RIP Nirakara Satapathy

 It seemed to be another regular day yesterday as Nirakara Satapathy, my friend from REC (now NIT) Rourkela, a Mining Engineer working in a high level position for the Public Sector Coal India Limited and posted in Talcher, Odisha came back from his office to his residencial quarters in a sleepy, quite neighborhood around 8 O'clock from his regular day at work. He ate his dinner around 9.30 PM (unlike in USA where folks are done with dinner by 7 PM, in India its quite normal to have dinner late after 9 PM).

An hour later about 10.30 PM he lied on bed, catching up with office work on his laptop. Then he had a sudden chest pain and  collapsed. His wife immediately called his friends and colleagues who took him to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.
This incident came as a bolt from the blue for everyone. Nirakara's wife is inconsolable. His only child, his daughter who was in Rajasthan rushed back to Odisha upon receiving the news. From what I heard his last rites were completed in his native Katatpur in Puri district.

Nirakara Satapathy, a gentleman with a tall and lanky physique, was a genuinely loving and caring person. Heavily engaged in social service, he used to attend and organize numerous blood donation camps for the sick and needy during our Engineering college days. He spent a whole lot of time caring after patients in Ispat General Hospital, popularly known as IGH in Rourkela.

Fond of food, he left his mark during as Mess Secretary (the guy in charge of meals) in our Hostel in REC. He was conspicuously different from others as he took a lot of care and made every effort to ensure that the tastiest food was prepared and served ending up in a reasonable mess bill which formed the bulk of expenses during our students days when a highly subsidized tutution fee cost us no more than Rs.150 (About $15) a semester, something unthinkable these days.

Nirakara was simple, soft spoken and well behaved. One fine evening during our final year of Engineering in Hostel - 5, Nirakara who was looking for a volunteer to donate blood put a handwritten note in our mess notice board, which is normally located at the entrance of the dining hall where in order to get the boarders attention. The notice read something like this, "A man in IGH is running after the life of his wife. Please sacrifice by donating your blood and so on.." - Nirakara Satapathy. When I saw the note, I pulled out a pen and put a line under his signature "M.A. in English, Oxford University". A lion hearted guy, rather than getting angry he laughed and said - "This wit and humor carries Sambeet Dash's signature (Nirakara never took himself seriously and was good at laughing at himself, a rare quality. It needs to be noted that our friend Nirakara was pretty good in English. Remember, in our time the cream of Odisha used to clear the REC JEE or the Joint Entrance Examination. He just wrote it in haste). Those were the days !

After a long hiatus, we hooked up with each other on Facebook in the year 2012. Later on I found that he is the "SADU" (brother-in-law) of my talented, artist friend Surajit Dash. It's a small world. Politically Nirakara and I aligned a lot with similar points of view. Like me, he was disillusioned with both Congress Party and BJP, putting his weight behind the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), again to get frustrated with Kejriwal's tantrums and idiosyncrasies. But unlike me he was very spiritual in nature, his idols being Ramakrushna Paramhans and Swami Bibekanand.

Nirakara Satpathy's untimely demise is a wake up call for all of us. Now that we are at peak of our middle age it's time to wake up and smell the coffee. It's a tell tale reminder about maintaining healthy habits, moderation on splurging, regular exercise and check up is the key before it becomes too late.

As I finish writing my obituary, I am tersly reminded of this Hindi song, an ode to the nicest of human beings whose repertoire of affection towards our family was never empty.

ZINDAGI SAU BARAS KI SAHI,
ZINDAGI KA BHAROSA NAHI;
CHAAND CHHOOP JAE KAB KYA PATA,
CHANDNI KA BHAROSA NAHI.

Transliterated..

Life is for living hundred years,
But destiny is unreliable forever;
Never know when moon can go into hiding,
For Moonlight is not worth relying.

May God give strength to his family to overcome the grief in this torrid times. Be happy in heaven my friend. Om 🕉 Shanti.

Day After Sachin's retirement

Legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar retired on this day exactly a decade ago. Post retirement he commented - "I made tea, had a lovely breakfast with my wife." Here is what the little birdie told me about the activities as the day progressed.

