Modesty is something that seems to be a thing of the past, a redundant virtue, especially in those whom we consider to be high achievers in life.

But sometimes you across something that not only touches your heart but also reaffirms your faith in old school values and virtues.

Came across a quote today by one of the finest authors, Salman Rushdie that reads:

“ If Tiger Pataudi could face up to the ferocious speed of Hall and Griffith ( dreaded West Indies speedsters) , I should be able to pour water into a glass without spilling it …. and in general succeed at being functional as a one-eyed man in a two-eyed world.”

Readers may recall the deadly knife attack on Salman Rushdie in New York while he was delivering a keynote address at a gathering, in which he ultimately lost his one eye. I have just bought his new book , “ Knife: Meditations after an Attempted Murder” , which probably is based on the aforesaid incident and its aftermath. I shall surely pen a blog once I read it, but here I want to highlight the modesty displayed by one of the top authors of our times. He’s very humbly pitched his ability with one eye against Tiger Pataudi’s, though penning a book and taking charge of on self after such a dastardly attack are no mean achievements.

Our best wishes go to Salman Rushdie to not only being able to pour water into a glass , but pour wisdom into the hearts of readers through his matchless writing for many many years to come!

A budding author myself, though nowhere near the class of Salman Rushdie, a level where I cannot reach in this lifetime, his words should open up the minds of all towards supposedly quaint, but highly desirable virtues called modesty and humility, which are the hallmarks of those who are real achievers in life.

It’s not very often that I get enamoured by the promos of a movie. It happened when I saw promos of a Punjabi movie, Kali Jota, starring Neeru Bajwa and one of my favourite singers, Satinder Sartaj. It seemed to be a movie with very strong theme and very mellifluous songs, both a rarity in Punjabi films, where music and comedy, both are usually loud! The movie was released at very few theatres in Mumbai and is seemingly not available on either Netflix or Amazon Prime and therefore, I haven’t been able to watch it. Incidentally, the same pair is now promoting Shayar, which too seems off beat, it’s music already making waves.

This happened to me in case of Chamkila too, a movie based on the life of enigmatic Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila, who was shot dead, along with his wife Amarjot and two companions , when he had gone for one of his concerts. This was in the year 1988, when Chamkila was just 28 years of age. Movie starring Daljit Dosanj in the title role, with Parineeti playing the role of Amarjot has been written and directed by Imtiaz Ali, with music by A R Rahman.

The movie very cleverly mixes the original songs of Chamkila ( that are mostly sung by Dosanj, an accomplished singer and Parineeti, a surprising revelation, themselves) with those composed by ARR that mostly run in the background.

Reviewing a movie is a very tough ask, because different viewers have different tastes. The takeaways from this movie are a very honest and heart rending depiction of Chamkila by Dosanj, Parineeti’s attempt at singing chaste Punjabi songs, Rahman’s captivating music and Imtiaz’s effort in keeping the story true to its spirit, without either glorifying or criticising any aspect.

Of course, the movie highlights the double standards of society, where everyone seems to be relishing Chamkila’s vulgar songs in private or in akhaadas ( as the concerts in Punjab are known as) , but do moral policing on public platforms. It’s a complex depiction in movie that attributes the above to a combination of Chamkila’s humble background, tensions in Punjab at that time, including the situation arising out of Operation Blue Star in 1984 and rivalry- Chamkila simply eclipsed his better known rivals and contemporaries. Whatever be it, let’s give the art and artists to express themselves without any moral impositions. Those who do not like anything in particular, can stay away from it.

The original stand up comedian, immensely popular and very very versatile Kapil Sharma has started his new season on Netflix. While surfing Netflix, I also came across his stand up show, “ I am not done yet”. This show has Kapil in his new avatar that’s much beyond the light hearted banter on his shows that has endeared him to large masses.

In this show, Kapil narrates the days of his struggle, the very touchy story of his long courtship of with Gini, his wife, his first tryst with Mumbai, encouragement and support that he got from his father and the story of his ultimate success in a poignant manner, intermittently laced with his hallmark wit and humour. He ends up this show with a fine tribute in the form of an English song dedicated to his late father, “ Because you’re watching”! The show that’s supposed to be a comedy and wit laced, typical of Kapil, ends on a very emotional note and presents the Kapil, as a person firmly committed to his family and rooted to his tradition, as against the projected image of a flamboyant, conceited and egotistic Kapil!

