So I had to inform all and sundry about my windfall and tell them to make friends with me, because we were taught in school that wherever there is money there are many friends. I hope to get many friends and from all over the world shortly with this information being passed around.

I have also come to know that such awards and windfall or fortune are now being distributed by the UN not to countries, but to individuals directly. However, I come to know from reliable sources, that for claiming this fortune, one must possess an Aadhaar card.
 
I have also reliably learnt that such a "direct benefit transfer scheme" of UN was a result of a new resolution proposed by India; and seconded by Somalia, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Ivory Coast. This has now been adopted uniformly for all citizens of the world.

The process of selection as a beneficiary is done by applying for the same. The application process to be declared a "beneficiary" is very complicated and involves among other things regular postings in various forums, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, group mails, mails to friends, letters to the editors, etc. about your dire needs.

There are regular audits for a period of 4 years from the date of acceptance of one's application and its scrutiny by the UN peacekeeping force, when auditors for UN (in the guise of relatives and friends) will visit one's house to assess the "neediness" and "aid receiving ability". 


There may be commitments and IOU's to various agencies in India and abroad (preferably in banks abroad) to "share" some of the windfall. That is a small price to pay for a generous pension!


Disclaimer: I am sure you realize that this blog is a figment of my imagination. If you have read it and believe in it, I am sure you are a worthy citizen of India, and will continue to vote for UPA.

Inverter logic

We have started having power cuts in our area and this has increased since the elections. I am not blaming the current government, since they are yet to find their feet; however, we were "blessed" since we were living in the same area as our ex-CM (Mr. Yeddyurappa) and hence had no difficulty with power or water. Maybe our days of shortage is nigh.

We have never used UPS/Inverter for our "power needs" and inspite of advise from well meaning friends and relatives, I have not yet installed one.

When my kids were young (primary and secondary school going), we used to get together during the dark period and play some games - like word building, antakshari, or country-capitals, and generally bond together. Other than Meena (wife), none of us could sing with any semblance of a proper tune, but that didn't deter us from trying our hand in antakshari. We developed and modified our own rules (we would include Hindi or tamil film songs, english songs, and school poems and songs too!). The three kids developed their capacity to remember all the capital cities of all countries and all states of India and US during this period, I believe!

Nowadays, when they can, my kids don't sit and talk with us. It is during these "dark periods" that we come together to share something.

Last night we had an outage for a couple of hours and listened to old Hindi and Tamil songs for some time. But the camaraderie that we shared long ago, when I could influence the thinking of my kids, is no longer there. Is it time to invest in an inverter now?

River inter-linking

The proposal to interlink Indian rivers has been going on and on and successive governments have only paid lip-service to this proposal. If the plan were implemented (albeit at some cost - some figures suggest Rs. 140 billion, or Rs. 14000 crores) it would benefit Indians in many ways. The amount in perspective (keeping in mind various scams over the last 2 years) seems minuscule indeed!

Interlinking of rivers would enable water transport - probably the cheapest mass transport system possible and of course flood relief through excess water diversion in times of plenty and equitable distribution in times of shortage. The politics of water-sharing will not be inter-state as is now, but will be pan-India and a major headache for the party and the PM in power, obviously. Maybe that is the single most important reason for the proposal not seeing the light of the day. The politics apart, what may be worrying for most people is how to garner so many resources needed for the interlinking. The major resource, of course, is manpower and equipment needed for canals and sluice gates.

As an aside, I am reminded of a very powerful movie  Do Aankhen Barah Haath made by V. Shantaram in 1957 which was a socially relevant movie (it is relevant in all ages) and spoke about a police officer willing to stake his career for jail reform by taking hard core criminal-prisoners to a distant place and making them farm land and be responsible citizens. It was a fantastic film and the performance of the actor-director Shantaram immaculate.

