The Evergreen

I’ve seen the Angry Young Man and felt awed and at times despised, have seen the SRK and again would smile at him, look at him and move on, the great Dilip Kumar was never my taste, the amir being too perfect for me, and salman too mindless. Raj Kapoor was a bit too distant despite being in the same age as anyone, Rajesh Khanna would almost always remain a caricature in my mind, Dharmendra would be amongst the favourite of the lot and yet, the Haryana ka jatt with his muscular and monkeyish prowess would always be a show great and yet nothing more. Guru dutt shall remain a figure beyond comprehension for most ordinary minds. Shammi Kapoor being the one who appealed most among the lot, with his brand of rock n roll music and his Yahoo, was the epitome of what I liked on the screen.

And yet above all, stand the ever enthralling, evergreen Dev Anand. I don’t have a clue as to when Dev Anand must have come into the circle of my senses. All I can guess is, must have been an infant, my mom being a big (old hindi) music buff. Although my mom, if any had a choice in Shammi Kapoor, so while she has been a huge reason in me imbibing a taste for Shammi. Dev was a self developed taste, just like many others. And yet, the kind of love, the imbibement, the recognition I had with this artist, his muic and his movies, have never felt anywhere.

I had thought of writing about the great Shammi kapoor when he died, unfortunately the lethargy gave away. Yet when the evergreen tree fades away, I really had to express my pain, the hurt of losing someone, who never was present in my life and yet was always a presence.I’ve always seen him the simple, loving guy, ready to share a word or two, a smile or two, hardly ever tackling the bullies and yet be smart enough to get through. I’ve always wondered at his wit, have always smiled at his smarrt assery, always wanted to be the fav of all like he always was, with his gentle speech and yet more than anything he has been my love guru. Music and love are two of the vital cogs in my life (Knowledge and happiness being two of the others), and this is where this love guru has always touched me, he’s taught me how to express love, how to feel love and how to love a person. It might not be your sweet heart, it might be the guy next door, or your lovely mother. The day I start accepting all with love, I’d feel like returning something to my love guru, The Raju Guide/Jewel Thief/inspector Shekhar/The captain Anand/the Heera/the Johny&lt who although would always have had others' words put in his mouth but must've had some efforts in cultivating such an image.

Today, the man breathed his last, I am a bit sad, the logic behind which I wouldn’t really understand. Not as if he was doing any more work or churning out some gems like before. I'm not sad because a person is dead, I'm perhaps thick skinned enough to care of any celeb's death. The biggest loss I feel is, that some part of me might have gone with him, how will now I say the words "Abhi na jao chhod ke" to my sanam. How shall I now hum "main zindagi ka sath nibhata chala gaya", how shall I console myself by humming to myself "kabhi khud pe kabhi haalat pe rona aaya" when the man who gave me these lines, these words which have stayed me through my life is gone. Some hollowness shall ring through me, every time I try to express my love, my life, my pain in his words. The only other image to portray me so truly, the Beatles were always an entity for me, gone long before I knew them. Dev Anand instead was always that happy, shaky, cheerful,smart and likable person on screen who was still the evergreen when I opened my eyes, well past his prime.

I wouldn’t try and ring any of his words to describe the situation, he was the one who always created the words and he never created one for such a real occasion, he wouldn’t even have ever wanted to. All he'd ever want to talk of would be Life. If only i was skilled enough as his writers were, would have written a lot about the Dev Anand breed of love and life, yet being just a guy, would sign off with 5 of my fav Dev Anand songs.

1. Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke

2. Abhi Na jao chhod ke

3. Main zindagi ka sath nibhata chala gaya

4. Hai Apna dil to awara

5.Dil ka bhanwar

I am only human

Curb me, don’t isolate me
Hate me, don’t insulate me
Rule me, don’t undertake me
Rate me, don’t classify me
Chide me, don’t ascribe me
Rebuke me, don’t dispatch me
Move me, don’t write me
Learn me, don’t teach me
Manipulate me, don’t maneuver me

Play with me, never play me
I am a human
Don’t estimate me

इंसान

हिंदी

कुदरत भी मैं हूँ, करिश्मा भी मैं ही
मैं ताकत भी हूँ, कमजोरियां मुझसे ही मिली
मैं नफरत भी हूँ, मुहब्बत नाम मेरा ही

