The famous Bodyline Series

 It is worth remembering Harold Larwood on his birthday today, his tryst with the famous or rather infamous Bodyline Series of 1932-33, more than 90 years ago. The English fast bowler of the day, bowling at an estimated blistering speed of 90-100 mph, which was considered very high speed those days totally decimated his Australian opponents. Today happens to be his 121st birthday.

But more importantly he was accused of bowling bouncers on leg side targeting the body of the batsmen, especially directed to containat the Australian star batsman Sir Donald Bradman, a perennial thorn on the English side. For the first time in the history of cricket, a new term was coined named "BODYLINE".

Larwood created havoc in the Australian dressing room when he managed to break the skull of one of their batsmen and injuring several others. He was widely blamed for his unsportsmanlike conduct but had no regret, ascribing his action to following the orders of his wily skipper Douglas Jardine, the protagonist of this idea of Bodyline bowling well within the rules of cricket. The captain defended his tactics, proclaiming that he was too well within the rules laid out in cricket those days - a gentleman's game where aggression was an alien notion.

Needless to say England won the series Down Under. But more importantly, it managed to put a spanner into the wheels of Bradman's juggernaut. The famous Australian who till then scored runs at an average of 100 plus, could manage only a 56 for average in that series, quite unlikely of him.

Many from our generation might remember the TV serial based on the same series, aptly named as BODYLINE and shown on DOORDARSHAN, the only TV channel available in India in the year 1987. This controversial strategy adopted by the English captain Jardine was very unpopular, though well within the rules of the game. It was probably the first blotch in the gentleman's game, which until that point was lily white like the flannels worn by the cricketers.

The English team also had an Indian batsman (India was a British colony at that time) named Nawab of Pataudi Senior, an useful cricketer who incidentally scored a century in that series. I starkly remember a scene where Ashok Banthia playing Nawab Pataudi gets emotional in front of his captain Jardine, "Now Sun must be setting in my motherland India" to which his captain responded with pride - "Sun never sets over the British Empire". It was true during that time. Alas, gone are those days of British glory. Ironically it was the same English who initiated Bodyline bowling to curb Bradman, after being battered by the battery of West Indian and Australian fast bowlers introduced the rule to restrict the number of bouncers per over.

Jardine didn't live very long and died of cancer in 1955. Larwood lived much longer, dying in 1995. Jardine came to India, did some Tiger hunting and posed himself in pictures taken before a fallen tigers, a fad of the time for high and mighty in India. Don  Bradman lived much longer and missed the 100 batting average by a whisker - which he could have easily got but for his meager by his standards average of 56 in that famous BODYLINE series. Almost 100 years since, Cricket has come a long way from its origin England to India to its current epicenter India.

Festival of PRATHAMASTAMI

 Today is PRATHAMASTAMI, a festival very unique to Odisha where the first born child in the family is celebrated being well fed and pampered with new clothing. As the name suggests this celebratory event is held on "ASHTAMI" or the 8th day of the Lunar Month of MARGASHIRA, immediately following the better known festival of KARTIK PURNIMA. On this day, he or she, the eldest child of family goes through a PUJA, or mini worship ritual at home, where especially the women folks of the family pray for long life and prosperity of the kid. 

PRATHAMASTAMI this year comes pretty close to the 18th month Anniversary of my mother's death as per the Tithi (occasion) based on Hindu lunar Calendar where a month is approximately 28 1/2 days, the time taken by Moon to revolve around planet Earth. This is slightly different from the commonly used Solar or Gregorian Calendar across the world where a month consists of 30 days based on the time taken by earth to revolve around the sun. 

Being the eldest child of my parents, it was the day I would wait in eagerness to receive the rock star treatment, my day of celebratory status while it lasted. During my childhood, my mother, for whom I was the Apple of her eyes, would wash me, make me wear a new pair of clothes early in the morning. She wanted to finish the sundry rites early to make sure that her son doesn't stay hungry for a long period of time, as I had to remain in empty stomach until the Puja is performed. The rites would be followed by me breaking fast imbibing the PRASAD (offering to God) consisting of various fruits and sugary edibles.

