Was watching an old programme on the unique music maestro, also known as “ King of ghazals”, Madan Mohan and came to know that he died on 14/7/1975, exactly 45 years ago!

His life would make an interesting study and can be a theme for a Bollywood biopic on him. He was a child prodigy, who never had any formal training of Indian classical music, had a strict and domineering father who sent him to army, but he came back to what he loved- music! His father took offence to his son’s defiance and though he was by that time a big name in film industry, being a 50% partner in Bombay Talkies, he challenged his son to prove his mettle on his own and threw him out of his house. A young Madan struggled for three years by sleeping on the pavements and going without food on several occasions, yet his passion and love for music saw him through this period of extreme adversity. Sachin Dev Burman, who knew Madan and who hired him as his assistant, advised Madan, who at that time was trying his hand at several disciplines like acting and singing, to focus on composing music. How he got his first break and went on to score some iconic music that has stood the test of time and how his father acknowledged his son’s talent just before breathing his last are the stuff that can make Madan’s biopic a blockbuster.

He simply adored Lata, whom he treated as his younger sister. In a way, Lata was his muse, his inspiration. Whether it’s Aar Paar, Adalat, Anpadh, Woh Kaun Thi, Mera Saaya, Haqeeqat, Laila Majnu, Dastak or Mausam, seldom a music director is born who based most of his music on Hindustani classical ragas and raginis and folk and that too without any formal training! Much before Jagjeet, Pankaj Udhas, Anup Jalota brought ghazals closer to common man, there was Madan Mohan, who composed pure pearls such as Unko yeh shikayat hai, yun hasraton ke daag, aapki nazron ne samjha, hum hai mata-e-kucha, Zara si aahat – it’s an endless list. He could also compose highly popular folk based numbers such as Jhumka Gira re. Much before fusion music caught fancy of the listeners, Madan experimented with it in his rare ditty from Hanste Zakhm, “ tum jo mil gaye ho”.

Bit of trivia. He was very firm headed. When Talat had almost gone into oblivion and Rafi ruled the roost, he revived Talat’s career by making him sing the songs of Jaha Ara. Unfortunately, the film bombed or Talat might have made a great comeback. This he repeated during Laila Majnu when it was Kishore all the way, but he insisted that only Rafi could do justice to Majnu!

In spite of creating some of the finest music, he received very few honours and awards. In fact, National award for Dastak came his way only in 1971, some 20 years after he started as an independent composer. He was totally a jilted and crestfallen person by then at the lack of recognition of his work! Excessive drinking and depression led to his death by heart attack at a raw age of 51. More sadly, he didn’t live to see the blockbuster success of his swan song, Laila Majnu.

When Lata was away, he’d wait for her return and advise film director to go ahead and picturise the song based on the version recorded in his voice, which would then be dubbed by Lata upon her return. Some of these recordings can be occasionally heard. His rendition of Mai ri main kaase kahun from Dastak captures pathos in his voice that in a way surpasses the timeless beauty sung by Lata.

Politics around awards, recognition, groupism in Bollywood can be heart breaking for some, though some of more intelligent and evolved stars of this generation, Aamir Khan being more pronounced, have called the bluff of these awards by conspicuously avoiding such ceremonies. If purity of Madam’s music and his emotional heart could understand this bluff, we could have had more of his timeless melodies, a few of which were revived by his son Sanjeev Kohli in Veer Zaara, the songs of which were based on unused compositions of the Maestro.

Knowing about Madan’s life, though sad in parts, paved way for celebrating something – his music, in these dark times of Corona when even Mahanayak of this century along with several of his family members have been infected by this contagious and never ending malaise. Let’s wish speedy recovery to India’s megastar and pay obeisance to great Madan Mohan on his 45th death anniversary on Tuesday.

Which was the last movie you watched at multiplex?

When did you last dine at your favourite multi cuisine restaurant?

When was your last visit to shopping mall for shopping and fun?

When did you last eat a vada pav from your favourite road side vendor?

When did you last go out for a long drive with your family?

When did you last fly out of your city for official or personal work?

How long it has been since you last had your hair cut?

When was your last visit to gym?

When was it that you last watched a live concert or a sporting event?

How long have you been enduring your toothache ?

I think the question of all the above will be running into months, the only hope being that this figure of months should not convert into year(s). But given some heartache here and there, we have all managed to survive the answers to the above questions, but there are certain more sensitive and emotional questions, answers to which we are all seeking –

When will I meet my daughter or son living abroad or my aged parents if I am living abroad?

