Hirthrik's Mahenjodaro

Though a Tiger as a critic, I am a tamed kitten when it comes to be critical of my wife's choices. It explains why exactly 7 years ago I smiled my way to watching a junk movie, the Bollywood actor Hirthrik Roshan's nonsense MAHENJODARO, an average, forgettable movie at a local theatre. I was there only because my wife is a huge fan of the actor.

I am not a fan of Hirthik, my son ain't a fan of Hindi movies. But both readily volunteered to be the BALI KA BAKRA (sacrificial goat) or collateral damage to wish of the sole female member of our family entourage. As contingency plan, my paraphernalia included a full pack of ALEVE headache relieving pills, in case they come handy and bought my son candies to keep him awake and happy.

Couple of characters in that movie, Hojo and Lothar seemed to have been straight taken out of Mandrake comics from my childhood days. As the movie progressed, I felt drowsy inside the cool comfort of the theatre as the AC whirred on a hot summer afternoon. There were barely 50 sitting inside the theatre meant for 500. The name of the movie sounded historical, hardly hysterical to appeal to the local Desi crowd. If you want to study history, you can still go to see this movie. You may focus on the subjects inside the empty hall as the movie got nothing to distract you. I did exactly that, noticing around to find some characters to write about.

To massage my other half's ego and send a message, I would intermittently alternate between peeking at her through the corner of my eyes and gaping at screen with my mouth and eyes wide open - to fake myself watching the movie seriously. A la comedian actor Utpal Dutt reluctantly clapping his hands to please his wife in the movie "ANAND ASHRAM", I put a fake smile on my lips appearing to enjoy the movie, intermittently with my mouth wide open exposing the phalanx of my 32 teeth. Not a bad way to feign attention, as we call in Odia AAN KARI PI JIBA (gulping the movie with eyes open) can do the trick to impress my wife.

I earned my fake certficate of enjoying the movie. It was akin to a bored DBA (Data Base Administerer or Din Bhar Araam, whatever way you see it) ex-colleauge of mine, who successfully hoodwinked his boss by dozing off while keeping his head straight, his fingers well positioned on the desktop keyboard which gave the impression of him working. End of the day the moral of this story is a twisted version of the PRESTIGE Pressure cooker commercial back home in India -

JO BIWI KO KARE SACHHA PYAAR
WOH HIRTHIK KI MOVIE KO KAISE KARE INKAAR... 

transliterated 

One who has true love for wife
How can one refuse Hirthrik's movie she likes.

My review of the movie - if you are a diehard Hirthrik fan or a Bollywood buff who feels like to kill some time by eking out a few bucks, it's for you. For the rest, it's avoidable at best.

24th Anniversary of 9/11

Today is the Anniversary of 9/11, when a prominent chapter was added to the American and World history on this day exactly 24 years ago on September 11, 2001. How time flies ! A child born on that day is no more a teenager. Feels just like yesterday when on a cool, crispy early Fall morning commute to my work at Toyota Motors in Kentucky where I was working as a consultant, the news of terrorist attack on the World Trade center came as a bolt from the blue. That very day is forever etched in my memory. 

Most at my workplace were stunned, but stayed calm and composed. Many were frantically trying to find Afghanistan on the world map and I remember helping a few in locating the beleaguered nation on the map which made the cardinal mistake of harboring Osama-Bin-Laden. No hysteria or public outcry, but it was not business as usual and anxiety on the faces of my coworkers was quite palpable.

I had the habit of filling gas in my car a local SHELL gas station which used to give 5% discount on Tuesdays and unfortunately that September 11th fell on a Tuesday. On my way back home I encountered long line at the gas station. There was hardly any car on the road. People were mostly indoor, glued to TV.

The aim of terrorists is to create terror and they really succeeded that day in scaring the hell out of Americans who were attacked on their Mainland for the first time in history (technically the first major attack on US soil took place at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on 7th of December 1941. But it was in Hawaii, America's 50th State thousands miles away from mainland).