A few years ago when I was in India during PRATHAMASTAMI, my mother became my alarm, waking me up early in the morning, reminding me of the occasion, prodding me to take a bath while limping across the house due to arthritis to make sure every thing is ready to for the Puja. Post rituals she would be in kitchen preparing a sumptuous lunch of NADIA KHECHADI (Ghee laced yellow rice with freshly grated coconut sprinkled on it), NADIA BARA (coconut cutlet), Puri style DALMA, again with coconut toppings or Sweet Daal, all of which tasted heavenly. During evening it is time for her to make a plethora of PITHA (rice based cakes) - varying from the thinner CHAKULI to the baked variety of slightly larger than Golf ball size "ENDURI PITHA", which no doubt healthy and tasty, but BIRI or lentil component in it produces a lot of gas. My favorite was the rice based MANDAA PITHA stuffed with grated coconut laced with a heavy dose of sweet jaggery. 

These love laced heavenly delicacies have passed on to heaven along with her, like her they exist no more, passed along with her and her generation. Last year there was no PRATHAMASTAMI for me or my son, as per Hindu rituals, no religion festival should be celebrated within the first year of any death in the family. With moisten eyes I still remember my mother never failing every year to call me from India to remind me of the occasion of PRATHAMASTAMI, checking on to ensure that I and his "NAATI" (grandson) wear brand new clothes for the occasion. 

Mummy, I will never be able to pay back your unmatched selfless love you have showered me throughout your entire life. Your love is priceless, purer than the purest spring water sourced from a pristine glacier, the pristine, crispy breeze on a mountain top, purer than 24 carat gold. I will never be able to pay back my debt in this life or next. In conflict with myself, I couldn't but murmur this Kishore Kumar number - 

"LEHRON KI TARAH YAADEIN.
DIL SE TAKRAARI HAI,
TOOFAN UTHATI HAI,
LEHRON KI TARAH YAADEN" - 

"Waves of Memories like waves,
Collides with the heart,
Raising a storm,
Like waves, those memories".  

Time will fly, days will become week, weeks becomes month, months become year, but your memory will last forever, this life or next.

RIP Sulakshana Pandit

She was unique in Bollywood movie industry, a multi talented girl who was both an actress and a singer - rare quality shared by only a very few, a la the eccentric genius Kishore Kumar and Salma Agha who could sing and act as well. Sulakhyana Pandit who died today at the age of 71 belonged to that category.

The singer and actress Sulakshana Pandit once took Sanjeev Kumar, a well known, popular actor of the time to a temple to get married and proposed him - "MERI MAANG MEIN SINDOOR BHAR DO" (Please put a dot of Vermillion on my head, a popular way of a Hindu girl proposing those days). This incident has been revealed by the Biographer of Sanjeev Kumar who politely declined her proposal. Both remained unmarried till death. Incidentally the prolific actor, the famous "THAKUR SAAB" of Hindi movie SHOLAY fame, arguably the best movie in Bollywood industry passed away on the same day, November 6, 1985 exactly 40 years ago at the young age of 47. Height of coincidence, isn't it !!!

Sanjeev Kumar who earlier proposed to Nutan in a movie set and was slapped by her, later rejected by Hema Malini too, once recounted about Sulakshana Pandit been in love him. It is speculated that as a result of this rejection Sulakshana Pandit never married and chose to remain a spinster. Sanjeev Kumar  grimaced and famously replied to Pandit in his distinctive soft, lyrical voice with his characteristic smirk on his face - "Mein Kisi Aur Ko Pyaar Karta Hoon, Aur Toom Mujhe aur Wo Kisi Aur Se. Zindagi Kuchh Ajeeb Si Hai" - "I love some one and you love me, and she loves someone else. Life is somewhat weird". He wasn't far from truth.

RIP Sulakshana Pandit. You were a rare multitalented breed in Bollywood, arguably the last one. Om 🕉 Shanti.

Happy Kartika Purnima

Today is KARTIKA PURNIMA, Fall (Autumn)'s last day of full moon (next full moon day will be in winter). This special day has historic significance for the state of Odisha, my home state back home in India where the occasion is celebrated to commemorate its rich heritage. In Western hemisphere, it is called the Beaver Moon, shining bright on a cool, crispy, crystal clear, aquamarine Fall sky.

