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.

Cricket- The Great Leveler

World-cup cricket carnival has got over with a fabulous Indian team holding aloft the coveted trophy after the lapse of 27 years. The victory is sweet and memorable for the simple reason that it has come after a prolonged wait of millions of fans from a cricket crazy nation. While India reaching the last eight stages, the contest got hotter and India emerged triumphant against the formidable Aussies thus ending their hegemony in the quadrennial cricket extravaganza and with that win Indian team set up a semifinal clash against their arch-rivals Pakistan.

On the match day, in the afternoon, this author happened to visit many of the central business district areas of Bangalore city and the cricket mania was all pervading. The roads wore a deserted look and it was quite evident by the fact that schools, colleges, shops, corporate houses and Government establishments witnessed a low attendance and a few of them who attended were in a hurry to leave home to catch the action live. Such was the match fervor!! And the cult status cricket enjoys in India.

The build-up going into the match with Pakistan was unprecedented as it has set the tone for what is now known as ‘Cricket Diplomacy”. Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan were in attendance to witness the high profile clash between the two Asian cricketing giants. Right from the word go, the match generated enough hysteria among the fans on either side and they watched every ball bowled with bated breath, cheered for every boundary hit, and wickets fallen.

India batting first put up a competitive total against some good Pakistan bowling attack who at one time threatened to run through the famed Indian batting line-up but thanks to India’s late order batsmen whose cameo helped lend respectability to Indian score. Despite Pakistan’s valiant effort, they lost the plot against disciplined Indian bowling and eventually succumbed to the big match pressure and handed India a memorable victory.  

What to say how Indian fans celebrate every time India wins against Pakistan. The ecstatic cricket fans celebrated like virtual Deepavali festival all over India with bursting of crackers and the fireworks lit the night sky with sparkle and dazzled the wayfarers. Some fans were out on the roads with zipping bikes and blaring horns with gay abandon and were shouting slogans hailing Indian victory.

Basking in the glory of victory against Pak, for a while, Indian fans forgot that India has to cross another hurdle in the form Srilanka to reach the summit in world cricket. The final title clash against Srilanka generated enough hype all over the country.  The match was promised to be one of a humdinger since the fight was between two equals in strength, guile and skills. 

As promised the match turned out to be a thriller and Srilanka batting first put up a matching winning total and it was a challenge for India to overhaul the score at such a big stage that of World cup finals and history was not in favor of India as no team in the world cup finals chased down such a big total.

When Inidan response began, all eyes were glued to television and to the heartbreak of many, India lost its first wicket in the very first over causing enough jittery among Indian fans. It appeared India were in the course of recovery, Srilanka dealt second salvo with that Tendulkar returned to pavilion and millions of Indians’ hope come cropper. But later order Indian batsmen showed enough guts and gumption and held the Srilankan bull by its horns and tamed it to surrender.

When the match was on, it was undeclared bundh day in India. Cutting across the social strata, every Indian was under the grip of the final match. It was one such joyous occasion for every Indian. And the victory in the final match sent Indian fans over the moon and the celebrations hit zenith with India holding aloft the coveted trophy after a couple of decades.

As it is a popular saying in the country, if cricket is a religion in India then Sachin is a god of cricket. Cricket is a common thread that binds whole India into one. Cricket in India is all pervading force. A corporate head honcho doesn’t mind in enquiring what’s the score with a street vendor in a busy Mumbai sub-urban street and a high profile politico who is waiting to catch a flight expresses his curiosity in knowing the latest on the match situation and cricket is a talking point in parliament, judicial circle, corporate, academia, and rural and urban mass of India and in a nutshell its spread is every nook and corner of India.

 I remember once reading a line in one of the novels of famous philosopher George Bernard Shaw saying, “Death is a great leveler”. But I can say in India, “The cricket is a great leveler”.