Cardboard cutouts of crepuscular birds
Silently flap their wings In a jagged arrowhead Over chaos, despondence, carnage Riding into the dusk of 2011. End of Act I; thank God it's over.
The audience awaits the next Act That would miraculously usher in:
A nation riding on wings of Hope
Justice, Equality, Dignity, Amity, Knowledge.
Act II; oh, how we awaited it?
Suddenly, there are no tears, No poor and naked, No hopeless suicides, No communal violence No rapes, no child molestations No loot, no guns, no bombs. No Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others Telling us that their god is the only real God.
Suddenly, a tinsel sun is lowered on stage,
And glimmers over a 'clear stream of reason'
Leading its way slowly but surely
'Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit'
And young children waving tricolors Appear singing, "Jai Hind" To accompaniment of a gentle flute.
As a dazed audience starts leaving From gallery, stalls and aisles;
The oft repeated comments,
In the applause, are: "If a play called 'New Year'
Can usher in all this, Why can't we stage it everyday?"
I wrote in an article ('Happy New Year') in this blog on 1st of January this year, that there is actually nothing New about the New Year and that this is, as indeed is Time, an invention of man to end one's worries, habits, biases, proclivities, unhappinesses, mistakes, and sadnesses and thus begin afresh with a new resolve and of course new worries, habits, biases etc.
Hence, it is not difficult to conclude that the best use of the so called New Year is to make Resolutions. These are not written in stone like the Ten Commandments but these are the ones which give us hope (about ourselves) and fresh strength to put a little order in our messed up lives.
However, lets not get carried away by the lofty resolutions. Experience teaches us a lot. If we have been running the Sprint in about 33 seconds for the last several years, the New Year Resolution is not going to help us to break the world record. It is, therefore, helpful to read the signs of the experience and see what each of the resolutions actually means after a few hours/days:
1.I will not drink anymore
Until I get up at least.
I will not drink any less either.
I will not drink unless I have company.
I like my company.
2. I will not worry unnecessarily
No one has my circumstances.
I am little more conscientious. How can it be called worrying?
Someone has to worry.
In any case I don't worry about small things.
3. I will be regular with walks and calisthenics
Once in a fortnight is fairly regular, isn't it?
What's the use? She doesn't come to the gym/walks anymore?
90 kgs is still less than 100, isn't it?
I have seen the fittest getting heart-attacks.
4. I will be more forgiving
As soon as I have finished breaking the SOB's teeth.
Gandhi wasn't so practical, you know.
You have no idea what she did to me.
I have tried this. He thought it was my weakness.
5. I will become more punctual
Alright, but how about improving traffic, bus and train services?
Me, the only one? Sitting alone in office, function, date?
There are people who slip in much after me.
Is there a fire?
6. I will become more positive
You can't be a lotus in filth.
I am just being realistic.
Glass half full? Have you seen the muck in the water?
Who invented the parachute?
7. I will be more charitable
You think the b____s are poor because of me?
I have worked for every penny that I have.
They misuse these funds all the time.
People just show off with charity.
8. I will not waste time on unproductive activities
Our group on facebook is quite intellectual.
I am a thinking man.
Some people are so unsocial.
Sudoku is good for the brain.
9. I will spend more time with the family
I would but the kids don't want me.
Our last holiday in Matheran was a disaster.
There is a generation gap.
They actually want to be left alone.
10. I will not lose my temper even with unreasonable people
Is it only for me? What about the other party?
One should call a spade a spade. I am only being factual.
I never start an argument.
There is always a limit, you know.
I think one reason that the New Year Resolutions don't work is because we let the Mind do most of the thinking. We should, once in a while, let the heart be in control. It may just work.
How proud I am that I lived in an era when Mohammed Rafi sang the songs whose lyrics were written by Shakeel Badayuni, music composed by Naushad and Dilip Kumar enacted those songs? There are other great lyricists such as Hasrat Jaipuri, Sahir Ludhianvi and Majrooh Sultanpuri. Similarly, there are other great music composers such as Ravi, Hemant Kumar, Salil Choudhury, Shanker-Jai Kishen, and Laxmikant Pyarelal. However, this article is only about the greatest ever quartet of Rafi, Shakeel, Naushad and Dilip Kumar being together.
