Some Nostalgic Stray Thoughts

I am a city bus junkie by compulsion, as I am averse to having my own mode of transport thanks to Bangalore's fearsome burgeoning traffic. I regularly ply in city buses to reach my office and to beat the unpredictable arduous period of Bangalore traffic snarls, I often take refuge in light reading especailly with  newspapers or magazines of my interest and this vogue  keeps me engaged with reading on variety of topics.

On one such occasion,while browsing through the supplement, I came across the article titled “Strength of Character” in which, artistic talent and natural ability of yester year actor Vinod Khanna was described and also his coming to prominence by acting in films like Mera Goan Mera Desh, An Ki san etc…

When I read the name ‘Mera Gaon Mera Desh’ I was instantly transported to my formative years as a boy growing up in a town called Surpur in Gulbarga district. I have sporadic memories of the place and events. The film Mera Gaon Mera Desh has special significance on personal front and interestingly was the first movie I had seen in a theatre and still remember the seen of hero sitting on horseback and galloping.

I have blurred vision of story line but distinctly remember the bonfire at which Dharmendra’s different gestures. In the movie, Dharmendra plays a reformed criminal who helps a one armed retired army man Jayant, to protect a village from the dacoits. Asha Parekh played Dharmendra's love interest. As a bandit, Vinod Khanna's role gave him visibility and made him a star.

The film is particularly noted for a rural setting and it became a super hit, becoming second most successful box office money churner for the year 1971. It is also said to have many elements that inspired one of the most successful films of all time, Sholay, which was released in 1975. The climax fights are still remembered for the realism and are very convincing although a single man is shown to be fighting a horde of bandits.

After this movie, I had seen quite a few and mostly of Kannda and one such comes to the mind is the film “Devara Makkalu” in which Dr.Rajkumar played a lead role and the song he sung “E Dina maja, Kandenu Nija, Adenu Raja” still reverberates in my mind. Pictures of Raj fighting with goons and Dharmendra’s rollicking actions are still fresh in memory

We lived in old style house that had an entrance of huge wooden doors, and when you enter the main door at the right side there was space for cowshed where cattle stand munching fodder all the time. Right in front of the cowshed there was an open hall, which was on elevated pedestal and supported by wooden pillars. I used to stand at the edge of the hall and gaze with awe at the cow feeding calf.

As a revenue official dad enjoyed considerable official power and we had two attendants always stationed at home and one was named Buran and he was my caretaker and use to be around me at a beck of call. He was the one who used to cater to my whimsical fancies. I was roughly three or four years old and I had been admitted to a convent school which was a bit far off from the place of residence and I used to be ferried daily to the school by the school van and it used to be funny trip all along the way to us school children.

I also remember once having went with my father from my residence to a nearby Temple of Vithoba and seen a fine sculpture of Lord Hanuman there and I was taken over by it and started pleading my father to get that sculpture for me. My father was embarrassed to convince the temple priest of my weird interest and finally I got the Hanuman and he is with us even to this day and occupied a pride of place in our Pooja Room.

All these nostalgic feelings came flooding and I could not hold back and hence tried capturing them in words.