महरूम भी मैं हूँ, खुशनसीबी भी मेरी
अजीबियत है मुझमें, आवाम भी मैं ही
फ़साने भी मैं सुनाऊँ, कसूर भी मेरे

बुलंदियां हैं मेरी, शिगाफे भी मैंने देखे
दानिश भी मैं हूँ, जाहिलियत भी मुझीमें
समझदारी महबूबा मेरी, महबूबा ही मेरी नादानी

मिसालियत ये मेरी, कि मैं हूँ एक इंसान

اردو

 

کدرت بھی میں ہوں   ،  کرشمہ بھی میں  ہی

میں ٹکٹ بھی ہوں  ،  کمزوریاں بھی مجھسے ملی

میں نفرت بھی ہوں    ،   محبّت نام میرا ہی

محروم بھی میں ہوں  ،   خوشنصیبی بھی میری

اجیبیت ہے مجھمے  ،  اوم بھی میں ہی

فسانے بھی میں سنوں  ،   کسور بھی میرے

بلندیاں ہے میری  ،  شگافےبھی مینے دیکھ

دانش بھی میں ہوں، جاہلیت بھی مجھمے

سمجھداری محبوبہ میری ،  محبوبہ ہی میری نادانی

مسلیت  یے میری کی میں ہوں ےک انسان

 

लो मेरा हाथ थम लो

हिंदी

भटक रहे हो अनजान राहों में
किसी हमसफ़र की तलाश में
राह में, साथी तुम्हारे बहुत
पर वो हमसफ़र है कहाँ

तलाश में जिसकी भटकती
नज़रें तुम्हारी बोझल
याद में जिसकी
नज़रें ये बेताब

ठोकरें खाते हुए निकल पड़े
अजनबी आशियानों को
लो मेरा हाथ थम लो
इन मुफलिस राहों पे

अजनबी तो मैं नहीं
इन अनजान राहों से
न ही मैं अनजान हूँ
इन शोख नज़रों के गम से

लो मेरा हाथ थाम लो
इन मुफलिस राहों में
मैं ही तो हूँ मंजिल तुम्हारी
मैं ही तो हूँ वो हमसफ़र

اردو

بھٹک رہے ہو انجان راہوں میں
کسی  ہمسفر کی تلاش میں
راہ میں ، ساتھی تمھارے بہت
پروو ہمسفر ہے  کہاں

 

تلاش میں جسکی بھٹکتی
نظریں تمہاری    بوجھل
یاد  میں جسکی
نظریں یہ  بیتاب

ٹھوکریں  کھاتے  ہوئے نکل پدی   ہو
اجنبی آشیانوں   کو
لو میرا ہاتھ تھام لو
ان مفلس  راہوں  پے

اجنبی تو میں نہیں
ین انجان راہوں  سے
نا ہی میں انجان ہوں
ین شوخ نظروں کے   گم سے

لو میرا ہاتھ تھام لو
ین مفلس راہوں میں
میں  ہی تو ہوں  منزل تمہاری
میں ہی تو ہوں وو ہمسفر

 

Bored Times

Great parties have the farewells
Illnesses none do last too long
It’s the states alternate of work and play
Which shall occupy you till the time ends

Serendipitous money changes hands
Unlucky scars do fade away
It’s the hustles everyday
Which shall make your life

New found love turns sour some day
Hatred deep gets buried some day or decade
It’s the relations nondescript with a few
Which shall remain your mark in the end

All good things come to an end
Bad times don’t last long
It’s the boring times, like the old housewife
Which keep u company until the end

A bored attempt at boredom (Wiki link for the Bored) hence should be boring!

She’s leaving home

Not only the stories associated with the Beatles songs are an interesting bit of trivia for me, but one thing I like about their songs is, the stories they convey through the songs, and No Album does it better than the arguably Most Influential album in the history of Rock music, the concept album, which tells about the Lonely Hearts Club band of Sgt. Pepper. In this album, there are many real life incidents picked up by Beatles (mostly by Macca) and converted them into songs. Lovely Rita is another Macca song from the album, which does a similar thing, but here I shall pick up the song which talks about a certain Miss Melanie Coe, who ran away from her home, thus making it to the front page of Daily Mirror.

Although, Macca made up most of the facts in the song, as Melanie didn’t meet a guy from motor trade, rather her guy was a croupier and she left in the afternoon, contrary to the song, where its early morning when her parents discover that she is missing. Although, Melanie who was just sweet little seventeen then, claims that most of the other facts fitted to her story as well as the truth.