The best musical trio ever: Naushad, Rafi, Shakeel - I would give anything to meet them
Sadly, out of the four, the first three are no more except Dilip Kumar who celebrated his 89th birthday on the 11th of Dec. Mohammed Rafi died three and half decades ago (31 Jul 1980) at the age of 56. If he were alive, he would have celebrated his 87th birthday on 24th of Dec.Similarly, Naushad who died on 5th May 2006 would have been 92 on 25th of Dec. Can you imagine that the three of them had their birthdays this month? Shakeel didn't even reach the age of 54: born on 3rd Aug 1916, he died on 20 Apr 1970
As far as songs not including the complete quartet are concerned, by far the number one song in Hindi movies has been the 1963 movie Mere Mehboob's title song. Its lyrics are the finest written by Shakeel and Naushad has given the most heart-touching music. Rafi'd rendition is the best ever. But I am not putting it here because instead of Dilip, the film had Rajendra Kumar.
Once again you are bound to ask me: what about 'Suhani raat dhal chuki' from 1949 Dulari. Once again it has Shakeel-Naushad and Rafi but not Dilip Kumar. I think by this time you get the point hat this article is all about.
Let me begin with the oldest of the four: Shakeel of the village Badayun in UP. Initially he started as a shayar (poet) but moved in 1944 to Bombay to find a career in films. He met Naushad. During those days shayars were full of songs about upliftment of society. But Shakeel chose to write about love and Naushad liked his romantic poetry immediately and signed for AR Kardar's 1947 movie Dard. The songs were a hit especially Afsana likh rahi hoon. Shakeel had arrived in the Hindi film industry with a bang. Shakeel wrote for Ravi, Burman, Hemant Kumar, C Ramachandra etc too but his favourite always was his first: Naushad. Unlike shayars of that era, Shakeel didn't drink. However, he died young at 53 years of age in diabetes related problems.
The greatest lyricist of Hindi movies. He wrote Mere Mehboob
Naushad was the next younger, having been born three and a half years after Shakeel. However, he was in Hindi film industry as an independent music director for close to seven years before he paired with Shakeel. He too was from UP; the city of Lucknow famous for its old Urdu etiquette and refinement. Naushad was the most versatile music director the industry ever saw. His genre was to base his music on classical raagas. His career spanned more than six decades. He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1981 and Padam Bhushan in 1992.
The Greatest with the Greatest - Naushad with Mohammad Rafi
Next is Dilip Kumar who is still alive having been born as Muhammad Yusuf Khan in Peshawar (now in Pakistan) on 11 Dec 1922. Satyajit Ray called him the ultimate method actor. He too began his career in the same year as Shakeel did. He was the first actor to win Filmfare Best Actor Award; ultimately he won the highest number, ie, eight, an honour that he shares with Shah Rukh Khan. He was awarded the Padam Bhushan in 1991, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993 and Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1994. He remained a good friend of Shakeel and Naushad.
Dilip Kumar - there hasn't been a better actor than him in Hindi films
The youngest was Rafi, born on 24 Dec 1924 in village Kotla Sultan Singh near Amritsar in Punjab. He has sung nearly 8000 songs including 112 in non Hindi and 328 non filmy private songs. He too started his career in Hindi movies in 1944 and became a contemporary of the other three. However, his career lasted nearly half of Naushad's. He, however, had started singing at the age of 13. He sanf 149 songs for Naushad. Other than Hindi and Urdu (the languages of the Hindi songs), he has sung songs in Konkani, Bhojpuri, Orya, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Kannada, Tamil, Maghi, Maithili, Assamese, English, Persian, Spanish, and Dutch. His genre too was Hindustani and he was reputed to have moulded his voice to suit the character of the actor. I do not consider myself qualified to describe his talent. He is simply God of Hindi songs and there would never be a time when I shall not want to hear a song sung by Rafi.
The gretest Hindi films singer ever - Rafi was also the most humble
The first of the movies in which the quartet was together was the 1948 Mela. Its song 'Yeh zindagi ke mele duniya mein kam na honge afsos hum na honge' is still the standard in Urdu poetry. Taste this: Duniyaa hai mauj-e-dariyaa, qatare ki zindagi kyaa Paani mein mil ke paani, a.njaam ye ke paani Dam bhar ko saans le le, ye zindagi ...