When shall I breath freely in open air with no masks, no distancing and no fear?

When will that life that I used to call “routine” return and the things will be normal?

Never come across a malady that keeps us away from our nears and dears, doesn’t allow us to do things that we love to do and aims at changing the basic trait of being social that human beings are all about!

Can’t go out, can’t do a stuff !

Is this a reality or has nature called a bluff?

Even the strongest are feeling the impact of covid

No one can face it endlessly as no one is so tough!

Hoping against hope for a cure and a vaccine – come on Patanjali, Glenmark, Pfizer or anyone else! Save the mankind!

Social media is not all junk. Some posts, messages and videos can have such a deep impact on you that these can actually be life transforming experiences.

A friend just sent me a 3 minutes clip where a speaker is speaking about Krishna. It’s not a usual discourse on Bhagvad Gita, but a slightly different take on the lord. He says that your doorbell rings and when you open door , you encounter a well dressed, handsome, soft spoken and very suave person standing there. On being asked who is he, he replies, “ I am Krishna.” You ask him, “ Krishna who?” He replies, “ Vasudeva Krishna, whom you’re worship daily. I have come to be with you 24X7.”

The speaker then goes on to say something very interesting. He dares audience to now tell their customer at their business place that they have not sold this commodity to any one else at a lower price or that if they now go below the price they are quoting, they will end up making a loss, reckoning that Krishna is standing next to them! He also wonders what would be their response to the wives’ query on reaching home late as to why are they late? He says that because truth and reality are so difficult to speak and face, we like to keep the God immobile within photographs and statues for if he comes to live with us, our lives will undergo a transformation, apparently uncomfortable to begin with given our existing milieu, but so straight, peaceful, fearless and happy ultimately. As per the speaker this is the awareness and or more precisely consciousness of Krishna that’s a life changing experience.

He concludes by saying that if you are running late and are not able to stop at your neighbourhood temple to pay your daily obeisance to Krishna, you need not worry that your day will get spoilt if your are conscious of the fact that Krishna is with you 24X7. He says having consciousness of being with Krishna will repel all fears, worries, apprehensions, vices and doubts. It will be like being in Lord’s company perpetually.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

If I mention the name Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed Jaffrey, the birth name of the famous actor comedian Jagdeep, it may not ring a bell. However, if the name Soorma Bhopali is mentioned, those not familiar with the name Jagdeep even would also readily recall! In another blog on Mac Mohan, the actor who played Gabbar’s sidekick Sambha in the iconic movie Sholay, I had mentioned that seldom a movie got made that immortalised not only its lead actors but many peripheral actors too! Jagdeep had two scenes in the movie, their running time not even adding up to 5 minutes in all! But the veteran actor stole his moment by etching a permanent memory in the minds of Bollywood fans.

Jagdeep started early as a child actor in early 50s and got some lead roles too; but he had to struggle to make an enduring place for himself in Bollywood that happened post Shammi Kapoor starrer Brahmachari that was a blockbuster hit and Jagdeep’s character in the movie was remembered by viewers. Purists can argue about his acting style to be loud and his comedy, at times, to be crass and vulgar. But audience simply loved it – be it his buffoonery of his special dialogue delivery. His presence came as a whiff of fresh air.

Married thrice and having Javed and Naved Jaffrey, whose dance show Boogey Woogie , the first reality dance show that ruled the roost for several years, among his 5 children, the sons, especially Javed, has demonstrated the comic capabilities of his illustrious father and is a real cool dancer too.

Bollywood has been witnessing a real negative phase marred by complete stoppage of activity and no new releases on one side and death of several of its famous and not so famous members on the other! Jagdeep belonged to a genre that was more theatrical in style – loud and boisterous- rather than current style of understated and restrained performances. But nothing matters as long as audiences love you and lap up all that you dish out! Jagdeep was loved by mass cinema viewers of our country!

RIP – Syed at birth, Jagdeep in lifetime and Soorma Bhopali immortal !

With the skill sets changing very fast – older skills getting redundant in a matter of few years – the new mantra is to unlearn the earlier skills and acquire fresh skills. For example, when IT started taking roots, there was a huge demand for data entry operators, but with newer technologies such as OCR and voice modulation, the data entry operations seem to be a redundant skill.