He had switched off his mobile to take a break from the congratulatory messages pouring in much heavier than rain in Mumbai at the peak of monsoon season. After a light lunch followed by a brief nap he switches his mobile on to call an old friend Rahul Dravid to get some clarification about the post retirement benefits - the LIC, Postal Saving certificates and the SBI Fixed deposits.

Next day morning some one told the master blaster that he has not done justice to his huge fan base from the nondescript state of Odisha on the east coast. "Odisha ?" he chuckles. "Ah, the evergreen Barabati Stadium where I played many matches. Now I remember".

The maestro was reminded that the day is CHHADAKHAAI, i.e., the day after KARTIK PURNIMA (the full moon day) when the Odias make trip to the local fish market. They do it to break the logjam of their long absence from their favorite non-vegetarian food. This hiatus can be an entire month for those more devoted ones or its 5 day substitute called PANCHUKA - the abstinence from non-veg food intake for the most at the fag end of it. (Non vegetarian food in India simply means food which isn't vegetarian, which can include but not limited to meat, fish, eggs, shrimp, crabs).

Our Sachin Babu suddenly thought of doing something to connect to his huge fan base from that state. The little master grabs a small white bag and dusts off the Scootie to make a trip to the local fish market. As he wasn't aware of the sky rocketing inflation he spent a good 5 minutes bargaining for the piece of ROHU (a popular fish in Odisa) he liked.

After making the payments and collecting the change he was last heard rushing towards the vegetable market, taking dictations from his wife with his head tilted left to support the mobile between his left shoulder and ear. Post retirement the master blaster has a new boss in his house...

Bihar Election results 2025

Bihar's election results have came out. As expected JDU - BJP Alliance came to power. What wasn't expected was the clean sweep made by the alliance, winning no less than 80% of total seats which came as surprise to almost all psephologists and political pundits on media, social or otherwise.

Though this margin of victory is surprising, it's not entirely impossible in India's classic multi party system. A well known political consultant Prashant Kishore who formed his own party and contested Bihar election could pull about 5% of votes, not significant enough to win a single seat, but enough to cause damages to other parties, e.g. RJD-Congress alliance which pulled some 25-30% votes, enough to pull large crowds and road shows. But unfortunately did didn't necessarily translates to vote on the ground.

Indian electoral process is complex. A lot of factors like caste, communal, regional, local come into play during the election process, especially in the caste and communal ridden cowbelt, with their respective majority and minority community vote banks. I noticed this during my short stint in North India in early 1990s when my boss Mr. Sharma jee shamelessly favored me when he came to know that I am a Brahmin. It's another matter he was quite shocked when he came to know that I was a goat and chicken eating Brahmin.

But one major factor the political pundits/consultants ignored is the power of woman voters, the largest, unrecognized minority vote bank. BJP which has mastered the art of winning elections figured this out and it looks like a whole bunch of them fell for the  announcement of Rs.10,000 towards women where as RJD-Congress had hardly anything to offer other than running on an anti - Modi/Nitish platform. A negative campaign against your opponent isn't always enough to take you across finish line. You need to provide a better, tangible alternative. Rich, poor or middle class, a farmer or pauper, it always feels good to see some extra money deposited into your bank accounts, whether it is form of doles or remuneration.

Secondly, a politician named Owaisi from MIM, an Islamic party based in Hyderabad filed candidates several seats in Bihar. Seen as BJP's Trojan Horse, this guy, a self proclaimed protagonist of rights for Muslims in India snatched away some crucial votes from the Muslim community who normally vote against BJP en block. My 2 cents, even a 2% vote swing can make a huge difference. MIM exactly did that by winning only 5 seats, but in that process it took away 2% Muslim votes, cutting into RJD-Congress vote bank and handing JDU-BJP a massive victory. It is rumored that BJP keeps Owaisi's accounts overseas well stacked as a token appreciation for him helping the Hindu nationalist party in the Muslim populated constituencies.

A third factor, a la 14 years of misrule by JB Patnaik led Congress in Odisha set the foundation stone for BJD rule for 24 years, similarly because of long 15 year rule of Laloo, BJP-JDU alliance is still winning. Also let's not forget that compared to the rampant Goondaism, extortion, kidnapping Raj in Bihar during Laloo's regime, Nitish Kumar has provided a cleaner administration compared to those dark days of Bihar to which no one wants to go back. BJP's money and strategy combined with Nitish Kumar's "Susashan Babu" (Good administrator gentleman) image worked like magic for the alliance and no wonder they made a clean sweep.