After 10 days of hiding away, the girl was finally discovered, as she too like many foolish teenagers, had let slip the place where her boyfriend worked. Coincidentally, Coe had met McCartney three years earlier when she was a contestant and prize winner on ITV’s Ready Steady Go! She has been known to go on record, saying that although
having a song written about her was good, yet this song shall always serve as a haunting memory of the misdoings of her past, as a result the song has been nothing but a painful reminder of a painful past!

Trivia : This was one of a handful of songs of The Beatles in which the members did not play any instruments.
PS: When discussing Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, composer Ned Rorem described “She’s Leaving Home” as “equal to any song that Schubert ever wrote.

Preemptive Planning

Local authorities and the govt are perhaps two of the most cursed things in India, after our very own legendary Ravindra Jadeja. Each and everyday, we end up cursing some or the other thing related to the administration, ranging from unfilled potholes or the roads which havnt been refurbished after the extended spell of monsoon that the city enjoyed. Yet, since the time I have come to Hyderabad, the HUDA (or whoever is the concerned authority) if it hasnt managed to be the best local development authority, then I would surely rank it above many places I have been to till date.

The whole life, according to me is nothing but a matter of balance, and it is in maintaining this balance that HUDA has more or less succeeded in the, almost 5.5 years I have spent in the city of Nizams. Sure, we shall always have our problems, the roads in old city will always be crowded and congested. The diversions in Hitech City, shall always be hijacked by a group of people, unable to quench their thirst of spending more hours working, taking (supposedly) illeagl shortcuts to reach office early. Still, with such problems which every major establishment shall face with the increase in population, specially the IT inspired population explosion that Hyderabad has experience in past few years.

Such a explosion is bound to fail all the existing systems of a city, yet somehow Hyderabad, much to its credit hasnt yet choked fully. You can still see open spaces, you can still find empty tracts of road, you can still travel 8-9 kms in 20 mins or so. Hyd, as I said, has been about maintaining balance, it hasn’t gone the Mumbai, Bangalore way and as a result making people spend major part of their days on road. Neither has it been lucky like Noida and specially Greater Noida, with having lots of space to extend and huge amounts of capital investment to support the impending infrastructure development. Greater Noida, when inhabited shall be a city to marvel, yet as of now, it just seems a lot of money invested to build lots of houses and lots of good roads, with no people to use them.

One major part of development of Hyd, since the time I have come here is the preemptive planning, a point, which, Not many planners around the country are taking into account. I still remember, once upon a time, the Nagarjuna Circle, used to be one of the busiest places in hyderabad, and was touted (perhaps misgivingly) as one of the busiest circles in Asia. Yet, just the construction of a simple flyover at the place, has decreased that problem by orders of magnitude. That was one example of taking action after encoutnering the problem, a strategy missing in almost all cities, where things are mostly allowed to Let It Be. Chandrababu Naidu, shall be thanked for inculcating a flyover culture in Hyderabad. After the construction of this flyover, the PVNR Express Way was also more of example of acting at the problem. The examples of preemptive planning are the new flyovers which have come up/are coming up in Hitech City and near Gachibowli (respectively). Agreed, the traffic at the Cyber Towers circle has increased exponentially in the last few years. But in no situation had the problem exaggerated to the extents of needing a new flyover. Similarly the situation at Gachibowli circle commanded even lesser attention than Cyber Towers, yet we do have a flyover construction in full force there as well, and, shall sooner than later, be welcomed by the sight of a new one. Yet, the most shocking part was, when I observed, what could only be the building blocks of new flyover near the Begumpet flyover.

I guess, for once we should thank the Authorities in Hyderabad, for trying to do their best in an endeavour to make the lives of us Hyderabadis simpler and more convinient.

Fine!

Delving into girls’ psychology is a hobby of mine, which unlike others has refused to die with time and age. Since the time I have come in contact with the female, they obviously have amazed and flummoxed me, and this amazement has always resulted in my curiousity towards the fairer gender increasing with every such incident.

There are some habits/particulars which are applicable more or less to the whole gender as such. There are always going to be exceptions for anything you suggest, but since this point is more of a generalization. So, you are bound to find quite a variety of examples which might falsify my claims. Yet, based on all the experience that I’ve had with females in my life. I have always found the use of the word ‘fine’.