However, my experience shows that much of it is hyped and this has been there all along. Let me cite some real life personal examples. I started my schooling at a Municipal corporation school where I was made to write Hindi alphabets and numerals on a wooden tablet called “takhti”. The very next year I switched to Central School and shifted to paper and pencil. Mine was the second batch that had to study an extra year as just a year before, the boards shifted from 8+3 to 10+2. Imagine the mental state when the option of going to college got deferred by full one year! When I joined the banking sector, I witnessed changes on continuous basis – from December closing to March closing, manual ledgers to ALPMs, public sector to private sector. mechanised banking to anywhere banking, typewriters to computers – its an endless list. At each stage of life agility and adaptability were required and those who were slow in adapting suffered!

The only difference is that pace of change has become much accelerated. What used to take a decade to change is now changing in a much shorter timeframe, but it’d not be appropriate to glorify this is as an extraordinary event of the modern times, underestimating the earlier period altogether.

And it’s great to see our elders, who didn’t really use modern technologies in their active work days, slowly but surely adapting to smart phones using features like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Google search, net and mobile banking freely and rather enjoying the same.

If the change is only constant then we should be constantly changing rather than resisting the change. Nothing is impossible to at least learn if not master! Let’s go with the flow and enjoy all this new development by being part of it rather than staying or shying away from it! There’s some learning – our scriptures, wisdom received from our elders, virtues as taught to us by our teachers that should always stay with us ! Rest we should be ready to unlearn and relearn to stay updated! After all didn’t we all have to unlearn what we learnt at school that there were 9 planets to relearn that the number was down to 8, Pluto no longer remaining a planet!

Gururbrahma gururvishnuh
gururdevo maheshwarah |
Guruhsakshat parabrahma
tasmai shrigurave namah ||

Today is Guru Purnima, an important day that celebrates the position a guru enjoys in our society as also continuation of Guru-shishya parampara or tradition that’s now limited to a few old gharanas of Hindustani music.

Guru is Shiva sans his three eyes, Vishnu sans his four arms, Brahma sans his four heads. He is parama Shiva himself in human form – Brahmanda Puran.

Guru Purnima honours Ved Vyasa, known as one of the most honoured Gurus of ancient India. Senior Ayurvedic consultant Dr Vishakha Mahindroo says, “Veda Vyasa, structured the four Vedas, composed the epic of the Mahabharata, created the foundation for the many Puranas and the vast encyclopedias of Hindu sacred lore. Guru Purnima represents the date on which Lord Shiva as the Adi Guru or original guru taught the seven rishis who were the seers of the Vedas. In the Yoga Sutras, Ishvara as Pranava or Om is said to be the Adi Guru of Yoga. Lord Buddha was said to have delivered his first sermon on this day at Sarnath, reflecting the power of this sacred time.”

Guru Purnima is celebrated to honour our teachers, who remove the darkness from our minds. They have a special place in the lives of their followers since ancient times. All the holy books of Hinduism dictate the importance of Gurus and the extraordinary bond between a Guru and his Shishya (disciple). An age-old Sanskrit phrase ‘Mata Pitah Guru Daivam’, says that the first place is reserved for the mother, second for the father, third for Guru and forth for God. Thus, teachers have been given a higher place than Gods in Hindu tradition.

Given that it’s a very pious and deep rooted tradition that has a direct reference to our mythology and culture, I pay obeisance to my gurus – the parents, any person’s first gurus, school, college, university teachers, professional gurus who train you in one’s work and several others whom we across and learn something from- on this Guru Purnima day. However, at this age, when I have also worked for decades coming across hundreds of juniors , a few admirers have also been sending me Pranam on this Guru Purnima. While humbly acknowledging their kind gesture, I would like to tell them that I do not consider myself worthy of all their respect and affection as I am yet to achieve any major milestone in my life other than day to day struggle to meet mine and my family’s normal requirements. I consider myself a student, trying to imbibe a single drop from this vast ocean of knowledge, though I am always ready to disseminate or share whatever little I have!

It’s such a beautiful thought that all elders are our gurus and so are those who are doing good for an organisation, society, community, city or country! Corona warriors are one such group that are waging a battle, sometime losing, with the pandemic to keep us safe! Our forces defending our borders are another example! Likes of Mother Teresa, Baba Amte and several other unsung heroes are all gurus that deserve our respect. Because God himself does not always come to our rescue or to remove darkness – whether of ignorance, mal practices of something like Corona virus, he sends his representatives- our Gurus, who are our teachers, mentors, advisors, protectors and above all a bridge to connect with the God himself!