The next movie of the quartet was 1951 movie Deedar. The song that I love the most is a duet between rafi and Lata: Dekh liya maine kismet ka tamaasha dekh liya. Milakar bhi rahaa main mushkil mein Milane ka natijaa dekh liyaa
1952 Aan became a super-hit movie of that time. It was produced and directed by the legendary Mehboob Khan. Amongst all the song that best describes the theme of the movie, ie, a poor villager Dilip Kumar overcoming the pride (Aan) of the princess Nadira is Maan mera ehsaan are nadaan ke maine tujhse kiya hai pyaar. Enjoy:
Two years later the great Mehboob Khan got the quartet toegther again for the movie Amar. The song closeto my heart is the bhajan 'Insaaf ka mandir hai ye bhagwan ka ghar hai'. Just imagine all four Muslims getting together and making a mandir (Hindu temple) song. This was the essential greatness of the society, the movies and songs of that era: people of all communities participated in hymns of all religions. Two years earlier, for Baiju Bawra, Shakeel-Naushad-Rafi had combined to make one of the best Hindu bhajans 'Man tadpat Hari darshan ko aaj'.
The next movie of the quartet was the 1955 movie Uran Khatola that was produced by Naushad. The storyline was about a plane that crashed near an isolated town that is ruled by women. I have a problem now. There are so many good songs in this movie that I don't know which one to select. There are, eg, Na toofan se khelo, na sahil se khelo', 'Hue ham jinake liye barbaad' and 'O door ke musaafir'. My choice is 'Mohabbat ki raahon mein chalna sambhal ke'. It is about the hopelessness of love. There are these immortal lines in the song: Hamen dhoondhati hain, bahaaron ki duniyaa
Kahaan aa gaye ham, chaman se nikal ke.
And if you can see better acting than Dilip Kumar, do let me know.
Then there was a five year period in which no movie of the quartet together were released though there were others for them to accept movies separately. It was worth the wait. The 1960 Mughal-e-Azam, written by Kamal Amrohi (amongst others. Kamal went on to make his own classic Pakeezah a few years later) and directed by K Asif. It was the biggest box office hit ever (Rupees 133 Crores after adjusting for inflation) until Sholay broke its record. The movie was about the love affair between Prince Salim (who went on to become Emperor Jehangir) and Anarkali. The movie belonged to Lata Mangeshkar who bagged the best and most popular songs like 'Mohe panghat pe Nandlal', 'Mohabbat ki jhooti kahani pe roye', and 'Jab pyaar kiya to darna kya'. Rafi had only one important song but it became very famous: 'Zindabaad, zindabaad; ai mohabbat zindabaad". Enjoy:
The year 1960 also saw the light-hearted Kohinoor; a movie with Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari. Dilip Kumar had, by this time, earned the reputation of a Tragedy King with movies like Devdas and had actually gone into depression with the intensity of his roles. This movie was, therefore, to break the monotony of tragic roles. He won the Filmfare Best Actor award for this too. The movie had two very beautiful duets: 'Chalenge teer jab dil par', and 'Do sitaaron ka zameen per hai milan' and Rafi's 'Koi pyaar ki dekhe jadugari' and 'Zara man ki kewadiyaa khol'. My choice is: 'Madhuban mein Radhika naach re', one of the best songs sung by Rafi:
Just a year later, in 1961, was released Dilip Kumar's musical romance with Vyjantimala in the shape of Ganga Jamuna. Asha Bhonsle sang 'Tora man bada paapi', and Lata sang 'Na maanu, na maanu na maanu re dagabaaj tori' and the all time hit song 'Dhundo dhundo re saajna mere kaan ka baala'. However, Rafi's 'Nain lad jainhe to manavaa mein kasak hoibe kari' showed the rustic dancing by Dilip at its best. Here it is then:
We had to wait for another three years until 1964 to find the quartet again in Leader starring Vyjantimala once again opposite Dilip Kumar. The duet 'Ek Shahenshah ne banwa ke hasin Taj Mahal' was famous. But the movie belonged to Rafi with songs such as 'Apni aazaadi ko hum', 'Hamin se mohabbat hamin se ladaayi' and 'Tere husn ki kya taareef karun'. I am, however, putting up 'Mujhe duniya waalo shraabi na samjho' if only to see Dilip in a drunken stage and rafi matching the drunken voice in his song:
One year later, the quartet was back again with the movie 'Dil Diya Dard Liya' based on Emile Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights; this time with some of the best songs that Mohammad Rafi has sung. Dilip acted opposite Waheeda Rehman. Rafi's songs that became famous and are still famous are: 'Koi saagar dil ko behlaata nahin', 'Dilruba maine tere pyaar mein', and a duet with Asha Bhosle, 'Sawan aaye na aaye'. My choice is an all time favourite of mine: 'Guzre hain aaj ishq mein'. I adore these lines: O bewafaa teraa bhi youn hi toot jaae dil
Tu bhi tadap-tadap ke pukaare haay dil
Tera bhi saamnaa ho kabhi gam ki shaam se
Two years later, the quartet were back in the super-hit movie Ram Aur Shyam. The theme of twins separated at birth and united later in life made its debut and continue unabated for many years. The movie had a soul-stirring song by Rafi: 'Aaj ki raat mere dil ki salaami le le'. Enjoy:
We could see the quartet for the last time in 1968 movie Sunghursh. The movie about thugee (conning) in Varanasi was based on a story by Jnanpith Award winner Mahasweta Devi; and starred Dilip Kumar and Vyjantimala. Rafi sang: 'Jab dil se dil' and 'Ishq Diwana'; but, Dilip's rustic dancing was once again to be seen in 'Mere pairon mein ghungroo'.
Well folks that is all from me for the quartet of Shakeel Badayuni as lyricist, Naushad Ali as Music Director, Mohammad rafi as singer and Dilip Kumar as an actor with all four being together. How I wish that era had never ended. But, like Shakeel wrote in Mela: 'Ye zindagi ke mele duniya mein kam na honge, afsos hum na honge'.
India and Pakistan are like two separated brothers, for example, in a Manmohan Desai movie. A time will come when we will pull the sleeves of our shirts back and reveal the common tattoos that our parents had got etched for us before we parted company or were separated by a tumultuous cyclone or earthquake; and Manmohan will exult, "Bhaiyya or Bhaaji" to Zardari and the latter will, in euphoric denouement scream, "Bhaii jaan".
But, until then, we hurl rockets, bombs, artillery shells, accusations, abuses, brickbats at each other with a regularity that would put rising and setting of the sun to shame. The following anecdote describes it aptly:
A Pakistani and an Indian were travelling together from Dubai to London and by quirk of fate (just like the quirk of our Geography) had seats next to each other; the Indian had the isle seat and the Pakistani had the middle seat. After take off when the aircraft had settled at the cruising altitude the Pakistani was about to press the overhead button for calling the hostess when the Indian turned to him and said, "Now what are you doing that for? I am just going to the washroom; on the way back I will fetch you what you want." The Pakistani told him that he wanted a coke. This being a long flight the Indian had taken off his jutties (slip on ethnic shoes) and he tip-toed to the washroom and the pantry and brought the Paki a can of coke. In his absence, the Paki had picked up the left jutti and had deposited a big blob of his spittle into it.
Pic Courtesy: CHUP! - Changing Up Pakistan
After some time the Paki had the desire to spit in the right jutti too. So he proceeded to press the overhead call button hoping that the Indian would fall for the ploy; and sure enough the Indian did and went to get another coke for the Pakistani.
It came to be time to land at Heathrow and in preparation for the landing, the Indian started putting on his juttis. As he slipped his feet in the Indian realised straightway as to what the Pakistani had done. So he turned to the Pakistani and said, "India and Pakistan are two great nations and civilisations. We have common heritage and can be great friends. Hence, it is not understood, why we keep spitting in each other's juttis and cokes."
Pakistanis are busy teaching 'Hate India and Indians' in their madrassas (Islamic schools) so much so that even their once great friends (but now not so great friends) Americans have taken notice of that. The think-tanks, media, movie-makers etc on both sides of the divide are busy churning out stories about how the other party has gone rogue and how "our love and consideration" can bring them back to good sense and decent friendly behaviour.