Contrast that to the indomitable spirit amongst Indians. Mumbai and many other cities in India have gone through several terror attacks. But within hours the life comes to normal. It's not about the number of people being killed, those many are killed in road accidents every day. The main goal of the terrorists is to create terror in the hearts and minds of the people. In that aspect they fail miserably in India, though it has more to do with the need for ROZI ROTI (daily bread) than any great gallantry against odds or fighting spirit. Yet they still deserve the credit of defying the odds and getting back to normal life quicker than anywhere in the world.

Nearly a quarter of a century down the road, hardly anything has changed. Though, touch wood, America has been able to prevent any major terror attack on its soil, terrorism across the globe still thrives. No nation on earth is fully immune to this disease which is spreading its tentacles far and wide like cancer, nor they're entirely blame free for letting this menace prevail due to their short sighted political goals.

Some one is a good terrorist as long as he is an useful idiot to serve one's own business, but becomes a bad terrorist if it hurts the state which sponsors them for creating terror in another country. Someone's terrorist is another one's Freedom Fighter. If not curbed, on long term terrorism is going to do irreparable damage to the mankind unless everyone gets together to root out this evil. Remember, if you keep snakes in your backyard thinking that it will only bite only your neighbors then you are living in fool's paradise. One day that snake is going to bite you. The lessons learned from 9/11 should never be forgotten.

Bagha Jatin

 Today is the death Anniversary of Bagha Jatin, or Jatindranath Mukherjee, an Indian freedom fighter who fought against the British and died young at the age of 36.

Born in Nadia district in present day Bengal, he was only 5 when his father died, followed by his mother at 9. He was brought up by his elder sister. From teenage he dabbled in fighting for freedom against the occupying British who ruled India with an iron hand. But Jatin possesed an iron hand using which he killed a tiger as he was scouring the forests to go underground and use as launch pad for his anti government activities. He used a small knife to kill the tiger but was grievously injured in the process. It took him days to recover from the poison of the tiger's claws and teeth which caused him deep, gruesome wounds. After this incident he was christened by locals as "Bagha" (the tiger killer) Jatin. 

Soon Bagha Jatin would shift his revolutionary activities to Balasore, a small town in Odisha near its border with Bengal. He, along with his close friends Chittapriya, Manoranjan and few more formed a merry band whose fiery spirit led to several skirmishes with the British using arms and ammunition. In order to run their organization they needed money and hence looted the rich Zamindars (feudal lords) of the time, most of whom sided with British. After looting, Bagha Jatin gang would leave a note saying that they are taking the loot to fight for freedom and will return the money with interest after independence. 

But such a thing never happened. During the World War I, Bagha and his associates established contact with  Germany who was seen as enemy's enemy is a friend as they were fighting the war with British. The Germans were ready to assist Bagha Jatin's gang with arms and ammunitions. But the mission failed due to couple of reasons. First of all, the English ruled India with the support of the majority of Indians and many of whom were eager to please and cooperate with their occupiers for a price or privilege. Secondly, British had created a strong network of spies and informants and like a ripe fart could smell any mutiny or revolutionary activities from miles. 

Based on the information they received the British Military Police closed in on Bagha Jatin and his gang inside the deep forests surrounding Budhabalanga River near Balasore. Though thorougly outnumbered, outgunned and outmaneuvered, Bagha and his associates fought bravely for few hours before most of them were gunned down or captured. 

Bagha Jatin was seriously injured in the ensuing gun fight. He was taken to a local hospital and treated by a British doctor. When he came to his senses he refused to get treated by an Englishman and threw away his bandages. He continued to bleed and died this day September 10, 1915, exactly 110 years ago. Long live martyr Bagha Jatin. My tribute to one our many unsung heroes.

A night of full moon

 Today being the Lunar eclipse night I went out to see the blood moon as predicted. Alas, on the semi cloudy, full moon night I could barely see the moon, but was awed by staring at several sparkling stars on the western horizon. I could see on the crispy fall night couple of airplanes high on the sky were looking like walking stars on the dark sky amidst a plethora of stars, big and small, bright and pale.