Happy Guru Purnima to all !

It’s a big tragedy of showbiz, more so of Bollywood that we adore and remember only those whom we see on the screen. We all have our favourite actors and if you stretch this a bit more, favourite directors and music composers. But thousands of others – light boys, technicians, sound recorders, cameramen, set organisers, extras, choreographers, lyricists, screenplay writer et al- it’s a long list – remain anonymous and unrecognised. In fact, once past their prime, they are left to die in extreme penury.

However, a few dared to mark their presence with very distinguished work. The first name that readily comes to one’s mind is that of Salim Javed, the writer duo and the names behind blockbusters such as Sholay, Deewar and Zanjeer. If you scratch your mind, the names such as Waman Guru ( editors who again hit big time with Sholay), Bhanu Athaiya ( who made her mark as costume designer for Richard Attenborough’s magnum opus Gandhi) or Resul Pookutty, sound designer, who won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire.

Another name that worked behind the scenes but acquired celebrity, almost cult status, was that of Saroj Khan, who breathed her last a couple of days ago. A life full of ups and downs, mainly downs, her parents, refugees from Pakistan, had difficulty in making the two ends meet of a rather largish family. Her father died when she was hardly 10 and it befell upon her to financially support her family having her widowed mother and younger siblings. Though obsessed with dancing since infancy, she had no connections in Bollywood, though an acquaintance got her into background group dancing. Master Sohan Lal and his brother Hira Lal, who till then were mainly focused on South, spotted young Saroj as a powerhouse of talent and soon, Master Sohanlal made Saroj, who was just 13 years old then, her assistant. A young and highly vulnerable Saroj fell for the charms of her Guru, senior to her by 28 years and she bore him two children out of wedlock. As Sohanlal was a much married man having 4 children with his wife, he refused to adopt Saroj or her children. While how she met her future husband Roshan Khan is a separate story, but success remained elusive to her till early 80s, when Subhash Ghai picked her up to choreograph numbers of his blockbusters Hero. As proverbial saying goes – there was no looking back for Saroj. She directed all major heroines of that time – Sridevi, Madhuri, Juhi, Raveena etc. Her repertoire includes super hit numbers such as Ek do teen, Choli Ke peeche , hawa hawai, kaate nahin katate, dhak dhak, dola re dola, the list is very long! Towards the end, she was active on TV also, frequently appearing on realty shows relating to dancing.

She was self made, who had passion for dancing, an art that she pursued right till her end mastered it without any real formal training. She was fiercely independent who raised her children single handedly when Sohanlal refused to lend his name. And she was forward thinking, innovative, experimental and most graceful. Even double entendre songs such as Choli ke Peeche have become gracious thanks to Madhuri and person behind her moves, Saroj.

It’s a rag to riches story of how someone starting from a scratch reached the zenith to acquire celebrity status to become the best in her chosen field. She faced problems galore, but overcame them all with her sheer grit, determination and of course, talent and hard work.

RIP Saroj ! As long as your iconic songs continue to enthrall audiences, your name will remain etched in their memories.

The inspiration for this blog comes from Mahatria’s today’s thought received from my friend. It says:

All of us need endorsement from the world for a few aspects. If you need endorsement from the world for every aspect, then you are not happy about yourself, you have not loved yourself, you have never respected yourself. If you have never loved yourself, if you have never respected yourself, you will keep demanding respect from everybody on some ground or other like I am the boss, I am the senior etc. You will hide behind the label.

It’s a beautiful thought and while we can deny this being applicable to us, what we can’t deny is that all of us would have come across such persons in our day to day life experiences. Why there are so many funny and not so funny folklores around boss- subordinate relationship? Ditto senior-junior! And this list can be expanded to include combinations such as rich-poor, husband-wife, topper- laggard, weak-strong etc.

There’s an old saying that respect has to be earned and not given or demanded. In today’s world, we are all interdependent! An entrepreneur needs people to work for him for which he pays wages ! And this can be extended to any relationship- boss and subordinate, buyer and seller, cabbie and passenger, our drivers, security guards, maids – we pay them for the services availed of them! Does this automatically entitle employer, hirer, boss, senior, landlord et al to be respected? Unless there’s a larger purpose linked to our action and our acts are selfless, we will be entitled to be respected not for our own self but because of the position we hold!