Just because someone's grandmother was a great politician, there is no guarantee that the grandson or granddaughter would excel in politics. It certainly doesn't work that way. Congress party which ended up with only 6 seats in a state it ruled for years should look for someone else outside the family as game changer. It's time for the Party to wake up and smell the coffee. Otherwise, their brand of being losers is going to continue for a while !

Happy birthday Jawaharlal Nehru

I remember this classic Bengali movie "AKALER SANDHANE" (In Search of Famine) made by the legendary film maker Mrinal Sen. It aptly depicts the milieu during the famous Bengal famine in the early 1940s which coincided with the 2nd World War. I still vividly remember this scene. As War planes criss crossed the blue Bengal sky, a famished woman ran across a parched paddy field which should be normally lush green with rice plants, shouting at top of her voice "DEKH, UDOJAHAJ, UDOJAHAJ" (See, Airplane, Airplane).

The scene was quite symbolic, aptly metaphorical. When the British and Germans were flying airplanes we were clapping and chasing those objects like mirage, ecstatic at the mere sight of them. This depicted our backyard stage when we got our independence in the year 1947 and Jawaharlal Nehru became India's first Prime minister at a time when British left India in penury. These days, those who are critical of Nehru should not forget that when he took over as its first Prime Minister, India wasn't a Nuclear power with world's 4th largest GDP, rather a basket case of hunger, poverty and illiteracy, same among the bracket of sub-Sahara African nations.

Nehru led India for 17 long years. There were many interesting anecdotes ascribed to him. Once during his visit to London a leaflet for the occasion was released by the Indian High Commission proclaiming - "BANDIT Nehru in town, inadvertently replacing P by B, so Pandit Nehru became Bandit Nehru). And the rumor was that he had a thing for Lord Mountbatten's wife Edwina. On another occasion immediately after arriving in London he went alone to meet Lady Mountbatten at midnight at her residence when her husband was out of town. The nosey British press followed the scent and the next day a picture of Lady Mountbatten bidding Good Bye to Nehru in front of her house was flashed on front on British Newspapers - "Lady Mountbatten's midnight visitor". Nehru was single and widower for a long time.

Nehru wasn't perfect as a man and a leader (neither the leaders of those now critical of him. In fact many of his current critics and their kids took full advantage of institutions created by him). Whatever flaws he might had, credit should be given where credit is due. He had civilized views, a modern approach towards education, hated the superstitions and stereotype dogmas plaguing the society. India whom the British left in financial doldrums needed a socialist boost to its economy as ouside investment would not have been popular in India at a time India just got its independence after being plundered and ruled by invaders for thousands years (post war Britain preferred Labor Party, got rid of their war hero Churchill for the same). 

Nehru built modern infrastructures like Steel Plants, Ports and Dams across India. He envisioned Engineering Institutes like IITs and NITs whose students made their share of contributions to nation. Many who have passed out of these elite institutes of India and their kids are working in MNCs are champion hypocrites who have turned virulent critics of Nehru. They should know that what and where their children are today is due to the vision of this man whom now they so much love to hate.

Nehru's current detractors should remember that India was not a $3.9 trillion economy in 1947. The idols of current right wing haters of Nehru, a la RSS, Hindu Mahasabha et all who had a history of siding with British were neither visionaries nor indulged in any nation building activities when India got its independence. An open free market economy at that juncture arguably could have taken us in the path of some Latin American Banana Republics plauged with 1000% inflation. (However we should have jettisoned socialism a la the Chinese in 1970s but Nehru wasn't there at that time and his insecure daughter Indira lacked vision to liberalize when many Asian nations did).

Though visionary, Nehru was an idealist, not pragmastic. His appeasement foreign policy towards China badly backfired as the untrustworthy Middle Kingdom backstabbed by attacking India in 1962. He couldn't recover from the shock, fell ill and died in May, 1964.

But the man left his mark. Today we might still be clapping and running in fields with joy when a Boeing wheezes pass overhead, convinced that it's non other than Ravan's PUSHPAK BIMAN. But thanks to Pandit Nehru's initiatives we were saved from getting adrift from the development narrative. On Jawaharlal Nehru's 136th birthday today we need to give credit to the man for his vision and positive contributions to India.

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.