Childish prattle and household dictionary

Year: Early 1990's
Place: Our home in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai

A smartphone has a personal dictionary. One can add certain words with their unique spelling to the personal dictionary. Well, what is a personal dictionary? It is a word that has no listing in any dictionary anywhere and hence does not pop out to help us with its spelling, if at all we were confused.

Many apps may have one now; my knowledge of apps and other new technology is limited as my sons would attest now.

I have some personal anecdotes here to relate - the personal dictionary that comes about in any family whenever there are little kids around. These kids, in their childish prattle, invent words that don't exist anywhere and before long these words enter into the family vocabulary.

Whenever there was power cut, my elder son, then about 2 years old, would jump and run about in the house and move towards the main fuse box and on seeing a lamp not glowing (indicating that there was a power outage), he would jump up and down and with wide eyes exclaim, "Tiltan, tiltan". Probably his tiny brain joined the two words that we used to utter "current cut" and made it into one word. We don't know; and the beauty is neither does he remember how that word came to be used! Now of course, whenever there is a power outage, we just say "Tiltan". A word had been added to our household dictionary. Similarly, there are many words which have been added to our personal household dictionary which you won't find anywhere else!

Sample these:-

Baapu = milk
Babbai = bread
Bikki = biscuit
Aggam = water (how did this come about?)
Aggi-baggi = bathing (now this is another mystery)
Mammum = food (again a mystery as to its source)

These are the ones that I can recall immediately and that has entered our family vocabulary since. I suspect though that my wife may be responsible for adding a few! Of course, nowadays the use of these words is only when we have to play-act or tease someone.

I am sure, though, that my children would introduce it into their family when they have one of their own. Maybe some new ones will spring up that their kids introduce! Who knows....I am waiting to hear the childish prattle though.

Kids, are you listening??

Puraney dost; nayi dosti

December 2014

The blog has two unique things, which other blogs didn't have. One of course is the title (in Hindi) and the second is the blog is dated. Both with a purpose...as readers will know as they read on.

I left school in 1974. Schooling in Ranchi since my father was employed by SAIL in Ranchi and as he was about to retire within two years of my completing school, as a family a decision was taken to put me in college in Chennai. That's how I landed in South India for my higher studies. B.Sc in Chennai, BE in Bangalore and later PG in Chennai. Work postings were also predominantly in South but for brief periods in Delhi. So I imbibed a lot of knowledge of customs and traditions of Tamils while in South India - something which didn't happen during my school days.

As is the norm, unless the friends go to the same college, they drift apart, pick up new friends and at work colleagues who are bound by working for the same organisation and can discuss many things in common.

I had for the last forty years since leaving school back in June 1974 maintained continuous contact with two classmates - SP and Panda. Both in different organisation than mine. SP as an HR professional in a PSU and Panda a Medical specialist in Air Force. But one thing that bound us together irrespective of our profession and education was our schooling and the many hours spent together playing or chatting or just whiling away time.

Over the last few years though we happened to connect with a few other classmates - Lalit, Santosh, Amitava, and Rajnish. All different backgrounds and organisations they work for; most having lost all the childhood mannerisms and quirks that I remember of them. A few turned serious!

As recently as September of this year I touched base with another classmate and a neighbour in the township where I lived. Rajinder now lives in US and remains as bubbly as I remembered him from his school days. He insisted that we should connect in a better way than what we had been doing. The next logical step was a whatsapp group. Over the last three months since it was set up, we may have been exchanging about 100 messages a day (on average)! We are now 13 classmates who are connected through the media and what a group we have turned out to be. Guys in Shillong, Delhi, Kolkata, Ranchi, US, and Bhilai - united in a common purpose. BRINGING BACK OUR CHILDHOOD FUN! It has been fun throughout and looks like the 40 years have just melted away and we have never left our adoloscent years behind. Though some guys are serious and post messages which carry a moral lesson or a saying which touches our heart, others take away that seriousness by posting good jokes and lame ones too! Our motto for posting has always been, "Sab chalta hai" (except swear words!).

Our intention is to meet in October 2015 in Ranchi and get more friends into the group. That is what all are looking forward to now.

Me and Chennai @ 375 - 1

Chennai has been my 'home' for only about 20 years of my life. Having spent most of my childhood in Ranchi, I share a greater bond with that city where I grew up, attended school, made friends, roamed around on a bicycle, learnt how to drive a scooter, and did many things that a school-boy does. Chennai was my home in my adulthood, the city which defined me, which shaped me, where I married, where my children were born. Now Chennai is no longer the 'home' it was.

So what do I write about Chennai which is 375 this week? Not about the city - there are more learned persons who would do a better job  of writing a well-researched piece on its history. I plan to write about me and Chennai over the last 40 years. This may spawn a few instalments. And I start with my first brush with Chennai back in 1974.

I came to Chennai to join college. My "adventure" started immediately. From Ranchi (which was but a small town then) and moving alone to Chennai and living there was an adventure that I didn't much relish, but I had no choice in that matter. My parents and elder sisters advised me in no uncertain terms that if I decided to go for my graduation in Ranchi, my 3 or 5 year college may extend to 4 or 6 years at least - and not because I would fail one year. Exams were held there in those days at the whims and fancy of students who would decide to go on strike and postpone exams at the last minute. The dates of exams were always a moving target then.

Forms were procured from some reputed colleges of Chennai and filled up and sent.

CBSE declared their Std. XI results by mid-June and my parents thought that leaving for Chennai by the third week would be sufficient. So I landed in Chennai after a 2 day train journey and straight away went to my aunt's house in T'Nagar. Accompanied by an uncle and a cousin we went to the college of choice (where I had got the admission card). Met the Principal (a very strict Professor of Physics) who dismissed me straight away saying that I was late and my seat was no longer available. My first taste of 'demand-and-supply' started there. Demand for a seat in Science stream in a good college far outstripped supply. Pleadings by my uncle were to no avail. My marks-card was shown to prove that I was a good student. Um-hmm. Didn't cut any ice. We left the office in a despondent state and I was worried if I would have to lose one year in this process.

Then started a hunt. My aunt and uncle advised me to keep meeting various professors and the Principals of different colleges and keep requesting them for a seat. I was keen on Mathematics, but at that time a seat in any branch would have been welcome. Ten days of hunting for a seat in Madras Christian College, Presidency College, Vivekananda College, and Loyola College among a few more proved futile. All admissions were closed.

Then my uncle took matters into his own hands. He approached a member of the community that managed the college of my first choice and took me to his office in Parry's. We went inside and I was asked to touch the elder man's feet, which I proceeded to do. Explaining my predicament, my uncle got a letter of recommendation from the gentleman and took me immediately to the same Principal who had earlier refused me a seat saying "a lapsed card is a lapsed card". A seat in B.Sc. (Maths) was not available; would I be willing to accept a seat in B.Sc. (Physics)? Before I could answer either in the affirmative or in the negative (which my uncle may have thought I may say), my uncle said that would be fine. The Principal then said that hostel was full and I would have to make my own arrangement for stay. My uncle immediately said that I would be staying with them so accommodation was not an issue. We came out of the office clutching the prized possession of an admission!

I roamed the streets of Chennai in June of 1974 hunting for a college seat. I don't remember the sweat and the hustle and bustle of the mega city. I  don't remember the routes I took, or the first suburban train ride of mine. I don't remember the many restaurants that I went to to have coffee or tiffin. I don't remember the people whom I met. All happened in a blur and the only thing I remember is the constant travel from one place to another in the amazing city buses and the end result of my struggle - a college seat.

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?