Pic Courtesy: The Internationalist
After the break-up of the USSR, Henry Kissinger wrote in an essay in Time magazine that having an enemy in the USSR (the Iron Curtain etc) provided focus to the NATO; both for the industry and the defence forces. Without USSR, such a focus would be missing. Arguably, a similar focus seems to exist between India and Pakistan. You only have to witness a cricket or hockey match between the two nations to see the intensity or extent of this focus. Our governments would really have to concentrate on good governance without the comic relief of accusations and counter accusations between the two nations. That people die and considerable blood and money is spilled whilst retaining this enmity only adds to the focus. There is a race, a competition in everything, which assumes ludicrous proportions. If they shower hospitality over us we have to somehow outdo them and vice versa.
Pic Courtesy: Viewstonews
There is a great opportunity that has come our way post second of May when, just as we in India guessed, ranted, expected and proclaimed, Osama Bin Laden was found living in luxury in Pakistan itself in Abbottabad with the Pakistan Army almost guarding his house and pretending to be unaware of his presence there. As expected, the US has tried to be tough with Pakistan and, as expected, the chasm between Pakistan and the US is increasing since then. Our opportunity is that the two countries can now get back to sorting out matters between ourselves without intervention and mediation that we were averse to but which Pakistan wanted. Hopefully Pakistan would have probably learnt its lesson that those who mediate or intervene don't do so out of love or consideration for us but out of - what they call - their strategic interests; one of which is, though not expressed in such blunt words, that conflicts are the stuff that armed industries love - their motivation and indeed their raison d'être.
Pic Courtesy: Anil Kalhan
The other opportunity that has come our way is the current tussle that is going on betwen the army and the civil government in Pakistan post memogate scandal. Curiously, the tussel is not to take over the reins of the country but to give to the other party the first choice in ruling the country; knowing very well that the rule (whether of the civil government or the army) is bound to fail under the uncertain environment that Pakistan faces post disinterest/dienchantment by the US.
I can explain this with this game we used to play when we were in our primary school. Two contenders would keep a kerchief on the ground between them and the contenders would circle around, getting into a position to grab the kerchief and run without being tagged by the other. Often, when they were hesitant, a third party would grab the kerchief leaving both the ontenders high and dry.
Pic Courtesy: Ring Time Pro Wrestling
Now, what if India were to think strategic (for a change) and give the kerchief to the civilian government and make arrangements that it is not tagged by the army? It would be easy to assure the Pakistan government that we would together not allow the kerchief to be taken by a third party.
Else, I can visualise the frightening scenario a number of years later when Pakistan breaks up and instead of one adversary we have to contend with a few of them.
This is not an expert's coverage of the NH7 Bacardi Weekender at Pune (from 18 to 20 Nov 11). That I am sure Arjun S Ravi would have done in NH7 and Indiecision and some of his coverage was live too. Nor are the photographs in the article even one tenth of the professional excellence, clarity and story-telling quality of Kunal Kakodkar's. This is an ordinary music lover's response at being amongst the music loving crowd during the music fest in Nov 11.
NH7 Bacardi Weekender this year was simply great in its organisation, crowd
response, and the gigs that participated. One can listen to the music and the songs
on You Tube and one's best hi-tech music system. But, there is nothing
like the Live Experience. It is electric. It transports you into another world of excitement, love, ecstasy and happiness.
Papone and the East India Company at the Dewarist Stage
This year was probably the best assembly of gigs in an Indian music fest. There were five stages in all at the same Laxmi Lawns: The Dewarist, The Other Stage, Pepsi Dub Station, Eristoff Wolves Den, and Bacardi Black Rock Arena. The organisers need to be congratulated for having put up the stages, and the programme so meticulously. Arjun told me that most of it was done by his friend Dhruv and his team.
A view of the on-site admin office - Arjun and friends operated from here
Whilst the stages buzzed with music and crowd frenzy the organisers "quietly" (???) went ahead with their job
In addition to the music gigs, what makes an
even like this special are organising and ensuring participation by the crowds; for example, the flea market selling anything from memorabilia to T shirts,
hair dos, caps, hats, trinkets.
A happy visitor at the Flea (not free) market
Then there are food and drinks stalls
and...hold your breath, a Tattoo Pavilion.