The new show, the first episode of which celebrates the success of Bollywood blockbuster Animal with Ranbir, his mother, Neetu and sister Ridhima, has all the Kapil’s devils – Kiku, Krishna, Archana and one who was sorely missed in the previous two seasons, the redoubtable Sunil Grover and the show is mounted lavishly.

All the best Kapil for this new season on Netflix. But stay humble and rooted as reflected by your stand up show and you will touch new heights of fame and success.

 In a career spanning close to three and half decades, I would have faced equal number of the year end closing days that’s 31st March. I am, therefore, no stranger to the critical importance of this day and the action that typically takes place on this day.

Of course, over the years the nature of activities of this annual closing day has changed drastically. In the earlier days of my career, it was all about finishing critical operations – applying interest on deposit and loan accounts, tallying all the books for the bank’s balance sheet and preparing the annual returns for submission to HO for annual inspection by RBI. However, with computerisation and automation, all the above has now changed and the branches can focus on garnering additional business till the last hour to be as close to their annual targets, if not achieve or overachieve them. Nature of business targets also that was mainly focused on achieving deposit targets is now changed to CASA, fees and cross sell points! 

However, notwithstanding the change in nature of activities or priorities, 31st March continues to be a day of huge importance to a banker and now that I am no longer in the thick of the action , all the memories of the past annual closings come back to me, plunging me into nostalgia. 

Happy annual closing to all my banker friends. 

मालिक ग़र माली है इस बगिया का

सब गुलों को बनाया उसी ने,

हरा, लाल, गुलाबी, नीला, पीला 

किया है ये कुदरती करिश्मा उसी ने!

जब वही नहीं करता कोई फ़र्क़ गुलों में रंगों में 

तो फिर आदमी की क्या है बिसात

आइए होली के मौक़े पर सब भूलकर 

होली के रंगों में घुल जाएँ मिलकर साथ! 

This is translatable as:

Lord almighty is the creator of this garden

That’s beautified by flowers most colourful 

Green, red, Pink, Blue and yellow

It’s God’s mercy in an overflowing cuppa full 

When the creator  has not discriminated its creation

What power does a man hold? 

Let’s celebrate Holi by forgetting differences 

By coming together in each other’s fold ! 

Every morning when the newspaper arrives, we tend to go to the magazine section first to have a look at the cartoon strips – Archie, Blondie, Garfield etc. 

When my Readers’ Digest arrives every month, I start reading it by going to Laughter the Best Medicine feature before anything else! 

And to generalise the above, aren’t all our actions, including our work for our sustenance, directed towards the ultimate objective of attaining happiness? 

If indeed happiness is our ultimate motto, how come we celebrate happiness day only on March 20 each year that too we started celebrating from 2012 onwards only after being told to do so by UN? 

International Days are meant to nudge us to not to forget or overlook the most important elements of life – mother, father, friendship and above all happiness- by getting overwhelmed by day to day affairs! All the above, more so happiness, have to be celebrated not only each day but each moment of our life!  To put it poetically:

Happiness should be enjoyed every day and every moment of our lives,

As that’s precisely the thing for which we are all striving;

20th March may be the designated international happiness day,

Do we want to be happy only for 60,70 or 80 days out of  those many years of surviving? 

It was in very early 70s, may be 1970 itself, when my father took me to his office as my mother had taken my elder brother to her mother’s home for something very urgent and I couldn’t be left alone at home. It was a day well spent, being cuddled and adored by my father’s colleagues and friends. However, what I remember very clearly is a visit to an imposing chamber of a senior lady official, who gifted me a box of toffees. While India had a history of very strong willed ladies and one of the most strong willed and charming lady, Indira Gandhi was ruling the country, seeing a lady official, sitting in a big well furnished chamber lording over a horde of males was something rare in those days.

Speaking of strong willed women, notwithstanding the historical perspective, I am quite used to seeing such women around me. My mother’s mother, a diminutive, fragile and very slim woman, managed a large brood consisting of sons, daughters their spouses, grandchildren as also extended family members with much efficiency and aplomb. My mother herself was a bit of a rebel having taken to professional singing much against her family’s wishes and eventually becoming an artist of some renown and prominence. My wife laid down her own rules of living the life her way, long before women’s lib became a fashionable word. My daughter is very head strong having chosen her own path to her life’s journey. And this analogy of my immediate family can be extended to my female friends, colleagues, team members, bosses based on the impression that I got by dealing with several of them.

