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 !!!

Death Anniversary of Indira Gandhi

 Exactly 41 years ago, on the morning of 31st October, 1984 Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India was assassinated by her Sikh body guards. Incidentally she was in Bhubaneswar in the state of Odisha the day before and I saw her from close quarters. I vividly remember that day as our classes in College were suspended and an ongoing cricket match between India and Pakistan being canceled. Coincidentally her father PM Jawaharlal Nehru and youngest son Sanjay Gandhi were in Odisha just few days before they died.

Eminent writer Khushwant Singh who once used to be very close to her family, especially to her younger son Sanjay Gandhi, but later fell out of her favor after Sanjay's death in an air crash wanted to visit her place to pay his last respect in spite of their estrangement. When he was about to leave he got a call from a well wisher (I have forgotten the person's name) - "Sardarjee (as Sikhs are addressed), Have you lost your mind ? Don't ever dare going out now. The goons of Congress are dragging Sikhs out of vehicles and roasting them alive. They are going to make a Sikh KABAAB (roast) out of you".

Needless to say, the hired goons of HKL Bhagat (An East Delhi Mafia) and goon troika of Lalit Maken, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar - all HONORABLE MPs from Congress party, were directly accused of conniving and complicity in the riots against the hapless Sikhs who have no connection with Indira's killers except their religion.

Thousands of Sikhs were killed and maimed in the days following. Estimates vary - from the government issued figure of 2,800 to the independently assessed number 8,000 to 10,000. All said and done, many hardened criminals were released from jails that fateful evening in full police protection. Scores were armed with iron rods and Kerosene oil.

Bribed and motivated by the 100 rupee note handouts (had a decent purchase value then) and fueled by bottles of liquors alleged supplied by Sajjan Kumar and Lalit Maken (Uncle of Congress politician Ajay Maken who was a baby when his parents were mowed down by Sikh gunmen months later for his dad's involvement in anti-Sikh riots in Delhi), they went on rampage, destroying life and property of Sikhs they came across.

Indira's son Rajeev Gandhi who took over as the Prime Minister after his mother's untimely death shrugged off the Sikh massacre as "When a big tree falls the surrounding earth shakes". Government controlled All India Radio and Doordarshan blacked out the mass killing of Sikhs. People tuned in to British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC) to get the stunning news of Sikhs being killed not in the hundreds but in thousands (Ironically the news of killing of Sikhs by iron rods and garlanding them with tyres set on fire would have stayed hidden from the same folks who today despise BBC for reporting some unpalatable truth from India).

This is not the sole example. Our great Congress party, espousing soft Hindutva has a history of involvement in several large scale killing of minorities including Muslims whom ironically it now portrays itself as their savior. The following ones come on top of my mind, though I am sure of many more such incidents taking place under the auspices of our Grand Old Party Congress.

1983 - Nellie massacre in Assam (3,000 killed)
1987 - Maliana near Meerut (50 Muslim youths picked up from their homes and killed by the UP police)
1989 - Bhagalpur in Bihar (1000 killed).

Congress was in power in both at the Center and the above states during the above mentioned pogroms of Muslims.

BJP is no lily white, but it sounds utterly hypocrite when Congies like Digvijaya Singh and Ajay Maken whose father incidentally handed out 100 rupee notes and liquor bottles as prize to teach the Sikhs a lesson, are accusing BJP of resorting to Communalism. This is nothing but a classic case of Pot calling the kettle black. Death of Indira was itself the end of an era but the progrom that followed paved the way minority bashing in the future.

The Super Cyclone of 1999

 Touched by Bay Of Bengal on its Eastern frontier, Odisha, my state back home in India is prone to Cyclones (counterpart of Hurricanes in North America). The cyclones come churning their way through Indian Ocean before making landfall anywhere on India's vast East Coromondel Coast.

It took my memory back on this day to the month of October, 1999 exactly 26 years ago when arguably the worst cyclone of my lifetime hit Odisha in the form of Category 4-5 winds more than 150 miles per hour (250 kmph) knocking down trees, houses, killing humans and livestocks in several thousands. 

Caught napping and pants down, the inept and corrupt administration in Odisha was unprepared for such an eventuality. It was completely caught by surprise, like a fox in front of searchlight - stunned, stoned and clueless. By the time the hapless authorities could recover and gather strength and resources to launch some semblance of relief and rescue operation, the damage was already done in terms of life, property and reputation.