Let’s not worry about being respected but try and become humans first. When we pay for a stuff or service, it’s a transaction; when we do something without expecting anything in return, it’s the larger purpose! When we applaud Corona warriors and supply them with PPE kits, masks and hand sanitizers, when we pay salaries to our servants, maids, drivers, employees during months of lockdown instead of laying them off, when we donate for PM Cares, Aamphan and Nisarga victims, when we stand behind our soldiers braving the enemy brutality, in short, when we selflessly think about community, society, nation, city, underprivileged, weak without expecting anything in return or recognition, we become eligible of being respected by no less than the almighty himself, leaving no desire for being respected by ordinary human mortals!

I have just received a post informing that today is the 183rd day of the year 2020 and there are 183 days left in the remaining part of this leap year.

I think that in the living memory of the current generation, there wouldn’t be any other period as difficult as the last 183 days of the current year have been! It started with the usual fanfare- start of a new decade, some people equating the new year to be be as exciting as the cricketing game of 20::20 and such usual stuff that we experience at the beginning of each new year!

Corona virus was still a Wuhan centric phenomenon and social media was agog with curiosity for this new contagious viral strain. And February saw Covid making its muted presence in India in Kerala and by third week of March, we had one day Janata curfew, which was soon followed by lockdown that has continued till date – tightly enforced in some parts a little relaxed in a few others.

What started mutely is now in its full pandemic flow and major cities of India – Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai are in its grip. Businesses are down, joblessness increasing, stories of human tragedy are unfolding and there’s no end in sight! As if this was not enough, two severe cyclones ravaged East and West coasts, untimely rains have wreaked havoc on ready to reap crops and India had to face the ugly face of Chinese expansionism by losing 20 of its brave hearts. Pakistan is choosing to spread terror here rather than control Covid back home and Nepal is turning out to be China’s new ally!

The very thought that the we are only halfway through with this year 2020 is shuddering. Moreover, while Corona doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to spare us from its fangs, where are China and Pakistan going? We have to face it all – bravely, intelligently and unitedly !

If Corona spares me

Why should I be happy?

For I have lost my job

And my life has become so crappy!

Cars and vehicles are not on road

But petrol is rocketing Sky high

All I can do to look skywards

And ask the almighty, why?

Bible says love thy neighbours

But that only I am supposed to know

For our neighbours Pakistan and China

It’s conspiracy so that India goes slow

I welcomed 2020 with great fanfare

The way I welcome each new year

Half way down the line

There’s no cheer but only eye with a tear!

Let’s hope the next 183 days are at least not worse if the happy days are still some distance away.

Just saw the above photograph posted by someone in a Facebook group of which I am a member too! As is said , “ a picture is worth a thousand words”. The above picture shook me to the core of my heart. The boy has used his chappal as a prop for mobile phone with camera to click a selfie with his other innocent friends. The picture immediately transported me back to my early childhood when all our desires used to get fulfilled by use of props as our parents could not afford any of the expensive reals. The chopper that was used for washing clothes when washing machines were unheard of would double up as a cricket bat ! A 25 p non working plastic watch would adorn my wrist, being displayed with pride.

As a small boy, I was extremely fond of toys such as mini bus, truck or car. It was difficult for my parents to buy such toys as they were expensive by our economic standards. I distinctly remember making a bus out of an empty shoe box or any other solid cube having 3 dimensions would be my car or truck! I also remember my father having actually bought me a pick up truck toy on my 7th birthday that I used for years though it’s wheels and body crumbled under its excess exploitation!

In contrast, children of today belonging to affluent families have expensive phones, watches, shoes, toys at their beck and call and they hardly value them. What was a childhood dream and a pure aspiration of yore is taken for granted today! But in these days of Corona, when lockdown is providing people lot of time to take stock of their lives, it’s pictures like the above that remind you of the fact that happiness is not a function of what you have what you don’t but how you enjoy whatever you have and live the moment. We waste our lifetime running after material possessions – the joy provided by that prop of an empty cardboard box doubling up as a toy car was several notches above the joy of actually possessing a luxury sedan!

As Mahatria would say: “

Contentment is your ability to look back the past with no regrets. You should be happy with what you have. It does not stop you from being ambitious about your future. Contentment is a result and effect that is born from the past. Ambition is a futuristic emotion.

One of the takeaways from the current Corona pandemic is – let’s live the moment and be happy with whatever we have for now we have learnt that it’s completely unknown when a crisis will bring everything to a standstill. The children in the photograph are superb interpretation of Mahatria’s thoughts.