Once upon a time, Odisha used to be an independent state and a maritime superpower. It's SADHAVAS (traders) use to go on trading expeditions to faraway lands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo (modern day Indonesia and Malayan Peninsula), bringing in riches and laurels. This full moon day with high tide and the advent of winter with calm seas assisted by favourable trade winds was considered apt and auspicious to launch any trade and naval mission.

History depicts Kalinga (modern day Odisha) as an independent, indomitable Republic of the time - rich and robust enough to challenge and resist the powerful Magadha Kingdom for several generations. Kalinga's marauding army of War Elephants, an integral part of the military those days was regarded as the best in the Indian subcontinent. In an Hindi Tele Serial on Chanakya, when the Magadh's princess, daughter of Emperor Mahapadmananda is kidnapped, mad in rage he suspected Kalinga - "EK KALING HAI JO MAGADH KI RAJ KANYA KA APAHARAN KA SAHAS KAR SAKTA HAI, "Only Kaling could dare kidnapping the Magadh Emperor's daughter". Kalinga was powerful enough to earn the respect of its powerful neighbor Magadh who envied its power to live in peaceful coexistence.

After him both Chandragupta and his son Bindusara of Maurya Dynasty spectacularly failed to conquer Kalinga. It is said that Chanakya, Chandragupta Maurya's prudent minister advised his King to refrain from attacking Kalinga, a powerful adversary of the day. The wise minister was only following his famous Chanakya Neeti (treatise) - "If your adversary is powerful, it's wise to make truce with it". His words supposedly dissuaded the Magadh Emperor already tired from his protracted battle against the last Nanda King from any kind of misadventure against Kalinga. His son Bindusara wisely followed his father by maintaining the status quo by continuing the truce.

But his scion, the ever ambitious CHANDASHOK (Ashok, the Cruel), attacked Kalinga and finally won a pyrrhic victory in the year 261 BC. The citizens of Kalinga fought bravely till the end. The Daya river near the Dhauli hills on the outskirts of the modern day Bhubaneswar turned into red with the blood spilled in that devastating war. Ashok was stunned when he saw the women and children of Kalinga stubbornly fighting, refusing to surrender till they fell one after another. The war was bloody enough to transform CHANDASHOK (Ashok, the Cruel) into DHARMASHOK (Ashok, the Pious). Couple of centuries later it was payback time for Kalinga. KHARABELA, the emperor of Kalinga avenged the earlier defeat by conquering and ransacking Magadh. 

From 11th to 15th century AD, the Gajapati (Lord of Elephants, probably because of Kalinga's famed Pachyderm army was its forte). Kings of Odisha built embarkments on rivers, created impressive architectural feats like the Sun Temple of Konark (The Black Pagoda), defended aggression from enemies and built a great civilization. At one point of time the Kalinga empire extended from Ganga in North to Godavari in the south under Kalinga's King Kapilendra Deb.

But in the age sans contraceptives, the mighty King maintained both Queens and Concubines who kept on delivering broods of legitimate and illegitimate progenies, laying the seeds for future fratricidal wars. His descendants got involved themselves in internecine squabbling to capture the throne and managed to be the harbinger of the demise of the great Kalinga empire. Raja Mukund Dev was arguably the last independent Odia King before it came under Muslim rule, followed by the Marathas and British.

A scene from the Hindi movie ASHOKA still rings a bell. When Prince Ashok, played by the popular actor Sah Rukh Khan arrives in KALING (modern day Odisha), he is offered food by a native who says KALING MEIN KOI BHUKHA NAHI RAHTA (nobody goes hungry in Odisha). More than couple of thousands of years after Ashok it sounds irony by itself. Poverty and malnutrition keeps Odisha in the news cycle as the state lags behind in Human Development Indices. In Odia there is saying - "KARPURA UDI JAICHI, KHALI KANA PADICHI", meaning the smell of camphor is gone, only the cloth remains. Gone are those glorious days with only golden memories down the lane to cherish.

Many on this day in Odisha flock in droves early in the morning to the nearest river, lake or pond to revisit the past. They float miniature yachts with lamps, slowly pushing them into water. Propelled by rippled waves they waver a few feet, the lamps flickering before getting submerged - probably a metaphorical symbol of the waning and faltering state.