The connection between interlinking of rivers and the movie should be obvious now. Pardon, appropriate punishment for rape, death penalty or not, and such like being top of the mind concerns of many citizens and politicians alike, wouldn't it be great if all such convicts of various crimes (from Sanjay Dutt to Ram Singh to Hafeez Sayeed) were to come together and dig canals in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu? Efficient monitoring and fencing them off may be attempted to ensure that these guys do not leave the place. Even villagers which are likely to benefit by the canals can set up watch-and-ward so that these guys complete 8 hours of hard labour each day of their "incarceration".

What do you think? Workable?

Lakshman Rekha - in our daily life

Lakshman Rekha as a phrase comes from the Ramayana. Lakshman, in his quest to look for Rama who had gone chasing a "golden deer", draws the line in front of their ashram in Panchavati in the Dandakaranya forest and asks Sita not to cross that line under any circumstances. Being inside the line would ensure her safety, says Lakshman. However, that was not to be. Major events are sometimes linked to small and seemingly inconsequential actions. Ravana, who had anyway come in the guise who had asked Mareecha, his demon subject, to take the form of the "golden deer" to entice Sita, comes now as a sage asking for alms. Tradition has it that alms must not be given from the threshold of the house. The lady giving alms must cross the threshold to hand over alms. So, Sita had to cross the Lakshman Rekha. Once she crossed the line, Ravana revealed his true form and abducted Sita to Lanka.

In modern times the phrase "Lakshman Rekha" refers to any situation or convention never to be broken. I find this has another application in our daily lives. We interact with people in our professional and personal lives. We create a sort of line between us in our dealings with one another and try never to cross it. Once the line is breached, we have a situation of causing hurt to the other person. Take the case of children. When they are young, we tell them what they should or should not do. We expect them to listen to this "sane" advise since we feel we have more knowledge and experience in the matter. Most often our children listen to us. The "line" is drawn. The kids respect us for what we know and "obey" us (at least most kids do when told properly). However, as the kids grow up and attain adolescence and later on grow to be adults, we tend to keep the Lakshman Rekha in its original place. As parents we continue to treat our children the same way - maybe make some minor modifications, but generally continue to give "advice" which is misconstrued as "control". That causes rebellion. The Lakshman Rekha is not at the right place. We need to recognise this and periodically redraw this line.

Edited: 11-April-2013 (Mareecha as the "golden deer")

Teaching through stories

I came across this very interesting article in The Hindu about a teacher's experience of teaching mathematics  his students through stories.Read here.

I am reminded of my own experience of teaching mathematics - simple sums to my children when they were in primary school. The most vivid memory concerns a problem related to train - since they were fascinated by trains and train journeys. Most often these problems would be offered when we were travelling on a long journey (which can often result in boredom, if not for some interesting games and quizzes and problem solving) or when waiting for my wife to finish her shopping or waiting for her to finish with her work and come out of the bank.

The problem would often consist of two trains one starting from Bangalore and going towards Chennai, and the other starting from Chennai and going towards Bangalore. To make it simple, I would tell them that both trains have the same speed - average speed being 80 kmph (unrealistic, I know...but what's the harm in telling them that Indians trains travel fast!). I would ask them to assume the distance between the two cities to be 400 kms (again helping them by rounding off). Then my question would be "where would the two trains cross over?". I would listen with interest at the discussion that would ensue and the verbal jousting that would accompany - each kid trying to assert that his method was correct and would get to the right answer in the best way. After much noise and no result, I would intervene and give them some hints. I would be a proud parent when I saw them come to the solution quickly. Then to make the problem a bit more difficult, I would change the speeds of one of the trains or say that one train had some problem and had halted at Arakkonam for 30 minutes extra. So now find where the two trains crossed over. The solution was secondary, more importantly, I would be interested in how they approached the problem.

By linking problem solving skills with some "story" or incident or a product in which they were interested, I would be able to kindle their interest towards problem solving.

I do practice these same methods in my training program too!