The stars looked like tall, beautiful fairies in some distance land, smiling, probing the sky, savoring the beauty of the cool weather beneath, showering their "MUKTA JHARA HASA", a la thousands of pearls sparkling on their lips, smiling at us mere mortals below. I was immediately reminded of this stanza from this Kishore & Lata duet from the 1970s Hindi movie "MEHBOOBA" about a lover and his beloved -

"TAARON KI SAATH WOH 

JAGTE HAIN RAAT KO,

JHARNON HI SAAT BEHTE HAIN"...

Roughly transliterated...

"They awake in the night amidst the stars,

Flow together along with the streams".

All my romantic thoughts were brutally, rudely interrupted, coming to standstill as a moon headed guy came walking his dog and walking past my driveway, waving his hands at me. The white doggy with his conspicuous rock and roll walk was looking golden under the neon lights on the street, trying to keep pace with the man as the guy's bald head acted like a convex mirror reflecting the street lamp.

The blood moon was still elusive, partially visible, still playing hide and seek in the floating cloud, shy behind the gargantuan looking pine trees in the dark. I was reminded of another Bollywood song :

"CHAND CHUPA BADAL MEIN 

SHARMA KE MERI JANAA;

SEENE SE LAG JAA TU,

BALKHA KE MERI JANAA".

Transliterated into English.

"Moon is hiding behind the clouds,

Feeling shy, my love;

Come close to my heart".

Finally the moon suddenly showed up out of the veneer of bluish, fleece like clouds like out of the blue a pretty Iranian girl took out her veil in a soccer match I saw a while back

WOH ACHANAK A GAYEE

YOON NAZAR KE SAMNE,

JAISE NIKAL AYEE

GHATA SE CHAAND...

Transliterated from Hindi.

"She suddenly arrives

 In front of my eyes;

 Bolstering my mood

 as moon ventures out of cloud".

It finally made my day, rather the night of moon watching on a full moon night. 

Teachers Day 2025

Today is TEACHER's Day, all other brands are prohibited. (Teachers is a popular brand of Scotch). Joke apart, I salute to all my teachers who have made a huge difference in my life by shaping my knowledge and character. It is not just limited to my teachers in school and college. My parents were my first teachers. Then came some friends, relatives, acquaintances as teachers in various forms at different stages in my life. There is always something to learn from every human being, a prince or a pauper, a beggar or a sorcerer, an animal or an inanimate object. Life is the biggest teacher. 

A good movie can be a good teacher too. In the iconic movie 3 IDIOTs, on the Teacher's Day of 5 September, the character Chatur Ramalingam goes on stage to recite a Sanskrit Sloka (hymn) eulogizing the teachers of his college. He rotes the Sloka by memory, without understanding a single word of it, nor caring about its content, without realizing that the original speech was altered by a playful and witty Rancho (played by Aamir Khan). As Chatur on the stage was about to vomit the Sloka he rote from what Rancho wrote, the later told his friends to get ready to hear a sermon about the former's farting prowess. Chatur recites:

UTTAMAM GAD GADATA PADAM,
MADHYAM PADAM TUCHAK TUCHAK;
THUR THURIYA KANISTAM PADAM,
SUR SURIYA PRANA GHATAKAM.

Roughly transliterated...

"Loud farts are majestically thundering;
Medium farts come along stuttering,
Small Farts arrive whisteling & sirening;
The silent ones can be life threatening."

As the crowd goes berserk rupturing with laughter and poor Chatur gets kicked out of the stage, Racho's dark humor taught us another lesson in academics - Knowledge acquired through roting sans understanding may earn you a Degree, but will take you nowhere. My father always emphasized on learning through understanding rather than roting.

Decades ago there was this incident, when a sub-collector in Sonepur district of Odisha did this shameful, cowardly act of kicking a hapless school teacher, abusing him as a poor MASTRA (the way the word master is often pronounced in Odia, a term mostly used in derogatory sense for teachers back home). 