On that day in America, I was travelling on a new Consulting assignment to the state of Arkansas and just arrived at my hotel when my sister called from Chicago and blasted me in one breath conveying the bad news from home. I rang up my father in Bhubaneswar expecting my call not to go through. It was a pleasant surprised to hear his voice at the other end, as our home phone was back working less than 24 hours after the storm. I was glad my folks were safe and sound, sans couple of fallen Papaya trees in our backyard and lot of coconut branches strewn on the ground.

There was no smartphone or Wifi those days. Face and book were two separate words - juxtaposing them into one entity was strictly fantasy. My hotel lobby had a few computers where I promptly logged into internet via now defunct AOL (America Online). There was a handful of Odia websites those days, but they were yet to carry any news of damage. Probably they were not in a position to carry the news due to the power outage. Only a few web editions of national newspapers provided some glimpse of the horrendous loss of life and property.

The picture got clearer couple of days later as the weather cleared up. National media carried clear pictures of bloated corpses of humans and livestock floating in swamps created by the receding sea water, insects and flies swarming around. Stuck in the debris, there were no dogs, only jackals, crows or vultures left to feed on them corpses. The sight was gross and ghastly, still etched in my memory.

It was rumored that Giridhari Gomango, the Chief Minister of Odisha (equivalent of a Governor in US) at that time ignored the warning about Cyclone based on the advice of his personal Astrologers who sooth-sayed him with confidence not to worry, as the the Cyclone would skip his state. But Odisha took the brunt of the Super Cyclone hitting the heart of Odisha with full force. Gomango took the full brunt of widespread criticism on the aftermath of the great devastation and was subseqently forced out of his job. 

For the cunning, powerful and disgruntled Congress leader JB Patnaik, the man Gomango replaced not long ago the incident was manna dew, an opportunity to score a political goal. He reportedly played some deliberate politics to accentuate Gomango's removal. Previously in power for 14 years he activated his widespread contacts and sleeper cells inside the all pervading Bureaucracy calling shots in Odisha to indulge in tardy distribution of the relief materials, causing further damage to the reputation of the CM Gomango who was soon was unceremoniously removed. 

Since then things have changed a lot over the last quarter of a century. Lessons were learnt from the mistake of 1999. The subsequent administrations led by the then Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik have done a commendable job in disaster management. In meantime technology grew in leaps and bound. Modern day satellites are able to accurately predict and track the path of Cyclones. Time being the essence, prior anticipation and tracking of this behemoth single eyed monster has led to evacuation of public en masse, drastically reducing the casualty. When the ferocious Fani hit the Odisha shore in 2019, nearly a million were evacuated to Cyclone shelters. Though damages to property was extensive but valuable human lives were saved.

What hasn't changed is the corruption in the post cyclone relief distribution which may have gone from bad to worse. As my friend, young man Pravat Pruseth questioned - ୧୯୯୯ ମହାବାତ୍ୟାରେ ଆମେରିକା ସରକାର ପଠେଇ ଥିବା ପାଞ୍ଚ ହଜାର ଟଙ୍କା ମୂଲ୍ଯର ଗୋଟିଏ ଗୋଟିଏ କମ୍ବଳ ଫାଇଭ ଷ୍ଟାର ହୋଟେଲ ଗୁଡିକରେ ପହଞ୍ଚିଲା କେମିତି ? (How come blankets sent by the US government during super Cyclone 1999 manage to reach the 5 Star Hotels) ? There were talks of some of the high quality tarpolenes from America to act as shelter cover of the storm affected public ended up covering the cars of the BADA BADIA (Big Shots) in Bhubaneswar. The relief somehow manages to reach the greedy, not the needy. 

In this context, it is not unusual for another Cyclone named Manthan just hit Southern part of Odisha, now that it is the peak hurricane season in Bay of Bengal. But it wasn't too bad, more like a walk in the park considering a lot of guardrails and safety measures already in place. 

Apart from the ubiquitous improvement in preparedness the following factors have helped in facing the Cyclone menace over the years.

1. Because of the advance technology and satellite imagery the authorities are informed well in advance to plan evacuations ahead of time.

2. Due to improvement in economy, number of concrete houses have gone up to replaced the predominantly thatched, mud hits in villages. Concrete houses can withstand strongest of the stronger wind.

3. Number of media, social or otherwise has gone up. Though they have gone hyperactive for their own TRP and other benefits, they indirectly act as an antidote to complacency, keeping the authorities and the public on their toe which as a benefit in disguise. Alertness helps. Alwaya better be safe than sorry.