For years my father has been telling me that there is invariably a huge line in front of the pond near our house to float the flotillas associated with this festival. Each year, the line gets longer. The reason - most water bodies inside Bhubaneswar either have dried up, or gobbled up by land sharks who topped them with soil to form the bottom base of the ever expanding concrete jungle. This year too there seems to be no respite, but the same pond is drying fast with its rapidly receding water level. It won't be long before the pond end up as a dry crater.

The day after KARTIK PURNIMA is called CHHADAKHAAI (Feast after the Fast), when the Odias make trip to the local fish, meat market. They do it to break the logjam of their month long absence from non-vegetarian food of fish, meat and poultry they cherish. This hiatus can be an entire month for the few devoted ones or just 5 days (PANCHUKA) of absence from the titillating foods at the fag end for most.

The prices of fish and meat skyrocket as the vendors often try to seize advantage of the demand. It's not uncommon for street vendors being beaten for selling sub standard fish and meat. I remember reading in a local newspaper sometime in the 1990s, public thrashing of a guy accused of selling dog meat in guise of goat meat. This day also marks the beginning of the winter months, a very pleasant season which last for couple of months. Happy KARTIK PURNIMA to all.

Happy birthday Laxmikant Kudalkar

 Laxmikant Kudalkar and Pyarelal Sharma formed arguably the most famous Bollywood music director duo of our times, churning out some of the best melodies of 70s and 80s. Popular as "Laxmikant Pyarelal" the duo had parallel lifestyles.

They were unity in diversity. Laxmikant liked the good things in life and was into frequent late night parties. He was famous for hosting lavish Diwali Card parties (Teen Patties) in Bombay where booze flowed like water. His reckless lifestyle probably wrecked him,  contributing to his death at an early age in the year 1998 at age of 61, as he still continued drinking ignoring his doctor's warnings.

Pyarelal Sharma in contrast was a more of a private person, a reticent family man who mostly kept to himself. These two, socially poles apart but partners in directing music shared something in common in their growing up days - Poverty. Yet together they produced some unparalleled music, giving the Burman father and son duo run for money.

The pair were the favorites of the producers Manmohan Desai and the legendary Raj Kapoor, especially the later who after the box office flop of his lengthy, drab MERA NAAM JOKER, switched his music director from Shankar - Jaikishan to Laxmikant - Pyarelal duo from his movie BOBBY.

Though LP, as the popular music director pair were known that time scored many melodies before, Bobby was to them, as ARADHANA was to Kishore Kumar, catapulting them to break into the musical limelight. Post Bobby, the pair never looked back for 15 years, until Laxmikant's death separated them.

(Interestingly Raj Kapoor for reasons best known to him, never opted for Kishore Kumar, even at later's peak, when the Bollywood producers virtually formed a beeline after the eccentric genius. However the LP pair scored several major popular hits of Kishore).

The Laxmikant Pyarelal duo scored some great numbers, doing a balancing act between the Muhammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar. In fact they directed the music of AMAR, AKBAR, ANTHONY and SARGAM which saw Rafi making a comeback of sorts after being in the wilderness for a while due to Kishore's dominance.

After Laxmikant Kudalkar's hedonistic lifestyle led to his early demise, Pyarelal continued to direct music for a while. But the absence of his partner was akin to the missing chord of an accordion.

As it's impossible to clap using one hand, the hand of Laxmikant was missing in action. The JUGALBANDI or dual chemistry delivered by the duo for decades, couldn't be replicated by Pyarelal alone as his music was never the same without his partner. Bollywood will forever indebted to these mastestro duo for entertaining us with some immortal melodies.

Fall trip to Athens

 This week I made a road trip to Athens, Georgia to pick up my son for his Fall break. This time I chose a different route, a 3 hour idyllic journey through central rural Georgia to the University town located in Northeastern part of the state. I was traveling north-east on a cloudy, chilly, windy weather lashing out intermittent sprinkles of light rain.

Drove through the up and down cascading roads among the scenic undulating landscapes, looking at the vast grayish-green agricultural lands and pastures where frugal, sparsely populated cows and horses were grazing, barbed fences separating them from the highway. A foal could be seen following the footsteps of its Mama, shadowing her, looking for the shadow of warm comfort. The surrounding vast meadows reminded me of the phrase "grass is greener on the other side of fence" which made a whole lot of sense.