I remember a cartoon related to the above incident which came out on the local vernacular Newspaper with the following caption, (rhyming with our famous Sloka "GURU BRAHMA GURU BISHNU... "

GURU DEENA GURU HEENA
GURU SAMANYA MASTARA;
KANDOOKA SAMAN GURU
TASME SRHEE GOITHA MARA
ITI UPA- COLLECTOR
JILLA NAMA SONAPUR.

Transliterating in the same rhyme form to keep the theme intact,

"Teacher is poor, Teacher is mere;
Teacher is just an ordinary Master.
Teacher is akin to a football;
To be kicked for sure.
Courtesy Sub-Collector,
From the district of Sonepur."

I have heard parents asking in Odia to their children "KIRE MASTRA AJI KANA PADHEILA" meaning "Hey, what did the master teach you today". The English transliteration may not sound so bad but the way it is delivered in the native language is not a sign of great adulation. It shows the respect they the guardians give to their teachers.

My simple take - A society which does not respect its teachers, can never  prosper. Period. Great nations are made by great men. Great men (and women) are shaped by their teachers. HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY to all.

Uttam Kumar - the legend

Today, September 3, is the birthday of Bengali actor Uttam Kumar. Many girls confide that he is the only Bengali man they ever had a crush on and could have readily married him as women of that era swooned over him. The man had grace, style and a killer smile. It is said that talented artists are "Gandharvas" reborn who live for a small time, but leave early leaving their mark. He died early too, a week before the death of legendary singer Mohammed Rafi. Both were of the same age.

Uttam Kumar’s death at a young age of 53 brought Calcutta to standstill on July 24, 1980. The Bengali hero of all ages was a natural actor who won over generations with his charm and persistence. After getting symptoms of a heart attack he drove himself to a clinic in Calcutta where he was attended by a team of cardiologists. But he died the next day in spite of the best effort of the doctors to save him, stunning the entire state of Bengal and nation.

Sharing a small incident of his life which stands testimony of his polularity and his stature as "Mahanayak" or the mega Star by his fans. Sometime in May 1966, the famous director Satyajit Ray called Uttam Kumar - “Uttam, my movie 'Nayak' premieres tomorrow at Indira Cinema. I hope you will be there".

"But Manikda (the nickname of Satyajit Ray in movie industry), the press and public will be in attendance. Do you think I should go? There possibly will be pandemonium,” he replied.

“Uttam, don’t forget it is a Satyajit Ray film (movie is also widely called as film in India, especially in Odisha and Bengal, the two states bear a lot of resemblance in language and culture). Please be there,” - Satyajit Ray commanded. It wasn't easy to say no to Manikda, even for a man of superstar status. Uttam Kumar relented, though reluctantly.

The next day, the news of Uttam Kumar’s appearance at the cinema house spread like wildfire and all the hell broke loose. By late afternoon, roads leading to Bhowanipore in Calcutta had to be barricaded. Uttam's car (probably a Chevrolet Impala) was piloted through the bylanes. The theatre was shaking under the weight of uproarious chanting, ‘Guru, Guru’ (Uttam's nick name given by his fans) with demands to see the Star. 

The hall manager rushed to Ray. “Sir, if we don’t bring him up on stage there will be a serious law-and-order issue.” 

Minutes later, the lights came on and Uttam Kumar was seen standing on the platform in front of the screen. He raised his hand. The crowd fell silent, as if by the waving of a magic wand. “I request you to please be silent and watch the film. Don’t forget it is a Satyajit Ray film.”

This story, a piquant testimonial to two of Bengal’s foremost immortals, is probably apocryphal. But that takes nothing away from what this tale protrays, which testifies two stalwarts in 1966 – from Ray’s sway over his cast, the pliant theatre manager and finally the phenomenal stardom of Uttam Kumar. In some ways, this story encapsulates the fantasy that was Bengali cinema. But as is known, it is not Ray who colonised that cinema, either as fantasy or as commerce. It was Uttam Kumar, and the one and only Uttam Kumar. Happy Birthday to the Mahanayak who if alive would have been 98 today.