The word fine according to its dictionary meaning is more used in a positive sense, supposed to be meant in appreciation of something good. On the contrary, the maximum usage of the word by the women/girls, is in a sense of showing disappointment/anger. Its only when the girl is very disappointed/strongly disagreeing with you and she wants to show her disapproval of you/thing in question, that the word ‘fine’ shall be called up from the dictionary of womanness, thrown up at you, leaving you puzzled about the course of action to be taken in order to counter the sudden threat you are faced with, as a result of synonymity capabilities of the English Language.

So now on, I pray to all the womenfolk, to let fine remain its original meaning and save it from the shame and humiliation of being meant something different than its original and intended form. We, the men, shall also be thankful to you for removing one of the question marks from our life.

PS: I think, now I should make a category Women as well.

Not Only

Not only the lovers
But the writers do make some tales

Not only the happiness
But the struggles too do make a man

Not only the shiny roads
But the potholes too speak a lot

Not only the romances
But the wars do shape the histories

Not only Hercules be idolized
But we shall always hear of a Timur-lame

Not only the stars above
But you and me shall shine alight

Officially : Quarter Life Crisis’ed

I have very vibrant memories of times in our school/college when going through the pages of TOI, I would at times stumble upon an article talking about the problems that the young corporate India was facing. The term used in the papers was Quarter Life Crisis. To describe,what I could make out of the phenomenon (after reading such articles time and again) was the confusion that these people had, the lack of purpose, lack of direction and such things which were threatening to disrupt their mental balance.

Looking from the POV of a starry-eyed teenager or an unconcerned college student, these issues didn’t amount to much. It was quite hard to appreciate the feeling of emptiness/void being talked about in the articles. It always seemed quite weird to me that people having good pay packages and all the comforts in life, they could think of, would still be unsatisfied, could still be puzzled and muddled. Looking from the point of view, I had at that time, getting a job and earning handsomely could have been the simplest solution to life anyone could ask for. Yet, such is the rule of life, that when you find the key to the lock of happiness, somehow or the other, lock  changes and you are left flummoxed at some nook or corner of a road, which until now had seemed like heading in one direction with no seemingly visible obstructions or turnarounds.

Today, more than 1.5 years since I left the college and joined corporate culture, left right and center, I can see people going through the Quarter Life Crisis. Words like void and incompleteness which only graced the pages of science textbooks for all such science graduates, started becoming the words which describe the current status of their lives. It might be wrong to say that most of the people this age are looking for solutions and things to do, yet the fact remains, that some way or the other this is the time to THINK. Someone’s happy with a relation, some one else is all geared up to settle down and have a happily satisfied life, some are looking towards their job and making a glorious career out of it through their own efforts, some people after spending enough time in corporate world are looking to go for education, mostly an MBA or MS which would help further their career in the line of service they choose. Such people, who have chalked out a path in life for themselves can definitely be found around us.

Yet even with all this said and done and people having options and many of them even selecting them, there remains a large chunk of population,  torn between the issues which shall decide their life, someone’s torn between looking for (and hopefully finding) a gf (ignoring bf coz girls just supposedly don’t care that much) or else, working for and looking to develop a career, which can be a bit difficult if you give time for the activity of finding and maintaining a girl. Troubles in the task of finding a life or a better(?)/different career is compounded by the fact that S/W field is a very comfortable and (atleast for me) a well-paying option, which desists an individual from taking any sort of risks because it shall involve giving up a life which is good, comfortable, paying and respectable! Almost everything you could want from a job is provided by the field, yet leaving a blank/void somewhere somehow which makes you think again and again, more and more until you are irritated by the thinking and also as a result of all this thinking have exaggerated the pre-existing void in your life.

Asking for a solution to such a thing, is never going to be easy. Since a whole generation is suffering with the problem, you would be hard pressed to find people in your peer group, who can give u solutions, at best people around can be used as a sounding board, on which you can bounce your own ideas and think for their views and opinions, but its going to be hard finding help more than that. It’s hard to say what path life takes in such cases, someone more experienced in this situation can help people out. But, each and every person having his/her own mindset/problems/talents/desires leads to the fact that no one can understand the issues like you do, and the things they recommend could be wrong in your context. I can’t say, which way this ends, or rather which way it shall chalk out for me, but I guess I shall be looking forward to it,because after all

Jeena isi ka naam hai

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