Driving through the rolling hills in deep, scenic Georgia I had a mid Fall day dream transported on a time machine to another era. I imaged myself in one of my previous lives back in the 18th Century kneeling down to propose to my tall, svelte dream girl standing tall on the gracian greens in her beautiful, flowing long flannel white dress with her brimmed hat protecting her pretty face from the peeping Sun. Karma endures, dream shall never die. It lives on for centuries and more to come.

Pines, Oak, Mapples, Sweet Gum, Mimosa trees adored both sides of the road forming gigantic Canopies, garlanded in fascinating early Fall foliage. The winding roads in sparsely populated rural Georgia can give you a feel of chill and darkness of the inside of a valley as the autumn sun struggled to peep through the semi Azure, gray sky. Occasionally I caught the crispiness of the air by rolling down the windows a bit, never failing to catch a glimpse of the historic old houses with large front porches. The idyllic small towns on the way were filled with Churches as many as the fallen Fall leaves on the ground.

The recent rains after a long, dry spell had wiped off the red dust from the tree leaves, like a wiper cleans the window of a car. Small muddy mounds strewn across the road were printed by tire marks.The further North I drove, more and more trees started to change their color. Multi color leaves floating in the chilly air were head bent on committing suicide by colliding on my windshield. Saw a bright red leaf falling and suddenly it started defying gravity, deftly wafting upwards by the cool breeze, only to drift further away, melting into the bottomless abyss of a creek.

The trees wore different shades on Fall color, light greenish-yellow, bright red, yellow and orange, a la different shades colors of Sarees worn by women in an Indian wedding. Miles long Canola plantation in hues of yellow adored both sides of the road , akin to mustard fields in India. Large Oakleaf Hydrangea studded with white flowers, same as Diamond studded a medieval King's crown. The tall Pampas grasses with white top were looking like feather on a cap. Miles of Cotton plantations looking like snow white fleece of clouds could be visible on both sides of the road, smiling brightly in Fall after fighting the fatigue of the summer heat. One of those memorable days...

Didn't realize when I was murmuring this old Yesudas song... 

"IN BALKHATI RAHON PE
OONCHE NEECHE SADKON PE
YUHI KAHI MERI MANZEEL CHUPI HAI
MANZEELKO KO MEIN DHOODOON
MUJHE MANZEEL DHOODEN.." 

"On these paths fascinating
 Up and down roads swerving
Somewhere lies by destination
As I look for it
It looks for me". 

A Spooky Halloween tale

Halloween always reminds me this spooky episode of my grandmother's tryst with the outer world. She used to narrate us this story from her childhood which till date stands fascinating.

Those were the days when incurable diseases like Cholera not Condom which kept India's population under control as villages were wiped out due to "MAHAMAARI", incurable diseases perfectly curable now leading to mass extinction. Our grandma was about 10 years old when she fell seriously ill.
Her parents quit on her, when they saw her eyes closed and her body became cold.

She remembered floating above her body, watching her parents crying. She saw some of her dead relatives. That included her sister, barely two years older who was close to her and succumbed a year earlier to Small Pox. She told my grandma, not to worry about the nether world, as she got familiar company.
Then a big burly guy came from nowhere, yelling - "What she is doing here ? She needs to go back. Her time hasn't come yet." Soon she opened her eyes, to see her sobbing parents relax and wipe off tears from their eyes.

From that moment she started miraculously recovering. Our grandma lived a long life, well into her 90s, never ever suffering any major ailment and leading a very smooth life until she passed away the age of 95. Till her death, she was active, taking care of herself and passed away away peacefully while taking afternoon siesta. A blessed death for any human.

In modern day clinical terms, it is called NDE (Near Death Experience). I would think, this was a short term Nether Death Experience, her tryst with the outer realms. Whatever it may be, my grandma forever insisted on this event, took RAANA (swore on the lives of her near and dear ones) of speaking the truth. I do have reasons to trust her, as ladies from that generation took their RAANA seriously, especially when it comes to their kids and grand kids. Happy Halloween !!!