One of the many watering holes. The pictures collage at the rear wall is by Kunal Kakodkar and all the pics were lit at night
Even though the crowds were huge (when Imogen Heaps had the stage about 700 people had to be sent back due to no place available for the crowds to even stand), these were managed very well. At the parking lot, there was complete order. One of the newspapers brought out at the end of the fest that the policemen on duty had nothing to do since the crowds were so well behaved. They were in there to have a good time and they were genuine music afficiondos. Have a look at the total orderliness even at the entrance despite the 'bouncers' frisking everyone for drugs etc:
Entrance to the music fest
We enjoyed the music, the ambience, the young foot-tapping crowds with their lovely, colourful hair dos and head gear. To our surprise we found that Anna Hazare is the rage with the youngsters and Gandhi caps were the most preferred headgear:
An Anna Hazare Designer cap
This group of girls were always in these hats
A nice blue hair-do
Some more colours
As you entered the fest arena they gave you a Guide Book to the facilities there and a Pocket Guide. Both were very beautifully done and provided complete information about the stages, the programme, the artistes, flea markets, food stalls, watering holes etc. Here is Lyn holding one of these Guide Books:
A Gibson stall in the fest
Let me now give you a glimpse of the Food stalls and the Tattoo shops in the Tattoo Republic
The armed forces bands play the Tattoo!
The atmosphere at the food-stalls
Before I go on to the music, the real reason for the fest, let me give you glimpses of riot of paints and colours:
Lyn trying to merge with the paintings.
As far as Music was concerned, there was so much to choose from. On the first day, Friday, the 18th Nov, there were three live stages: Eristoff Wolves Den, Pepsi Dub Station, and Eristoff Club Invasion. The gigs that played included Sky Rabbit (formerly Medusa), Midival Punditz, Ash Boy, Dualist Inquiry, Basement Jaxx, Jatin Puri, and DJ Swaggamuffin. Here is a pic of Sky Rabbit in action:
Sky Rabbit (formerly Medusa)
The second day was a delectable treat of music: On the Dewarists stage there were, amongst others Imogen Heap and Raghu Dixit. How did it go? Well, even though the crowds filled the lawns fully, they were not really on the grounds; most often than not they were airborne. Bacardi Black stage had, amongst others, Tough on Tobacco, Pentagram, and Blackstratblues. Eristoff Wolves Den stage had Reggae Rajahs. The third day was sadly the last day.
There were gigs like Scribe, King Creosote, Swarathma, Papon & the
East India Company, Bhayanak Maut and Indian Ocean. In the end, another
treat awaited the fans in the shape of Weekender All Stars on Bacardi
Together stage. See how neatly the organisers had worked out everything:
A Directions Map from the Guide Book
And an 'Out of Toon' Guide to the fest
And from these 'before' pictures, lets
go to the pics of crowd frenzy, the vibrations, the rhythemic jumps,
screams of joy and charged up atmosphere:
When the last of the gigs,
Indian Ocean played there was not an inch of ground left to stand on.
Well, no one was standing anyway. People were air borne most of the
time. Lyn and I found a good vantage point to watch Indian Ocean live. Halfway
through a girl tapped me from behind and said with becoming pleading,
"Sir, you are tall you can watch from anywhere, can I come in front?"
What would you have done? I did the same. She stood next to Lyn and
watched and I felt like a boy scout having done my good deed for the
day.
Lyn not allowing her place near the stage to be taken by anyone
There was a treat waiting for Lyn and I at the end of Indian Oceans performance. We could meet the versatile Rahul Ram of Indian Ocean and even take pics with him; all this courtesy Arjun:
Lyn and me with Rahul Ram of Indian Ocean
For Lyn and me another great and warm feeling was to be with Arjun; he lives music, breathes music. His friends say about him that other than music nothing registers in his mind.
Arjun looking satisfied with the response to NH7 Weekender and Lyn looking happy that Arjun is satisfied
The last item was the All Gigs Together and....like one often did
with a long novel just before the ending, you didn't want it to end.
The last item: Weekender All Stars - jampacked
On return, we were on the Expressway back to Mumbai and the only
thought in our mind was: The real expressway (to heaven) was in Laxmi
Lawns, Magarpatta City, Pune, from 18 to 20 Nov.