Therefore, for someone like me, Women’s Day is not an annual event, but a way of life on day to day basis. I will not use any eulogy for them as that will be a discrimination, even if in a positive or superiority sense! 

I will just wish each one of my acquaintances, including the men, a happy women’s day, for celebration requires no real reason but just an occasion.

And this post will be incomplete without wishing Happy Mahashivratri to all my readers. 

Today I woke up to a beautiful spring morning, with clear blue sky, deep red rising Sun, sparkling blue sea water at a distance, birds either perched atop a tree, electric wire or parapet or just flying in the sky, smartly dressed school kids waiting for their school bus and usual light traffic on the road. Everything appeared so very peaceful, orderly and perfect. I felt at absolute peace with myself.

Then came the morning newspapers and my wife switched on the TV set to catch up on the latest news. Suddenly everything appeared disrupted, burning, chaotic and in shambles. Russian missile attack that narrowly missed Zelenskyy, attack by Houthi militants, casualties in Israel/Gaza, new Pakistan government against the popular mandate, political acrimony in our county…. the list went on and on!

I neither want to advocate ignorance being bliss, nor do I want to underplay the ground reality. However, the reality lies somewhere in between. We need not worry about things not in our control and appreciate all that perseverance of nature and human race – both going about doing their job irrespective of all the disturbances.

The last month of the last quarter of the FY 2023-24 has started and one can see frantic activity all around. There are targets to be achieved – individual as well as organisational, PMS to be completed, financial incentives to be distributed, promotions to be announced, annual closing related formalities to be completed – its as if the entire crux of the financial year is to be understood and realised in these last 20 or so working days of the year. Invariably, March also comes loaded with holidays, reducing the number of working days to below average, putting more pressure on the resources and organisations.

Obviously, the above pressure situation takes a toll on the psyche of the employee, more so if the outcomes are not on the desired lines. For organisations, it means disappointed investors and shareholders and toll on the share price.

While I cannot comment upon what organisations need to do, for they have experts, analysts, strategists, financial wizards in their ranks, who can give a technical reason for performance being off mark, I would definitely have some bit of advice for individual employees. A lower than expected outcome in any particular FY need not be treated as the end of the road. After all, who, even of the most successful lot, can claim to have got top rating , highest increment, maximum bonus and promotion on time, every time throughout his or her career span? Ups and downs represent the law of nature and instead of sulking, looking out for greener grass on the other side of the fence or taking any knee jerk action, it’s better to do a self analysis of the year gone by and restrategise by bridging the gaps, if any, that may get identified as part of the aforesaid analysis. Organisations, largely, work on the similar lines and its for individuals to adapt to the culture.
With no intention of self promoting my maiden book, “ Ordinary is extraordinary”, I personally feel that it can be a good guide as it views success in a slightly differently nuanced manner. The Amazon link is given below:

https://www.amazon.in/dp/8195880894

I first closely heard Pankaj Udhas when a friend of mine preferred to have his daily poison, with ghazals by Pankaj Udhas playing on his cassette player in the background on low volume. Ghazals like sharab cheez hi aisi hai and thodi thodi piya karo had a mesmerising effect on the music lover in me.

Came my marriage and my wedding video has a famous scene in which my bride enters the stage with Udhas’s timeless ditty, “ Chaandi jaisa Ram hai tera sone jaise baal” playing in the background. In that shot, clearly overwhelmed by the entry of my beautiful bride, I could be seen wiping sweat from my forehead, a frame that immortalised both – my beautiful bride and Pankaj Udhas’s melody!

Chitthi aayee hai caught the nation’s fancy that was to later emerge as a country with maximum number of emigrants and non residents. There’s not an occasion when the non residents or their Indian based nears and dears have not shed a tear whenever this timeless number has been played on any such gathering or occasion.

Such was the power of this sweet mellifluous voice that it held on to its position and fan base amidst the great popularity of other singers like Ghulam Ali, Jagjeet Singh, Anup Jalota etc. And an occasional Bollywood number that Pankaj lent his voice to acquired classic status.

His appearances and concerts had become rarer, but his untimely death certainly caught all his fans and music fraternity by surprise, plunging everyone in throes of deep sorrow. Coming from a family that also gave us talented Manhar and Nirmal, Pankaj attained the heights that only a handful of singers can claim to have reached and his wide repertoire of songs and ghazals will always keep his silken voice booming !